The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 408 Secret War
Mei Qinghe glanced at the old Taoist priest, then drew her sword and turned to rush towards An Ziyang's direction.

She couldn't get involved here. Since the old Taoist was an ally invited by Li Miao, dealing with a Celestial Being from Yingzhou shouldn't be a problem. So, what she could do now was to support An Ziyang.

But let's turn our attention back to An Ziyang.

Ding ding ding ding——

The masked man speaking to An Ziyang twirled his sword, colliding with an oncoming hidden weapon and sending sparks flying. At the same time, his gaze swept around.

Visibility was obscured by a thick, bluish-purple fog.

An eerie and terrifying silence.

But this wasn't because everyone else was dead; at least he could occasionally see a few fleeting sparks blooming in the thick fog.

He is deaf.

An Ziyang's venomous insects crawled into his ear and punctured his eardrum. If he hadn't reacted quickly, the insects might have crawled into his brain through the ear canal.

He didn't even dare to think about what would happen.

Ding.

After the last projectile landed, he took the opportunity to catch his breath and then walked towards the direction from which it had come.

He dared not walk too fast, because the courtyard was full of traps and mechanisms set up by An Ziyang. Sharp and transparent threads could appear at any time at neck height, and a slight mistake could mean instant death.

He now regrets underestimating An Ziyang.

An Ziyang had a terrible reputation in the underworld, but not in the terrifying way that Li Miao did; rather, it was the kind of bad that was despicable.

He never confronted his enemies head-on; he preferred gang fights to one-on-one duels, and poison to drawing his sword. Even against second- or third-rate opponents, he would drown them with his subordinates, traps, hidden weapons, or poisons. As a result, people in the martial arts world said that he got on Li Miao's good side by flattering him, and that he actually had no real skills.

This is why the masked men dared to break into the house tonight.

Even now, the masked man still thinks so.

An Ziyang has indeed never personally taken action... but that doesn't mean he can't kill people.

With the Tang Clan's all-encompassing resources, the Embroidered Uniform Guard's plunder of the world's treasure troves, and the Miao King's secret teachings passed down for a thousand years in Miao territory, An Ziyang can be said to have gathered all the most outstanding elements of Da Shuo on the path of "heretical and unorthodox practices."

They shouldn't have stepped into An Ziyang's home field.

The masked man gritted his teeth and carefully tapped the ground in front of him with his longsword to make sure there were no traps before taking a step.

But the next second, a long knife suddenly swept towards the back of his neck from behind.

"coming!"

The masked man suddenly turned around, dodged the long knife with a swift movement, and thrust his sword back!
puff.

Without the expected trouble, the longsword pierced the flesh without any resistance.

The masked man's pupils suddenly contracted.

The next moment, as if he hadn't felt any pain at all, the person holding the knife swung it at his shoulder again!

In that instant, he also saw the face of the person holding the knife.

The face mask had fallen off sometime during the night, revealing bloodshot eyes, drool dripping from the corners of the mouth, and writhing beneath the skin as if countless insects were crawling inside. His once square face had become terrifying, like that of a demon.

Swords clashed, and the masked man shouted in a low voice.

"Senior Brother Liu, it's me!"

"Senior Brother Liu" did not answer, but instead hissed and opened his mouth to bite at his neck.

With a determined look, he swung his longsword aside and plunged it into "Senior Brother Liu's" heart.

"Senior Brother Liu" then collapsed.

The masked man drew his long sword and gasped for breath.

"No, no... this can't be done!"

"We should leave. If we stay any longer, whether we live or die is another matter, but at least we can't end up like Senior Brother Liu, who is in such a pathetic state!"

He was already scared. He kicked the corpse on the ground away and watched it roll a few times without triggering the trap. Only then did he quickly chase after it, wading through the path he had cleared.

Upon reaching the corpse, he kicked it again.

The body rolled several feet and lay on the ground. The next moment—crash!
In his sight, the corpse was abruptly sliced ​​into several pieces by a sharp mechanism that rose from the ground, flying through the air and spraying blood. The pieces of flesh were then caught by the mechanism again after hitting the ground and shredded into minced meat.

The masked man's teeth were almost ground to dust.

Now he understands perfectly well that if he doesn't kill An Ziyang, he's destined never to leave this courtyard.

But his hearing has been lost and his vision is obstructed by the thick fog, so how can he find An Ziyang's location!
Is there really no way out?

The masked man dared not move again, standing still and alert, scanning his surroundings.

He can no longer break the deadlock on his own.

Right now, you need to find at least one companion who can hear you.

A moment later, he finally saw a spark bloom in the thick fog.

Overjoyed, he drew his sword and charged forward, shouting as he went.

"It's me, it's me, don't hit me!"

"Let's fight our way out!"

The figure moving ahead paused for a moment, as if glancing in their direction, but did not move.

The masked man rushed into the thick fog and finally saw the person clearly.

"Junior Sister Wan!"

He was delighted.

The person he found was a true disciple of a major sect that his sect was on good terms with. The two sects had an excellent relationship and were already familiar with each other. Working together, they could achieve twice the result with half the effort.

He rushed over.

Junior Sister Wan, who had been on guard, seemed to breathe a sigh of relief after seeing his features clearly, and lowered her longsword. Then, as if she couldn't hold on any longer, she staggered.

He quickly stepped forward to help her up.

Now, he finally understood Wan Shimei's situation.

Blood was dripping from his legs and feet, with several deep wounds that exposed bone. Although acupressure had stopped the bleeding, he was clearly unable to move.

No wonder she didn't come closer to me just now.

He leaned close to Wan Shimei's ear and said urgently.

"Junior Sister Wan, I have lost my hearing. Tell me, besides you and me, is there any other sound?"

Wan Shimei was taken aback, then slowly shook her head.

His heart sank.

This means that everyone except the two people is dead.

There was no time for fear or sorrow, he continued.

"Junior Sister Wan, come up on my back!"

The woman was no stranger to bloodshed, and without hesitation, she gritted her teeth and climbed onto his back.

He continued.

"If we don't kill An Ziyang, we'll never get out of here. Right now, I can't listen to you, and you can't move. We're one!"

He crouched down, collected the scattered hidden weapons from the ground, and handed them to the woman.

"Now let's move in one direction. I'll try to avoid the traps. If any traps or hidden weapons are shot at us, you should shoot them back. If you hear any sounds of dodging or blocking, it's definitely An Ziyang!"

"When the time comes, you pat me on the shoulder three times to point out the direction, and I'll rush in that direction. You take care of the traps and hidden weapons around us, and we'll fight to save our lives!"

"That villain An Ziyang is obsessed with unorthodox practices, so his own martial arts skills must not be very strong. As long as we can capture him, the outcome is still uncertain!"

The woman patted his shoulder three times with her fair hand.

He gritted his teeth, swept his sword across the ground in front of him, and charged suddenly in one direction.

(End of this chapter)