Starting from the imperial palace guards, his clones spread all over the world.

Chapter 459 It’s Too Late to Stop
On the east bank of Taiye Lake, the shimmering lake surface sparkles with tiny silver light under the moonlight, as if countless tiny silver scales are dancing.

Zhenliuxuan.

This three-story bamboo building is built by the lake. The lake water is drawn from Taiye Lake. From a distance, it looks like a green bamboo hat floating on the water.

The building is constructed entirely of Xiangfei bamboo, with amber-colored bamboo sap seeping out from the bamboo joints, emitting a warm luster under the moonlight.

Eight bronze fish-shaped wind chimes hang from the eaves. When the wind blows, they make a tinkling sound like flowing water, which complements the sound of the lake water lapping against the shore below.

This place may not be considered one of the most luxurious and high-end restaurants in Beijing, but it is definitely one of the most elegant and picturesque restaurants.

On weekdays, many literati and poets from other places come here with their admiration and yearning for the capital.

They like to lean against the window, gaze at the beautiful scenery of Taiye Lake in the distance, and then leisurely drink a pot of Bamboo Leaf Green tea, which is unique here.

The rich aroma of the wine seemed to carry a magical power that could instantly ignite the spark of inspiration in their hearts, inspiring them to write poetry and paint, leaving behind masterpieces that would be passed down through the ages.

Now, the night is already deep and everything is silent.

Although Zhenliuxuan has not closed down, it no longer accepts ordinary guests.

Because this place has been booked out tonight and has become a private place.

A middle-aged man sat upright on the third floor of the bamboo building.

He was dressed in plain casual clothes, but it was hard to hide his innate authority.

At this time, he was sitting by the window, the moonlight shining through the bamboo window onto his face, reflecting a complex expression of sadness and anger. He was drinking one glass of wine after another in distress, and every sip seemed to be swallowing endless pain.

Inside and outside Zhenliuxuan, there were already officials and yamen runners everywhere. They looked solemn and were on high alert, preventing anyone from approaching.

Because this middle-aged man has a special identity, he is none other than the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, Zhou Quan!

"Da da da!"

Accompanied by a burst of rapid and steady footsteps.

The head constable of Shuntian Prefecture hurried to Zhou Quan's side, bowed slightly, and said respectfully:

"Sir, Lord Xi Rong of the Imperial Guards has arrived."

Zhou Quan raised his hand slightly when he heard this.

The captain understood what he meant and quickly retreated, soon coming over with Xi Rong.

Who would have thought that Xi Rong, who had said before that he was going to the horse purchasing department to inspect the war horses, actually came here quietly.

As Xi Rong arrived, Zhou Quan said in a low voice with a hint of suppressed anger without even looking up:

"Although my son is a bit naughty on weekdays, he has never provoked those who we cannot afford to offend."

"But that night, after he stood up for you, he tragically died in a brothel."

"Xi Rong, you can't get away with this!"

Having said that, Zhou Quan placed the wine glass in his hand heavily on the table, making a dull and loud thud, as if venting the immense anger in his heart.

Xi Rong frowned slightly, obviously extremely displeased with Zhou Quan's words.

But he suppressed his temper, slowly sat down opposite Zhou Quan, and patiently explained:
"Master Zhou, your son did drink with me that night, and he also helped me hit Liang Jin with his boot."

"But we separated after that. I went to a dinner at another friend's house. I really don't know what happened to you later. I've explained this to you many times."

Zhou Quan snorted coldly, his voice full of dissatisfaction and suspicion, obviously not buying what Xi Rong said.

Seeing this, Xi Rong continued:
"On that day, your son only had a conflict with Liang Jin."

"And your Yingtian Prefecture government has been investigating for these days, but apart from Liang Jin's investigation, you haven't found any other clues."

"Obviously, your son must have been killed by Liang Jin!"

"I know this matter is somewhat related to me, so I have brought Liang Jin out tonight."

"When the time comes, Master Zhou can kill or chop him up as you wish!"

Having said that, Xi Rong's tone slowed down slightly, trying to ease the tense atmosphere:

"Sir Zhou, Liang Jin is still one of my soldiers after all. I've shown my sincerity by handing him over to you. I hope you can give me, Xi Rong, some face and put this matter to rest."

"If this goes wrong, how will the commander-in-chief view me? And how will the thousands of soldiers under my command view me? You should understand this very well."

Having said that, Xi Rong picked up the wine jug and poured two glasses of wine. He carefully placed one glass in front of Zhou Quan, while he raised the other glass of wine and made a toast gesture, trying to calm Zhou Quan's emotions.

Xi Rong waited for a moment, and seeing that Zhou Quan had no reaction, he decided to drink first as a sign of respect.

But just when Xi Rong was about to drink, Zhou Quan suddenly reached out, pressed Xi Rong's glass, and said coldly:
"Don't worry, let me interrogate that soldier named Liang Jin first."

"If he is indeed the murderer of my son, I can no longer bother with you about this matter. I, Liang Jin, will also personally cut him into pieces."

"If he's not the real murderer, but just a scapegoat you pulled out, then this matter won't be let go so easily."

At the end of his speech, Zhou Quan looked directly at Xi Rong, expressing his dissatisfaction and firm attitude.

Upon hearing this, Xi Rong slowly put down the wine glass in his hand.

He still maintained a humble smile on his face, but a barely perceptible glint of anger had already flashed in his eyes.

As a commander of the Imperial Guards, I don't need to give such great face to the governor of Shuntian Prefecture.

However, Zhou Jiaze's death caused the Shuntian prefect to find an important figure in the court, who specifically instructed Xi Rong to cooperate with Zhou Quan.

It is precisely for this reason that Xi Rong has been patient until now.

At this time, Zhou Quan spoke again:
"I heard that the soldier is a sixth-rank warrior?"

Xi Rong raised the corner of his mouth slightly, revealing a faint smile, and said:
"He is no longer a soldier. He has been promoted to flag commander during the day. Otherwise, I wouldn't have to go through so much trouble."

"Don't worry, Lord Zhou. It's only a sixth rank. It's not a problem for my friend at all."

Xi Rong made friends with many people from all walks of life in the underworld.

Most of those friends only care about money and not people. As long as the price is right, they are willing to help the powerful people in the capital do some dirty work that may not be seen in public.

Tonight, in order to ensure that everything is foolproof, a fifth-grade warrior and two sixth-grade warriors will deal with Liang Jin.

Zhou Quan frowned and said worriedly:

"How can I feel at ease when this concerns the murderer of my son?"

"What I want is to interrogate the real murderer, not to silence him."

"My people will also follow up, just to make sure everything goes well!"

Xi Rong shrugged helplessly. If Zhou Quan wanted to send someone, he could do it. He was too lazy to interfere too much.

Anyway, no matter what, he just wanted to solve the problem completely tonight.

He wanted to calm Zhou Quan's anger towards him.

At the same time, he also wanted to vent his anger towards Liang Jin!

As long as Liang Jin died, the anger in his heart would naturally dissipate.

At this time.

A burst of anxious and hurried footsteps suddenly sounded.

The captain of the police rushed in, looking panicked and walking quickly.

Zhou Quan raised his head and looked at the captain with a puzzled look on his face.

The captain couldn't help but secretly glance at Xi Rong.

Zhou Quan's face immediately darkened, and he said in a low and majestic voice:

"He's not an outsider, just tell me what you have to say."

The captain then spoke tremblingly:
"Sir, there seems to be something wrong with the area we cleared earlier..."

Zhou Quan slammed his hand on the table impatiently and shouted:
"what happened?"

The captain was so frightened that he trembled all over, and then he hurriedly told the whole story:

"My brothers reported that many warriors appeared nearby."

"It's even possible that some warriors have entered the area we cleared."

"Those warriors are highly skilled and numerous. We can't even figure out which factions most of them belong to."

"A rough estimate is that there are probably... several hundred people!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Quan and Xi Rong's hearts sank suddenly, as if they were hit by a huge rock.

The two of them looked at each other quickly. At this moment, they couldn't help but suspect that the other party had arranged this person.

But when they saw the confusion in each other's eyes, they finally realized that the situation had taken an unexpected turn!
There were actually some warriors who were not from either of their forces who got involved, and there were so many of them!

What happened?
Just as the two were about to ask questions, the captain looked extremely frightened and said in a trembling voice:

“Even…even…some brothers said they saw…”

"I saw people from the Investigation Bureau and the Six Gates. They seem to be heading this way!"

In an instant, Zhou Quan and Xi Rong stood up from their seats and exclaimed in unison:
"what?!"

Zhou Quan's heart was suddenly filled with panic.

As the prefect of Yingtian Prefecture, he was well aware of the serious consequences of knowingly breaking the law, especially since the person he had to deal with this time was the commander of the imperial guards.

If this matter were discovered by the Investigation Bureau or the Six Gates, his career would be in great crisis.

Even if he can keep his official position in the end, he will be in the hands of others and can only be manipulated and become a puppet in the hands of others.

Immediately, Zhou Quan asked anxiously:

"What happened there?"

"Why did you cause so many people to come over?"

Normally, nothing major would happen in the area of ​​the Su Family Cloth Shop on weekdays.

But why did so many strange warriors appear tonight?
So much so that even the Criminal Investigation Bureau and the Six Gates were alarmed!

Of course Zhou Quan didn't believe that this had anything to do with Liang Jin.

How could a mere small flag chief have such great power to attract so many experts?
The captain shook his head helplessly, his face full of panic, and replied:
"I don't know! I haven't been able to find out yet."

"But I will do my best to figure this all out!"

Zhou Quan snorted coldly, thinking to himself, it's obviously impossible for a small constable to get to the bottom of this matter. He immediately turned his head and looked at Xi Rong, who was still a little stunned, and said angrily:

"You picked the place!"

"Now, something's wrong!"

Xi Rong was also filled with shock and surprise. He did not expect such a situation to occur.

But he still said patiently:

"Master Zhou, now is not the time to blame each other."

"Since there is a problem, we should find a way to solve it as soon as possible."

Zhou Quan took a deep breath and tried to calm the anger in his heart.

He put his hands behind his back, paced back and forth in the room, and said through gritted teeth:

"Tonight's actions must stop!"

"With so many people involved, it's beyond our control."

"Let's spare Liang Jin's life for now and deal with him another day."

Zhou Quan was decisive. Seeing that the situation was getting out of control, he immediately wanted to stop the operation.

However, Xi Rong slowly shook his head and said:
"It's too late. My people should be about to take action against Liang Jin by now."

"It's too late to notify them to stop now."

When Zhou Quan heard this, he looked up at Xi Rong in surprise.

At this moment, Zhou Quan only felt his heart beating wildly, like a madly beating war drum.

Now that the arrow has been shot and cannot be retrieved, no one can predict what consequences it will cause.

A fierce light flashed in Xi Rong's eyes, and he said coldly:

"No matter what, we must not bring trouble upon ourselves!"

"The first thing we need to do now is to ensure Liang Jin's death! Secondly, those who participated in this incident must not survive!"

A battalion of the Imperial Guards is about to join forces with the Governor of Shuntian Prefecture to murder the flag chief of the Imperial Guards. This matter must not be exposed!
Let alone involving these two people!
This is the most basic consensus between the two.

Zhou Quan also understood this principle.

He immediately turned his head, with a murderous look on his face, and winked at the captain.

There are some things he cannot say out loud, but his subordinates must be able to understand them.

The captain was startled, then immediately understood and said hurriedly:

"Don't worry, sir. I'll take care of it right away!"

After saying that, the captain hurried away, his figure quickly disappearing into the night.

Xi Rong and Zhou Quan both looked solemnly towards the night sky.

After nightfall, it is the area of ​​Su's cloth shop.

Now the place is like a fog. No one knows what happened inside that caused such a big commotion. No one knows whether their action tonight can proceed smoothly.

………………

on the street.

The moonlight was like water, sprinkling on the empty streets, making it seem particularly cold and desolate.

Two imperial guards walked in front, and Liang Jin followed slowly behind.

It was already midnight and the streets were deserted, with not a single pedestrian in sight.

At the beginning, one could still see the Northern Forbidden Army, which was responsible for the security of the capital, patrolling. They marched in neat steps, and their figures looked particularly majestic in the moonlight.

But as they got closer to the Su family's cloth shop, they couldn't see a single person on the street, let alone the patrol team of the Northern Forbidden Army.

Even the doors and windows of every household on this street were closed, the lights were off, and the entire street seemed to be plunged into deathly silence.

It seemed that someone had already cleared the area.

Liang Jin didn't care about this and continued walking calmly.

He had already begun careful preparations since he was on his way out of the palace.

Along the way, he had quietly released the battle puppets in the formation, and even the seven Yin Bone puppets were released by him.

At this time, they were like ghosts, secretly following Liang Jin closely.

However, the two ordinary ninth-rank imperial guards in front were naturally unaware of all this.

Of course, there was also a sixth-grade warrior who had been secretly following him all the way. He seemed to be an interceptor to stop Liang Jin from escaping halfway.

Similarly, this sixth-grade warrior was unable to detect Liang Jin's movements.

On the contrary, Liang Jin, with his extraordinary perception ability, has keenly discovered that warriors are passing by quickly from time to time. They are agile and like ghosts, and seem to be looking for something.

These warriors were so skilled in martial arts that no one else at the scene noticed anything except Liang Jin.

Liang Jin knew that the warriors in [Nine Sky Boundless] had begun to take action.

suddenly!

The two imperial guards leading the way suddenly stopped.

"Master Qi, please wait a moment. I have to pee. I'll go pee and come back soon!"

A soldier of the Imperial Guards ran hurriedly into a small alley with an apologetic look on his face, holding his stomach.

At this time, another imperial guard soldier suddenly complained:

"We're almost at the Su family's cloth shop, and that kid actually went to pee? That's outrageous!"

"Don't worry, Mr. Flag General, I'll go get him right away! Please wait here for a moment."

As he spoke, the imperial guard soldier also chased after the previous imperial guard soldier.

The two men quickly disappeared into the roadside alleys and never appeared again, and even the sound of their movements disappeared.

Only Liang Jin was standing quietly on the empty street.

The silence all around was almost eerie, the dead silence was like thick ink, as if it could swallow up all the sounds in the world.

The trees along the street did not move at all in the breeze, their branches and leaves seemed to be fixed, even the rustling sound disappeared. Only the cold moon hanging high in the night sky cast its cool light, covering the street with a layer of pale gauze.

The corners of Liang Jin's mouth rose slightly, as if he was smiling, and that faint smile seemed meaningful under the moonlight.

His eyes narrowed slightly, a hint of understanding flashing in them. He knew clearly what these two imperial guards were doing.
The two soldiers were just trying to lure him into a carefully arranged ambush. Knowing that a fight was about to break out, they knew they were not strong enough, so they wanted to slip away in advance to ensure their safety.

as predicted.

Not long after the two imperial guards disappeared in the street corner and alley, three murderous auras as strong as substance suddenly locked onto Liang Jin in the thick darkness around them.

The murderous aura was like a tangible rope, tightly wrapped around him, making the air seem to freeze.

Immediately afterwards, three figures slowly emerged from the darkness.

A fifth-rank warrior stood in front, emitting a cold aura, as if he were ice that had not melted for a thousand years.

Two sixth-grade warriors stood on both sides, and the other three spread out in a fan shape, surrounding Liang Jin and forming an impenetrable siege.

The fifth-rank warrior in the lead had a face as cold as frost, and his eyes were as sharp as a hawk in the cold night, revealing a cold chill.

He opened his mouth slightly, his voice low and hoarse, as if coming from the Netherworld:
"Liang Jin, right?"

"There's no grudge between you and me, but you offended my friend, and he paid a large sum of money to buy your life."

"When you go to hell, don't blame the wrong person."

After he finished speaking, he waved his arm with a clean and neat movement, and was about to give the order to take action.

From his style of doing things, it can be seen that he is not the kind of person who likes to drag things out. Instead, he kills decisively and without hesitation.

Liang Jin looked at the three of them and spoke calmly:
"You three can still survive if you leave now."

These words made the three warriors look disdainful.

With just one fifth-grade warrior, they were confident in killing Liang Jin, not to mention that they had two sixth-grade warriors to help them?
The three of them didn't want to waste any more time talking. They were obviously ready to end the battle quickly and without causing too much noise.

The three of them were about to attack immediately, and they did it together, intending to deliver a fatal blow!
However, something unexpected happened.

"call!"

At this critical moment, two black shadows were seen rushing out from the darkness on the roadside, accompanied by a strong wind.

"careful!"

Upon seeing this, the three warriors' faces suddenly changed, their eyes filled with astonishment, and they hurriedly took a defensive stance.

The fifth-rank warrior was even more shocked. As a master, he had not noticed that someone was lurking nearby. This really shocked him.

"Bang!!!"

"Bang!!!"

Two dull thuds were heard, like the rumbling of war drums on the quiet street.

The two black shadows actually fell heavily to the ground in a parabola, splashing some dust.

After that, there was no movement.

The three warriors were puzzled and hurriedly looked closely.

But this sight frightened them so much that their faces turned pale in an instant, and their fear was beyond words.

It turned out that what flew out from the darkness and fell to the ground were two dead bodies!

The two corpses were wearing the armor of the imperial guards, and their deaths were extremely tragic.

Their throats were forcibly pulled out, leaving a bloody mess with traces of blood remaining on the wounds.

Apparently, they were unable to utter a single scream until they died.

And these two dead bodies were none other than the two imperial guards who had led Liang Jin and then fled in a hurry!

(End of this chapter)