On a very deep and quiet night, no one would pay attention to the long-abandoned Maitreya Temple in the capital.
In front of Maitreya Temple is a pond, which may be inaccessible, but the pond is very clear. The bright moon is in the sky, and the moon is reflected in the pond. A gust of wind blows across the water, and the water ripples. The bright moon reflected in the water is because The water ripples rise and sparkle.
This Maitreya Temple, which looks very dilapidated from the outside, usually does not attract the attention of others. Although Buddhism is prevalent in Chu State, few people offer incense to Maitreya. Because of this, this Maitreya Temple was built many years ago. No one cares about it anymore. If other buildings in the capital were in such a state of desolation, they would have been demolished long ago. However, this Maitreya Temple has always existed. I don’t know whether it was forgotten or for other reasons. This is like a land. The Maitreya Temple, which is not very large like a temple, has always stood here.
Naturally, not many people knew that Maitreya Temple was a secret entrance to the palace.
At this moment, there are people ambushing guards around Maitreya Temple, but inside Maitreya Temple, there are dozens of people gathered at this moment, all looking ready to go, and all eyes are focused on one person.
Qi Ning glanced at the thirty people in front of him with a stern expression.
This is the most aggressive force he can control in the capital. Among the thirty people, sixteen are flying cicada secret ninjas, and the remaining fourteen are night ghosts.
When the King of Huainan launched a rebellion while offering sacrifices to the imperial mausoleum, he secretly summoned many shadow rats for his own use. Shadow rats are a special group of people in the world. These people make murder their profession and are hired by others. To survive by killing people for hire, they are almost always in the dark and unknown.
Gray Crow is one of the most outstanding assassins.
In that incident, Gray Crow would have died long ago if not for Qi Ning. Afterwards, Qi Ning recruited Gray Crow for his own use, and even secretly allocated a large sum of money to make Gray Crow secretly form Night Ghost.
Qi Ning's original purpose of forming Night Ghost was actually to keep an eye on the Sima clan. The Sima clan had spies all over the capital, and even had spies in many officials' mansions. For this reason, Qi Ning also used Gray Crow to form a party. Night ghosts are specially used to understand the movements of Sima's party.
To be fair, Night Ghost was just established and was not yet able to achieve the results Qining wanted. Fortunately, the little emperor finally eradicated the Sima clan with thunderous force, and Night Ghost entered a period of latent accumulation of strength.
Under the organization of Gray Crow, the Night Ghosts have begun to take shape, and the number of them is of course far more than a dozen. However, the Night Ghosts called this time are all familiar with water. Fourteen people, including Gray Crow, are not only Experts who are good at tracking and assassinating, and they are all good at water.
As for the sixteen flying cicadas, they live on an island, and their water nature is not a problem.
After Feichan Mi Ren took refuge in Qi Ning, although he swore allegiance to the Chu State, his true allegiance was to Qi Ning. Qin Ning received the "order" in Huize City to return to the capital, and secretly arranged for Fei Chan Xiaotaro to take Fei Chan Mi Ren. Ren went to the capital to wait for orders. They took two routes. After Qi Ning and Chi Danmei returned to the capital, they first made arrangements with Feichan Kotaro, then found the Gray Crow Organization manpower and gathered thirty masters of dark night operations. .
From Xiang Tianbei's words, Qining already knew that there were three places where the little emperor was most likely to be imprisoned. To find the little emperor, he must start from these three places.
But Qining understood better that Xiao Shaozong was not only cunning but also cautious. No matter where the little emperor was imprisoned, it must be heavily guarded. It would not be easy to rescue the little emperor.
What's even more terrible is that although the three places mentioned by Xiang Tianbei are all possible places where the little emperor was imprisoned, there is no guarantee that the little emperor was really imprisoned in these three places, even if the emperor was really under house arrest in one of them. , once discovered by Xiao Shaozong's people in the other two places, they would immediately alert the snake, and it would be almost impossible to rescue the emperor.
Qi Ning also thought about sneaking into the palace alone and checking the three places one by one, but everything has accidents. Although Qi Ning is very confident in his martial arts, he cannot guarantee that there will be no accidents at all.
He thought about it again and again, knowing that since he was taking a risk, he naturally chose the most reliable method.
The troops were divided into three groups and sneaked into three places at the same time. In this way, even if one group was discovered, the other two groups could still act according to the plan, which greatly increased the chance of rescuing the emperor.
This is of course an extremely difficult task. Qin Ning knew that even if he made a plan, the chance of truly rescuing the emperor was extremely low. But in the current situation, he would either take the risk or sit back and wait for death and sneak into the palace. If the rescue plan is implemented within a certain period of time, at least there is a possibility of reversal. Otherwise, given the current situation between the enemy and ourselves, it will be difficult to make a comeback.
"After entering the palace, you both already know where the target is and how to act." Qi Ning glanced at Gray Crow and Feichan Xiaotaro, and said slowly: "If this mission is successful, you will get rich rewards. s return."
The gray crow had already cupped his hands and said: "Be loyal to your lord, even to the death!" More than a dozen night ghosts behind him all cupped their hands: "I will not give up even to the death!"
Feichan Kotaro also knelt down and saluted with all the flying cicadas.
Qi Ning glanced around. Chi Danmei, like everyone else, was wearing night clothes that were convenient for movement. She had undulating curves and a charming figure. When Qi Ning gave him a look, she no longer delayed and moved away from the Maitreya stone sculpture, revealing the Chi Danmei was the first to enter the secret passage, and everyone followed in one after another without hesitation. Qi Ning was at the bottom and the last one to enter the secret passage.
In addition to the people who sneaked into the palace tonight, Qining also placed manned guards around Maitreya Temple, just in case.
More than thirty people entered the secret passage one after another, and soon arrived at the waterway. Chi Danmei was the first to enter the water. The waterway led directly to the White Python Pond in the palace. Everyone had excellent water quality, and they followed the waterway like a long snake. Swim forward.
The White Python Pond is the most secluded place in the palace. Chi Danmei had studied the White Python Pond earlier and knew when the white python in the pond would enter a sleep state. She chose to sneak into the palace at this time, which was also when the white python was sleeping. hour.
Chi Danmei was the first to surface in the white python pond, surrounded by mist. The white python itself emitted cold air, so the white python pond was full of chill all year round.
After Chi Danmei came ashore, she quickly searched around the courtyard to make sure there was no one else here. The ninjas and night ghosts followed closely and emerged from the white python pond one by one. However, everyone had been warned in advance. After getting out of the water, you must not make any noise. The smaller your movements, the better, to avoid accidentally waking up the white snake.
When Qining surfaced, the wild ghosts and ninjas had already cautiously stepped ashore. Some people had discovered the terrifying giant white python in the pool. They were horrified. No one dared to act rashly, let alone say anything here. Many people even held their breath because they were worried that even their own breathing could wake up the python.
After Qi Ning landed, he looked up at the bright moon in the night sky. Gray Crow and Flying Cicada Kotaro were already approaching. Qi Ning whispered: "I showed you the map before, do you remember the location?"
Feichan Xiaotaro and Gray Crow both nodded. Qining nodded slightly and said: "You two each lead ten people to the target. I have also drawn a picture of the rescuer's appearance for you. If you find him, take him to Come here, don’t wait for others, just go back the way you came.”
"yes!"
"There are ambushes everywhere in this palace, and there are many secret guards in the palace. You must be careful when you act." Qi Ning said solemnly.
He knew that Feichan Xiaotaro and Gray Crow had always done business in the dark. There was no need for him to explain in too much detail how to deal with emergencies. Both of them bowed to Qining, and without further words, they each received their gifts. The ten people quickly went to the target they were responsible for.
In an instant, more than half of the thirty or so people had left. Qi Ning then whispered to Chi Danmei: "Take three people and stay here to take care of them. If the emperor is rescued along the way, you don't have to worry about the other people. Take them immediately." Pull out.”
Chi Danmei hesitated for a moment and then said softly: "Am I... with you?"
"We agreed in advance." Qi Ning chuckled and said softly: "This is the only way for us to withdraw from the palace. It is extremely important. Only by holding this place can we have an escape route. Don't worry, I am here to save people, not Come and die."
Chi Danmei sighed softly and said: "Then you have to be careful, I will wait here for you to come back."
Qi Ning nodded slightly and then led the other five people towards their goal.
Throughout the dynasties, there would be special treasure houses in the imperial palaces, which stored treasures presented by officials from foreign countries and outside the capital. Among these treasures, there are of course many rare treasures, as well as countless calligraphy and painting treasures left by ancient sages, and more. A priceless rare treasure.
Since the founding of the Chu Kingdom, several generations of emperors have worked hard to govern, and naturally they will not indulge in these treasures. However, a huge number of treasures always need to be accommodated. Therefore, when Emperor Taizong was the emperor, he built a treasure trove in the palace. Treasure House.
The Treasure Building is located in the corner of the inner palace, quite far away from where the emperor handles government affairs. The emperor rarely comes to the Treasure Building on weekdays, but no matter when, the Treasure Building is always heavily guarded. There are many secret guards in the palace ambushing nearby, and the treasure building itself is equipped with many traps. Even if you can sneak into the treasure house without the eyes and ears of the secret guards, if you are not good at traps, then the various traps in the treasure house can He took his life easily.
However, there are very few masters in this world who can avoid the eyes of secret guards and approach the treasure house.
Rare means very few, and very few means that no one can approach it.
At least Qu Xiaocang does have this ability.
Qu Xiaocang's martial arts is not the best in the Shenhou Mansion, but his ability to cover up his whereabouts is truly top-notch. The ability to sneak and track is a special skill for officials in the Shenhou Mansion, and Qu Xiaocang is even more so. The best of them all.
There are very few masters in the world who can sneak up on hidden whistles and approach the treasure house quietly, but Qu Xiaocang happens to be one of them.