With a slight hook of his finger, the man fell directly to the ground on his back, sprawled out.
Pei Zheng stood aside with his hands behind his back. When the people around heard the noise, they consciously made way for a small space and formed a circle to watch the excitement.
When the man looked at Pei Zheng, he shuddered involuntarily. He quickly put on a smile and tried to get up from the ground, but was suddenly stepped on the chest by a foot from the side.
Chengfeng pushed hard with his feet, and the man suddenly spit out blood, scaring the crowd so much that they took a few steps back.
Chengfeng tried to step harder, but a small hand grabbed the corner of his clothes.
"A Feng, forget it, he didn't mean it..."
The man on the ground saw that the little man was so soft and easy to talk to, so he quickly followed suit and cried, "My dear young master, I was blind and didn't recognize a great man. I offended you. Please ask that old man to show mercy and spare my life!"
Chengfeng didn't move again and turned to look at Pei Zheng.
Qi Changyi also looked over, with a pleading look in his eyes.
Pei Zheng said nothing, just hooked his finger at Qi Changyi, and Qi Changyi walked to his side obediently.
Pei Zheng took him by the hand, snorted coldly, and turned away.
Chengfeng retracted his feet and followed.
Qi Changyi had one hand held by Pei Zheng, and in the other hand he was holding the broken lantern, the rabbit ears of the lantern were broken, and the limp box was pulled aside.
Pei Zheng wanted to take the broken lantern and throw it away, but Qi Changyi held on to it and refused to let go.
"This one is broken, just buy another one."
Qi Changyi touched the drooping rabbit ears and said, "But there is no one like this one."
Pei Zheng said nothing more.
At this moment, the crowd suddenly became bustling again for some reason, and a few screams were heard not far away, which frightened the others and they all followed suit and crowded back.
Pei Zheng was holding Qi Changyi's hand when they were suddenly pushed away by the crowd. He panicked and turned around to look, only to find that Qi Changyi had been pushed a few steps away from him, and his little face was immediately submerged in the crowd.
"Ride the wind!"
Chengfeng, who had been following the two of them, was pushed aside by the suddenly agitated crowd. Fortunately, he was relatively close to Qi Changyi.
Chengfeng tried his best to squeeze towards Qi Changyi, but unexpectedly, two people in black clothes with their faces covered suddenly rushed over from the crowd in front and went straight towards Qi Changyi.
Cheng Fengyun stood up and stopped the two men in black before they could. He drew his sword and pointed it at them, shouting, "Who are you? You dare to cause a disturbance in the city, why don't you surrender now!"
The two men in black saw Chengfeng pause, but did not reply, and rushed towards him with swords drawn.
The crowd was frightened by the flashing of swords and began to flee in all directions. Qi Changyi, who was originally behind Chengfeng, was also squeezed away with the crowd.
Pei Zheng pulled himself out and hurried to Qi Changyi's side, but was suddenly attacked by a cold sword from the side, which pressed against his throat.
Several men in black with their faces covered surrounded Pei Zheng, pointing swords at him. Pei Zheng had no weapons in his hands and his eyes instantly turned cold.
"Master Pei, you'd better not move. We are not targeting you. As long as you cooperate, we will not hurt you."
Pei Zheng quickly glanced at the group of people surrounding him. They were well-organized and disciplined, all of them had extraordinary skills, and they knew him. It was obvious who sent them.
"This is the Imperial City. Do you think you can escape?"
"Master Pei, don't worry about that. We have our own way."
As they said this, the men in black thought they had subdued Pei Zheng. They exchanged glances with each other, and a few more people rushed out from a distance. They rushed to Qi Changyi at an extremely fast speed, picked him up, and turned to leave.
Pei Zheng took advantage of the man in front of him being unprepared, reached out and grabbed the sword against his throat, pulled it hard, and snatched the sword away.
His hand was deeply cut by the sword, and blood was dripping down the blade, but he seemed to feel no pain.
Pei Zheng gathered his energy and used his sword. No matter how skilled those people were in martial arts, they were no match for him. In just a few rounds, he beat several of them so badly that they could not afford it.
A few drops of blood splashed on Pei Zheng's face, flowing down his resolute chin in winding ways.
He was about to chase the man in black who was walking away along the roof with his sword in hand, but was blocked by another person.
Pei Zheng narrowed his eyes. Who else could this young eunuch in front of him, with a righteous look on his face, be but Li Yu.
When Li Yu saw Pei Zheng's slightly red eyes, he was so scared that he trembled like a sieve, but he stiffened his neck and refused to move away.
Pei Zheng slapped him casually and was about to leave, but his legs were held tightly by someone again.
Blood was oozing from Li Yu's mouth. He had been tortured in the Prime Minister's Mansion and then sent back to the palace. Now he didn't know how he ended up in this busy city.
Pei Zheng had already raised the sword high in his hand. As long as he stabbed it down, he could immediately withdraw.
However, he hesitated with the sword raised, thinking about how he had protected the eunuch many times. If he died, he would be so sad and upset.
No, you can't kill him.
Pei Zheng used all his strength to slowly put down the sword, and only kicked Li Yu with his foot.
Li Yu would definitely not be able to withstand this kick, but unexpectedly, the hand holding him did not loosen at all, and even held him tighter.
"Master Pei, please... just... let me go... let me go..."
Before he could finish the second half of his sentence, Pei Zheng kicked him in the stomach again. Although the kick was not fatal, it was enough to make him pass out from the pain.
Now all the internal organs were displaced, and Li Yu pulled the box down with his limp hands.
It was only a short delay, as the man in black on the eaves of the house in the distance had already disappeared.
The sword in Pei Zheng's hand fell to the ground. He looked into the distance without saying a word, and a gloomy aura spread around him.
Chengfeng also fought off the remaining men in black, suffered minor injuries, and knelt on one knee behind Pei Zheng.
"Master, it was my fault that His Highness was taken away. Please punish me."
"We'll talk about the punishment later." Pei Zheng turned around and looked at Chengfeng coldly.
"Give the order, there is an assassin in the city, the whole city is under martial law. I want to see who dares to snatch people from me."
The main gate of the imperial city was closed that night, leaving only a small door for people to enter and exit. All people coming in and out had to be carefully checked before being allowed to pass.
There were also many more patrolling guards in the city, dressed in brocade and iron armor, looking ruthless and holding torches as they searched and checked every house in the streets.
The people who didn't know the inside story were making wild guesses and had no idea what big thing had happened.
"Hey, I heard that the emperor was assassinated in the palace, and the assassin escaped. They are searching for him all over the city!"
"That's not right. I heard that the person who was assassinated was the Prime Minister Pei. It seems that he stole some rare treasure from Pei, so the emperor allowed him to mobilize the imperial guards of the entire city."
"This Pei Zheng is causing chaos in the court. Not only does he not treat us as human beings, but he also disrupts the lives of the people just for some object. He is so hateful! When will the emperor dismiss him?"
"Pah, pah, pah! Don't dare say such things carelessly, or you'll lose your head if someone hears it!"
At this moment, a team of neatly arranged guards happened to pass by, and the people who were talking at once immediately fell silent and acted obediently.
Following behind the procession was Pei Zheng, who was riding a tall horse.
Although the people did not recognize him, he heard everything they said clearly.
Cheng Feng looked at Pei Zheng's face and asked carefully, "Master, do you want me to go..."
He ran his fingers over his neck.
Pei Zheng was silent for a while, then shook his head, "Forget it."
If it was in the past, Pei Zheng would never let someone off easily if he heard someone dare to talk about him behind his back. But now, he was surprised at how he had become so magnanimous.
Just because he has more important things to do now.
The imperial capital is very large, and we have searched more than half of the city, but still found nothing.
Pei Zheng appeared calm and composed on the surface, but he actually felt empty and unsettled inside.
When was the last time I had this feeling? It was like my heart was suddenly hollowed out, rotten and lifeless inside.
The leaders of several queues came over one by one to report.
"Your Excellency, we haven't found it."
"My lord, there is none here either."
"Sir, I haven't found anything here either."
Pei Zheng was filled with anger, and he whipped the leader closest to him, dragged him to his side, lowered his eyes, and spoke in a stern voice.
"You are a bunch of rubbish! You all tell me to keep looking until you find it! Otherwise I will punish you one by one! Get out now!"
After receiving the order, those people hurried out.
The last person who arrived shouted, "Sir! There's something going on here! Someone saw a man in black in the south of the city!"
After hearing this, Pei Zheng tightened the reins, spurred his horse and galloped towards the south of the city.
The mighty Imperial Guards behind them also ran to catch up, and the dense torches moved collectively towards the south of the city.
Qi Changyi seemed to have bumped into something and fainted while being carried by someone. While in a daze, he seemed to see Pei Zheng holding a sword with blood on his hands.
When I opened my eyes again, I found myself in a dilapidated temple in the wilderness. The temple was shabby and contained only a pile of miscellaneous items and old straw mats.
Qi Changyi touched the completely broken rabbit lotus lantern beside him. Not only were the rabbit's ears broken, but the red lotus on it was also crushed, and the wick inside had long been extinguished.
His nose felt sore and tears started to drip from the corners of his eyes. He took the lantern and held it in his arms, with tears dripping on it.
Is he really useless, unable to protect anything? Even a lantern was broken into pieces in his hands.
Suddenly, several figures in black appeared around him and slowly gathered towards him.
Qi Changyi was extremely frightened, shaking and shrinking back, "You... who are you... why... why did you arrest me..."
Several men in black took off their masks. They did not look like bad guys with shifty eyes, but rather had a righteous look in their faces.
"I'm not arresting you, I'm saving you."