Shan Chao's first reaction was to call for someone, but then he realized that the Fenggao Palace is now empty, and only a group of patrolling soldiers are far away in the outer court. Even if they hear them rushing, they must be too late. In addition, Xie Yun didn't move at all when he was held hostage, so he must have been drugged or something nasty. If there was a stalemate, what would those people do if they hurt him
After such a brief moment of stupefaction, those few people had already led Xie Yun into the vast night like lightning.
Shan Chao made a decisive decision, relying on Qixing Longyuan in his hand, he rushed forward.
The defense of the palace was very careless, and those few people quickly got out of the palace wall and swept towards the city gate. Shan Chao stayed behind not too far away, and found that there were about five or six people, all of whom could be regarded as masters in light kungfu, and when he jumped, he switched hands with Xie Yun to borrow strength from each other, and they came without a meal In front of the city gate.
Although Fenggao was not an important town, the city gates were still closed late at night, and three or five guarding soldiers yawned and patrolled back and forth with spears on their backs. The men in black hid themselves on the roofs of nearby houses, exchanged winks, and the leader jumped out with a short dagger.
"who?!"
"Who is... ah!"
There were several slight muffled thumps, and all the soldiers had their necks wiped. At the same time, the man in black who was hiding on the roof stood up, showed something in his sleeve, and shot short arrows at the defense post on the tower.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The commander of the defense station fell in response to the sound, and died in the west without even making a sound.
At the corner of the street not far away, Shan Chao was stunned.
He originally thought that these people would definitely be blocked inside the city gate. At that time, he only needed to shout loudly, and the soldiers would swarm in, and the men in black would not be able to fly out even if they had wings. But I didn't expect the defense of the city gate to be solved so cleanly. Those men in black are obviously well-trained. What's the origin
What's more, the mechanism for shooting arrows is clearly a hand crossbow!
At this time, light crossbows were still a rarity among the troops stationed in Beijing, and they were equipped in batches with large wooden cart crossbows, Fuyuan crossbows and other heavy weapons for attacking cities and villages. Only the Imperial Guards of Beiya have always been rich and powerful, and everyone is equipped with horned crossbows, but such a light, compact, and powerful hand crossbow used by the man in black, Shan Chao can only see Ma Xin and other guards at the rank of commander people took it.
Shan Chao's eyebrows jumped, and he saw that the man in black had pushed the winch, opened the gap in the city gate and rushed out!
Without further ado, Shan Chao rushed out immediately, only to see that there was someone driving a carriage to meet him on the official road outside the city gate, and he suddenly felt bad. No matter how fast a person is, it is impossible to run over a horse. Now it is too late to shout to attract the soldiers defending the city. Once they escape, I am afraid that it will be difficult to find traces from now on. Who knows what they want to kidnap Xie Yun? !
The man in black who was driving turned his horse's head and raised his whip. Sooner or later, Shan Chao slid out close to the ground and jumped into the high chassis of the carriage like lightning. The moment the two black horses raised their front hooves, they grabbed the bottom axle of the carriage.
"Yo-"
The horse stopped suddenly, splashing dust and smoke on the ground, and then galloped away along the official road.
This has been a pain for Shan Chao. Although his lightness kung fu is superb, it is because of the deep internal force of "Ti Yun Zong", and his body weight is not light at all. Unable to stop the violently shaking bottom shaft and fell down.
Fortunately, the carriage was huge and there were many people in the carriage, so no one noticed the abnormality under the chassis for a while. After running for about half an hour, both of Shan Chao's arms were almost numb, only to hear the driver shout: "—here we are!"
That was the only sound the group made along the way.
The carriage stopped suddenly, and several people got out of the carriage and walked away quickly.
Shan Chao waited for half a cup of tea without moving, like a shadow of nothingness, not even making any sound of breathing or heartbeat. It wasn't until the outside of the carriage fell into complete silence, only the sound of insects in the grass from a distance, that he slowly loosened the cracked iron-clad bottom shaft and leaned out from under the carriage.
In front of you is a ruined temple.
Shan Chao squinted his eyes and stepped out close to the ground. In an instant, he hid himself in the shadow of the corner, just avoiding the man in black who was turning around in front of the temple gate.
"...?"
The man in black took two steps suspiciously, looked around for a while, but found nothing unusual.
At the same time, Shan Chao pressed himself against the ridge of the roof and gently lifted a broken tile.
"... Fenggao Palace was empty and empty, and there was no movement on the way out, only a few soldiers were killed when leaving the city gate, and the local government and guards were not disturbed..."
A star candle was shining in the back hall of the ruined temple. Xie Yun was placed unconscious on the straw couch, and beside him sat a young man with a golden knife on a horse, with his fingers crossed and his elbows braced On his knees, silently listening to his subordinates report in front of him.
The candlelight reflected his unruly fiery red hair, making him look even more handsome and sturdy—it turned out to be Jing Ling!
Shan Chao tightened his fingers on the roof tiles, and veins popped out silently on the back of his hand.
"There has been news from the sub-forum that everything is ready, and we can leave for the secret door at dawn..."
"How much drug did you take?" Jing Ling suddenly interrupted his subordinates.
"Single, only smoked half a cup of tea. Logically speaking, it shouldn't be so smooth, but Yunshi didn't wake up all the way..."
Jing Ling nodded, waved his hand outside, and said casually, "Go down."
The subordinates leaned over and retreated respectfully, carefully closing the door.
Jing Ling turned around, condescendingly looked down at Xie Yun who was curled up in the couch, and remained motionless for a while.
Xie Yun didn't sleep soundly, his brows were habitually frowned, as if he was thinking about many unsolvable things in his sleep. The whole winter's injury caused irreparable damage to him, even under the warm yellow candlelight, his face was pale and not obvious decadence.
But his outline is still very good-looking, the beauty is in the bone but not the skin, the commander of the imperial army belongs to the kind of person who is born with a very good-looking appearance, because he is weak and haggard, it makes people feel even more intimidated.
Jing Ling stretched out her hand, and her fingertips slowly slid across the deep shadow of his nose.
- After so many years, Xie Yun's indistinguishable beauty when he was young has faded. But he seemed to be still very young, no different from the young man in his memory who was insane and convulsed in pain under the moonlight, but whose every move made people unable to take their eyes off him.
Only Jing Ling herself changed.
He has grown from a child who was terrified and unable to protect himself to a strong, cruel person who can easily become a perpetrator.
Jing Ling's breathing became slightly heavier, and an indescribably complicated light shone in his eyes. His fingertips ran down the smooth and cold cheeks, across the neck and collarbone, and rubbed repeatedly on the soft side of the neck.
The candle flame flickered slightly and made a slight crackling sound.
"... Yunshi..." Jing Ling hoarsely said.
The similar scene at that moment reappeared. The young man who was leaning on him in the forbidden room, with long hair hanging down from the side of his neck like a waterfall, and his naked skin closely attached to him, overlapped with the steady breathing figure in the dark at this moment, turning into a The blurred and rapid panting in memory.
Jing Ling's breathing was hot, and her heart beat faster. After a while, she finally reached out and gently pulled off the robe on Xie Yun's shoulder.
At this moment, the roof crashed down!
Shan Chao turned around amid countless broken bricks and tiles, and drew his sword. Long Yuan unsheathed and rolled up a cold light, forcing Jing Ling several steps away in an instant!
Jing Ling shouted: "—You!"
With a loud bang, Shan Chao stood up on the ground, picked up Xie Yun with one hand, and immediately placed the sword in front of him.
In a blink of an eye, Jing Ling saw who was coming, and a burst of rage mixed with embarrassment rushed to his head: "Stop! Come!"
Footsteps rushed out of the door, and five or six secret door killers rushed in at the same time. Shan Chao sneered, and swung his sword with his backhand brazenly, "Boom!" A loud bang pierced the soul-grabbing hook that Jing Ling had slashed diagonally in the air, and before the numbing earthquake came, he used his strength to get away. rise!
There were several crashing sounds of bricks and tiles collapsing, and Shan Chao jumped onto the roof with countless stones on his back, protecting Xie Yun in his arms with his upper body, while there were many large and small bloodstains on his forehead and shoulders. At this moment, it was too late to pause, like a falcon hunting in the night sky, he rushed straight to the carriage parked on the road outside the ruined temple!
Jing Ling rushed out the door with a stride, and said sharply, "Let the crossbow go!"
Whoosh!
The short arrow tore through the air, and the time was infinitely stretched at this moment, turning into a frame of slow pictures.
The first crossbow, Shan Chao volleyed sideways, the short arrow passed close to his shoulder, and sank into the trees not far away without a sound; Yun Fei straightened up on the horse's back, Shen Jun's hooves let out a long hiss, and the crossbow arrows rubbed the horse's hoofs and nailed into the crack of the brick in an instant; at the same time, the third crossbow arrived, and Xie Yun opened his eyes in Shan Chao's arms.
Xie Yun's reaction at that moment was instinctive, but it was so fast that even Shan Chao couldn't react.
He pressed down on Shanchao's shoulder with his backhand, and spread his palm against the strong wind; the next moment, he heard a crisp "pop!", and he held the steel crossbow in his hand with incomparable precision!
Xie Yun's hands and feet were already weak, and the delicate skin on his palm was burned by the body of the arrow. He immediately let go of his fingers, and the crossbow arrow fell to the ground.
Shan Chao shouted loudly: "Xie Yun!"
For some reason, Jing Ling, who was about to catch up in the distance, also staggered, opened her eyes wide suddenly, and the blood in her whole body was cold in an instant—then Xie Yun gasped for a moment, collapsed and closed his eyes. Eye.
Shan Chao wrapped him in his robes with a swish, and killed the other brown horse driving with a sword, then reined in and shouted: "Drive!"
Jing Ling's operation was very secretive this time. He only brought a few people and two horses with him. He never expected to be followed. As a result, another horse was killed right now, and the secret killer alone could not catch up with Shan Chao, and was soon left far away on the official road.
Shan Chao traveled through the mountains and forests with his superb riding skills. After running for about half a meal, he suddenly heard the abnormal movement of wings beating in the sky. He raised his head and squinted his eyes, and in an instant, he found a black shadow passing by in the dark night - the secret eagle!
How was it discovered? !
Shan Chao's thoughts turned, and he realized what it was, it was a horse.
The secret door is the most secretive assassination unit in the palace, and there must be all kinds of ingenious and treacherous means. As long as you do some tricks on the horse, even if you just add some tracking fragrance to the horse water, even if you escape more than ten miles away, they can be easily locked by their letter eagles.
But why did they take Xie Yun away
Is this Yin Kaiyang's intention, or Jing Ling's own order
Shan Chao immediately rolled over and landed on the ground, and slapped the horse's stock hard with his backhand. In the blink of an eye, the frightened black horse neighed, and then rushed into the more rugged mountain road like lightning!
Shan Chao wrapped Xie Yun tightly in his outer robe, and walked through the mountains and forests with him in his arms for a while, when he suddenly heard the sound of running water. Turning over the rugged rocks, the mountain road suddenly bends downward, and streams and caves suddenly appear at the bottom of the valley.
Shan Chao paused.
— It is very dangerous to walk on the mountain in the middle of the night. Even if you can still walk, the cold will inevitably take away Xie Yun's body temperature. Right now, you must find a place to stop to warm up and rest.
For the present plan, the only way is to wait until dawn before going on the official road and returning to the city along the way.
Shan Chao carried Xie Yun with one hand, brushed away the overgrown weeds at the entrance of the cave with the other, bent down and walked in. Fortunately, after ten or so steps, the cave expanded, and the ground was still relatively dry. The cold wind was blocked by the rocks, making a dull and distant sound.
Shan Chao took off his robe and spread it on the ground, and carefully put Xie Yun on it.
However, at this moment, he discovered something strange——
Xie Yun was short of breath, his eyelashes were trembling, cold sweat permeated his temple hair and thin side cheeks, and his body temperature was obviously rising gradually.
-He has a fever.
In the wilderness where there is a shortage of medical care and medicine, high fever is fatal.