Yan Liqiang waited until the Ghost King and Lin Qingtian disappeared behind the hillside opposite the river before he slowly walked out of the bamboo forest. He looked in the direction where the two people disappeared, frowning slightly.
There should be more than one secret passage in the palace. Yan Liqiang was not surprised that His Majesty the Emperor could escape through the secret passage. However, Yan Liqiang was a little surprised that the Ghost King and Lin Qingtian could catch up with the Emperor so quickly. When he thought about it carefully, he was able to sneak into the palace without being discovered. With the cultivation level of Lin Qingtian and the Ghost King, it was too easy for them to sneak into the palace at this time. It was possible that His Majesty the Emperor was chased here by the two of them.
From being the high and mighty king of a country to being hunted down by the White Lotus Sect in the capital, such a change only took one day. It cannot but be said that this is a tragedy. As for the reason why Lin Qingtian and the Ghost King hunted down the emperor, there is no doubt that it was for the Chinese treasure that Sun Bingchen mentioned - the Nine Dragon Seal.
Thinking carefully about what Sun Bingchen said before, there seems to be a little contradiction. On the one hand, he said how powerful and important the Nine Dragon Seal is. If you can master this treasure, you can dominate the world and get twice the result with half the effort. But on the other hand, the emperor who holds this treasure is being hunted down. When he competed with Lin Qingtian before, he was completely suppressed by Lin Qingtian. Tonight, the Imperial Capital City encountered such a big thing and was unable to reverse the situation in the Imperial Capital City. Listening to the hidden meaning in Sun Bingchen's words, the emperor has the Nine Dragon Seal, but he can't bring out the power of the Nine Dragon Seal. It seems that it is not an easy thing for the Nine Dragon Seal to bring out its ability. Well, it should be like this. When there is a chance, I will ask someone about the Nine Dragon Seal. Cui Lichen should know...
"Sir, is there anything wrong..." Yan Qing asked doubtfully beside Yan Liqiang.
Yan Liqiang glanced at the expressions on the faces of Yan Qing and Yan Hong beside him, and suddenly remembered that these two people did not have the ability to see in the dark like him. The hillside across the river was 300 meters away, and the fire on the dock here could not reach that side at all. On such a night, the two people did not notice anything unusual on the hillside over there.
"Well, nothing. I just discovered that there seemed to be some masters on the hillside opposite. Now they have left, so let's go too!" Yan Liqiang shook his head and said.
"Sir, where are we going?" Yan Hong also asked, "Are we going to leave Imperial Capital directly?"
"No, let's go around the outside of the Imperial City first, and then go back to the Deer Park!"
…
There was chaos outside the Imperial Capital City, with flames shooting up into the sky and ghosts howling everywhere. Yan Liqiang took Yan Qing and Yan Hong with him and walked through the fields outside the city and the small roads far away from the villages and towns. They walked around the Imperial Capital City, first explored the situation outside the Imperial Capital City, and then returned to Luyuan.
Along the way, Yan Liqiang and his companions did not encounter large groups of zombies, but they did encounter some small groups of zombies. However, they were all easily killed by Yan Liqiang and his companions, so it was a safe escape.
After a whole night of hard work, when Yan Liqiang returned to Deer Garden, the sky in the east was already turning white and it was about to dawn. The light of the red pillar of beacon smoke rising from the Imperial Capital City was a little weaker at dawn, but it was still very obvious. Deer Garden was completely quiet and there was not a single zombie outside the Deer Garden, which was a big surprise.
Behind the high wall outside the Deer Garden, a few soldiers' heads peeped out carefully, observing the situation outside. When they saw Yan Liqiang returning with Yan Qing and Yan Hong, the soldiers shouted from behind the wall, "Ah, Master Yan is back. Quickly move the sandbags and iron bars behind the door. Open the door, open the door..."
"No need to open the door, we can just come in through the wall!" Yan Liqiang greeted the people inside. Not wanting to cause trouble for them, he jumped up and, together with Yan Hong and Yan Qing, jumped onto the several-foot-high wall and climbed into the Deer Garden.
As soon as Yan Liqiang entered the deer garden, a group of soldiers immediately surrounded him. Meng Hui also ran over, "Sir, you are finally back..."
There was obvious redness and swelling on Meng Hui's left cheek, as well as a clear slap mark. The expressions on the faces of the soldiers around him were also a little strange after seeing him come back, as if something had happened.
"Meng Hui, what's wrong with your face? Who hit you?" Yan Liqiang asked directly.
"It's okay!" Meng Hui touched his face with a gloomy look and smiled unnaturally, "Sir, this... someone from the palace... someone from the palace has come!"
"Ah, someone from the palace?" Yan Liqiang was almost frightened by Meng Hui's words, "The Imperial Capital is in such a mess, and at this time, someone from the palace ran out and fled to the Deer Garden!"
"Well... just last night, less than two hours after the Lord left the Deer Park, a group of people ran out from the back hill of the Deer Park. We didn't know how they got in. They said they were from the palace..."
"The hills behind the Deer Park?"
"Um!"
"how many people?"
"There are about 70 or 80 of them, including palace maids, eunuchs, and guards, as well as a few concubines. Some of them seem to have high status, and there is also a master, whose status I don't know..."
Yan Liqiang touched his forehead, and only two words came to his mind - secret passage. Obviously, there were more than one secret passage in the palace, and one of them led to the Deer Garden. Those who escaped from the palace could only have come out from the secret passage. Apart from the secret passage, escaping from the current Imperial Capital City would be like fighting back and forth among thousands of troops. It was simply impossible for so many people to escape.
“Where are these people now?”
"It's in Wanhuayuan..."
"Where is Liu Xi with them?"
"He is also in Wanhuayuan. He was just summoned for questioning and has not come out yet!"
Yan Liqiang thought for a moment, then pulled Yan Qing and Yan Hong over and said to Meng Hui, "This is Yan Qing, this is Yan Hong, they will follow me from now on, they are my close friends, take them down first, find them some ordinary clothes to change into, then take them to get familiar with the Deer Garden, then take them to the archery range to find some pots of arrows..." After talking to Meng Hui, Yan Liqiang said to Yan Qing and Yan Hong, "It's not a good idea for you to meet people from the palace now, go change your clothes first, and step aside, I'll go see who's coming..."
Yan Qing and Yan Hong nodded and followed Yan Liqiang's lead. They were still wearing the uniforms of palace guards, and it was indeed a bit of an eyesore to follow Yan Liqiang.
After arranging these, Yan Liqiang walked straight towards Wanhuayuan.
Wanhuayuan is not an ordinary place. It is located in the Deer Garden. Usually only the royal family who come to the Deer Garden are qualified to live there. In the past, when the emperor came to the Deer Garden to practice archery, he lived in Wanhuayuan.
Yan Liqiang came to Wanhua Courtyard. The people guarding the gate of Wanhua Courtyard were no longer the soldiers from Luyuan, but four men dressed as palace guards. Each of them held a knife handle and stood guard at the gate of Wanhua Courtyard nervously, looking around like a frightened bird.
"Stop! Who are you, trespassing into Wanhuayuan?"
Seeing Yan Liqiang approaching alone, a guard glared at him and yelled at him, tightening his grip on the knife handle.
Yan Liqiang glanced at them for a few times, his expression unchanged, and he just said calmly, "I am Yan Liqiang. Who is the noble in the palace? Please inform them that Yan Liqiang wants to see you!"
As the saying goes, a man's name is like the shadow of a tree. Yan Liqiang is not an unknown person in the imperial capital. When the palace guards heard Yan Liqiang's name, their faces changed and they immediately restrained themselves, not daring to act rashly. The guard who had just scolded Yan Liqiang swallowed nervously twice, and when he saw Yan Liqiang's eyes sweeping over his hand, he quickly moved his hand away from the handle of the knife and dared not speak. One of the guards glanced at Yan Liqiang, then immediately turned around and ran inside.
Soon, the guard and another guard came out and invited Yan Liqiang in...
As soon as he arrived at the hall of Wanhua Courtyard, Yan Liqiang heard a shrill and irritable voice coming from the hall, "Rebellion, rebellion, a small lieutenant dares to talk back here, is this still the Imperial Capital City, is this still the Deer Garden, the Han Empire is not over yet, I asked you to send people to the Imperial Capital City to check the situation and inquire about the news, but you are here to refuse, aren't you afraid of losing your head?"
"The steward of Luyuan is Eunuch Li, and now Eunuch Li has fallen into trouble. If Eunuch wants to order us around, he only needs to show us the appointment as the steward of Luyuan, and we naturally dare not disobey. If Eunuch does not have such an appointment and assignment, we are not under his jurisdiction, and no one has the right to give us orders..." Liu Xitong's voice came from inside, neither humble nor arrogant.
(End of this chapter)