After the secret passages under the Ao Temple were uncovered by Xue Mu and his men, Emperor Yan ordered those secret passages to be buried and all the exits were tightly blocked. The priests of the Zoroastrianism argued for this reason, saying that the underground secret room was used for their sacrifices, and it was a sacred place. This barbaric act is a blasphemy against the gods! It will draw the fire of the wrath of the gods!
Emperor Yan only expressed three words to this, I believe in Buddha.
So the secret way of Zoroastrianism was sealed under the strong condemnation of the priest.
Although the believers of the Zoroastrianism were still clamoring for religious discrimination by His Majesty the Son of Heaven, they were quickly suppressed by the Jinwu Guards. The people in Chang'an City enjoyed watching the excitement, but I don't know how many people have suffered because of it.
For example, the King of Lingnan, who can only hide aggrieved in the small secret room in Tang Zibo's mansion now, discusses the world's major affairs with him.
"Father, are you really going? I think this is a bait deliberately thrown by Xue Mu to lure us into the bait." Tang Zibo looked at the opposite person with a solemn expression.
The King of Lingnan thought for a while in silence, then said in a deep voice, "According to the report from the spies, Xue Mu indeed only brought a team to Liang County."
Tang Zibo frowned in disapproval: "But is there really a treasure on Xiwei Mountain? What if it's a trap?"
The King of Lingnan raised his head and looked at him: "Why don't you understand that as long as Xue Mu is around, even if we can get the treasure and form an army that obeys our orders, we will not be able to defeat Emperor Yan."
Tang Zibo pursed his lips and remained silent. What his adoptive father said was right. Back then they managed to win over the king of Qiang and Wu to send troops. Didn't they get beaten by Xue Mu in one battle and fled back? However, he ran to Liang County rashly like this, and he always felt that something was wrong: "Father, Xue Mu is very skilled in martial arts, even if he only brings a team, we are no match for him."
King of Lingnan said, "You forgot? We still have Aies."
Tang Zibo's eyebrows moved again, Aies was brave and good at fighting, and there was a resourceful Yijin beside him. It was because of these two people that Dongganluo Kingdom still stood firm among many small countries after the defeat. But he was also worried about Aies: "But..."
Tang Zibo had just started when he was interrupted by Lingnan King: "Did you get scared when Xue Mu caught you last time? How can you do such a big thing with such timidity? If you wait until Xue Mu sends someone back to Chang'an to report, it will be too late gone."
Tang Zibo kept his mouth shut and said nothing. His adoptive father was always cautious in doing things. This time he was so eager to get rid of Xue Mu. It seemed that he hated Xue Mu to the core.
"I will contact Aies in person, you go and organize the troops to go to Xiwei Mountain." Lingnan King turned his head and did not look at him again.
"Yes, that child will go down first." Tang Zibo stood up and bowed slightly to the King of Lingnan before exiting the secret room.
After the door of the secret room behind him was closed, he exhaled lightly. Now when he thinks of Xue Mu, his right wrist still hurts. He felt that his adoptive father shouldn't take it lightly, but this is indeed a good time to get rid of Xue Mu. If he is the King of Lingnan, he wouldn't want to sit around and wait for the opportunity to pass up.
He suddenly chuckled, raised his foot and walked outside. I have to say that if this is really a trap designed by Xue Mu, then he has figured out the Lingnan King's psychology too thoroughly. It is better to get rid of such enemies as soon as possible.
A man dressed as a Zoroastrian priest came to Aies' temporary mansion. He was wearing a long robe and a hideous mask on his head, which looked very intrusive in daylight.
"My lord?" Aies was not surprised by King Lingnan's sudden visit, because he also received the news that Xue Mu had found a treasure on Xiwei Mountain.
Ling Nan nodded to him, still wearing the mask on his head, and explained his reason for coming. After hearing this, Aerus glanced at Yi Jin who was drinking tea beside him, and said to the king of Lingnan, "My lord, Xue Mu is our common enemy, this time there is such a good opportunity to eradicate him, how could I refuse? "
The King of Lingnan didn't seem surprised by his answer, he just asked, "How likely do you think it is that Xue Mu set up an ambush on the mountain to ambush us?"
Aies thought for a while and said, "Xue Mu doesn't bring many people. If we want to set up an ambush, we can set up an ambush in two different places at most, but we can choose more routes." Ambush circle, then no matter how good he is in ambush, it's useless.
Seeing that Lingnan King didn't speak, Aerus said again: "Your Majesty, don't worry, even if Xue Mu really set up an ambush on the mountain, you don't need to be afraid. You shouldn't bring too many people to Liang County this time, but everyone must be an expert."
The King of Lingnan thought for a while, and then a muffled voice came from under the mask: "I understand, but the special envoy's every move has attracted the emperor's attention. I'm going out of the city tomorrow, and I'm afraid the special envoy has to be wronged to pretend to be a Zoroastrian."
Aus smiled indifferently: "It's okay, it's okay." Anyway, he is good at this matter.
The plan to encircle and suppress Xue Mu was finalized in this way, and under the intensive preparations of Lingnan King, it was ready within a day.
On the day they left the city, the team was really small, including Lingnan King, there were only seven people in total. Ayers brought three subordinates, all of whom were selected by him as masters, and those who were only in charge of using brains like Yi Jin were left in the mansion. The King of Lingnan also brought three people with him, one was Tang Zibo, although the other two did not know each other, but judging by their walking steps, they knew that their kung fu skills were not weak.
Although there are few people in the team, they are good, and because the secret passage under the Ao Temple is blocked, if they lead a large group of people out of the city, it will arouse the suspicion of others. Besides, Xue Mu only brought one Peng Peng with him this time, so many of them are more than enough to deal with the two of them.
There are only two counties between Liang County and Chang'an. After riding for half a day, they headed straight to Xiwei Mountain. The King of Lingnan is still dressed as a high priest today, and he is not afraid that he will not be able to see the road clearly while wearing a mask. After arriving at Xiwei Mountain, several people tied their horses to the foot of the mountain and walked up the mountain by themselves.
Xiwei Mountain is the only mountain in Liang County, and it is the only place for ordinary people to chop firewood and collect herbs, but they have not seen a single person along the way. Aies, who was walking at the front, couldn't help asking, "Why is there no one on the mountain?"
Tang Zibo said: "The special envoy doesn't know, there have been rumors of mountain ghosts eating people on the West Wei Mountain."
"Mountain ghost eats people?" Aies raised his eyebrows with great interest, "What kind of mountain ghost is it?"
"According to the common people, it has three heads and eight legs, and the green face and fangs are terrifying."
"Blue face and fangs?" He pointed to the mask on King Lingnan's face, "Is it like this?"
The corner of Tang Zibo's mouth twitched slightly and he didn't speak, but the King of Lingnan said, "What kind of mountain ghost eats people, it must be Wen Wei who is afraid that people will miss his money, so he deliberately created rumors."
Aies nodded, and agreed: "Sure enough, the prince has insight, but when we came, I heard some people saying that there are some innocent souls on this mountain."
The King of Lingnan sneered: "The people at the bottom of the mountain are ignorant and believe in these nonsense. The special envoy will not be the same as them?"
Aies' eyes moved, and he looked behind Lingnan King and said, "Then that one over there must be a human too, right?"
The King of Lingnan pretended to turn his head, and saw a girl in a cheap calico dress squatting in the distance, as if she was looking for something.
The Lingnan Dynasty's own guard gave a wink, and the man spontaneously went over and escorted the girl over.
The King of Lingnan looked at the girl calmly. She was petite, with a round face, slightly thick lips, yellowish skin, and a few brown spots on her cheeks.
The girl who was escorted over stared at the group of people in front of her in horror. These people were obviously not from Liang County, because she had never seen people dressed like this before. Especially the masked one, who is scarier than the mountain ghost.
Seeing her panicked expression, the King of Lingnan asked slowly, "What is your name, and what are you doing on this mountain?"
The girl swallowed her saliva, and replied cautiously: "The little girl's name is Hu Lingshan, and she picks mushrooms on this mountain."
"Picking mushrooms?" Lingnan King glanced at her again, "I heard that there are mountain ghosts on this mountain, aren't you afraid?"
The girl said submissively: "I, I was captured by the mountain ghost."
The few people were quiet for a while, and Aies snorted and laughed: "So that mountain ghost doesn't like to eat people, but likes to eat mushrooms?"
"No, it's not." The girl anxiously wanted to explain something, her face turned red with anxiety, "Mountain ghosts are not ghosts, they are, they are people."
Several people glanced at each other, and this time Tang Zibo spoke on behalf of him: "Since the mountain ghost is a human being, why did she arrest you?"
The girl licked her lower lip, and said: "Ma, County magistrate Ma wanted to give his son a ghost marriage, so he arrested the little girl. Later, later, it was the mountain ghost who rescued me."
Tang Zibo's eyes moved slightly, and he glanced at Lingnan King calmly. They had heard before that Xue Mu had arrested Ma County Magistrate Ma of Liang County. It was said that Ma County Magistrate had neglected human life in order to give his son a ghost marriage. He was still thinking at the time that Xue Mu seemed to be looking for Du Juan in such a hurry, but he still had time to take care of these nosy matters.
Tang Zibo looked at the girl in front of him and asked, "So that mountain ghost is still a good person?"
The girl hesitated for a moment, and said falteringly: "He, he is a very strange person. He always says that there are some treasures on the mountain, and he will go crazy when people get close to him."
Now the few people were completely silent, and their sharp eyes all fell on the girl who claimed to be Hu Lingshan.
This girl suddenly appeared here and revealed the treasure to them seemingly unintentionally. It is very likely that Xue Mu arranged for them to enter the game here.
The question now is whether to believe what she said.
According to Lingnan King's character, he would definitely not believe it, but Aerus seemed to be very interested in her words: "Treasure? What is it?"
The girl shook her head and said, "I don't know, the mountain ghosts usually guard the entrance of the cave, so I dare not approach."
Lingnan looked at her, followed her words and asked: "Since you are so afraid of him, why don't you run away now?"
The girl said: "Although the mountain ghost is uncertain, it saved Lingshan's life after all. A few days ago, a general led someone up the mountain and injured him. I can't leave him alone."
Aies said: "Young lady values love and righteousness."
However, the King of Lingnan analyzed too much information from her words: "General? What does he look like? Why did you want to hurt the mountain ghost?"
The girl was stupefied by his question, she calmed down and said: "That general is very good-looking, and his martial arts are also very good, even the mountain ghost is no match for him. As for why he was injured, I don't know. It’s not really aimed at the treasure, is it?”
Lingnan King frowned and thought for a while, then asked, "Did that general find the treasure?"
The girl glanced at him in surprise: "Of course not, isn't this the crazy thing the mountain ghost said?"
The King of Lingnan pursed his lips, pondered for a while before saying, "You just said that the mountain ghost is guarding the entrance of the cave. Why isn't the treasure in the cave?"
The girl said: "I don't know if there is any treasure in the cave, anyway, the general came out empty-handed."
"Where is the general now?"
"I don't know, maybe I left early, maybe I'm still looking for the treasure somewhere."
The King of Lingnan narrowed his eyes. Hearing her description, the general must be Xue Mu, and he must still be on the mountain. He looked at the girl in front of him, his gaze became sharp: "Do you know what the mountain ghost's name is?"
"Name?" The girl frowned and thought for a while, "When he was talking to himself, he mentioned his name, it seems to be Gao, Gao... Gao Zhengping!"
The King of Lingnan was taken aback. Gao Zhengping, Wen Wei's personal bodyguard, was one of the top experts in Chang'an City back then.
Thinking of this, he stared at the person opposite again. He asked so many questions just now, and the questions were very detailed, but she answered them all very well, and there was no inconsistency. Either what she said was the truth, Or... a seasoned liar.
Speaking of veteran liars, he had to think of one person—Du Juan.
This damned liar, who didn't tell the truth in any of his ten sentences, escaped from the secret passage of the Ao Temple, and never heard from him again. Could it be that she and Xue Mu reconciled in Liang County, and then conspired to cheat him again
Lingnan King's expression turned serious. If it was Du Juan, he could have dealt with both of them together.
He raised his eyes slightly, looked at the human being opposite and said, "I know a little bit about medicine, I wonder if the girl can take us to see the injury?"
The girl was overjoyed to hear him say this: "Really? That's great! But he has a weird personality, and I'm afraid he might hurt you by mistake."
"You don't have to worry about this girl."
"In that case, follow me." The girl said and turned to lead the way, Lingnan King and his party followed behind her.
Aus glanced at him unexpectedly, and whispered beside him: "I thought you wouldn't believe her."
King of Lingnan said: "Of course I don't believe her."
Aies raised his eyebrows: "Then why did you let her lead the way? Isn't the prince afraid that she will lead us into Xue Mu's encirclement?"
The King of Lingnan laughed and said, "With the special envoy's martial arts, even if you are really ambushed, you don't have to be afraid, right?"
"Of course." Aus nodded proudly.
Not long after walking, there was a fork in the road ahead. The girl turned around without hesitation. The Lingnan Dynasty team took a look, and suddenly called out: "Wait a minute."
The girl walking in front stopped suspiciously, Lingnan King was silent for a while, and said, "Go to the left."
"Why?" The girl obviously didn't agree with his proposal, "Here, you should turn right. I don't know where you will go to the left."
The King of Lingnan ignored her and turned to the left. The subordinates he brought followed behind him without hesitation. After thinking for a while, Aes also walked to the left.
Seeing them all turning to the other side, the girl chased after them anxiously: "Where are you going? You can't wander around in the mountains. What if you get lost?"
The person next to Lingnan Dynasty winked, and that person walked up to the girl and escorted her over again. The girl turned pale with fright, and looked at the Lingnan King and dared not speak.
After walking for a while, a cave suddenly appeared in front of us.
Several people stopped in front of the cave, Lingnan King looked up for a while, and called one of his men to go in. The subordinate walked around in the cave, and quickly ran out: "Priest, the cave is empty, there is nothing."
The King of Lingnan frowned, still thinking about what was going on, when a young man's arrogant voice came from a distance: "What are you doing here at Seven Stars?"
Several people heard the sound and looked sideways, a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy came out of the woods. Lingnan looked him up and asked, "Who are you?"
Gao Chengdao: "The leader of the Seven Stars Sect."
The King of Lingnan's heart sank. This was indeed a trap set by Xue Mubu, but he did not expect that he would collude with the forces of the Jianghu. If he added a whole sect, it would be much more difficult to kill him.
The rest of the people also looked around defensively, the Seven Star Sect was ambushing around, they didn't sense the aura of a single person, it seemed that they were all experts.
Gao Cheng looked at their guarded faces and asked inexplicably, "What are you looking for?"
Tang Zibo glanced at him and said, "Call you Seven Star Sect members to come out, why hide?"
Gao Cheng said calmly, "It's all here."
Tang Zibo: "..."
He looked at the boy in front of him in surprise, trying to find an expression of "I'm teasing you" from his face.
It's a pity that Gao Cheng looked serious.
Tang Zibo took a deep breath and asked, "Who are you?"
Gao Cheng looked at him with contempt: "As I said just now, I am the leader of the Seven Stars Sect."
The serious tone doesn't sound like you're joking at all.
Tang Zibo felt a little out of breath.
The King of Lingnan said impatiently: "It's useless to talk more, let's take him down first."
Just as a subordinate next to him was about to make a move, he felt a gust of wind coming towards him like a bamboo, which shocked him so much that he subconsciously froze in place. After the whirring of the clothes flapped by the wind stopped, Xue Mu stood in front of Gao Cheng with a long knife in his hand, looked at the masked priest and said, "This voice is so familiar, could it be the King of Lingnan?"
Regarding Xue Mu's appearance, Lingnan King smiled instead of being surprised: "Xue Mu, since you came out alone, don't even think about going back alive."
Xue Mu seemed not to understand the meaning of his words, and said to himself: "It's really the King of Lingnan. I don't know if the lord has reported to the emperor this time when he returned to Beijing?"
The King of Lingnan sneered and said, "Don't worry, I will report your death to the emperor together with the news of your death."
Xue Mu finally smiled: "Is the prince so confident that he can kill me?"
Lingnan King said: "This king thought that you put all your effort into attracting me, and you must have laid a net. I didn't expect it to be like this. It's really disappointing."
Xue Mu curled his lips, looked at him and said, "Why do you need to set up a net to deal with you, as long as you come, you will surely die." He paused, and then added, "Oh, yes, our plan is called catching a turtle in a jar, You are that turtle."
…
Tang Zibo heard that the two armies would scold each other for a while before fighting, and now it seems that Xue Mu has done this well.
Lingnan King's face turned black with anger, he didn't want to talk nonsense with Xue Mu, he directly greeted his subordinates: "Do it!"
Almost at the same time as Lingnan King's voice fell, Peng Peng rushed out of the woods with a group of guards. Ayers quickly flashed in front of Xue Mu, and fought with him. At the same time, he attacked Xue Mu and others Tang Zibo. Pengpeng was entangled by one of Ayers' subordinates, the guard was entangled by one of his subordinates, and the leader of the Seven Stars Sect also had a fight with one of Lingnan King's subordinates.
In the blink of an eye, everyone started fighting in front of the cave, and there were only two people who stayed out of it. One was the King of Lingnan, and the other was the subordinate who persevered in holding Miss Hu Lingshan hostage.
Aersi's martial arts were already comparable to Xue Mu's, and now that Tang Zibo was added, Xue Mu would not be able to get any advantage. Hu Lingshan secretly took a look at the people around her, then turned her head to watch the battle situation, without making a sound.
The weapon Aies uses is also a knife, but Dongganluo's eagle knife is somewhat different from Dacheng's long knife. The front part of the eagle knife has a raised arc, like an eagle's beak. Xue Mu dodged Tang Zibobo's stabbing sword, and the point of Aies' knife was brought to him again, and he frowned slightly.
There was nothing special about Aies's martial arts moves, but despite his tall stature, his movements were surprisingly agile. Coupled with the natural strength of the Donggan Luo people, it was not so easy for Xue Mu to deal with it. If he continued to struggle with the two of them like this, he would gradually lose the wind. As the saying goes, capture the king first, and he will find a gap to take down the King of Lingnan.
As soon as this thought occurred to him, he slashed at Tang Zibo. The slash was too fast. Although Tang Zibo dodged quickly, he was still stabbed on his right shoulder, and he staggered back a few steps. With this momentum, he stabbed Aies in the heart with the handle of the knife backhand, Aies dodged sideways, Xue Mu's toes touched, and he flew in the direction of Lingnan King.
The King of Lingnan looked at Xue Mu flying towards him, and suddenly pulled out a handful of software from his robe. The thin metal piece shook in mid-air, wrapping around Xue Mu's sword like a snake. He quickly glanced behind Xue Mu, at this time Xue Mu was restrained by himself, and the empty door opened wide, as long as Aes attacked from behind, with his martial arts, he would definitely kill Xue Mu with a single blow.
Sure enough, Aies flew over at the same time that the soft sword was wrapped around Xue Mu's long knife. The eagle knife in his hand gleamed brightly, and it was placed on Lingnan King's neck in the blink of an eye.
Before the King of Lingnan came back to his senses, Xue Mu had already freed himself from the soft sword on the long knife, and stood opposite him calmly, looking at him.
Aies smiled disdainfully at King Lingnan: "I knew you wanted Xue Mu to die by my sword, but I'm sorry, I don't want to make Xue Mu an enemy so early."