Shadowless Pavilion

Upon hearing those four words come out of Pei Jue's mouth, Xu Ruoyan's hands and feet immediately turned ice cold.

Her premonition came true.

"Did they say anything else?" she asked anxiously.

Pei Jue's expression was also very solemn. He shook his head: "Let's pack up and leave today."

The two didn't even have time to return to Yangzhou, so they hurriedly rode back to the inn, quickly packed their luggage, wrote a letter to Zhang Zizhi and Song Mingyang respectively, and then hurriedly embarked on their journey home.

On the second day of their journey, during a break, Pei Jue received a second bamboo tube.

Xu Ruoyan had just returned from filling her kettle at the river when she saw Pei Jue holding a small bamboo tube in his hand. She hurriedly ran over and asked, "What did you say?"

Pei Jue didn't answer. He glanced at the first sheet and then pulled out the second one from the bottom to look at it.

"Two letters?"

Xu Ruoyan tossed the kettle aside, moved closer, and felt a sudden emptiness in her heart when she saw Pei Jue's gloomy gaze.

"Something's happened," Pei Jue said, putting away the letter and picking up the water jug ​​from the ground before hurriedly pulling Xu Ruoyan onto her horse. "Come with me, we're not going back to the capital."

Where to?

She staggered after Pei Jue, and before she could figure out what was going on, Pei Jue threw her onto the horse.

“Pei An and Sun Yulin each sent a letter saying that Qi Feng has issued a warrant for your arrest throughout the city, and your portrait is plastered all over the streets and alleys of the capital. Pei An has been placed under house arrest, the Sun family has been punished, Li Wen and Li Siming have both been dismissed from their posts, all the pharmacies have been demolished, and Banxia and Rendong escaped in time and were hidden in Pei An’s mansion,” he said with a deep look in his eyes, “We have been exposed.”

In an instant, a thunderbolt exploded in Xu Ruoyan's mind. She listened blankly as Pei Jue finished speaking, feeling as if her blood had turned to ice.

"How could this happen..." she murmured, feeling suddenly weak all over and almost falling off her horse.

Pei An steadied her in time and patted her shoulder reassuringly: "Pei An said it's very troublesome for him to send messages over there, and he probably won't be able to contact us again. Now we need to find a place where we won't be discovered and hide for a while."

His words brought Xu Ruoyan back to her senses. She took a deep breath and looked at Pei Jue with confusion in her eyes: "Where won't I be discovered?"

"Shadowless Pavilion".

So for the next period of time, they spent their days traveling and getting covered in dust.

Pei Jue explained the situation to Xu Ruoyan. During their absence from the capital, Qi Feng and Pei Huai initially did not take any action. However, one day, news suddenly spread from somewhere that Xu Ruoyan was a witch doctor who would disrupt the fate of the Great Qing Dynasty. Pei Huai then issued an edict to search for and arrest Xu Ruoyan, and to execute her once she was caught.

"The people of the city all came to the palace gates to plead for you, but Qi Feng not only disregarded their opinions, but also threatened them that anyone who dared to plead again would be punished the same as you, so..."

Xu Ruoyan sighed. She had long anticipated this day, but she hadn't expected it to come so soon.

So Qi Feng wanted to take her life with this little trick?

Xu Ruoyan scoffed inwardly.

He thought too highly of them and killed them.

The Shadowless Pavilion was located northwest of Daqing, and even riding at full speed, it would take them a full month to get there. Along the way, they dared not linger in any one place, fearing that Qi Feng would send assassins to catch up again without them noticing. Fortunately, apart from encountering bandits twice, nothing else happened. Zhu Ying also rushed over with her subordinates to protect them as soon as she received Pei Jue's message, and the group arrived at the Shadowless Pavilion safely.

“Madam, we have arrived.” Pei Jue reined in his horse at the edge of the cliff and turned to look at Xu Ruoyan.

Xu Ruoyan was speechless as she looked at the 90-degree vertical cliff in front of her.

"Could it be below this cliff?"

She dismounted and moved step by step to the edge of the cliff, cautiously peering down.

Although her martial arts training from a young age made her fearless, her most fatal weakness was her fear of heights. This was a physiological fear. Although her father had designed many special training programs for her to address this when she was young, and she could force herself to overcome the dizziness and nausea caused by fear for a certain period of time, her body's reaction was still honest. She had already gotten goosebumps all over her body just by standing five meters away from the edge of the cliff and peeking out.

Pei Jue could tell she was scared, so he quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

“Not down there,” he pointed to the suspension bridge not far away, “go from there.”

Xu Ruoyan rubbed her slightly dizzy head and breathed a sigh of relief.

Once on the bridge, she clung tightly to the vines on either side. Pei Jue, afraid she would be frightened again, followed closely behind her, protecting her.

“I remember, before we came to the capital, you once took me to the town market. We had to cross a small bridge to get there and back, which was also high up in the valley. Why weren’t you afraid then, Madam?”

Xu Ruoyan really wanted to turn around and roll her eyes at him, but she could barely stand and could only stare intently at the wooden plank under her feet.

"At that time, I was so afraid that you would fall that I kept my eyes on you. There was no time to be afraid."

Pei Jue chuckled softly and tightened his grip on her hand.

"Then it's my turn to protect the lady."

Although the bridge looked rather unstable, it was still quite safe. Zhu Ying and another guard led their horses behind them and crossed the bridge smoothly.

Just moments ago, when they were on the other side, Xu Ruoyan noticed that the other side of the bridge was also a wasteland, with no buildings and not even a single tree in sight.

Where is the Shadowless Pavilion?

She looked around curiously, wanting to see what tricks Pei Jue could come up with.

Pei Jue didn't respond to her, but simply took her hand and led her into the thick fog in front of them.

Before Xu Ruoyan could even wonder, the fog in front of her gradually dissipated. She waved the milky white fog vigorously, and a few seconds later, a colossal object became clear in her vision.

For a moment, she almost forgot to breathe.

What a breathtaking building this is!

Before them stood a towering iron tower, its surface covered with layers upon layers of enormous gears that seamlessly enveloped the entire structure. Bathed in mist, the tower appeared both mysterious and dangerous.

"This, you made it?" Xu Ruoyan looked at Pei Jue in disbelief.

Pei Jue nodded: "To be precise, it was mostly thanks to Zhu Ying; I didn't help much."

Under the imposing presence of this towering structure, even Xu Ruoyan, who was usually calm and collected, couldn't help but nervously swallow.

"Let's go inside."

Zhu Ying stepped forward and pushed open the heavy door, then stepped aside and bowed, waiting for the two masters to enter.

As soon as she entered, the lights dimmed. Xu Ruoyan blinked, trying to adjust to the sudden change in light.

Fortunately, the lights were on, so at least we could see each other's faces.

“Be careful,” Pei Jue pulled Xu Ruoyan back before she could take a step. “Don’t move around carelessly, there are traps.”

Xu Ruoyan blinked and obediently pulled her foot back.

"Let's go this way." Pei Jue took her hand and led her from the outside to the back staircase, up to the second floor.

"Did you design all these mechanisms?"

Pei Jue nodded again: "They were all designed by mechanics."

Xu Ruoyan looked around and exclaimed in admiration, "I didn't expect you to have so many people under you."

Pei Jue lowered his head and chuckled, saying, "If we stay here for a while, Qi Feng definitely won't be able to find this place. Let's think about what to do next."

Upon hearing this, Xu Ruoyan's expression turned serious again.

She sighed deeply, pulled out a chair and sat down: "Actually, what I'm most worried about right now isn't myself."

Pei Jue pulled up a chair and sat down next to her, took her hand and listened quietly to what she had to say.

“I was afraid of implicating Pei An and the others,” Xu Ruoyan’s tone gradually lowered. “I only escaped by myself, but they are still in Qi Feng’s hands. I’m afraid that if Qi Feng can’t find me, he will use them as an example to force me to come out.”

She slowly shook her head, full of regret: "We shouldn't have run away, we should have gone back."

"Don't worry," Pei An patted her head, "I've already sent guards to protect them. We're at a stalemate right now, and Qi Feng doesn't dare to make a move easily. We still have time."

We came here partly to protect you from being discovered, and partly to find a safe place where we can calmly consider our next steps.

Xu Ruoyan sniffed, temporarily suppressing her negative emotions. She gripped Pei Jue's hand tightly and asked, "What should we do now?"

Pei Jue patted her hand reassuringly and said, "Our main concern right now is how Qi Feng found out about this."

Xu Ruoyan thought to herself, "I think I know."

However, one thing she couldn't understand was that even if Qi Feng was a time traveler and wanted to secure his position as second only to the emperor by supporting Pei Huai, then his real opponent should be Pei Jue. Why was he targeting her now?

Could it be because Qi Feng also discovered her identity? But what threat could that pose to him?

Or perhaps they were enemies in a past life?

In an instant, Xu Ruoyan's brain felt as if it had been violently struck by a boulder.

An answer is about to emerge, but it is always nipped in the bud.

She desperately tried to recall people she might have offended in her past life, but couldn't think of anyone she had ever offended.

"What are you thinking about?"

Pei Jue's voice brought her back to reality. She smiled slightly guiltily, "It's nothing."

"Now that we're here, we can't help with anything in the capital, and we've even lost control of things in Jiangnan."

Pei Jue shook his head: "Zhu Ying also left people in Jiangnan, Zhang Zizhi is still there, and we've contacted quite a few people, remember? Progress in Jiangnan is very fast. As long as Qi Feng hasn't discovered that place yet, our plan will be completed soon."

That's too idealistic.

Xu Ruoyan shook her head inwardly, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything to deny Pei Jue's vision. After all, if she could think of something, how could Pei Jue not have thought of it?

The current situation is indeed unfavorable to them. Now that Qi Feng has discovered their plan, Jiangnan will most likely suffer as well; it's only a matter of time.

But she still didn't ask any further questions.

In such a desperate situation, arbitrarily shattering someone's hope is no different from taking their life.