Dashao Village 11

The leader of the men in black asked, "Since you are sure of victory, why do you want to negotiate peace?"

"I'm not like you guys who kill people without blinking an eye," Qin Yan said confidently, "But I am impatient and kind. If you want to die, I can also grant your wish."

The leader of the men in black listened to his big talk and said coldly: "Do you know who I am? How dare you talk to me like that?"

Qin Yan laughed contemptuously and patted Gu Qingqu on the shoulder. "Do you know who he is? How dare you be so arrogant?"

The leader of the men in black followed up his words and asked, "Who?"

Qin Yan laughed again and said proudly: "My brother"

The leader of the men in black frowned slightly, then asked, "Who are you?"

This time, Qin Yan didn't respond. "We're not on a blind date. There's no need to test the waters. Are we willing to cooperate?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the leader of the men in black pushed another man in black next to him forward. Qin Yan understood what he meant, "Are you sure you want him to die in vain?"

The leader of the men in black said: "I dare not disobey the orders from above"

Qin Yan restrained his expression and stood up from the chair, throwing Fu Ze out. The man in black who was pushed out raised his sword to block, but Fu Ze nimbly bit his wrist holding the knife. The man in black widened his eyes and then fell to the ground and died.

"Since you want to die so much, I can only grant your wish." The moment he fell to the ground, Qin Yan blew out the torch. The only light in the forest disappeared, and darkness swept in. Only the hissing sound of snakes could be heard in the quiet forest. With a "swish" sound, the sound of wind blowing clothes was heard, and soon the forest returned to peace again.

Qin Yan relit the torch. There was no trace of the man in black in the forest. The two brothers Cui Chihu and Cui Chibao broke out in cold sweats and quickly knelt down in front of Qin Yan. "Thank you, Master!"

Qin Yan said: "Get up"

The two brothers Cui Chihu and Cui Chibao looked at each other, then bowed and said, "Master, you saved our lives. We brothers are willing to work like cows and horses to repay you. We beg you to take us by your side."

Qin Yan rejected them without hesitation, "I have too many cattle and horses, you two can go wherever you want, don't follow me"

The two brothers of the Cui family fell to the ground and begged, "Master, our village has been massacred and we don't know where to go. If you don't take us in, we will die."

Qin Yan didn't like what he heard. "Moral kidnapping? I don't believe in that."

“We never meant that.”

Qin Yan waved his hand, "It's no use saying anything, I won't want you, let's go, we have to hurry on our way"

After hearing his firm words, the two brothers of the Cui family stopped talking, kowtowed three times to Qin Yan and stood up, "Master, we brothers can only repay you for saving our lives in the next life. Rest in peace, Master." After saying that, they stood up and walked towards the woods.

"etc"

The two brothers of the Cui family quickly turned around and walked back, "Master"

Qin Yan raised his chin towards Gu Qingqu, "He shouted..."

The two brothers of the Cui family looked at Gu Qingqu. Gu Qingqu glanced at the bodies on the ground, then looked at the brothers of the Cui family, "Why did they want to kill you?"

The two brothers of the Cui family looked at each other and did not answer immediately. This look is problematic. Qin Yan snorted, "Don't say you were the ones who provoked them first. I'll call them back."

"No," Cui Chibao blurted out, but was stopped by Cui Chihu who hit his arm. However, Cui Chibao said, "The master is not an outsider, brother, this matter is not my fault. I don't understand why we have to hide."

Cui Chihu still had doubts, "But..."

"Oh, brother, what else can you say? We are all dead. Do you understand? If it weren't for the master, we would have died too. What are we hiding?"

Cui Chihu was convinced by him, "Well, Master, this matter must start from..."

"Wait." Qin Yan raised his hand to stop him from speaking, and leaned over to Gu Qingqu and said, "Every time you listen to a story, something happens. Are you sure you want to listen?"

Gu Qingqu nodded, and Qin Yan asked curiously, "Why? Aren't you afraid that you won't be able to get out of the forest again this time?"

Gu Qingqu calmly replied: "Those assassins are from the capital."

After hearing his words, Qin Yan quickly asked: "How do you know? Do you know him?"

"I don't know them. They all have Beijing accents."

Qin Yan frowned, thinking that he had made a hasty decision, "Just based on the accent?"

Gu Qingqu did not answer but looked at the Cui brothers, "You should know who sent them, right?"

The Cui brothers shook their heads and said, "We don't know, but we are sure they are from the capital."

Since they were from the capital, Qin Yan had no reason to stop them. "Go ahead and talk."

The Cui brothers continued the previous topic: This matter started twenty years ago...

The cause of the incident was a golden glazed Taotie. This golden glazed Taotie had a noble origin as it was a gift from an eminent monk to the founding king of the Quanrong Kingdom. It is rumored that this golden-glazed Taotie is a divine object that can absorb and gather dragon energy. The founding king of the Quanrong Kingdom relied on this golden-glazed Taotie to gather dragon energy and become king.

Since then, this golden-glazed Taotie has been enshrined in the bedroom of the King of the Quanrong Kingdom. The Chen Kingdom had sent troops to attack the Quanrong Kingdom countless times, but all failed. Later, the former emperor learned from the abbot of Xiangguo Temple that the king of the Quanrong Kingdom was protected by dragon energy and ordinary people could not defeat him. The former emperor had to lead the army in person to turn defeat into victory.

The late emperor listened to the abbot's words and personally led the army to fight against the Quanrong. And the fact was just as the abbot said, they marched all the way to the Quanrong capital, fought for three days, and finally the Quanrong king opened the city gates and surrendered with his troops.

When the war stopped, the late emperor specifically requested the Golden Li Taotie, and the king of the Quanrong Kingdom agreed. However, the Golden Li Taotie needed to be moved through a specific ceremony, and it would take three months before it could be delivered to the Celestial Empire.

The Quanrong were all in the palm of the emperor's hand, so he was not worried that he might play tricks, so he agreed. After leaving behind six trusted aides, the emperor led the army back to the capital.

March passed in a flash, and the agreed day arrived. King Quanrong personally brought the Jinli Taotie to the Heavenly Dynasty under the supervision of the six confidants of the late emperor. To show his importance, the late emperor sent Cui Yongzhong, then Vice Minister of War, to greet him.

Cui Yongzhong, with 500 soldiers, met the large group heading to the Quanrong State 30 miles outside the city. It was almost dark when they met them. They could not return to the capital that day. As there were too many people and they did not want to disturb the neighbors, so they set up camp in the woods.

Things started to get weird at this point. Everyone went to bed very early and very soundly that night. In the middle of the night, the Quanrong King suddenly shouted, "Jinli Taotie is gone!"

This was the most important thing at the moment. If he disappeared, it would be more than just losing his head. So Cui Yongzhong woke up immediately and ran out without even putting on his shoes. "What?"

As a result, as soon as he left, everyone looked at him with strange eyes. Just as Cui Yongzhong was about to ask the Quanrong King, he shouted, "Why did Jinli Taotie get to your place?"

Cui Yongzhong was shocked to find that he was holding a black wooden box in his arms. He was stunned and had no recollection of when the box came into his hands, so he hurried to explain.

Fortunately, the Jinli Taotie was not lost, and no one said much, but Cui Yongzhong knew in his heart that since such a strange thing could happen, this matter would definitely not end so easily, so he quickly wrote a letter and sent it back to his home in the capital overnight.

By the next morning, nothing else had happened except for the incident last night, and the large army began to march towards the capital. After walking for most of the day, we finally arrived in the capital city at almost evening.

The first thing he did after returning to the capital was to present the Jinli Taotie to the late emperor. The Jinli Taotie was held by the King of Quanrong and escorted by the late emperor's six confidants and Cui Yongzhong. On the way into the palace, Cui Yongzhong's eyelids kept twitching, and he had a premonition that something bad was going to happen.

After arriving at the main hall and performing the formalities and greetings, the Quanrong King handed the black box containing the golden glazed Taotie to the eunuch, who presented it to the late emperor. The late emperor asked the eunuch to open it. At this time, Cui Yongzhong's heart almost jumped into his throat.

The eunuch in front of the emperor screamed when he opened the box, and the late emperor asked hurriedly, "What's wrong?"

The eunuch in front of the emperor knelt down in fear and held the box high up so that the late emperor could see the scene inside. The late emperor got furious after just one look, "What's going on? Why is the Golden Glass Taotie broken?"

Cui Yongzhong immediately knew that this matter would definitely be blamed on him. Sure enough, after several people knelt down, the King of Quanrong said that the Golden Lithium Taotie was as hard as iron and would never break. If it broke, it would mean that it was not the real Golden Lithium Taotie, but had been replaced by someone.

Upon hearing this, the late emperor became even more furious. King Quanrong told the emperor that the black box was stolen by Cui Yongzhong on the way. Under the testimony of the other six people, Cui Yongzhong was thrown into jail without even having the chance to protest his innocence.

After Cui Yongzhong was imprisoned, the imperial guards came to Cui Yongzhong's home. Having committed such a serious crime, his family members naturally could not escape, but when the guards arrived at Cui's house, they found that all the members of Cui's family were gone.

The letter Cui Yongzhong wrote at that time predicted the danger and asked his family to leave Beijing as quickly as possible. He also deliberately delayed returning to Beijing that night in order to buy time for his family.

The imperial court issued an arrest warrant for the Cui family. Led by their grandmother, the Cui family went straight to the Tian'en Mountains, which was isolated from the outside world. Even the imperial court's arrest warrant could not reach here. Besides, no one could have imagined that the rich and powerful who lived a life of luxury would continue to live in the mountains.

After the Cui family arrived at the Tian'en Mountains, they found out that there were actually people living here. However, they did not dare to interact with others and only built a village halfway up the mountain. They have lived in seclusion since then and nothing has ever gone wrong. Now the Cui brothers can't figure out how the man in black found them.

The Cui brothers didn't know, but Gu Qingqu and Qin Yan knew it very well. They must have come with them. The person who came might have wanted to protect Gu Qingqu, but accidentally discovered the surviving members of the Cui family.

Now that this has happened, Cui Yongzhong’s grievances have been cleared.

Gu Qingqu said: "You will temporarily hide your identities and follow me back to Beijing."

This showed that he was of great importance, so the Cui brothers asked cautiously, "May I ask who you are, young master?"

Gu Qingqu said: "You will know when you arrive in the capital."

The Cui brothers looked at each other. Now they had no way out, so they all bowed and said, "We are willing to be ordered by you, Master."