Chapter 855 Brother Qing's Identity is Exposed

The man froze.

The next second, he calmly walked forward and said, "You've mistaken me for someone else."

Gu Jiao turned around, looked at his back as he walked away without turning his head, and said, "Your mother is here."

The man did not stop walking; he continued to stride into the night.

Gu Jiao continued, "Your mother really is here. The Crown Princess is leading the army in place of the Emperor, and the imperial army has already entered Quyang City. If she finds out that you weren't staying properly outside Shengdu, but instead ran to the border to become an outlaw, she'll beat you!"

The man clenched his fists and continued walking forward.

Gu Jiao added, "Ye Qing from the Imperial Preceptor's Hall has also arrived."

The man finally lost his temper, his suppressed emotions exploding instantly. He turned around and yelled, "Aaaaah! How did you recognize me?!"

Gu Jiao blinked innocently and said, "I didn't recognize you, I was just kidding."

Shangguan Qing: "...??"

Gu Jiao shrugged: "Okay, actually there's a little bit."

The way you made your entrance was exactly the same as your father's, and you also had three thousand ghost soldiers. Do you know that your father had a three-thousand-masked army of ghosts?

With this kind of thought process, how can you say they're not father and son?

Another strange thing is what Gu Jiao noticed after entering the forest, including her mysterious separation from Tang Yueshan. It should be that there is some kind of formation hidden in the forest.

The art of Qimen Dunjia is very similar to the unique skill of a certain national master.

More importantly—

“Look, this.” Gu Jiao raised her hand, opened her palm, and revealed a token of the Great Yan royal family.

Shangguan Qing looked at the token, then at his empty purse, and exploded again: "When did you steal my token? I kindly saved you! And you steal from me! You have no conscience!"

Gu Jiao pouted: "You look so easy to steal from... I just couldn't resist."

Shangguan Qing: "...!!"

Shangguan Qing decided to teach this intruder a lesson; the Ghost King's authority was not to be challenged!

He spread his arms, his body trembled, and the branches and leaves of the surrounding trees instantly began to move without any wind.

Tremble, intruder!

Gu Jiao didn't even lift her eyelids. She looked up, came to a big tree, grabbed a rope, and pulled it down.

"Ouch--"

The little devil in the tree was pulled down.

Shangguan Qing did not give up easily. He slammed his palm on the big tree behind him, and the tree began to bleed.

Gu Jiao grunted, raised her index finger, and poked it into a hole in a tree.

The blood that was about to flow out: Oh dear, it won't flow out anymore...

Shangguan Qing trembled with rage: "It seems you're forcing me to use my ultimate move!"

"You mean this?" Gu Jiao bent down, pulled out a skeletal claw from the grass, and a bewildered little ghost was hanging from the claw.

The little devil activated the mechanism in his hand; the skeletal claws scratched twice, click, click.

The scene fell into a deathly silence.

Seeing that things were going badly, the little devil decisively abandoned his prop... uh, no, his ghost claw, and slunk away!

Gu Jiao thought for a moment, then generously returned the ghost claw to Shangguan Qing: "Here you go."

Shangguan Qing: "..."

Shangguan Qing gritted his teeth, grabbed the ghost claw, and threw it aside. Little Black Impermanence, who was eavesdropping, was hit squarely and ran away without a word, clutching the ghost claw.

Shangguan Qing looked at Gu Jiao with an icy expression: "Who exactly are you? Did the old man send you? A newly accepted disciple of the Imperial Preceptor's Hall? I've never seen you before!"

It seems you're quite familiar with the Imperial Preceptor's Hall. No wonder you've mastered the Imperial Preceptor's teachings so well, you seem like a half-time traveler.

I am your sister-in-law.

Gu Jiao said, "I am the new commander of the Black Wind Cavalry, and my surname is Xiao."

When Shangguan Qing heard that the new commander of the Black Wind Cavalry was surnamed Xiao, he did not show a complicated expression. Gu Jiao deduced from this that he should not know about it yet, or he did not think much about it.

Whether Xiao Qing knew about his background or not, Shangguan Yan didn't say, so Gu Jiao assumed he didn't know yet, and naturally she wouldn't take it upon herself to expose him.

Shangguan Qing glanced behind Gu Jiao: "The Black Wind Riders are here too?"

Gu Jiao said, "I didn't come to Pucheng, I'm in Quyang."

Shangguan Qing: "Oh."

Gu Jiao asked, "Who gave you the musket?"

Shangguan Qing rolled his eyes: "Can't I invent it myself?"

Gu Jiao looked at the musket in his hand: "It's all rusty, it's probably older than you."

Shangguan Qing said domineeringly, "I don't care, I invented it!"

Discovering that a difference of only one character, rounded up, is an invention!

"Oh." Gu Jiao raised an eyebrow, glancing at the people clearing the battlefield in the woods. "Then, did you invent those ghost soldiers and their armor?"

Shangguan Qing said, "The armor was found in the back mountain."

Just as Gu Jiao had guessed, this was the burial place of the Xuanyuan army, which explained the presence of so many tattered Xuanyuan armor pieces.

"As for those ghost soldiers," Shangguan Qing said as he started walking back the way he came, "some of them were bandits from the border, whom I subdued."

Gu Jiao followed him, and it took her quite a while to understand what he meant by "some," because there were clearly "some" more here.

Behind the jungle lies a valley, backed by three large mountains, with a stream meandering through it, and a small bridge connecting the jungle to a small village in the valley.

The village is divided into two parts: one side is where the ghost soldiers live, and the other side is where the villagers live.

The village was clearly newly built; the thatched houses were all new.

The ghost soldiers returned in triumph, removing their armor. The villagers lit bonfires in the open space, the adults worked, and the children played happily nearby.

In stark contrast to the war-torn city of Pucheng, this place was practically a paradise.

Shangguan Qing said calmly, "They are all city dwellers who have suffered from the ravages of war, and villagers whose villages have been burned down. If the Jin army is inhuman, then let them become ghosts."

No wonder he showed no mercy when killing the Jin army; he had witnessed their atrocities firsthand.

“Shangguan Qing.” Gu Jiao looked at him.

"What?" he asked casually.

Gu Jiao smiled and said, "I praise you."

I've imagined what you would look like countless times, but I never expected you to be like this, Shangguan Qing.

Although you were poisoned as a child, which made your body less strong, you have a wise mind and a kind and resilient heart.

In your finite life, you created infinite possibilities and saved many lives.

"Who, who asked you for praise!" Shangguan Qing turned his face away, his ears turning bright red.

Looking at his red ears, Gu Jiao couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Like Xiao Heng, she blushes when praised!

"His Highness the Ghost King is back!" A villager heard the boy's cheerful laughter and looked over. He wasn't surprised to see Shangguan Qing bringing back a strange boy, but instead smiled and said, "Has a new person joined us today?"

They seemed very welcoming.

Most of them had been desperate and were welcomed here by their predecessors.

They also welcome newcomers.

Shangguan Qing put his hands behind his back, glanced at Gu Jiao, and said to the male villager in his forties, "No, he was just passing by and accidentally wandered into our woods. He'll leave tomorrow."

The villagers exclaimed in surprise, "Oh, this... it's not safe outside!"

His subconscious reaction was not to question whether Gu Jiao's departure would reveal their hiding place, but rather to worry that Gu Jiao might encounter danger outside.

They are a group of kind and simple villagers.

"This young man is amazing!"

Little Black Impermanence suddenly appeared, still holding that ghostly claw in his hand.

"Where's your tongue?" the villager asked him.

oops!

Lost it!

Little Black Impermanence escapes again after dying!

Gu Jiao looked at Shangguan Qing with a smile.

Shangguan Qing said, his voice sharp but his tone weak, "Hmph, I only need a little hard labor. After the war is over, I'll have them all go and mine for me! Mine every day! Day after day! Mine without sleep! I'll squeeze every last bit of value out of them!"

"Hug, hug."

A toddler girl stumbled over, opening her little arms for a hug.

Shangguan Qing sighed helplessly, picked her up, and plucked a black sesame seed from the corner of her mouth with his fingertips: "Xiao Ying, you ate it again. No candy tonight, understand?"

One-and-a-half-year-old Ying sat in Shangguan Qing's arms, nestled in his embrace.

She lost her father in the war.

She was too young to understand what this meant, but every night, when she slept in Shangguan Qing's arms, she seemed to find that missing sense of security again.

Xiao Ying fell fast asleep in Shangguan Qing's arms.

Her ten-year-old brother ran over and carried her away.

It has to be said that Shangguan Qing has once again broadened Gu Jiao's understanding.

I thought he was a frivolous fellow, but after meeting him, I found that his methods for dealing with the Jin army were indeed frivolous. However, behind this frivolity lay compassion and tenderness for the common people.

Shangguan Yan raised this son very well.

Shangguan Qing said, "By the way, your companion fainted. He wasn't scared by us; he knocked himself unconscious."

Tang Yueshan, who is afraid of ghosts, discovered that Gu Jiao was missing and rushed to look for her, only to bump into a black wall that was a trap.

Shangguan Qing continued, "Our men carried him back. You can go see him in a little while. You can stay in the village tonight, and I'll take you out of the city tomorrow morning."

It really was him who bought the candied hawthorns this morning.

"Can I walk around a bit?" Gu Jiao asked.

“Yes.” Shangguan Qing looked to the north of the village, “except for that hill behind it.”

"Why?" Gu Jiao asked, puzzled.

Shangguan Qing's expression suddenly became somewhat complicated: "Because inside... lives the real Ghost King!"

(End of this chapter)