An aged voice suddenly rang out, carrying a hint of arrogance:
"The number of people delivering these elixirs has been decreasing these past few days. If this continues, the elixir will not be able to be refined. If the Emperor blames us, it will be none of my business!"
"Sir, you can't do this! This old monk will still send people over every day! What does your inability to refine the medicine have to do with me?"
Tianxuan frowned as he looked at the old man in front of him. He hadn't expected this old monster to try to shirk responsibility. How many people had he sent to him this year? And yet he had gained nothing. Who could he blame?
Now you're trying to shirk responsibility? Dream on!
"Hmph! I told you that we must have ten every day, and look at what we've been sending lately? A bunch of misfits."
The old man wasn't buying it at all and continued to berate him.
"Alright, hurry up and get today's portion! It'll be dawn soon!"
Tianxuan decided not to argue with the old man for now; the important thing was that he could refine the pills. So he urged the old man to get to work quickly.
The old man snorted again, then picked up the knife and began to draw blood from the heart of the person lying on the bed.
Li Xiaochen narrowed his eyes and saw that the person lying on the bed was breathing more and more gasping for air. He took out his own smoke bomb and, having learned from his first experience, threw it quickly and accurately this time.
With a pull, a yank, and a throw, he tossed the two trashy figures directly into the house. Then, Wang Yu quickly dodged and blocked the stone door to prevent them from escaping, and also to prevent the smoke from wafting out and bothering them.
"Ah!! What is this? Cough cough cough!! My eyes! My eyes!!"
"Help! Cough cough cough! Help me!!"
The two inside were screaming and howling at the sudden influx of smoke, their eyes unable to open, especially the old man, who was already quite old and was now struggling to breathe from the fumes.
This is a sealed room with no windows, so the air doesn't circulate at all, and the smoke won't dissipate for a long time. Therefore, when Li Xiaochen released the smoke bomb, he never intended for the two of them to come out.
He had just looked closely and found that besides the two monsters, there was only the victim on the ship.
The victim's heart had been slashed open, and without a good doctor, there was no way he could have been saved. If Xin Xin were here, there might have been a chance, but Xin Xin is now nowhere to be found.
After weighing the pros and cons, Li Xiaochen decided to deal with these two monsters first.
Because the environment inside was already sealed and the smoke couldn't escape, the air inside was getting less and less. Tianxuan and the other two had nowhere to escape and were finding it increasingly difficult to breathe!
In just a short while, the old man had fainted and was unresponsive, while Tianxuan lay on the ground, his face flushed red, feeling extremely uncomfortable.
Wang Yu released his grip only after he heard no more noise from inside. Li Xiaochen didn't go in to check either, but instead told Wang Yu to release all the civilians in the outer cells.
But when Wang Yu opened their door, these people remained unmoved, as if it had nothing to do with them.
"What should we do, Your Highness?"
Wang Yu was getting anxious seeing that they hadn't moved. They had been inside for quite a while now. What if the people outside woke up and Lie Yan couldn't hold on?
They didn't have many spies in Zhao, so they didn't dare to use them easily. If they were discovered, the three of them would probably have a tough battle.
Li Xiaochen looked at these people who had lost all will to live, his gaze darkening slightly. He stepped forward and spoke in a firm and resolute voice:
"You have been saved. You can leave now. I am a man of the Second Prince Qiu Jingfan. I have avenged those who harmed you. Go back home. Your families are waiting for you! You still have a future!"
Li Xiaochen's voice was calm and composed, yet also had a soothing quality, gradually bringing the despondent people back to their senses, and they turned to look at Li Xiaochen in a daze.
Several civilians who weren't seriously injured and still had some spirit gradually regained their light upon hearing Li Xiaochen's words.
A man covered in blood, his face unrecognizable, crawled out on all fours and knelt before Li Xiaochen. He looked up at Li Xiaochen with hopeful eyes and cautiously began to speak:
"My lord, is it true? We're really saved?"
"It's true! Hurry up and run! Once the people who are arresting you realize what's happening, you won't be able to escape!"
Wang Yu stood to the side, nodding and urging.
"Oh! Let's go, let's go quickly! Thank you, sir, thank you, sir!"
The kneeling people burst into tears of joy. They had all been deceived by that devil Tianxuan. On the surface, they were bodhisattvas who saved people from suffering, but who knew that he used the name of Buddha to solve their current predicament, but instead, he tricked them into using blood as bait.
Little did they expect that this drop of heart's blood would become a life.
He hasn't left since he was tricked into coming here. Every day he's either being bled out or being bled out. After the bleeding, the old monster applies medicine to his wounds, and the bleeding stops instantly.
This went on and on, and he didn't know how much time had passed. As a grown man, having his blood drawn like this every day was taking a toll on his body.
He didn't know how much time had passed outside, or how his family was doing. All he knew was that he was incredibly lucky to have survived.
He had witnessed firsthand how the old monster had ripped open a person's chest, pulled out their heart, and bled them out. The scene was extremely cruel, and a woman who had been captured with him at the time was so frightened that she fainted.
When the woman woke up again, she was in a state of mental instability.
"Let's go!"
Seeing him like this, Wang Yu felt bad and could only remind him to leave early.
The man scrambled and stumbled as he ran outside, but stopped just before reaching the door, turned back, and headed towards a room.
Before long, he carried the person who was neither human nor ghost on his back and walked out without looking back, his expression very firm.
Once the first one was released, another followed. Gradually, people who had been locked in the rooms began to come out. Seeing that they could really leave, they all thanked Li Xiaochen and the others.
Then, one or two or three people, supporting each other, limped outside.
"Go see if there are any left! And those two inside the house, try to get them out."
Li Xiaochen gave Wang Yu an instruction.
"yes!"
Then Wang Yu went to check each room one by one.
Li Xiaochen strode outside.
...
In the palace, Lin Yuxin had been left unattended since Qiu Qiyi was taken away. She had been locked up for a whole day and was now bored, so she brought Zhizhi out to chat with her.
"Squeak squeak"
Woman, I never thought this day would come for you!
Squeaky lay on the table, watching Lin Yuxin being locked up with a hint of schadenfreude.
"Who knows? That madman Qiu Qiyi is bedridden now, he can't do anything to me!"
Lin Yuxin said indifferently, then lowered her head and ate the apple in her hand. She was hungry. She had been getting hungry quickly lately. Qiu Qiyi had captured her but didn't bring her any food. He really had no manners.
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