Xiao Shiyan's cheek twitched violently: "You...you know my imperial grandfather?"
"That old bastard who crossed the river and burned the bridge! Back then, I secretly eliminated so many opposing officials for him, and he just kicked me to the curb!"
Xiao Shiyan was completely confused.
He had no idea who this one-eyed old man in front of him was from back then.
"He was Teng Zhen, the Grand Eunuch who served the Emperor back then. In order to seize control of the court, he had been poisoning the Emperor. By the time the Emperor discovered his plot, he was already on his deathbed..."
On a cliff on the shore of Dongli Island, Xiao Yuan, dressed in white, had already taken off his mask and was holding Su Xuerong's hand, quietly watching the ship slowly receding into the distance.
Su Xuerong was extremely surprised.
“Countless ministers in the court were framed and killed by him, and Grand Tutor Qiu was one of them.”
Su Xuerong sighed deeply: "He's been lurking on Dongli Island all along? You knew his identity all along?"
“I only learned of Jin Yin’s existence after I captured him. Jin Yin had also colluded with Teng Zhen in the past, but Jin Yin had no choice but to surrender to me for the sake of his daughter.”
Su Xuerong suddenly realized: "So, you 'deliberately' allowed Teng Zhen to use you as a puppet and bring you to Dongli Island back then?"
"You could say that..."
Just then, they heard footsteps behind them.
"Your Majesty, all the hidden oil and gunpowder on the entire Dongli Island have been found and disposed of!"
Su Xuerong turned around and saw a man. When she saw his appearance, she was slightly taken aback.
The only person who looks so much like Ge Huai'an is Ge Cong'an.
"Greetings, Your Majesty the Empress!" Ge Cong'an said.
Su Xuerong sized up the man before her; he appeared more refined and composed than Ge Huai'an…
Xiao Yuan coughed lightly: "Qiu Cheng and Teng Zhen have already boarded the ship?"
Ge Cong'an said, "Yes! If His Majesty's plan goes smoothly, it should be almost finished by now..."
Su Xuerong was immediately surprised: "Qiu Cheng? He's one of your men?"
Xiao Yuan smiled slightly at her: "Otherwise, why do you think Yue Jin disappeared when he took Zhao Ning away that day?"
Su Xuerong then remembered Zhao Ning: "Where is Zhao Ning?"
"Yue Jin was killed by my men, but before he died, he strangled Zhao Ning."
"His purpose is simple: because of what happened in Hangzhou, he just wants to make things difficult for me and make me give up Zhao You, his capable assistant. That's why he took this opportunity to drag Zhao Ning into it."
Su Xuerong was stunned.
But she didn't sympathize with the girl.
If she hadn't been both stupid and wicked, she wouldn't have ended up like this.
"What about Xiao Hong and Hai Feng?"
Su Xuerong recalled the scene when the men in black on Dongli Island clashed with the group of secret guards.
"Xiao Hong was seriously injured, but Hai Feng and the guards are fine." Xiao Yuan frowned slightly. "Don't you think about me? When you ran straight from the palace to the cave, do you know how worried I was?"
Su Xuerong glared at him, annoyed.
Ge Cong'an, who was standing to the side, looked somewhat embarrassed.
"Bang!"
Just then, a violent explosion suddenly came from the sea in the distance!
Su Xuerong turned her head and saw that the ship was now engulfed in flames.
A fire erupted from the bottom of the ship's hold and instantly engulfed the vessel.
Teng Zhen's expression changed drastically. He didn't have time to deal with Xiao Shiyan and hurriedly turned around, shouting, "What happened?"
Someone ran out of the thick smoke: "Elder Teng, something bad has happened! The cannon in the hold has misfired and is on fire!"
Teng Zhen's face turned ashen: "Impossible! I personally inspected those cannons, how could they have misfired?"
The man hurriedly said, "Elder Teng, it's too late now! Quickly launch the small boat and escape!"
Teng Zhen's forehead veins throbbed violently. How could his meticulously planned artillery just disappear like that?
These were brought to him by the Dragon King from overseas. Without these powerful cannons, how could he have turned the Great Zhou into hell?
No!
People began to lower the lifeboats and scramble to board.
Unexpectedly, someone had just jumped off the lifeboat when they cried out, "Oh no! These lifeboats are leaking!"
All the lifeboats had large holes pierced through their bottoms.
The people who jumped off the ship immediately sank to the bottom of the sea with screams.
Some people panicked and started swimming to escape, but soon a large amount of oil seeped from the bottom of the ship's cabin, and flames spread in an instant, engulfing those who were trying to escape.
Teng Zhen watched helplessly as his carefully trained assassins were wiped out, and roared hoarsely in rage, "Heaven wants to destroy me? Not so easy..."
A strong, muscular man ran over, but Elder Teng stopped him with his cane and ordered, "Quick, carry me and jump down!"
The man looked at him and silently knelt down in front of him.
Teng Zhen was about to straddle him when suddenly a sharp pain shot through his abdomen. Looking down, he saw a sharp dagger plunged into his Shenque acupoint!
Teng Zhen's eyes narrowed sharply as he stared incredulously at the man before him: "Who...who are you?"
Qiu Cheng slowly removed the human skin mask from his face, revealing his true face, and coldly looked at Teng Zhen: "Teng Zhen, take a good look at my face!"
Teng Zhen saw the face of the former Grand Tutor Qiu. The young man in front of him looked exactly like Grand Tutor Qiu, but his eyes were filled with endless vicissitudes and sorrow.
"You...you're his grandson?" Teng Zhen screamed.
He never expected that the assassin he had carefully selected in Quanzhou would actually be a descendant of the Qiu family.
Qiu Cheng yanked the dagger out of his Shenque acupoint and slashed it viciously towards his neck—
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