165. Sleight of Hand
In the pitch-black corridor, the air was as thick as ink that would never dissolve.
In the darkness, only Chen Ji's breathing could be heard. He groped along the wall, stumbling forward. Behind him came the footsteps of his pursuers, rapid, powerful, and murderous.
In the darkness, someone shouted, "The enemy is an officer. Be careful of an ambush and use crossbows to clear the way!"
There was a sharp sound of breaking wind. Chen Ji couldn't see the angle of the crossbow arrow, so he could only subconsciously lean sideways against the wall.
In the narrow corridor, four crossbow arrows flew past his chest and nose, and the last one caught him off guard and pierced his left shoulder.
Chen Ji groaned as a piercing pain surged up in his heart, and he could no longer lift his arm.
Ignoring the pain, he took advantage of the moment when the other party was loading the crossbow and quickened his pace to run towards the end of the corridor.
Behind him, someone shouted, "Hit him! Chase him!"
Chen Ji dragged a weak arm out of the tunnel, gritted his teeth, pulled the meat-cutting table with one hand, and turned it upside down at the exit of the tunnel.
Boom boom boom!
The pursuers in the tunnel tried hard to push the cutting table, but they were unable to move the heavy table.
Chen Ji took a deep breath and pulled out the crossbow arrow with all his strength.
On a winter day, beads of sweat dripped from his forehead. He rolled up his sleeves, tore off the hem of his shirt to tie around the wound on his shoulder, then turned and walked out of the butcher shop as if nothing had happened.
At this moment, soldiers were passing through Anxi Street.
The Liu family army, armed with long spears, walked past Chen Ji and surrounded Prince Jing's Mansion and Taiping Medical Clinic tightly, completely blocking them off.
The guards of Prince Jing's mansion were holding spears and confronting each other in front of the gate, with the two sides on the verge of a fight.
Chen Ji walked under the eaves of the roadside with his head down, hurried to the end of Anxi Street, but he stopped slowly after only taking a few dozen steps.
There were dozens of soldiers guarding the front, prohibiting all civilians from entering or leaving Anxi Street.
Chen Ji turned and walked to the other side, but saw that the pursuer had already come out of the butcher shop, holding a knife and scanning the crowd on the street, looking for his figure.
Can't leave.
Chen Ji looked around for weapons he could use, ready to fight to the death.
At this moment, a carriage stopped beside him, and someone in the carriage whispered, "Get in, I'll take you away!"
Chen Ji turned around and saw that it was Zhang Li from Huangshan Dao Court who lifted the car curtain and waved to him from inside the car.
He got into the car, leaned against the wall and looked at Zhang Li with a vigilant look.
Zhang Li patted the little Taoist boy driving the carriage, signaling him to drive away quickly.
The little Taoist boy said in embarrassment: "Brother Zhang Li, we shouldn't take him away. We will get into trouble."
Zhang Li cursed and slapped him on the back of the head. "Why are you guys at Laojun Mountain Dao Court so afraid of trouble? What did your master teach you? What should you do if you see someone in danger?"
The little Taoist boy was stunned for a moment: "We should ask the Three Pure Ones to bless him!"
Zhang Li laughed angrily: "You... is it too late to ask for help from the Three Pure Ones now? Brother is teaching you now, you should draw your sword and help when you see injustice!"
The little Taoist boy hesitated and said, "Brother, this is different from what my master taught me."
Zhang Li patted the back of his head again. "Stop the fucking nonsense! If you don't leave now, I'll blow your head off. You begged me to bring you to Los Angeles earlier, but now my words don't count, do they? Do you think I'll bring you again?"
The little Taoist boy pouted and had to shake the reins to drive the carriage.
Zhang Li lowered the car curtain, turned around, and smiled at Chen Ji in the car, "Excuse me, excuse me."
Chen Ji asked doubtfully, "Why is Taoist Zhang Li here?"
Zhang Li patiently explained, "You helped my Dao Court a lot at Luhun Mountain Villa earlier, so of course I had to pay you a visit when I came to Luocheng. It's just unfortunate that I ran into this scene on the way here... By the way, the Liu family is after you, right?"
Chen Ji remained calm: "No."
Zhang Li pointed at his shoulder with a smile. Chen Ji looked down and saw that the blood had soaked his gray shirt and seeped out.
"Don't be nervous," Zhang Li said with a kind smile, "I am Huangshan Dao
"Ting has no ties to the Liu family and will never betray you. Now that the Liu family has blocked this long street, I will send you out first."
The carriage was heading out of Anxi Street. Just as it was about to leave, it was blocked by more than ten soldiers: "No passage here!"
The little Taoist boy driving the carriage asked in a low voice, "Brother, what should we do?"
Zhang Li said nonchalantly from inside the car, "What should we do? Just scold them!"
The little Taoist boy said to the soldiers without hesitation: "You f*cking..."
Zhang Li hurriedly said, "Wait, don't curse so badly!"
Upon hearing this, the little Taoist boy cursed at the soldier, "Are you blind? How dare you stop the Taoist court's carriage?"
The soldier outside the car said in a deep voice: "My Xiangjia Battalion has blocked Anxi Street. No matter whether you are from the Taoist Temple or the Buddhist Sect, you are not allowed to leave."
The little Taoist boy angrily shouted, "I am a direct disciple of the Taoist Danqiuzi of Laojun Mountain. The man in the carriage is Zhang Li, the first disciple of the Taoist Huangshan. He is the one who has lectured on Taoism to Your Majesty in the palace! I have asked the Liu family's steward to come see me. I want to ask, who gave you the courage to stop my carriage?"
The soldiers looked at each other, one of them winked, and immediately one of the soldiers quietly left to report.
A moment later, a soldier with a whisker and wearing armor slowly walked over.
He said politely to the little Taoist boy, "Excuse me, young Taoist priest. We are also following orders to capture the rebels. Please cooperate."
The little Taoist raised his eyebrows: "Do you think I look like a traitor?"
The soldier with the curly beard explained, "I'm not saying you're a traitor. I'm just worried they might be hiding in the car while you're not paying attention. How about this? Let me check the car. As long as I'm sure there aren't any traitors, I'll let you go immediately."
The little Taoist boy sneered, "What if I refuse? If you say to search, then where is the dignity of our Taoist court?"
The soldier with the curly beard slowly darkened his expression. "This is a matter of great importance. If the young Taoist priest refuses, even if the Three Pure Ones are in the car, we will not let you leave."
Chen Ji in the car frowned, fearing that he couldn't escape this disaster.
He looked at Zhang Li, only to see him take out a dried elm leaf from his left sleeve and a rat whisker brush from his right sleeve.
Zhang Li cut his finger and used a rat whisker pen dipped in blood to write a complicated spell on an elm leaf. Then he reached out and placed the elm leaf on Chen Ji's forehead, lowering his voice and saying, "Don't talk."
The next moment, he cleared his throat and said in a deep voice, "Zhou Fang, since they want to look inside the car, let them take a look."
The little Taoist boy responded, "Okay, Senior Brother."
After saying this, he took the initiative to lift the curtain of the carriage to let the bearded soldier check: "Here, take a look!"
Chen Ji's heart was in his throat. He watched helplessly as the bearded soldier stuck his head in and looked at him with sharp eyes.
Then, he glanced past it as if he had seen nothing.
The soldier with the curly beard bowed to Zhang Li and said, "Master Zhang Li, I apologize. I am only following orders."
Zhang Li hummed calmly and asked in a serious tone, "Are there any traitors in my car?"
The soldier with the curly beard quickly said, "No."
"You're not letting me go yet?"
The bearded officer took a step back and waved to the soldiers, "Move aside, let them pass!"
The carriage began to sway again. Zhang Li smiled and plucked the elm leaf from Chen Ji's forehead. He rubbed it with two fingers and it turned into powder. "Fortunately, they didn't linger for too long, otherwise we would have been exposed."
Chen Ji was puzzled: "Why can't he see me?"
Zhang Li smiled and said, "It's just a small illusion."
He pulled out a gourd-shaped white porcelain bottle from his sleeve and said, "Fellow Daoist Chen Ji, roll up your sleeves. I'll apply some hemostatic powder to your wound."
Chen Ji rolled up his sleeves, but heard Zhang Li exclaim, "Has the bleeding stopped?"
Chen Ji looked sideways and saw that the blood hole left by the crossbow arrow was no longer oozing blood, and even his left arm, which had just lost consciousness, could be lifted up.
fire!
He took the porcelain bottle calmly, sprinkled the powder on the wound, and explained nonchalantly: "My wounds have healed faster than others since I was a child.
some. "
Zhang Li smiled and asked no more questions: "Daoyou are a person favored by heaven."
Chen Ji lowered his sleeves, opened the curtains a little, and looked out. The Liu family's troops were still pouring into the street, heading towards the palace. "Master Zhang Li, do you have any ideas for getting out of the city?"
Zhang Li sat upright, his hands tucked into his sleeves, and said, "Now the four city gates are closed, you can't get out."
Chen Ji frowned.
At this moment, a group of men in black rode towards them, heading towards the palace. The man in the lead, wearing a green cloak, was Mr. Feng, whom I hadn't seen for several days!
Chen Ji immediately lowered the curtains, fearing that the other person would see him through the gap.
Zhang Li sat in the car and said with great interest, "Fellow Daoist, why don't you come with me back to the inn and hide there? I'll be staying at the Yingxian Inn with more than ten fellow apprentices. No matter what the Liu family wants to do, I'm sure they won't dare to embarrass my Dao Court."
Chen Ji shook his head. "I appreciate your kindness, Taoist Priest. If the Liu family finds out, it might get you into trouble. Besides, there are experts among the Liu family's staff, and the illusion we used just now might not be able to fool them."
After saying this, he bowed to Zhang Li and said, "Thank you for saving me, Taoist priest. We will say goodbye here."
Zhang Li stopped trying to persuade him to stay and bowed with a smile, "Farewell, we'll meet again if fate allows. If you survive this time, please remember to visit me at Huangshan."
"It's a deal."
After Mr. Feng and his group were far away, Chen Ji lifted the door curtain, jumped out of the car, turned around and disappeared into the dark alley beside the road.
The Taoist boy driving the carriage turned around and asked curiously, "Brother, you are full of evil intentions and not a chivalrous person. Why are you helping him?"
Zhang Li said angrily, "Stop making up stories about me. All the methods I, Zhang Li, use are used to deal with the Buddhist sect. When have they ever been used to deal with others? I work so hard and you are all talking behind my back, plotting against me. Be careful or I'll slap you."
The little Taoist boy shrank his neck and muttered softly, "Brother, you've already entered the palace to see the emperor, how can you still be so rude!"
The other side.
Mr. Feng rode his horse to the gate of Prince Jing's mansion and looked at the closed red lacquer gate with a smile: "Is the enclosure complete?"
The soldier with the curly beard stood beside his horse and reported, "Reporting to Mr. Feng, our Elephant Armor Battalion has surrounded the palace. Prince Jing and his family are inside. We will not let anyone escape."
Mr. Feng hummed, "Where's the young man the master wants?"
The soldier with the curly beard hesitated for a moment. "This man tried to escape through the tunnel of the Taiping Clinic, but we saw through his ruse and immediately gave chase. During the chase, the young doctor was hit by one of our arrows..."
Mr. Feng smiled grimly and said, "Let me ask you, where are the others?"
The bearded soldier was so frightened that he prostrated himself on the ground, his black cast iron armor clattering. "I'm still looking! He's injured, and we've cordoned off this area and won't let anyone escape. He must still be nearby!"
Mr. Feng raised his head and thought for a moment. "Are you sure you didn't let anyone go? Don't lie to me. If I find out you lied even a little, I'll kill your wife and children."
The bearded soldier hastily added, "A Taoist carriage passed by earlier. But I carefully inspected the carriage and confirmed that there was only one Taoist priest inside before letting them go."
"Oh?" Mr. Feng raised his eyebrows. "What's the Taoist priest's name?"
"Huangshan Daoting, Zhang Li."
Mr. Feng was delighted: "So it was him!"
The soldier with the curly beard was puzzled: "Mr. Feng knows him?"
"Of course he knows me," Mr. Feng said with a smile. "Didn't he slap you when you checked his car?"
The soldier with the curly beard was stunned for a moment: "No."
Mr. Feng pondered for a moment. "When did Zhang Li become so good-tempered? That young man must be hiding in the car, otherwise Zhang Li would have gotten out and slapped you. If you send someone after him now... forget it. That guy is very alert, and I'm afraid it's too late."
The soldier with the curly beard trembled in fear: "Mr. Feng, please spare my life..."
Mr. Feng smiled and said, "Get up. I'm not an unreasonable person. It's not your fault that the Dao Court is helping him."
(End of this chapter)
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