Chapter 469 The sky is falling, I will hold it up (5k)
Can you travel thousands of miles back to the capital without relying on anyone else, or even avoiding any help from others?
Zhao Duan also turned his head and looked towards the capital, but he only saw the cold white rain outside the cracks of the ruined temple.
How easy is it to do this in the context of war? Especially when Zhenbao is seriously injured.
"Okay. We'll set off tomorrow." He nodded calmly without hesitation. Since it was the only correct way, he had to face it no matter how many difficulties and obstacles there were.
A look of surprise flashed across the eyes of the female emperor who was sitting cross-legged on the altar, as if she had not expected that Zhao Duan would agree so readily.
Zhao Duan started talking to himself:
"First and foremost, I need to help stabilize your Majesty's internal injuries. Then, once the rain passes and the sky clears, I'll go and determine the approximate direction. Well, heading north shouldn't be a bad idea.
If we meet someone on the road, we can determine the exact location, but we need to avoid the big cities along the way. I also have a mask that changes my appearance, but it's a pity that it can't be used by two people.
The rebels will certainly intensify their investigation of Your Majesty. Your Majesty urgently needs to change his appearance. I can use some disguise and makeup methods...
However, it is almost impossible to evade the rebels by disguising yourself... I'm afraid it will be a difficult journey, Your Majesty."
When faced with a disaster, ordinary people would probably have been worried about gains and losses, but after the empress made the decision, he immediately began to calmly analyze the next action plan.
However, Zhao Duan didn't think there was anything wrong.
He had already died once before.
A year ago today, I had nothing. I was just back to the desperate situation of being surrounded by enemies on all sides.
At the beginning, when faced with the genocide crime of "letting the rebels go", he was able to find a glimmer of hope, not to mention that he is now a completely different person?
Xu Zhenguan bit his lip and listened to the words of his ministers behind him in the firelight, and inexplicably felt a sense of security.
Well, if this guy would just keep his hands still, this would be more convincing.
"Have you found the bottleneck of the worldly realm?" The empress suddenly asked without any context.
"It's still a little short. Eunuch Hai said that if a warrior wants to move forward, he must endure the trials of life and death." Zhao Duan replied.
He was thinking, after this journey, would he be able to step into the worldly realm, or even break through midway?
Xu Zhenguan didn't say anything else. She closed her eyes, looking haggard, and Zhao Duan did the same.
Neither of them mentioned the topic of dual cultivation. The most urgent task before them was...
Survive.
…
There was no conversation all night, and the rain stopped in the second half of the night.
The next morning, when the bleak daylight filtered through the crack in the door, the emperor and his ministers, who had hardly slept all night, roasted and ate the two rabbits and several birds they had caught.
Zhao Duan handed the disguise mask named "Jiuyi" to the empress, opened the door himself, and climbed to a high place to find a way out of the forest.
Although it was daybreak, it was still cloudy. After a night of rain, the entire bamboo forest was damp.
Zhao Duan didn't dare to go far, so he climbed up a big tree and looked around. He found that there were some villages and towns vaguely in the northeast direction.
After he returned to the Temple of the Earth, he found that the empress had changed her appearance and turned into a palace maid with a relatively mediocre appearance.
Paired with a plain men's long gown and her long black hair covered with a hat, she looks like a beautiful young girl from a delicate family.
However, the momentum and majesty that have been developed over a long period of time are difficult to eliminate in a short period of time.
After breathing heavily all night, she was still seriously injured, but she was able to stand up.
He would bite his finger, write words on a piece of cloth, and use a little magic power to condense an illusory jade seal and place it on the cloth.
"Your Majesty? What are you doing?" Zhao Duan was stunned.
The pale, delicate Empress of Yu State forced a smile, calmly folded the "blood letter" and handed it to him:
"I am seriously injured now. If you and I encounter a strong enemy on the way back to the capital, and you protect me, we will both be captured.
This is the 'last will' I drafted. Keep it with you. If the situation becomes urgent, take the letter and return to the capital alone. This is much better than both of us being captured by the rebels."
Last will and testament!
The first thing she did after she regained her strength was to draft a "last will" for herself!
Is it because of lack of confidence in whether you can make it out alive?
Zhao Duan pursed his lips, without avoiding or avoiding his gaze, and faced the empress who smiled at him and handed him the will.
The next moment, he reached out to take the edict and threw it into the charcoal on the dying bonfire, letting it burn.
"Please forgive me for disobeying your order!"
Zhao Duan looked at the empress in surprise and said seriously:
"I will never abandon Your Majesty and escape alone. Please revoke your order."
Xu Zhenguan's eyes were complicated, and he wanted to say something, but he uttered a soft cry and was carried on Zhao Duan's back, striding out:
"Your Majesty is weak and seriously injured, and walking is difficult. I have found a route and will set off immediately."
Xu Zhenguan was stunned, his mind a little blank as he was carried out of the temple.
Feeling the warmth and solidity of the broad back beneath her, she hesitated for a moment, but did not break free and simply let him carry her on his back and walked north.
Suddenly, Zhao Duan heard a gentle and calm voice from behind: "Can I trust you?"
"Okay." Zhao Duan said without hesitation.
"Can I really trust you?"
Zhao Duan paused, lifted up the empress with one hand, and with the other hand used a rope made of cloth to tie the empress on his back and himself tightly together.
Very hard.
As if he wanted to rub her into his body, or as if he was expressing some kind of determination:
"Can."
"If the sky falls, I will hold it up."
…
…
That afternoon, just after Zhao Duan left the bamboo forest.
A team of dozens of people arrived at this mountain forest area.
This elite team of secret agents from Prince Jing's Mansion was tasked with finding the whereabouts of the Empress and Zhao Duan.
The team was led by a "spy leader" wearing a hood that covered half of his face.
That is: a person who controls the entire secret intelligence system and holds great power.
He seemed to be intentionally covering his face, but his exposed hands were slender and pale, and he wore a long and narrow Miao knife at his waist.
Throughout Prince Jing's power, the spy chief is a mysterious figure who hides in the shadows all year round.
Only a few people know that this man was a "thief soldier" who was exiled to Lingnan and was rescued by Prince Jing many years ago using his power.
It was falsely claimed that he had died of illness on the way to exile, but the real person was replaced by someone else and brought back to the palace to serve.
"Are you two sure that the false emperor fled in the right direction yesterday?"
At this moment, the spy leader stopped in the woods, staring at the two people beside him with unfriendly eyes:
"Don't say I didn't remind you two. Hunting down the false emperor is a matter of utmost importance, ordered by the prince himself. If you make a mistake in judgment and go in the wrong direction, and someone escapes, I don't mind taking the blame for it if the prince blames you."
The two people in front of him, a man and a woman, were not spies from the palace, but sorcerers from the "Fa Shen Sect".
Yesterday, the empress fell into the sea of clouds and disappeared suddenly. Hunting her down became a top priority, but the palace's army was good at frontal combat but did not know how to hunt her down.
I had to call in two warlocks who were good at tracking to help.
The warlock was about forty years old, with messy hair that was completely white. He wore an indigo robe and had whistles made from the teeth of some unknown animal hanging around his waist, as well as a bone flute. There was a hint of ferocity in his smile.
The sorceress looked to be in her early thirties, with a curvy figure and quite hot. Her sorceress robe was also tailored. Her face was covered with thick powder, her lips were as red as blood, and the nails on her ten fingers were colorful. Her eyes were enchanting and captivating.
At this moment she smiled foolishly and said:
"Master Ouyang, please don't scare me. The prince wants to conquer the world, so why would he be angry with us? Wouldn't that be a loss of status?"
Ouyang Ye stared at her coldly, showing no sympathy for her:
"The prince doesn't blame me, but I will."
Feeling the murderous gaze from under the spy leader's hood, the sorceress suddenly felt a chill in her heart, and the provocative smile on her face froze.
The white-haired warlock ignored Ouyang Ye's threat, looked at the forest ahead, and said:
"Yao Shi Niang's intuition is unparalleled. If she says this is the direction, she can't be wrong."
As he spoke, he took off a bone whistle from his waist and said:
"As for the specific location, the living beings will give us the answer."
He blew the bone whistle, and circles of strange sound waves spread out, which were almost inaudible to mortals.
After a while, the spies were surprised to see a large group of birds and beasts running in the mountains and forests.
It seemed as if he was summoned by this warlock.
The hot Yao Shi Niang explained with a smile:
"The bald eagle excels at close range tracking. He can control birds and beasts. If the false emperor appears, he will be seen. Even if people can't see him, birds and beasts will definitely see him. What's more, he has the blood left by the empress as a guide."
The sorcerer nicknamed "Bald Eagle" threw a piece of cloth stained with the empress's blood to several wolves in the forest, and seemed to "ask" something to the birds flying above his head.
After a moment, a group of crows responded, cawing and flying away, and several wolves also turned around and ran away.
"Follow them." said the bald eagle, his sorcerer robe blowing a breeze as he followed.
Yao Shi Niang also smiled, swayed her body, and followed like catkins in the wind.
"Follow us!" The spy leader waved his hand and led dozens of spies around him forward.
Not long after, the group heard several wolves howling around a temple in front of them.
The spies were greatly excited and rushed forward, but soon came back and said:
"Master Ouyang, there are indeed traces of people in the temple. Someone must have stayed here last night. But it looks like they've already left."
The bald eagle with white hair and a fierce smile embroidered the faint blood in the room, with an intoxicated look:
"It's the scent of the false emperor's blood. Unfortunately, yesterday's heavy rain washed away all the traces of blood in the forest, otherwise I would have discovered it earlier."
"Sir, there is this in the fire." A spy came out holding a piece of burnt cloth that was unrecognizable, as if presenting a treasure.
Ouyang Ye took it and examined it carefully. From the scorched corner of the cloth, he saw traces of half of the jade seal.
"They can't escape far. They'll definitely try to get back to the capital as quickly as possible, so they'll most likely flee to the north where there are people. Chase them!"
Ouyang Ye couldn't hide his excitement and ordered:
"Send out a carrier pigeon, asking the prince to dispatch troops. Set up checkpoints along the route from here to the capital and conduct a strict inspection. Humph, just a deposed emperor. If you can capture him, we will all be rewarded and awarded first-class military merit!"
"Yes!" A large group of spies responded excitedly.
Yao Shi Niang folded her arms, her lips red as fire, her eyes like snakes and scorpions:
"I'm more interested in Zhao Duan. I wonder what it's like to be the man chosen by the empress."
…
…
Zhao Duan carried Xu Zhenguan on his back, left the forest, and quietly arrived at a nearby town.
Finally found out where we are.
As expected, we are still in Jianning Prefecture. The good news is that we were not teleported further south, but northwest.
The bad news is that it’s not too far from Luoshan.
In the town, Zhao Duan bought a carriage at a premium and purchased some food. He then chose the shortest official road out of Jianning Prefecture and drove away.
"Your Majesty, look at our current location on the map. There's been no news of rebels in this town, which means they haven't completely and fully taken control of this territory yet... This is good news for us."
Zhao Duan acted as the coachman, wearing a straw hat. While driving, he stuffed a map into the carriage and handed it to the empress.
In feudal dynasties, maps were confidential, especially maps of the entire territory and large provincial capitals, which were only accessible to a small number of officials.
Fortunately, when Zhao Duan went south, in order to familiarize himself with the world, he specially made several maps to carry with him, which played a huge role at this time.
Xu Zhenguan lay exhausted in the bumpy and leaky carriage, looking at the map for a while, then raised his eyes and said:
"Do you want to leave Jiancheng Road as quickly as possible before the enemy can blockade it? Head north to the Huai River?"
Zhao Duan nodded:
“Prince Jing has been entrenched here for many years. If he raises an army, the court officials will be in Luoshan due to the Fengshan ceremony. They will have left their garrisons and will be unable to counterattack in time. I’m afraid the entire Jiancheng Road will fall completely in just a few days.
Afterwards, Prince Jing would undoubtedly lead his troops north and rush to the capital as soon as possible...
Huai River Road... Prince Huai'an is the richest man in the world, with astonishing financial resources, but he lacks troops. If my suspicion is correct, he will certainly pretend not to see the rebels and will not make a great effort to stop them...
Prince Jing's rebels will soon reach the Huai River. However, it takes time for a large army to march out, and it will also take time to digest the territory they have swallowed up...
Moreover, once they crossed the Huai River, would Prince Mu of Yunfu Road in the southwest and Prince Chen of Binhai Road in the east allow Prince Jing to recklessly march north? They would definitely try to hinder him.
This will buy us time to escape.
As long as we can escape from this encirclement and enter the Huai River before Prince Jing blocks Jiancheng Road, the pressure will be much less... Haha, even if Prince Huai'an hides behind closed doors like a tortoise, he won't come to arrest us either."
Xu Zhen looked at him and once again admired Zhao Duan's calm mind in the crisis.
She put away the map and looked outside worriedly:
"After all, driving a horse-drawn carriage on the official road is too conspicuous."
Zhao Duan said nothing.
He didn't want to, but the empress was seriously injured. Although he could carry her over mountains and across deserted paths, his speed would be greatly slowed down.
But right now, what the empress lacks most is time!
The sooner we can return to the capital, the greater our chances of stabilizing the situation!
If they chose to hide in the deep mountains and old forests for safety, by the time they returned to the capital, I'm afraid the capital would have been breached.
Xu Zhenguan also understood this principle, so he had to close his eyes, speed up his breathing, slowly heal his injuries, and try to expel Xuan Yin's palm power bit by bit.
On the rest of the journey, the two tried their best to hurry along, barely taking a break for even half a minute.
After dark, he didn't dare go to the town and didn't even light a bonfire. If it weren't for the fact that the horses pulling the cart needed to eat grass and sleep to rest, they would not be able to move. Zhao Duan wished he could travel 24 hours a day.
Even so, he was trying his best to hurry on, almost at the cost of overdrawing the horse's life.
…
"Whoa!"
Zhao Duan suddenly tightened the reins. Xu Zhenguan, who had been breathing with his eyes closed in the carriage, opened his eyes and asked:
"What's wrong?"
Zhao Duan leaned against the carriage curtain, holding the whip, his face heavy:
"Something's wrong. There's a checkpoint on the official road ahead."
He had just turned a corner when he noticed a scattered queue of pedestrians and businessmen's carriages blocking the way ahead.
At the front, the official road was blocked with chevaux de frise, and a group of officers and soldiers with ferocious looks were checking people along the way.
"Although this place is near the county town, we didn't go there. Logically, there shouldn't be a checkpoint here."
Zhao Duan said with a grim expression. When he saw from afar that those officers and soldiers were paying special "attention" to the young woman, his heart sank suddenly.
How could Prince Jing reach out so quickly? How long had it been?
"Can it be avoided?" Inside the carriage, Xu Zhenguan also frowned and asked.
Zhao Duan shook his head. "If we take a detour, it will be very far. We can't afford to waste time. It seems we have no choice but to rush through."
Xu Zhenguan pondered, "But I'm afraid it will alert the enemy and expose our presence."
With Zhao Duan's military strength, he could easily kill a group of ordinary soldiers.
But the problem is that the nearby rebels will soon notice the "disappearance" of this group of people and realize that they appear here.
Killing him would alert the enemy and expose his position... If he didn't kill him, he couldn't take a detour... Zhao Duan frowned, thinking about what means he could use to break through the level.
It's not just this one right in front of me. Since there are checkpoints on the road in such a remote place, there must be more if we go further...
He subconsciously recalled the many methods he had in his hands and suddenly said:
"I have a way to deceive them..."
He reached out and took out a palm-sized scroll from his arms, the Taixu Scroll.
He has always used this talisman as a storage bag, but he has not forgotten that it can record real scenes as paintings, thus creating a false illusion.
If used properly, it should not be difficult to deceive these ordinary soldiers without killing anyone.
"However... I am not a sorcerer, and neither is Your Majesty. We cannot use mana to activate this thing. It can only be used a few times before it enters a 'cooling-off period'... And the closer we get to the border of Jiancheng Road, the more checkpoints there will be. If we rush, we will be exposed later..."
Is that so...Xu Zhenguan was stunned and also felt it was tricky.
But Zhenbao was a decisive person, and he said immediately:
"Then just go straight through. Don't waste the power of the talisman. It will take time for the rebels to react and send out strong men to intercept them."
Zhao Duan frowned. This seemed to be the only solution, but... a flash of inspiration suddenly flashed through his mind, and the corners of his mouth suddenly curled up as he said:
"It seems that this is the only way, but I have thought of a way to delay it a little longer."
"What?" Xu Zhenguan asked curiously.
At this time, seeing that the suspicious carriage had not moved, several soldiers with swords came over vigilantly and shouted:
"Everyone in the car, get out and be questioned!"
Zhao Duan looked at the approaching group of rebels, and the Golden Crow Flying Knife in his sleeve whizzed out, and only a golden line was seen passing through the air.
Almost at the same time, seven or eight arrogant rebels had a thin crimson line appear on their necks, and then they fell to the ground and died.
Zhao Duan turned his wrist, shook off the blood on the flying knife, and raised the corner of his mouth:
"To confuse the pursuers."
…
The flag failed.
(End of this chapter)
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