Chapter 944 The Secret of the Medicine Box (Two Chapters Combined)
The masked maidservant, carrying a small medicine box, left Lanting Courtyard and then the Princess's Mansion without stopping, heading straight for the side gate of the Marquis of Xuanping's Mansion, presumably intending to climb over the wall from there.
The Marquis's residence was heavily guarded, with patrolling guards carrying swords passing by from time to time. The maidservant was extremely skilled in light-footed martial arts and managed to evade them every time.
Finally, the maid arrived at the foot of the wall.
Marquis Xuanping was the most powerful marquis in Zhao State, and the walls of his mansion were higher than those of ordinary people. Of course, this was no problem for the maids.
The maidservant, carrying a small medicine box, easily leaped up the wall, lightly touched the ground with her toes, and swiftly jumped out of the mansion.
However, the moment he landed, something unexpected happened.
A huge net descended from the sky, covering the maid from head to toe.
The maid reacted quickly, drawing her dagger and slicing the net open. But in that short time, a row of spears were placed against her neck!
The maid didn't take the guards seriously, but the next second, she dared not make a move.
Because right outside, over a hundred archers drew their longbows, their cold arrows aimed at him.
This is not a one-on-one or one-to-many fight; it is an absolute tactical crushing victory that no expert can easily escape.
The maidservant, holding a dagger in one hand and a small medicine box in the other, was pondering how to deal with the situation when, from behind the archers, a dozen guards carrying torches escorted a man dressed in a moon-white robe as he strode forward.
The archers made way in an orderly fashion, and after the group of men entered the encirclement, they quickly closed the formation.
The firelight shone on the young man's face, and the maid recognized him, her eyes widening in shock.
Xiao Heng stopped about ten steps away from the maid, glanced at her coldly, and said indifferently, "You really haven't disappointed me."
"you……"
The maid was about to say something, but immediately covered her mouth as soon as she spoke.
Xiao Heng smiled faintly: "No need to pretend, I recognized you a long time ago, Elder Li."
Upon hearing the name Elder Li, the maid froze, almost instinctively raising her hand to touch her face.
Xiao Heng said calmly, "The human skin mask hasn't fallen off."
The maid touched (to prevent censorship) her breasts again.
Xiao Heng said, "It didn't fall off either."
The maid was just short of going to look for birds.
Xiao Heng's face darkened: "Stop!"
The maid... no, to be precise, it was Li Jiangping.
He frowned, looking at Xiao Heng with barely concealed shock. Xiao Heng remained calm and composed, showing no doubt whatsoever, which indicated that he was certain of his identity.
Denying it again is pointless.
He said in a deep voice, "How did you guess?"
Xiao Heng said coldly, "It's very simple, you revealed a flaw from the very beginning."
Li Jiangping frowned: "I don't understand."
Xiao Heng raised a finger, and one of his accompanying guards took out a handkerchief from his pocket, opened it, and handed it to Xiao Heng.
Xiao Heng picked up the dried bloodstains from the nail and said, "You were injured when you accidentally pierced your palm with one of the nails while moving the betrothal gifts. You went all out and did indeed hammer the nail into the box. But that's the problem. These betrothal gifts are very valuable, and to prevent moisture, you abandoned the waterway route. This measure was obviously effective; all the other nails were dry and intact, but this one was rusted. And the hole is new; it's obvious it was just hammered in. You might say, 'I just patched a nail,' but I think no one would patch a rusty nail."
Li Jiangping never expected that he would make such a mistake.
No, this is not negligence.
This was flawless; this guy was too freakish, too meticulous, to the point that not even the slightest clue escaped his notice.
Li Jiangping gritted his teeth: "Just based on a rusty nail?"
“Not only that,” Xiao Heng said. “When Chang Jing told you not to pass on Gu Jiao’s medical skills, do you remember what you said?”
"A common man is innocent, but possessing a treasure is a crime. I understand, don't worry."
The words from that time flashed through Li Jiangping's mind, but he didn't understand where his mistake lay: "What's wrong with that sentence again?"
Xiao Heng said calmly, "You didn't even notice, did you? Before you said that, you glanced at the small medicine box on the table while wiping your sweat. So I'm quite certain that when you said 'possessing a treasure is a crime,' the 'treasure' you meant was my wife's box. You deliberately got injured to test the medicine box in my wife's hands."
Is this guy a judge? He has such sharp eyes!
Li Jiangping originally wanted to deny it, but now it seems impossible.
This was an inauspicious start, and it was definitely the fastest I've ever exposed myself.
This is truly bizarre!
He was clearly a guy who didn't know any martial arts, but for some reason, his eyes and his aura were enough to make people's hearts pound with fear.
Everything happened so fast that Li Jiangping was completely stunned. He had too little time to react and make a decision. He could only rely on his years of martial arts experience to rush towards Xiao Heng, the only person on the scene who did not know martial arts, without any regard for anything else!
Xiao Heng's appearance conveniently blocked the view of a group of archers. If he was fast enough, he could grab Xiao Heng and force them to release him.
As for Xiao Heng's bodyguards, their meager skills were no match for him at all!
Li Jiangping is a master on Dark Night Island; his skills are beyond doubt.
His internal force sent the guards flying, and his hand fiercely grabbed Xiao Heng's neck.
Just when he was about to succeed, someone who had been lying in wait in the tree curled his lips in disdain, aimed at him, and suddenly pulled the trigger!
With a loud bang, Li Jiangping was sent flying!
He crashed heavily into the wall behind him and then fell to the ground in a sorry state!
"Tsk."
Shangguan Qing, perched on a tree branch, frowned, seemingly dissatisfied with his shot.
The shot hit the small medicine box in Li Jiangping's arms. He wasn't disemboweled on the spot, but he was still quite shaken.
He suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood.
This time, the steamed bun inside her clothes really fell out.
Shangguan Qing was so disgusted by the spiciness that he couldn't bear it anymore.
Xiao Jingkong can spice me up, but you can't.
He loaded the gun without hesitation.
This is a newly improved firearm, with increased accuracy and speed, but also significantly stronger recoil, which he is not yet used to.
"I'll use you as practice tonight."
He aimed at Li Jiangping's head.
At that moment, a sudden change occurred. A series of terrifying sword energies slashed through the air, forcefully repelling the secret guards of the Marquis of Xuanping's mansion. Immediately afterwards, a swordsman dressed in gray flew down, grabbed Li Jiangping on the ground, and quickly left the spot.
That person's lightness skill was probably no less than Gu Chengfeng's; in the blink of an eye, he and Li Jiangping disappeared without a trace.
Shangguan Qing jumped down from the tree branch, clutching the new musket. He glanced at the spot where Li Jiangping had fallen, then looked at Xiao Heng: "Aren't we going to chase after them?"
Xiao Heng gazed in the direction the two had gone and said, "No need."
Shangguan Qing slung the musket over his shoulder: "But they also took Jiaojiao's trunk."
Li Jiangping was quick; he didn't forget to grab the small medicine box on the ground before leaving.
"It's nothing," Xiao Heng said.
Shangguan Qing said, "What do you mean 'it's nothing'? That box is very precious, you know? I just fired a shot at it, and it didn't even break!"
Xiao Heng was not surprised by this.
Jiaojiao said that the first-aid kit is not from their world, and the first-aid kit may not be its true form.
However, in their dimension, it can only appear in this form.
Shangguan Qing snorted, "Are you really alright? If Jiaojiao wakes up and finds the box missing, she'll definitely be angry. Let's see how you appease your wife!"
Xiao Heng smiled, not continuing the topic, but instead asked, "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"
The recoil of the new musket was very strong.
Shangguan Qing rubbed his pectoral muscles: "A little numb, but it's okay. By the way, what's up with this Li Jiangping? Why did he steal Jiaojiao's medicine box? Who ordered him to do it? Dark Night Island?"
Xiao Heng shook his head: "It's not Dark Night Island, it's Sword Lodge."
"Wasn't Jianlu Island destroyed?" Shangguan Qing had already learned from his father that Chang Jing and the others had gone to Jianlu Island to seek revenge.
Xiao Heng said thoughtfully, "Now it seems that Jianlu has pulled off a clever escape."
After midnight, Marquis Xuanping and Chang Jing returned to their residence.
Chang Jing successfully killed all the enemies who had been stalking him for several days; none of them escaped.
Sure enough, Chang Jing found it easy to use.
"Huh? Why are you all here? Don't you need to sleep?"
As soon as he entered the courtyard, Marquis Xuanping saw his two sons having a late-night conversation by candlelight in the main hall.
Xiao Heng glanced at Chang Jing and then told him about Li Jiangping's matter.
Marquis Xuanping looked at Chang Jing.
Chang Jing was extremely surprised. If anyone else had said this, he would never have believed it, but since it came from Xiao Heng, he fell silent.
Marquis Xuanping snorted coldly and scoffed, "He doesn't look like a good person."
Chang Jing retorted in a low voice, "Uncle Li is a very good person. He has always taken good care of me and my seven older sisters. Every time I got into trouble, he was the one who pleaded for me."
Marquis Xuanping gave him a strange look: "Even if you didn't plead for him, your father wouldn't have the heart to punish you, would he..."
Chang Jing was speechless.
The facts are clear, and Marquis Xuanping will not speak up for a bad guy who stole his daughter-in-law's medicine chest: "So that Li Jiangping is just putting on an act to please you guys."
Chang Jing continued weakly, "But this time it was he who persuaded my father, and only then did my father allow me to propose marriage."
Xiao Heng analyzed for Chang Jing: "He can't come to Zhao Kingdom with you unless he convinces your father. His purpose is very clear: Jiao Jiao's medicine box."
Chang Jing made a final, low-pitched struggle: "He was the one who discovered the Sword Pavilion."
Xiao Heng sighed: "We had no choice but to find out. First, he needed to make enough contributions to gain your father's favor. Second, the Dark Night Sect has strict rules, and he couldn't leave the island without permission. He could only use the excuse of monitoring the Sword Pavilion every now and then to hide his dealings with the Sword Pavilion."
"Is that so?" Chang Jing already understood that regardless of whether Uncle Li was a spy from the Sword Pavilion, from the moment he stole Gu Jiao's medicine box, he was no longer Elder Li of the Dark Night Sect.
The Dark Night Sect would never ask him to do such a thing.
Shangguan Qing asked suspiciously, "But I still don't understand, why did they steal Jiao Jiao's medicine box?"
"Is there a lot of precious medicinal herbs in the box?" Shangguan Qing asked himself, "Or is the box so invulnerable to swords and spears, and even muskets can't break it, that they want to take it back and chop it up to make armor?"
Xiao Heng shook his head, not explaining the secret of the small medicine box to the people in the room.
The small medicine box contains an inexhaustible supply of medicines and can also connect to an operating room in another space; it is truly a rare treasure.
Then another question arises.
What does Jianlu need these for?
It is a sword-making hut, not a medicine hut.
Does this mean they'll stop practicing swordsmanship from now on and all become doctors?
Or perhaps one of them has a terminal illness, and it just so happens that the medicine box contains the cure?
This possibility can also be largely ruled out. Given the relationship between Li Jiangping and Chang Jing, Gu Jiao would be willing to give him any medicine he asked for, no matter what kind. There would be no need for him to go through the trouble of stealing the medicine box.
Marquis Xuanping didn't inquire whether there was anything strange in Gu Jiao's small medicine box. The medicine box belonged to Gu Jiao, and he didn't pry into people's privacy. Besides, whatever it contained was not a reason for Jianlu to covet it.
The people of Jianlu deserve to die.
Thinking of something, Xiao Heng asked Chang Jing, "The deceased were the Sword Pavilion Island Master and his wife... Who identified the bodies?"
“Uncle Li… Li Jiangping.” Chang Jing corrected his form of address. “Only he was secretly observing the Sword Pavilion, and only he knew who was who on the island. Therefore, when he said it was someone’s corpse, my father and I both believed him.”
Xiao Heng said, "It seems that the true master of the Sword Pavilion is not dead."
Shangguan Qing asked, "Did Long Yi actually go to the island?"
Xiao Heng shook his head: "It's hard to say now. Maybe he went and killed a lot of Sword Pavilion disciples, and some of them escaped. Maybe before he could make a move, the Dark Night Sect people landed on the island, and that incident was staged by Sword Pavilion to deceive the Dark Night Sect."
Shangguan Qing nodded: "Li Jiangping knew that the Dark Night Sect was going to kill the Sword Pavilion, so he tipped off the Sword Pavilion in advance. As a result, the Sword Pavilion staged this massacre. It seems plausible."
Xiao Heng thought for a moment and said, "It's very likely that Long Yi went there. Otherwise, with the strength of Sword Pavilion, they wouldn't need to avoid Dark Night Gate like this."
Chang Jing said solemnly, "Our Dark Night Sect is very powerful!"
Xiao Heng said, "Of course you are powerful, but with Li Jiangping as an inside man, it wouldn't be difficult for Jianlu to set up an ambush on the island and trap you."
Chang Jing remained silent.
really.
They all trusted Uncle Li too much.
Uncle Li led the way the whole time they arrived on the island. If Uncle Li had deliberately led them to places with traps and mechanisms, they would probably have suffered heavy casualties long ago.
Chang Jing still couldn't understand something: "But Uncle Li... why didn't Li Jiangping take action? Even if we suffered some casualties on Jianlu Island, we wouldn't suspect him. He could have taken the opportunity to weaken Dark Night Island's strength."
Xiao Heng looked at him seriously: "What if you get hurt? If you can't come to Zhao Kingdom to propose marriage, he won't be able to get close to Jiao Jiao."
Chang Jing: "Oh."
At this point, Chang Jing's last glimmer of hope was extinguished.
Li Jiangping was a complete spy.
Actually, there are still some doubts, and Xiao Heng needs to go back and sort out his thoughts slowly.
"Is that box really alright?" Shangguan Qing was still worried about the small medicine box. After all, it was something that a musket could not destroy. You know, even Gu Jiao's armor could not withstand the power of a musket.
Xiao Heng said confidently, "It's alright, they can't steal it."
...
On the quiet street, a horse-drawn carriage sped along.
After Li Jiangping boarded the carriage, he immediately placed the small medicine box under the seat and held it tightly with his feet to prevent it from being thrown off by the bumpy ride.
The swordsman who saved him handed him a pill to treat his internal injuries.
He tilted his head back and swallowed the medicine, then circulated his internal energy to complete a small cycle. He let out a long breath and said with relief, "That was really dangerous! What kind of weapon was that guy holding? It almost killed me!"
“That’s called a musket,” the swordsman said, then hesitated for a moment before adding, “But back in Ghost Mountain, muskets didn’t have that kind of power.”
The swordsman did not participate in the Battle of Ghost Mountain, but Elder Lu and others wrote down all the details of the battle and sent them back to the Sword Lodge.
Li Jiangping sighed, "My identity has been exposed. I can never go back to Dark Night Sect."
Mentioning this makes Li Jiangping furious. He had been lying low for twenty years, deceiving the entire island, only to be defeated by a callow youth!
The swordsman said, "It's alright. You've got the medicine box, the mission is complete, and you don't need to go to the Dark Night Gate anymore."
Li Jiangping sighed, "I really didn't expect that what the sect leader was looking for would be in the hands of a little girl."
The swordsman was also incredulous: "Yes, we always thought that thing was in the Dark Night Gate, which made you search for it on Dark Night Island for twenty years in vain."
Li Jiangping smiled and said, "It wasn't a wasted effort. If I hadn't been hiding on Dark Night Island, I wouldn't have had the chance to come to Zhao Kingdom with Chang Jing."
The swordsman said, "That's true."
Li Jiangping frowned: "However, I have a question. How did the sect leader know that this medicine chest was in the hands of the Duke of Anguo's adopted daughter?"
The swordsman explained, "It was a female physician from the Chen Kingdom surnamed Mu who told the Han family of the Yan Kingdom, who then informed Gongsun Yu. Our people happened to be nearby and overheard it. Gongsun Yu wasn't interested in this, which made things convenient for us."
Li Jiangping suddenly realized: "So that's how it is."
The swordsman chuckled and said, "Chang Jing happens to have this connection with the husband's family of the Duke of Anguo's adopted daughter. It seems to be fate that allowed our Sword Pavilion to obtain it."
As he spoke, he looked at Li Jiangping and said, "You have made a great contribution this time, and the sect leader will surely reward you handsomely."
Li Jiangping couldn't hide his smile. He bent down to pick up the small medicine box from the ground, and then something incredible happened.
"Where's the first-aid kit?!"
He was shocked.
The swordsman frowned: "Didn't you just put it under the stool?"
"Yes! I put it here!" Li Jiangping squatted down and searched not only under his stool but also every nook and cranny of the carriage.
But the first-aid kit is nowhere to be found!
First-aid kit: ╭(╯^╰)╮ Today I'm asking for monthly votes from my first-aid kit~
(End of this chapter)
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