Chapter 36: Shadow Under the Sun

On the official road in Luocheng, Yun Yang sat on his horse waiting. The Jiejin Guard from the Mengjin great camp would arrive in just an hour. With the king's order flag in Bright Rabbit's hand, no one should dare to resist or disobey.

Behind him, more than ten secret agents stood by their horses, silent. These secret agents wore black clothes, like solid reef stones in the river. The flow of people on the official road was like river water, parting and flowing around them.

The fearsome reputations of the Secret Agents Office and the Main Criminal Office meant that ordinary people dared not provoke them.

At this moment, the sound of horses' hooves echoed from a distance, growing louder, like thunder rushing. Then, Bright Rabbit, in a set of black clothes, led the way on a horse, followed closely by five hundred Jiejin Guard, raising a sky of dust.

The Jiejin Guard wore raincoats and bamboo hats. Long knives were crossed behind their saddles, and their mouths and noses were covered with black cloth towels. They were solemn and murderous, like dragons.

"Good, good, good, the entire great camp has been mobilized!" Yun Yang laughed lightly and urged his horse forward to greet them, his laughter filled with the joy of certain victory.

When the two sides met, Yun Yang's face turned black. He frowned and looked towards Lin Chaoqing in the crowd. "Command Envoy Lin, why are you here?"

Lin Chaoqing said in a low voice, "This seat is the Command Envoy of the Main Criminal Office. You all mobilized the Jiejin Guard without reason, so I naturally have to come and inquire. I need to know, what are you using the Jiejin Guard for? The king's order flag is useful, but if not used properly, the consequences are very serious."

Yun Yang rode his horse to Lin Chaoqing's front, the distance between them only two feet. They confronted each other sharply. "This matter has already been reported clearly to the Inner Minister. With the king's order flag in hand, there is no need to inform you. Moreover, I need to guard against someone among you colluding with the enemy. If the message is leaked, you won't be able to bear the responsibility."

Lin Chaoqing looked around. His gaze under the bamboo hat was like knives, cutting across the bodies of the secret agents. "That masked young man, eh? This is his decision?"

"What do you mean?" Yun Yang frowned. "Why would our Secret Agents Office need a mere xiao Diao to make decisions?"

Lin Chaoqing scoffed lightly. "If you cause a great disaster this time, perhaps no one can help you turn the tide. Go ahead, I'll see what you plan to do."

"Haha, Lin Chaoqing, wait until Bright Rabbit and I achieve great merit this time, then you can just be envious!" Yun Yang squeezed his horse's belly and led the five hundred riders straight towards Beimang Mountain.

Along the way, Lin Chaoqing looked at their direction of assault, and his heart grew more and more alarmed, until he vaguely saw the tomb garden on the mountain in the distance. He couldn't help but ask, "You're going to the Liu family ancestral grave?!"

Yun Yang laughed loudly. "Bright Rabbit and I investigated and found that there is only an empty coffin inside Master Liu's tomb. The Liu family has been petitioning His Majesty in recent days to grant Master Liu a posthumous title. Now they have committed the crime of deceiving the monarch! From now on, no one is allowed to leave, otherwise they will all be treated as leaking secrets!"

Five hundred riders rushed up Beimang Mountain. At the Liu family ancestral grave, more than a hundred tomb guards blocked the road, and there were long wooden barricades in front of the gate.

Someone shouted loudly at Yun Yang, "This is my Liu family ancestral grave. Successive cabinet elders rest here, and there are twelve imperial-granted loyal and filial archways. How dare you arbitrarily intrude upon this place?"

Yun Yang didn't care at all. He only roared, "Follow me and trample Beimang Mountain! Now is the time to achieve merit! Those who block the road will be killed without mercy!"

He was the first to rush out, urging his horse to leap over even the wooden barricades.

Among the Liu family guards, one person leaped up and chopped down with a knife in mid-air.

However, Lin Chaoqing, behind Yun Yang, drew his long knife. With a casual throw of his knife sheath, the sheath shot out like a shuttle or lightning, striking the Liu family warrior in the air and sending him flying.

The Jiejin Guard urged their horses forward one after another, and the cavalry charged back and forth, killing the Liu family people and sending horses flying. This line of defense was like a layer of paper in front of the Jiejin Guard, easily broken.

In the blink of an eye, Yun Yang had already killed his way to the front of Master Liu's tomb. He pointed at the stone door in front and said, "Jiejin Guard, break open the tomb, open the coffin, and verify the corpse!"

However, just at this moment, a familiar voice came from a distance, "Lord Yun Yang, do you know what the consequences will be after doing this?"

Yun Yang looked over and saw Liu Xianxian, still wearing mourning clothes and a filial cap, slowly pushing through the crowd. Behind him followed more than ten people with menacing glares, just waiting for an order to kill.

Bright Rabbit said in a low voice, "They are the officials raised by the Liu family."

"No matter how fierce the officials are, one person cannot break a military formation, unless those few come over!" Yun Yang didn't care so much. "Liu Xianxian, your family's old master is clearly not dead. You can take off these filial clothes from your body! Come, men, break open the tomb!"

Liu Xianxian roared angrily, "I'll see who dares!"

"It's not up to you!"

The Jiejin Guard were elite inner court guards. They only knew how to obey orders. It didn't matter whether you were a judge in Luocheng or the capital.

The next moment, the Jiejin Guard leaped off their horses, raised their knives, and covered the kill. They actually scattered the Liu family people completely and came to the front of Master Liu's tomb!

Bright Rabbit snatched a long knife from a secret agent beside her and said coldly, "Make way!"

The Jiejin Guard team neatly made way for her, allowing her to drag her knife forward to the front of the tomb and chop down!

With a bang.

With one knife, the stone tomb actually split in two and collapsed, revealing the coffin inside.

Yun Yang took a big step forward and stood in front of the coffin, laughing coldly, "Liu Xianxian, I see what you still have to say!"

With that, he exerted force and lifted open the coffin!

The world was silent. Everyone currently fighting stopped their movements and looked over blankly... They really opened the coffin!

Everyone said that after entering the coffin, one cannot see the sky or the ground, otherwise the soul will wander between heaven and earth and never transcend. But Master Liu served in the cabinet for more than ten years, and after death, his coffin lid was lifted by people!

Yun Yang said, "Liu Xianxian, what else do you have to say?"

Bright Rabbit beside him looked inside the coffin and said in surprise, "What's the matter?!"

Yun Yang turned his head to look and was instantly stunned. He suddenly saw Master Liu lying peacefully inside the coffin.

Liu Xianxian immediately cried, throwing himself on the ground, "Grandfather, this grandson is unfilial, actually letting the eunuch party cause this great disaster! This grandson is unfilial, this grandson deserves to die!"

Yun Yang looked at Bright Rabbit blankly. "Didn't you say..."

Bright Rabbit was also stunned. "When I investigated that day, there was indeed no one inside!"

Yun Yang took a step back. How could this be? The coffin should have been empty, Master Liu should have been alive, how did he appear in the coffin! How could this be?!

Liu Xianxian looked at Lin Chaoqing with red eyes and said ferociously, "Lin Chaoqing, is this how your Main Criminal Office does things? Allowing the Secret Agents Office to persecute meritorious ministers!?"

Lin Chaoqing's face was ashen as he looked at Yun Yang and Bright Rabbit. "Is this what you wanted to do? Come, men, take these two people down and press them to the capital to await judgment!"

Yun Yang suddenly raised his hand. "Wait!"

Saying that, he went to touch Master Liu's body, but before he could touch it, a person behind Liu Xianxian suddenly rose up and attacked, kicking him out. "Still want to disturb the old master's peace? You're seeking death!"

This person's strength was actually much stronger than what was shown earlier!

Bright Rabbit saw Yun Yang suffer a loss and raised her knife to kill. Unexpectedly, another person behind Liu Xianxian rose up to meet her. The two sides touched and separated in front of the coffin. This time, Bright Rabbit flew out and fell heavily to the ground.

When Bright Rabbit climbed up again, she angrily raised her hand, immediately wanting to open her forehead and start a great killing spree. However, she heard Yun Yang shout, "Bright Rabbit, don't! You cannot expose your cultivation path!"

Bright Rabbit looked coldly at Yun Yang. "Not necessarily a fight we can't win. We can kill our way out, change our names, and hide our identities."

"There are five hundred Jiejin Guard here, we can't win," Yun Yang shook his head and said dejectedly. "Even if we change our names and hide our identities, where will we have a place to live? Let's go back to the capital and see the Inner Minister."

Lin Chaoqing flipped onto his horse. "Take these two people away!"

Liu Xianxian said with red eyes and gritted teeth, "Just leave like this? I want these two people to be buried with my grandfather!"

Lin Chaoqing scoffed coldly. "My office supervises matters of rites. When is it your turn to make decisions? The Inner Minister will give you justice, but until the Inner Minister speaks, no one can touch them."

Saying that, Lin Chaoqing pressed Yun Yang and Bright Rabbit to leave.

On the mountain road of Beimang Mountain, Yun Yang stared blankly at Luocheng. When they came, they held the king's order flag and were the glorious twelve zodiacs of the Secret Agents Office. When they left, they were prisoners. This time, the disaster they caused was too big, perhaps even the Inner Minister couldn't cover it up.

Yun Yang looked at the Jiejin Guard beside him and said impatiently, "Don't always grab me, I can't run. Step aside, let's talk."

The Jiejin Guard looked at him, but finally, deterred by the other party's fearsome reputation, silently retreated a few steps, only sandwiching them in front and back as they went down the mountain.

Bright Rabbit saw the situation and moved to Yun Yang's side, asking in a low voice, "What exactly happened? Did the Liu family get the message ahead of time, knowing that we would open the coffin to verify the corpse? But this Master Liu couldn't have died just like that, could he? Could it be that I saw wrong that day... Wait, could it be that Chen Ji passed the message to the Liu family?"

Yun Yang suddenly frowned. He subconsciously looked around, wanting to see if Chen Ji was there. He always felt that his little apprentice was watching him from the shadows.

Yun Yang knew he wouldn't die. The Inner Minister still needed him to kill people, but if this was truly Chen Ji's doing this time, when he returned to the Secret Agents Office, he would probably truly be stepped on.

He hesitated. "Chen Ji doesn't know that we wanted to open the coffin to verify the corpse today. If he can even guess this, then he is too formidable."

"He is indeed very formidable," Bright Rabbit said frankly.

Yun Yang was unwilling to admit that he not only failed to use a borrowed knife to kill, but was also trapped in prison by the other party. "He should be too busy to be free right now. The Quiet Consort lost her son and then her nephew, whom she watched grow up since childhood. She has lost some reason and will certainly retaliate against him."

Bright Rabbit was being escorted, but her tone relaxed again. She lowered her voice. "Let's not mention who leaked the message for now. We must find someone to seek Chen Ji and let him find a way to save us! Give him money!"

Yun Yang was silent for a moment. "But we are being watched by Lin Chaoqing now, where can we find someone to go!"

"Also..."

Yun Yang suddenly said, "I have an inside line in the Liu family. Perhaps I can soon know who passed the message."

After the two were escorted down the mountain by the Jiejin Guard, Liu Xianxian stopped crying. He stood up from the side of the coffin with a calm face, wiped away his tears, and said calmly, "Investigate, who gave us the message?"

"They say there was suddenly a letter in the room, and the guards didn't notice who put it there."

Liu Xianxian frowned. "There is actually someone who can quietly enter the inner residence without a sound? What are the experts I've raised doing? When can you recruit some truly skilled experts for me?"

The surroundings were silent as cicadas in winter, no one dared to respond.

Liu Xianxian took a deep breath and said, "There is actually a great official hiding in a dark place that we don't know about, and he can even sneak into my inner residence privately. Even if it's difficult to investigate, we must investigate!"

......

......

Chen Ji walked slowly along the long street, walking in the shadows under the eaves. The flow of people at his side was endless, and he seemed to have no connection with this world.

Autumn leaves fell and covered the streets, a desolate scene.

This was not the Luocheng in Chen Ji's imagination. It was more cruel than he imagined. If you don't kill people, people will kill you.

When he first arrived, he had to be careful with everything he did, afraid of doing something wrong or saying something wrong. And now, he had already learned how to deal with this world.

Although there was no splendid life, it didn't matter.

Hei Yun poked his furry head out from his embrace. "Chen Ji, there's roast chicken over there, buy me a roast chicken."

Chen Ji laughed. "Okay, you've achieved great merit again today. You can eat whatever you want, and it's also very reasonable for you to sleep on my head."

At this time, cheerful voices came from behind them. Chen Ji turned his head to look and suddenly saw several dozen people riding tall horses, joyfully coming from the sunlight.

Someone shouted loudly, "It's the Shizi returning! The Shizi and the two county princesses are returning from Donglin Academy!"

Then, he saw a young man wearing white sable fur sitting on a horse. That Liang Gou'er, who had split Lin Chaoqing's bamboo hat that night, was leading the reins with a flattering expression, while Liang Mao'er held the long knife with a bitter face and followed behind.

Five or six women rode white horses behind them, whispering and laughing from time to time.

As this team of horses approached, Chen Ji suddenly saw two people urging their horses forward from behind the crowd. It was actually his two direct older brothers from the Chen family.

The two urged their horses parallel to the Shizi. One of them laughed and teased, "Shizi, my younger brother and I returned to Luocheng a few days ago. You left the academy even earlier than us, so why did you only return today? Where did you go to play?"

The Shizi laughed. "When I return to Luocheng, I'll be supervised by the old master, so it's better to return later!"

Hei Yun quietly asked in his embrace, "Chen Ji, who are they?"

"Not important."

As they spoke, the crowd passed by the eaves where he was standing. No one looked this way more than once.

The splendid noon light shone on their white horses and brocade robes, high-spirited, the sunlight just right. While Chen Ji stood in the shadows under the eaves, in the shadows there was only a young man and a cat.

......

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Volume 1, Prologue (Completed)