552 The Shadow Of Chen Pingping As He Fled From Calamity, As Well As Children (1/2)

One of Yan Bingyun's hands was broken and hung uselessly by his waist. He looked at the Eldest Princess. His gaze appeared dim. The pain in his chest let him know that the earlier contact had given him internal injuries. The aces beside the Eldest princess were not people with whom he could contend.

At this moment, the 13 gate guard departments had been heavily surrounded by soldiers. All the long spears pointed at Xiao Yan. Of the aces beside the Eldest Princess, two of them stood out and charged toward Yan Bingyun quickly. Holding sharp blades in their hands, they gave off a death-like smell that enveloped him.

If only the Emperor had listened to An Zhi and swept out the entire Junshang Conference before he died. This thought came involuntarily into his mind. He knew he wasn't a match for these jianghu aces. He didn't entertain any farfetched hopes that the heavens would give him a chance to escape. He only stood with a heavy expression and drew something from inside his clothes.

It was a signal arrow. Since there was a rebellion at the city gate department, he had to report Zhang Deqing's fatal betrayal of Zhang Ruochen in the Palace before he died.

Yan Bingyun's index finger caught on the ring of the signal arrow. Looking at the two black sword shadows that came closer and closer, his pupils constricted. He spat out a mouthful of muddy air before pressing his lips tightly together and pulling with force.

With a puff, the signal arrow lit up. It didn't rise into the air. A small force hit against his wrist and a splash of slightly warm liquid poured onto the back of his hand, making his heart tremble. This signal arrow flew out but didn't fly far. It shot into the chest of a city gate soldier and exploded slightly.

Yan Bingyun didn't lower his head. Slanting his gaze, he saw fresh blood pouring out of his hand.

When his index finger extended into the ring, a terrifying expression appeared in the eyes of the Junshang Conference ace closes to him. It was like if he saw some unusually terrifying thing. Then, a thin line of blood appeared on the ace's neck.

The bloody line extended in an instant and became a large bloody wound. One could see his white throat bones, the extremely disgusting windpipe, esophagus, and mangled flesh.

With a click, the ace stopped in front of Yan Bingyun and knelt down with a crash. With the powerful crash, his half-sawed through neck could not support his head. With his vertebrae as the center of his head, he fell backward uselessly.

The upside-down white face of the dead man had his eyes wide open, staring at the Eldest Princess and Zhang Deqing, who were protected behind layers of aces and soldiers.

The fresh blood sprouted like a fountain from his throat. It landed on Yan Bingyun's hand and covered his entire hand in bright red. It also just happened to stop the signal arrow from rising into the sky.

The other ace of the Junshang Conference that charged forward faced an even more tragic end. He didn't even reach Yan Bingyun. His eyes only caught a faint shadow cast by the torches passing in front of him and felt a coldness at his throat.

A delicate and unreflective sword came from behind him to the right. With unusual steadiness and mercilessness at high speed, it pierced through his neck and extended out the other side.

With a splutter, the tip of the sword moved like the tongue of a snake, darting forward and then immediately withdrawing, leaving his neck like lightning. The zhenqi and life in the ace left his body as the sword left his neck. His eyes were open like dead fish. His hand tried to cover his neck, but he found that he was already no longer able to control any muscle in his body.

His legs turned to water as his vision dimmed and his bowels released. He fell down. Like a gourd, he rolled across the ground, past Yan Bingyun's frozen body, and only stopped when he hit the tall threshold of the hall.

The smell of blood was strong. The stench of rust also emanated from his body.

A sword that seemed to have reached out from hell had dealt with two of the aces from Junshang Conference with terrifying skill. No one had realized what had happened. Even Yan Bingyun, who had been rescued, had no idea what had happened and stood where he was in shock.

Then, he felt his body become light. In the next moment, he had been lifted by the neck by a black shadow and was flying above the hall. Following the shadows below the lofty city walls, they headed toward the darkness in Jingdou.

The darkness before dawn was particularly thick.

In the eyes of the people trying to kill Yan Bingyun, it was an even more terrifying scene. A black shadow seemed to have appeared without sound among the crowd and easily killed the two aces with unusual ferocity. Then, it had lifted Yan Bingyun like a burlap bag and easily took him out, despite being surrounded by many people.

It was so terrifying because it was so easy. With three snaps, Yan Bingyun had been saved by this person. Meanwhile, the soldiers of the city gate department didn't even have time to lift the bows in their hands.

Who was this shadow to have such terrifying power?

The Eldest Princess, who had been protected at the back by the aces and soldiers, waved her hands to disperse the subordinates in front of her. With a slightly pale face, she walked out from the crowd and looked in the direction the black shadow had escaped in. No one knew how she was feeling. They could only watch as her eyes grew brighter and brighter.

The Overwatch Council is indeed very scary, the main conspirator of the Jingdou revolt thought to herself. But, she didn't feel a great sense of failure. Since it was the world's best assassin who had come, there was nothing she could do to stop it when he used his skills to save Yan Bingyun.

However, it shouldn't impact anything.

As Li Yunrui thought this, she narrowed her eyes at the soldiers near the city gate. At this time, the sky was gradually growing brighter. The sun below the horizon began to send out countless silver fish, which used their bellies to reflect their own light, gradually chasing away the thick darkness of the night.

The torch already did not seem very bright. The warm morning light struck everyone's bodies and cast lines of shadows on the ground.

…

…

Of course, the Overwatch Council was scary. The eight bureaus had a great deal of hidden talent. There were countless heroes who were willing to hide their faces and give up their past glory to throw themselves into Qing Kingdom's secret service. This power was gathered in one place. The might it could exhibit made even the Emperor, the most powerful person in Qing Kingdom, secretly wary.

Even though the Qing Emperor was nominally directly in charge of the Overwatch Council, everyone knew that the reason the Overwatch Council was able to attract so many skilled people to provide their services, to be able to exist tyrannically in Qing Kingdom for over 30 years, was completely due to the old cripple sitting in the wheelchair.

Jingdou only had 1,000 or so officials of the Overwatch Council, yet it was terrifying. They had entered the Royal Palace, suppressed d the Ministry of Justice, forcefully open the Celestial Prison, and subdued the Jingdou government. In one night, they had turned Jingdou upside down.

Fan Xian had planned well. Yan Bingyun had carried it out well. To be able to achieve such results was completely reliant on the Overwatch Council officials' strong power of organization and iron-blooded obedience. These qualities, which were unique to the Overwatch Council, had been slowly, drop by drop, immersed into the spirit of the Overwatch Council by Chen Pingping, the old cripple, and the first generation of the heads of the eight bureaus over dozens of years.

Thus, the most powerful part of the Overwatch Council was not the Black Riders, Fan Xian, or the best assassin in the world. Rather, it was Chen Pingping, the person and all that he represented.

The Crown Prince and Eldest Princess had planned the assassination of the Emperor on Dong Mountain. She clearly knew of the Overwatch Council's power, yet it seemed that the attention she gave it was much too little. From the perspective of the Crown Prince, who was filled with unease, if he wanted to take the throne, he had to first control Chen Pingping. Otherwise, who would dare sit on that dragon chair?

Fortunately, Chen Pingping had been poisoned and segregated outside of Jingdou.

The Crown Prince had originally thought that this was his aunt's doing. No one knew that this matter had absolutely nothing to do with Li Yunrui.

From the beginning, Li Yunrui had not thought of defeating the Chen Garden outside Jingdou and the old man in the wheelchair. It was not because she underestimated Chen Pingping or thought he was an impossible to remove strange old creature. Rather, it was because she had a secret.

The secret belonged to one person that the other people in the plan did not know. After the news of Chen Pingping being poisoned by the great master from Dongyi reached Jingdou, everyone was shocked and thought that this old cripple was faking it. When the news of the Emperor's assassination arrived and the empress dowager ordered Chen Pingping to immediately enter the Palace, he remained in the Chen Garden. Everyone began make assumptions.

Perhaps Chen Pingping had truly been poisoned? Thus, the old man who had known Chen Pingping for dozens of years began to become restless and started to have ideas. This old man always had a secret fear toward Chen Pingping. If he didn't kill him, his heart would never be at ease. The current situation made it advantageous to take his life while he was ill. If he didn't take this opportunity to take Chen Pingping's life, the old man would never forgive himself.

Thus, after the old vegetable-planting Master Qin had left Jingdou and regained control of the army, and after his son had regained control over the Jingdou Garrison, his first order was to massacre the Chen Garden.

…

…

Chen Garden was now a wasteland.

Chen Garden, which in Fan Xian's eyes was even more luxurious and extravagant than Ming Garden in Jiangnan, had become countless pieces of blackened remains. The beautiful and elegant woods had been burned into black earth. The exquisite and stylish rooms had become countless bits of rubble. There was smoke everywhere, but it no longer had the warmth of people. It appeared unusually cold.

Fan Xian saw this scene and felt that this heart was going to die from the pain. He opened his mouth and scolded those who didn't know how to treasure anything. From the past to now, the military had never needed the appreciation of beauty. When a branch of the Qin family's army attacked as suddenly as a peal of thunder, they naturally set everything on fire.

This fire was not set for the same reasons as the Eight-Nation Alliance. The Eight-Nation Alliance were thieves who thought that were too many things they couldn't take away. They decided they may as well burn it and not leave it for the people. However, the Qin family set the fire but hadn't taken anything or captured anyone.

The traps and triggers outside Chen Garden, which had once made Fan Xian's heart tremble, were still there. About 300 people had died in the Qin family's army before they broke into the garden. However, they didn't find a single living person.

What welcomed them was an empty garden. The supposedly poisoned and bedridden Director Chen was not in the garden. His beautiful female entertainers were not in the garden, nor were the servants. It seemed everyone had moved out a long time ago with unusual thoroughness. Even the pictures that used to hang on the walls had been taken down.

Chen Pingping liked those pictures.

This army controlled by the Qin family was mainly made up of Jingdou Garrison soldiers. The leading general was from the second generation of the Qin family and a cousin to Qin Heng. He looked at the empty Chen Garden with exasperation and anger. He had led the attack here and lost so many people only to end up with an empty garden.

In a great rage, he lit the fire.

Amidst the roaring flames, he ordered a fast rider to report back to the Yuantai Camp. He didn't lead the army back because old Master Qin had given a death order. Since he had moved against Chen Garden, then he had to kill Chen Pingping before returning.

Without any other choice, he could only subdue his usual pride and respectfully ask for help from the black-clothed man next to him. This black-clothed man had been sent by the old Master to help him. As the army made their way here, he had once said that Chen Garden was completely empty at this time.

The Qin General still didn't trust him. At this time, he had no choice but to trust him and sighed in his heart. After all, he was a senior figure in the Overwatch Council and much more knowledgeable about Chen Pingping's strengths and calculations.

Yan Ruohai, with his face covered, rode his horse beside the Qin General and said, ”Since the Director has gone, then you must be mentally prepared. Don't think that you will be able to capture him in a short amount of time.”

The Qin General stared.

Yan Ruohai glanced at him and mockingly said, ”Don't forget, he is Chen Pingping.”

After saying this, he pulled on his horse's head and rode out of Chen Garden. He couldn't bear to glance at the roaring fire. He wondered what form of human statue the Director would carve the General who burned down Chen Garden into.

He was a man of the Qin family. It seemed that this secret was only known to the Qin family. The Crown Prince and Eldest Princess did not seem aware of it. However, he was a man of the Overwatch Council. This secret was only truly known by the Overwatch Council. The Qin family was not aware of it.

…

…

Jingdou was gradually becoming the center of a grave situation. Memorials from various provinces entered the capital, but no edict came out from Jingdou. Fortunately, in this era, communication was not convenient. Everyone was used to a slow rhythm. Even though the provinces around Jingdou felt that it was strange, they did not think that Jingdou was in a dangerous situation and become fearful.

At least during these rest days, the entire Qing Kingdom, other than Jingdou and Dongshan Road, were peaceful as usual.