by Zhi Bai
An Zheng did not hear what Chen Zaiyan said. His mind was in a mess. Many things had popped up from the corner that he had hidden away, causing An Zheng to feel even more agitated.
Chen Zaiyan's nagging caused An Zheng's irritation to almost reach a critical point.
Chen Zaiyan was still narrating his own life, his own ambitions, and his own imagined future. He wanted to turn the great swallow into a powerful country and become the most important participant in the process. Even though An Zheng didn't want to hear a single word, these words still went into his mind. Those words seemed to have turned into lines, and in the end, these lines formed a person's face in An Zheng's mind, becoming clearer and clearer.
That face was kind and resolute.
An Zheng could no longer resist as he turned to look at Chen Zaiyan, "There's something that I wanted to ask you when I was facing a desperate situation at the foot of the city wall. However, in the end, I did not ask because you and I might both die. Since we might die, many things are no longer important. Now that neither of us are dead, I have an answer. "
Chen Zaiyan asked: "What's the matter?"
An Zheng looked into Chen Zaiyan's eyes and asked word by word: "Old Shang Shu Hao Pingan, did you kill him?"
Chen Zaiyan's expression changed greatly, and in an instant, it was as if he had aged several tens of years. His eyes started to flicker as he did not dare meet An Zheng's gaze. The two of them seemed to have fallen into an ice cave at the same time, and the surrounding air also seemed to have frozen.
It seemed as if a century had passed and Chen Zaiyan's hair had turned white.
"Yes!"
"No," he said.
Chapter 208 - Reverse Blood Flow
In this instant, An Zheng felt that he would be a sinner if he didn't kill Chen Zaiyan.
And in this very instant, Chen Zaiyan felt that he had already died.
But in the end, neither of them moved.
The terrifying silence lasted for a long time, to the point that it made one think that this little room was hell.
An Zheng finally said this after a long period of silence, "For yourself, or for your country?"
After he asked this question, he regretted it, because no matter what it was, Chen Zaiyan was unforgivable.
Chen Zaiyan's silence was different from An Zheng's silence. An Zheng's silence was laced with killing intent, but Chen Zaiyan's silence was as if he was enduring the true torture that came from the depths of hell. And this hell was actually his own inner heart.
"All of them, and some of them are the Old Minister."
An Zheng frowned: "You killed him for him?"
Chen Zaiyan let out a long exhale, "That night, perhaps the one I don't want to recall in my entire life. No one knew that the old man looked fine, but he was very sick. He coughed up blood every day, even Royal Doctor Zhuge Chouyun couldn't do anything, he had already tried every method she could think of. In the end, the Old Shang also became more at ease. "
"That night, he and I talked for a long time in the study of the Old Shang. He asked me what it was like to die. I don't know, so I can't answer. The old man said he might have felt it because he had talked to Death. The words I said to you about death just now were not actually my own thoughts. It was exactly the words that Old Shang Shu said that night. "
If the world is going to change from dead to alive, I'd like to be the first. However, this death at the most critical moment was very thought-provoking.
If the world is going to change from thoughts, I'm willing to be the first. I am willing to use my death to cause change in the world, to feel fear of not knowing how to resist and not knowing how to pursue.
An Zheng was silent.
Perhaps it was precisely because he had revealed the biggest secret in his heart that made Chen Zaiyan relax slightly.
"Elder Shang Shu said that even the World God Hand cannot save me, but I know that I have not reached the point where I should die the most. The people of this country have not yet sought change out of fear and uneasiness, and my death will have no effect. However, since the heavens have given me no more time, I can only rely on my own death, hoping to cause the people to think. "
"Old Shang said that if the heavens gave him three more years, he would definitely be able to do even more things, and might even overthrow the empress dowager. "However, without these three years, or perhaps even three months, he would have to think about his future matters."
An Zheng asked: "So you killed him."
Chen Zaiyan nodded: "Yes."
An Zheng laughed coldly: "You really are his good assistant, and really a successor that he nurtured himself."
Chen Zaiyan said: "Everyone has the heart to fear death, if the Old Shang Shu says so, so will he. Thus, he knew that he would not be able to pass that test, so he needed someone to help him. That night, Old Shang Shu gave me a packet of poison, which was personally made by Imperial Physician Zhuge Chouyun. Zhuge Chouyun said that after eating this poison, one would not feel any pain and would leave as easily as if they were asleep. But even so, the Old Shang Shu is still a bit afraid. "
"He gave me the medicine and I gave him the tea."
Chen Zaiyan was silent for a while, then said: "Then he made me sit beside him, so he would have the courage to drink it."
In that moment, An Zheng felt as if his heart was clogged with something. His stomach also churned and churned, but he couldn't spit it out even if he wanted to. He felt that the Chen Zaiyan in front of him was extremely disgusting and righteous, but the person hiding under the skin was also a demon.
Chen Zaiyan was silent for a long time, "If possible, I would like to ask you to kill me after a while."
He looked at An Zheng: "If I die now, even more people will die on the front lines. Once I am dead, Her Majesty's men will take over the army immediately. At that time, a group of people who do not even know how to lead troops and how to operate the troops in charge of the army would be a disaster to the hundreds of thousands of great swallow soldiers who are still fighting on the front lines. "
An Zheng turned his head, he did not want to look at him anymore.
What An Zheng sought was a realm that would eliminate all evils, and this was also his personality. Should Chen Zaiyan die? Damn it! Because Chen Zaiyan's sin was not only his death, but also the other people who died in the army headquarters at that time. The empress dowager had planted the majority of these people, but she could not rule out the possibility of manslaughter. However, An Zheng had no way to eradicate this evil immediately.
It was as Chen Zaiyan had said, if Chen Zaiyan died now, it would truly be a disaster for the warriors who were still fighting on the frontlines.
Who could the empress dowager use? They were mostly the trusted aides he brought from the State of Zhao. These people did not have much ability, and once in power, they would do whatever they wanted. They did not know how to organize the military affairs. An Zheng could not hand over the lives of over a hundred thousand soldiers to the empress dowager no matter what. Moreover, the relationship between State of Zhao and the other two was far from being as intimate as it appeared to be. If it was possible to weaken the State of Yan, the State of Zhao would definitely be more than willing to do so. If this war between Youyan and Youlan were to end in mutual destruction, that would be the outcome the other small nations would be willing to see.
"Do you think I'm a bit disgusted?"
Chen Zaiyan laughed bitterly: "Me too... I have not dared to look in the mirror since the president left. Every time I stood in front of the mirror, what I saw was not myself, but the face of the old man. He smiled at me and told me you were right, but the more he did that, the heavier the guilt felt in my heart. "
Chen Zaiyan lifted his own hand. There were a few shocking wounds on his wrist: "I tried to die … But death will not solve the problem. "
An Zheng sighed: "I don't want to bring up this matter again, just pretend I never asked. To you, perhaps living is
more torturous than dying. "
Chen Zaiyan was silent.
An Zheng took a deep breath and stood up to walk out.
Chen Zaiyan said anxiously: "Your injuries have not been healed, the blood has not been stopped, where are you going?"
An Zheng strode forward, letting the blood seep out of the bandage, "I want to go home.
Chen Zaiyan said, "Go back at this time, the empress dowager's people will definitely take the chance to kill you."
An Zheng shook his head: "The people who once tried to kill me are now at a much higher level than these people, I am still alive. Moreover, even if it's me right now, I won't be killed that easily. "
When An Zheng walked out of the room, the afternoon sun had already reached its peak, causing the sky to darken. An Zheng stepped on the sunlight as he walked forward, blood flowing out from under the bandage, leaving behind a string of footprints.
After An Zheng left the Tiantong Palace, even if the current Tiantong Palace was the safest place in the world, he was not willing to stay for even a second. He did not want to see Chen Zaiyan's face, nor did he want to see Mu Changyan's face. The two of them could not be considered evil people, but they were not the same type of person as An Zheng. They were in fact one of the wicked, though most of the time they looked like good people. But when they have no choice for a purpose of their own, they will do evil, and all means will not reject it.
After leaving the Tiantong Palace, An Zheng didn't feel much more relaxed. When he went out of the palace, he asked the guard about it. The guard replied that he did not see Feng Xiuyang from the Tai-tai-tai-tai-tai-tai-tai-tai-tao or Nie Qing from the martial academy. After the two fought inside the Tiantong Palace for a while, because there were more and more guards gathering around, Feng Xiuyang left the Tiantong Palace and Nie Qing followed closely behind.
An Zheng said his thanks and hobbled back.
Now it seemed that Feng Xiuyang knew of the entire matter. He had first lured Nie Qing away, but this was only the first step. He used the battle with Nie Qing to attract some of the Tiantong Palace's guards over. This resulted in the guards of the south gate tower not being able to cope with the assassins rushing out. But before the assassin attacked, Feng Xiuyang left first, because he wanted to clear up the relationship between them.
Until now, everything was just a guess. No one could prove that Feng Xiuyang was involved in the assassination.
The person An Zheng wanted to see the most was neither Nie Qing nor him, but Chen Shaobai.
"We will meet at Grand Autumn Ceremony. It's just that you may not recognize me when the time comes."
These words appeared once again in An Zheng's mind... What kind of role did Chen Shaobai play exactly? It looked like Mu Changyan trusted him a lot, too, but why would he help Feng Xiuyang to lure Nie Qing away?
State of Yan could not compare to Da Xi, but it was only now that An Zheng realized that the undercurrents in this small country that were hiding behind calm surface were not stable at all. And exactly because the Royal Family was weak, once this undercurrent of energy exploded, it would be a disaster for a small country like the State of Yan. No one could shake the position of the Holy Emperor Chen Wunuo. No matter how presumptuous those Great Clans were, they would not dare to touch the bottom line.
Halfway there, An Zheng finally couldn't hold on any longer.
Having lost too much blood, he felt increasingly weak. Luckily, the Blood Pearl Bracelet had shared a portion of the his injuries, otherwise, even if he did not die, he would not be able to move at all. Just when An Zheng thought that he would fall down, the Blood Pearl Bracelet shone brightly once again. The light was dim, flickering, but a warm current was beginning to flow into An Zheng's body from the bracelet. At first, An Zheng thought that it was the Blood Pearl Bracelet's medicinal power contained within the medicinal field, but a few seconds later, he realized that something was amiss.
This was not the medicinal effect, but the Qi and blood!
The Blood Pearl Bracelet was replenishing An Zheng's blood!
But this doesn't make sense … Old Huo had once said, this Blood Pearl Bracelet was the most evil of divine tools, somewhere between divine and demonic. Once the previous master had placed a curse on him, the new master would use his own blood energy to nourish the previous master until the previous master's soul was revived or he was resurrected. Of course, this was only a legend, the Old Huo had never seen it with his own eyes.
But An Zheng knew that the Old Huo would not talk nonsense, and in this world, there was probably no one who knew more about these Divine Equipment than the Old Huo. Therefore, An Zheng's life force should have been sucked away by the Blood Pearl Bracelet, why would it be flowing back now?!
An Zheng was not the only one stunned, at this moment, inside the cave of Mount Cang Man, the middle-aged man who was initially lying in the crystal coffin with his eyes closed suddenly opened his eyes.
"How is this possible?"
The middle-aged man looked confused, "There shouldn't be any problems with the power of the curse, so why is it that the blood will flow back?"
As he opened his eyes, the people who were climbing west around the crystal coffin recovered from the frozen state. They stood up and bowed, "Greetings, Saint Lord."
The middle-aged man waved his hand, "Nothing much, just continue meditating. I just don't get it. However, it's not a big deal. Up until now, I don't really need that youth to help me replenish my vitality. "
He turned his head to look. Not far from the crystal coffin, there was a cage made of meteoric iron. The stone essence spirit seemed to have lost a lot of weight and blood essence. It had a necklace on its neck, the same one An Zheng had given up before. As for the necklace and the Blood Pearl Bracelet, they were of the same set.
"What a strange youth."
The middle-aged man slightly creased his brow. After pondering for a moment, he still couldn't understand, so he closed his eyes and returned to the crystal coffin. As for that stone spirit, it was miserably curled up in the iron cage, its eyes filled with helplessness.
Chapter 209 - Ants
With the power of the stone essence spirit, he could rely on himself to kill most of the cultivators in this world one by one. The number of people who could subdue it was very few, and probably not much better than the Stone Essence species. An Zheng did not know that the stone spirit was currently locked in Mount Cang Man's cave. If he knew, he could more or less guess how strong that dried corpse was in the past. Because he had yet to completely recover, he was already able to snatch the stone essence away from the who was in charge of the array formation.
Halfway through, An Zheng felt that he could fall any time now. The Blood Pearl's blood flow was reversed, and this warm feeling instantly caused An Zheng's body to recover quite a bit.
After staying in an inn for a long time, An Zheng finally reached out to the fatty.
Du Shoushou almost flew over, when he saw An Zheng's appearance, his eyes turned red: "Why the f * ck are you calling me only now that you're not dead?!"
An Zheng laughed weakly: "If you can't move, then go further, but you'll starve just by walking here … He did not dare return to the Heavenly Awakening Sect as he was afraid that he would provoke others there. However, I guess that there are quite a few Swallow King's people around the inn right now, so those who want to kill me won't easily do so. After all, I am only an insignificant person, and the empress dowager is probably just like an ant on a hot pan right now, and is thinking of how to continue killing Chen Zaiyan. "
An Zheng shot a glance at good old man, who was in Fatty's embrace. "Why did you bring good old man here as well?"
Du Shoushou said: "How was it brought by me? good old man chased after me and grabbed my clothes, but couldn't even pull it off."
After saying that, Du Shoushou mewled towards good old man, who also mewled as if he was ignoring him.
Du Shoushou sat down next to An Zheng. "You said that it will
meow when I meow, can it understand what I'm saying?"
An Zheng smiled and said: "Let's see how you understand this."
Du Shoushou asked: "How do I understand that? "What do you mean?"
An Zheng said: "By meowing to good old man, you probably mean little darling. good old man meowed once. Do you think good old man agreed to it? But to good old man, this might not be the case. You meow, good old man meow … Perhaps in its eyes … Father? "Sigh!"
"Scram!"
Du Shoushou glared at An Zheng: You're not dead?
An Zheng said: "I won't be dead for now, but I need to quickly return and let the Xiao Liu'er take a look. I ate all the medicine I brought along along along the way, stopping the bleeding. However, I think that he should have suffered internal injuries and that Xiao Liu'er would need to personally make a bowl of scallion noodles.
Du Shoushou: "You beast!"
An Zheng shrugged his shoulders: "I guess that things won't be peaceful for the next few days, and I don't want any of our people to come back. However, Mu Changyan should be about to counterattack. Now that Ma Ziwei was in Mu Changyan's hands, it would be difficult for the empress dowager to kill him. The most important thing is, if there is an intelligent person helping out, then this matter will be much easier to resolve. "
Du Shoushou said: "I am not an intelligent person."
An Zheng replied: "I am."
Du Shoushou was startled for a moment. "I've seen shameless people before."
An Zheng said: "Have you never seen a person who looks so handsome while being so shameless?"
Du Shoushou retched.
An Zheng laughed: Isn't there a witness at Empress Dowager Su? Physical evidence. It seemed like this was solid evidence, but the truth was, it couldn't withstand much scrutiny. Once the other party's proof appeared, this ironclad evidence would not be able to stand up straight. You think of a way to contact Zhong Jiuge later, and have him think of a way to disguise as the person who just returned from the east side to hand in a report, then … Just pretend that Fang Zhiji wrote it. "