There is a god in the sky

Chapter 374 Joint Trial by the Three Judicial Offices 15

Shen Lan felt her body fly high into the air, and just as she was about to crash into the wall, she reached out and braced herself against the wall, causing her body to bounce back and land on the ground.

Dislocated wrist.

My ankle is still numb, and I can't use my leg at all.

"Cough cough..." Li Ye coughed up a mouthful of blood, clutched his chest, and slowly stood up.

Tong Yiwen on the other side was furious.

Li Ye failed to attack his eyes, but he did manage to cut a long gash on his face, from which blood flowed freely.

"I've changed my mind, I want you all dead!"

Seeing him strike Li Ye with his palm, Shen Lan raised her right hand, and several thin poison needles shot out from her sleeve.

This type of hidden arrow is not very powerful and has a short range. It is only effective when fired at close range. It is one of the ways Shen Lan protects herself.

The sound of the needles being shot out was very faint, barely audible, but Tong Yiwen seemed to sense the approaching danger. He turned around, flicked his sleeve, and knocked away several poisoned needles.

But a thin needle still pierced his body, but he did not feel any pain.

He touched his chest, but felt nothing special.

"You really have quite a few hidden weapons," Tong Yiwen said, staring at Shen Lan.

His face was covered in blood, and his expression was ferocious and terrifying.

Shen Lan counted silently in her mind.

The poison needles were too thin, so they could only hold a limited amount of poison, and it was unknown how effective they would be against a master like Tong Yiwen.

"Let me tell you, by now, Bianjing City should be in chaos. The Tong family will be fine, and the Crown Prince will not be deposed. As for you, you will rest here forever."

Shen Lan was not surprised that he had made arrangements; it would be against his nature to do nothing.

Li Ye tossed aside the half-broken knife and casually picked up a piece of wood from the ground.

The stick twirled in his hand, and Li Ye leaped high into the air, smashing it down forcefully on his opponent.

"Out of control."

Tong Yiwen gathered his strength, raised his fist, and directly caught Li Ye's stick with his fist.

The wooden stick shattered into pieces, and Li Ye smashed it against the wall again.

Just as Tong Yiwen was about to continue his attack, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest and lost his strength.

Just then, the sound of hurried footsteps came from outside the cave, and a group of imperial guards rushed in with crossbows, blocking the entrance completely.

The rescue arrived, and Shen Lan collapsed limply to the ground.

Upon seeing the leader's shadow, Tong Yiwen abandoned Li Ye and reached out to grab Shen Lan.

Shen Lan raised her right hand, and the other person paused and dodged to the side.

Shen Lan chuckled. "Is Headmaster Tong scared? Don't worry, the hidden weapon can only be used once."

She lowered her arm and smiled even more triumphantly.

Tong Yiwen's avoidance of Shen Lan and Li Ye resulted in him separating from them.

The Imperial Guards' crossbow bolts rained down on him, covering every inch of the space around him.

Instead of retreating, Tong Yiwen moved closer to them step by step.

Suiying seized the opportunity to rescue Shen Lan.

The exit was in complete chaos, making it impossible to get out. Shen Lan whispered, "Go inside."

She helped Li Ye up, and the three of them ran deeper into the area.

When she came in, she guessed that there was also an exit on the back of the cave, where air could circulate.

Both were seriously injured, so Sui Ying simply carried Shen Lan on her back and supported Li Ye with her arms as they searched for an exit in the deep cave.

Once inside, they saw that the cave had been divided into individual training rooms and a large communal sleeping area.

Shen Lan smelled the stench of a corpse and followed the stench to a room full of torture instruments.

Two corpses were still hanging on the torture instruments; they were already rotten, presumably due to the lack of cleaning over the past few days.

“Raising assassins is like raising poisonous insects. They are made to kill each other from a young age to stimulate their wildness and bestiality. They may even be deliberately made to kill each other and destroy their humanity.”

Sui Ying's words made Shen Lan feel nauseous, but the cruelty of reality often exceeds people's imagination.

"Let's go, I feel a cool breeze."

Shen Lan raised her hand, feeling the direction of the breeze, and walked towards a dark stone chamber.

Using the faint light from the tinderbox, the three found a passage, a staircase leading downwards, with no idea where it led.

"Should we go down? Maybe we should turn back the way we came."

Sui Ying felt that even if Tong Yiwen were a reincarnation of a war god, he would not be able to escape the siege of thousands of imperial guards.

The passage before them, leading to an unknown destination, was even more frightening.

"Go down and take a look. I have a feeling this leads to the exit."

Shen Lan could feel that the airflow had increased, and it was blowing up from below.

While altitude can create wind, the air wouldn't be this fresh in a confined space.

There are hundreds of people living in this cave, and it would be impossible for them to live there without ventilation.

At this time, the capital city was indeed in complete chaos.

Xiao Ji entered the city with the stolen money he had dug up, but he encountered difficulties at the city gate.

The number of soldiers guarding the city gates increased, and they were all unfamiliar faces.

It seems there are also people affiliated with the Crown Prince within the Imperial Guard.

"The Provincial Judicial Commissioner is acting on imperial orders; release them at once!"

"Whether you're from the Criminal Investigation Department or any other department, the entire city is under martial law today. No one is allowed to enter or leave without a pass!"

"Whose waist tag is this?" Xiao Ji asked.

The young officer in charge grinned smugly, "Of course it's His Highness the Crown Prince's waist token!"

Xiao Ji's face darkened. Could it be that the Crown Prince was about to force the Crown Prince to abdicate?

However, given the strength of the troops in the city, unless the Imperial Guards collectively rebel, the Crown Prince has no chance of winning.

An official behind Xiao Ji handed over two waist tokens and said to the guard, "We are also acting on the orders of the Crown Prince. May we pass?"

Xiao Ji looked at the other person in surprise.

This official was just an insignificant nobody in the Ministry of Justice, with no background or status. How could he have the Crown Prince's waist token on him?

But now is not the time to ask.

The garrison commander frowned as he examined the two waist tokens from all angles, but could not find any trace of forgery.

Moreover, this rule was just established, and it's impossible for anyone to have prepared it in advance.

"People may enter the city, but the goods you are escorting must be inspected."

Xiao Ji laughed, crossed his arms, and said arrogantly, "These are gifts sent to the Crown Prince on behalf of the Tong family. You can check them, but if even a tael or half a tael is missing, you'll have to explain it to the Crown Prince yourselves."

The garrison commander, accompanied by two soldiers, went to inspect the chest. Upon opening one of the chests, they found glittering gold, enough to fill five carts.

With such a large sum of gold and silver, even if the crown prince himself came, it would be impossible to stop him outside the city.

Once the news gets out, it might lead to civil unrest.

"Quickly! Let them through!"

Xiao Ji led his men and the stolen money into the city, but soon received bad news.

Magistrate Xu arrived with his officers to meet him and told him, "Half an hour ago, the prison was raided, and everyone in the Tong family was rescued."

"Didn't the Imperial City Guard send people to guard the Heavenly Prison? Why couldn't they track them down?"

"His Majesty has decreed that the entire city be under martial law, and I was worried that you would not be able to enter the city."

Xiao Ji smiled helplessly, "Someone took the opportunity to replace the guards at the city gate. If it weren't for someone being clever, I really wouldn't have been able to get in."

He beckoned the officer from before over, looked him over, and asked, "Whose man are you? How do you have the Crown Prince's waist token?"

"I was following your orders, sir, and I never expected that I would end up helping you out of a predicament."

All of Li Ge's men had the Crown Prince's waist token, and they often went out and acted under the Crown Prince's name.