Chapter 34 Cooperation
In the official residence, a few more cups of tea were put out again.

Liu Cheng took off the fang mask without hesitation, revealing a face with several hideous scars. Then, he began to slowly drink the hot tea.

"In the past, most people in the sect referred to each other by their names. This is the first time I know that the leader of Huizhou has the surname Liu."

Cui Yu narrowed his triangular eyes, glanced at Xiao Yan standing behind Liu Cheng, and said, "Besides, Captain Liu, you don't have to be polite. This government has heard about your capture of the Saint Ji of Huanyinfang. Although she escaped by chance during the chaos, the headquarters has already designated you as the Lord of Hell of Mount Tai. This government would like to congratulate you first."

Liu Cheng was overjoyed when he heard this, and he stood up and said, "Thank you, Lord..."

"From now on, within the jurisdiction of Mount Tai, I will have to rely on Lord Yan a lot."

Cui Yu agreed calmly, as if he had really secured the position of Lord Yan for Liu Cheng. He then added, "I thought Lord Yan had already returned to Huizhou, but it turns out that he has been staying in Caozhou all along..."

Liu Cheng smiled bitterly, then pointed at his own face and said, "To be honest with you, Lord, the battle was extremely dangerous that day. Although I was lucky enough to survive, I have several serious injuries all over my body. I have been staying in Caozhou to recuperate these days..."

After he finished speaking, he even bowed to Zhu Hanbin who was standing beside him and said, "It is thanks to Governor Zhu's care that I was able to recover."

The latter drank his tea and chuckled, but did not reply.

Cui Yu stroked his long beard and asked calmly, "Is Lord Yan familiar with the governor?"

Zhu Hanbin put down the teacup and was about to explain.

But Liu Cheng said, "We do have some friendship. The last time we were suppressing the rebels, we lived in the house arranged by the governor. This time, I lost a serious criminal and thought I should be punished by the church. But I heard two days ago that it was Governor Zhu who wrote a letter to say a few good words for me."

Cui Yu glanced at Zhu Hanbin's face and his eyes became meaningful.

The latter was shocked and hurriedly stood up to explain.

But Xiao Yan, who was standing behind Liu Cheng, reminded him at this time: "Didn't the captain just tell his subordinates that there were clues about the murder of three Yan Juns that he wanted to tell Cui Fujun..."

Liu Cheng suddenly realized, and slapped his forehead as if he had just remembered, then stood up and walked towards Cui Yu.

"Look at my memory, Lord Fu. I think the previous Lord Yan was murdered by Tongwenguan..."

Seeing that Cui Yu and others' attention was drawn to them, Zhu Hanbin's face turned slightly red and he looked at Xiao Yan with extreme anger.

Xiao Yan's face was completely hidden under the mask, and his expression could not be seen clearly.

After a moment, Cui Yu stood up with a look of understanding, and gave Zhu Hanbin a curt bow, saying, "This government has to find the murderer and report back to Bianliang before the New Year, so I won't bother you any more. If the governor has any ideas, please report them in time."

Then, he said meaningfully: "If it's too late, it will be really too late."

Zhu Hanbin was annoyed, and after a moment of hesitation, he quickly left with his men.

Liu Cheng caught up in time and said, "My Lord, I will go with you."

Finally, he did not forget to turn around and give instructions to Xiao Yan.

"Stay here for a while. Please explain clearly the list of gifts I am going to give to the governor as a token of my gratitude."

……

The official residence was suddenly empty, and Zhu Hanbin's face turned extremely ugly. He said angrily: "You hurt me!"

His staff were a little scared and shrank aside.

Xiao Yan took off his mask calmly and sat on the wooden chair, but did not reply to him immediately.

Zhu Hanbin was furious. He strode over and said in a low voice, "Do you know that those few words just now made the Xuanming Sect more suspicious of me? Do you really want to see me die?"

"Didn't the governor want me to die just now?"

Xiao Yan said calmly, "If I hadn't arrived in time, the governor would have abandoned your young son and asked Lord Cui of the Yinlu Division to take my head, right?"

"fart!"

Zhu Hanbin's eyes narrowed, but his expression remained unchanged. He said sullenly, "Even a tiger won't eat its own cubs, so why would you abandon my flesh and blood!"

"Because you are scared, terrified, and cowardly." Xiao Yan sneered and said, "You are so scared of a mere dwarf like Zhu Yougui, the Dark Emperor, whose wife was robbed by Zhu Wen. It's really ridiculous!"

"You! You bastard! What nonsense! I have been working with you for such a long time, and you still doubt me? Do you have to tie me up with a rope at this critical moment?"

Zhu Hanbin was a little furious. He said with a gloomy face, "I have agreed to your request. Why do you have to drag me onto your shabby boat in front of Cui Yu? Do you know how many people he has killed over the years? "

"If you don't let the Xuanming Sect suspect you of having ulterior motives, how can you concentrate on rebellion?" Xiao Yan smiled and said, "Just like what happened just now, if I hadn't made extra preparations, I would have been sold out by the governor."

The veins on Zhu Hanbin's forehead bulged. He was shocked and angry. He pointed at Xiao Yan and kept backing away, trembling all over: "Are you spying on me?"

"Same here." Xiao Yan said, "Aren't you also secretly monitoring me? Unfortunately, I thought our peaceful situation would last for a long time. It seems that the governor is more ruthless."

"It's all because of you!"

Zhu Hanbin had completely lost his usual calm demeanor at this moment. Once his purpose was exposed, he became crazy and ready to fight to the death.

"If I kill you now, I can still save the situation!"

"Oh? What will happen after you kill me?" Xiao Yan tapped the table lightly and said, "If I die, you can hold my head and call a deer a horse, saying that I am Li Yu? That's too naive. If the deposed emperor is really pushed out by my men, Zhu Wen will just chop off your head immediately."

"Shuzi!"

Zhu Hanbin was so angry that blood rushed to his head. He kicked over the table and chair beside him and said angrily: "So what? You will die first!"

Xiao Yan showed no emotion, only coldness in his eyes.

He played with the mask and sighed, "Ben gave you a chance to live in peace."

But Zhu Hanbin no longer paid any attention to him. He sneered, backed out of the door, and said, "Don't think you have me in your hands during this period! I have a backup plan!"

As soon as he finished speaking, there were sudden sounds of dense footsteps around the official residence. It turned out that several of his trusted aides led dozens of gangsters from all over the place and blocked the entire entrance.

"I have been dreaming about this moment all the time these days!"

Zhu Hanbin narrowed his eyes, smiled coldly, and said, "Do you really think I can't do anything to you? Right now, I have people in several branches. If I capture you, I may be able to find Li Yu! Then I can make up for my mistake, and I won't die!"

"The path I planned for you is obviously a good one."

Xiao Yan sighed in confusion and put the mask on the table.

Zhu Hanbin snorted coldly, said no more, waved his hand, and ordered in a deep voice: "Capture him and force him to tell us the whereabouts of King Jiyin!" Several of his confidants and most of the martial artists behind him immediately responded and were ready to move with knives.

But immediately, there were several sounds of swords being drawn.

"Puff puff……"

These gangsters had almost no protection from their backs. Occasionally, two of them had time to turn around and defend themselves, but after just two moves, they were kicked over and then stabbed in the throat.

Zhu Hanbin was shocked, and turned around to look, and saw that half of the martial arts masters who had originally obeyed him had suddenly turned against him, and in this surprise attack, they suddenly hacked down the rest of the martial arts masters.

He was terrified, but remained calm and did not retreat a single step.

Glancing at the faces of these people at this moment, he found that they were all martial arts masters recruited by the aide during this period of time.

In the hall, blood was splattered everywhere, and the only two remaining confidants were pale and approached him. At the same time, everyone who had quickly resolved the fight surrounded them.

Someone entered the official residence holding a knife and handed it to Xiao Yan with both hands.

"Captain."

Zhu Hanbin's eyes widened with anger, and he finally realized what was going on. He pointed at the terrified staff hiding in the corner and shouted angrily, "How dare you betray me!?"

The 40-year-old aide was a little embarrassed. He bent over and walked to Xiao Yan's side. Then he straightened up to Zhu Hanbin, which was rare. He said in a serious tone, "It was the governor who was going to dismiss me first."

The latter was so angry at his words that his blood rushed to his head and he almost fainted.

Two trusted men supported him, their faces looking somewhat pale.

"You're joking. Haven't you verified their identities yourself?" Xiao Yan stretched out his hand and wiped the blood off the blade with his internal force. He then walked over and pointed it at Zhu Hanbin's chest.

"Tell me, who should die first now?"

"You bastard, you are playing tricks on me."

"I really want to cooperate with the governor." Xiao Yan said, "I didn't intend to fall out with the governor when I came here today."

"You bastard, if you kill me, you won't have an easy life!"

"I didn't say I was going to kill you."

Xiao Yan threw the knife at Zhu Hanbin's feet, then turned away with his hands behind his back and said coldly: "Right now, the governor can still be given two choices."

"First, you and I have uncovered this story, and we can still work together well."

"Second, if you resist, you may be able to kill me with one blow."

The faces of the two confidants and Zhu Hanbin changed instantly, and the first two even stopped breathing.

Zhu Hanbin stared at the long knife on the ground, then looked around. The bad guys surrounding him had grim expressions, but their blood-stained blades were still shining and scary.

He gritted his teeth but dared not move.

He was indeed a veteran on the battlefield, and his own skills were close to the minor celestial level, but given the current situation, he was not sure he could break out of the encirclement.

After a long time, he finally said with difficulty: "I am willing to continue to be the ally of King Jiyin..."

"A real man can take it and let it go. The governor really makes me admire him." Xiao Yan smiled lightly and turned around, but there was no smile on his face. He said indifferently: "I don't want others to know about what happened today."

The faces of the two confidants suddenly turned into fear. One of them immediately dropped his weapon, knelt down and begged, "I am willing to be the captain..."

"puff."

But before he could finish his words, Zhu Hanbin quickly picked up the long knife and stabbed the man in the waist and abdomen in an instant.

The remaining confidant's face turned ferocious. He waved his knife, trying to avoid the crowd, and growled, "Mr. Zhu, we worked hard for you and ended up like this..."

Behind him, a bad guy kicked his knee and then put a long knife to his neck.

Xiao Yan remained calm and looked at Zhu Hanbin coldly.

The latter was covered in cold sweat, breathing heavily while holding a long knife, but slowly approached the confidant.

Seeing that cursing was useless, the confidant begged, "Captain, no, King Jiyin, please spare my life. I still have old people and children at home... I know everything about Zhu Hanbin, I will tell you everything!"

"Damn it!"

Zhu Hanbin was furious and cut his throat with a knife, and the spurting blood splattered all over his face.

More blood continued to splash towards Xiao Yan, but was instantly slapped away by the bad guy next to him.

"Is Prince Jiyin satisfied now?"

Zhu Hanbin's face turned pale and he let go of the long sword with trembling hands.

The retreat route has been cut off, and this guy is the only one left around me.

"The governor is indeed decisive, I admire him."

Zhu Hanbin forced a dry laugh, wiping the blood off his face and moving forward, "From now on, King Jiyin can rest assured to cooperate with me. I will be King Jiyin's most loyal ally..."

"No, we are just cooperating. We will no longer be allies in the future."

Xiao Yan had a blank expression on his face. He patted the former on the shoulder and left: "From now on, the governor should be called something else."

"You, send the governor back and wash the blood off his body."

The bad guys looked solemn and saluted with their swords in hand.

"Follow the order."

Zhu Hanbin's face froze, and he saw that the bad guys surrounding him on both sides were looking at him coldly with hostility.

He trembled, then his face turned pale and he leaned forward and clasped his hands.

"Farewell, Captain."

(End of this chapter)