Chapter 59 The Long Night
Outside Shangyang Palace, there are large lanterns.

Torches were laid out from the palace, and candles were lit continuously from the forbidden area to the outer hall.

Xiao Yan followed behind the Jinwu Guards and heard the drums and music in the palace. Dense figures entered through the corridor one after another. They were palace maids holding wine jugs, wearing transparent gauze skirts, pretending to be calm on this snowy day, and entering the palace to serve.

There is a curtain inside the hall to block the view from below the platform.

The sound of drums and music in the hall was extremely pleasant, but the dancer had not yet appeared.

As there were heaters in every corner, the civil and military officials who had entered the hall earlier were now sitting in rows, enjoying themselves particularly.

Just as a rough warrior was grinning, a eunuch pushed open the palace door and welcomed Xiao Yan in.

Xiao Yan bent his waist slightly, staring at his feet, and felt that the atmosphere in the hall had become subtle.

But everyone was acting normal and talking to each other. It seemed that no one cared about such a thin figure, let alone anyone coming to pay a visit.

The eunuch led Xiao Yan to sit in the corner, which was next to the pillar and was not a good position.

But for Xiao Yan, there is no place better than here.

Because of the pillars' shielding, he raised his eyes slightly and glanced at the Liang officials inconspicuously.

Behind the first desk on the right, there was a very elegant scholar with three strands of beautiful beard and wearing a purple official robe. His eyes were very sharp. Whenever he talked to someone, the other party would almost always lower their head slightly and dare not look him in the eye.

Xiao Yan then remembered the information that a bad guy had handed to him some time ago.

"Li Zhen is a man of scornful nature, especially jealous of talented people, with a face like a laughing tiger."

He pondered for a moment, then immediately lowered his head and looked at the table.

Li Zhen, the chief of all officials in the hall, had just finished talking with someone and was pretending to be asleep with his eyes closed. Suddenly, he felt a vague sense of scrutiny coming from somewhere in the hall, so he suddenly opened his eyes.

There was still a low noise in the hall, and when someone saw him looking at him, they would just smile and nod respectfully.

He stroked his beard doubtfully and turned aside.

"Guo Wei, how much was the harvest in Henan Province last year? This year, Your Majesty wants to attack Qi State, so you may be appointed as the transport envoy of various provinces to supply the army."

Behind the second table on the right side of the hall, Zhang Quanyi, who was also wearing purple, was enjoying the drum music. At this time, Li Zhen had to call him twice before he suddenly came to his senses.

He was over fifty years old, and the hair under his bun had almost turned gray. Although he was wearing an official robe, he actually looked more like a soldier, with very dark and rough skin.

Compared with him, Li Zhen looked like he was ten years younger.

"Hmm? Your Majesty wants to conquer Qi Country?"

Zhang Quanyi had a thick stubble on his chin, and he was a little stunned at this moment, "Why do you suddenly want to ask for Li Maozhen?"

"Last year, the Huanyinfang established by Li Maozhen was very arrogant in the Central Plains, and its bad reputation even spread to the emperor. The chaos in Bianliang, the fighting between the imperial army and the Xuanming Sect, seemed to be caused by Huanyinfang."

Li Zhen narrowed his eyes and said calmly, "Li Maozhen's strength is not obvious, but his ambition is not small. I don't know how many secret sentries he has in the Central Plains. He has angered Your Majesty several times. He may not know the might of Daliang's army if he does not send troops to Fengxiang."

He deliberately lowered his voice because not many people knew about this matter, so Zhang Quanyi had to move closer to listen carefully.

Next to the pillar, Xiao Yan put his hand on the table, but his eyes were looking at them more secretly than before.

There was a lot of noise in the hall, and from time to time there were loud laughter from warriors. He could hardly hear what they were saying.

But his eyes were focused on Li Zhen's mouth, and he could make out what the two were talking about.

He was thinking when the hall suddenly became quiet.

No one dared to talk anymore, and even the sound of drums and music stopped instantly. Everyone stood up in unison and looked towards the platform.

Behind the curtain, three figures slowly emerged.

In the middle, the rather plump Zhu Wen held his protruding belly and laughed.

A eunuch's shrill voice was heard.

"Your Majesty has arrived, all officials are in greeting."

Xiao Yan did not make any unnecessary movements, but knelt down with everyone else.

"See Your Majesty..."

Sitting on the throne on the high platform, Zhu Wen laughed with satisfaction, "All the ministers, please stand up."

During this time, the Hades Emperor and the Ghost King, one short and one tall, were kneeling on the left and right, extremely respectful.

His sight was far above the curtain, and he could see Xiao Yan prostrating himself with everyone else, which made him even more satisfied.

"The evening banquet begins, let's enjoy the dance!"

The sound of drums and music rose again, and fragrant dancers came in from outside the hall and began to dance for the emperor of Daliang to the sound of music.

As the night wore on, Zhu Wen's interest had just begun.

——————Outside the palace, on the left side of Zuoyemen Street, inside the Jinwuwei Yamen.

A Jinwu guard hurried into the government residence.

Inside, a general with a gloomy face was flipping through a book in a desk.

"Soldier, all the bodies have been identified. They are indeed our patrolling guards. Although their faces have been completely destroyed, they can still be recognized by their colleagues."

The Jinwu guard handed over a document.

"This is the result of the coroner's examination, and it is all recorded above. I followed the advice of the military officer and did not go to ask the Xuanming Sect to check."

The soldier didn't even bother to look at the document, and snorted coldly, "They killed people, but also took away all their armor and weapons. If there are no spies from the enemy country in the city, I would never believe it!"

"In this case, do you want to report it?"

"Idiot, His Majesty is about to hold a suburban sacrifice, how can you let such a trivial matter ruin your mind?"

The military officer had a gloomy face and said in a cold voice: "Before the incident gets out of hand, inform the street guards of the names of the ten people who died on their badges. At the same time, change the passwords. If you encounter any strange patrolling Jinwu Guards, take them down immediately!"

"But if they have already escaped from the city in the past two days..."

"You idiot! How can they transport ten sets of armor?" The officer scolded, "If they want to do something bad, they will definitely take the initiative to attack. Once they do that, they will definitely reveal their flaws. It will be easy to catch them if we seize this opportunity!"

The Jinwu guard looked hesitant and was about to leave in a hurry.

"return!"

The soldier thought for a moment and threw the fish talisman on the table to him.

"Go and inform the Xuanming Sect. Although they are bastards, they are good at this after all. Asking them for help may help us find clues faster."

……

Outside the imperial city, all the districts had already closed their doors.

Between the high walls, snow piled up in the streets and alleys, and there was no one on the road.

There might be some noises coming from inside the neighborhood, but no one was allowed to stay outside the neighborhood and violate the curfew.

A group of Jinwu Guards holding spears passed by along the street with solemn expressions.

They have received strict orders that a group of spies have disguised themselves as a squad of Jinwu Guards and have become a patrol team on the streets. They must be found out as soon as possible.

Suddenly there was a noise at the corner of the street.

Looking warily, I saw a drunk man leaning against the wall, holding his shoes in his hand, standing there barefoot and mumbling.

The Jinwu Guards holding the halberds breathed a sigh of relief, and at the same time someone shouted, "How dare you break the law under curfew? Do you want to taste the big stick?"

The drunk man ignored them and continued leaning there, mumbling something incoherently.

At this moment, the Jinwu Guards raised their halberds at an angle and slowly surrounded them.

Suddenly, the sound of a sharp blade entering the body was heard.

Behind the corner of the wall, several figures suddenly appeared, and several flying knives flew out and pierced directly into the necks of the first few guards.

Half of the guards behind were panicked at first, then they quickly reacted and were about to shout.

One of them even quickly took out a letter tube and was about to release it into the sky.

Suddenly, a short and fat figure stood out from the snow, and then his figure turned into an afterimage, and his light footsteps stirred up a cloud of flying snow.

In the darkness of the night, the figure was as fast as thunder, with purple-blue light emanating from his body. As he moved, the remaining Jinwu guards all covered their throats, were startled, and staggered and fell.

Duan Chengtian held a grass stem in his mouth, stretched out his foot and hooked a torch that was about to fall to the ground.

He raised his head and saw a ghost-like figure on a distant rooftop raising his thumb in admiration, then leaped up and disappeared between the high walls.

He spat out the grass stems.

"Hurry up and clean it up."

The drunk man and several other figures hurried out, carried several corpses on their backs, then wiped off the snow from their feet, cautiously jumped onto the high wall, and went into the darkness.

"A few more sets should be enough."

Duan Chengtian curled his eyes and snapped his fingers.

Before leaving, he paused and picked up the grass stems on the ground.

"Breaking the habit, almost leaving a mark."

　Sorry, sorry, I got home too late. I've been visiting too many relatives recently and I ran out of manuscripts to post...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)