Chapter 100 Behind the scenes.

"Your Majesty, there is a ninth-rank warrior following Li An. Is it inappropriate to let Commander Yan go alone?"

Chen Pingping sat in a wheelchair, next to the small table, keeping a relatively comfortable distance from Emperor Qing. He lowered his head and spoke respectfully.

Eunuch Hou was standing by, but the smile on his face was very ugly.

"Commander Yan alone is enough."

Emperor Qing seemed unwilling to say more and replied perfunctorily, but his eyes still remained on the memorial in his hand.

Chen Pingping wanted to push the wheelchair forward, but was unable to do so because of the soft, thick carpet in the middle of the room. If it were normal times, the eunuchs would have helped push it, but today, everyone in the imperial study stared at the floor, not daring to breathe.

"I think your majesty has a backup plan that is enough to kill Li An."

"Chen Pingping!"

"Chen is here!"

Emperor Qing raised his head and turned his gaze to Chen Pingping, but this man with a crippled lower body kept his head down, maintaining the etiquette of a subject.

"You old dog, there's no need to test me anymore. Tell me what you found out."

Eunuch Hou, who was standing by, brought some tea and placed it in front of the two of them.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Chen Pingping raised the teacup and drank it all. After putting it down, he smoothed his robe and said, "I have checked Li An's disciples. The origins of the others can be traced. They are all lonely and helpless people whose families have been broken up. They have been living in the lower class of Kyoto for many years."

"Only Xu Sheng and Xu Qiang have unclear origins. I am thinking that they might be your Majesty's men."

"Sometimes I don't know whether to praise you or punish you."

In response to Emperor Qing's words, Chen Pingping smiled slightly, but he did not relax at all in his heart.

"Except for Li An, how are the other two of the three people who broke into the palace that night being investigated?"

"Eunuch Hong fell into a trap to lure the tiger away from the mountain. He said before his death that the level of the people who came was between the middle and upper ninth rank, but they were very familiar with the Kyoto Palace. During the fight, he pierced the first assassin's robe. After comparison by the procuratorate, it was found that this was the fabric worn by the Dongyi City delegation."

Emperor Qing was displeased, and he began to close his eyes and rest. He said calmly: "Tell me something I don't know!"

"This is a frame-up." Chen Pingping hesitated for a moment and organized his words, then said with certainty, "But the Four-Gu Sword Technique he used cannot be fake. It must be Li Ang's follower, the Four-Gu Sword disciple."

"Go on." Emperor Qing said in a deep voice.

"As for the second assassin, I don't know his identity. I think he is from the same group as them."

Emperor Qing, who had his eyes closed, could not help but curl his lips slightly, and said indifferently: "Then why did they want to assassinate the princess?"

Without waiting for Chen Pingping to answer, Emperor Qing continued, "Sometimes when investigating something, we should not look at the process, but their purpose. And what can we gain from this incident? Send an order to question Dongyi City and ask them to give an explanation."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"You should also arrange Fan Xian's mission as soon as possible. What happened today must not happen again!"

Chen Pingping knew that Emperor Qing was dissatisfied with his dispatches during the battle.

Facing his knock, Chen Pingping still laughed and said, "I understand what the master is thinking."

Hearing this, Emperor Qing was slightly dazed.

How long has it been since I heard Chen Pingping call me master? That was when Ye Qingmei was still alive.

After Chen Pingping left the palace, Emperor Qing stared at the teacup that Chen Pingping had just used. He was stunned for a moment and asked vaguely, "Tell me, did he lie to me?"

Eunuch Hou standing by was sweating coldly. Is this another life-threatening question?
"President Chen naturally wouldn't dare to lie to Your Majesty, but sometimes his words are inevitably embellished for self-protection."

I wonder if this answer will satisfy His Majesty, Eunuch Hou thought.

Just at this moment, a young eunuch came in from outside the imperial study and freed Eunuch Hou from his depression.

"Your Majesty, the Crown Prince and the Second Prince request an audience."

······
"What?"

The scene on the field left Wang Shisanlang dumbfounded, and his senses were shocked.

Even Yan Xiaoyi, who had been trained in the army, was shocked at this moment.

Both sides were actually ready to stop fighting and put on a show, but they never expected that the real fatal blow would come from the people around them! The whole audience was stunned.

"What the hell are you two doing!?"

Hong Kaijia's eyes were red, and he didn't react until a drop of blood fell on his cheek. He roared and rushed forward, grabbing the two with both claws!
The Xu brothers knew they were no match for their opponent and were about to use their true Qi to increase their killing power to finish off Li An, but he summoned up his remaining strength and released his last breath of true Qi, which shook the two of them away.

The daggers flew out of their hands, and the two men punched Hong Kaijia respectively.

"Two armies confront each other!"

This move is not Li Ang's martial arts at all, but rather seems like military martial arts.

The Xu brothers retreated with blood spitting out of their mouths, and returned to the outer army formation without stopping, hugging their arms and confronting each other.

Li An was ambushed and seriously injured. He closed his eyes and remained silent. His breath seemed to be there and not there, and it was unknown whether he was alive or dead.

"teacher!"

"Mr. Li, how are you?"

Wang Shisanlang and Hong Kaijia shouted anxiously, came to Li An and used their internal energy to stabilize his injuries, while being fully alert on the field.

Seeing this, Yan Xiaoyi also stepped back, fearing that it would cause misunderstanding and lead to an unnecessary fight.

"Teacher, do you still remember our aspirations?" Xu Sheng calmed down his anger and asked.

"Shut up!" Hong Kaijia seemed furious and interrupted, "How can a beast like you call me teacher again!?"

"Wait till I kill you to make amends for the teacher!"

Hong Kaijia was about to take action, but was held back by Wang Shisanlang. He shook his head and looked at the army formation, and his meaning was self-evident: there was no possibility of killing anyone now.

"Well, then my two brothers will call you sir."

Xu Sheng said: "I want to be a general, and my brother wants to be a prime minister. But not to be a general or prime minister of another country!"

"We two are your Majesty's men, so we cannot be said to have betrayed you, sir. How can you call us beasts?" Xu Qiang had a subtle expression, but he still retorted unwillingly, but his voice did not sound tough.

"That's right!" Xu Sheng continued, "After the master entered the city, his reputation spread throughout Kyoto, and we were ordered to approach him. Now, this has been going on for almost two years."

Hong Kaijia, who was standing next to Li An, had a look of regret on his face, his teeth were almost broken, and he blamed himself secretly.

Kyoto is a mixed bag, not to mention the slums like the urban villages. How can one tell the composition of all the people?
"Brother Thirteen, please don't stop me. No matter what, I will kill these two people today and clear the door for the teacher!"

Thinking of the selfless teachings of the teacher in the past two years, the grace of teaching and educating, not to mention the love of saving my life and raising me, the more I think about it, the more uncomfortable I feel. I cannot tolerate the betrayer's outrageous words!

Even though he knew the chances of killing the two were slim, he still wanted to give it a try.

"Open your armor."

"Teacher, how are you?"

Seeing that Li An's voice was weak, Hong Kaijia leaned closer and listened to the teacher's instructions.

"I still have a pill in my clothes, take it out."

Hearing this, Hong Kaijia didn't care about being rude. He took out the pill as quickly as possible and gave it to Li An.

Xu Sheng did not stop all this, but just shook his head lightly and said: "Don't waste your energy. These two knives have already severed the master's main meridians. Any elixir will be useless."

Although the two sides were hostile, Hong Kaijia had to believe Xu Sheng's words. After all, he had been taught by Li An for two years, and no matter his eyesight or skills, he would not use this to deceive him.

Therefore, he was so anxious that he shed tears and sweat.

After Li An took the pill, his complexion improved visibly and became rosy.

This made Hong Kaijia's expression relax a little, and he relaxed his brows. He smiled complacently: "Teacher is a great scholar, and he opened a medical course. Such a minor injury is naturally no problem."

He turned his head and looked at the two of them, his murderous intent boiling: "I will not do anything else for the rest of my life. I will just keep an eye on the two of you. My fellow apprentices, stay alive and wait for me!"

Xu Sheng and Xu Qiang's faces turned ugly.

(End of this chapter)