Food Fairy Lord

Chapter 573: Keep Your Head
The Yin hour has not yet passed, the sky is completely clear, and the light color at the edge is about to appear.

It was just after midnight, and it was not pitch dark, but the solid objects were all shadows of indistinguishable color. The cold tall branches pierced the sky, and the tall red walls of the prime minister's house were covered with a layer of darkness.

They were illuminated by the flames of candles. A large black carriage was waiting in front of the door in the alley. The door was open, and on both sides were eight knights lined up in an orderly manner, each holding a torch.

Footsteps were heard from the courtyard, gradually approaching the gate. The man in red put one hand on the door frame, then leaned on it, turned back and whispered: "Uncle, when you pass Shaolong, remember to take a look at the snow scenery of Dakongtong. It is really a white jade sky."

The nephew looked drunk. Last night, several old friends in purple clothes were drinking and chatting in the house until midnight, and he drank the most. Li Du withdrew his gaze from his face, exhaled lightly, and the white mist dissipated in the cold winter wind in an instant.

It was the earliest moment of the morning on the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month. The atmosphere of the New Year had already become lively in the street markets, but at this hour there was only silence and desolation. The farewell ceremony was over, and Li Du passed through this gate for the last time in his life. When he came to his usual carriage, he inexplicably stopped for a moment.

He tightened his cloak, waved his hand to send two maids holding umbrellas into the carriage, and then he raised his hand to hold the reins beside him. The commoner hurriedly dismounted, helped him get on with some fear and helplessness.

Li Du raised his hand and pulled the reins, as if he wanted to draw some strength from the old arm. The black horse under his crotch moved slightly, and its strong body that had been tamed for a long time seemed very gentle and obedient.

"It's been a long time since I saw uncle riding a horse. People say that the young master of the Li family was the top scholar in the parade, but I was not lucky enough to see it." Li Hanfei smiled and instructed the person beside him, "Give uncle a warm jade pendant."

Li Duting sat on the saddle, looking straight to the end of the alley above everyone else's sight. This perspective seemed both familiar and strange.

In fact, when he was young, he always rode alone to the court in the morning. He would reach the imperial city when the whole city was just beginning to wake up. The journey was only a little more than a quarter of an hour. He had been walking this road to the court for decades.

However, perhaps because he was old or tired, he never rode a horse again after he started riding in a carriage. Later, he even rarely lifted the curtain, and when he did, he could only see a corner of it.

Now that he was back on horseback, the alley he visited every day opened up to him again from the perspective of decades ago, giving him a rare sense of novelty at his age.

Li Du pulled the reins and looked back, saying calmly, "I was inspired this morning, so I wrote a poem on the carriage and sent someone to bring it to you."

Li Hanfei stroked his hand and said with a smile: "Then I will wait for your calligraphy at the door."

A man in blue with a sword came up to the dismounted general and reported in a low voice, "Mr. Hong, the gate guards have been handed over. General Qi asked me to wish you a happy future..."

The man with the gun raised his hand to stop him: "Is the convoy ready outside the city gate?"

"General Zhang has finished his preparations and is ready to set off. General Yang Juhu will personally lead 200 soldiers to accompany us and are waiting immediately..."

"You and Huang'er are in the court, so you should see each other more often. Don't let the relationship between you two become strangers." Li Du glanced at him and said, "Then I'll go. See you when I return to Xilong."

Li Hanfei stood up shakily and bowed to say goodbye.

Li Du drove the horse forward a few steps and then several people in blue followed quietly. Before the sky turned pale, the former prime minister who had just resigned left the capital in plain clothes. A huge convoy as long as a dragon was waiting for him outside the city.

The cold air made the brick walls in the alley seem even harder. The winter morning in Chang'an was as clear as ever. The dry and bare branches were twisted in the cold blue night sky. Li Du had not scanned these scenes so frequently for a long time.

Turning out of the long alley, they left Dongbafang and came to a colder, yet wider street. There were no high walls or alleys blocking the winter wind. The biting cold air blew up Li Du's hood and hair. The personal assistant behind him immediately stepped forward and bowed his head to support him with true energy. Li Du waved his hand to indicate that it was not necessary. He turned his head and took two breaths, then squinted his eyes in the cold wind and looked ahead.

The cold stars were beginning to fade, the moon was high and small, the street was dreary with only a few pedestrians. The shadow of the old locust tree on the street was still hunched there, and the shops on both sides were tightly closed. Li Du had walked this road in front of his home for decades, tens of thousands of times. The first time he set foot on it was the first time he put on his official uniform, and now it was the first time he took it off when he left.

There is no court today, otherwise we would have seen a few officials in official uniforms on the street.

Li Du looked ahead with indifferent eyes. Removing this position did not make him too depressed or angry. Sometimes one had to understand that the Five Surnames were the masters of the Tang Dynasty, but the Tang Dynasty had more than one master. The political world was turbulent, and victory and defeat were common.

Besides, he has been in this highest position for ten years. Now that he has failed, he will leave. Last night, Li Hanfei talked about the snow and plum blossoms in Xilong, which made him miss it for the first time in a long time. His thoughts flew thousands of miles away.

Of course he was reluctant to leave this bustling city that never sleeps, and he especially missed the girl he met by chance in the alley a month ago - even if he was in such a position of power, it was not always possible to meet someone as pure and innocent as her.

He has liked to pinch, crush and trample the delicate plum blossoms since he was a child.

But returning to that hometown at this age may be a perfect destination.

People do not live enough, and when they get old they begin to cherish their lives. Through health preservation, Buddhist practice, and the art of elixirs, even a mortal can live to two centuries.

He had been standing in front of the Five Surnames Stage for ten years. To be honest, standing opposite that woman was a matter of life and death. He had to have Xuanmen with him and Tianlou by his side. After all, she had survived several life-and-death situations, so it was hard to say what kind of risks she would take. The sword light in Huanlou that night really gave him a chill, as if he saw the indifferent eyes of the woman behind the young man.

But fortunately she is not that crazy yet.

Now that we have taken off our official uniforms, in fact, we have taken off our heavy armor and stepped down from the stage of swords and spears, leaving the bloodshed that is about to happen to this huge city.

Touching the Buddhist beads on his wrist, he suddenly had an idea. He remembered that he had asked to bring the dozens of monks with profound Buddhist knowledge from Da Ci'en Temple yesterday. However, he did not consider the return during the conversation, and he did not know whether the task was completed. In his heart, this matter was more important than the more than one hundred carriages and horses. He had committed three acts of karma in the past two months, and only paid for two of them. The other one still needed the interpretation and presidency of the monk...

Li Du thought slowly, and his horse moved slowly. Two riders in front of him were leading the way with torches, and a reprimanding voice came: "The noble's carriage, strangers are not allowed to approach."

All karma will be repaid. The explanation of Buddhism is in line with the only Heaven. Li Du believes that every time he worships Buddha, he is truly in line with Heaven's will, and the karma will naturally be eliminated. Many people in the same five surnames are actually ignorant and just act recklessly, which may lead to the risk of Heaven's retribution...

"Stop, I'm talking about you." A guide stopped. Li Du looked over and saw a man wearing a windbreaker. He was not dressed warmly in winter. His body was underneath the fluttering thin clothes. He seemed to have a small sack tied around his waist and held something as long as a folding fan in his hand. Apart from that, he had nothing else.

This person was probably standing under the wall just now, and walked towards us from the side, so the guide didn't notice him in time.

In the past three days, there were always some minor officials waiting for him here, but he would often leave on the carriage. Li Du didn't know why this person knew that he was leaving Beijing at this time, or if they just happened to meet him, but he was also unwilling to pay attention to it and looked towards the direction of Ci'en Temple in the south.

But the man did not stop to tell him his position and name. He walked straight over and pushed the head of the horse blocking the way. The horse moved aside very docilely. The blue-clothed guard was stunned for a moment. Li Du looked over and saw the old general behind him had already driven his horse forward very keenly: "Hey, you..."

The man also held down his horse's head. It was a very clean and strong hand with very young skin. Hong Xingping then noticed that there was a clean bamboo stick between his fingers. Almost at the same time, he saw clearly what the short pestle in the man's other hand was... It was made of metal, wrapped with wire, with two wings extending from the end, and where the blade should have been, there was only a dragon-shaped black jade ring.

——This is a sword handle!
The man looked up at him while holding down his horse's head. The expressionless face under the awning was reflected in his pupils, clear and clean, just like a few encounters. Hong Xingping felt as if his heart was pierced by thousands of needles, and the blood rushed into his body. The distorted voice squeezed out of his throat, and the spear on his back jumped into his hand like a dragon.

His pupils shrank and he roared: "Protect Li Xiang!!"

Li Du was stunned, his brain went blank at this moment. The horse under his crotch had been pulled by the man in green and was running forward. The sudden force made him stagger. Only then did he realize that he had not regained the ability to control this strong beast when he was young. This feeling of being out of control of his body was simply unfamiliar.

But an even stranger scene happened the next moment. The warm, splattering blood was faster than the speed of a horse, splashing onto his cheek from behind in an instant. The strong smell hit his nostrils and tongue, and rushed straight into his brain.

A young voice that he had heard somewhere was heard behind him. Li Du turned his head subconsciously. The man in the wind cape soared into the air, having actually pulled out a sharp sword from the air. He lowered his eyes to look at Hong Xingping's face that was raised in shock and anger, and whispered, "You dared not go to Xichi with the Law Guard Order and the Hundred Thousand Forbidden Armors, but now you dare to stop me alone?"

He had just started speaking or was halfway through when, in Li Du's sight, the old man still held the gun in his hand, with boiling blood spurting out of his throat and flying into the air, instantly becoming the only bright color on this cold and dreary street.

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Li Du's whole body was as stiff as iron. He opened his mouth but didn't know what to say. He only let out a trembling and distorted scream when the figure holding the sword swept by and held down his horse's head. However, the sword did not cut his throat. The young man held the reins and when he turned over and landed on the ground, the two green swords were pointing at his heart and throat at the same time.

The hand and forearm that pulled the reins upward were so strong that they completely stopped the horse's momentum and stopped it in its tracks. The sleeve slipped down, and the young arm pulsated in front of Li Du's eyes, and the blood veins rubbed against his clothes.

It was at this time that Li Du saw clearly the face beside the horse's head. The sleeve holding the sword was fluttering like a flame, and a quiet, dark blue flame enveloped his sword-holding hand. His face was as calm as the dark fire, but his cheek was enough to recognize it - it was that young man.

... "Old thief, I will cut off your head sooner or later."

These words, which he had never seen before, strangled his heart and lungs like a spell. Li Du seemed to have just woken up from the sudden change and realized his current situation with a chill.

His teeth were chattering, and at that moment he thought that perhaps he should jump off the horse, but his legs were stiff and he couldn't move. The powerlessness of old age had never been so real as it was at this moment, and he could hardly move any of his limbs.

"Ding ding" two sounds of metal clashing were heard, and the two swords that had just come to rescue were repelled in the blink of an eye. The young man held his reins tightly with his left arm and strode diagonally forward.

Four blue-robed men rushed over at the same time, and at the same time, a guard's angry voice shouted in his ear: "Someone is trying to assassinate Prime Minister Li!"

However, in an instant, three streams of blood splashed onto his collar and legs, and were already cold and sticky when they seeped in.

These so-called top-level swordsmen in the martial arts world, the blue-clothed guards who had served in the mansion for more than ten years, fell like grass under the sword of this young man.

"You...you..." Li Du didn't know what he was going to say, but the instinct to ask for help made him speak. He looked at the face of this young man who was not unfamiliar to him. The expression was calm, but after being stained with blood, he looked more like a demon.

However, the young man seemed not to hear his trembling voice at all, and strode to the street with his horse.

Suddenly, a man in green with a sword appeared at his side. He was the oldest and most experienced swordsman among the servants. He glared at the young man and charged at him. The rest of the men in green around him rushed over at the same time.

This astonishing attack made Li Du hold his breath. He lowered his eyes and looked at the arm on the reins, waiting for it to loosen so that he could drive the horse immediately. However, the horse seemed to be cast dead. The young man in front of the horse had a blank expression on his face. With one hand, he held Li Du's horse firmly and walked forward, and with the other hand, he held a sword like a ghost to block all the incoming sword attacks.

There was a clanging of metal and a flash of sword. The white blade brushed past his throat and his sword pierced into the attacker's chest the next moment. A fierce bloody fight was right in front of him, but the man who led the horse did not slow down at all. Only streaks of blood splashed on the man in blue's throat. Within a few breaths, all these people had fallen to the ground.

The last man in green tried to escape, but the young man shot out the sword in his hand and pierced the back of his neck.

The burning sleeve of his right arm only calmed down at this moment, fluttering in the cold wind like the last swaying tail flame.

Pei Ye led Li Du to the street. This was an alley entrance, in front of a store. Deep in the alley, the sound of galloping horses could be heard. At this time, Li Du finally formed a sentence in his mind and squeezed it out from his throat: "I... I... I am no longer in office..."

Pei Ye stopped at this moment, loosened the reins, grabbed Li Du's chest and pulled him off the horse without even using his true energy.

He pushed Li Du down on the wooden platform in front of the steps, took out the greasy black butcher knife that was stuck beside him, pried open Li Du's old jaw, and put the blade against his throat.

The sound of galloping horses in the alley was getting closer and closer. The old man burst into a fierce struggle at this moment. His delicate embroidered clothes were covered with dust. His wrists and Buddhist beads were rubbing against the ground and a strange sound came from his throat. However, his jaw was held by the young man and he could no longer open his teeth.

Pei Ye pressed and filed the knife, cutting off his cervical vertebrae, and then cut off the head with another cut. Then he held up the head by its long gray hair, untied the sack of suitable size from his waist, tied it up, and held it in his hand.

Pedestrians could be seen running away from afar on the street. A famous horse with a lightning-like shadow rushed out from the alley. The rider was also wearing a dark cloak, and under the cloak was a sword-shaped sword.

It galloped out from the opposite alley, passed through the street in an instant, and was about to disappear from this alley. Pei Ye pulled the hemp bag tightly, and the knight on the horse stretched out his hand. Pei Ye raised his hand and grabbed it. The horse did not slow down, and the young man's windbreaker flipped in the air and fell on the horse's back. The two disappeared from the street.

(End of this chapter)