Heirs of the Seven Swords of the Qin Dynasty

Chapter 1913: Setting Sail (Twenty-Four)

Tianming's doubts make sense, and Shilan's judgment also makes sense.

After the three of them looked at each other, Shao Yu asked Shi Lan, "Is there any way to further confirm your guess?"

"Hmm..." Shi Lan frowned and thought for a moment before replying, "Maybe we can ask Doctor Duanmu about my brother's current situation. Maybe he can give us some clues."

Tianming smacked his lips and couldn't help but sigh, "Tsk tsk... Looks like I have to make another trip."

“It’s really inconvenient because it’s too far away.”

Shao Yu didn't waste any words and asked the two of them directly, "Let's go now and travel at night?"

Time is running out, so it is better to resolve the issue as soon as possible. Once this matter is resolved, they can free up their energy to work on other things.

Tianming waved his hand without hesitation and said, "Let's go, let's go. We should be able to arrive before midnight and not miss our sleep."

Since both of them had made the move, Shi Lan, the person involved, would certainly not refuse.

With their backs to the sun that had completely sunk below the horizon, the three of them quickly walked out of the city and headed straight for Duanmu Rong's clinic.

In order to arrive as quickly as possible, the three of them forced themselves to use Qinggong to travel faster, and their speed was almost as fast as that of a horse-drawn carriage.

The only downside is that it doesn't last long.

Even though Tianming, who has the highest level of internal energy among the three of them, has only a fair amount of true energy, it is difficult for him to travel by using light skills.

Besides, the speed of the three of them depends on the slowest one, so it doesn’t make sense for Tianming to run faster.

And the slowest runner...is of course Shao Yu, the meat shield.

He has the worst internal strength and lightness skills, and his speed is more than one level slower than the other two.

Fortunately, his physical fitness is strong enough, and if he is just running, his speed is the fastest, which barely makes up for it.

The weather is not very good tonight. The thick clouds in the sky block almost all the moonlight and starlight, and the earth is pitch dark.

The three of them traveled in the pitch-black night, on a completely unfamiliar road, stumbling along the way.

The three of them ran for nearly three hours to cover the distance of over a hundred miles, and it was already past midnight (12 o'clock at night) when they arrived.

After arriving at the place, the three realized a major mistake - they only thought about coming as early as possible to find out about Brother Shi Lan's condition, but forgot that they came in the middle of the night and Duanmu Rong might have already rested.

No matter how anxious they were, they certainly couldn't force a sleeping doctor to wake up.

There is no real difference between asking tonight and asking tomorrow morning. They have to go to bed anyway, and there will be no further action tonight.

Fortunately, the three of them did not face the worst situation, and Duanmu Rong was still awake.

She was a night owl to begin with, and now that she had a difficult patient, Yu Ziqi, she was even busier, working day and night.

Looking at the three little ones who suddenly came back to disturb her, Duanmu Rong's cold face was almost frost-covered:

"Why are you back?"

Tianming faced the other person's cold gaze, and reluctantly stepped forward with a forced smile:
"We have something we want to ask."

"That's it..." Tianming was stuck here. He didn't know how to describe their demands for a moment.

Shi Lan interrupted and asked, "We want to know why my brother...didn't die?"

When she said this, Shi Lan paused for a moment, probably because she felt that her question was a bit outrageous.

Duan Mu Rong's expression immediately changed, looking at a fool, "Why, do you really want him to die now?"

Shao Yu quickly smiled and explained, "No, no, Miss Rong, you misunderstood."

"We want to know how Shi Lan's brother managed to survive the damage done by Yun Zhongjun's elixir."

Shao Yu's words sounded much more pleasant and easier to understand.

Tianming quickly followed Shaoyu's words and added, "Yes, that's what we want to ask."

Duanmu Rong glanced at the three people, and after a moment of silence, she gave an answer:

"The answer to this question is very complicated. The patient's physical condition is very strange... I have never seen it before."

"I can't give you a specific answer now, but it should be the combined effect of multiple factors that allowed him to persist until now."

"Multiple factors..." Tianming grasped the key point and further confirmed, "Is there anything special? For example, some special power?"

"It seems that you know something." Duanmu Rong nodded and replied, "But I still can't give you a clear answer. I can only say that there is this possibility."

"The patient's condition... is indeed too complicated."

From the time the person was sent here yesterday until midnight today, Duanmu Rong still has no clue, because Yu Ziqi's situation is too complicated.

The man is now a living dead. He is not dead but he also has no ability to move. However, his body has been completely eroded by the effects of the drugs. On the one hand, he has lost the ability to control himself, and on the other hand, his body is in a state of constant stimulation.

To translate it, it means that theoretically Yu Ziqi should have used up all the potential of his body under the influence of the elixir and died of exhaustion, but he was still hanging on.

Since he was not dead, the elixir was still working, but because he was dying, the stimulation of the medicine actually helped him survive to a certain extent.

At the same time, due to some inexplicable interference, the effectiveness of the medicine in his weakened state was suppressed and could not further tap his physical potential.

All in all, Duanmu Rong still hasn't figured out what the key factor was that allowed Yu Ziqi to survive.

Although Duanmu Rong's answer was vague, for Tianming and the other two, the unclear situation was enough to explain the problem in a sense.

Judging from Shi Lan's weird statements, it's normal that she doesn't know the specific situation of her brother.

After thanking Duanmu Rong, the three of them quickly ran aside to start discussing.

"It seems that your brother's condition is indeed very special." Shao Yu spoke first, "Your judgment should be correct."

Tianming raised the key question, "If Shi Lan guessed correctly, the key is indeed the identity of 'Yu Yuan Guard', what should we do next?"

After saying this, he and Shao Yu immediately turned their eyes to Shi Lan.

As for Yu Yuan's guards, they knew basically nothing, so the answer could only be found from Shi Lan.

Shi Lan fell into silence and deep thought.

She hadn't thought about this question before, but now that she was suddenly asked, she realized... Yes, what should she do next?

To save people by posing as Yu Yuan's guard, in her opinion, was to use the ancient power that Yu Yuan's guard possessed, probably to further stimulate this power in order to completely eliminate the medicinal power of the elixir in her brother's body.

But...what should we do?

The power of Yu Yuan's guards is described both clearly and vaguely in the Shushan tribe. It is an ancient and mysterious power passed down from generation to generation.

It seemed like he had said something, but it also seemed like he had said nothing.

After some deep thought, Shi Lan looked towards the east, as if trying to see the situation on the sea through the pitch-black night.

"Maybe... we should start with the sacred Fusang tree." Shi Lan finally proposed a possibility.

Inside Mount Shu, there is another saying about Yu Yuan's guards - Yu Yuan's guards are responsible for protecting the sacred tree, and they are also blessed by the sacred tree.

This made Shi Lan suspect that the power of Yu Yuan's guards might come from the Fusang sacred tree. "Fusang sacred tree..." Tian Ming frowned at this answer, not knowing what to say, "That thing is so big, what can we do?"

Shao Yu changed his mind and proposed a plan, "Bring your brother over?"

Shi Lan didn't know what to do, but she chose to agree with Shao Yu's idea because it seemed that this was the only way they could do it.

"This is the only way to try now."

Tianming shrugged and proposed another plan, "Maybe we can break off some branches and put them next to your brother."

"This..." Shi Lan twitched the corner of her mouth, not knowing how to respond.

At first glance, the logic seems to be correct, but if you think about it carefully... it’s hard to say that it’s completely wrong, it’s just a bit nonsense.

"What do you think?" Shi Lan finally chose to throw the question back to Tianming Shaoyu.

After the two of them looked at each other, Tianming spoke first and tentatively suggested, "How about we go and pick some branches first?"

Things should be done one by one, and it is best to start from easy to difficult.

The difficulty of reaching the mirage with Yu Ziqi, who has completely lost his ability to move, is obviously more than one level higher than going on a boat and breaking off a few branches to bring back. It is better to verify whether the latter is effective before considering it.

Shao Yu and Shi Lan had no objection and nodded.

"Okay!" Tianming snapped his fingers and finalized the plan. "Let's go to bed now and go back to Sanghai early tomorrow morning."

………………

The next morning, in Sanghai City.

Just one day later, Sanghai City became noticeably more lively, with more and more people daring to take to the streets.

However, some special situations have occurred in Sanghai today - some streets have been blocked, no one is allowed to approach, and the people who originally lived here have been temporarily expelled.

All of this was in preparation for Ying Zheng's visit to Xiaoshengxianzhuang.

In order to prevent assassinations, the road from the General's Mansion to the foot of the mountain in Xiaoshengxianzhuang was completely blocked and cleared, and was guarded and patrolled by the army and secret guards.

These noises disturbed the people to some extent. Fortunately, the court was very restrained and only blocked the streets. Everything else in the city was normal. The court also released the news in advance to inform the people that it would only be for today.

Ying Zheng's visit to Xiaoshengxianzhuang attracted the attention of most interested people.

Some people are curious about it, some are worried about it, some are excited about it, and some are waiting to see the show.

At this tense moment, Zhang Han, the commander of the Shadow Secret Guard, was not in the General's Mansion.

"Sir, His Majesty the Emperor invites you to accompany him."

In Gu Xun's courtyard, Zhang Han came up and first talked about the most important thing - the task assigned to him by the emperor, which was to invite Gu Xun.

Gu Xun seemed to have just got up and was washing his face in the yard.

While wiping his face with a towel, he responded, "Report to the emperor and tell him that I am not going and I am not interested."

"Besides, it's not appropriate for me to be present in today's game."

Zhang Han's face changed slightly when he heard the second half of the sentence, and he asked tentatively, "Sir, does His Majesty really intend to..."

Gu Xun threw down the towel and interrupted Zhang Han directly, "Is it your turn to control what the emperor wants to do?"

"I dare not." Zhang Han quickly apologized, but he couldn't help but ask, "But why would His Majesty take action against Confucianism at this time?"

Zhang Han did not know about the Book Burning Order, he just judged that Ying Zheng intended to take action against Confucianism.

Ying Zheng had just encountered what was arguably the most dangerous assassination attempt in his life, and had been hiding for several days, which was the time when murderous intent was at its strongest.

How many people were killed by Luowang and Yingmiwei is their business. Emperor Ying Zheng has not seen blood yet.

The first thing he did after he got out was to go to Xiaoshengxianzhuang, saying that he was going there with good intentions, but no one with a bit of common sense would believe it.

Of course, there were still people who believed it. Many Confucian scholars in the Qi and Lu areas thought that Ying Zheng intended to get close to Confucianism and were very excited about it.

However, Zhang Han's judgment was strictly speaking wrong.

Ying Zheng did want to see blood, but he went straight for the root of the various schools of thought and had no intention of killing the little sage Zhuang.

He just wanted to force this holy land of Confucianism to stand completely on the side of the empire and on the side of him as the emperor - if the other party was unwilling, he certainly didn't mind using Confucianism as a target.

Because he didn't know the inside story, Zhang Han was confused and even frightened at this time.

He was very clear about the connection between Gu Xun and Xiao Shengxian Manor. The emperor's inexplicable move against Confucianism was, in his opinion, a very clear political signal.

Gu Xun did not interrupt Zhang Han this time. He sighed slightly and replied, "Does the emperor need to pick a day to take action against someone?"

"Besides, now is the best time for him to take action against Confucianism."

Confucianism is one of the two most prominent schools of thought in the world today, and its influence is even greater than that of Mohism.

Even for Ying Zheng, it would not be easy to attack such a super school.

The reason why the Mohists could be mobilized was because they were truly rebelling, and any reaction from the empire, no matter how big it was, was reasonable.

But Confucians have always been the most honest. Even if they make trouble, it is only for the sake of giving advice.

The emperor could choose not to accept the advice of Confucian students, or even forbid them from giving advice because he thought it was noisy, but if he convicted them for their words and simply killed them, it would be difficult to convince the public.

But the situation is different now. Ying Zheng has just suffered an unprecedented large-scale assassination attempt. Even the entire eastern tour convoy and hundreds of important officials and dignitaries of the empire have been threatened with their lives.

With this excuse, Ying Zheng could kill as many people as he wanted and attack whomever he wanted.

You said Confucianism did not participate in the assassination?

Once the emperor spoke, they would naturally participate.

The empire advocates the rule of law, but there has never been a legal system. The emperor's word is the fact.

Besides, disobeying the emperor's will is the greatest sin.

Hearing Gu Xun's words, Zhang Han's face became even more distorted. He wanted to ask something, but after some hesitation, he swallowed his words and only said:
"Does your Excellency have any other instructions?"

Gu Xun waved his hand, as if he had made a decision:

"You go about your business."

"Be an honest and obedient leader of your Shadow Secret Guard. The affairs of Xiaoshengxian Manor have nothing to do with you."

"Not only that, from now on, you don't have to come here anymore."

"Ah?" Zhang Han raised his head suddenly, genuinely shocked.

Gu Xun looked at him, without giving a detailed explanation, and just added:
"If the emperor had not sent you to the north, to Fusu's side, you would have assumed that you only obeyed the emperor, and forgotten Fusu and me."

"This..." Zhang Han's expression became more and more horrified, and he couldn't help but ask, "Sir, why..."

"Don't ask why." Gu Xun raised his hand to interrupt him, "You are a smart person. When the time is right, you will understand everything."

"I also believe that you will make the most correct choice."