The Empress's No.1 Lackey

Let me think, you did this to once and for all, deal with this group of captives, right?

You are worried that I have planted spies among these captives, but you can't refuse them for the sake of winning people's hearts, feeling caught in the middle, you might as well break them up and throw them into the city, leaving them to the court again, which indeed is a crude method.

But do you really think I wouldn't guess that you want to kill me? That you never intended to save Lu Zhengchun?

Zhuang Xiaocheng suddenly realized:

"So that's it. Because Lu Zhengchun got captured too quickly and was exposed too easily, you believe that I abandoned him? Therefore, you don't believe I'll try my best to rescue him, suspecting that I'll take the opportunity to kill you...

Well, although you have maliciously conjectured too much about me, yet by coincidence, you've helped bypass the mist... It's rather me who planned too complexly, thinking too much."

Still pretending! This old guy is still pretending!

Zhao Douan didn't bother arguing with him and smiled slightly:

"Think whatever you like, anyway, it seems like I've won this game. And you... and you all..."

He pointed at Yun Xi and the other young people and smiled:

"Grandmaster Zhuang, you're not thinking for yourself, but you should think for them, surrender now, and in my capacity as 'Junior Guardian of the Crown Prince,' I promise, if you surrender, I will definitely not make things difficult for them, I can even petition the Emperor to pardon their crimes, what do you think?"

"Dog thief!"

A young man cursed:

"We would rather die than yield to you! I wish to eat your flesh, crush your bones..."

"Right! Grand Tutor, do not listen to his guile, we would rather die than be subdued!"

One by one, the young guys spoke up with iron wills.

"Oh? Is that so? Seems like you guys will not shed a tear until you see the coffin."

The smile on Zhao Douan's face gradually faded, coldly looking down on the opposite side, with a sneer on his lips:

"Then I'll fulfill your wish, ha, Old Dog Zhuang, it appears I have won the bet."

At this moment, accompanied by Ji Yue's frenzied barrage, the barrier outside the pavilion was already precarious, flickering wildly, on the verge of collapsing.

And on the mountain path outside the villa, the sound of the fight had not yet ceased.

A group of young people looked pale, yet none retreated, ready to die a heroic death, with some picking up chessboards, others grabbing benches, ready to fight to the death.

Zhuang Xiaocheng was fearless, calmly saying:

"Do you really think you've won?"

He slowly opened his left hand, in the palm was unexpectedly another Green Jade Fish Token.

Zhao Douan was taken aback, as were the youths prepared for martyrdom:

"Grandmaster, you have another one?"

Zhuang Xiaocheng slowly walked to a pillar in the pavilion, making a gesture to throw the fish token at the column, trying to buy more time, a smile appeared on his face.

The sound of battle on the mountain path was gradually approaching, indicating that Qi Yuchun and the others were getting closer to the villa.

If he could hold on a bit longer, the situation could be reversed.

However, Zhao Douan's face remained calm like still water, suddenly echoing Zhuang's words:

"Do you really think you've won?"

Zhuang Xiaocheng was stunned, a puzzled look in his eyes, then suddenly felt a sharp pain running through him!

Pain!

Pain attacking from behind!

"Ah!" The young man holding the chessboard suddenly exclaimed, eyes wide open:

"Yun Xi... you..."

In full view, Yun Xi somehow stood behind Zhuang Xiaocheng.

Her hair was loosened, the hairpin that held her long hair was in her hand, the end ground sharp, piercing effortlessly into Zhuang Xiaocheng's back, blood gushing out, staining the Confucian robe.

Staining her fair little hand as well.

Yun Xi's refined face was indifferent, her beautiful eyes shone with the satisfaction of achievement and the thrill of revenge fulfilled.

"It's you..."

Zhuang Xiaocheng slowly turned his head, seeing the girl who had withdrawn the hairpin, coming to his side, right hand pressing the pin to his throat, left hand swiftly taking the Green Jade Fish Token.

As if understanding something: "You betrayed..."

"No," Yun Xi mockingly eyed him, "It's you who betrayed us, betrayed the ideals."

"Yun Xi! Release the Grand Tutor!"

The young men and women belatedly shouted, wanting to rush forward, but feared she might kill the Grand Tutor.

"Yun Xi, well done."

Zhao Douan smiled approvingly, and meanwhile, Ji Yue in mid-air made a final determined strike, fiercely smashing down on the barrier.

The mana-exhausted barrier shattered resoundingly, cold wind pouring into the pavilion.

Zhang Han and Haitang instantly dashed in, knocking down the group of boys and girls.

The situation reversed in an instant.

However, Zhao Douan still did not let his guard down. He still remembered how cunning that Old Dog was in the Earth God Temple back then.

Sure enough, facing this desperate situation, a hint of wistfulness appeared in Zhuang Xiaocheng's eyes. He calmly said:

"Do you know why I'm willing to let you capture Lu Zhengchun?"

"Because I'm not worried about him revealing the location of the Forbidden Mountain Villa."

"Because I never thought it would be so simple to kill you."

"Because the real deathtrap was never at the execution ground, but here. The real assassin is not them but me."

Zhuang Xiaocheng's weathered and aging face showed a determination and a sacrificial dignity:

"Zhao Douan, exchanging my life for yours, is worth it!"

Ji Yue's face in the sky suddenly changed, shouting loudly: "Be careful!"

The ground suddenly shook, and the entire villa trembled violently.

No, it wasn't just the villa, but the entire mountain peak.

The buildings began to collapse, the earth cracked, Zhao Douan's pupils suddenly narrowed, and he turned his head to see wide cracks emerging in the distant ground, rapidly expanding.

...

On the mountain path.

The fierce battle of five people continued intensely, but after firing all its ammunition, the Divine Might Cannon was abandoned. The three-person team was forced back step by step by the almost crazed Qi Yuchun and Ren Kun, retreating to the mountain top.

However, at this moment, the five people in the fight simultaneously stopped, staring in astonishment at the distant Forbidden Mountain Villa.

More accurately, they were looking at the protruding cliff.

At this moment, the entire huge mountain mass, bearing a pavilion, from top to bottom, seemed to be split open by a giant ax from a deity, carving open a gap, about to cut off the main peak and plummet into the abyss below!

"Array... The villa's earth vein array has been detonated..."

Ren Kun mumbled, pale-faced.

Qi Yuchun, holding a long spear, turned to stare at his companion, who had laid the earth vein of the entire villa:

"What did you say?!"

Ren Kun said in disbelief:

"The Grand Tutor voluntarily exploded half the mountain. He wants to take Zhao Douan with him to the grave. In such a high valley, with the mountain collapsing, except for someone like me, an Earth God Mage, even you won't survive."

Perish together!

So the real assassination plan was to perish together!

"Brother Zhao! This is bad!" Gongshu Tianyuan was stunned and shouted loudly:

"Junior Sister! Water Moon!"

Jin Jian snapped back to reality, waved the magic wand, and attempted to teleport with Magic to save them.

But after continuous teleportation in the city and going through a bitter fight, her mana was nearly exhausted, and she failed to cast Magic.

The girl immediately panicked, but although the siblings still had some life-saving cards, none could be used to save others.

...

On the cliff.

The earth trembled, rocks collapsed.

Zhuang Xiaocheng laughed aloud, coughing blood while laughing:

"Zhao Douan, this time, can you still not die?"

Haitang and Zhang Han struggled to keep their footing, while Yun Xi simply fell to the ground, unable to maintain her balance.

Ji Yue also panicked, took two steps forward, and was suddenly hit by a collapsing pillar, falling to the ground with a cry.

Zhao Douan pressed his hands on his sword, anchoring the Cold Frost Sword beneath the stone to keep his balance. He stared at the laughing Great Scholar ahead, closed his eyes, and said calmly:

"I respectfully invite senior to take action!"

Between his brows suddenly lit up, then his entire body's Qi mechanism was frantically extracted, threads of golden light emerged from his pores, and slowly pulled out threads behind him.

And at the end of those threads.

A figure slowly gathered in the air.

Wearing a scarlet bridal attire, barefoot as white as snow, with a dark gold mysterious mask on her face, her attire did not belong to this era, and a balance beam floated in her hand.

Pei Niannu looked down at everyone coldly, her gaze shifting to Zhao Douan who had turned his face up, smiling fawningly at her:

"Senior..."

Pei Niannu's eyes were cold and deep, and she sighed softly: "Payment, ten geng."

...

Formatted and updated later.

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