Chapter Twenty-Four: The Chess Pieces Are Secretly Deployed

  Wu Tianyou glared at Xiao Ziyang for a while, then let out a deep sigh and said: "I'm just a guard, I only need to do what the young master has entrusted me with, how would I know his intentions!"

  He paused for a moment, then continued: "However, as far as I know, my young master was going through the county's unsolved case files from previous years a few days ago. He suddenly summoned me and ordered me to ambush and kill someone named Xiao Ziyang here. I've been waiting here for two days before you arrived."

  Xiao Ziyang nodded and muttered: "Look at the case files? Is it because you see that my Xiao family has not yet been exterminated? Want to cut the grass and eliminate the roots?"

  He then asked the man: "Do you know if there was any official with the surname Xiao in the imperial court seventeen years ago?"

  Wu Tianyou sank into thought for a moment, then shook his head.

  Xiao Ziyang saw this and stopped asking questions. He had already guessed that his parents might have come here to escape disaster and probably changed their names.

  He then took out the purple gold tiger head ape ornament from his bosom, and handed it to him along with the exquisite hand crossbow, asking: "Do you recognize these two things?"

  Wu Tianyou nodded and said, "This purple gold tiger head ape is a auspicious object commonly used in Chu State. Officials from Chu State often like to carve this purple gold jade into such objects and give them to each other as gifts."

  He pointed to the exquisite hand crossbow and said, "This hand crossbow is called Palm Flying Dragon. It was a masterpiece of Zhang Tienan, the great craftsman of the Ministry of Works, more than 20 years ago. It's said that only ten such hand crossbows were made back then."

  "Of these ten Dragon Swords, five were collected by the imperial family, while the remaining five fell into the hands of the Auxiliary Nation Duke's Manor and the Guardian Nation Duke's Manor."

  Xiao Ziyang nodded, putting away the purple gold accessories. "How close is the relationship between the Zhongxin Hou Mansion and the Fuguo Gong? That Zhao Junshou even knew about such an important matter." He said, pointing to the envelope in his hand.

  "Although the Zhongshenhou Mansion and the Fuguo Gong Mansion are closely related, they will not let outsiders know about such important matters as the rise and fall of their families. I'm afraid that even if the Zhongshenhou himself saw this letter, the Fuguo Gong would not let him off! Our young master is actually a favorite disciple of the Fuguo Gong and also the son-in-law of the national duke. I guess maybe the Fuguo Gong doesn't know about the existence of this letter either!"

  Xiao Ziyang nodded upon hearing this, which made sense. He thought for a moment and then asked, "What kind of enemies does the Fu Guo Gong have?"

  Wu Tianyou seemed to have let go at this time, and he replied to Xiao Ziyang's question without hesitation: "The Auxiliary King has the power to dominate the court, and the only one who may be qualified to be the enemy of the Public Master is probably the Defender of the Country."

  Xiao Ziyang nodded, Wei Guo Gong Murong Wudi was the first general of the Western Liang Empire, conquering east and west, laying down half of the empire's foundation. The current Wei Guo Gong Murong Tiange was Murong Wudi's eldest son and a great general. It was he who put down the rebellion of the Heavenly King that year. Ten years ago, when the grassland iron cavalry invaded, the Jin state border was in danger, it was also this person who turned the tide.

  Xiao Ziyang thought for a moment and said: "I've asked all the questions I wanted to ask."

  "Wu Tianyou closed his eyes and said: 'Kill me!'".

  Xiao Ziyang's face revealed a hint of a mysterious smile. "Kill you? Why? You're so obedient, how could I bear to kill you?"

  Wu Tianyou's eyes widened in shock as he stared at Xiao Ziyang and asked: "You... what do you want to do?"

  Xiao Ziyang smiled but did not answer. He took out a jade bottle from his bosom and poured out a brown medicinal pill.

  As soon as the pill was poured out of the jade bottle, a pungent medicinal fragrance suddenly filled the air, and Wu Tianyou exclaimed in surprise: "Wu Geng Dan!"

  Xiao Ziyang was slightly taken aback and asked: "Do you recognize this medicine?"

  Wu Tianyou looked at him with an incredulous gaze and said, "I once smelled this kind of elixir that can revive the dead and turn bones into flesh. I didn't expect you to have such a divine medicine on you... who are you exactly?"

  Xiao Ziyang smiled slightly, tilted his head and swallowed the dan medicine. In just a moment, his pale face due to internal injuries quickly regained its rosy complexion, and at the same time, the burning pain in his chest and abdomen also quickly dissipated.

  But in just a few dozen breaths, the severe injuries within his internal organs had completely recovered.

  Wu Tianyou stared blankly at Xiao Ziyang, and it wasn't until half a day later that he managed to squeeze out a sentence, "What a waste!"

  Xiao Ziyang knew he was saying that using this life-saving medicine to treat this non-fatal internal injury was a waste, so he chuckled and poured out another pill of Wugeng Dan from the jade bottle. Under Wu Tianyou's puzzled gaze, he tossed the pill far away, where it fell into a thicket.

  Xiao Ziyang carefully removed the crossbow bolts from Wu Tianyou's body and quickly used the "Dian Xue" hand technique combined with golden wound medicine to stop the bleeding and bandage him.

  Fortunately, the palm-flying dragon crossbow may be more compact in structure, and its launched arrows do not have inverted thorns, otherwise, just starting the arrow would probably cost Wu Tianyou his life.

  Wu Tianyou stared at Xiao Ziyang with a puzzled expression as he finished bandaging his wound.

  Xiao Ziyang clapped his hands and stood up, pointing to the distant bushes. "With your internal strength and my physical power, I'm afraid that in half an hour, your acupoints will be unsealed by themselves. The Wugeng Dan is enough to save your life. After taking the Wugeng Dan and recovering your martial arts skills, you can come and try to kill me. If you can kill me and take this letter from my body and destroy it, then everything will be fine. But if you can't catch up with me..."

  Xiao Ziyang patted Wu Tianyou's cheek and said, "If you can't catch up with me, then you have two choices. First, go back and tell your young master that you couldn't find me. Second, go back and tell your young master that Xiao Ziyang has been killed by you with one slash of the knife. If you choose the first option, once I'm caught, I'll definitely expose you and say that you saw this letter. If you choose the second option, then if I'm caught, I'll say that I didn't return home tonight at all, and you might have killed the wrong person!"

  Wu Tianyou asked: "How can I trust you? If you know you're going to die anyway, what's to stop you from using me as a scapegoat?"

  Xiao Ziyang smiled and said: "Whether or not you believe me is your business, how I speak is mine!"

  After finishing speaking, he rushed out of the village without looking back.

  Wu Tianyou gazed at Xiao Ziyang's gradually disappearing back, and after a while, as if sighing, muttered to himself: "You devil!"

  Half a time later, Wu Tianyou struggled to get up, he staggered and walked to the bush where the medicine pill fell, and searched for half a while before finding that bean-sized brown medicine pill.

  Fortunately, the fragrance of Wugeng Dan was strong and pungent; otherwise, this brown little pill would have fallen among the yellowish-brown withered branches and dead leaves, making it extremely difficult to find, even in daylight.

  Wu Tianyou took the medicinal pill and sat on the ground to regulate his breath for a moment. He then sprang up, and all his serious injuries were healed.

  He looked in the direction where Xiao Ziyang's back disappeared with a complex expression, then without hesitation, he started his lightness skill and sped towards the county city.

  He suddenly felt a strong sense of fear towards the young man with mediocre martial arts skills. Moreover, he thought that with the cunning of that person, even if the power of the Auxiliary National Duke's mansion was vast, it would not be easy to capture him.