Chapter 40: The World in an Uproar - The Dry Heaven and Kun Wu Map (Part 1)

  Xiao Shouren's hand reached out to touch it, and then he overturned his own idea. This was not pregnancy at all! The lower abdomen of the eight hundred-year-old horse was actually hard as iron plate, how could a horse's lower abdomen be so hard?

  Xiao Shouren used his hand to touch it again, this time touching very carefully and covering a wide range. After some exploration, Xiao Shouren managed to feel something under the horse's belly.

  After tying up Ba Bai's reins, Xiao Shouren squatted down and slowly examined them.

  It turns out that under the horse's belly is sewn a piece of horse skin. No mistake, there are still things hidden under the horse's belly.

  Xiao Shouren pulled out a short dagger from his boot, and slowly cut the stitches one by one. After the thread was broken, the horsehide that was sewn on also fell off, and inside it was indeed wrapped with something, just as Xiao Shouren had expected.

  What fell out was not much, but the weight was not light. A cold iron knife, after Xiaorong pulled it out of its scabbard, found that this knife was indeed a sharp tool that could cut hair with just a blow. However, this was not all. After pulling out the knife, something else fell out from inside the scabbard - a handkerchief and a letter. Without even looking at the letter, he hastily put it away, while the handkerchief could no longer be considered a handkerchief as it was incomplete, at most only a quarter of one.

  Xiao Shouren picked up the handkerchief on the ground and found that this handkerchief was actually a plain white one, which means there was nothing drawn on it, inexplicably.

  However, Xiao Shouren still stuffed the handkerchief into his collar, picked up the treasured sword in his hand, stood up and patted Ba Bai's neck as a gesture of gratitude. After keeping Ba Bai company for a while, Xiao Shouren planned to go back upstairs to see if Geshu Yun had finished eating yet.

  Xiao Shouren had just turned the corner of the corridor when he heard Li Mi's master and servant talking from the south corridor, Xiao Shouren stopped in his tracks and thought about going over to greet them.

  "Big brother, what's going on? The three months we've been working at Flying Horse Ranch have all gone smoothly, so why did the most important thing go missing now? Do you think it was that little scoundrel Gao Yu who swallowed it?" asked the robust man called Jun Yan by Li Mi.

  "We were afraid he might be playing tricks, so we took three months to slowly test and confirm that there was no problem before deciding to use this method to bring the goods in. The suspicious troops on the other route seem to have all been eliminated, our approach is correct, there must be some things in between that we don't know, as long as we slowly find them out, we can find the goods." Li Mi analyzed slowly.

  "This time we brought in a total of fifteen horses, and the letter from the Turkic side said that the treasure map and letter were hidden under the belly of that sweat-blooded horse, wrapped in a piece of horsehide, and stored in the scabbard of a cold iron treasured sword. It should be absolutely safe, but now we can't find that sweat-blooded horse's hybrid here. How could this be?" Jun Yan asked in puzzlement.

  After listening to the conversation between Li Mi and his servant, Xiao Shouren's heart was stirred up like a huge wave. It was clear that they were talking about the eight hundred he had just bought. He had just led the eight hundred out of the courtyard, and then Li Mi and his group followed, only to find that the eight hundred were gone. Due to not knowing the way, Xiao Shouren ended up arriving at the inn after Li Mi's group, and now the eight hundred were in the stable, while Li Mi and his servant were also there, they would definitely be discovered, and when that happened, he would also be found out, and they would surely think that he had some ulterior motive, which would be terrible.

  "Don't think too much about it. Do you know what the young man we met in front of the inn today is?" Li Mi asked.

  "Haven't heard of this person before, big brother. Could it be that you already knew him beforehand?" The one called Kunihiko asked.

  "I also just found out about this person these days, he is now the vice president of the Honglu Temple, deeply favored by Yang Guang, and can be considered a noble minister. He played a big role in this battle against Goguryeo, it was him who ruined Yang's plan, causing us to miss our chance, we need to come up with another plan." Li Mi replied regretfully.

  "Huh? Then shouldn't we get rid of him? He's a troublemaker either way." said Kimihiko.

  "There's no need for that, he still doesn't know our true identities and is just an outsider who has only heard of my reputation. He's a talented individual and currently enjoys Yang Guang's trust. He also doesn't have any foundation in the court, so if we can win him over now that he's just starting to make a name for himself, it will definitely be beneficial for our future endeavors." Li Mi spoke enthusiastically.

  Xiao Shouren's heart skipped a beat at the corner, earlier in the front hall when he introduced himself to Li Mi, he clearly saw Li Mi's eyes flicker, unexpectedly his guess was correct, he actually had heard of him, could it be that his reputation has spread throughout the country in just these few days? No! It can only be said that Li Mi's intelligence work is too good, they must have their own intelligence system, so they can understand what happened recently in various places in a short time, it seems that their ambitions are not small.

  "Jun Yan, you and Shang Yuan Zhen go to Fei Ma Pasture together to find Gao Xiong and ask him what's going on. Also, send someone to inform County Governor Yang Wan Shuo that I told you to close all four city gates of Yu Yang City, only allowing entry but not exit. After everything is done, come back and see me." Li Mi instructed.

  "Yes, big brother, Yuan Zhen and I will go now, big brother wait for our good news."

  Xiao Shouren made up his mind after hearing this, and took advantage of the fact that the city gate had not yet closed to hurry away with the injured Gesu Yun. If he didn't, they wouldn't be able to escape even if they wanted to.

  Fortunately, Li Mi and Jun Yan were both so absorbed in their thoughts that they didn't notice the Ili Khan horse mixed among the inferior horses, nor did they notice Xiao Shouren eavesdropping on them. After they finished dividing the work, they left, and Xiao Shouren also let out a sigh of relief.

  Xiao Shouren hastily ran back to the second floor and told Xiao Erge to prepare some dry rations for eating on the road.

  Xiao Shouren had just entered the door when he found that Ge Shu Yun had already finished his meal and was now sitting by the window, lost in thought.

  "Hey! Don't be stunned, I've run into trouble and have to make a run for it. Are you going to follow me or split up?" Xiao Shouren shouted at Ge Shu Yun.

  "My name is not Hey, it's Gesu Yun. Although I don't know why you saved me, the fact that you did is undeniable. Now that you're in trouble, I certainly can't abandon you and leave you to deal with it alone. The more people, the more strength we have."

  "Alright, since that's the case, then it's easy. Hurry up and take off your clothes." Xiao Shouren was really not holding back with his words this time, speaking so boldly from the very start.

  "What?!" Ge Shu Yun was stunned, this man didn't even flinch when he helped her pull out the arrow, she had thought he was a decent person all along, but it turns out that all men are the same, not one of them is any good.

  "You're wearing this black night-traveling attire and walking on the main street, the rate of people turning their heads to look at you is definitely 100%! What does that mean?" Xiao Shouren saw that Ge Shu Yun's face showed a puzzled expression after hearing his words, so he knew she didn't understand, and patiently explained again. "Wearing this black night-traveling attire is definitely not suitable for escaping, one look and you can tell it's not a good person, it's a strong person who darts around in the dark of night, at that time you'll be a living target, we'll all have to leave our lives here."

  "Oh dear, but I don't have any clothes left, what can I do?" Geshu Yun asked in distress.

  "This isn't a problem, I've already thought of it. When I came into the city, I bought two sets of blue long shirts. There's still one left, you can change into it later and pretend to be a man. It'll be more convenient that way." Xiao Shouren said with a smile.

  "You go change your clothes first, I'll go to my room to pack things up. After a cup of tea, I'll come over and call you. Let's hurry up and go, okay?" Xiao Shouren asked as he opened the door and walked out.

  "Alright, you gather your stuff quickly and come over, I'll help you disguise yourself."

  "What? You're helping me disguise myself? And you're still good at this?" Xiao Shouren asked curiously, his eyes revealing three parts curiosity, four parts skepticism and the remaining three parts teasing.

  "As an assassin, it's a normal thing to disguise oneself!"

  Xiao Shouren couldn't help but feel a sense of emotion. In this era, if you don't have some unique skills, it's really embarrassing to go out and meet people!

  Inside the big courtyard where Xiao Shouren bought a horse in Yuyang City.

  "Kaohsiung, our horse is short of one, and it's the best Ili Khan blood horse, how do you explain?" Junyan asked sternly.

  At this time, there were not many people in the courtyard, only Junyan, Yuanzhen and Gao Xiong, the manager of Feima Pasture, just three people.

  "How was I supposed to know what's going on? You guys said everything was fine when you led the horse away at noon. Now you're backpedaling and taking a bite, do you think I'm easy to bully or something? Call Director Li over, we'll come and reason things out." Gao Feng also countered with a strong comeback.

  "What? You still don't admit it, this thing is crucial to our Li family, today even if we have to turn the entire Fishing City upside down, we won't hesitate. If it's found in your Flying Horse Ranch later on, don't blame us for being ruthless." Jun Yan threatened.

  "Are you threatening me? Do you think I, Gaoqiang, am easily intimidated? I said we won't be at the Flying Horse Ranch, and that means we won't be there. Our ranch doesn't stir up trouble, but it's not afraid of it either. If things really get to that point, then let's see who has the last laugh. All these years, our ranch hasn't caused any trouble, do you think we've fallen?" Gaoqiang was furious, his blue-green stubble trembling with rage.