The ace special forces who dominated the Sui dynasty's late period

  Liu Ziqiu used his hands and feet simultaneously, increasing his speed. Suddenly, he heard a "crack" sound, and the dwarf pine tree snapped completely, causing Liu Ziqiu's body to plummet downwards. His right hand instinctively stretched out and grabbed the edge of the rock face.

  As I looked back, the half of the pine tree fell straight down and bounced twice on the narrow empty space at the bottom of the rock, and it took a long time to hear any echo.

  Climbing to the top of the rock, Liu Ziqiu was also covered in cold sweat. He had just discovered that the flying claw had disappeared along with the broken tree trunk. The multi-functional watch on his wrist only had a timer and direction indicator left, the lock from this era was too simple, and the universal key was useless. Only the flying claw was useful. Now the flying claw was gone, and he was empty-handed.

  Liu Ziqiu calmed down and looked at the lingzhi again. The lingzhi was indeed very large, absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth on this mountain top, emitting a strange glow. But as for it being thousands of years old, Liu Ziqiu didn't believe it. The lingzhi was attached to the roots of the pine tree, and this pine tree was probably only tens of years old. Suddenly, Liu Ziqiu froze. In the rock crevice where the pine tree took root, there was actually a small piece of paper!

  This mountain is over a hundred meters high, and this piece of paper absolutely cannot have blown in from elsewhere. This place is rarely visited by humans, even if someone climbed up here, threw out a piece of paper, and it happened to float onto the rock top, and also happened to fall into the gap between the rocks, it wouldn't be hidden under the lingzhi mushroom. Someone must have deliberately put it here!

  Liu Ziqiu carefully dug up the Ganoderma lucidum with its roots intact, and then picked up the piece of paper, unfolded it to take a look, and was shocked to see eight words written on it: "The world will be in chaos, Li will replace Sui!"

  In the original history, it was the Tang Dynasty established by Li Yuan that replaced the Sui Dynasty. Many legends have been passed down through the ages predicting the rise of the Tang over the Sui, but Liu Ziqiu did not believe that there were people in this world who could predict the future. If so, then what's the point of struggling? Just find a master to calculate it for you! But this note in front of him was genuine and must have been deliberately left here, waiting for someone to take it!

  Liu Ziqiu was called the trump card, apart from his agile movements, extraordinary courage and tenacious consciousness, he also had a meticulous analytical mind, which allowed him to stand out. He quickly calmed down from the initial shock, sat cross-legged on the rock top, and carefully studied the note.

  The paper used for the note was very ordinary, similar to what he had seen in Li Jing's home. Because it was hidden in the stone crevice, it escaped the wind and sun, and the ink looked still quite new, except that there were a few places that seemed to have been stained by water. The time when this paper was written would not exceed one year. The characters were standard fly-head small script, Liu Ziqiu had no knowledge of calligraphy, and for the time being he couldn't see any clues.

  The most crucial thing is the two words "Li Shi". Following the course of history, this Li Shi should undoubtedly refer to Li Yuan. However, it cannot be rashly concluded that this note was left by Li Yuan. There are many people in the world with the surname Li, such as Li Mi who was also one of the heroes at the end of Sui Dynasty. Or maybe someone else wanted to frame the Li family, which is not certain either. Of course, the biggest suspect is still Li Yuan.

  Regarding Li Yuan's situation, Liu Ziqiu also made some indirect attacks in his casual conversations with Li Jing. He was Yang Guang's cousin and a real imperial relative. He had served as the governor of Xingyang and Loufan counties before being summoned to the capital after Yang Guang took power, where he became the Junior Supervisor of the Imperial Palace. Although the positions seemed similar, they were worlds apart. As a governor, one controlled the local area, commanding troops on horseback and governing civilians on foot, wielding real power. In contrast, as Junior Supervisor of the Imperial Palace, one was merely responsible for serving Yang Guang and handling logistics. This suggests that Yang Guang already had some suspicions about him.

  According to Liu Ziqiu's memory, Li Yuan in history should be quite timid. It was Li Shimin and Pei Ji who used a trick to make him sleep with the concubine left by Yang Guang at the JinYang Palace, which forced him to rebel. At that time, Li Shimin was only a nine-year-old child and it's impossible for him to set up such an early plan. However, Zhangsun Wuji started to care about politics when he was just eleven years old. Therefore, we can't view the problem with the perspective of his era.

  Liu Ziqiu was at a loss for the time being and decided to think from a different angle.

  The note is hidden here, waiting to be discovered. With Liu Ziqiu's skills, it was also a perilous journey to get here, and the person who hid the note in the rock crevice must be an expert, with martial arts skills possibly surpassing his. By the same token, there are very few people who can retrieve the note from here. And yet, Liu Ziqiu came here only to help Sun Simiao obtain the Lingzhi mushroom, which clearly makes Sun Simiao a prime suspect!

  When Liu Ziqiu went down the mountain, he encountered a little trouble because his flying claw was lost. This giant stone is as high as 70 or 80 feet, and it's too slippery to grasp, even if his light body skill is good, it's impossible for him to jump directly down.

  In a moment of desperation, Liu Ziqiu thought of a plan. He took off his upper garment and held it with both hands, then jumped down. The mountain wind was strong, and the garment inflated like a parachute. The makeshift parachute floated and fluttered, and Liu Ziqiu aimed at a large tree and fell towards it. Although the garment had some deceleration effect, and he also had rich experience in parachuting, this time he still got hurt badly. The already tattered clothes were completely torn into four pieces, and his body was also scratched by branches, fortunately without serious injury to his bones.

  ……

  When he returned to the small thatched cottage at the bottom of the valley, it was already the second morning. As soon as Liu Ziqiu's feet touched the ground, Gao Xiuer rushed over crying and hugged him tightly for a long time without letting go.

  "Alright, alright, I'm fine." Liu Ziqiu comforted him with a couple of words and said, "Where is Mr. Sun? If he wants the lingzhi mushroom, I'll help him pick some back."

  Sun Simiao rushed out of the house, snatched the lingzhi mushroom and put it under his nose to smell, making a series of satisfied noises: "Good, good, this is it, this is it, what a great thing!"

  Gaixiu'er pouted and said discontentedly: "Grandpa, for the sake of this broken thing, just look at what he's been hurt into!"

  Liu Ziqiu's appearance was indeed miserable, his outer garment had been torn off, and only a short jacket remained on his upper body. The pants that came with it were all tattered and stained with blood.

  "Silly girl, I'm doing all this for you." Sun Simiao didn't even glance at Liu Ziqiu, dropped this inexplicable sentence and turned to run into the house. From start to finish, he never mentioned the note again.

  Liu Ziqiu was full of doubts, but he held his breath and said nothing. Gao Xiuer brought water to clean him up, tenderly wiping the bloodstains off his body, and then pulled out Sun Simiao's long gown. Liu Ziqiu squeezed into it with difficulty, just barely managing to fit into a short jacket.

  After two hours had passed, Sun Simiao finally came out of the house with a clay bowl in his hands and said: "Come on, girl, hurry up and drink this while it's still hot."

  "Grandpa, what is this?"

  Sun Simiao said seriously: "This is a medicine that Grandfather specially decocted for you, if it's two days later, it will be too late."

  Although Liu Ziqiu suspected that Sun Simiao was the one who put the note, he had deep faith in his medical skills. He listened intently to what Sun said between the lines and his face turned serious as he said, "Xiuer, drink quickly!"

  Gao Xiuer frowned and drank it down, saying repeatedly: "It's too bitter."

  "Good medicine is bitter." Sun Simiao grasped Gao Xiuer's wrist, nodded and said, "Take three doses, then rest for half a month, and you should recover."

  Hearing the old man's words, Gao Xiuer was seriously ill. Liu Ziqiu couldn't help but ask: "Mr. Sun, what about Xiuer?"

  "How can she not be injured from falling so high?" Sun Simiao stroked his beard and said, "This old man's medicine is limited, but this girl would rather suffer herself to save you."

  "Xiu Er, how can you be so silly!" Liu Ziqiu didn't expect such a story. Although he was restrained by Sun Simiao's presence beside him, he couldn't help but reach out and gently tousle Gao Xiu'er's thick black hair.

  From this moment on, Liu Ziqiu finally made up his mind and vowed that he would never disappoint her in this life.

  Sun Simiao pretended not to see, chuckled and continued: "A few days ago I went into the mountain to collect medicine, because she delayed for too long, so I need a Lingzhi mushroom."

  Upon hearing the words "Lingzhi", Liu Ziqiu suddenly became spirited and said: "Mr. Sun, as far as I know, Lingzhi is precious but not particularly hard to come by, ordinary pharmacies should have it for sale. Could this one be a thousand years old?"

  Sun Simiao waved his hand: "There aren't that many thousand-year-old sacred medicines in the world, this lingzhi is probably only forty or fifty years old. Although there are lingzhi in medicine shops, most of them are impure, only this one was born on the peak of a high mountain, its body shape is huge, its effect is the most remarkable, and it can eliminate the root."

  Liu Ziqiu's heart tightened, this was roughly in line with his judgment, and further confirmed that guess. He couldn't help but ask: "Why didn't Mr. Sun come to pick it himself?"

  Sun Simiao shook his head and said: "With this body of mine, can I climb up?"

  Liu Ziqiu asked, "If you can't climb up, how did you know there was a spiritual mushroom there?"

  Sun Simiao stared blankly, looked at Liu Ziqiu for a moment, and suddenly burst out laughing: "You little guy, are careful everywhere. My granddaughter will follow you in the future, but I don't know if it's good luck or bad luck."

  Liu Ziqiu said in a low voice: "This doesn't need you to worry about, I will treat her with sincerity."

  Gao Xiuer saw that the two of them were not on the same page, and was just about to ask them, when she heard this sentence, her heart suddenly felt as sweet as honey, a red cloud flew up onto her face, and she hurriedly lowered her head to fiddle with her clothes, but no longer paid attention to what they were saying.

  Sun Simiao saw Liu Ziqiu step by step, but he didn't get angry. He stroked his three long beards and smiled: "A few months ago, an old friend once stayed here for a short while, pointing to the top of the mountain and saying that there was a thousand-year-old lingzhi mushroom."

  Liu Ziqiu furrowed his brow and said: "May I ask you, sir, what is the surname and name of that old friend of yours?"

  "What's wrong with that?" Sun Simiao said offhand, "He is Yuan Tiangang."

  "Yuan Tiangong!" Liu Ziqiu was shocked and said, "It's him again! There is no road on the mountain, can he climb up?"

  "This I'm not sure about. Maybe he's a born tree climber. Haha, haha." Sun Simiao made a joke and suddenly said, "However, being able to calculate doesn't necessarily mean you have to climb up there."

  According to legend, Yuan Tiangai was also a great contributor to Li Tang's conquest of the world. If he had written this note, it would have been plausible. But why did he put the note on the mountain top? It makes one wonder if he had foreseen his own fate and that he would meet Sun Simiao, and even help Sun Simiao pick the lingzhi mushroom.

  Liu Ziqiu was at a loss for what to do and suddenly said: "I won't do it, I have to go back to Yan Guan!"