222 Flying Thief

  Liu Ziguang ran rapidly along the palace wall, the glazed tile roof was especially slippery due to the rain, requiring careful control of his body balance. The fellow traveler in front had already disappeared, but had brought Liu Ziguang to the rear palace.

  The imperial palace was exceptionally quiet at midnight, with rain lanterns hanging under the eaves. The night patrol guards wore raincoats and carried lanterns, walking slowly in the drizzle. Their swords protruded from beneath their raincoats, and the scabbards and greaves on their legs rubbed against each other, making a faint sound as they stepped forward.

  Liu Ziguang knew that apart from these patrolling eunuchs, there were also top-notch experts hiding in many secluded corners. It was the same old saying: the imperial palace wasn't some rural landlord's mansion; those guarding it were all top-level masters. If one wasn't careful, it would be difficult to get out.

  Fortunately, the emperor's intelligence indicated the location of the sentry, so Liu Ziguang descended from the palace wall and hid in the corner of the wall, avoiding the patrol team and the sentry, moving towards the direction of Kun Ning Palace.

  The architecture of the hougong was not as grand as the palaces in front, nor were there large squares. The current location is Xiliugong, which consists of trees, walls, and small courtyards. It was the palace where the empress dowager lived, with strict guards. Liu Ziguang did not even dare to go near the empress dowager's bedside to touch her jewelry box; his courage had not grown to that extent yet.

  The target was Kun Ning Palace, located between the East Six Palaces and West Six Palaces, where the Empress Dowager worked. Every day after court, the Empress Dowager would summon civil and military officials here to review memorials. The imperial edicts of the Ming Dynasty were not legally effective without the Empress Dowager's seal and the Emperor's jade seal. Of course, the Emperor's power was temporarily taken over by the Nine Thousand Years. Therefore, Kun Ning Palace was equivalent to the Empress Dowager's study. Li Taihou, who came from a wealthy and prestigious family, was well-versed in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting since childhood, especially excelling in calligraphy and painting. As a result, there were many precious paintings and some delightful small trinkets hanging inside Kun Ning Palace, such as jade gourds and East Sea night pearls, all of which were priceless treasures.

  He cautiously made his way through the Western Six Palaces, arriving at the Kunning Palace. This was a relatively large palace located behind the Qianqing Palace and the Shengzheng Hall. Liu Ziguang took advantage of the cover provided by the balustrades to slip to the side door of the palace. According to intelligence, there were three palace maids on duty inside the Kunning Palace. The small gate used for their entry and exit was bolted from the inside, so all one had to do was push open the bolt to enter and take whatever one wanted. There were no infrared or body heat alarm systems here, nor even ordinary mechanical devices. Famous paintings hung on the walls, while precious artifacts sat on display stands. As long as he didn't startle the palace maids, everything would be easy.

  Liu Ziguang drew out a short knife, **door gap**, searching for the position of the door bolt. The rain was still falling, and it was unknown where Li Lianying, the eunuch in charge of the inner court's security work, was resting now. It is said that this person is a top-notch master, who has been raised by the Empress Dowager since childhood and has practiced a profound martial art, being promoted by the Empress Dowager as the commander of the inner guard. It was his existence that guaranteed Huang Jinrong did not dare to make a move against the Empress Dowager.

  "Yah won't be practicing the Peony Treasure Manual, will you? Hurry up and enter, if he catches us, it'll be troublesome." Liu Ziguang thought to himself. The short knife slid downwards, hitting the door bolt, slowly prying it open bit by bit.

  Time passed so slowly, the lanterns in Kun Ning Palace were so bright, and the door bolts of Kun Ning Palace were so long. Finally, there was a movement, as if the door bolt had been opened. Liu Ziguang gently pushed open the side door, and the well-maintained door hinge turned without making any sound. He only opened a slit, and Liu Ziguang quickly slipped into Kun Ning Palace, closing the door behind him, not daring to make any noise.

  Three palace maids were sleeping in the Western Warm Pavilion, and a rainy night was perfect for sleep. They breathed evenly under the warm quilts, sounding like they were sleeping soundly. The treasures were all placed in the Winter Warm Pavilion, and Liu Ziguang sneaked over quietly. The crystal-embedded windows had velvet curtains hanging on them, blocking out any light from outside. Relying on his keen eyesight, Liu Ziguang saw four paintings hung on the wall, two of which were long scrolls of ancient paintings. On the first painting, a divine general led the way, followed by a large god with backlight on his head; other male and female gods held flags, umbrellas, offerings, musical instruments, etc., surrounding the big god as he marched from right to left in a majestic manner. What a dynamic and ethereal realm of the gods! This painting must be worth a lot of money. The second painting was over four meters long, depicting many small birds perched on tree branches. It was so long that it must also be very valuable - take them all away!

  Gently took down the long scroll, rolled it up and put it in his backpack. He then looked at the two pieces of calligraphy, one was a cursive script with connected characters that seemed to dance in the air, the other was a short and elegant running script that flowed naturally. Before he could even look at the signatures, he rolled them all up and took off. Liu Ziguang had great faith in the Empress's taste, hanging them in the Kun Ning Palace for constant appreciation - what a true love! Absolutely masterpieces by famous artists!

  Four paintings were stuffed into the backpack, and then looked at the Bogu frame, where many crafts and cultural relics were elegantly placed. Liu Ziguang, this flying thief, did not have a good mood to appreciate the stolen goods in the owner's house, nor did he look closely, but instead stuffed everything into his backpack. Just as he was stuffing the last small incense burner, he suddenly heard the palace maid who was sleeping soundly at the other end of the room let out a lazy yawn. Oh no, someone woke up! Liu Ziguang immediately froze, gripping the hilt of his knife, don't force me to kill you, lovely palace maid sister, go pee quietly and don't come to Dongnuan Pavilion to snoop around.

  A rustling sound of clothes being removed, followed by the loud sound of water splashing against a wooden bucket. Why did this little girl drink so much tea and make me so nervous? Liu Ziguang remained petrified, urging the palace maid in his heart to hurry up and get back into bed to continue her spring dream. But the palace maid seemed to know what he was thinking, pulled up her pants, put on her slippers, and surprisingly walked towards the east wing of the warm pavilion.

  "Yan Liu, where are you going?" a half-asleep palace maid on the bed asked drowsily.

  "Check if the windows are closed tightly, in case rainwater comes in and we can't afford to take the blame," said Empress Dowager. "Those paintings and calligraphy cannot be exposed to moisture." Liu Yan walked over while speaking, Liu Ziguang held his breath, and with one hand grasping the sleeve arrow's drawstring, he could only silently kill the three innocent palace maids in the palace.

  The palace maid got closer and closer, Liu Ziguang's spirit became more and more highly concentrated. Killing innocent people in the dark of night was different from the battles fought under the bright sun, it required a more ruthless will. Just as Liu Yan lifted the curtain of the Winter Warm Pavilion for an instant, the outside suddenly lit up with dazzling flames, followed by a chorus of battle cries.

  Liu Yan withdrew her hand from the curtain and said to the palace maid on the bed, "Listen, there's a thief." The palace maid on the bed immediately became excited, and her voice was much clearer: "Ah, the thief has finally been discovered, go take a look." Then she pushed awake another palace maid, and the three of them gathered at the window, lifted the curtain, and looked out.

  Liu Ziguang let out a breath of relief, put away the short knife, and took advantage of the three people watching the excitement to slip out of Dongnuan Pavilion in the opposite direction.

  Outside, hundreds of eunuchs armed with torches and weapons were swarming in this direction. At the forefront was a man wearing a flower-patterned robe with black, white, and yellow colors that seemed to have the same aura as Liu Ziguang's city camouflage uniform. It turned out to be the guide who led Liu Ziguang into the imperial palace. So it was you who lost your way, I should thank you for helping me divert the attention of the officials, Liu Ziguang thought with a hint of schadenfreude. With one leap, he jumped onto the roof and hung upside down from the eaves, observing the situation outside.

  That man in the flowered robe was indeed a flying thief, running and jumping, turning left and right, just like a fox being chased by hunting dogs. His speed was truly astonishing. Although there were many warriors behind him, opening up a big net to capture him, the soldiers at the North Gate had already been alerted, torches lit brightly, weapons shining, and a large group of people rushed out from the duty room, the city wall was filled with soldiers from the Imperial Guard, even a bird would not be able to fly out.

  Huā Yī Rén was surrounded by a group of Wu Jian, nearly a hundred crossbows were aimed at him, and a leader-like Wu Jian raised his right hand, seemingly about to give the order to kill him on the spot.

  Time waits for no man, Liu Ziguang didn't wait to watch the show either. He tightened his backpack and silently fell to the ground, taking advantage of everyone's attention being focused on the North Gate, preparing to slip away.

  Just as his feet touched the ground, Kun Ning Palace let out a shrill scream, like a comet streaking across the night sky, with a decibel so high that some of the glassware in the palace was shattered. Everyone's gaze was drawn to Kun Ning Palace, and Liu Ziguang, who had just landed, was exposed under the gaze of all the Wu Yan.

  Neither too early nor too late, it was discovered by a palace maid at this time that something had been stolen.

  The guards were stunned, how did another thief in the same clothes appear? Turning back to look at the one surrounded by the circle, he was already gone. The man in floral clothing took advantage of the guards' momentary stun and jumped up, stepping on the heads of the crowd and rushing towards Liu Ziguang's direction. The guards were in chaos, Zhuge Yu shot randomly, but didn't hit the man in floral clothing, instead killing a few of his own men.

  At this time, if you don't run, when will you wait? Liu Ziguang turned his head and ran straight to the west. This was an emergency escape plan that had been studied in advance. He went all the way west and then turned south, directly jumping over a row of houses from the inner government warehouses, and exited from the northwest gate of Xianmen to the south, where there were no military camps along the way and it was easy to shake off the pursuing soldiers.

  The speed of the man in floral clothes can be compared to Liu Xiang, and the eunuchs were once again left behind. A strange scene unfolded in the imperial palace, where two thieves wearing floral clothes ran desperately in the rain, with a large group of armed eunuchs holding torches closely following behind.