Yun Yang waited on the Luocheng official road, sitting on his horse. Jie Fan Wei from the Mengjin great camp were rushing over; it would only take them an hour. Jiao Tu held the king’s order flag card, so no one should dare to resist or disobey commands.

Behind him, more than ten secret agents stood with their horses, silent and still. These secret agents wore black clothes, like solid rocks in the flowing river of people on the official road. When people collided with them, they flowed around on both sides.

The fearsome reputations of the Secret Agents Office and the Main Criminal Office were not something ordinary people dared to provoke.

At this moment, the sound of horses’ hooves echoed from a distance, growing closer and closer, sounding like thunder. Then, Jiao Tu appeared, dressed in black, riding a horse at the front, followed closely by five hundred Jie Fan Wei, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The Jie Fan Wei wore raincoats, conical hats on their heads, long knives strapped across their backs and horse saddles, and black cloth towels tied over their mouths and noses. They were solemn, like dragons.

“Good, good, good, the entire great camp has been mobilized!” Yun Yang laughed softly as he urged his horse forward to meet them, his laughter filled with the joy of certain victory.

After the two groups merged, Yun Yang’s face darkened. He frowned, looking at Lin Chaoqing among the crowd: “Commander Lin, why have you also come?”

Lin Chaoqing said in a low voice: “I am the commander of the Main Criminal Office. You all mobilized the Jie Fan Wei without reason, so naturally, I have to come and inquire. I need to know, what are you all mobilizing the Jie Fan Wei to do? Although the king’s order flag card is useful, if not used properly, the consequences will be very serious.”

Yun Yang rode his horse in front of Lin Chaoqing, just two feet apart, confronting him sharply: “This matter has already been reported to the inner minister. With the king’s order flag card in hand, there is no need to inform you all. Moreover, I need to guard against someone among you colluding with external enemies. If the news is leaked, you cannot bear the responsibility.”

Lin Chaoqing looked around, his gaze from under his conical hat like knives, sweeping over the secret agents’ bodies: “That masked boy? Is this his decision?”

“What do you mean?” Yun Yang frowned: “Why would our Secret Agents Office need a little falcon to make decisions?”

Lin Chaoqing scoffed lightly: “If this time causes a great disaster, no one may be able to help you all turn the tide. Go on, I’ll see what you all plan to do.”

“Haha, Lin Chaoqing, wait until Jiao Tu and I achieve great merit this time, you’ll just be envious!” Yun Yang squeezed his horse’s belly, leading the five hundred riders straight towards North Mang Mountain.

Along the way, Lin Chaoqing watched the direction they were heading. The more he looked, the more alarmed he became in his heart. When he vaguely saw the tomb garden on the distant mountain, he couldn’t help but speak: “You all are going to the Liu family ancestral grave?!”

Yun Yang laughed loudly: “Jiao Tu and I investigated, and there was only an empty coffin inside Old Master Liu’s tomb. The Liu family petitioned His Majesty to posthumously honor Old Master Liu a few days ago, and now they have committed the crime of deceiving the monarch! Now, no one is allowed to leave, otherwise, they will all be treated as leaking secrets!”

Five hundred riders rushed up North Mang Mountain. More than a hundred tomb guards inside the Liu family ancestral grave blocked their path, with long wooden barricades in front of the gate. Someone shouted angrily at Yun Yang: “This is my Liu family ancestral grave, where successive cabinet elders rest, and there are twelve imperial-granted loyal and filial archways. How dare you all intrude upon this place?”

Yun Yang didn’t care at all, he just burst out shouting: “Follow me and trample North Mang Mountain, establish merit right at this moment! Those who block the way will be killed without mercy!”

He was the first rider to rush out, urging his horse to leap and actually cross the wooden barricades. Among the Liu family guards, one person leaped up, swinging a knife to chop in the air. However, Lin Chaoqing, who was behind Yun Yang, unsheathed his long knife and casually threw the knife sheath. Then, the knife sheath, like a shuttle or lightning, struck down the Liu family warrior in mid-air.

The Jie Fan Wei leaped over one after another, cavalry charged back and forth, killing the Liu family people and sending them falling head over heels. This layer of defense was like a layer of paper in front of the Jie Fan Wei, easily broken through.

In a blink, Yun Yang had already killed his way to the front of Old Master Liu’s tomb. He pointed to the stone door in front and said: “Jie Fan Wei, break the tomb, open the coffin, verify the corpse!”

However, just at this moment, a familiar voice came from a distance: “Lord Yun Yang, do you know the consequences of doing this?”

Yun Yang looked, and saw Liu Xianming, still wearing mourning clothes, slowly push his way through the crowd. Behind him followed more than ten people with menacing glares, just waiting for a command to move their hands and kill people.

Jiao Tu said in a low voice: “They are the officials raised by the Liu family.”

“No matter how fierce the officials are, one person cannot break the military formation, unless those few come!” Yun Yang didn’t care so much: “Liu Xianming, your family’s old master is clearly not dead, you can take off those mourning clothes! Come, men, break the tomb!”

Liu Xianming shouted angrily: “I’ll see who dares?!”

“It’s not up to you!”

The Jie Fan Wei were inner court elites; they only knew how to obey commands. As for whether you were a Luocheng judge or a capital judge, it didn’t matter.

The next moment, the Jie Fan Wei leaped off their horses, held their knives, and charged, actually scattering the Liu family people completely and reaching the front of Old Master Liu’s tomb!

Jiao Tu snatched a long knife from a nearby secret agent, and said in a cold voice: “Make way!”

The Jie Fan Wei team made a neat and uniform path for her, allowing her to drag her knife forward to the front of the tomb and chop down with one blow!

There was a boom. With one knife strike, the stone tomb actually split into two and collapsed, exposing the coffin inside.

Yun Yang strode forward, standing in front of the coffin and laughing coldly: “Liu Xianming, I see how you still argue!”

Saying that, he used force to lift the coffin lid!

The world fell silent, all the people who were currently fighting stopped their movements, stunned and looking over… they actually opened the coffin! Everyone said that after entering a coffin, one could not see the sky or touch the ground, otherwise, the soul would wander in heaven and earth, never to transcend. But Old Master Liu, who had governed in the cabinet for more than ten years, had his coffin lid lifted after death!

Yun Yang said: “Liu Xianming, what else do you have to say?”

Jiao Tu, who was beside him, looked inside the coffin and said in surprise: “How can this be?”

Yun Yang turned his head to look, and instantly froze. He suddenly saw Old Master Liu peacefully lying inside the coffin.

Liu Xianming suddenly cried out, throwing himself on the ground: “Grandfather, your unfilial grandson actually let the eunuch party do this great disaster! Your unfilial grandson deserves to die!”

Yun Yang stared at Jiao Tu in a daze: “Didn’t you say…”

Jiao Tu was also stunned: “When I investigated that day, there was indeed no one inside!”

Yun Yang took a step back. How could this be? The coffin should clearly be empty, Old Master Liu should clearly be alive, how did he just appear in the coffin! How could this be?!

Liu Xianming, with red eyes from crying, looked at Lin Chaoqing, and said fiercely: “Lin Chaoqing, is this how your Main Criminal Office does things? Allowing the Secret Agents Office to persecute meritorious officials!?”

Lin Chaoqing’s face was iron blue as he looked at Yun Yang and Jiao Tu: “Is this what you all wanted to do? Come, men, take these two down and escort them to the capital to await judgment!”

Yun Yang suddenly raised his hand: “Wait!” Saying that, he was about to touch Old Master Liu’s body, but before he could touch it, a person behind Liu Xianming suddenly rose up and kicked him out: “Still want to disturb the old master’s peace, seeking death!” This person’s strength was actually stronger than previously shown!

Jiao Tu saw Yun Yang suffer a loss and held her knife, killing her way over. Another person behind Liu Xianming actually rose to meet her. The two sides touched and separated in front of the coffin. This time, it was actually Jiao Tu who flew back out, falling heavily to the ground.

When Jiao Tu climbed up again, she angrily raised her hand, immediately wanting to cut open her forehead to unleash her full killing potential. However, she heard Yun Yang shout: “Jiao Tu, don’t! You cannot expose your cultivation path!”

Jiao Tu looked at Yun Yang coldly: “Not necessarily can’t beat them. Kill our way out, hide our names and live incognito.”

“Five hundred Jie Fan Wei riders are here, we cannot beat them,” Yun Yang shook his head, and said dispiritedly: “Even if we hide our names and live incognito, where else is there a place to stay? Let’s return to the capital and see the inner minister.”

Lin Chaoqing mounted his horse: “Take those two away!”

Liu Xianming, with red eyes and gritted teeth, said: “Just leave like this? I want these two to be buried with my grandfather!”

Lin Chaoqing scoffed coldly: “Matters of my office, when is it your turn to decide? The inner minister will give you justice, but if the inner minister does not speak, no one can move them.”

Saying that, Lin Chaoqing escorted Yun Yang and Jiao Tu away. On the mountain road of North Mang Mountain, Yun Yang stared at Luocheng in a daze: When they came, they held the king’s order flag card, and were the glorious twelve zodiacs of the Secret Agents Office. When they left, they became prisoners. This time, the disaster caused was too great, probably even the inner minister could not cover it up.

Yun Yang looked at the Jie Fan Wei beside him, and said impatiently: “No need to keep grabbing me, I can’t run. Step aside and let the two of us talk.”

The Jie Fan Wei looked at him, finally intimidated by his fearsome reputation, and silently retreated a few steps, only sandwiching him from front and back as they went down the mountain.

Jiao Tu saw the situation and moved to Yun Yang’s side, asking in a low voice: “What exactly happened? Did the Liu family get the news in advance and know that we would open the coffin to verify the corpse? But this Old Master Liu couldn’t have just died like that. Could it be that I saw wrong that day… wait, could it be Chen Ji passed the news to the Liu family?”

Yun Yang suddenly frowned. He subconsciously looked around, wanting to see if Chen Ji was there. He always felt that the little apprentice was watching him from the shadows. Yun Yang knew he wouldn’t die; the inner minister still needed him to kill people. But if this was really Chen Ji’s doing this time, when he returned to the Secret Agents Office, he would probably really be ridden over.

He hesitated somewhat: “Chen Ji didn’t know that we were going to open the coffin to verify the corpse today. If he could even guess this, that would be too formidable.”

“He is indeed very formidable,” Jiao Tu said frankly.

Yun Yang was unwilling to admit that he not only failed to borrow a knife to kill people but was also trapped into prison by the other: “He should be busy with his own affairs at this time. Concubine Jing, after losing her son, has again lost the nephew she raised since childhood, and has somewhat lost her reason. She will surely retaliate against him.”

Jiao Tu, being escorted, her tone relaxed again. She lowered her voice: “No matter who leaked the news, we must find someone to look for Chen Ji and let him think of a way to save us! Give him money!”

Yun Yang was silent for a moment: “But we are being watched by Lin Chaoqing now, where can we find people to go!”

“Also…”

Yun Yang suddenly said: “I planted an inside man in the Liu family. Perhaps I will soon know who passed the news.”

After the two were escorted down the mountain by the Jie Fan Wei, Liu Xianming stopped crying. He stood up from the side of the coffin with a calm face, wiped away his tears, and said in a calm tone: “Investigate, who passed the news to us?”

“They say there was suddenly one more letter inside the room, and the guards didn’t notice who put the letter there.”

Liu Xianming frowned: “Someone can actually quietly enter the inner residence? What are the experts I have raised all doing? When can you all recruit some real experts for me?”

The surroundings were silent as cicadas in winter; no one dared to respond. Liu Xianming took a deep breath and said: “There are actually high officials hiding in a dark place we don’t know about, and they can still privately sneak into my inner residence. Even if it’s difficult to investigate, it must be investigated!”

…

…

Chen Ji walked slowly on the long street, walking in the shadows under the eaves. The flow of people passed by him continuously, as if he had no connection with this world. Autumn leaves fell and covered the streets, a scene of desolation.

This was not the Luocheng that Chen Ji imagined; it was even more cruel. If you didn’t kill people, people would kill you. When he first came, he had to be careful and cautious with everything he did, afraid of doing something wrong or saying something wrong. And now, he had already learned how to deal with this world. Although there was no splendid life, it didn’t matter.

Wu Yun poked a furry head out of his embrace: “Chen Ji, there’s roasted chicken over there, buy me a roasted chicken.”

Chen Ji laughed: “Okay, you’ve done great merit again today. You can eat whatever you want, it’s also very reasonable to sleep on my head.”

At this time, playful sounds came from behind them. Chen Ji turned his head to look, and suddenly saw dozens of people riding high horses, joyfully coming from the sunlight. Someone shouted loudly: “It’s the prince returning! The prince and the two county princesses are returning from Donglin Academy!”

Then he saw a young man wearing white fur sitting on a horse. Liang Gouer, who had chopped off Lin Chaoqing’s conical hat that night, was leading his reins in a fawning manner. Liang Maoer then hugged that long knife, following behind with a depressed look. Five or six women rode white horses and followed behind, whispering and laughing from time to time.

When this group of people and horses approached, Chen Ji suddenly saw two people urging their horses to come after the crowd. They were actually his two legitimate elder brothers from the Chen family. The two of them urged their horses parallel to the prince, and one of them laughed and teased: “Prince, my younger brother and I returned to Luocheng a few days ago. You left the academy earlier than us, how is it that you only returned today? Where did you go to play again?”

The prince laughed: “Returning to Luocheng means being watched by the old master, so it’s better to return a little later!”

Wu Yun quietly asked in his embrace: “Chen Ji, who are they?”

“Not important.”

As he spoke, the crowd passed by the eaves where he was located. No one glanced in his direction. The splendid noon sunlight shone on their white horses and brocade robes, full of spirit, the sunlight just right. Meanwhile, Chen Ji stood in the shadows under the eaves. Inside the shadows, there was only the youth and the cat.

…

…

Volume One, Prologue (complete)