He had learned the great monk's martial art for finding people through sound, and had also gained an old Daoist who could supposedly help him treat the aftereffects of his superpower.
Xu Xiao's trip to the imperial palace had been full of surprises.
But when he flew back after a delay of several minutes, he was met with the three women's aggrieved and reproachful gazes.
In his haste to pursue someone, Xu Xiao had left the three women on top of a ten-meter-tall ceremonial pillar, binding them there with belts high in the air. Though it had only been a few minutes, all three had been frightened and furious.
"Sorry, sorry. It was urgent, and I was busy chasing someone. Sorry to have put you three wives through that." Xu Xiao smiled as he flew over and freed the three women.
The main reason was that, when he accelerated at full speed with his Telekinesis, the three women's bodies couldn't withstand it, so in his panic, he had resorted to that last measure.
"Hmph!" A Zhu snorted coldly, while A Bi lowered her head, not daring to reply. Wang Yuyan, meanwhile, looked terrified as she pleaded:
"Please don't kill anyone else. You've already killed so many people. Please don't kill any more."
They were still in front of Daqing Hall. The corpses of the Palace Front Army soldiers Xu Xiao had slaughtered covered the square, and during their few minutes high in the air, the three women had seen every part of this purgatory on earth.
All three were kindhearted women, with tenderness in their hearts.
In the end, at A Zhu's suggestion, Wang Yuyan, who seemed to be Xu Xiao's favorite, had spoken up to persuade him.
"All right, I promise you. I won't kill anyone for now. As long as they don't resist from here on, I won't lay a hand on anyone else."
Xu Xiao wasn't a murderous fiend. To him, killing was merely a way to solve problems, not a hobby.
Besides, by the time the five retainers arrived, almost all three thousand soldiers of the Palace Front Army had fled.
Now, in the afterglow of the setting sun, the entire square before Daqing Hall resembled a ghostly wasteland. Apart from the corpses, not a living soul remained.
Even if he wanted to kill someone, there had to be someone to kill.
Xu Xiao's promise brought expressions of relief to all three women, and his Telekinesis carried them into the air once more to fly at his sides.
"What exactly are you trying to do?"
At that moment, A Zhu interjected with a question.
She simply couldn't understand this man. He possessed all sorts of wondrous abilities, but there was no logic whatsoever to his actions.
"Obviously, whatever I want to do, whatever I think will benefit me."
Xu Xiao answered, then continued to circulate the sound attack technique, sending his Internal Energy surging through the palace once more.
"Zhao Xu, where are you? Come out and see me!"
"Chief Eunuch Huang, are you nearly done? That villain's shouts are getting closer and closer. I'm afraid he's about to find us!"
Inside Zichen Hall, Zhao Xu watched anxiously as the old eunuch felt around everywhere for the mechanism to the hidden passage.
This wasn't like a television drama, where one could open a secret passage with a casual touch of a switch.
The passages inside the imperial palace were all concealed, and practically no one knew exactly where they were.
Old palace servants like Eunuch Huang had inherited the knowledge through word of mouth, passed down from generation to generation. This was his first time actually using it, so naturally he had to search.
Before long, after feeling around for some time, Eunuch Huang finally found a floor tile in a corner of the hall that seemed slightly unusual.
He circulated his Internal Energy, drove his five fingers into the floor, and heaved it up, revealing a hole barely large enough for one person to enter.
"I've found it, Your Majesty!"
Eunuch Huang called out softly, and Zhao Xu, who had been waiting nearby, immediately ran over.
But looking at the narrow hole, Zhao Xu, exalted Son of Heaven though he was, hesitated again:
"This... it's pitch-black. Eunuch Huang, are you sure we can get through?"
"This... I only heard about it from the previous chief eunuch. He said it was a secret passage left behind when the palace was built, but I don't know exactly what it's like."
Eunuch Huang looked at the hole, uncertainty on his face. In the end, he gritted his teeth.
"Please wait a moment, Your Majesty. I'll go down and investigate."
With that, Eunuch Huang picked up a palace lantern from nearby and leaped into the hole.
By the lantern's light, Zhao Xu could make out from above that the space below didn't seem as narrow and cramped as he had thought.
"Your Majesty, the passage down here is reasonably spacious, and there's a breeze coming from inside. It should lead outside."
Eunuch Huang's voice came from below.
"I am the Son of Heaven, yet I never imagined a day would come when I'd have to crawl through a hole in the ground to cling to life! Insolent villain, just wait until I return!"
Humiliation written across his face, Zhao Xu was steeling himself.
For the exalted Son of Heaven to crawl through a hole to escape would have been an immense humiliation for anyone.
But before he could convince himself, Xu Xiao's Brahma Sound Formless Consciousness-Seeking Sutra rang out again from nearby.
"Zhao Xu, where are you? Come out and see me!"
This sort of sound attack, executed with profound Internal Energy, could not only locate people by its echoes, but also disturb their minds and make them reveal their positions without realizing it.
Zhao Xu happened to be alone in the hall now. Without Eunuch Huang channeling Internal Energy into him, he couldn't resist it at all.
"Zhao Xu... ow!"
Zhao Xu had just started to answer when Eunuch Huang thrust half his body out of the hole, seized one of his legs, and yanked him straight down.
"Forgive me, Your Majesty."
At such a critical moment, there was no time to stand on ceremony. If Zhao Xu called out and gave away their location, they were finished.
"It's all right, it's all right. I pardon you. Hurry and lead the way; that villain is coming after us."
As Internal Energy flowed into him, Zhao Xu was freed from the sound attack's influence.
He also realized that Xu Xiao's sound attack had affected his mind again just now, and he had nearly fallen for it.
Now that both of them were down in the hole, they had escaped the danger for the time being.
The tunnel had been solidly built, supported throughout by thick sandalwood planks that held open a passage one and a half meters high beneath the earth.
Even a grown man could barely make his way through by stooping and lowering his head. Zhao Xu was still a half-grown youth, so he could just about keep his back straight inside.
"Stay close, Your Majesty. We need to move quickly. You answered with two words just now, so I'm afraid that villain may still come this way."
Eunuch Huang led, with Zhao Xu behind him, and the two rustled their way through the tunnel.
"I will remember today's humiliation. Once I return, I'll send a great army to purge the martial world and those living in seclusion!"
Zhao Xu spoke through gritted teeth as he struggled forward.
For the first time, he felt such hatred for those people of the martial world who soared high and leaped about. They were a destabilizing factor in the Zhao-Song Imperial Family's rule.
Rumble!
The tunnel shook, and dirt and sand kept falling.
"Chief Eunuch Huang, the tunnel isn't going to collapse, is it?" Zhao Xu felt it shaking and grew uneasy.
If he didn't die at the villain's hands only to die in the tunnel instead, that would be even more galling.
Eunuch Huang didn't dare continue either. He stopped and began carefully examining the passage.
The planks and pillars supporting it were shaking, and clouds of dust kept falling through the gaps. It did indeed look as though it might collapse.
Suddenly, Eunuch Huang noticed something. The shaking was coming from above the planks, and the dust had begun to seem as though it were floating upward.
Could it be?
Before he could think it through, the overburdened planks above creaked, and a sliver of light shone through.
Immediately afterward, a tremendous force pulled the planks overhead into the air, dragging both men out along with them.
"I never thought the emperor of Zhao Song would burrow through the ground. You gave me quite a search!"
Xu Xiao's voice rang out unhurriedly as he hovered in midair.
Zichen Hall, which had stood above the tunnel, had been reduced to rubble. Even the floor tiles and soil covering it had been stripped away, leaving the entire tunnel exposed.
Zhao Xu raised his head and looked at the man hovering in the air, his mouth full of bitterness:
"Are you the villain who entered the palace?"