Beginning the Escape

Chen An knew something was amiss the moment he heard, especially since the handwriting on the note was indeed Lord Ji's. He and Li Yin had delivered quite a few letters for Lord Ji before. Although they didn't know the contents of those letters, they were very familiar with the handwriting on the envelopes. While the handwriting on this paper was somewhat hurried, it was undoubtedly Lord Ji's.

Chen An immediately put on a smiling face, while also secretly glancing at Li Yin. Li Yin gave him a slight nod, indicating that the note was genuine.

"Young Master, you wound me. I just thought that since you had just returned, you'd have to make another trip. If we had known about this in the city, you wouldn't have had to suffer this fatigue. How could I have any other thoughts? I'll go prepare the horses for you right away."

At the North City gate, a soldier watching the backs of the riders entering the city said, "Lord Li is quite busy today. He just went back not long ago and now he's back again. We used to only see him once every month or two."

After the three entered the city, they hurried towards the military camp. At this moment, Li Yan's heart was not as calm as he appeared. He couldn't predict Military Advisor Ji's movements. He might return at any time, or they might run into each other on the street.

They quickly arrived outside the military camp. Li Yan leaped off his horse, threw the reins aside, and walked straight towards the camp gate without saying a word. Chen An and Li Yin quickly followed, leading the horses. Li Yan glanced at them. "After you enter the camp and tie up the horses in the stables, just wait here."

Chen An and Li Yin had also seen the note. Knowing that Military Advisor Ji was meeting with Li Yan alone, they were completely at ease. And since they were entering the military camp, they were happy to slack off. They quickly agreed.

Li Yan walked deeper into the camp. He had been here several times and was quite familiar with the place. He bypassed several tents and encountered a few patrols along the way. These soldiers only checked his identity before letting him pass. He turned back again to look at the way he had come. Chen An and Li Yin were no longer in sight. Then, he turned a few more corners and walked towards Liu Chengyong's tent.

Liu Chengyong was pacing back and forth in his tent. It was now about forty-five minutes past noon. Suddenly, he felt a shadow darken the entrance. He looked up and saw a figure had flashed into the doorway. It was none other than Li Yan.

"Brother Li, you've finally arrived," Liu Chengyong said straightforwardly.

"Captain Liu, I'm sorry to keep you waiting. The next step depends on you," Li Yan said quickly.

"Alright, follow me." Liu Chengyong's military demeanor was on full display at this moment. Without saying much, he turned and walked out. After receiving the secret order, he knew that this was an important matter for the Marshal. He wouldn't ask for specifics, only that the details of this matter should not be known to outsiders. Li Yan followed closely behind him.

The two left the tent and walked towards the interior of the military camp. Li Yan followed Liu Chengyong, winding through tent after tent, until they arrived at a heavily guarded area. Along the way, they had encountered many patrol teams, but Liu Chengyong held a token, and they were allowed to pass after inspection.

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Before them were several large tents occupying a large area. These tents were very wide and covered with black felt. At this moment, the two were blocked by a long, crisscrossing fence of wooden stakes. The soldiers here were clearly different from those they had encountered earlier. They were all clad in dark, gloomy armor, each expressionless. They were very wary of the arrival of the two. Before they could get close, one of them shouted, "Halt! Military restricted area!"

Upon seeing this, Liu Chengyong said to Li Yan in a low voice, "Brother Li, please wait a moment." With that, he took out half of the Tiger Tally from his waist, raised it, and walked forward.

Li Yan saw Liu Chengyong hand the half of the Tiger Tally to the person who seemed to be the leader. The leader carefully examined it for a long time, and then spoke to Liu Chengyong in a low voice. Then, Liu Chengyong waved to Li Yan. Li Yan walked forward. Seeing him approach, the leader turned and said a few words to a soldier beside him, then gave the soldier the half of the Tiger Tally. The soldier walked out, glanced at Liu Chengyong and Li Yan, and silently turned and continued to walk deeper inside.

"Captain Liu, what is this place? It's so heavily guarded that we need to use half of the Marshal's Tiger Tally. Isn't the previous token enough?" Although Li Yan was anxious, he was still curious and asked in a low voice. He had been to the military camp several times during this period and knew about military regulations, roll calls, command flags, and Tiger Tallies.

"This is the military supply depot. It's our lifeline," Liu Chengyong simply replied.

Li Yan thought, "No wonder it's so heavily guarded. Even if Chen An and Li Yin know I'm here, they won't be able to get in."

Following the soldier for a while, they continued to walk deeper and turned a few more corners, arriving at a camp gate. However, the camp gate was tightly closed, and a team of soldiers in black armor guarded it. The camp gate was wrapped tightly with iron chains as thick as an adult's arm, and secured with a copper lock about half the size of a human head.

The soldier hurried forward and whispered to the black-armored soldier who greeted him, then took out the half of the Tiger Tally and handed it to the other party. The black-armored soldier took it and carefully examined it for a long time, then waved to Liu Chengyong and Li Yan, signaling them to come over.

After Liu Chengyong and Li Yan walked over, the soldier returned the half of the Tiger Tally to Liu Chengyong, and then ordered someone to open the iron chains that were as thick as an adult's arm. Then, with a creaking sound, the gate was pushed open by four soldiers with great effort, looking very strenuous.

After the gate was pushed open just enough for one person to pass through, Liu Chengyong called out to Li Yan and walked out of the gate.

The heavy sound of the door moving

sounded again, and then with a "clang," it closed again. Then, they heard a series of "clanging" iron chains. Li Yan looked around at the scene. He was now in a wide alley. The straight road extended forward, and disappeared around a bend not far away.

Liu Chengyong looked at Li Yan and said with a smile, "Brother Li, this is the exit of the military supply warehouse. No one will come here. If you walk forward for a while, there will be guards again, and then you'll be out, not far from the entrance of the North City Gate."

After hearing this, Li Yan remembered that there were three roads at the entrance of the North City Gate when entering the city. They were all paved with large bluestones. The main road in the middle was the one they often took when entering the city. The other two branch roads wound towards the two sides of the city, and he didn't know where they led. It seemed that this was one of the roads that extended over here.

Li Yan looked around and saw that there was no one around, so he asked Li Chengyong, "What are Marshal Hong's next arrangements?"

Liu Chengyong looked at him. "The Marshal said that after leaving this military camp, he would take you to the back door of the Marshal's Residence, where someone will be waiting to meet you."

After hearing this, Li Yan shook his head. "Captain Liu, then I can't go. Just give this bottle and letter to the Marshal." As he said this, Li Yan took out a small porcelain bottle and a letter from his pocket and handed them to Liu Chengyong.

Liu Chengyong took the small porcelain bottle in confusion. The porcelain bottle was not big, only the size of a thumb, and the mouth of the bottle was sealed with wax. He didn't know what it was for. The letter must be something Li Yan wrote to the Marshal. It wasn't the first time he had delivered letters, but the order he received was to bring Li Yan to the Marshal's Residence today no matter what.

"Brother Li, you're making things difficult for me." He put the things in his pocket and stared at Li Yan, saying each word carefully.

"Hehe, Brother Liu, don't you think I'm in trouble now after these few months?" Li Yan said solemnly.

This time, he didn't even call him "Captain Liu."

Liu Chengyong looked at him and said, "I don't know what the relationship is between the Marshal, you, and Military Advisor Ji, but the order I received was to take you to the Marshal's Residence."

"Brother Liu, let's make this short. I definitely won't go, and you can't catch me here now. If there are more people at the exit ahead, you can't do anything. Otherwise, the outcome of something that might have been successful will be that everyone falls apart." After saying this, Li Yan circulated the mana in his body, and suddenly, power burst out from his body, pressing towards Liu Chengyong.

Liu Chengyong felt a mountain-like force pressing down on his body, as if he had been struck by lightning. Just as he was about to raise his inner force to resist, the pressure on his body suddenly disappeared, and there was no pressure on his body.

Li Yan knew that both Hong Linying and Ji Wenhe would want to hold him in their hands, and he still needed to use

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Hong Linying's power to complete his plan. In this way, he had to pull Hong Linying in, but he couldn't fall into his hands. This was just the beginning of his plan, and meeting Hong Linying was not something that would happen now. He had to get rid of them first.

Currently, he used Hong Linying to use the tactic of secretly crossing the Chencang pass, first getting rid of Ji Wenhe's eyeliner. He had considered the situation that was appearing before him, but at first he didn't know when it would happen. Now that he had reached this point and knew his environment, he was betting that Liu Chengyong would not dare to do anything at the alley ahead, which might attract Ji Wenhe's arrival.

Then, this was a good place to show his cards. Suddenly condensing all his mana to oppress him, he was actually not sure in his heart. What kind of person was Liu Chengyong? He was a master in the military, and his fighting skills were extraordinary. But now he only used mana to oppress him, creating the momentum of an inner family master in the martial arts world between one release and one retraction, forcing him to not know the depth, and calling him "Brother Liu, Brother Liu" in his mouth, using both soft and hard tactics.

Liu Chengyong only felt a heavy and light feeling on his body, and he was shocked. How could this "Brother Li" be so powerful? It had only been a few months since they had last met, and his power was several times higher than his own. How was this achieved? He thought to himself that he should not be able to take down Li Yan. He didn't know that Li Yan was just a showy figure, with only a body of mana, pretending to be an inner family master in the martial arts world, and had no fighting experience at all. But Liu Chengyong didn't think so. As far as the cultivation of martial arts sects was concerned, how many of them didn't cultivate both internally and externally? While practicing internal strength, they would also cultivate martial arts skills. He thought that since Military Advisor Ji could pass on this profound internal strength to Li Yan, he must have taught him a lot of killing methods. This made his back feel a little cold.

"Hehe, Brother Li has good skills. Liu is unable to complete this order." Liu Chengyong gave a wry smile.

"Brother Liu, to be honest, the things I gave you are exactly what the Marshal needs. After you hand them over, he will also think that you have completed the task. It's just that I can only do this here," Li Yan said seriously.

Liu Chengyong looked into Li Yan's eyes. He felt that Li Yan was not lying, so he sighed. "Then I have no choice but to do this. I hope I don't get a military stick." He was also extremely aggrieved in his heart. If he came hard, he would definitely not be able to beat him alone. If he called more people, then this matter would be ruined, and more people would definitely know about it. Then what was the point of him being so careful before?

"Then let's go." Li Yan stretched out his hand and bowed forward. Liu Chengyong sighed and walked ahead. "Brother Li, you don't have to be so careful about everything. Could it be that I, as your brother, can still stab you in the back?"

"Hehe, Brother Liu, what are you talking about? I'm not familiar with the road, and besides, I don't have a token or Tiger Tally. How can I get through?"

A moment later at the alley, watching Li Yan's back as he sped towards the North Gate, Liu Chengyong sighed again, then touched the porcelain bottle and letter in his pocket, and walked towards the Marshal's Residence.