Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 390: Breaking the Formation (Additional chapter for the Atlantic Sea Star Alliance Leader)

Abbot Yuanhui took three incense sticks personally, lit them over the candle flame, then flicked his hand to extinguish the flame, and then respectfully presented them to Zhao Gou with both hands.

Zhao Gou reached out to take it, then slowly walked towards the incense table in front of the Buddha statue.

The emperor is the ruler of the world. He can even enthrone mortals as gods, so he naturally does not have to worship the Buddha.

But Qin Hui was not like that.

Especially after Zhenjiang prefect Wang Xunyou was smart enough to write a "Book of Adding Nine Gifts" to "plead" for Qin Hui, Qin Hui has been really keeping a low profile these days.

So, as soon as Zhao Gou took the incense, he knelt down respectfully on the cushion beside him.

When Zhao Gou inserted the incense into the incense burner, stepped back three steps, and put his hands together to pay respect to the Buddha, Qin Hui held the cushion with both hands and knelt down with a pious look on his face.

Abbot Yuanhui stood by, watching the emperor and his minister worship the Buddha devoutly, and smiled as he twirled the string of crimson Buddhist beads around his neck.

This was presented to him by Monk Jinghai when he visited the temple. It was a string of Buddhist beads made of fine red coral, with the complete Diamond Sutra engraved on it.

Abbot Yuanhui likes this set of Buddhist beads very much. Today, when welcoming the emperor, he naturally wants to wear this set of Buddhist beads.

……

From the moment Zhao Gou led Qin Hui, accompanied by Abbot Yuan Hui, into the hall, the cheers and screams outside became much quieter.

The common people who were blocked outside the auxiliary halls on both sides of the main hall of Xiangji Temple by the officials of the Imperial City Department who formed a human wall naturally saw that the True Dragon Emperor had entered the hall.

A thin young man, who seemed unable to see anything in the crowd, held onto a pillar outside the Puxian Hall and climbed up halfway.

At this time, it seemed that he realized there was nothing exciting to watch, so he loosened his hands and slid down from the pillar.

He was short and thin, and once he stood among the crowd, even if he stood on tiptoe, he could not see the situation in front of the hall clearly.

Of course, it was also difficult for the Imperial City officials outside to see him in the crowd.

Instead of pushing forward, he slowly backed away, retreating to the back of the crowd, and took out a whistle from the collar of his shirt.

The whistle is crystal clear, probably made from conch or seashell.

The whistle is not big and very delicate. When you put it in your mouth, only a small part of it is visible.

The thin man took a deep breath and blew the whistle.

It seemed that no sound was heard at all, but the carriage parked quietly in front of the gate of Xiangji Temple suddenly became agitated.

The horse and cow, who had been waiting quietly, became restless. The horse pounded the ground with its hooves irritably, and the old cow raised its head and yelled.

A few dogs wandering around at the feet of the tourists suddenly began to bark in annoyance.

……

Human ears cannot hear high-frequency sounds, but many animals can.

The set of "red coral" Buddhist beads hanging around Abbot Yuanhui's neck could also "hear".

The Buddhist beads suddenly cracked one by one, and ugly and terrifying reptiles crawled out from inside.

As soon as they came out, they bit the thick flesh on Abbot Yuanhui's neck.

"Ah~~"

The severe pain caused Abbot Yuanhui to let out an ear-piercing scream. He opened his eyes wide, shouted in fear, and scratched his neck wildly.

The pitch-black reptiles were wagging their tails and trying hard to get into his neck.

If the items are tribute to the imperial palace, they will be carefully checked one by one by specialized personnel.

However, who would carefully check a string of Buddhist beads that a monk gives to another monk?

This is a string of Buddhist beads made by Yagyu Forty Takejo Ninja himself.

The poisonous reptile in the bead is a kind of poisonous insect cultivated using the corpse of electric eel.

It is not easy to cultivate, and after being sealed with special drugs, it can only survive for a month at most. If it exceeds a month, it will die naturally.

When it falls into a "hibernation state" under the influence of drugs, once it is awakened by this special high-frequency sound, it will become extremely active within a cup of tea.

Then, it will die due to being deprived of the nourishment of sea water.

However, a cup of tea was enough for them to bite open the sealed shell and smell the delicious taste of flesh and blood.

Yuanhui's scream startled Zhao Gou, and he looked at the abbot, who had a solemn expression on his face, in horror.

Those horrible reptiles bit open the flesh on Yuanhui's neck and tried desperately to drill inside despite the gushing blood.

For the moment, the bite is not fatal, but the toxin they spit out.

The venom from one reptile isn't enough to kill an adult, but what about eighteen?
Qin Hui climbed up from the cushion with unprecedented agility and looked at Abbot Yuanhui in horror.

Even though he knew the details of the plan, he couldn't help but feel horrified when he saw Yuanhui die in such a way.

Yuanhui's hand desperately dug a reptile out of his throat, although it was only half of the reptile's body.

The half-black reptile was still twisting desperately on his bloody fingertips.

All the hairs on Zhao Gou's body stood up. He took two steps back before shouting in a trembling voice, "Come... someone, protect the emperor, protect the emperor quickly!"

Qin Hui was well prepared after all. Although he felt as if there were reptiles crawling all over his body, he quickly calmed down, held Zhao Gou, and said urgently: "Sir, let's go!" "Oh, let's go!"

Zhao Gou was supported by Qin Hui and stumbled towards the entrance of the hall.

The guards standing solemnly at the four corners of the hall heard the scream and rushed over with their swords drawn.

At this time, the poison sprayed by the poisonous insects had already taken effect. Abbot Yuanhui staggered back a few steps, and blood gushed out of his seven orifices, which made people terrified.

The guards did not dare to approach Abbot Yuanhui, whose face was covered in blood. They saw the fat monk open his mouth wide, take a few steps back, and then fall on his back with a "bang", and his fat body hit the ground heavily.

The guards retreated a few steps with their swords, and then protected the stumbling Zhao Gou as they walked out.

……

Zhao Gou's loud shouts of "Protect the Emperor" had already alarmed the ministers sitting on the stone steps outside the palace.

While everyone was stunned, Prince Pu'an Zhao Yuan had already rushed up the stairs and saw Zhao Gou running inside with a pale face and trembling all over.

Zhao Yuan shouted anxiously: "Sir, what happened?"

Zhao Gou was so frightened that his lips turned pale, his face turned blue, his teeth chattered, and his whole body was trembling. He could not speak a word.

Qin Hui shouted, "Abbot Yuanhui has been killed by a strange insect. Hurry up and escort His Majesty back to the palace immediately. Quick!"

The two old eunuchs on both sides of the palace gate flashed like ghosts and rushed to Zhao Gou's side.

Qin Hui only felt a pain in his wrist, and Zhao Gou was already supported by two old eunuchs.

Zhao Gou took a deep breath and said in a trembling voice, "Quick, quick, escort me back to the palace immediately."

Two old eunuchs carried Zhao Gou down the stone steps almost without touching the ground.

In order to avoid suspicion, Zhao Yuan stepped aside and waited until the emperor was helped down before quickly following behind.

A group of officials followed Zhao Gou and hurried forward without any time to ask about the situation.

Liu Wanrong hurried down the stairs, and in panic, she sprained her foot with a cry and fell down in pain.

But in the panic, no one noticed her at all.

When the officials of the Imperial City Division who were isolating the people on both sides of the temple saw the commotion, they immediately knew that something had happened.

However, the ninjas hiding among the pilgrims and the people had already taken the initiative.

Flying knives and blowgun darts quickly shot towards the Imperial City guards who were caught off guard.

One by one, the ninjas, dressed in Song Dynasty costumes, pulled out weapons from sticks, umbrellas and other objects and rushed forward quickly.

In order to hide their identities as much as possible, they abandoned their iconic swords and shurikens, but ordinary hidden weapons and weapons had little effect on their use of force.

The emperor and his ministers were surrounded by heavy guards who saw someone coming with a knife and immediately shouted and rushed forward.

At this moment, a cold voice shouted, "Get out of the way!"

The ninjas who were rushing forward with sharp blades in their hands and screaming suddenly fell to the ground at the same time.

Behind them, a ninja was holding the "Divine Fire Crow" and as the flames spewed out, sharp arrows shot out.

If you want to assassinate the emperor during the reign of the Song Dynasty, amidst the heavy royal guards, you must not only take them by surprise, but also act quickly. Any delay will result in you losing your advantage, and you may even be surrounded.

And this "Divine Fire Flying Crow" is their weapon to break the impasse.

Yagyu Shishitake had thought about installing the Divine Fire Flying Crow in the main hall, as that would be the most perfect way to assassinate him.

The ninjas don't even need to show up formally. As long as they have a tube of divine fire and fly crows, the officials of the Song Dynasty will be in danger.

But they gave up on this idea after just a brief consideration.

Because, in practice, there is no way to do it.

Even if they could successfully install the "Flying Crow of Divine Fire" on the lotus pedestal of the Buddha statue, the problem would be how to ignite it?

Qin Hui had already told them the procedures for offering incense and worshipping by the officials of the Song Dynasty over the years. They thought about it again and again, but could not allow their people to sneak into the main hall under such defensive measures.

Unless they started preparing decades ago and trained a monk until this monk became the abbot of Xiangji Temple.

If a slowly self-igniting wick is used, it will not work either. Not to mention that the slowly self-igniting wick will emit an odor, the guards who have been on guard in the main hall since early morning will smell the odor.

Even if the guards could not smell the gunpowder, how could the ninjas ensure that under this condition of slow spontaneous combustion, the rocket could be launched neither too early nor too late, and accurately within the short period of time when the Song Dynasty officials were worshiping Buddha?

Therefore, after repeated consideration, Yagyu Shishitake decided that the "Divine Fire Flying Crow" could not be used inside the hall, but could only be used outdoors where there was more room for operation.

He first designed the death of Abbot Yuanhui, using his horrific death to scare away the officials of the Song Dynasty and cause temporary chaos to the Song Dynasty's security forces.

At this time, the ninjas took advantage of the chaos to attack, break through, and quickly approached the target.

Then, it is time for this “Divine Fire Flying Crow” to display its power.

Even if there are a large army gathered outside the temple, within this space within the high walls, they will become gods who control the life and death of others!

Sharp arrows shot out, and a tube of "Divine Fire Flying Crow" broke the formation!

(End of this chapter)