After the madam finished speaking, she was terrified by the look in the man's eyes.

The feeling was like being stared at by a dangerous beast, as if she was about to be torn apart at any moment. It made the hairs on her body stand on end, and she couldn't help but take three steps back.

Qin Yan's eyes were filled with murderous intent.

A thousand people taste the flavors of ten thousand…

No! Unless Ayan herself is willing, anyone who dares to lay a hand on Ayan will be killed by him and Changkai. Ayan will never fall into such a miserable situation.

This person dares to insult his Ayan like that, he's asking for death!

"Kill them!"

Before Qin Yan could finish speaking, the little girl in his arms let out a painful groan, "Ugh...it hurts...my head hurts so much..."

At this point, Qin Yan no longer cared about the madam and the others. "Get out of here first!"

Qin Yan's attendants were all selected from among the million soldiers of the three armies, and each of them could fight ten men at once. These twenty-odd thugs were all half-baked, and two of them combined were no match for a common soldier. The two attendants quickly pinned the thugs to the ground and rubbed them to the ground.

After Qin Yan carried Su Yan out of the Dark Fragrance Pavilion, Governor Guo finally sat up from between the two beauties.

He hurriedly put on his clothes and went downstairs, but Qin Yan was nowhere to be seen.

From the descriptions given by the madam and others, he realized that Shao Dejing's (Qin Yan's disguised official) entourage was not just ordinary servants. He immediately realized that he might have misjudged them, so he hurriedly returned to the mansion and entered the secret room to carefully check whether anyone had entered.

Qin Yan knew that the servants' actions would arouse Guo Chengping's suspicion, so he arranged for people to keep an eye on him as soon as he left Anxiang Tower.

The guards followed Guo Chengping into the secret room. When they saw him pull out the ledger, they drugged him, tied him up, and threw him into the secret room before leaving to report the news.

When Qin Yan received the letter, Su Yan was already unconscious. The doctor's pulse diagnosis, the medicine prescribed, and the acupuncture needles could not wake her up.

Qin Yan's eyes turned red with anxiety.

Having learned that the secret ledger had been found, and that the real Shao Dejing had finally uncovered problems with the forged accounts, and that the secret guards had also found the secret ledgers that other officials had secretly kept in their residences, he no longer needed to pretend to be Shao Dejing to deceive Guo Chengping and make him lower his guard against others.

Soon, Qin Yan arranged for over a hundred guards to protect Su Yan, and he rode his horse into Guo Chengping's residence with his sword in hand.

Upon seeing Guo Chengping bound like a dumpling, Qin Yan's eyes turned horrified. He slashed at Guo Chengping several times with his sword before finally venting his anger.

It's all because this bastard sent people to kidnap Ayan, scaring her so much that she fell ill.

If anything happens to Ayan, he will definitely chop that bastard into pieces and feed him to the dogs!

Having obtained the secret ledger, Qin Yan dropped his disguise, took out his token, and summoned soldiers from Cangzhou and Minzhou to surround the residences of all officials in Qizhou.

Once the charges were verified, those who had not colluded with Guo Chengping and others were released without charge. In fact, because many officials in Qizhou were arrested, they were promoted by Emperor Shenwu to assist the officials who had come to Qizhou with Emperor Shenwu in handling the affairs of the state.

Those who collude with the corrupt will be punished according to their crimes.

Shao Dejing, the real Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue who followed Emperor Shenwu to Qizhou, was extremely busy.

His Majesty found the secret ledger and summoned soldiers from the two neighboring states to surround the officials' residences, after which he never appeared again.

All the affairs, big and small, in Qizhou piled up on his head, causing him to have many gray hairs at a young age!

Your Majesty, Your Majesty, where have you gone? Qizhou needs you, and your subject needs you too!

At this time, Qin Yan had already taken Su Yan away from Qizhou and entered the territory of Minzhou.

Inside the carriage, Qin Yan held the drowsy Su Yan in his arms, secretly anxious, "Ayan, don't sleep yet, we're about to reach the Valley of Ten Thousand Poisons."

Su Yan closed her eyes and gently nuzzled Qin Yan's chest. "Your Highness... don't worry, Ayan is fine."

Before even entering the Valley of Ten Thousand Poisons, Qin Yan encountered He Qianji, who had come out to find Su Yan.

He witnessed He Qianji slash Su Yan's wrist, trying to let a tiny insect crawl into the wound.

"You used a curse on Ayan?" Qin Yan drew his long sword and held it against He Qianji's neck, his chest heaving.

He Qianji sensed his murderous intent and could only stop what he was doing to explain to him, "This girl was poisoned too deeply back then. If it weren't for the Gu worms eating away the Qianji Powder in her body, the grass on her grave would be taller than you."

"However, the Qianji Powder is too poisonous. The Gu worms died before they could finish eating it. After the Gu worms died, the Qianji Powder that had been eaten spread again in the girl's body."

I could only implant another Gu worm in her, which was stronger than the first one and lasted for several days before dying.

I used over a dozen Gu worms on this girl to bring her back to the Valley of Ten Thousand Poisons alive.

When they returned to the Valley of Ten Thousand Poisons, the poison from the Gu worms had mixed with the Qianji Powder in the girl's body, and the antidote for Qianji Powder alone was no longer effective.

A single antidote gu won't work. I can only try to cultivate a gu king to have any chance of removing all the poison from her body.

The Gu King is still some time away from being fully cultivated. For now, the only option is to administer Gu poison to her, letting the Gu worms consume the toxins within her body to save her life.

Knowing that Su Yan had survived all year thanks to the Gu worms, Qin Yan felt a pang of pain in his heart. He sheathed his sword and bowed solemnly to He Qianji, pleading, "Please, sir, save her!"

He Qianji was taken aback by the deep bow he received. He paused, then guided the Gu worm into Su Yan's wound while revealing his long-held regret: "Your Majesty, why did you torture and kill my eldest disciple, Mo Xiangsi, back then?"

That was his only disciple at the time, a child he had devoted more than a decade of his life to teaching.

If he had only been defeated and killed, he would have had nothing to say. But why torture him to death? Why torment him until he was barely recognizable as a human and refuse to give him a quick death?

"The brutal murder of Mo Xiangsi?" Qin Yan racked his brains to recall such a person, and finally remembered her from the depths of his memory. "Are you referring to Mo Xiangsi, the strategist who served the Prince of Pingnan?"

The Prince of Pingnan was a relative of the previous dynasty. When the world was in chaos, many people went to the Prince of Pingnan under the pretext of upholding orthodoxy, hoping to help him restore the Great Liang.

Later, the Prince of Pingnan was defeated by Qin Yan. Unwilling to be captured alive by a mere youth, he drew his sword and committed suicide.

After the death of the Prince of Pingnan, most of his advisors and generals switched allegiance to other masters, leaving only a small number of loyal followers.

Among them is the one He Qianji mentioned, Mo Xiangsi.

“Mr. He, whether you believe it or not, I have never tortured or killed anyone. Mo Xiangsi was not killed by me either. After the death of the Prince of Pingnan, all those who were loyal to him were banished to Liangzhou in the northwest. You are welcome to investigate this matter.”

Not only the loyalists of the Prince of Pingnan, but also the loyalists of other defeated lords were all expelled to Liangzhou, where they were ordered to build fortified cities to prevent barbarians from invading the Central Plains.

The story of the torture and killing of prisoners was spread by the deceased King Changsheng; he did not do it himself.

Those defeated generals who refused to surrender either committed suicide or were sent by him to Liangzhou to build city walls.

He won't waste manpower.

While recalling his secret investigation of Champion King in the south eight years ago, He Qianji bandaged Su Yan's wounds.

After treating Su Yan's wounds, he gestured for Qin Yan to come out with him.

In the next room, He Qianji presented the evidence pointing to Qin Yan. After reading it, Qin Yan noticed something amiss. The two investigated and discovered that the shadow of Prince Qin Yang of Chang'an was behind the matter.

Having resolved her inner conflict, He Qianji no longer harbored any prejudice against Qin Yan.

But seeing him constantly surrounding his little apprentice and doing everything himself, he gradually sensed something was wrong!

The way this kid looks at his apprentice is completely different from how he looked at his sister eight years ago. This is the way a man looks at a woman!

Realizing what he had just said, He Qianji was so angry that he blew his beard and glared at the crowd. This kid actually wanted to eat young grass like an old cow?

shameless!

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