Jiang Rui could no longer kneel properly and fell to the ground. Nobody would be happy to die as soon as he found out the truth.
With a confused expression, he murmured to himself, "I don't want to die. I don't like it no matter how I die."
He Zhan said, "I have been thinking about how to kill you all these years and have designed more than a dozen ways for you to die. In order not to let you die prematurely because of an accident, I sent many people to protect you. Zhuo Rusui wanted to kill you, but I risked my life to save him. Now that I have come this far, you have to choose one of them. "
Jiang Rui felt cold both physically and mentally. "Even if you want to play with me, you have played with me for so many years. Why didn't you kill me earlier? Why did you wait until today?"
"You are my anchor point in the Illusionary Realm. As long as you are alive and my hatred is still there, I will never forget that real world."
He Zhan said, "Until just now, I suddenly realized that these things are meaningless, so I don't have to keep you alive anymore."
Jiang Rui murmured, "I am talented and have all kinds of willpower and means, but it has always been so difficult for me to move forward. It turns out that you have been suppressing me in secret."
"You have always thought that I am useless outside and that I am just lucky. Do you think that I am just lucky here and have gotten ahead of you? You have to understand and accept the fact that you are never as good as me. If you can do it, you can do it. If you can't, you can't. You can't do it outside and you can't do it here. "
"Hahahaha, I just realized that you are a eunuch. How does it feel to have your penis cut off? I don't care if I can do it or not, but you can't! "
Jiang Rui said contemptuously. Suddenly, a trace of fierceness flashed in his eyes.
He didn't intend to sneakily attack He Zhan, but he wanted to commit suicide. Unfortunately, he failed.
He Zhan's clothes moved slightly, leaving several residual shadows. It seemed that he didn't move, but in fact, he had sealed all of Jiang Rui's meridians and sat back in the chair.
Jiang Rui's expression changed abruptly. "Sorry, you know … I didn't mean that … Back then … I didn't expect you to suffer so much."
He Zhan didn't pay attention to him and explained calmly, "The method I used will make you unable to move, so you can feel it more clearly, and make sure that you won't pass out."
What kind of pain would it be to bear the horrible punishments of the Intelligence Bureau in such a state?
Jiang Rui said with a pale face, "Do you really have to do it? I admit defeat, I admit my mistake … Just give me a quick death. "
He Zhan said nothing.
Jiang Rui had completely lost all hope. He panted heavily and said, "I've admitted to everything. But according to the rules of the Dao Competition, what happened inside can't be brought outside. You can't hate me."
He didn't want to endure the dreadful pain, and he was even more unwilling to be suppressed by He Zhan after he left the Illusionary Realm.
He Zhan said with a faint smile, "How could it be? So, no matter how painful you are later, don't hold a grudge against me. Outside … we are still friends. "
Jiang Rui had already prepared himself mentally, thinking that given his talent in Cultivation, as long as he could maintain his Dao Heart, no matter how severe the punishment was, he suddenly felt a chill when he saw the faint smile on He Zhan's face. "What do you intend to do with me?" he asked hoarsely.
He Zhan said, "Death by dismemberment. Sorry, I know it's not a creative idea."
Jiang Rui's face turned paler, and his body trembled. He wanted to throw himself at Ning Que and beg for mercy, but he couldn't move.
"The scene is too bloody. I won't watch it. Enjoy yourself."
He Zhan left the tavern after saying that.
As he walked out of the tavern, he glanced at the eaves of the opposite house.
The Blue Bird had flown away.
He believed that the Cultivation practitioners outside the Huiyin Valley didn't want to see the cruel scene, either, because they were not deviant swordsmen … at least on the surface.
The street was quiet at night. The morning light could be seen in the distance, but the human world was even darker.
He Zhan walked toward the darkness in a black cloak. Suddenly, he heard a scream behind him.
The scream didn't stop, but it was getting weaker.
…
…
Jiang Rui was a Cultivation practitioner with a good state, but his death was a trivial matter in such a vast world.
Only the sect in Lushan County had been nervous for a long time because of this matter. The sect leader even thought about going to the capital city to beg for forgiveness from Elder He. But as time went by, the Intelligence Bureau didn't give him any more orders, and he gradually felt relieved.
Nobody knew what it meant that He Zhan had kept this person here for several decades, but he was suddenly captured and executed that night by dismembering his body.
The Empress Dowager didn't know what happened in the tavern that night. She waited anxiously for He Zhan's reaction.
In her view, a disloyal villain like He Zhan would definitely take advantage of the conflict in the palace that night to do something.
Unexpectedly, He Zhan didn't do anything. He didn't even pay attention to the selection of a new emperor. He just handled the state affairs as usual.
Soon, Zhao State welcomed a new emperor. The emperor was held by the Empress Dowager and sat on a chair behind the beaded curtain.
From that day on, He Zhan didn't attend any more court meetings.
Only his closest subordinates could find something unusual about Elder He.
Recently, he often stared at a certain spot in the gray sky, and his mind would wander for half a day.
Sometimes, he would go to a remote cold palace and walk back and forth in those narrow alleys.
Sometimes, he would walk into a small courtyard that had long been deserted, take out a bamboo chair and lie down, waving a round fan in his hand.
It was the beginning of autumn now.
From autumn to winter and then to spring, time passed slowly and uninterestedly. He Zhan was tired of it, but he suddenly found a familiar feeling.
There were many things that he was gradually forgetting, but many things were resurfacing from the bottom of his heart.
He felt that he had lived a similar life somewhere, like in a temple. Then, he suddenly wanted to eat a plate of stir-fried red moss.
The chestnut tree on the slope of the imperial garden had long grown up. The scar left by the broken branch had become harder and clearer.
He often stood under the chestnut tree and subconsciously touched the scar with his right hand, looking into the distance. No one knew what he was thinking.
One day, he suddenly remembered the sea and the ship on the sea. There was a friend on the ship and an old man with silver hair.
The old man with silver hair seemed to have said something before he passed away. But the sound of the waves was too loud, and he was too sad and angry, so he didn't hear it clearly.
What was the meaning of the old man's words?
He Zhan thought for a long time, and one day, he finally remembered it.
The small boat disappeared.
…
…
Elder He suddenly disappeared.
The Intelligence Bureau was emptied again, and the gold-rimmed toilet bowl was gone.
Many officials and secret agents of the Intelligence Bureau, as well as the commanders and soldiers of the red cavalry, disappeared at the same time.
No one knew where they went, and there was no trace of them in the provinces and counties.
This incident shocked the whole of Zhao State, and then the whole world.
In the urgently convened imperial court conference, none of the civil and military officials could say anything. This matter was too bizarre and unreasonable.
Some officials even wondered if the Intelligence Bureau had incurred the wrath of the heavens and the people, so they were punished by the heavens.
"What the hell is going on? So many people have disappeared at the same time, but you can't find anything! "
The Empress Dowager lifted the beaded curtain angrily and stood in front of the officials, scolding, "Do you think I'm counting on you good-for-nothings to govern the country?"
The disappearance of He Zhan should have made her feel relieved and delighted; but for some reason, she felt both shocked and angry at the same time.
Especially late at night, when she thought of He Zhan's departure, she felt even more lonely.
A few days later, they finally found some clues. The Grand Secretary of the imperial court entered the palace that very night and knelt before the bed of the Yuan Palace, reporting to the Empress Dowager in a low voice.
The whole of Zhao State knew that there was a group of ferocious water bandits in the deep end of the vast Ping Lake. Even though the navy of the Imperial Court had tried many times to exterminate them, they couldn't hurt them. On the contrary, many ships were sent to them.
Not long after He Zhan disappeared with the officials of the Intelligence Bureau, the group of water bandits suddenly left the Ping Lake. Over a hundred large ships sailed into the Qi Kingdom via the waterways, and then headed straight for the East Ocean, disappearing without a trace.
Come to think of it, He Zhan and his subordinates should have been on that fleet at the time.
It sounded simple, but it was not. He Zhan had not only concealed the truth from the imperial court and the public for many years, but he had also made use of the waterway system that Zhao State and the Qi Kingdom had spent many years repairing.
Moreover, those large ships were obviously built with the technology of the Qi Kingdom.
To accomplish this, He Zhan had planned for many years and put in a great deal of effort.
The Empress Dowager's face turned pale instantly. She turned around and looked at the sleeping child on the bed, remaining silent for a long time.
"Did you always want to leave? Or was it just a backup plan that you prepared that night because you were too disappointed in me? "
…
…
The Chief Eunuch who had dominated the imperial court for decades was gone.
For the people of Zhao State, it was like the Imperial Palace in the capital had suddenly disappeared.
Everyone felt a strong sense of panic, and the imperial court and the public fell into a dead silence.
The rumor gradually spread. After confirming that Elder He had indeed left, instead of standing in the shadows and watching the world, as he had done in the past, the whole country fell into a state of confusion and emptiness.
Countless petitions and petitions from the people were sent to the Imperial Palace like snowflakes, asking the Imperial court to send an army to search for Elder He as soon as possible.
As time went by, those petitions and petitions became fewer and fewer until there was nothing left.
It was not until midsummer that everyone realized that Elder He might not come back, and the situation changed again.
Countless petitions and petitions from the people were sent to the Imperial Palace like snowflakes again, but the content was completely different this time.
From the officials to the people, everyone accused Elder He of using his power shamelessly and being cold-blooded. They said that the reason why he left was that he colluded with the Qin Kingdom and knew that treason was unforgivable, so he fled to avoid punishment.
All the officials in the Imperial court had given money to Elder He and tried to please him. Then who was Elder He's lackey? In order to find out who was the real lackey and who barked louder, the officials in the imperial court began to attack each other fiercely. It was chaotic and ugly for a while. It was not until the early winter that the situation finally stabilized.
In the process of stabilizing the imperial court, the Empress Dowager showed excellent political wisdom and means.
Then it was the discussion of crimes.
The Imperial court convicted He Zhan of 74 major crimes. In addition to the most common crimes, there were also some strange crimes that even the Intelligence Bureau couldn't think of.
Looking at those crimes, the Empress Dowager looked more and more terrible. Finally, she couldn't control her emotions anymore. She slammed the desk heavily and broke the red brush pen in her hand.
The red spots fell on the wall, looking like beautiful red plum blossoms.
"What kind of nonsense is this?!"
In the end, the Empress Dowager only approved a few crimes.
The main ones were carelessness, rudeness, and dishonesty.
But no matter how many crimes she approved, He Zhan was destined to go down in history. Of course, it was a bad reputation.
Thinking of this, she felt a little sorry.
She came to the Imperial Garden, waved her hand to dismiss the palace maids with umbrellas, and walked to the chestnut tree.
This was the place where they used to stand.
Snow fell on her body.
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