Chapter 34: Rising Internal Strife
Jiang Mo said nothing and followed Chai Qi to the corner of the street.
Luo Jin was standing at the corner of the street. When she saw Jiang Mo, she waved at him, "Here!"
Jiang Mo sped up, came to her side in an instant, and whispered, "You're here!"
Luo Jin smiled, looked at him, "Stand still."
Jiang Mo obediently stood up straight and motionless.
Luo Jin untied the knot of his cloak. The thick cloak slid down his shoulders. She reached out, pulled at his collar, and tore his clothes open, revealing his body full of scars.
She took the opportunity to pull out the dagger from his waist and put it against his chest.
When she looked up, she saw Jiang Mo looking at her with a bit of curiosity. No panic at all.
"Aren't you afraid?" Luo Jin couldn't help asking.
"No." He paused, "It's a little cold."
Luo Jin smiled. She gently scratched Jiang Mo's heart area with the dagger, leaving a small wound. Then she walked around to Jiang Mo's back and put her hand on his back.
Jiang Mo only felt a soft and warm hand touching his skin and his body couldn't help but tremble slightly.
Then, he felt a slight stinging pain in his chest. Lowering his head, he saw a small black insect crawling out of the wound on his chest, with his blood still on its body.
The insect then fell to the ground and stopped moving.
"This is..."
"The Heart-Devouring Gu child." Luo Jin came around from behind him, stretched out her hand to help him tidy his clothes, and whispered, "Jiang Mo, you are free."
Jiang Mo lowered his head and stared blankly at Luo Jin who was tying his belt for him.
"From now on, you can go wherever you want and do whatever you want."
"You can gaze at the full moon in the sky, or enjoy the sunset by the lake."
"As long as you like, you can go anywhere."
"May you... still love this world."
Luo Jin gently hugged Jiang Mo and whispered, "Don't tell others about tonight."
She let go of her hand, "I'm going back to Dongyuan. If you have time, come and find me. I'll treat you to delicious food."
She smiled and waved, "Let's go!"
Chai Qi lightly nodded to Jiang Mo, turned around and got on the carriage with Luo Jin.
Jiang Mo watched the carriage depart and didn't leave for a long time.
……
On New Year’s Eve, thousands of houses were brightly lit. Firecrackers were set off and the whole Tancheng was filled with joy.
A few night watchmen at the Royal Ancestral Hall complained while on duty, "We can't go home on New Year's Eve. There's clearly nothing to do!"
"I don't know who in the world is more unlucky than us. We can't celebrate New Year's Eve with our families, but instead have to watch over these dead souls."
"Shh... Don't say that. It's disrespectful, understand? If it gets out, can you still keep your head?"
"Anyway, no one will hear it. Those emperor and princes must be celebrating the New Year together tonight. No one will run to the ancestral hall, right?"
As soon as the words fell, someone suddenly called out, "It's... Third Prince!"
Jiang Xu led a group of guards in from outside the door. The few night watchmen knelt down to greet them, "Greetings to your Highness, Third Prince!"
Jiang Xu smiled, "There's no need to be so polite to the enemy."
"Enemy... enemy?" The few night watchmen looked at each other.
Jiang Xu slowly walked into the ancestral hall, knelt on the mat, and declared loudly: "My ancestors please bless me to be able to kill the Crown Prince tonight!"
Night watchmen: "???"
Whose ancestors will bless this?
Then, the few night watchmen caught on. Their faces changed drastically and they turned around and ran.
The group of guards strode up and chopped the night watchmen down into a pool of blood with a few slashes.
Jiang Xu shook his head and smiled at the corpses of those people, "Not going back to celebrate the New Year on New Year's Eve and waiting to die here. What pitiful people!"
While laughing, his face suddenly became cold and asked the people around him, "Has the order been issued?"
"It had been issued. Every year, Crown Prince go to the lonely grave outside the city to accompany his biological mother on New Year's Eve and return to the palace from the south gate after dark to attend the annual banquet. It's like this every year and has never changed. The armored guards have all been dispatched to rob and kill Crown Prince at the city gate. "
Jiang Xu burst into a loud laughter, "So what if he’s the Crown Prince? My Concubine Mother is in the palace for the New Year, while his mother is lying in a lonely grave outside the city and can't even enter the city gate. Let him be buried outside the city tomorrow, so that he can accompany his stupid mother, save him the trouble of running back and forth. I... am a caring and good younger brother."
The guards around him didn't dare to speak. There was silence in the ancestral hall. Only the sound of firecrackers could be heard from afar.
A cold voice sounded from outside the door, "That's quite thoughtful."
Jiang Xu was startled, "Crown Prince? He..."
Jiang Ge led a group of people into the ancestral hall. He was dressed in military uniform and stared at Jiang Xu coldly, "What did these night watchmen do wrong? Why did you kill them?"
The guards around Jiang Xu instantly gathered around him, waving their swords into a fighting position.
Jiang Xu wasn't in a hurry at all and asked back: "How do you know I'm here?"
Jiang Ge's eyes swept across the faces of the guards and calmly: "Who doesn't have a few insiders?"
"Some of you... betrayed me!" Jiang Xu suddenly let out a round of laughter, "Humph, you can betray me. Loyalty is the most useless thing in the world. As long as you are afraid of me and have to obey me, it's enough."
Jiang Xu took out a round paper bucket from his arms, shook it gently, and a faint blue firework flew out of the paper bucket and rushed into the sky. The firework exploded and filled the sky full of flames in an instant, illuminating the entire ancestral hall.
"My armored guards aren’t far from here. Today won’t go as Crown Prince wants. What a pity!" Jiang Xu laughed again, "What do you think? Can the Crown Prince's people kill me before the armored guards arrive? Can they?"
Jiang Xu's guards immediately waved their swords to block and surrounded Jiang Xu.
Jiang Ge ordered the secret guards around him: "Charge up. Take his head before the armored guards arrive!"
The secret guards immediately surrounded him after receiving the order.
Jiang Xu had only a few dozen guards around him. It was extremely difficult to defend. Not long later, they couldn't hold on any longer. Jiang Xu angrily vented out: "Useless! Why haven't these armored guards arrived yet? Are they crawling over?"
He took out a small box from his sleeve and uttered with gritted teeth: "Hold on! The armored guards will be here soon. If I die, none of you will survive!"
"Your Highness, you..." a guard couldn't resist shouting, "Can you stop playing with that Gu? If we die, you won't survive either, okay?"
Jiang Ge grinned: "So it’s like that. As long as the box is destroyed, all these people will die, right? Listen, secret guards, rush up, hit his hand, and destroy the box for me!"
The secret guards immediately focused their attention on the box. The attack also became more urgent.
Just as Jiang Xu's guards were about to reach their limits, the sound of weapons clashing was heard outside. Jiang Xu's face improved and he laughed, "My armored guards are finally here! Jiang Mo, you bastard, Why are you so late!"
Jiang Mo didn't say anything, the armored guards rushed to Jiang Xu and protected him in the middle.
Jiang Mo glanced at the box in Jiang Xu's hand. Jiang Xu grabbed the box vigilantly, "Kill all these people for me. At once!"
"Okay." Jiang Mo turned around and shouted, "Iron armor formation!"
The armored guards immediately stood in formation, forming an airtight sword formation.
Jiang Xu said proudly: "This armor formation is unbreakable. Once the formation is formed, no one in the world can hurt me! Not even the emperor of Jiyuan!"
A voice suddenly said coldly: "Then... what about me?"
Jiang Mo stood in the center of the armor formation and slowly drew out his sword. When he drew his sword, the armored guards turned around in astonishment and looked at him in confusion.
"What should we do? Once the armored guards attack the me within the center, the armored formation will naturally break. Then they will be killed by the secret guards. But if you don't attack me... I will kill you." Jiang Mo slowly walked toward Jiang Xu.
"How... dare you!" Jiang Xu took out the golden box containing the mother Gu, "Tired of living, right?"
He shook the box gently. Immediately many armored guards covered their chests and cried out in pain. This mother Gu didn’t only control Jiang Mo. As the mother Gu was extremely precious, he naturally wanted to make the best use of it.
Without a frown, Jiang Mo didn’t stop his footsteps and kept approaching Jiang Xu.
"How could you..." Jiang Xu finally showed a look of fear, "Could it be... Red Emperor Gu..."
"Red Emperor Gu?" Jiang Mo repeated softly, "So that time, she..."
He smiled faintly. The long sword fell. Jiang Xu's arm flew into the air in an instant and the golden box in his hand fell. Jiang Mo took a step forward, stretched out his hand to take the box, walked out of the crowd, and handed the box to Jiang Ge who was standing beside him.
Jiang Xu let out a heart-wrenching scream.
The armored guards looked at the box in his hand blankly, not knowing what to do for a moment.
Jiang Ge ordered in a deep voice: "All stop!"
With a wave of his hand, Mister Shi came out of the crowd and whispered: "Your Highness, I have been waiting for a long time."
Jiang Ge said: "Thank you for extending your stay here. Once the matter here is settled, I will send someone to send you back to Dongyuan."
Mister Shi smiled, "No hurry. Our Crown Prince had already rushed back and I don't have any mission. It's nice to return in a slow manner and see the scenery along the way."
After Chai Qi led people into the tomb of Emperor Gaozu, Little Xiaoyu and Mister Shi searched around Liu Shu's home and soon found Liu Shu who was thrown into the cellar. His sleeping spot was hit and had fallen asleep. There was no danger to his life.
Later, Chai Qi was in a hurry to send Luo Jin back to Dongyuan to save people, so Mister Shi didn’t follow. Liu Shu went back to report. When he returned to report to duty, he said that the crown prince Jiang Ge needed the help of a Gu user. So Mister Shi followed him.
Jiang Ge put the golden box in Mister Shi's hand, "Thank you."
Mister Shi nodded and gently opened the lid of the box. He bit his finger and dripped the blood on the mother Gu in the box.
The blood-soaked mother Gu flew up and circled in the air, as if summoning something.
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