Chapter 155

Chapter 155

Capital City, Temple of Ten Thousand Blessings.

The Imperial Guards surrounded the entire temple in layer upon layer of troops.

Everyone in the temple, from the abbot down to the novice monks, had been arrested and herded into the courtyard. Having just learned the identity of the person standing before them, they were all deathly pale and trembling with fear.

A Yulin Guard stepped forward, knelt, and said, “Your Majesty, we have found out that the secret passage was dug when the previous dynasty fell. Some members of the imperial family hid in the temple and dug the passage to make their escape easier. It has never been sealed.”

Wei Yi stood motionless on the steps, his expression dark and terrifying.

“A passage from the previous dynasty?” His cold, dark-red gaze slowly shifted indoors. Behind the wide-open wooden doors, a cabinet had been pushed aside against the wall, revealing a pitch-black passage whose destination was unknown.

How had Sheng Zhaoning learned about such a concealed place?

With an almost pathological calm, Wei Yi gradually arrived at one possibility.

When Wei Chengshi was young, the mysterious Consort Mei in the harem had been frail and sickly, and the palace often sent people to the Temple of Ten Thousand Blessings to pray for blessings and peace.

At that time, the Temple of Ten Thousand Blessings had been highly valued by Wei Chengshi, so everything that happened within the temple would naturally have been reported truthfully to the palace.

Thus, Wei Heng had very likely known about the existence of this secret passage.

Sheng Zhaoning had spent many years with him, and they had long understood each other. As soon as she mentioned the Temple of Ten Thousand Blessings, Wei Heng certainly would not have kept it from her.

So from the very beginning, when she said she wanted to visit the Temple of Ten Thousand Blessings to pray for blessings, she had already begun laying her plans.

She had deceived him time and time again, toying with him as though he were in the palm of her hand. The laughable part was that he had believed her once again, sinking into her false affection and unable to pull himself free.

Wei Yi no longer even felt anger. His gaze was merely sinister and bone-chillingly cold, utterly devoid of emotion. It was as dark as an abyss with no visible end, and merely looking at him was enough to make one’s scalp prickle.

He raised his sharply angled brows and asked, his voice laden with icy menace, “Where is Divine Doctor Zhou?”

The Yulin Guard below shuddered and hurriedly replied, “Your Majesty, Divine Doctor Zhou is not at his residence.”

Wei Yi had already guessed that this would be the result.

To pass through the checkpoints, one needed an identity register and a travel permit. Without someone’s assistance, even if Sheng Zhaoning had escaped, she could not leave the Capital City.

And in recent days, there had been only one person at her side who was willing to help her at any cost.

Zhou Lingsheng.

That “Divine Doctor” who had secretly harbored feelings for Sheng Zhaoning since Liangzhou.

Wei Yi’s gaze was sinister and frightening, and a merciless ferocity radiated from his entire body. “Find out where Zhou Lingsheng has been these past few days. Investigate the identity he forged, question the officials at the city gates, and determine which gate he used to leave the city.”

Once they confirmed the gate through which the two of them had left, they could deduce which direction they had taken.

Wei Yi himself did not know how he had managed to remain so calm. Again and again, he considered every possibility, refusing to overlook the slightest chance that might have allowed her to escape.

“Pass down my order. Immediately seal the gates of every city surrounding the Capital City and search the entire cities!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

…

The carriage traveled north for several days.

Suizhou was a long way from the Capital City. Even on a swift horse, the journey would take more than a month.

At the time, Zhou Lingsheng had transported a coffin containing preservatives. He had originally intended to deliver it to Mobei, but the region was covered in windblown sand and the vast desert was difficult to cross, so he had been forced to abandon the plan.

On the road to Suizhou, Sheng Zhaoning practically ate and slept in the carriage, unwilling to waste even a moment.

Zhou Lingsheng worried that her body could not endure such constant travel day and night, but when he saw the anticipation in her eyes, he could only swallow every word of concern.

He handed Sheng Zhaoning a waterskin. “Drink some water. Take your medicine first.”

Before setting out, Zhou Lingsheng had specially prepared plenty of pills in case they were needed.

Sheng Zhaoning thanked him and accepted them.

Although the carriage had been on the road for several days, she had never truly been able to set her heart at ease.

With Wei Yi’s identity as the emperor who ruled all under heaven, if he genuinely wanted to find someone, his power was enough to turn the entire Great Wei upside down.

Their escape had been far too hurried. She had also been confined to the palace all this time, leaving her with no time to prepare many things. There were likely plenty of flaws in their arrangements.

“Brother Zhou, where did we get our travel permits and identity registrations?” Sheng Zhaoning asked.

Zhou Lingsheng lowered his head and thought for a moment before answering, “There are underground black markets in the Capital City where identity registrations and travel permits can be forged. I didn’t show my face. I had someone track down a seller and buy them.”

That had been relatively cautious.

Even without showing his face, however, given the Shadow Guard’s abilities, it would not be difficult for them to investigate Zhou Lingsheng’s movements in the Capital City and the people he had interacted with.

Now that they had left the Capital City and were about to head toward the next pass, the identity registrations and travel permits made there were probably no longer usable.

“Once we reach the county towns, we’ll need to have another set of travel documents made and change identities.”

Zhou Lingsheng seemed to have thought of the same issue. His expression turned serious as he nodded.

They were currently traveling along an official road. The surrounding area was desolate and devoid of human life, and they would only pass through a few county towns once they were nearing the next pass.

“All right. Once we get there, I’ll take care of it,” Zhou Lingsheng said.

The carriage arrived at a small county town around noon.

Once they left this county town and continued north, they would reach the next pass.

As a result, illicit dealings in forged travel permits and identity registrations were especially common here.

Using silver to grease the wheels, Zhou Lingsheng quickly found a shop.

The carriage slowly came to a stop.

On the surface, the shop was a general-goods store. Zhou Lingsheng got down from the carriage and walked inside, while Sheng Zhaoning remained in the carriage to wait for him.

She lifted the curtain halfway and surveyed the surroundings.

Perhaps it was only her imagination, but she felt that there seemed to be an excessive number of soldiers patrolling the county town.

Generally speaking, unless a place was a military stronghold or a frontier prefecture, there was no need for patrols involving so many troops.

Yet soldiers had been coming and going along the street, passing by several times already. The scene inevitably gave off an unusual air.

Her suspicions reached their peak when the soldiers secretly cast several glances toward the carriage.

Sheng Zhaoning’s fingers tightened. The moment she saw all the soldiers around them turn in unison and advance on the carriage, she shouted, “Brother Zhou, get in the carriage!”

The instant she called out, the soldiers on all sides abandoned their disguises and closed in around the carriage.

Hearing her voice, Zhou Lingsheng hurriedly pulled back the foot he had just stepped into the shop.

At that very moment, the people lying in ambush inside the shop swarmed out, swiftly joining forces with the people outside in an attack from within and without.

Zhou Lingsheng’s expression changed. He immediately turned and ran outside, leaping into the carriage in a single bound.

“Go!”

He snatched the short whip from the driver and lashed it hard. The carriage shot forward at full speed.

The soldiers pursued them relentlessly. More pursuers kept appearing from hidden alleys on every side. Sheng Zhaoning clung tightly to the window frame to steady herself as the rapid pounding of hooves gradually grew clearer beside her ears, surrounding her like a vast, tightly woven net.

“Stop them!” the soldiers shouted.

With a sharp whoosh, an arrow flew toward them.

It struck the horse in the foreleg. The animal abruptly dropped to its knees and let out a shrill, agonized whinny.

After the carriage lurched violently, it was brought to a halt in front of a line of mounted Yulin Guard soldiers holding swords.