the enlightener says

Meanwhile, Lu Pu and Wu Ting on the side had a much less military smell. Fortunately, it was dark at this moment, and in such a chaotic situation, not many people would pay attention to them.

They pretended to be patrolling, lowered their heads slightly, kept the same pace, and headed in the same direction. With the experience of getting lost before, Qin Ke had already roughly figured out the route in the palace. It has been able to overlap with that map, and it gradually becomes clear.

It's just that this is what he has a headache now - now that the things are in his hands, how should he get out?Do you want to use the secret passage leading directly outside the palace?

If he used that secret path... what would the two people behind him do?How can we get rid of them?

It is obvious that the silk book is already in my hand, but under such circumstances, I have no choice but to leave or stay, which is really uncomfortable.

Lu Pu did not expect that there is such a secret passage in this palace. Lu Ming arranged for him to enter the palace, but unlike Qin Ke, his way of entering is far more troublesome than Qin Ke's. It can be said that as long as there is a little If he makes a mistake, both he and Wu Ting will face disastrous consequences.

But now that something like this has happened in the palace, I am afraid that Lu Ming's original channel for entering and leaving the palace can no longer be used.

Wu Ting didn't know this, so he fought against Qin Ke recklessly, but he knew that he couldn't kill him now, after all... Even if they were not afraid of death and forcibly killed Qin Ke and took the silk book, there was no way to ensure that they would be able to kill Qin Ke. An Ran took it out.

He looked at Qin Ke's back in iron armor, showing a concealed wry smile. At this time, he might have to go through this kid's channel, but how long can this strange alliance last?

The noisy voices in his ears never stopped, which made him unable to calm down and think. He looked at the guards who came and went with red ribbons on their arms with some annoyance.

But soon, his heart moved, and he frowned: "It's a bit strange, since they want to kill Yang Taizhen, why are they still searching for some monsters here one by one?"

Qin Ke paused slightly, but in order not to arouse suspicion, he continued to walk slowly. His grasp of the situation in Tang State was not much better. Get rid of the demons? Saying demons...in fact, it should be just a derogatory name. Yang Taizhen is a demon concubine, and her accomplices are naturally demons. Isn't it normal to get rid of Yang Taizhen's accomplices?"

Lu Pu didn't think so, he said softly, "How many people do you think they have?"

"Ah?" Qin Ke didn't know how to answer.

"I almost counted. There are at least 500 imperial guards here. Although these 500 people will definitely not be the only ones who invaded the palace, they are at least an indispensable force for them. Since their goal is Yang Taizhen, tonight is Yang Taizhen's birthday. , They should directly set up ladders to attack the inner palace, why are you still dawdling here?" Lu Pu said strangely: "In my opinion, they seem to be specially arranged here to find some kind of monster."

"If you're looking for a demon, you'll find a demon. You don't care how he arranges it." Wu Ting said nonchalantly, "Even if he dies, it's none of our business. Hurry up!"

Qin Ke shook his head, his words were rough and reasonable, sometimes, he didn't plan to think about things that he couldn't understand at all, as long as he left the palace with the silk book and got rid of these two, it would be a big deal. Ding'an City is far away, and the things here have nothing to do with him. Thinking of this, his steps are much faster.

Wei Xiu stood in the night, staring at the gloomy sky. Just now, the moonlight was only briefly revealed from the clouds for a short while, and soon, the thick clouds swallowed it in again. month, just a final struggle.

And in this palace, who is struggling?Is it Yang Taizhen?Or are they the courtiers who are always loyal to the lord?

He took a deep breath, knowing that he still had to trust that lord's arrangement at this time, if he didn't have full trust in that lord, he wouldn't agree to such an almost ridiculous strategy.

Even with [-] troops, the high walls of the inner palace still stand tall, and instead of storming the gates, divide the troops to control the palace?But if they couldn't knock the woman sitting on the high platform off the dust, even if their hands touched every part of the palace, what use would it be?

The nearest military camp to Ding'an City is only a few hundred miles away. If they march in a hurry, they will be able to return to Ding'an City in a few days. At that time, they will really be the turtles in the urn...

"General." At this time, the deputy general came over and whispered in his ear, "I found out..."

Hearing the voice of the lieutenant general, General Lu immediately stood upright, like an upright pine tree, and the hand holding the hilt of the sword was like a stone.

After listening to the lieutenant general's words, he shouted loudly like a thunderclap: "Team! Follow me to capture the demon and wipe out the rebels!"

Chapter 276 Ghost Fire

The official positions of the Tang State were first inherited from the Ji Dynasty, but after more than a hundred years of trials and hardships, and after several generations of rulers worked hard to implement the new policy, the current situation is already very different from the former dynasty that passed away.

Standing in front of the grand hall of the Taishi Bureau, Wei Xiu looked up at the plaque hanging outside the hall door. The incorruptible golden lacquer was written with four big characters "Watching the time and telling the time", which still looked very clear even in the dark , This hall, once known as Qin Tianjian, stands tall like a majestic mountain in the palace, and it also looks like a deep elder, staring at the thick clouds without saying a word.

The search for other places is just in case, but this hall for stargazing is what they need to focus on.

Just in front of the main hall, a hundred imperial guards held their long swords out of their sheaths, vigilantly passed through the wide open door, watching the seemingly infinite darkness inside the hall, but no one stepped forward, as if they were afraid, as if there was something inside. There is a terrifying beast lurking, which will pounce out at any time and devour them.

"What's going on?" Wei Xiu got the news, and quickly brought his people here. Looking at the leading sergeant, he asked in a low voice, "What are those scorched charcoal ash on the steps...?"

When the leading brigade commander saw General Wei arriving with his men in person, a big stone fell to his heart, but his eyes were still full of lingering shadows, and he said intermittently: "According to your order, General, I have arranged The five brothers went to search first, but just as they pushed open the door of the main hall, they suddenly caught fire... Everything seemed to last for a few seconds, and we didn't even have time to rush up to save them. In a blink of an eye...they were already It was burnt to that... look..."

Wei Xiu's eyes were fixed, and he looked at the dark marks on the steps in disbelief, and pointed, "You mean...these lumps are...people?"

As the breeze blew, the black coal ash scattered and floated in all directions, turning into black snow in the wind. He stood there for a long time without saying a word, and the movement of pointing his fingers also stagnated.

And Qin Ke, who was hiding in the queue, was also a little shocked. Just now he and Lupu and the others planned to take advantage of the chaos and leave, but they couldn't escape after saying that they were in the whole team, which aroused suspicion. They could only listen to the slogan Gather in this team.

Relying on the wind-sighting technique, he heard the conversation between the two clearly, and he was secretly stunned. What kind of flame could burn people into such ashes in an instant?I'm afraid there are no bones left?

After a while, Wei Xiu came back to his senses, narrowed his eyes slightly, and said to the brigade commander next to him, "You pick two teams of brothers and let them go up and try again."

The brigade commander nodded, but he was still a little embarrassed and said: "The situation just now was too terrible. I'm afraid these brothers are not willing to go. I promised to double the pension before, but after all..."

He didn't continue, but both of them knew that with their current behavior, they didn't even know if they could survive tonight. Even if they promised to give a hundred times the compensation, who would dare to believe it?

"Then pick from my queue." Wei Xiu turned around, looked at the five hundred imperial guards behind him, and said, "Wind Character Brigade, the first and second teams come out!"

After all, it is Tang's forbidden army that has undergone many years of training. Although the military discipline has been somewhat lax due to the fact that it has not experienced war for a long time, the killing tonight is enough to make this army bloody again. Ten imperial guards stood up at the same time and approached the front.

Qin Ke, Lu Pu, and Wu Ting looked at each other with very ugly faces, and they didn't dare to stop, so they could only follow the queue and walk out.

"Listen to my password and go to the Taishi Bureau to search and arrest. If there are casualties, after tonight, the army will give five times the compensation to your family!"

There must be a brave man under the heavy reward, not to mention that what this group of people did tonight has already been labeled as "rebellious". A stable living allowance for the family... The two teams immediately responded loudly: "I am willing to die for the general!"

However, Qin Ke, Lu Pu, and Wu Ting didn't know what to say. They were not from the Tang Dynasty, and they were not in the mood to rebel or be on the side of the "Qing Emperor", but what could they do at this moment?Could it be that I shouted loudly that I sneaked into the palace, and I will work for you only when I am full?

Then they would not die in the weird fire, but would be chased by these hundreds of chaotic knives at the gate of this hall immediately.

It's just that Qin Ke's face was even more ugly. Among the three, he was the only one who heard the conversation between General Wei and the brigade commander by using the technique of wind vision.

Burned to death by pushing the door?Or a way to die in frustration?

Then rush up by yourself, to enter or not to enter?

"What's wrong with you?" Lu Pu frowned, he felt something was wrong with Qin Ke.

"It's better that you don't know." Qin Ke's face turned pale, holding the hilt in his hand, the queue moved forward, and he had no choice but to follow.

The Taishi Bureau was still dead silent, and this atmosphere made Qin Ke more and more creepy. He even felt that his whole body was on fire, and the sky should not be screaming. He shrank his head and took a deep breath.

There were hundreds of archers in the imperial army. At this moment, the bowstrings were drawn at the same time. Their arms were as hard as iron stones, and their legs seemed to forcefully step on a hole in the ground. The arrows hanging on the strings flickered in the firelight, but Not very eager, but with a chill of death.

Undoubtedly, once the situation changed, they would release their fingers without hesitation under the command of the commander, and let those deadly feather arrows shoot at their enemies, or... their comrades.

Qin Ke knew that he couldn't retreat now, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and follow the crowd to draw out the long sword. The blood was still sticking to the sword, but after being put in the scabbard for a while, it had already started to coagulate, with a disgusting fishy smell.

"Enter!"

Almost at this sound, the two teams rushed forward almost in no particular order!

Amidst the sergeant's hissing roar, the ghosts behind the gate of the Taishi Bureau seemed to be afraid at this moment, and just after the No. 1 forbidden army crossed the high threshold, the two teams actually filed in.

There is no fire, and there is only darkness in the hall.

Everyone was a little dazed for a moment, and the long sword in their hands, which was already ready to strike, didn't know where to cut for a moment.

Compared with Qin Ke, the guards around did not know that the two black balls on the ground were charcoal burned by people. When accepting the task, they only thought that there were people guarding the gate in the Taishi Bureau and it was difficult to enter, so they needed them as Attacking team.

But the shadow of sword, light and arrow, which they had expected, did not come, and they could not even see a ghost, which made them feel at a loss for a while. They looked at each other, but did not How to proceed next.

Seeing the situation in front of him, Wei Xiu frowned for a while, and looked at the brigade commander just now.

And the brigade commander was a little dazed by General Wei's stare, with sweat dripping down his forehead, he hurriedly swore and swore: "This subordinate never lied to the general. When it catches fire, it turns into coke in a few breaths!"

Wei Xiu nodded, and continued to look into the hall: "I didn't say you lied to me, it's just that now...something seems to have changed in the Taishi Bureau."

"Perhaps, the warlock who hid in it and killed people with demon methods exhausted his strength?" The brigade commander had an idea and asked tentatively.

"It may not be impossible." Wei Xiu didn't care about this, "Monster magic? Don't mention this kind of nonsense in the future. The person in it is just a spiritual practitioner, and it's not enough to know some special magic skills handed down by the Mohist school." It’s strange, but it’s still a person after all, and a person...is not invincible.”

"Yes yes yes..." He also knew that his words would cause panic to his subordinates, so he nodded quickly in response.

After entering the gate, the mission of Qin Ke's two teams is naturally impossible to be as simple as "rushing into the gate". So far as the "monster" of that approach.

Qin Ke looked at the darkness that was getting thicker and thicker, and felt in his heart that there might be a glimmer of hope to escape secretly. When he went to see Lupu and Wuting again, it seemed that even their figures became a little blurred. Under such circumstances , Thinking that they could not protect themselves, he clenched the saber tightly in his hand, and walked with the team into the unfathomable darkness.

Chapter 277 "The Armillary Sphere"

"Old donkey, you take your men to the left, and I will take mine to the right. If there is anything wrong, please call."

"Okay. Be careful too."

"know."

The two teams were exchanging a few words with each other, and then they led people in different directions.

I don't know if it's a coincidence, but Lupu happened to be in the other team. To divide the troops, naturally they had to separate.

Lu Pu glanced at Qin Ke unwillingly, and for a moment he thought that he would call Wu Ting to kill these people in the dark, and then try to control Qin Ke, but after careful consideration, he felt that it was not appropriate, after all, as long as The two of them showed a change, and the two teams would rush forward, but how could Qin Ke, a kid who was more slippery than a loach, miss such a good opportunity to get away? I am afraid that only he and Wu Ting would be in a hard fight, and that kid would be You can escape leisurely in darkness.

Seeing that Qin Ke followed the team in a decent manner, Lu Pu thought that he probably hadn't found a good time to escape, so he hurried forward and patted Wu Ting on the shoulder, signaling him to take good care of Qin Ke. There was nothing wrong with this move. Sure, the two teams usually have a deep friendship, and several other people did the same action with him, so he nodded, turned around and disappeared into the darkness on the other side along with the team.

And the team called the old donkey just yawned, and led Qin Ke and others all the way to the left.

The lit torches dispelled the darkness nearby, brought some warmth to people, and dispelled their fear of the unknown future. Qin Ke was slightly relieved, feeling that the gloomy air in the hall eased a lot. The team gradually moved forward, and as several sergeants found the candlestick tactfully, the lit candles reflected the entire hall more clearly.

"What's that?" Qin Ke raised his head slightly, looking at the huge monster that showed a corner in the darkness but was already scary enough, he almost forgot to breathe for a moment.

In front of him was a sphere that was two or three feet high, with unicorns and auspicious beasts jumping up from the four corners to hold it, like stars supporting the moon.

At first, Qin Ke thought it was an armillary sphere used to measure the time of day, but he felt that it was a little different from what was depicted in the book.

At least, the structure of the armillary sphere in the book is not so complicated. At first glance, I don't know what material it is made of. It looks like it is covered with bronze or gilt, but it has a faint sense of illusion. .

There are countless gears connecting the entire sphere, and they overlap one by one, like staggered canine teeth. Under the "armillary sphere", the one stepped on by the unicorns is a disc, showing a grid. Each grid is marked with small characters one after another.

Even in the dark, these small characters exude a faint light. Qin Ke read it several times, but found that he couldn't understand it at all. Rather than saying that these are words, it is better to say that these are more obscure than Taoist ghost symbols. Perhaps It can't be called words, but some meaningful symbols, right?

However, these "symbols" carried a heavy and majestic aura, just like... the kind of aura that His Excellency Shenlong once exuded...

It's just that compared to Your Excellency Shenlong, the aura above this text is simply insignificant, but for some reason, Qin Ke thought of His Excellency Shenlong immediately.

Qin Ke looked around, and happened to meet Wu Ting's direct gaze, and frowned: "Why?"

"Looking at you, who knows when you will run away." Wu Ting stared at him fiercely, and said as it should.

"When is it, do you still have time to chat?" The old donkey stopped in his tracks. In the darkness, except for the sound of footsteps and the crackling of flames, there was no other sound, even a needle could be heard falling. Not too much, naturally the short conversation between Wu Ting and Qin Ke also fell into his ears.

The old donkey turned his head and said dissatisfiedly to the sergeant: "Keep your eyes open, the demon must be hiding here!"

The crowd responded in unison.

And the old donkey, holding a torch, walked slowly along the queue step by step, looking at his team of ten, he tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword.

Although it is said that the imperial army has not experienced war experience for a long time, it is the main force defending the palace of the Tang Dynasty after all, and it is not included in the "farming system". The first generation were all military officers, and their ranks were more clearly defined than the loosely organized border troops of the Tang State.

It's just that the incident tonight was a bit sudden, so he and another team leader can only be assigned to ten people. Although he still maintains the title of "team leader", according to Tang Guo's 50-man team regulation, this The number of subordinates seemed to be very withered.

The team was looking at the row of ten people, feeling a little uncomfortable.

This is not a team leader, but a little fire leader... He thought to himself, but then quickly slapped himself, what time is it, and he is still thinking about these things, if the incident fails, Whether he can see the sun tomorrow is still unknown.

But when his eyes fell on Qin Ke, some doubts arose immediately, and there was a hint of scrutiny in his eyes: "What's your name? Why haven't I seen you before?"

Qin Ke was a little flustered, coughed, turned his head slightly to one side, and said softly: "This subordinate just joined the Forbidden Army not long ago..."

"Just joined the Forbidden Army?" The old donkey thought for a while, had the Forbidden Army had any new blood in recent years?But soon he let out another oh, after all the chaos tonight was so chaotic, probably the private soldiers of those families were forcibly incorporated into the forbidden army, right?

Nodding his head, he stopped pursuing it.

Only then did Qin Ke heave a sigh of relief. He didn't know that his short answer had made him walk around the edge of exposure, but he also immediately understood that he was still in danger now, and he didn't dare to speak out easily. , began to cheer up, and even really "brightened" his eyes as the team said, to watch the huge and weird "armillary sphere" in front of him.

In just a moment, he looked deeper and deeper, and became more and more fascinated. Those symbols seemed to fly in an instant, floating around in the air. He couldn't help reaching out to grab them, but as long as he touched them lightly with his fingers, It will shatter into countless dots, and after a flash of fire, it will condense again not far away, like a living thing.

And when they were fixed in the air in an orderly formation, Qin Ke finally uttered in a daze: "Agong... Labsu... Palagulu..."

He didn't know how he read these words. He even suspected that he was in a dream. Everything before was also a dream, a long dream.

Otherwise, how could his throat seem to have turned into an abyss at this moment, able to spit out languages ​​that humans can't utter?

His eyes were staring straight, his eyes were already blurred, and at this moment, in his armor, in the lapel of his clothes, his heart was beating more powerfully, with the blood being sent to all limbs and bones by the heart Every inch of blood vessel, a faint light slowly lit up on his chest.

He heard a voice suddenly sounded in the air, dull and decayed, but full of surprise and surprise: "Agong... Labsu... I have been waiting here for so many years, I never thought that the rest of my life... would still be able to see the gods child."

Qin Ke couldn't find where the sound came from, but soon, his eardrums were enveloped by the huge sound, right in front of his eyes, or in front of everyone's eyes, the huge "armillary sphere" suddenly started to operate , the gears rotated Gordon Gordon, and the sphere also rotated. Before Qin Ke could react, the characters floating in the air had disappeared one by one, and even the characters and symbols in the grid had turned and disappeared in the darkness. Leave no trace.

But Qin Ke has no time to take care of these, in front of his eyes, in the rotation of the "armillary sphere", the bright and dazzling light pierces on the top of the hall, and the dots of light spots are quickly intertwined into an image, Like the vast sea of ​​stars in the sky...

Everyone didn't know what happened, Wu Ting couldn't help throwing away the long sword in his hand, and replaced it with the hatchet he used conveniently at his waist, and the old donkey stared at " Armillary sphere," said nothing.

"When he stepped on a barren land, there was no wind in the distance, there was light illuminating his shoes, the sun and the moon crawled under his feet, he chopped everything... including himself."

The dull voice sounded again, and everyone realized that not far in front of them, just below the armillary sphere, the statue of the old monk sitting cross-legged had changed...

"It's a man!" Someone yelled in surprise, staring at the "statue" and slowly stood up. His tall figure was like a towering mountain, and the light from the "armillary sphere" illuminated him Wrinkled cheeks and a black cloak draped over his shoulders made him look solemn.

"Monster!" The old donkey pulled out his sword almost immediately. He could be sure that he had just touched this statue immersed in the darkness. Cold stone!

However it was too late.

When he yelled, he already found an inexplicable flame floating in front of him. The flame was very small, very pale, and so weak that it seemed to be blown away by the wind.