There is a god in the sky

Chapter 372 Joint Trial by the Three Judicial Offices 13

"There really are people in higher up. It seems they were prepared all along. What do we do now?"

They can't stay hidden in the woods forever, not knowing if there are traps ahead.

"We need to go up and scout ahead first." No sooner had Shen Lan finished speaking than Li Ye volunteered, "I'll go!"

Li Ye led three imperial guards to quietly climb the mountain.

The dense forest was relatively safe, with the trees providing cover.

However, the section of the road leading to the top of the mountain was a rocky path with only some weeds and not even a small sapling to provide shelter.

"Whoosh!" An arrow shot towards them.

Li Ye hoisted a large rock and placed it in front of him, instructing his companions, "You split into three groups and see if you can find a way up."

"Yes."

Li Ye drew fire from the very center, making every step extremely difficult.

Two of the other three quickly fell down, and the remaining one huddled under a rock, trembling, too afraid to go any further.

Shen Lan leaped out lightly, so fast that Sui Ying didn't even have time to stop her.

Just as he was about to follow, he heard Shen Lan's voice drifting on the wind, "Brother Suiying, lead men to launch a strong attack from the west!"

Suiying stopped and immediately led the Imperial Guards westward.

Shen Lan climbed the mountain quickly, and by the time the people on the summit spotted her, she was already quite a distance away.

Arrows rained down on her, and Li Ye's pressure immediately eased, allowing him to speed up as well.

Although fraught with danger, the path up the mountain is protected by large rocks that act as natural barriers. As long as they take cover in time, the enemy will be unable to do anything to them for the time being.

War drums sounded from halfway up the mountain, and the rain of arrows from above suddenly stopped.

Shen Lan tore off a piece of cloth to wrap around the abrasion on her arm. She saw a dense mass of moving figures below, indicating that the Marquis of Pingyang had brought the Imperial Guards to provide support.

Her signal hadn't been sent out yet, but the commotion here was quite loud; it must have been heard even by the villages down the mountain.

Suiying led his men in a fierce attack, each holding a thick piece of tree bark in front of them.

Looking back, I saw that all the trees in the dense forest thicker than my waist had been stripped of their bark.

Li Ye moved closer to Shen Lan, and the two of them moved forward alternately, one on the left and one on the right, one up and one down, and soon climbed to the top of the mountain.

The wind was strong on the mountaintop. Shen Lan sensed danger before she even opened her eyes. She rolled to the side and a knife slashed at the spot where she had just been lying.

Li Ye flipped over and jumped up, kicking the man who attacked Shen Lan away.

Shen Lan looked around and found that the platform on the mountaintop was actually quite large, and it looked like it had been artificially filled in.

A group of men in black were blocking the Imperial Guards from attacking from the west.

Shen Lan counted them briefly; the group numbered nearly a hundred.

Someone spotted the two of them and charged at them with a knife.

In a one-on-one fight, Li Ye is no less than any of them.

Shen Lan was slightly inferior in close combat, so she ran and maneuvered with her opponent until he was exhausted. Then she grabbed a handful of pepper powder and sprinkled it out.

"Cough cough... What is this... cough cough..."

Shen Lanruo approached him like a ghost, plunged a dagger into his chest, and covered her nose as she replied, "This is pepper powder, an essential spice for making soup. Haven't you ever tried it?"

The other person fell straight down.

Li Ye gripped his knife and charged into the ranks of the assassins, creating an opening for the Imperial Guards below.

Once the Imperial Guards arrived, the situation was completely under control.

Although the mountaintop was very large, there were still too many Imperial Guards. Seeing that she was surrounded by Imperial Guards, Shen Lan felt reassured and walked towards the back.

Someone grabbed her from behind and asked, "Lan'er, where are you going?"

"Go check the back; we still haven't found Tong Yiwen."

The fact that these suicide soldiers are waiting here indicates that their base is nearby.

They came up along the way, and there must have been no trace of anyone living there; that could only be on the other side.

However, according to everyone, the other side of the mountaintop is a cliff.

Shen Lan and Li Ye walked through the crowd toward the back. Ahead lay a beautiful sea of ​​clouds, while behind them raged a bloody battle.

They walked to the edge of the mountaintop and looked down, only to see a thick sea of ​​clouds; they couldn't see anything below.

But Shen Lan saw several ropes tied to the rocks.

The two exchanged a glance, grabbed the rope, and started climbing down.

After sliding down only a dozen meters, Shen Lan discovered a path carved into the mountainside.

They slid to the end of the rope and their feet touched solid ground.

This is a platform extending out from the cliff face, quite large in area, with two large trees growing along its edge.

With the lushness of these two trees, even without a sea of ​​clouds above, the platform would not be visible from above.

That's a great location.

"Look, there's a cave." Li Ye took the lead and walked towards the cave.

Seeing the messy footprints on the ground, Shen Lan was certain that the assassins above had climbed up from here.

"Be careful, we don't know how many people are still inside."

"We can hear the fighting up here, but no one has come out to help after all this time. There must be no one here."

Shen Lan thought it made sense.

Training suicide soldiers is not like stationing troops; it cannot be a large number.

Despite saying that, both of them subconsciously slowed their pace and focused intently on sensing their surroundings.

Just as Li Ye stepped into the cave, a powerful gust of air rushed towards him.

He pulled his foot back, spread his legs apart, focused his energy in his dantian, and withstood the surge of air in the most stable horse stance.

Shen Lan then moved to the side of the cave.

Li Ye blocked part of the airflow, but the rest struck a large tree so hard it was on the verge of collapse, demonstrating its power.

Shen Lan tugged at Li Ye's sleeve and whispered, "Let's go up first. The two of us are no match for them."

Li Ye shook his head, "You go up and call for help, I'll hold him off."

They all knew that the other side wouldn't stay here and not run unless they were absolutely certain of victory.

"Alright, let's go in and meet him first."

She felt that the two of them had a better chance of winning, and she was worried about letting Li Ye go in alone.

Oil lamps were lit on both sides of the cave, making it brightly lit. Apart from the airflow from before, there was only a gentle breeze now.

It seems the Tong family is quite experienced in digging tunnels.

The cave widened as you went deeper, and you could see scattered weapons and bare skeletons on the ground.

Shen Lan picked up a piece of leg bone and was quite certain that it was a human bone.

It's normal for people to die while training assassins, but what kind of person would leave the corpses lying around unattended and let them rot?

"I underestimated you; you actually managed to find your way here."

In the darkness, a familiar voice echoed in the cave.

The voice seemed to come from all directions, making it impossible to pinpoint the speaker's location.

Shen Lan was secretly amazed: Tong Yiwen's internal strength was the most profound she had ever seen, perfectly matching the demeanor of the number one martial arts master in martial arts novels.

She tossed aside the bone in her hand, gripped the dagger tightly, and asked, "Isn't Headmaster Tong worried about his family while hiding here?"

"Do you think I'm deaf and blind? I know everything that's happening in the city."

Clearly, he knew that the Tong family members were still safely imprisoned in the imperial prison.

"Then you must also know that the assassins above have all been wiped out by the Imperial Guards."

"As expected, I never expected to rebel with just a few people."