Chapter 182 – Prison Breakout
The green-robed man looked at the portion of the door that had been broken off. His face could not help but change. However, he immediately shook his head and muttered to himself, “I had originally thought that Censor Chen would be doomed since he didn’t have anyone behind him. However, looking at things now, that doesn’t seem like the case. Ah Fu, go close the door. I will not be receiving any guests for the next half month.”
TL: Ah Fu is the name of the servant
“Yes, master!” The servant lowered his head as he replied.
The green-robed man left satisfied.
……..
In the time it took to eat a meal, Liu Ming appeared before a rice shop at the end of an alley. He raised his head to look at the plaque of the shop and to gauge the weather before entering without hesitation.
When he left the shop, he had now gained the knowledge of where the Chen family was renting their house at.
A small while later, Liu Ming stopped in front of a house that was quite beat down. He went up to knock without hesitation.
Moments later, the door opened and from within walked out an old man in a gray cloth robe.
“Who are you?” When the old man saw that he didn’t recognize Liu Ming, he immediately showed signs of caution as he asked.
“Is the family of Censor Chen within?” Liu Ming asked without changing his expression.
“What Censor Chen or Censor Li? You have found the wrong place. I don’t know.” The old man’s face darkened when he heard this and he closed the door without hesitation. He actually wanted to close the door on Liu Ming’s face!
However, Liu Ming was not an ordinary person, and with a flash, he used his body to stop the old man’s actions.
Seeing this, the old man became enraged, and with a sweep of his arm, he furiously punched Liu Ming’s shoulder. One could hear a “hu hu” sound from the punch, and one could see that it made a commotion, so the power behind the punch was not bad.
However, Liu Ming gave a slight smile and didn’t try to dodge the old man’s fist.
In the end, there was only a muffled sound as the old man felt his fist shake. A surge of power emanated out of the scholar as the old man’s body trembled. The old man actually had to back up a couple of steps involuntarily.
At this moment, Liu Ming moved his body into the house. With a sweep of his gaze, he saw a middle-aged woman that had a pretty face hugging a small boy who was five or six years old.
This woman was definitely Lady Chen without question.
Liu Ming realized this with a turn of his mind.
“Thief, how dare you!?” The cloth-robed man finally regained his footing, and he became enraged when he saw Liu Ming’s actions. With a yell, he suddenly grabbed the pitch-black steel rod next to him and seemed to be ready to risk his life.
“Uncle Lin, please wait. First hear what he has to say.” Just at this time, the pretty lady suddenly opened her mouth.
When the old man heard this, he hesitated for a second before stopping with reluctance. However, he still held the steel rod as he stood before the lady.
Liu Ming gave a smile as he took out an emerald-green jade slip and showed it to the lady.
“This is… Uncle Lin, can you bring that item over here and let me closely examine it.” When Lady Chen saw the jade slip clearly, her expression immediately became agitated as she quickly spoke out with a trembling voice.
When the old man heard this, he felt slightly strange, but regardless, he obeyed orders and took the jade slip from Liu Ming. Turning around, he handed it to the lady.
Lady Chen looked at the jade slip for a couple of times before taking out another emerald jade slit. Placing the two together, she saw that the two were an exact match of each other.
“Hello immortal. I hope that immortal sir can save my husband. Bao Er, quickly kowtow to the immortal sir.” Lady Chen had no other worries as she quickly pulled her son down to kneel with her. In addition, she started having the boy kowtow to Liu Ming.
Liu Ming first paused before shaking his head and waving his sleeve. Immediately, an invisible force shot out while he emotionlessly said, “First stand up before talking. I am no immortal. I have only come here at the request of someone else. As long as it’s within my abilities, I will try to accomplish it and help the Chen family. You can call me Mister Qian.”
“Yes, Mister Qian.” The lady felt a lifting force before her and could not stay low anymore. With surprise and happiness in her heart, she became more respectful as she replied and pulled up the young boy.
When Uncle Lin saw this, he realized that Liu Ming was a friend and not a foe. Quickly, he threw away the rod in his hands and stood to the side awkwardly without knowing what to say.
“Since the token is not wrong, lady should have no doubt about my identity. However, I would like to know how Censor Chen mentioned me.” Liu Ming made a sign for Uncle Lin to close the door as he began asking for some information.
“Before my husband was incarcerated, he seemed to have guessed that he would be accused. Thus, he gave this jade slip to me ahead of time. He told me that if something really happened to him, there would be an Immortal Lei that his ancestor knew who would save the Chen House.” Lady Chen said easily.
“Yes, your husband is correct. The Immortal Lei that he is talking about is my Martial Uncle. Can you talk about why Censor Chen was incarcerated?” Liu Ming nodded and displayed a serious expression as he asked a question.
“Yes, Mister Qian. The course of events happened like this — my husband gave some words to the emperor as the censor…” Lady Chen became serious as she started to recount the events leading up to the arrest.
Liu Ming listened with rapt attention as a thoughtful expression remained on his face.
“… like this, three months ago, a bunch of detectives suddenly barged in and arrested my husband. After another two months, we were kicked out of the Chen House. These days, if it weren’t for Uncle Lin helping us, my son and I might not have even gotten this temporary residence.” Lady Chen finally finished the last sentence of her story with her face full of sadness and pain.
After hearing everything, Liu Ming stroked his chin. He waited for a moment before slowly saying, “If that’s the case, your husband gave his recommendation that the Government Guests would have their pay reduced. After that was declined, he was politically attacked by his opponents to the point where he lost his position and was also arrested.”
“Yes, Mister Qian! That’s how it was.” Lady Chen quickly replied.
“Hehe, how should I talk about what Censor Chen did? To have the balls to actually recommend such a thing. He wasn’t attacked by opponents but rather the whole of the Government Guests. With their influence, wouldn’t it be simple to take down a mere censor.” Liu Ming laughed as he spoke.
“But, from what I heard from my husband, before he gave his recommendation, he had asked the emperor on his opinion and the emperor implicitly agreed. However, for some reason, in the end, my husband offended the entire government.” Lady Chen sighed as she replied.
“It isn’t that simple. With the number of government guests, even the imperial family wouldn’t dare to truly offend them. The real result of Censor Chen was for him to take the blame.” Liu Ming sneered as he spoke.
“I’m not too sure about the matters of the government. Maybe that is so. Is there a way to save my husband?” Lady Chen gave a bitter smile before she asked with some hope.
“This will depend on how Lady Chen wants to solve things. If it’s only getting Censor Chen out, it is a simple matter. However, if you want him to keep his old position and stay in Xuanjing, that won’t be too easy.” Liu Ming said with a light smile.
“As long as you can save my husband, it doesn’t matter if he stays an official, fearful every day. As for staying in Xuanjing, that’s something even less important. As long as our family is together, we can find a small place to live the rest of our lives.” When Lady Chen heard this, she spoke without any hesitation.
“Alright, if lady thinks like that, then everything will be easy. Can you describe the appearance of Censor Chen? After that, go ahead and quickly organize things to leave Xuanjing. Wait for me about ten miles out of the west gate off the government path and on the morning of the second day, I will naturally bring your husband to meet with you. That’s right, tell me where they are holding your husband.” After Liu Ming heard, he replied calmly.
For Liu Ming, rescuing an incarcerated official from a mortal prison was a simple matter.
He had learned that there were special prisons in Xuanjing that specifically incarcerated practitioners to even Spirit Apostles. However, those prisons never held any mortals.
For prisons that were of that level, there probably were some special formations set up. If Liu Ming wanted to bust into them, it wouldn’t be easy.
If not for the fact that his position as the sect Supervising Disciple came with a lot of danger, all he had to do was simply give his Supervising Disciple Token to someone. He could easily take the inmate out of the prison without having to take any actions.
Lady Chen and Uncle Lin heard the hidden meaning behind Liu Ming’s words and were both shocked.
Lady Chen’s face changed quite a few times before gnashing her teeth and accepting the situation. After talking about the location of the prison, she then started describing the specific appearance of Censor Chen.
After hearing everything, Liu Ming felt that there were no other problems. With a movement of his arm, he took a leather pouch from his waist and immediately handed it over:
“Lady, you can first temporarily take this with you. After you leave Xuanjing, if you meet any trouble, you only need to pat the pouch three times with strength. It will save you from any trouble.”
Within the leather pouch was the Flying Head.
The Flying Head’s intelligence was much higher than the White Bone Scorpion and Liu Ming had already given it some instructions.
Even though Lady Chen did not know what was within that leather pouch, she knew that it was something useful from Liu Ming. Immediately, she gave her thanks as she took the leather pouch and carefully put it away.
In the remaining time, Liu Ming spoke a couple more words with Lady Cheng before silently leaving.
Liu Ming had no intention of returning to the Qian House. He instead went straight to the prison that Lady Chen had described.
…….
Once Lady Chen finished packing everything, she rented a carriage and had Uncle Lin brought them to Xuanjing’s west gate.
……..
During the midnight hour, a shadow silently passed by sentry after sentry in a building that was extremely guarded. The shadow slowly made his way to the center of the building.
Suddenly, the shadow paused in front of seven to eight guards that had blades sheathed on their waists. Beyond these guards was a thick steel door and besides a small barred window, there were no other openings.
The sleeve of the shadow moved as several silver streaks flashed out. The fleeting sparks buried themselves into the guards.