A bright-headed watchman dragged his heavy steps slowly through the deserted streets.
After a while, the sound of iron clothes and shields clashing was heard again, and a night patrol team of fifty people, carrying torches, passed by the stone road in front of the Taishi's Mansion.
Yan Yun jumped out of the alley, crossed the street quickly, and entered the forest.
Except for the inner city where the king lived, Yan Yun was very familiar with every corner of the royal city. This time he was sneaking around in the dark, and for the first time he noticed something that he usually turned a blind eye to.
Throughout the royal city, it seems that the residences of first- and second-grade officials are very particular. In the Feng Shui pattern, they are arranged to face south, backed by green mountains, and facing clear water in front. This also includes the residence of General Wuwei.
The same was true for the Grand Master's Mansion. The mountains and forests behind the mansion provided Yan Yun with good cover, and he reached the commanding heights of the mountains and forests without much effort.
When he overlooked the entire Taishi Mansion from the back mountain, he discovered a very strange scene.
The first half of the courtyard of Taishi's Mansion facing the street is brightly lit, and from a distance, it looks like a festival. In the second half of each courtyard, there is only a pole standing in the middle of the floor, and a dead wind lantern hanging on the top of the pole. It looks like
It was so dark that it seemed to blend into the night.
Yan Yun observed it for a while, then followed the encircling mountain all the way forward and arrived outside the high wall of the seventh entrance of the Taishi Mansion.
According to the information given by Di You, Taishi Pang Yu lives in the fifth courtyard, and his family and servants can come and go. There must not be many secrets to be found. The focus is on the courtyards from the sixth to the ninth.
But in the sixth and ninth courtyards, there are people waiting in one facing the Grand Master's Mansion and one facing the mountain. They must all be guarded.
Then, the secret center of all the Taishi Mansion is in the seventh and eighth courtyards.
Between the high wall and the mountain forest, there is a manually cut isolation belt, which is about nine feet wide. There is no big tree, only some low shrubs growing there to prevent outsiders from climbing over.
This distance did not faze Yan Yun. He took off the iron-armed bow from his back and tied a long vine to the end of the cloud-piercing arrow. Taking advantage of the mountain wind to blow the frozen woods, the moment there was a rattling sound, he fired an arrow.
Shot into the thick trunk of a large tree.
He grabbed the long vine to test its strength, then held the gun in one hand and the vine with the other, just like swinging, and stood firmly on the top of the high wall.
The Grand Master's Mansion is even more luxurious than General Wuwei's Mansion. Every time you enter the courtyard, it is composed of more than ten large and small buildings. The main house is in the middle, and the nearby buildings are guarding the central main house.
Yan Yun crouched down on the high wall and observed for a while. The entire courtyard was quiet, not a single sound of human beings could be heard.
This kind of silence is very breathtaking, as if there is a huge beast at the bottom of the quiet lake, waiting for people and animals to approach.
The pair of starry eyes under Yan Yun's sword-shaped brows were shining brightly, and he scanned every building under his eyes one by one, but found nothing.
He took a long breath, channeled the inner energy in his Dantian, jumped off the high wall, rolled down when he landed, and took cover behind a wing next to the wall.
The windows of the wing were all closed, and it was dark inside.
Yan Yun suddenly discovered something strange, a light on the ground!
He had long noticed the lantern on the floor in front of the main house in the courtyard. It was hung very high, swaying in the wind, and the light was dim. It seemed to have no purpose.
Only then did he realize that this lamp was very special!
According to common sense, the light of a small lamp cannot be projected too far. The brightness starts from the center and gradually weakens. The coverage is limited to the vicinity of the steps of the main house at most.
But such a large courtyard was almost completely covered by the dim light of this lamp!
The ground leading from the surrounding wing rooms to the main house is dim yellow except for the shadows left by the houses.
Yan Yun gently placed the spear by the wall, took out the Iron Arm Bow, and simultaneously took out a Cloud Piercer from the quiver on his back, aiming at the light in the sky where the two arrows were.
He didn't notice that in just a moment, his shadow exposed to the light split from one into two.
At this time, he suddenly heard a sound on the tile surface.
He quickly squatted down, retracted his body, pressed his back against the back wall of the wing, and looked up intently.
"Meow meow……"
But a civet cat was coming down from the roof.
This cat was raised by an unknown wealthy family. It was not afraid of people. When it saw Yan Yun, it first circled around him, and then rubbed against his legs very affectionately.
Yan Yun had no choice but to watch it act coquettishly in front of him.
Seeing that Yan Yun ignored it, the civet cat gave a disappointed cry, turned around and walked towards the brick paved floor illuminated by the dim light.
The civet cat walked lightly and silently, but as it walked, one shadow turned into two, and soon turned into three, side by side, walking along with the cat's steps.
At this time, a thick mist floated out from the high-hanging lantern, and in just a flash, it reached three feet above the head of the civet cat.
The three shadows of the civet cat disappeared immediately. Without even barking, they kicked off their legs and fell to the ground.
The shadow appeared again, this time there was only one, corresponding to the body of the civet cat.
The thick mist disappeared as well, as if it had never appeared.
Yan Yun saw all this clearly in the dark. His left eyelid twitched wildly and sweat broke out on his temples. Fortunately, he was careful enough and didn't rush straight from the wing to the main room. Otherwise, he and the civet cat would be in danger.
The outcome is no different!
At the same time, he thought about the cat's shadow. Was it the same when he was exposed to the light before?
Fortunately, the cat appeared just in time, causing him to retreat hastily. If he had been exposed to the light for longer, the consequences would have been disastrous.
As he thought this way, his heart could not help but beat wildly.
This seemingly unguarded seventh entry into the Grand Master's compound was actually more dangerous than when he led his team into the East Wolf King's Central Army tent at night!
That lantern must be removed somehow!
However, the method used cannot be simply for shooting down. The moment the lantern hits the ground, other unpredictable consequences may occur.
The civet cat appeared at just the right time, providing Yan Yun with a good reference. Three shadows represent death. He must deal with the lantern when two shadows appear under his feet.
He took out another cloud-penetrating arrow from the quiver, strung one arrow, placed the other arrow on the bow stand and held it with his left hand, exerted force on both arms, and after the string was full, he quickly stood in the light.
A shadow suddenly appeared under his feet. When the second shadow appeared, he released the three fingers of his right hand that were holding the arrow feathers tightly.
歘!
The cloud-piercing arrow went straight to the string hanging the lantern on the high pole like a meteor. The moment the arrow sank into the pole, the string was cut off and the lantern suddenly fell!
Then the second cloud-penetrating arrow arrived, breaking half of the string, and the remaining half was nailed to the pole along with the lantern. The lantern only swayed slightly, not even as big as the previous strong wind.
Comparing the previous hanging height of the lantern, it dropped by about a foot. However, within this one foot distance, the distance covered by the lantern's light in front of the side room where Yan Yun was hiding and the main house was shortened by half.
