Gao Da's luck was bad, one might even say very bad.

He knew that an officer had sneaked away from the noodle stall earlier, but he didn't care. In his experience, officers were usually cowards, and he judged that a mere prefecture couldn't possibly hold anyone of great importance. He and the mute woman had reacted quickly enough, too, returning to their house, grabbing their child, and heading for the city gate before the authorities could possibly react.

However, when he was about half a *li* from the city gate, he heard the heavy sound of the gate closing, as well as chaotic shouts and urgent commands. Gao Da stared, his eyes wide, at the distant city gate, watching the growing number of officers gathered there. He felt a chill in his heart, shocked and surprised.

He turned to look at the woman beside him. Their earlier actions had been too hurried, and beads of sweat dotted her temples. Her cheeks were flushed, and her clear eyes were filled with fear and unease.

Gao Da patted her hand and said softly, "Don't be afraid, I'm here."

The mute woman parted her lips slightly and nodded. But in her heart, she thought of how her husband had killed an officer, making him an enemy of the imperial court. She feared that her family of three would never survive this. A bitter expression rose in her heart, seeping into her eyes, making her look particularly sorrowful.

The city gate seemed to have received orders from somewhere, and they focused solely on closing the gate without expanding the search area, which gave Gao Da some time to react. He frowned, held his child tighter, took the mute woman's hand, and walked towards the residential area behind them. Before long, they disappeared into Dazhou City.

...

...

The reason why Gao Da's luck was said to be terrible was because a member of the Ministry of Justice's special task force had chosen Dazhou as their meeting point. Coincidentally, this task force was sent by He Zongwei, the Grand Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior, and they were investigating... precisely the Tiger Guard Gao Da who might have escaped from Mount Dong.

He Zongwei had maintained calm in Kyoto these past few months, knowing that his power, connections, and the Emperor's favor were not enough to shake Fan Xian's position. So, he had been secretly pursuing that matter.

He wanted to find a breakthrough through Wang Qinian or Gao Da. However, after months of investigation, Wang Qinian of the Overwatch Council remained a complete mystery. Even though Old Wang was clearly hiding with his family, the task force couldn't find any openings. On the other hand, with the strong pressure and support exerted by He Zongwei, the Ministry of Justice officials started their investigation from the smallest details at the foot of Mount Dong, and vaguely touched upon Gao Da's escape route. They eventually narrowed down the possible hiding locations to seven prefectural cities south of the Dongshan Road and north of the Jiangbei Road.

Dazhou was one of them.

In the vast sea of people, finding a master whom everyone believed to be dead was extremely difficult. Moreover, this matter couldn't be handled with a wanted notice, so the masters of the Ministry of Justice's Thirteen Departments had been searching in these seven prefectural cities and the surrounding countryside for the past half-year, to no avail.

In addition to the masters of the Ministry of Justice's Thirteen Departments, several masters from the Inner Court were also dispatched here by He Zongwei. Although the Qing Emperor had entrusted this force to He Zongwei solely for his personal safety, He Zongwei had bet all his chips on Wang Qinian and Gao Da, so he sent them all.

Watching Dongyi get pacified, watching Fan Xian about to return, yet He Zongwei still hadn't heard any good news from his subordinates, so he started to get anxious. Although he still showed a calm and gentle face in front of his subordinates, he began to exert tremendous pressure in his private commands.

The masters of the Ministry of Justice's Thirteen Departments were driven to the brink of madness by this pressure. Their gathering in Dazhou this time was to exchange information, hoping to find the disappeared Tiger Guard.

Just at this moment, the officers who had been sent to the city to check the household registrations by them were slacking off, and they entered a noodle stall, where the owner rose up and killed people.

The officer who had slipped away didn't have time to return to the Dazhou Prefectural Office, but first saw these incredibly gloomy and unreachable Thirteen Departments adults.

In addition to being horrified, this officer reported what happened in the noodle stall earlier to these adults from Kyoto. And these Ministry of Justice officials, who were about to go crazy from He Zongwei's pressure, heard a buzzing sound in their heads. Although they couldn't be sure who the noodle stall owner was, the very sensitive intuition and powerful execution ability of criminal investigation officials made them, in the first instance, overstep the jurisdiction of the Dazhou Prefectural Office and directly issue an order to close the city gate.

Gao Da and his family of three were trapped in Dazhou City.

...

...

After a night of lights, the officials of the Ministry of Justice had determined the identity of the noodle stall owner. Whether it was the chopsticks broken into two sections, or the officer's wound in the noodle stall, which separated his head from his body, they could explain the person's exquisite knife skills and fierce moves. How could a master of this realm hide in a small city selling noodles? There must be something fishy.

The officials of the Thirteen Departments were very nervous. Torches were lit everywhere in the noodle stall, illuminating everything inside. They thought in their hearts, after working hard for more than a year, they should have finally found the person, right? The red light shone on the faces of all the Ministry of Justice officials. They stared nervously and excitedly at the Inner Court master in the noodle stall, hoping to get his final confirmation.

The Inner Court master, with his pale face, gently pressed the broken end of the chopsticks with his finger pad, and after a long silence, nodded.

The officials of the Ministry of Justice looked at each other, and could not help but see the joy in each other's eyes. In order to investigate this non-existent imperial criminal, they had endured too much pressure from He Zongwei, and it was originally a groundless matter. They had been running around in the seven major routes of Qing for a whole year before finally putting the target near Dazhou. They did not expect their luck to be so good, and the target jumped out so quickly.

The Inner Court master was directly under He Zongwei's command, but he had been floating in the palace for many years. He didn't know why He Zongwei wanted to investigate this matter, but he only knew that the escaped noodle stall owner was probably the only remaining Tiger Guard in the world. A trace of worry flashed across his old face. He didn't know what kind of danger was hidden behind this matter.

The old people in the palace knew that the Tiger Guards were fierce men trained by Fan Shangshu (Fan Xian's father), and His Majesty used the Mount Dong affair to cut off all of Fan Shangshu's strong wings. How could there still be one left in Dazhou?

The Inner Court master's eyes suddenly shone brightly. He secretly wondered if He Zongwei had received a secret decree from His Majesty, so he was searching for this person all over the world tirelessly? But what about Lord Fan? If Lord Fan knew about this person's survival, what would be the consequences?

However, these were all things that big shots needed to consider. They were just subjects, subordinates. They acted according to orders. Since it was an imperial criminal who deserted during battle, he must be caught. The Inner Court master looked at the joyful eyes of the Ministry of Justice officials, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart, secretly thinking that these officials probably didn't know the horror of the Tiger Guard.

Especially a Tiger Guard who had actually learned to desert during battle.

...

...

The city was sealed for a whole day and night. The Dazhou Prefect also knew about this matter. Although he was also very angry that a troublemaker dared to kill his own officer, compared with the major event of sealing the city, he was even more inexplicably angry. These adults from the Thirteen Departments of the Ministry of Justice actually dared to interfere with local government affairs. Did they not understand that once the city was sealed, it would be difficult for the people in Dazhou City to live?

However, when the Thirteen Departments of the Ministry of Justice showed the secret order from the Ministry of the Interior and the identity of the Inner Court master to this Prefect, the Prefect immediately became as silent as a quail. He knew that the noodle stall owner was not only an imperial criminal, but probably also had some very terrible background, which would attract so many people from Kyoto to catch him.

The Dazhou Prefect immediately expressed his attitude, and mobilized all the officers and officers in the Prefecture Office to cooperate with the Ministry of Justice officials from Kyoto to carry out combing in the city. All the *lizheng* local principals and elders were also mobilized.

In a place like Qing, once the local government is fully mobilized, it is not difficult to find a few people in the city. Since that criminal had a wife and children, he always had to sleep, eat, and socialize with people.

The Ministry of Justice officials were very satisfied with the cooperation of Dazhou. They believed that it would take a maximum of two days to force the criminal out of the houses in Dazhou City.

Gao Da, who was hiding in the residences, had not eaten anything for a day and a night. He carefully concealed his tracks, only daring to risk stealing a few clothes and some food and water for the children. The Tiger Guards had never received escape training. However, after following Fan Xian for a few years, if Gao Da really hid himself, it might be difficult for anyone to find him.

However, as the government judged, he had a wife and children by his side, which was the most troublesome thing. The mute woman's spirit had been tortured to the point of being unable to bear it. Her big eyes were full of sadness.

Two days. Gao Da knew that if the government wanted to find the three of them, it would take a maximum of two days. After thinking about it for a long time, he decided to take the initiative to break out.

The time to break out was chosen at dusk, the time when people are most likely to relax their spirits. This was still the first day after the murder at the noodle stall.

In the midst of a blood-red twilight, Gao Da, who had a cloth chain tied to his chest and the child tied to his chest, led his wife slowly towards the city gate.

He thought for a long time, but he couldn't think of a way to get his family over the high walls, so he had no choice but to choose a hard breakthrough.

He walked step by step towards the city gate. The soldiers and officers at the city gate were nervously staring at the people entering and leaving. Although the city was nominally sealed, the villagers who were responsible for carrying water and vegetables could still enter and leave the city, but the security here seemed extremely tight, even stricter than Kyoto.

Several officials from the Ministry of Justice in Kyoto were holding a portrait, and were checking everyone's appearance coldly and meticulously.

Closer and closer to the city gate, Gao Da felt that his hand was a little wet. It wasn't that he was nervous and sweating, but that it was his wife's hand. He turned to look at the mute woman and found that the mute woman's body was already trembling.

It seemed that he couldn't hide it from the sensitive Ministry of Justice officials at the city gate. Gao Da sighed in his heart. Of course, he had never thought of sneaking out.

The family of three stood in front of the city gate, in front of the Ministry of Justice officials, officers, and soldiers, only seven *zhang* away from the line to leave the city.

And outside the city gate, there was a donkey cart transporting green vegetables.

Gao Da's eyes were on that donkey cart.

"The city has been sealed, no entry or exit is allowed." A soldier said loudly to Gao Da. It was obvious that these three people could not be farmers from outside the city.

The masters of the Ministry of Justice's Thirteen Departments narrowed their eyes. They looked at the family so close at hand, and their pupils gradually shrank. The portrait in their hands was gradually lowered, and their hands slowly moved towards the hilt of the knife.

Too easy to recognize. They recognized at a glance that the person who came was the imperial criminal they had been chasing for a year!

The other party actually jumped out on his own and came to the city gate. Did they want to break out of the city gate like this!

The masters of the Ministry of Justice slowly walked out from various places, gradually surrounding the family of three in the center.

However, when this encirclement had not yet approached, Gao Da had already raised his face, calmly looked at the nearest master of the Ministry of Justice in front of him, there was no emotion in those eyes, only indifference.

"Surrender...!" The master of the Ministry of Justice suddenly felt a danger was coming, he shouted loudly, and at the same time drew out the saber at his waist.

"Surrender" could only say the first two words, and the last two words were extinguished by a splash of blood. In a flash of lightning, Gao Da took two quick steps forward, stretched out his hand like a dragon, and slashed directly at the master's wrist.

The master of the Ministry of Justice had no time to react at all, and could only retreat quickly, but when his wrist was still shaking in the air, it broke with a *kacha* sound.

Gao Da grabbed the saber, and waved it down with his back elbow, leaving a trail of blood and the body of a master of the Ministry of Justice who collapsed despondently.

He then retreated to the mute woman's side, coldly looking at the masters and soldiers of the Ministry of Justice who were killing him, without a trace of fear, without a trace of self-doubt, only strong confidence.

With a knife in hand, who can stop him?

The light of the saber arrayed, Gao Da held the knife, carried his wife and son, and rushed towards the city gate. There was no enemy in front of the knife. Every time the knife was released, someone would die, opening the way with blood and the sound of the wind. In a blink of an eye, he was about to break out of the city gate.

This was won by a word of courage, and in a blink of an eye, it shocked the minds of all the Ministry of Justice officials, making them unable to close the encirclement when they looked at that powerful figure.

Seven *zhang* was not far away, and that car was not far away either. Gao Da's body and face were stained with a lot of blood, and his hand was still tightly holding the mute woman, carefully protecting her, so the price he paid was a few more bloody mouths on his body.

The masters of the Thirteen Departments were really powerful, but how could they be as brave and terrible as Gao Da.

Gao Da shouted violently, like a blood dragon, breaking the joint attack of the three masters of the Ministry of Justice in front of him. The blade was broken into countless pieces, and he used these pieces to clear the way and rush out of the city.

At this moment, a palm was printed over, printed over in the twilight, printed over from the direction of that car, and patted on his face.

Gao Da groaned, sank to his waist, and punched straight out.

When the fists and palms collided, a cloud of smoke rose at the city gate.

When the wind and smoke fell, the master from the Inner Court looked at him blankly and said, "Gao Da, you are indeed not dead."

Gao Da's pupils shrank, and he pulled the mute woman behind him: "It's actually you, could it be that Eunuch Yao is here too?"