The pastries naturally contained the expertly prepared, home-essential, and indispensable-for-this-northern-trip travel good poison, carefully concocted by Fan Xian.

Considering the other party's status, he wouldn't deign to use trickery. Seeing that he had seen through this, Fan Xian smiled wryly and said, "I'm confident this poison powder should have no odor at all. How did Mr. Xiao detect it?"

Xiao En glanced at him, then slowly closed his eyes again, and said, "You are Fei Jie's student. No matter how much you innovate on your own, you can't escape Fei Jie's methods. I ate Fei Jie's poisons in your prison for more than a decade. He and Chen Pingping were reluctant to kill me, so they used these medicines to damage my body's meridians. If it were you, after eating sesame cakes from a stall for more than ten years, suddenly one day, the stall's old master's newly accepted disciple makes another sesame cake, even if it's flavored with scallions, I think you could still taste that it's from that stall."

A trace of admiration rose from the depths of Fan Xian's heart, and he sighed, "Perhaps the amount of flour and water is different at each stall."

"Yes," Xiao En said with a smile, but the smile sent a chill down one's spine. "Poison is the same. For an old fossil like me, tasting poison isn't about the flavor, but purely about the texture."

...

...

Fan Xian opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but finally just smiled and sighed, "What level is this? This is the level of eating poison like plain rice." Since Xiao En tasted the poison in the pastry and still ate it calmly, it must have no effect. Fan Xian then said with a grin, "There are three grandmasters of poison in the world. My teacher is one, another is already dead, and I almost forgot that Mr. Xiao is also one of the three. This junior is really overestimating his abilities."

Xiao En moved his wrist, and the chains clanged. Fan Xian handed the water to him at just the right moment.

After finishing a bowl of water, Xiao En suddenly closed his eyes and smiled, saying, "What if I need to relieve myself?"

"There's a chamber pot in the carriage."

"The sun outside is nice."

"It's already setting."

"Seeing the night scenery of Qing is also good."

"The night is cold and dewy. Sir, you're old, so it's better to stay in the carriage and rest."

The old and the young, one closed his eyes and uttered words softly, the other smiled in response. Xiao En opened his eyes and said calmly, "I've been in prison for many years, only seeing a ray of sunlight at the gate. Lord Fan, allow me to go out and take a look, how about it?"

Fan Xian shook his head firmly, but still had a smile on his face: "It's very dangerous."

"I'm not dangerous." Xiao En said softly, "Since you have reached an agreement with the North, anyone with some intelligence knows that following the envoy safely is the wisest choice for me."

Fan Xian replied calmly, "Mr. Xiao, before leaving Kyoto, the safety of the envoy all the way is the responsibility of the Kyoto Garrison. I think you should be able to guess why Qing is willing to return you to Northern Qi this time. This is a very humiliating thing, so I am very worried that if you really get out of the car with handcuffs and shackles to take a walk, maybe many arrows will suddenly fly from afar and turn you into a hedgehog."

Xiao En knew that what this young adult from the enemy country said was not false, and smiled, "Don't you want to kill me? If I return to the North, within three years, I will definitely cause your country unbearable losses."

Fan Xian shook his head, his delicate face revealing a hint of confidence: "I am not from the older generation, so I only have respect for you in legends. I never thought that even if you return to the North, you can still stir up the wind and rain like you did back then. Of course, if I could kill you, it would be the simplest solution, but in comparison, I value the safety of the bargaining chip I exchanged with you more, so rest assured, I will definitely save your life all the way to Shangjing of Northern Qi, and hand you over to your friends."

Xiao En was silent.

Fan Xian said with a smile: "Until now, I still can't accurately judge how much strength you currently retain, so I will be very careful along the way. As for outside your carriage, I will always maintain sufficient strength to ensure that when you want to get out of the carriage to take a walk and enjoy the breeze, we can immediately make a corresponding response."

Xiao En laughed, still not saying anything.

Since secretly poisoning was recognized and obviously ineffective, I had to resort to overt and barbaric moves - Fan Xian breathed a sigh of relief, then stood up, stepped over the chains that firmly bound Xiao En's hands, and tied a piece of black cloth around Xiao En's elbow in a very strange manner, gently but extremely rudely patting the old man's hand.

Then he took out a flat iron box from his arms, opened the box and took out a thin, long, extremely sharp needle. The thin needle tube was cleverly made hollow, and there was a bulge behind the long needle, made of some unknown material, presumably a storage device for injecting medicine.

A blood-red color filled Xiao En's eyes, staring coldly at Fan Xian's eyes, while Fan Xian's pace of approaching with the needle did not show any panic.

A very strange feeling suddenly arose in the carriage. Fan Xian's nose suddenly felt slightly sweet, and the air was full of blood, faintly red. This aura came from Xiao En's faintly angry body.

...

...

The Tiger Guards and Supervisory Council officials outside the carriage immediately sensed the abnormality in the carriage and ran over silently, taking out the weapons in their hands. Wang Qinian, guarding under the carriage, glanced into the carriage, frowned slightly, then waved to the people beside the carriage, who were facing a formidable enemy, indicating that there was no problem.

In the carriage, Fan Xian slowly removed the thin needle from the back of Xiao En's hand, took out a silk handkerchief and carefully wiped the tip of the needle, then looked up and smiled: "Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Xiao."

I don't know which acupoint the needle was pierced into, and I don't know what medicine was injected into the needle. Xiao En's amazing aura had weakened a lot, and even his face looked a little tired.

"I respect you, just respect the elderly." Fan Xian hunched over and walked out of the carriage, "But you must remember that you are not the head of the Northern Wei secret agents, nor are you a fierce person who shook the world. You are just my prisoner. If you want to try to escape, I will have many ways to kill you."

———————————————————————

"My lord, there's no need to be so careful." Wang Qinian accompanied him to sit under a tree by the roadside, looked at Fan Xian's slightly tired face and said, "If Xiao En wants to regain his freedom, he should cooperate with us and honestly enter the territory of Northern Qi."

Fan Xian shook his head and said, "You don't understand. What if a person like Xiao En has been imprisoned for ten or twenty years? What else do you see in his eyes besides resentment? There is also the terrifying insight into everything, and the burning ambition. If he only asks for freedom, then he will cooperate with us, but if he asks for more, he will definitely find a way to escape. The Supervisory Council prison is tightly guarded, he has no chance at all, but on this long road north, he has too many opportunities, so I have to find every possible way to weaken his combat power and combat desire while ensuring that he is alive."

"Why does he want to escape?"

"Because the current regime in the North is not Northern Wei, which he has served for many years and was even imprisoned for, but Northern Qi." Fan Xian said with a smile: "Although the Zhan family of the Northern Qi royal family, that General Zhan Qingfeng had a very good relationship with Xiao En, but after all, the dynasty has changed. Xiao En has been imprisoned for so many years, and he doesn't know how the current Northern royal family will treat him. If the Northern Qi royal family thinks he still has value, then they will naturally respect him as a distinguished guest. But if there is no such interest, think about it, will the Northern Qi royal family go crazy and let Xiao En, such a terrifying secret agent leader, re-establish himself in Shangjing?"

"Then why is Northern Qi willing to use Yan Gongzi to exchange for Xiao En this time?"

"Because of two people." Fan Xian didn't explain in depth, "One is Zhuang Mo Han, and the other... I guess it should be that famous Northern general named Shang Shanhu."

"Does your lord think that the reason why Xiao En would risk escaping is because he doesn't trust the Northern Qi royal family?"

Fan Xian thought of what Fifth Bamboo had said to him, and sighed quietly: "People in our line of work would not trust anyone anyway. As for Xiao En, there must be other ideas, but I can't guess for a while, I only know that he must get to Shangjing alive, it's that simple."

"Where will Xiao En strike?"

"Before leaving the country, if he enters the territory of Northern Qi, even if he escapes, it is Northern Qi's responsibility." Fan Xian said lightly: "Since Xiao En wants Northern Qi to recognize his status, he can't ruin this agreement."

He suddenly stood up and shouted: "We won't go to the post station today, we'll set up camp in the wild."

His subordinates responded in unison and went to organize the camping matters. Wang Qinian looked at Fan Xian with some doubts. Fan Xian shook his head and said, "Let's exercise and adapt. After leaving Cangzhou, there will be no post stations in the North to use. While it's not far from Kyoto, let these subordinates adapt to the atmosphere as soon as possible."

"Wild battles aren't playing house." Seeing that the adult's worries were hard to dispel, Wang Qinian wisely began to play the foil again.

Fan Xian clapped his hands lightly, smiled and waved him away, then sat silently under a tree alone, looking at the carriage with the old man inside.

"I don't want you to suddenly change your name to Shawshank."

When injecting poison on the carriage earlier, Fan Xian was still a little nervous. He didn't know if Xiao En would suddenly riot. After several explorations, he still didn't know how much strength this top-notch Grandmaster Ninth Rank expert still retained after more than ten years of deep prison life, but he knew that before finding the best opportunity, that terrifying Xiao En would be very honest.

The mountain wind blew from the forest behind Fan Xian, blowing over his sweat-soaked clothes, a piece of dampness. After a while, he stood up expressionlessly and walked towards Si Lili's carriage.