Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life

Chapter 114: Departure from the Capital and the Beginning of the Assassination

Seven days later.

Deep within the Imperial Prison, the heavy iron door ground against its frame with a teeth-grinding squeal, and a cold wind threaded with snowflakes and the must of age slithered into the abyss like a poisonous snake.

Su Ming was hauled roughly upright from the cold stone slab by two yamen runners.

His shackles were removed and replaced with a longer, heavier five-person linked iron chain.

The iron links radiated bone-deep cold; at the other end were chained four gaunt prisoners.

The first had hollowed eye sockets and bloodshot eyes; the second had a face full of coarse flesh and a wolfish glare, and even restrained could not hide the murderous viciousness of a river-pirate; the remaining two had vacant eyes and numb expressions, already reduced to walking corpses.

Su Ming was the only one among the five wearing slightly decent prison clothes. Thin and slight, he stood out starkly among these desperate men, like a lamb lost in a wolf pack.

“Listen up, all of you!” A thunderous bark rang beside the prison cart.

The speaker was the lead escort officer on this convoy — Wei He, captain of a hundred men from the Northern Border Army.

He was hulking as a bear, a jagged scar running from the corner of his eyebrow down to the corner of his mouth, and when he spoke that scar seemed to writhe on his face like a living centipede.Wei He’s eyes swept across the prisoners, his tone icy: “From today on, you’re not men, you’re beasts! I tell you to move, you move; tell you to stop, you stop! Anyone trying any tricks, the blade in my hand recognizes no person, only military law!” His gaze finally landed on Su Ming and lingered for a moment, the undisguised contempt like looking at a heap of rotting trash.

By the prison cart, forty Northern Border soldiers in heavy leather armor, long knives at their waists, were already lined up in formation.

Their expressions were indifferent, their presence suffused with a ruthless aura honed only in mountains of corpses and rivers of blood, utterly unlike the hollow pomp of the capital’s Imperial Guard. This was a true, battle-tested force.

The prison cart slowly rolled forward, its heavy wooden wheels crunching through the morning’s thin snow in the capital, leaving two deep ruts.

Lin Yu’s voice carried a hint of gravity, “Disciple, forty Northern Border elite troops escorting a single exile? That level of force… could this be arranged by that Liu Wenyuan?”

Su Ming gave a slight shake of his head, his gaze tracking the turning wheels as he gathered every scrap of surrounding information.

By a steaming breakfast stall at a street corner, a familiar figure flashed past — Xu Qing.

He was dressed in coarse cloth, wearing a tattered felt hat, disguised as a porter headed for the early market.

Their eyes met like two silent threads crossing the air for a brief instant — no words, only the muted transmission of unspoken instructions and promises.

Xu Qing’s figure quickly vanished into the crowd.

The prison cart reached the city gate without stopping. After the gate guards inspected Wei He’s military order, they promptly saluted and waved them through.

When the cart finally rumbled past the gate and out beyond the tall, thick walls of the capital, Su Ming looked back.

The massive city, towering like a beast in the morning light, was receding rapidly. Everything he had planned here was being left behind by those walls, his past cast away with them.

“Disciple, pull your gaze back,” Lin Yu’s voice was unusually steady. “The capital is the past, the Northern Border is our rebirth. This isn’t exile, it’s a strategic redeployment! As long as the green hills remain, there’ll be firewood to burn. Remember, living is the greatest bargaining chip.”

Su Ming withdrew his gaze and felt a profound calm settle over him.

...

A secret chamber in the Yongchang Marquis Manor. It was colder than the Imperial Prison; the blue stone walls were frozen and airtight. Only an ever-burning lamp, its flame no larger than a bean, cast the two figures’ shadows thin and long along the wall.

Marquis still wore a black sable cloak. Facing him stood a man in a

but his temperament was aloof and noble, like a stubborn stone washed by a stream for a thousand years — unremarkable at a

Qianshan, a name that existed in

I trouble you again.” The Marquis’s

I

he handed over a map prepared beforehand, vermilion ink clearly marking a route

remains a hidden trouble.” The Marquis pressed his finger hard on

have arranged it. The escort will pass through this spot in

his eyes, scanning the map, then looking at the Marquis with an

strike, to silence this escort and

his killing intent frigid. “Devoted death operatives are not easy to cultivate. This must be foolproof; nothing may be left that ties back to the Marquis

was silent for a moment; his tone carried a trace of displeasure: “Marquis, you should know the favor my ancestor once did for you. Twenty years ago, when your family

face stiffened briefly, but his respect remained: “Master’s words are indeed true. However… this matter is but a small thing for Master. I hope, by the face of

this falls upon my path, so consider it an incidental favor.” He paused, then added, “It will also serve as a small interest

He bowed deeply, his

response. He shifted and vanished from the chamber like a wisp of blue smoke, leaving one cold, ethereal sentence lingering in the air: “In five days, at Black Wind Pass, I will send

the empty room, his respectful smile gone, his expression blank

...

capital, the escort had already

road was rugged and difficult; on both sides rose endless

branches swaying in the cold like the dead claws

what it meant to be a prisoner

and a

were locked in the freezing prison cart, the biting

cold night and developed a high fever, babbling incoherently, soon near

day, Wei He, annoyed at the trouble he caused, kicked him down from the cart without mercy and left him to perish

Ming, grew quieter, fear spreading through them like

frail appearance, and over the past two days had not

how’s the free deep-experience tour? Exciting, isn’t it?”

just thinking, this Wei He doesn’t seem in a hurry to

say

military escort rules, speed comes first. Yet in these three days we’ve traveled less than sixty li each day, and they camp as soon

within the ring, his tone laced with alertness: “You’re right. This unit’s

heart tightened

sense now. They wanted him dead on

voice detonated in Su Ming’s

Ming! Center your spirit

chewing

happening?” He kept his

a spirit-scan sweeping over us!” Lin Yu’s soul

a cultivator?” Su Ming forced

Possibly… Foundation Grand Perfection! The aura

Ming’s heart like a physical weight, hammering

only at Qi Refinement second layer. In front of such a powerful being he was

What does he intend?” Su Ming’s voice remained

far. His spiritual pressure is heavy as a mountain; he’s not hiding it! He’s clearly bullying the

Ming’s mind reached razor-sharp clarity in that instant. The pursuer’s brazen tracking and unhidden aura meant absolute confidence — he assumed complete dominance over this mortal escort. That he hasn’t struck yet suggested he was waiting for the optimal moment to act, or rather… the perfect place to