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It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.
“Why?” Zu An pressed on.
Sir Huo replied, “King Yan Manor’s security is strict, and King Yan’s study is even better guarded, being a place of the utmost importance. Furthermore, King Yan has roped in formidable individuals from all over the world of warriors, and set them to stand guard near the study. The study has heavy layers of defenses as well, so there is naturally no way to obtain the account book.”
“What kind of mechanisms are there?” Zu An shouted.
Sir Huo’s expression changed. He replied, “Don’t tell me that you really are going to go after that account book? It’s impossible.”
“I ask, you answer. I don’t need anything else from you,” Zu An said coldly.
Sir Huo swallowed and said, “The exact mechanisms are a secret, held to the highest level of confidentiality, so I do not know. However, I know that the account book’s storage has a self-destruct mechanism in place. If anything unusual happens, the account book will be destroyed. This is something King Yan accidentally revealed when he drank too much one day.”
Zu An figured that, considering how the account book practically carried all the evidence of King Yan’s conspiracy, it was only natural for him to guard it so carefully. Afterward, he asked a few more questions. When there was nothing else he could get, he knocked Sir Huo unconscious.
Then, he started waking up the other Embroidered Envoys. However, after being trapped in the illusion, they couldn’t be woken up by normal shouts, so he could only use his Hundredwarble skill a bit to rouse them.
“Don’t look into his eyes!”
When they woke up, they all rushed to the corners of the room. However, when they saw the situation, they were all stunned. Zhang Zitong’s expression was full of disbelief as she looked at Sir Huo on the ground, exclaiming, “Sir Eleven has already subdued him?”
Zu An didn’t reply. Xiao Jianren immediately flattered him by saying, “Sir Eleven truly is profound and unfathomable! Even someone as formidable as Sir Huo was so easily subdued!”
…
Zhang Zitong had a conflicted expression. She had believed herself to be one of the best among Yi Commandery’s Embroidered Envoys, and yet even she hadn't been able to do a thing against Sir Huo.
It seemed that Sir Huo hadn’t used all of his strength in King Yan Manor! However, under threat of losing his life, he hadn’t held back at all just now. Zhang Zitong had immediately entered the illusion and couldn't escape at all.
“I’ve already asked him practically everything I had to ask. I’ll task you with watching over him,” Zu An said, then repeated the intelligence he had received to them.
Xiao Jianren exclaimed in shock, “King Yan is actually plotting a rebellion?!”
Whether it was the smuggling of military goods to the Fiend races or the raising of private troops, they were both huge crimes! The Silver Token Envoys all looked at each other in dismay, because they knew what that signified.
“No wonder they would take such a huge risk and kill Sir Seven!” Zhang Zitong said through clenched teeth.
Those present nodded inwardly. They hadn’t been able to figure out just why someone would so brazenly kill a Golden Token Envoy. The risk and reward hadn’t lined up at all! Now, they finally understood. King Yan had found out that Golden Token Seven was investigating him, so he’d had no choice but to kill him.
“Sir Eleven, we’ll immediately report this discovery to the higher-ups,” Zhang ZItong said with an expression full of hatred.
Zu An shook his head and replied, “We don’t have conclusive proof. That’s also the reason why Golden Token Seven didn’t report this matter.”
“Isn’t there a human witness right here?” Zhang Zitong asked, pointing at Sir Huo on the ground.
The normally imposing Sir Huo now looked more like a worn-out old man. His pants were pulled slightly down with half of his goods exposed. They looked seriously ravaged. Zhang Zitong’s expression immediately became a bit strange. Could it be that Sir Eleven always remained indifferent to me because he likes this type?
Zu An didn’t know that his image was breaking down in the heart of a young lady. He explained, “A human testimony isn’t enough to bring down King Yan. He could just deny it flatly, and then there would be no real way to get revenge for Sir Seven.”
Xiao Jianren was startled, asking, “Could it be that Sir Eleven plans to find that mysterious account book?”
Zu An nodded. Finding the account book wasn’t enough, either; he had to investigate and find other conclusive proof according to the information recorded on it.
“Could this be a trap?” Zhang Zitong asked worriedly.
“That’s why I need you to investigate a bit, and find me everything you can about where that account book is stored,” Zu An ordered.
“Understood!” Zhang Zitong, Xiao Jianren, and the others cupped their hands and accepted the order. Normally, such a secretive affair was something that outsiders had no way of investigating. But they were the Embroidered Envoy, so they had their ways.
“Right, this matter is extremely important, so be sure not to leak any information. Otherwise, you might quickly follow Sir Seven to the grave,” Zu An warned them. If King Yan became vigilant, getting rid of a few Embroidered Envoys in his territory wouldn’t be too difficult.
Zhang Zitong and the others shivered. Their expressions became grave.
Zu An nodded. He was about to leave when he suddenly remembered something and turned around, saying, “This Wishes Fulfilled can’t be allowed to continue. Be careful while taking care of this. Don’t let King Yan notice anything.”
“Don’t worry. This is our area of expertise. We won’t let King Yan suspect anything,” Zhang Zitong replied.
Zu An thus felt relieved, and quickly disappeared into the darkness.
…
He hurried through the night. By the time he returned to Violet Mountain, it was already very late in the evening, and Xie Daoyun was sleeping soundly in the outer room. When she was awake, she was like a gentle and refined lady, but she wasn’t so honest when she was sleeping. Half of the covers were about to touch the ground, exposing her thin undergarments. Her fair skin was faintly discernible.
Zu An couldn't help but chuckle. This silly girl really didn’t have any sense of vigilance. He carefully walked over to properly cover her up again.
“Who?!” Xie Daoyun cried as she suddenly woke up.
Their eyes met. Zu An couldn't really lower the covers in his hand, but he couldn't raise them any higher either. He replied awkwardly, “Would you believe me if I said I was helping you with your covers?”
Xie Daoyun’s fair skin immediately turned red. She snatched her sheets from his hands and replied hurriedly, “Thank you, big brother Zu!”
Zu An thought, What is going on? The gentlemanly image I took so much care to craft is completely ruined now! If he had known it would end up like this, he wouldn’t even have bothered. In order to ease the awkwardness, he asked, “Did anyone come looking for me tonight?”
“No,” Xie Daoyun said, shaking her head. She suddenly remembered something and added, “Right, Jadefall Palace’s side sent over some gifts as thanks, and they came with a message from Lady Pei saying that she’s recovering with the help of her master right now. She’ll come over a few days later to personally express her gratitude.”
Zu An was moved. He figured that Big Manman was probably with her master all the time and couldn't come over, and she was worried that if he headed over now, he could bump into her master, so she had sent the message to warn him.
“Big brother Zu, did you finish what you had to do?” Xie Daoyun asked. She felt that it was rude to be lying down, but when she thought about standing up, she realized that she wasn’t dressed appropriately.
“More or less. I might have to run around a few more times,” Zu An said. He noticed her awkwardness and got up, adding, “Little sister Ling’er should sleep well. I won’t be disturbing you.” Then, he went into the inner room quickly, practically running inside.
“Ah… That was so embarrassing!” Xie Daoyun muttered as she grabbed her blankets and buried her head under them. “Big brother Zu won’t think I was trying to seduce him on purpose, will he?”
She had actually always dressed formally due to nervousness. But how could a pampered daughter like her endure something like that? She knew that her big brother Zu was a gentleman, and as he had said that he was leaving tonight, she had changed back into more comfortable clothing to sleep in. She hadn’t expected him to just happen to see her like that!
She was ashamed and annoyed when she thought of that. She wasn’t upset at Zu An, but rather at herself. She didn’t know how to clear things up at all.
…
When Zu An returned to his bed, his mind was filled with the sight of that ‘sleeping beauty’. However, he quickly shook those thoughts out of his head and began to think about King Yan’s account book. Was he supposed to report it if he got his hands on it? After all, the enemy of his enemy was his friend, right?
However, the memory of fighting alongside Golden Token Seven appeared. The hesitation in his mind gradually disappeared.
It seems I need to find a time to contact Yi Commandery’s governor.
But running back and forth really is too tiring. It would be great if I had a cloning skill.
Wait, if I cloned myself, would I end up cucking myself?
…
By the next day, the Righteous Sun Sect already finished repairing the arenas. The sects continued the competition.
At the end of the day, the nine groups’ first place members had been decided. Apart from Zhi Yin’s group being upset, the other eight groups all had representative disciples leading them. The eight individuals with the best achievements apart from those first place winners thus began their brutal competition.
Zhi Yin had become one of them as well. After an entire night of treatment from Guan Chouhai using all sorts of spiritual herbs, he had barely managed to recover a bit of fighting strength. Meanwhile, his opponent came from Kunlun Void Sect. He initially planned to take advantage of Zhi Yin’s seriously wounded state, but he ended up exposing an opening.
Zhi Yin seized it and left him confused with a Push of the Iron Mountain, then the Shadowless Ball brutally took down his opponent. He was full of resentment from his previous loss, so he used the Shadowless Ball at its full strength. Each dribble was terrifying, and it always attacked unpredictably.
The other disciples clicked their tongues when they saw the fight. Even the seriously injured Zhi Yin had such ridiculous strength! It was easy to see just how much of a difference there was between the representative disciples and other disciples. At the same time, they felt even more admiration for Pei Mianman. She had actually defeated Zhi Yin at his best! Just what kind of a monster was she?
Apart from Zhi Yin, the Heavenly Sorrow Sect’s Zhao Xiaodie also successfully seized a spot. Her figure that was as beautiful as a butterfly left Golden Peak’s spectators with a deep impression. Between that and her status as a princess, her reputation climbed higher and higher, to the point where it was on par with the two publicly acknowledged goddesses, Chu Chuyan and Pei Mianman.
The last two spots were both seized by the Righteous Sun Sect. One was the disciple who had been welcoming guests by the gate, Zhang Xi, while the other was the chief disciple of Thunderous Peak. The spectators sighed in admiration once again; the Righteous Sun Sect was the most powerful, as expected. Out of the thirteen spots, they had actually seized three!
Over the next few days, the competition would decide who the number one among the youngest generation was, so the four who had made it out of the group stage wouldn’t join. After all, the reason why they had taken second place in their groups was that they had already lost to the ones in first place. In order to become the true number one of the daoist sects, one couldn't afford even a single loss.
Thus, the nine combatants were set to draw lots to see who they would face. One of them would draw a bye, while the others would face each other viciously.
The results of the lot drawing were revealed:
Righteous Sun Sect Wu Xiaofan versus Mount Luofu Luo Dongjiang;
Jadefall Palace Wan Guiyi versus Purity Temple Qiu Chanzi;
White Jade Sect Lou Wucheng versus Supreme Mystery Cave Shi Dingtian;
Kunlun Void Liang Ling versus Emptiness Isle Peng Wuyan.
Meanwhile, Pei Mianman luckily drew a bye!
Yun Jianyue was really annoyed by the result. She muttered, “There’s definitely something fishy about that big-boobed woman getting a bye! That rascal probably messed with the results!”