“King Yan Manor?” Zu An replied in surprise. Why was King Yan Manor now involved?
Unlike the kings of Chinese history, who had usually been rather idle, this world was full of war. In order to ensure the peace and safety of the empire, they had their own troops and provisions. It wouldn’t be wrong to consider them rulers of their own countries. Of course, because Zhao Han was extremely powerful and the court had a great number of talents, they didn’t dare to disobey orders from the central palace.
But now, Golden Token Seven’s death involved King Yan. If it really had been caused by his side, it would be a complete rebellion. The consequences would be too horrible to imagine.
However, Zu An also quickly realized something. In their previous interaction, Golden Token Seven’s mood had been grave. Just what could weigh so heavily on the mind of a Golden Token Envoy who oversaw an entire region, and yet be impossible to find any concrete evidence of or proclaim to the public? Apart from the rebellion of a king, what else could there be? Furthermore, it definitely wasn’t a minor issue; it was likely on the level of treason.
When he realized that, Zu An thought gravely, It seems this trip to Violet Mountain is going to be more dangerous than I imagined. He looked at Zhang Zitong and asked, “Do you know anything about that shaman?”
Zhang Zitong shook her head and said with a frown, “I only know that the shaman’s surname is Huo. People all call him Sir Huo, but he usually remains in seclusion and rarely shows himself. The information on him is scarce, too. If not for my Embroidered Envoy status, I might not even havve known of his existence.”
“Sir Huo…” Zu An muttered, quietly storing the name away in his memory.
Zhang Zitong offered, “Why don’t I arrest this Sir Huo for questioning?”
Xiao Jianren was horrified, exclaiming, “You absolutely mustn’t! After all, Sir Huo and Sir Seven having something to do with each other is only a suspicion, and we have no evidence. What if he refuses to admit to it and bites us back? Furthermore, he’s King Yan Manor’s guest. If King Yan files a complaint about us, we’ll all have to bear the consequences!”
Zhang Zitong’s expression changed. In reality, she knew that what he said was true. Furthermore, King Yan didn’t even have to file a complaint. With his influence in Yi Commandery, he could easily make a Silver Token Envoy disappear. Even if he wanted to get back at them in overt ways, King Yan would be seen as being in the right. Still, she just couldn't stand the fact that there was a suspect right before her eyes, and yet she couldn't question them at all.
Zu An said seriously, “This matter is indeed pressing, and anything that involves King Yan is a serious issue. I want both of you to try and see if you can obtain more intelligence on Sir Huo over the next few days. If you can find out about his movement patterns, that should be even better. Be careful not to alert them. Furthermore, continue investigating the women Sir Seven has interacted with. Contact me in the same way as usual. I’ll return in a few days.”
They had already found out what they had to look into; the rest would take some time. There was no need for him to rush over every night anymore. To be honest, even he was finding it a bit difficult.
Xiao Jianren was used to Zu An’s sudden appearances and disappearances. Furthermore, whenever his boss appeared, so did new clues, so he only felt admiration and assumed Zu An was investigating other clues elsewhere.
After bidding the two of them farewell, Zu An stepped on the Wind Fire Wheels and hurried back.
…
Zu An didn’t use up as much time this trip, so he returned to the camp a bit earlier than before. It was daybreak, the time when people tended to be the sleepiest. Zu An had been running around for several days, rarely getting any shut-eye. He wanted to find a chance to get some proper sleep.
He landed near the camp. As he prepared to sneak back in, he suddenly noticed a few figures moving around furtively. He stopped and focused on them, and his expression grew strange. Weren’t they all members of the Twin Dragon Mountain rebel army from before?
Had these people eaten the heart of a bear or something? Just where had they gotten the courage to actually ambush the army’s main camp? Most importantly, what could they even accomplish with their numbers?
Now, even though it was very early in the morning, there was no way the Armed Escort Division would completely drop their guard. In fact, even if the entire rebel army showed up, the odds of their surprise attack succeeding were still practically nonexistent.
However, Zu An’s confusion was soon cleared up. The rebels clearly didn’t dare to attack the camp. Judging from their movements, it looked as if they planned to set fire to the army’s covered wagons.
The rebels took out bows and crossbows, smearing oil over their ammunition. They didn’t even dare to get closer to the camp, planning to shoot fire arrows outside.
“All of you, be quiet! We’ll all be finished if we’re discovered!”
“Do you think I need you to teach me? Where’s the fire? Hurry up and take out the fire starters.”
“Huh? Where did they go? Did we drop them somewhere?”
They looked around, but why couldn’t they find any fire starters?
“Are these what you’re looking for?” a voice called from behind them. A hand appeared in front of the rebels, filled with fire starters.
The rebel group was horrified. When had this person taken the fire starters from them? If he had decided to slit their throats, wouldn’t they be long dead already?
“Retreat!” they cried, tacitly agreeing to run in different directions so some of them could get away even if they had to sacrifice some unlucky ones.
Unfortunately, their imaginations were too limited. They hadn’t expected the other person to be able to simultaneously catch all of them. Zu An used the Heaven Devouring Sutra, and a wave of suction force pulled all of them back.
“Please spare us, great one!” the rebels cried. When had they ever seen such a thing? All of them were ashen-faced as they continued to kowtow for forgiveness.
Zu An asked with a frown, “Why are you trying to set our things on fire?”
Even though the group’s cultivation ranks weren’t bad by the standards of the rebel army, they had completely bitten off more than they could chew by ambushing such a great camp. Moreover, judging from their appearances, they didn’t seem like the sort who weren’t afraid of death either.
“We were only acting under orders! We were supposed to create a disturbance here to cover our big boss’ movements,” the rebels explained, quickly spilling the beans as soon as Zu An released his master rank power.
Zu An asked in surprise, “Where is your big boss?”
“He should have already made his way into the main camp by now,” the rebels replied.
Zu An was surprised and furious. He had seen Scarface Yang Shen’s cultivation before; the opponent was a master rank cultivator. Even though he couldn't face an army head-on, it wouldn’t be too difficult for him to infiltrate the camp.
Could it be that he’s still going after Xie Daoyun? Or maybe he wants to get revenge? If he’s allowed to kill some of the Armed Escort Division’s officers, the losses will be too great.
He restrained the rebels and tossed them over to some patrolling soldiers who had rushed over after discovering the disturbance. Zu An rushed toward the main camp, leaving afterimages into his wake.
…
At the same time, a blue light flickered from the center of the camp. It was the radiance of a formation, bearing Xie Daoyun’s unique rune patterns.
Zu An was a blur as he arrived at the scene as quickly as possible. He appeared just in time to see Xie Daoyun’s hands form a seal, but it was smashed apart by Scarface Yang Shen’s palm.
Yang Shen pressed a hand down on Xie Daoyun’s shoulder and yelled, “Stay back!”
Wang Bolin, Zhang Zijiang, and the others had brought their soldiers over when they heard the activity. However, Yang Shen had noticed that he was exposed, bringing his blade up against Xie Daoyun’s neck. As the one he feared the most was Zu An, he did his best to place Xie Daoyun’s body between the two of them.
“Let her go!” Zu An barked sternly. At the same time, he couldn't understand what was happening. What was Yang Shen doing? Why had he taken such a huge risk to invade their camp and capture Xie Daoyun?
When she saw Zu An, Xie Daoyun’s nervous heart quickly relaxed. She told Yang Shen, “You won’t get away. I advise you to surrender quickly, as there might be a chance for you to live then.”
A hint of viciousness flickered through Yang Shen’s eyes, making the scar on his face look even more threatening. He said, “Even if I can’t get away, I’ll just take the lady with me on the road to hell. However, I fear that sir over there might not wish for you to die.”
Xie Daoyun’s face turned completely red when she heard those words. The gazes of everyone present landed on Zu An before wandering between the two of them.
Zu An said with a frown, “Let Miss Xie go, and I’ll let you live today.”
Yang Shen spat on the ground and retorted, “As if I’d believe the rotten lies of officials. Tell your subordinates to get lost. Once I’m able to leave safely, I’ll naturally let her go.”
There was no way Zu An would believe him. He replied indifferently, “Do you really think there’s nothing I can do in this situation?”
“I admit that your cultivation is profound, but there’s no way you can move faster than my blade at this distance,” Yang Shen said with great confidence.
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