Chapter 697: Fanning the Flames

Zu An felt the emperor’s aura lock onto him. It felt as if he might silence him if he spoke even a single wrong word. Zu An cursed inside, you think you’re all that just because your cultivation is high!

But he quickly let it go. Having a high cultivation indeed made you special. At the very least, there was nothing he could do about it right now.

He bowed and said, “Replying to your majesty. I have not received any information regarding the Devil Sect’s sect master yet.”

The emperor harrumphed in dissatisfaction. “Then what’s the use in sending you into the Devil Sect?”

Zu An was extremely unhappy. Wasn’t this guy too impatient? “Your majesty, even though this subject didn’t find any news regarding the Devil Sect’s sect master, I have discovered that the Devil Sect has a secret hideout in the capital.”

This was something he agreed on after discussing it with Yun Jianyue. Even though Yun Jianyue didn’t know that he shouldered this mission of infiltration, she didn’t mind helping him out with this. After all, from her point of view, Zu An ended up provoking a lot of danger from helping her, so helping him in this way gave him an extra layer of protection.

As for that secret hideout, it was obviously a chess piece that was prepared ahead of time.

“Oh?” The emperor’s expression thus eased a bit. “You’ve done well. Use your status as an Embroidered Envoy later to dig out that hideout.”

“Understood!” Zu An bowed. He thought to himself that this emperor really was careful. He’s making me investigate the location I provided. If I only found a deserted place with nothing inside, then he will start to suspect me.

You think you’re already one step ahead, but I’m five steps ahead of you! I already predicted that you would think this. There are quite a few Devil Sect members there, and many of them are even higher level figures! Of course, these are all those of factions that oppose Yun Jianyue. She definitely wouldn’t mind using the emperor’s forces to wipe them out for good.

These are all old foxes, I tell ya!

Even though Zu An was mocking the emperor, he was also praising Yun Jianyue. She looked like a goddess from the clouds, yet her schemes were extremely vicious.

He thought to himself that he really had to be careful around these people, or else he’ll end up getting scammed really badly.

The emperor nodded in satisfaction. Then, he pretended to ask inadvertently, “Right, I heard that you and King Qi’s heir had a dispute? Do you know what kind of crime offending a great member of the court is?!”

“This subject was accused wrongly!” Zu An quickly said, “It wasn’t me who wanted to offend him, but rather that he framed me.”

He explained the plan of King Qi’s heir to the emperor.

“Zhao Zhi seems to have inherited some of his father’s wit. Unfortunately, he is still a bit too young.” The emperor sneered. However, his eyes carried more praise when he looked at Zu An. “I didn’t expect you to see through all of this, and you even made him suffer for it. You’re quite the sharp kid.”

Zu An knew that the emperor probably felt absolutely amazing when he saw how hard he was  resisting the urge to laugh. After all, his battle against King Qi during these years has only been difficult. It has been a long while since he saw King Qi’s side suffer such a huge loss.

He used this chance while the emperor’s mood was good to force a bitter expression. “But now, I’ve already completely offended Kign Qi’s side. I’ll really be dead if King Qi tries to get revenge now.”

“Don’t worry. Knowing King Qi, he won’t act directly against you but rather make use of someone else. If you can even deal with Zhao Zhi and Han Fengqiu, then who else can do anything to you?” The emperor had a pleased expression on his face. He thought to himself that he still underestimated this little fella! Judging from how he is developing, even if he isn’t able to pass on that fake manual to King Qi, he’ll still be of great use.

This brat has really tormented King Qi quite a bit during these past few days.

Zu An sighed in relief. The emperor didn’t promise anything, but he knew that he definitely wouldn’t let King Qi do anything to him directly.

The strong opposition he showed against King Qi’s faction wasn’t only done because he was forced to, he also did it to show off to the emperor.

Only by proving that he had ability and that he could never live under the same sky as King Qi, would this man completely trust him and be willing to protect him, rather than use him like a disposable chess piece.

“By the way, why was there suddenly a large ball of water?” The emperor asked in a seemingly nonchalant manner.

Zu An trembled. This matter had just taken place, yet the emperor already heard about all the details! The reports of Embroidered Envoys really are accurate.

Thank god I prepared ahead of time!

He immediately replied with a surprised expression, “Ah, I thought that it was your respected self who sent an expert to protect me.”

The emperor’s breathing stopped. He grunted in reply and didn’t try to explain himself, as if he really did send someone to protect Zu An.

At the same time, he began to wonder to himself which power ended up protecting Zu An.

The Chu clan? But Chu Zhongtian is only at the eighth rank. He doesn’t have the strength to protect Zu An at all.

Could it be that there is another power I don’t know of that has joined this battle?

As the emperor, he didn’t like these unknown variables. However, continuing to question Zu An further didn’t seem like it would produce any results. As such, he changed his question and asked, “Why did Yu Yanluo invite you inside her carriage?”

He didn’t ask why Yu Yanluo would help Zu An, because she was precisely the one who asked him to keep Zu An alive. That was why he knew that Zu An saved her before.

Zu An noticed the bit of jealousy in his voice and thought to himself, Yu Yanluo really has a lot of simps! Other simps might be fine, but this is the most ferocious and vicious simp! You have to be careful, or else he might just do something crazy out of jealousy.

He quickly explained, “It might be because I saved her back then in Brightmoon City. She probably favors me as a junior.”

The emperor’s brows loosened when he heard this explanation. Treating him as a junior was fine. “Right, why did your cultivation level increase so quickly? Even Zhao Zhi and Han Fengqiu could do anything to you? Is it because of the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra?”

Zu An shivered. He sensed a hint of killing intent flash past the other party’s expression.

After all, the text he offered the emperor definitely didn’t have these effects. That was why the emperor might have already started to question the authenticity of the manual.

It feels like I’m living with a freaking lion all the time!

Fortunately, Zu An prepared for this beforehand. “Your majesty, if it wasn’t because of Madam Yu’s help, I might have already been killed by Han Fengqiu. As for King Qi’s heir, it was because of the ‘Sunflower Phantasm’ Old Mi taught me before that I was able to even fight against him.”

“Even the most miraculous movement techniques have limits. How is this possible unless you’ve already reached the seventh rank?” The emperor harrumphed. He clearly didn’t believe Zu An’s words.

Zu An could only say with a troubled expression, “Your majesty is wise and brilliant. Actually, it was because Old Mi wanted to possess my body, but it failed for some reason. He passed away, but a portion of his strength was left in my body. That was why I advanced so quickly.”

The emperor had a look of ‘no wonder’ on his face. “So that was it. I was wondering why you had some of Eunuch Mi’s cultivation.”

Zu An cupped his hands and said, “Your majesty is enlightened!”

But inside, he was thinking, if you knew the truth, you’d be extremely embarrassed right now!

The emperor nodded in satisfaction. “You can leave. Remember to investigate the Devil Sect’s hideout.”

“Yes!” 

…

When Zu An left the study, he immediately found a place to change into his Golden Token Eleven uniform. Then, he sought out the Embroidered Envoy who were already awaiting orders and headed towards that hideout.

The people in the hideout were horrified when they saw Embroidered Envoy come at them. They had been sold out by Yun Jianyue, so there wasn’t anything suspicious from their reactions.

What followed was a series of intense battles. There were many Devil Sect experts in this hideout, but Zu An didn’t even have to get involved himself. The silver token and bronze token envoys already suppressed this hideout by themselves.

Zu An sighed in wonder. The Embroidered Envoy’s coordinated battle style was indeed formidable. Their Soul Reaping Chains in particular were even harder to defend against.

Zu An finally sighed in relief when those prisoners were brought back to the Embroidered Envoy prison. The emperor probably won’t be suspicious of him anymore.

He returned to his home after leaving the palace. He was stunned as soon as he arrived at the entrance.

It looked like someone barged in!

But this person didn’t break through his courtyard’s defensive formation. Was this person’s cultivation already at an inconceivable level?

Even so, he had just fought against someone at the peak of the ninth rank, so he was quite confident in himself and didn’t back down. Instead, he sneaked inside.

There were a man and a woman chatting inside. The man had pretty features that surpassed even a woman, while the woman was even more beautiful and elegant.

The young man said, “Big sis, brother-in-law is really indecent. You have to watch out for him.”

The beautiful woman was surprised and said, “Did he bully you?”

The young man’s face blushed and he quickly said. “He didn’t, he didn’t. But he’s always seducing girls outside, and he doesn’t even care that I’m right there watching.”

The beautiful girl frowned. “That fella is still okay in other aspects, but this part of him is ridiculous!”

When she remembered how even her best friend went to bed with him, she immediately became upset.

You have successfully trolled Chu Chuyan for +233 +233 +233…

“Exactly! Exactly!” The youngster fanned the flames. “Big sis, he still hasn’t come back after so long, did he end up staying at some vixen’s place? I saw him flirting with that girl in the carriage in the morning. Maybe they already agreed to meet at night!”