Chapter 1656: Six Major Barriers
“On my Wind Fire Wheels, I’m drifting through my youth... Drifting, drifting, it's so thrilling…” Zu An sang as he rushed to Yi Commandery. However, his entire demeanor immediately turned serious as soon as he landed. After all, it was still better to have a bit of a leader's awe in front of subordinates.
Zhang Zitong, Xiao Jianren, and the others were already waiting at the secret location they had decided on beforehand. In order to maintain secrecy, they hadn’t even brought any of Yi Commandery’s Embroidered Envoys for fear of King Yan noticing anything. They were discussing something among themselves.
Zu An had to admit that Zhang Zitong’s legs were just too eye-catching, especially when she was offset by Xiao Jianren and the others’ less desirable figures. It gave him the impression of a ‘crane among chickens’. After a while, he coughed lightly.
“We greet Sir Eleven!”
Zhang Zitong and the others started to feel excited when they noticed his arrival. They all bowed down to greet him.
Zu An tried to think of some words of encouragement the way people in his previous world would to improve their rapport, but he couldn't think of anything after a long time. At that moment, he felt that he really wasn’t suited to acting like a leader; he could only clear his throat and go straight to the point, asking, “Have you already found where the secret account book is kept?”
“Indeed,” Zhang Zitong replied as she opened a map. “According to our investigation over the past few days, we’ve noticed that there are six major barriers to securing the account book.”
Zu An nodded and gestured for her to continue.
In summary, the map was an outline of King Yan Manor’s territory. The dark areas were places they didn’t have any intelligence on, but overall, the map was still pretty complete.
Zhang Zitong pointed at some black marks on the map and said, “The first barrier is King Yan Manor’s guards. The patrol is a three-shift system. Judging from our observations as of late, they’re all quite good at what they do and don’t leave any gaps during shift changes. Furthermore, there are all kinds of hidden alarm systems in the manor. Even though we’ve observed them for years and found some, there are definitely some we don’t know about. The reason I was caught when I infiltrated the king manor was precisely because I tripped one of those alarms.”
Zu An said seriously, “Even if there are practically no gaps in the shift changes, there are still openings that can be exploited. For the Embroidered Envoy, that shouldn’t be an issue. As for the hidden alarms, we should just deal with them accordingly when we encounter them.”
He had come and gone as he pleased through all sorts of Imperial Palace areas for quite some time without much danger, so he already understood how such alarms worked like the back of his hand. He was confident that they wouldn’t be an issue.
When she heard how relaxed Sir Eleven sounded, Zhang Zitong thought, As expected of a Golden Token Envoy; he’s much more formidable than I am. As such, she continued, “The second barrier is that even if we avoid the patrols around the manor, some guards always remain outside of King Yan’s study without moving at all. All of them are elites. Even if we could defeat them, it would alert the other forces all across the manor.”
Even though the patrols around the perimeter were strict, they followed a set path around the manor, so there would be opportunities there. If they ran into a guard, they would just have to find another path. However, King Yan’s study was their main destination, so they couldn't avoid it.
Xiao Jianren then said, “Sir, we’ve tried to think of various feasible plans of action before you arrived, but no matter what we use, whether it’s poison or a surprise assault, we have no confidence that we won’t disturb the others in the manor. So, this is the step we’re stuck on.”
“How many guards are there in the study?” Zu An asked.
“Around thirty to forty. All of them are the best among the guards,” Zhang Zitong replied. She only had rough estimates for that kind of top-secret information.
Zu An thought to himself for a bit and said, “It’s fine, I’ll deal with them.”
The Silver Token Envoys’ eyes immediately widened. They really couldn't figure out how Sir Eleven could so easily deal with something they had been stuck on for so long. However, as he wasn’t talking about it in detail, they couldn't ask how he would take care of it either. They once again sighed in amazement at how mysterious and incredible Sir Eleven really was.
“The third barrier is that there is a special formation around the study, which only King Yan can activate. Any other attempts will alert him, and as King Yan is a grandmaster, we will immediately be done for if he is alerted,” Zhang Zitong said worriedly.
In her eyes, a grandmaster was an unmatched being. Even though Golden Token Eleven was formidable, there was definitely some distance between him and a real grandmaster. After all, even the Chief Commander Zhuxie Chixin was rumored to still be half a step away from grandmaster rank. There was no way his subordinate could be more formidable than him, the leader, right?
Zu An thought to himself for a bit, then said, “That shouldn’t be too big of an issue. We just need to draw King Yan away. As long as he can’t return for some time, whether we alert him or not makes no difference.” Even though he didn’t fear King Yan, there was no need to face him directly.
“Sir’s plan is incredible!” Zhang Zitong exclaimed excitedly. As expected of Sir Eleven, he was able to deal with something that had troubled them for so long. “But how can we draw King Yan away?”
Zu An thought for a bit before saying, “Yi Commandery’s Governor Zhang and King Yan don’t seem to get along with each other. Is that so?”
He still hadn’t spent much time in Yi Commandery. What he had seen with his eyes wouldn’t necessarily be true. However, Zhang Zitong was an Embroidered Envoy from Yi Commandery, so she would definitely know the real relationship between the Governor Manor and King Yan.
Zhang Zitong nodded and said, “Indeed, they don’t get along.”
Zu An nodded and said, “Then we’ll ask the governor to please make an appearance and lure King Yan away.”
“But even if King Yan leaves, the formation will remain. That’s something King Yan spent a large sum on a formation master to create. We definitely won’t be able to crack it!” Zhang Zitong replied. After some hesitation, she continued, “I’ve heard that an outstanding disciple of Master Yan from the Royal Academy is following the Imperial Envoy Sir Zu. Is there a way to ask her for help?”
Zu An was stunned. Hearing someone talk about his other identity right in front of him really felt strange. He said, “I’ll try to find a solution to the formation.”
He could ask Xie Daoyun, but he didn’t really want to involve her in something so dangerous. After all, she wasn’t a fully independent individual; she had the Xie clan and Royal Academy behind her. She would most likely have her own misgivings.
“The fourth barrier is that there are all sorts of mechanisms and traps in the study, as well as a special secret path. Without knowledge of their principles, not only would it be extremely dangerous, it would likely be impossible to get past them,” Zhang Zitong said, her expression grave.
Zu An asked, “Isn’t that something the Embroidered Envoy should specialize in? Don’t tell me you can’t find a suitable person to deal with that?”
“The one who was best in that field was Sir Seven…” Zhang Zitong said with an awkward expression. She continued, “But I followed him in some missions and received some of his pointers. I can give it a try then.”
Zu An nodded. As Zhang Zitong was a Silver Token Envoy, she had to be reliable in that field. After all, she had even dared to barge into the king manor on her own.
“The fifth barrier is that once we break into the secret room, we’ll encounter a special area of absolute darkness, filled with four dark deathsworn soldiers that King Yan raised through a lot of effort. Such places are extremely difficult for a normal cultivator to do much in, so they definitely wouldn’t be a match for those deathsworn soldiers,” Zhang Zitong explained.
Zu An was a bit surprised. He asked, “How do you know so much about the inside of that secret room?”
“In the past, the building of these secret rooms needed a lot of skilled workers. Even though King Yan Manor went through great efforts to hide it, there were still some clues. Our Embroidered Envoy was able to investigate all sorts of things,” Xiao Jianren said, finally seeing a chance to show off. He was quite proud as he spoke those words. After all, that information was the result of his investigation efforts.
Zu An nodded and gave him a few words of encouragement. Between that and Zhang Zitong’s look of admiration, Xiao Jianren felt even more proud.
Zu An sank into his own thoughts. A place of absolute darkness… He certainly wasn’t unfamiliar with such things. He thought back to Peng Wuyan from the daoists’ competition. If he had the help of her skills, those dark deathsworn soldiers would simply be a joke.
However, he started to feel a bit worried. Peng Wuyan’s light element seemed as if it could counter Big Manman and Fu Hao’s Owl Statue.
“Sir Eleven? Sir Eleven?” Zhang Zitong called out in confusion. After all, Zu An’s mind seemed to be wandering.
“I’ll take care of that. What’s the sixth barrier?” Zu An replied. However, the entire room fell silent, leaving him confused. He asked, “What is it?”
Zhang Zitong looked at him with a conflicted expression, saying, “It’s just that we’ve discussed these issues for a long time, and yet they all seemed insurmountable to us. However, for Sir Eleven, they don’t seem to be that big of a deal.”
Zu An chuckled and said,, “Leave the flattery until after we’re done. What’s the sixth barrier?”
Zhang Zitong replied, “The sixth barrier is that the small box in which the account box is stored has a lock on it that’s extremely hard to open. Furthermore, if the account book is removed, that will trigger the activation of another mechanism, which will make the entire room self-destruct. The account book and the person in the room will thus be completely destroyed.”
“Hm? Why do I feel as if your tone is a bit more relaxed now than when you were talking about the other things?” Zu An asked, noticing the small change. This woman isn’t thinking of relying on me for everything, is she? I’m not omnipotent.
“I actually have a solution for that problem. I have some past experience and I’m quite good at dealing with locks,” Zhang Zitong said a bit shyly.
Zu An was stunned. He asked, “What did you do in the past?”
“In the past, I wandered through the streets, committing some petty theft. When I encountered Sir Seven, he saw that my talent wasn’t bad, so he took me in as an Embroidered Envoy…” Zhang Zitong said, sounding embarrassed.
“So Miss Zhang had such a difficult life when you were younger. It’s a sad story,” Xiao Jianren couldn't help but say considerately.
Zhang Zitong nodded toward him out of respect, but her gaze remained calm.
Zu An said seriously, “No wonder you wanted to get revenge for Sir Seven.”
Zhang Zitong’s eyes immediately became wet. It’s still Sir Eleven who understands me best.
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