Chapter 1134: Hoodwink
Jiang Luofu had been cautious, not even using any real names. The drunkard she was talking about was obviously Xiao Yao. He had his wine gourd behind him all the time, and was constantly intoxicated. The term couldn't be any more fitting.
“I found a chance to enter the prison, and left behind a little toy inside. It should be able to help you…”
Then, a chess piece fell out from a ring of light. Zu An reached out his hand and caught it, discovering that it was quite similar to the Sacrificial Piece he had gotten from Hei Baizi before.
“This is the newest toy fifth brother has researched. Its name is Hoodwink. Two pieces make up a pair. Using one piece as a coordinate, as long as you aren’t too far away, while holding the other piece you can immediately reappear next to the matching piece.”
Zu An was incredibly shocked. Those academy people were always coming up with the strangest things. The most important part was that they were even extremely useful!
With the Hoodwink to help him, he could infiltrate the prison, saving him the time needed to break in. If he charged in from outside, the guards would have more time to prepare against an attack. At that point, both Xiao Yao and Xu Yu would immediately rush back once they received news. Things would become troublesome then.
Of course, he could also set the coordinate to be outside. As long as he could sneak into the prison, he could bring Yu Yanluo out without anyone noticing. Unfortunately, Xu Yu’s thoughts were meticulous. The security around Yu Yanluo was extremely tight, making it impossible to sneak in.
He could change his appearance to sneak in, but if someone investigated after the fact, his Face of a Thousand Identities skill would be exposed. That would draw more suspicion toward Jian Yanyou, and the chain reaction that ensued would be a price too great to pay.
That was why he decided to sneak in with the Hoodwink piece. Once he saved Yu Yanluo, the two of them would use their strength to break out.
Sigh, why didn’t you make a second set of these chess pieces? We wouldn’t have to go through all this trouble then.
Of course, he knew that such a thing was definitely precious. A single set was already hard enough to obtain; hoping for two was just wishful thinking.
He silently memorized the method Jiang Luofu had provided to activate it. Then, he put on a human skin mask before leaving. He couldn't expose his Face of a Thousand Identities skill, so he had to put the masks he had gotten from Chen Xuan in the past to use again.
When he arrived near the residence Yu Yanluo had been locked up in and saw the patrolling soldiers, he had to admit that even though Xu Yu was rather treacherous, he was quite talented. His arrangements really were seamless.
He went to a hidden place and took out the white piece. He used it the way Jiang Luofu had told him to, smashing it with his hand. Then, everything around him rippled. A few seconds later, he instantly vanished from where he had been standing.
…
Inside the courtyard, a few guards were chatting.
“I was finally able to take a look at Madam Yu today. She really is pretty!”
“Hmph. What are you making such a big fuss for? I’ve already seen her a few times. She even smiled toward me last time.”
“Say, do you guys think a woman this beautiful could really be from the fiend races?”
“It’s hard to say. The fiend races are the best at deception. Her beautiful exterior might just be fake.”
“No way, right? Don’t tell me her pretty appearance could really be fake?”
“Who knows. But if she looks like that, I couldn't care less if it’s real or fake. I’d still hit it.”
“Keep dreaming, punk.”
…
The men released vulgar laughs, their voices growing more and more lively as they chatted. They began to look at the inner courtyard. They really wanted to go inside and sneak a few more looks. Even if they couldn’t really do anything, just appreciating her beauty felt as if it could even lengthen their lifespan by a few years.
But there was a seal made by the Embroidered Envoy inside. That was something Sang Hong and Xu Yu had both arranged in order to keep each other in check, and also to ensure Yu Yanluo’s safety.
While the guards felt disappointed, they didn’t notice a black chess piece resting on a nearby table beam crumbling into fine powder. Then, the nearby air began to ripple. A figure appeared in the room out of thin air.
The people who had been assigned to guard the place were the elites of the Vice Magistrate. They immediately sensed that something was wrong and moved their hands to the weapons at their waists. One of them reached out his hand to pull the alarm next to him. None of them acted foolishly; instead, the first thing on their mind was to contact the others in the manor. That way, they could complete their mission.
Xu Yu’s arrangements really were formidable. If it were someone else who had barged in, forget about whether or not they could win against such powerful guards; even if they won, they wouldn’t be able to stop the guards from setting off the alarm.
Unfortunately, Zu An had long been studying the defenses of the place. With his status, it hadn’t been too difficult to learn the layout. As such, he immediately charged at the one who moved to pull the alarm as soon as he appeared.
His soul had already taken form, so every single movement the guards made was within his perception. He was able to even predict how every single one of them was going to move. All the guards felt everything before their eyes blur, and they lost sight of their target.
Meanwhile, the one who had tried to sound the alarm found that he couldn't move the hammer in his hands even half an inch further. He raised his head in shock and discovered that the mysterious intruder was already in front of him. He subconsciously tried to retaliate with his other hand, but the enemy clamped down on his acupoint. A strange force poured in, and everything before his eyes darkened.
The others intended to come to his aid, but they found that their eyes couldn't keep up with the intruder’s speed at all. One by one, their vision darkened, and they collapsed onto the ground. Zu An supported them before they fell, then gently placed them onto the ground to prevent any sound from alerting those outside. He didn’t stop and charged straight into the inner courtyard.
Yu Yanluo was still a woman, and furthermore an extremely beautiful woman. That was why there were no guards arranged inside the small courtyard. Instead, there were only two maids there to tend to her.
The two maids were both ordinary people. They normally resided in a side room, and were easily subdued by Zu An.
Only after doing all that did he arrive at the room deepest inside. There was a seal left by the Embroidered Envoy on the door; if Zu An wasn’t mistaken, it was the work of Xiao Jianren. Such seals were difficult for outsiders to break through, and an alarm would go off if anyone else tried to undo them. Any others in the manor would immediately rush over.
Xu Yu had planned against an attack from Zu An, but he had thought that even though the Embroidered Envoy was also a part of the Imperial Envoy procession, their status was special. They were absolutely loyal to the emperor and definitely wouldn’t collude with Zu An for such a thing.
What he had thought was indeed the case. For Embroidered Envoys like Xiao Jianren, forget about Zu An, they couldn't even be bought over by a powerful official like Sang Hong.
But no matter how crazy Xu Yu’s imagination was, he definitely wouldn’t have been able to predict that Zu An had another identity as one of this world’s few golden token envoys. The seal established by the silver token envoy Xiao Jianren was completely useless against a higher-leveled golden token envoy!
Zu An took out his Embroidered Envoy golden token and placed it against the seal. The seal let out a noise like a lock opening as it was undone.
“Who?” a voice shouted from within. Yu Yanluo had been thrown into prison, so her vigilance was at its highest level. Even though her cultivation had been sealed, her powerful instincts warned her that something was off.
“It’s me,” Zu An replied as he closed the door behind him and removed his mask.
“Ah Zu!” Yu Yanluo had been completely on guard, but when she saw him her hands immediately dropped. She was filled with shock and happiness as she asked, “How… How did you get in?”
“There’s no time for that right now. Hurry and strip down,” Zu An quickly said.
Yu Yanluo’s smile immediately froze. She was speechless.
Zu An took out another set of clothes and said, “Change into these.”
Only then did Yu Yanluo realize that it was one of the guards’ uniforms, seemingly identical to the ones who were standing guard outside. Then, she realized that she had misunderstood him. Her face turned red. She quickly asked a question to cover her embarrassment. “What is going on? If you save me, there will not be a single place in this empire where you will be safe anymore!”
Zu An couldn't help but feel warm inside when he heard the concern in her voice. She was saying that because she was thinking about him, and was scared that she would be dragging him down with her.
“Don’t worry, I’ve already made some arrangements. If everything goes smoothly, I won’t be exposed,” he replied. Seeing that she had more questions, he laughed and said, “If you keep asking questions and stalling, it might not go smoothly anymore.”
“Alright!” Yu Yanluo replied. She wasn’t an unreasonable woman. She didn’t delay any longer, picking up the uniform and beginning to undo her clothes.