Chapter 1139: Teamwork
Whenever Zu An had used the Sunflower Phantasm before, even though his clones had the same aura as the original, those at the master rank and above didn’t look only with their eyes, but rather sensed everything with their souls. That made it difficult to fool them with such tricks.
But now, Zu An’s soul had been condensed. He could send a strand of his soul into the clones too. That way, it would be very difficult for even master rank cultivators to notice any differences. Furthermore, there had been some distance between Xiao Yao and himself so far anyway, further limiting Xiao Yao’s senses.
As soon as Xiao Yao reached the spot where Zu An had vanished, he sensed the other party’s aura in several different directions. He frowned. He didn’t rush off blindly in one direction, but instead quietly sensed the differences in each direction.
Soon afterward, a smile appeared on his face. He muttered, “Hmph, you have some skills. If it were just you alone, I really might have been fooled, but you still have Yu Yanluo with you!”
Zu An could change his own aura to be the same, but there was no way he could do the same so seamlessly for Yu Yanluo. As one of the most brilliant swordsmen of the past, someone even the libationer had praised, how could Xiao Yao be someone that easy to fool? He quickly jumped down from the eaves and walked straight toward Jasper Lane.
“Oh my, has this master come to play?” the brothel keeper asked. It was already evening, when Jasper Lane’s business was at its best. The keeper stood by the entrance, trying to attract guests with all types of gorgeously dressed women.
As soon as she saw Xiao Yao, she had subconsciously moved closer to entice him. But when she sensed the strong smell of alcohol and saw his sloppy appearance, clearly not that of someone with money, she immediately lost interest and said, “Go, go away. Where did this drunkard come from?”
Xiao Yao asked indifferently, “Did anyone enter just now while dressed in guard uniforms?” According to earlier intelligence, the two had been impersonating guards when they fled.
The keeper rolled her eyes and replied, “If you’re going to beg, go somewhere else. Stop disturbing our business.”
Xiao Yao’s reply was direct; the longsword at his waist shot out and pressed against her neck. He said, “I don’t want to have to ask you again.” He didn’t need his longsword to defeat a trifling ordinary person. Just a bit of pressure from his master rank cultivation was already enough.
The keeper quickly pleaded, “Great warrior, please spare my life! I didn’t see any guards go in! Who would dare to come here in their uniforms? That wouldn’t do them any favors! They all come here dressed casually!”
Xiao Yao frowned. He figured that made sense, so he changed his tone. He asked, “Which guests entered in the last fifteen minutes or so? Bring me over to see them.”
“Absolutely no problem at all. Great warrior, can you move your sword a bit? You might cut this poor girl’s neck if you’re not careful.” The keeper carefully walked forward.
Xiao Yao harrumphed, and his longsword returned to his waist. It wasn’t his style to threaten ordinary people, anyway. Since she was willing to cooperate, there was no reason to trouble her further.
“There are eight guests who have just arrived,” the keeper explained with an apologetic smile. In this line of work, recognizing people and a strong memory were essential, or else one wouldn’t even recognize familiar guests. That would result in easily offending people.
“How many people came in as a pair?” Xiao Yao asked as he looked around. The cosmetics and perfumes made him frown. Comparatively speaking, he liked the smell of alcohol more.
“Great warrior, almost all of those who come here are with companions. Few people come alone,” the keeper hurriedly explained.
“Then bring me to every single room,” Xiao Yao said. He sent his ki into his surroundings while he spoke. Unfortunately, there were just too many people. The place was too chaotic. Furthermore, there was a lot of obscene music in the background that interfered with his spiritual senses to some degree. He could vaguely sense that the two he was pursuing were nearby, but he couldn't tell exactly where.
“Yes, yes, yes.” The keeper didn’t dare to refuse and quickly called over her colleagues, asking them where those people had gone. She was usually outside attracting customers, so there was no way she would know which guests had sought out which girl.
She quickly brought Xiao Yao to the rooms one after another. Screams of alarm and curses quickly followed. Xiao Yao’s eyes twitched, as the scenes he saw really were a bit offensive to the eyes. He didn’t find his target even after searching the rooms one after another, however.
Soon enough, there was only one room left. His hand was already resting on his hilt, and he was ready to attack at a moment’s notice. But when he saw the scene inside, he was still stunned.
The woman on the bed was lying down, while the man behind her was grabbing her hair and plowing away. Even though both of them were covered by a blanket, he could vaguely see her fair, snow white shoulders. And judging from the clothes that had been tossed all over the place and the red underwear, it was clear that neither of them were wearing anything.
The woman screamed when she saw Xiao Yao. She grabbed the obscene piece of clothing next to her and covered her face. However, the man was so scared he trembled all over. He turned around and cursed, “What the hell are you all doing? Get the f*ck out!”
XIao Yao turned around expressionlessly. Even though the woman’s movement had been quick, he had still seen what she looked like in that instant. It wasn’t Yu Yanluo. The most important part was that he didn’t think Yu Yanluo would take off all of her clothes and do that kind of thing beneath another man.
Don’t tell me the two of them have already left this place? Xiao Yao thought as his brows locked together. He quickly leapt on his sword and searched in another direction.
“Master, please take your time and enjoy yourself. We apologize for disturbing you. The alcohol will be on the house today; we hope that can help you calm down.” The brothel keeper gave the people inside an apologetic smile, then closed the door considerately behind her.
But she was a bit confused, thinking, Is this a new girl? Why does she look a bit unfamiliar? But Jasper Lane was quite big, with new girls coming in every day. She didn’t know every single one of them.
When the others left, the room entered a strange state of silence.
The man jumped out from under the covers. What was strange was that even though his upper body was naked, he was wearing pants. He said apologetically toward the woman, “Sorry, I’ve offended you.”
The woman also removed the covers. Her upper body was wrapped in tight cloth, which was why she had only revealed her shoulders to give off the illusion that she was naked. She said, “It’s fine. We managed to fool Xiao Yao without even having to fight. This was the simplest and most efficient choice.” She calmly put on her clothes. However, the faint redness coming from her skin showed that she definitely wasn’t as calm as she sounded.
The two were obviously Zu An and Yu Yanluo. Zu An had known that there was no way he could fool Xiao Yao with just the clones, and had thus come up with a plan to buy him a bit of time. Once he entered Jasper Lane, he had taken out two sets of clothing from the Brilliant Glass Bead, and he had even changed their masks. That was why they had been able to fool Xiao Yao.
To hide her embarrassment, Yu Yanluo said, “It was thanks to your quick wit, or else we really might have been in trouble.”
Zu An shook his head and replied, “The one I should thank is you. The reason why Xiao Yao was fooled so easily is because he didn’t expect that you would allow yourself to be underneath a man.”
Yu Yanluo was speechless. This guy really was poking her sore spot! But she had to admit that if it were someone else, she would rather fight to the death than use such a trick. But with Zu An, she didn’t seem to reject it that much. Still, his acting had been a bit too much; she even felt a bit sore.
“What do we do now? Should we leave?”she asked with a frown. She felt extremely uncomfortable hearing the sounds of pleasure coming from their neighbors.
Zu An thought for a bit, then said, “Xiao Yao should still be nearby. Without the cover of Jasper Lane’s activity, we’ll easily be discovered… Ah, I thought of something. Follow me.”
Then, he grabbed her hand and jumped through the window. Yu Yanluo looked at her own wrist, but after a bit of hesitation, she didn’t struggle free. His palm was warm, giving her a mysterious sense of peace.
Soon afterward, the two of them arrived at a dried-up well. Yu Yanluo’s eyes lit up, knowing what he was planning. It was the Duke Manor’s secret tunnel, so they could clearly use it to approach the Duke Manor. It would be extremely difficult for Xiao Yao to find them if they used the tunnel as cover.
…
Meanwhile, in a monastery on the city outskirts, an ice-cold beauty garbed in white looked at Xu Yu emotionlessly and asked, “Why do I have to help you?”
Over the past few days, Xu Yu had been acting domineeringly in Cloudcenter Commandery, but he remained respectful in front of the woman. He said, “Sect Master Yan, White Jade Sect and the court have always had friendly relations. His majesty cares a lot about this case as well. It would be best if nothing happened to influence the court’s opinion of the White Jade Sect.”
He thought inwardly in praise that this woman wasn’t inferior to Yu Yanluo at all; it was just that her presence was a bit more cold and aloof, and she wasn’t as warm and approachable as Yu Yanluo. However, her cultivation was high, and she had her own pride. He wondered just what kind of man would be able to subdue her in the future.
The white-clad beauty was naturally Yan Xuehen. When she heard his words, her expression turned cold and she replied, “Are you threatening me?”