Chapter 626: Rejection
Translator: Pika
The imperial hospital was within sight. Zu An didn’t expect himself to be back so soon.
When he entered, he subconsciously gave the room Shi Kun was in a look. However, there was no one there now. The Shi clan most likely brought him back.
“I wonder if they managed to piece together his thing after it exploded. Otherwise, he’ll have to be buried without a complete body.” Zu An thought without any ill intentions.
He could hear groans from time to time coming from soldiers covered in blood. Hospital staff were busy applying medicine and wrapping up their injuries.
Zu An sighed. Both the Devil Sect and imperial palace suffered severe casualties this time.
Of course, sympathy was just sympathy. If the people he cared about really were in danger, he still wouldn’t show any mercy.
Suddenly, he heard a bunch of voices. There was a group of people surrounding a single individual. “When the assassins charged into the eastern palace back then, they killed whoever was in sight! Those fellas were all powerful experts, so the eastern palace guards’ casualties instantly climbed over half.”
“When we withdrew into the palace, we wanted to borrow the eastern palace’s defense formation to hold them off, but the enemy was already prepared for that! They had some kind of artifact that disrupted the palace’s formation. Then, the one in the lead smashed the formation to pieces with a single strike.”
Zu An gave them a look. The one in the middle had dark circles around his eyes like the administrative masters of his past world.
He nodded inwardly. The place he lived in had a defensive formation, so why wouldn’t the eastern palace have one? But Yun Jianyue was definitely prepared. If they dared to even invade the eastern palace, then the formation shouldn’t be an issue.
The other guards all gasped. “Then what did you all do?”
The guard with the dark circles said with a smile, “Fortunately, the crown prince’s lesser tutor rushed over in time and stopped the enemy leader. However, those assassins continued to charge at the crown prince. When I saw that everyone was in fear, my body acted before my mind could process what was happening. I roared and charged with a blade in hand, slaughtering from the palace entrance into the courtyard, and then all the way back. I charged and returned three times, leaving behind the corpses of assassins everywhere in my wake. My eyes didn’t even blink once during the entire thing.”
A tall and skinny guard next to him sneered. “You didn’t blink once for that long?”
“Of course not! There were enemies everywhere. I couldn’t afford to be distracted at all.” The guard with the black circles stuck out his chest. He felt absolutely amazing when he saw the looks of admiration all around him.
The tall and skinny guard spoke up again. “Won’t your eyes dry out if you don’t blink?”
The guard with the black circles stopped smiling. “I’m talking about how I charged in three times and killed so many assassins. Why do you care if my eyes are dry or not?”
“What I am concerned about is actually the same thing.” The tall and skinny guard said, “Did you charge in three times or did you run back three times?”
The guard with the dark circles harrumphed. “Of course I charged in and came back three times!”
“You said that you killed assassins until there were corpses everywhere. How many assassins did you really kill?”
“How could I count them all during such a dangerous time?”
“I counted them. Back then, you killed three assassins and wounded four.”
The surrounding guards became quiet. The story sounded pretty badass at first, but this was all?
Even though they knew that with so many assassins as enemies and how outnumbered they were, these achievements were already extremely impressive, they still couldn’t help but laugh in ridicule. After all, this fella went a bit too far with his bragging.
The guard with the dark circles around his eyes said angrily, “Jiao Sigun, are you really going to do this to me right now? How many did you kill then?”
The guard who was tall and skinny like a pole seemed to have been waiting for this question. He raised his hand and said with a smug tone, “Nothing special. I just happened to have killed one more than you.”
The guard with the black circles around his eyes: “......”
The surrounding guards tactfully began to praise that tall and skinny guard.
The guard with the black circles around his eyes was upset that he had his spotlight stolen by his companion. “But in the end, none of us are anything special. The one we should be most grateful to is Sir Eleven.”
“Who is Sir Eleven?” Those guards were confused. They had never heard this nickname before.
Zu An was about to seek out the physician further inside. However, he couldn’t help but stop when he heard this. Sigh, why are humans so vain?
The guard with the black rings around his eyes said, “Golden token envoy Sir Eleven of course.”
“Nonsense, there are only ten golden token envoys.” One of the guards retorted.
“We thought that there were only ten as well, but we learned that there were eleven today.” The guard with the dark circles around his eyes said, “We were heavily outnumbered, and even the crown princess had to join the fight. When the crown princess was in danger, Sir Eleven appeared and carried... Cough cough... He raised his blade and cut down several high level assassins.”
Even though he was talking casually right now, he knew that the matters of carrying the crown princess was taboo. He didn’t dare publicly announce this.
The tall and skinny companion corrected, “Strictly speaking, Sir Eleven didn’t kill those assassins but merely defeated them with a single move. He didn’t kill them at all.”
“Why do you keep correcting me?!” The guard with the dark circles around his eyes said angrily. “If you keep shooting off that mouth, I won’t play dice with you anymore in the future!”
“Oh...” The tall and skinny guard thus finally closed his mouth.
The guard with the dark circles around his eyes continued, “Either way, once Sir Eleven arrived, the pressure decreased a lot for all of us. He protected the crown prince and princess with a sword in hand, putting fear in the hearts of all enemies with his might. Countless assassins charged at him, yet none of them could do anything to him.”
His boasting earlier was exposed, so he could only brag about Sir Eleven to satisfy his vanity. He felt extremely satisfied again when he saw the sparkling eyes around him.
The tall and skinny companion’s expression immediately became conflicted. He wanted to say something several times, but stopped himself each time. In the end, he still had to correct, “Sir Eleven didn’t use a sword...”
“Shut up!” The guard with the dark circles was about to fight this guy to the death when one of the guards said out of curiosity, “But I heard that a grandmaster appeared on the assassins’ side! Could it be that Sir Eleven can defeat even a grandmaster?”
The guard with the dark circles explained, “Sir Eleven isn’t a grandmaster, but not even the full powered flying sword attack of that grandmaster could hurt Sir Eleven. That sword’s power was something everyone in the eastern palace saw. You all can make fun of me if you want, but that sword’s aura was so terrifying I almost shat my pants!”
“The full powered attack of a grandmaster is something not even a ninth ranked expert can handle...” The surrounding guards were all in disbelief. They turned to look at the tall and skinny man.
This time, he didn’t correct the dark circles guard and instead said, “Sir Eleven indeed evaded that sword without suffering any damage.”
The guards in the palace were all experts, so they naturally understood what this symbolized. All of them immediately felt great respect for this mysterious Sir Eleven.
Zu An coughed at this time and said, “Actually, I didn’t make it out unscathed. I suffered considerable internal injuries from that grandmaster’s attack. Look, am I not here for medicine?”
He was wondering how he was going to get medicine. Fortunately, these guards brought him the perfect excuse.
The group all turned their heads when they heard his voice.
The guard with the dark circles and the skinny guard immediately recognized him. They were both incredibly moved. “Sir Eleven!”
The other guards all examined this golden token envoy. So this was that mysterious Sir Eleven? He was dressed in an Embroidered Envoy attire as expected.
Seeing that the two guards were still wrapped up in gauze and clearly in bad shape, he quickly supported them to their feet. “What are you two doing? Please rise.”
The two guards were moved. “If it wasn’t for Sir Eleven, we brothers might not have been able to see today. How can we forget this life saving gratitude?”
Zu An didn’t remember who they were, as the eastern palace was too chaotic back then. He did save some guards though, and he didn’t expect these two to be two of them. “You are too polite. What should I call you two?”
He had his identity as the crown prince’s secretary as well. It was absolutely vital that he got close to these guards.
“We don’t dare treat you without courtesy! I am Piao Duandiao.” The guard with the dark circles said with a huge smile.
“I am Jiao Sigun.” The tall and skinny guard did his best to smile, but it was extremely awkward looking.
Zu An had a strange expression. “The ones who gave you your names are quite something.”[1]
Piao Duandiao and Jiao Sigun hurriedly nodded. “Haha, that’s what we thought too.”
The guards all surrounded him and asked about what happened during the battle. All of them looked at Zu An with eyes of adoration.
Zu An felt like he was on cloud nine. This hospital is my freaking paradise! The people here are so nice.
However, he didn’t forget his objective. He deliberately coughed a few times and said, “I have some injuries that need to be tended to, so I will get some medicine first.”
Piao Duandiao and Jiao Sigun immediately volunteered to help. “Sir Eleven, we’ll help you find the hospital’s commissioner assistant.”
They were imperial guards, so they would come here from time to time, making them familiar with this place.
The head of the imperial hospital was the hospital commissioner, but most of the hospital’s matters were taken care of by the left and right commissioner assistants. The one who was on duty today was the left assistant Ma An.
“Thank you.” Zu An cupped his hands.
“Sir Eleven is too courteous.” Piao Duandiao and Jiao Sigun were actually incredibly happy. This Sir Eleven wasn’t as cold and aloof as the other golden token envoys. Improving their relationship with someone like him was definitely a good thing. They might even have him as a great patron in the future.
Soon afterwards, they found the commissioner assistant. This was an elder with a goatee. He gave Zu An a glance. “May I ask where sir is injured?”
Zu An said, “I suffered a blow from that grandmaster earlier, and I feel as if my mind has become unsteady. I feel uncomfortable whenever I think too hard about something.”
“Oh my, your soul must’ve been wounded. Let me think about which medicines can heal the soul...” The commissioner assistant stroked his beard. He rarely encountered these types of patients and was left momentarily puzzled.
Zu An asked probingly, “Do you have any Five Aggregates Root?”
The commissioner assistant’s eyes lit up. “This is indeed something that can cure the soul. There were two of them that were offered up a while ago from the western barbarians.”
Zu An was overjoyed. He consulted with Yun Jianyue before coming here. There were some medicines that were too precious, so not even the imperial hospital would have them. As such, they chose some medicines that had a higher chance of being here to ask about. He didn’t expect to succeed on the first try.
But the commissioner assistant said with a frown, “But this item is extremely precious. It is something that is reserved for the empress or the prince, I fear that we cannot give it to sir.”
1. Duan = break, diao = bird, duandiao sounds like broken off. Si = thread, gun = stick or rod