Chapter 707: End of the Line
Translator: Pika
The crown princess felt her heart sink to rock bottom. These Imperial Palace guards were all around the fourth and fifth rank, and their armors and weapons were standardized with rune formations. Their armor could block the full force blow of someone at the sixth rank, and they could greatly diminish the power of a seventh ranked expert.
The blades also had different elements. When they worked together, regardless of what kind of element their opponent was, they could still cut through their elemental barriers.
Together with their formation tactics, they could easily take down a sixth rank expert, and they had a good chance against a seventh rank cultivator.
Regardless, they were going to be tangled up by these soldiers for a while. Other soldiers were closing in after receiving news as well. Once they arrived, there would be no hope left.
The crown princess clenched her teeth and said, “Let me go. We’ll fight together!”
She couldn’t even be bothered with the fact that she was naked right now. Once she faced them, these guards would see everything.
If they couldn’t deal with these people as quickly as possible, more people would end up seeing her current state. She might as well just go all out now.
Zu An didn’t pay her any attention. Instead, the Poisonous Prick appeared in his hands with a flick of his wrist. Then, he used the Sunflower Phantasm to weave about. He turned into countless afterimages. Those guards’ armors didn’t seem to offer any resistance at all and were cut through like paper.
He didn’t choose to hit the exposed hands or necks, because those targets were too small. He needed to kill with a single blow, and what he lacked the most right now was time.
Those guards trusted their defenses too much, to the extent where they were fighting with the intent of taking damage themselves. However, how could they have predicted that the dagger would cut through them like nothing? It could even cut through a powerful expert’s elemental barrier, let alone their armors.
Those guards felt like they were only slightly injured, so they completely ignored the damage. They planned to surround and take this guy down.
However, their bodies suddenly went stiff. Then, many black, cryptic runes spread out from their injuries. Everything went dark, and then they collapsed.
Zu An didn’t dare hold back during this moment of crisis. These guards appeared so quickly as well, so they were definitely part of this trap. There was no reason for him to hold back.
The crown princess’ beautiful eyes widened. She was thinking about how she should join hands with him to take them out a second ago, yet a second later, he already took care of these people!
“How did you do it?” Even though this wasn’t the time to be worried about this, she still couldn’t help but ask this.
After all, the report stated that his cultivation was only around the fifth or sixth level. Even though she found out that he defeated the eighth ranked Zhao Zhi, everyone believed that it wasn’t his own strength that defeated King Qi’s heir, but rather that there was a mysterious expert who helped him. Furthermore, that Zhao Zhi was always incredibly arrogant, so this result was probably because he underestimated his opponent.
Now that she witnessed this scene herself, the crown princess felt like she had to reassess this man’s strength.
Zu An didn’t reply and instead gave those guards a look. Then, he reached out his hand, sucking their corpses into the Brilliant Glass Bead.
“Spatial storage!” The crown princess was a knowledgeable person. She immediately thought to herself that spatial storages were usually not large at all. It would be hard to store the bodies of four large men. This man actually had this type of treasure on him too!
She reacted quickly and said, “Why are you storing them? Hurry and store me inside too!”
Right now, she only wanted a safe place to hide in. If she could hide in a storage space, then she wouldn’t be discovered.
Zu An said impatiently, “Spatial storages can’t store living things. If you want to become a corpse, then be my guest.”
The crown princess bit her lip, and then she said, “If there really is no choice, then just store me inside! I would rather be a corpse than be seen like this!”
Whether or not she could still remain the crown princess was secondary to her current appearance. How was she supposed to continue living if she was exposed in front of the public without any clothes on? Let alone the fact that she would be dragging down the Bi clan. She would rather just die and end all of the troubles.
Zu An was shocked. He could roughly guess at her intentions. Sigh, the women of this world all cared greatly about the honor and glory of their clans.
For the sake of her family, Chuyan chose to take in a good-for-nothing piece of trash. Zheng Dan married into the Sang clan for the Zheng clan. Now, the crown princess was even willing to sacrifice herself for the sake of her clan.
He didn’t stay here. Instead, he continued to run with the crown princess in his arms.
“Return to the eastern palace!” The crown princess immediately said. She knew that since Concubine Bai was targeting her, these weren’t the only people they had to deal with. They would send people towards the eastern palace as well to prove that she wasn’t there. The best way of erasing all suspicion is to return to the Eastern Palace. This way, as long as she refused to admit to anything, then all of her efforts to frame her would become meaningless.
“Fine!” Zu An rushed in that direction.
There were people everywhere in their path, yet he always seemed to be able to avoid them ahead of time, as if he knew where they were.
There were several times where the crown princess felt like her heart was jumping up to her throat. However, when she saw that he was able to evade them all, she couldn’t help but sigh in relief.
She finally had a chance to raise her head and look at him. She suddenly discovered that this fella was quite handsome. His jawline was sharp, and his expression was firm. It gave one a strange feeling of security.
She thought to herself, how great would it be if this guy was like this normally as well? He just has to put on that stupid shameless appearance. It really takes away from his bearing.
The crown princess felt her heart begin to beat frantically like never before. She didn’t know if it was because of the suspension bridge effect, but she subconsciously moved herself a bit closer to his chest.
His arms feel as warm as Sir Eleven’s…
She immediately strangled this thought as soon as it emerged. How is this possible?! How can he compare to Sir Eleven…
But he really does have the ability!
Zu An didn’t have the leisure of paying attention to her expression at all. Right now, he was a hundred and twenty percent focused. He used the jade badge to control the nearby creatures, borrowing their eyes to observe the guards around him.
It was as if he had a radar map in his head. That was why he was able to avoid these guards each time.
But the disturbance was getting greater and greater. More and more guards rushed over when they heard the news. There was less and less space for him to move around in.
There were several times where he would’ve been discovered if he moved half a second too slow.
But luck wouldn’t favor him forever. There was once where he finally couldn’t help but be seen by a guard. Even though it didn’t take much time for him to get rid of them, he still lost the chance to break out of the encirclement… In reality, the security in the imperial palace was extremely strict. That so-called chance never existed. It was merely a matter of being discovered sooner versus later.
Zu An leapt into a rock guarden’s shadows with the crown princess in hand. He gasped for breath. He exhausted a lot of stamina from running for his life just now. Both his ki and mind had been taxed like never before.
“Is there no way out?” The crown princess was a smart person as well. She immediately reacted.
“Yeah.” Zu An’s face was grave. More and more guards were flocking over, and there were no more gaps to exploit. He could only wait for an opportunity now.
The crown princess’ face was pale. Suddenly, she set her resolution and said, “You should just kill me, and then store me in the spatial storage. You might be able to get out if you’re by yourself.”
She wasn’t making a heroic sacrifice. It was because she knew that with how she looked right now, she couldn’t meet with anyone.
Zu An thought to himself. He thought about using Keyboard Come to see if he could say that the crown princess was currently in the eastern palace and teleport her over this way. However, he didn’t know what kind of price his soul had to pay to accomplish this.
After all, his head felt like it was splitting just from saying someone’s pants fell. He didn’t reach the grandmaster level yet and didn’t condense his soul. Keyboard Come wasn’t a skill he could use carelessly.
He was worried that if he sent the crown princess to the eastern palace, then he might just die on the spot. He didn’t dare take this risk.
Then, he thought about making a set of clothes for the crown princess. This way, they might be able to bluff their way out.
But he didn’t know what kind of clothes the crown princess wore. He wanted to use Keyboard Come, but he couldn’t picture a set of her clothes clearly.
He gradually understood that Keyboard Come, to a certain extent, was a realization of his thoughts. The reason why he could make Golden Token Eleven’s uniform out of thin air was because he wore it every day, so he understood the details.
But the crown princess’ clothes…
According to the palace rules, it was disrespectful for an official to even give the women of the royal family even a second look. Even though Zu An was daring and glanced at her a few more times, he never wore it himself, so how could he possibly know the details of her clothes? He naturally couldn’t make a complete set for her.
He was always confused why the ones who framed them took their clothes. He originally thought that this would make the situation look a bit too forced.
But now, he finally understood. Who cares if it is a trap or not? The key is that the crown princess cannot be seen with another man naked! As long as they accomplished this, then they already achieved their goal. That was why they wouldn’t allow any variables and would rather others suspect that their clothes were stolen.
Zu An’s expression suddenly changed when he thought of this. It was because he saw Zhuxie Chixin walk this way through the view of the small creatures around them.
He could deal with ordinary guards, but against a grandmaster like Zhuxie Chixin… he didn’t have any confidence.