Chapter 794: The Shadow Group’s Master
Translator: Pika
Mi Li was completely speechless. She harrumphed in annoyance. “She’s nothing but a vixen after all. She still seduces men by instinct even if she doesn’t have a soul!”
Daji seemed as if she hadn’t heard anything and continued to kneel like that in front of Zu An, her gorgeous eyes staring pitifully at him.
Mi Li looked at Zu An with an ambiguous smile. “How much longer are you going to make her maintain that stance? Should I leave and let the two of you have your fun first?”
Zu An’s face heated up. He quickly calmed himself down and sent the two Ki Condensation Pills into Daji’s mouth. However, he didn’t know if it was intentional or not, but her tongue seemed to have touched his fingers when she took the pills.
Zu An felt his blood begin to boil. However, he wasn’t some inexperienced kid, so he quickly calmed himself down. He took out the four dragon scales that he had already prepared beforehand, asking, “What do I do with this? Do I have to make her eat them too?”
Raising Daji’s Fox Charm from the first to second level needed two Ki Condensation Pills, four dragon scales, and ten thousand silver. He really didn’t understand why silver was needed. Who was he even paying here?
“How should I know?” Mi Li snorted. She turned around in a somewhat rigid manner. She thought to herself, This fella’s zodiac sign is definitely a donkey, and that girl is just a good-for-nothing slut.
Zu An checked the system. It didn’t explain the exact process.
Daji slowly stood up. Her beautiful snow-white cheeks seemed to become a bit more rosy after swallowing the two pills, making her appear even more stunning. She took the four dragon scales from Zu An, and then she placed the scales north, south, east, and west of her. Then, she reached out toward Zu An with her fair, jade-like palm, looking at him with her pitiful eyes again.
Mi Li frowned. Did this woman really not have a soul? Her eyes looked very much alive! There was no difference from an ordinary person at all! But she had checked Daji’s body before, and she couldn't sense any soul inside.
Zu An realized what was happening and took out a ten thousand silver note, asking, “Is this what you want?” However, Daji didn’t take it, and continued to stare at him.
Mi Li said, “I think she needs ten thousand silver taels and not a silver note. Silver is probably the medium for some kind of mysterious power, or maybe it’s the energy source she needs to begin with.” Her cultivation was profound, after all, and she had read extensively in the past. She quickly reached that conclusion.
Zu An realized what she was saying as well. He took out ten thousand silver taels from his Brilliant Glass Bead’s storage. He had the treasure he had taken from the red dragon’s nest, and there were also all of the goods he had been awarded in the imperial palace. Ten thousand silver taels weren’t too difficult to bring out.
Sure enough, Daji took the silver taels when he brought them out. She arranged the silver in a ring around her, and then sat down at the very center. They could sense the aura of the Ki Condensation Pills coming out of her body. Then, streaks of light swirled about. Four dragon scales lit up, and then the outer ring of silver also started to shine.
“Is this a ripple of ki, or something else?” Zu An asked Mi Li out of curiosity. He could sense a strange aura. It wasn’t quite like ki, but it wasn’t primordial energy either.
Mi Li shook her head. “This is probably a type of cultivation we don’t understand. Sigh, the universe is so great; there are too many things that are worth exploring.” A zealous look appeared in her eyes as she spoke.
Zu An had almost forgotten that this woman was also a bookworm! After all, anyone who could read through the Qin royal family’s entire library was definitely not messing around.
The silver around Daji slowly disappeared, and it was hard to describe how it was vanishing. It didn’t disappear instantly, nor did it dissolve bit by bit. It was as if it were disappearing without anyone’s notice. It was the same for the dragon scales.
Eventually, everything disappeared. There were rings of smoke around Daji, as if her entire body were immersed in mist. The smoke quickly lessened, in the end seemingly merging into Daji. Her eyes had already opened.
Zu An was startled. He could already sense the improvement in Daji’s skill.
Fox Charm, level two. It allowed her to temporarily control a target of the same cultivation level.
“I hope this is enough.” Zu An was a bit nervous. This wasn’t a videogame where he could see Ma An’s exact cultivation. He had to guess.
Mi Li said, “Don’t worry, their cultivation was about the same, and Ma An was already almost controlled before, so I don’t believe their cultivation levels are too different. I’m sure Daji’s skill will work now.”
Zu An became more confident when he heard the assurance in her voice. He dragged Ma An over and undid his seal. Then, he poured a bucket of cold water over him.
“Who, what?!” Ma An’s consciousness wasn’t too clear right after he woke up. However, the weakness he felt from his body made him gradually recall what had happened. He did his best to remain calm. “You should just give up; you won’t obtain any useful information from my mouth! But if you let me go, I guess I can just let bygones be bygones. I’ll just let today’s matter go.”
“Do you think I’m an idiot, or are you an idiot? Do you really think I’ll believe something like that?” Zu An rolled his eyes.
“If you don’t believe me, then I can use a secret acupuncture method that will make me forget about the things that happened today. That’s why there won’t be any danger for you.” Ma An quickly said. His instinct to survive was making him exert himself like this one last time.
“There’s no need to go through all that trouble.” Zu An waved his hands and gestured for Daji to come over.
Ma An harrumphed when he saw the gorgeous woman. “You still want to use her against me? Forget it...” Suddenly, he was stunned halfway through his sentence. The only thing left in his world were her beautiful eyes, her every frown and smile.
“It succeeded!” Mi Li said excitedly when she saw Ma An. With her experience, she was able to tell that his will had been completely controlled.
Zu An sighed in relief. He quickly asked who the one behind Ma An was.
Ma An shook his head somewhat rigidly. “It isn’t King Qi; it’s master.”
“Who is your master?” Zu An frowned. Why had Ma An called him master?
“Master is from the Shadow Group,” Ma An instinctively replied.
“Shadow Group!” Zu An was alarmed. This wasn’t the first time he had heard that name. Back then, Qiao Xueying had also mentioned this organization. For the sake of saving her clansmen, she had joined the Shadow Group, and he had also faced their assassins in the past himself. He only knew that this was one of the world’s most mysterious organizations.
“Who is the master of the Shadow Group?” Zu An immediately asked.
“I don’t know.” Ma An’s eyes were expressionless. “The Shadow Group’s master has never revealed his true appearance to others; he has always been shrouded within a dark mist. No one in this world knows his true identity.”
Zu An frowned. “Then what else do you know about him?”
Ma An replied, “My guess is that he might be someone in the imperial palace.”
“Someone in the imperial palace?” Zu An had only been asking about the master out of curiosity, and didn’t care that much about who he was. After all, no matter how mysterious he was, he was only the boss of an assassin organization. He didn’t have much of an influence on the court.
Yet now, when he heard the other party might actually be someone from the imperial palace, he immediately felt a chill run down his back. He had spent this recent period in the imperial palace after all, yet he didn’t sense anyone who could be the master of the Shadow Group.
What was even more appalling was that the imperial palace was the emperor’s domain. The Shadow Group had actually managed to hide in the palace under the emperor’s very eyes?
That meant that one possibility was that the master of the Shadow Group was someone working for the emperor. But if this was the case, why would they accept the mission to assassinate Zu An? Back then, the emperor had been waiting for Zu An’s Phoenix Nirvana Sutra, so the chances of the two of them being on the same side weren’t too great.
This meant that there could only be one possibility, which was that the Shadow Group’s master had a different status that allowed him to stay in the imperial palace properly. Only then could he avoid drawing the emperor’s suspicion.
But who was this person? Eunuch Wen? Zhuxie Chixin? The Empress? Eunuch Lu? Guo Zhi? What about the crown princess, or Concubine Bai? Or maybe it was a plain palace maid or guard?
Faces appeared in Zu An’s mind one after another. It was to the extent that even the ordinary Piao Duandiao and Jiao Sigun appeared in his head.
Zu An felt goosebumps. He knew that if there really was this sort of powerful figure in the palace with him, then that expert might have his eyes on him 24/7. None of his movements would escape notice...
It was one thing if his identity as Golden Token Eleven were exposed. But he had helped Qiao Xueying and Hong Qiulei leave, and then he had saved Yun Jianyue; furthermore, he had even spent a night with the empress... Even one of these deeds was enough to have him killed many times over. If the other party knew about these things, then they would have him by the throat. Wouldn’t his life or death be completely decided by that person’s whims?