Chapter 990: Golden Token Seven
Zu An replied seriously, “Respected uncle, I have other plans, but I can’t explain them right now. I hope you can excuse me for this.”
Sang Hong gave him a deep look, then said, “You’re already calling me uncle, so I naturally trust you. Since you’re saying this, I won’t ask you any more.” Does this kid think I don’t know? I was the governor of Brightmoon City before! Immortal Abode’s courtesan Qiu Honglei had quite a close relationship with him. This kid really is fickle, hmph.
When he thought of his own daughter, Sang Hong suddenly felt a bit unhappy for some reason. He then said, “I’ll pay the Governor Manor a visit now to discuss the matter of escorting the Devil Sect’s evildoer back to the capital. You’ve worked hard just now, so you should return early and rest.”
“Thank you, respected uncle.” Zu An sighed when he heard Sang Hong’s agreement.
Sang Hong called out and stopped him right when he was about to leave, adding, “Ah Zu, let me warn you that adoration in youth is natural, but you should have clear discernment in who you’re messing with. It’s best if you dob;t get too close to these women.”
Zu An immediately began to sweat buckets. Looks like I can’t fool this old man after all. He could only say, “Respected uncle’s words are wise.”
Sang Hong harrumphed in annoyance when he saw that despite Zu An’s words, his expression was still indifferent. He didn’t bother trying to advise Zu An further. Either way, Qien’er was just borrowing this man for a bit; he didn’t really have to become their son-in-law. He just needed that grandson.
Zu An returned to the port when he saw Sang Hong and his men head for the Governor Manor. Gao Ying and Pei You asked him if Sun Xun had made things hard for him at all, and he gave them a rough summary of what had happened. However, he was still worried about Qiu Honglei, so he made an excuse to return to his room for rest. Gao Ying and Pei You had tossed and turned for most of the night themselves, so they were both tired. They both went back to rest.
Zu An secretly changed into his Embroidered Envoy uniform, then went to Xiao Jianren’s room. Sang Hong, Zu An, and the others had all left, and they had needed someone to guard the ship headquarters. Xiao Jianren was naturally the best candidate.
Xiao Jianren was reading under the light, his eyes about to touch the table from how close he was to it. His nearsightedness was already incredibly bad. But he was someone who could rise above the other Embroidered Envoys, so even though his eyes weren’t great, his ears were extremely sensitive. He noticed Zu An as soon as he walked into the room, calling out, “Who?”
“It’s me!” Zu An said in a low muffled voice. “I warned you not to read at night, that your eyes can’t take it. Once we get back, we’ll get you some glass spectacles or a Lasting Lamp.”
Zu An had already inquired about those things before. The libationer’s disciples came up with all kinds of weird inventions. They had things like glasses too; however, they didn’t use the glass he was used to, but rather used a ceramic glaze. They used special runes to produce results similar to normal glasses, which was why they were extremely expensive.
As for the Lasting Lamps, the lamp Zu An had given Xie Daoyun was one; it was just a high level and precious one. Even though Zu An sympathized with Xiao Jianren, between a man and a cute girl, he would definitely choose the cute girl.
“It’s fine; I’ve already gotten used to it after all these years.” Xia Jianren placed a bookmark in the place he had just left off and carefully closed the book as if he were handling a precious treasure. “Both the glass spectacles and the Lasting Lamps from the academy are too expensive. It’s not an expense someone like me can handle.”
Zu An was left speechless as well. As a silver token envoy, his salary wasn’t that low. He could purchase one if he saved up for a few years. However, whenever he saved up even a bit of money, Xiao Jianren would always buy books. Furthermore, he read anything too. He would even enjoy the writing on the wrappings of pastries from certain restaurants for a long time. The purchase of all kinds of books made him the poorest person in the Embroidery House. He obviously wouldn’t be willing to buy the academy’s goods.
“Right, do you know where the Devil Sect is located in Yi Commandery?” Zu An didn’t forget why he had come over and quickly asked. He needed to get into contact with Yun Jianyue as quickly as possible so he could discuss how to rescue Qiu Honglei with her.
Xiao Jianren couldn't help but say, “Sir really holds me in too high regard. If the Devil Sect’s headquarters were so easily found, they would’ve already been wiped out by the court a long time ago. However, I can try to contact the local Embroidered Envoy intelligence network to see if I can find any of their locations that aren’t as important. These locations where they gather will have a spy or two there to monitor the situation; otherwise, we’d have to find the Devil Sect’s new location again if we immediately destroyed them. Of course, these locations usually don’t have much value, so I don’t know if they’ll be that useful to sir.”
“We’ll see after you find them.” Zu An had no leads either, so he could only give it a try. If push came to shove, he’d just have to go himself.
“Understood!” Xiao Jianren cupped his hands. He was just about to leave when Zu An reached out his hand to stop him.
While Xiao Jianren was confused, Zu An called out seriously, “Since your respected self has come, why don’t we meet and greet each other?”
“Is there someone here?” Xiao Jianren was horrified. He was a careful person, so he had even set up some small mechanisms nearby. His ears had always been sharp too. Only someone like Sir Eleven could enter his room without his notice; it was extremely difficult for others to escape his detection.
And now, even with Sir Eleven’s reminder, he couldn't hear any breathing, nor could he sense any ki fluctuations. Just how high did the other party’s cultivation have to be to achieve that?
A cold voice spoke from outside just then. “I was already being careful, yet you still found me out. As expected of a golden token envoy.”
A dark figure entered, pushing the window open. Xiao Jianren was about to draw his blade when he was suddenly stunned, as the dark figure removed their stealthy clothing and revealed the clothing underneath. The special dragon and cloud patterns on it could only belong to another Embroidered Envoy’s uniform. Furthermore, judging from his gilded collar, it was actually another golden token envoy!
Xiao Jianren quickly greeted them while carefully asking, “Is this Sir Seven, who’s in charge of this place’s information network?” He spent a lot of time in the Embroidery House’s archives, so he naturally knew about such things.
“Golden Token Seven?” Zu An sized up the other party curiously. After all, it had already been a long time since he had been appointed as a golden token, but this was the first time he had met another golden token envoy.
The other party’s face was covered, so there was no way to see who it was. However, his eyes were bright and expressive. Judging from the few wrinkles exposed around the corners of his eyes, Zu An could roughly discern that he was a middle-aged man. Even though his figure was smaller than average, there was an austere aura around him. It was easy to see just how important this person was from how Xiao Jianren didn’t even dare to breathe too heavily.
Zu An sensed the other party’s ki fluctuations. This person was roughly at the ninth rank. However, after experiencing all of those things, he also knew that as one’s cultivation climbed higher, ki fluctuations weren’t as accurate of a means to measure one’s true cultivation. Unless they used everything they had in a life and death situation, their normal level of ki fluctuations would vary greatly, let alone the fact that there were many artifacts or techniques that could help conceal one’s real aura.
The small middle-aged man took out a shining golden token and showed it to Zu An, saying, “Identity confirmation, Golden Token Seven.”
Embroidered Envoy items were all standardized. Outsiders couldn’t imitate them at all. That was especially true for the special runes engraved on the tokens, which other Embroidered Envoys could easily differentiate.
Xiao Jianren quickly took out his silver envoy token, but the other party didn’t even give him a look. He only continued to stare at Zu An. His intentions were clear. This is a conversation between high ranking officers; step off to the side.
Zu An took out his own Golden Token Eleven token to confirm his identity. Golden Token Seven thus sighed in relief. However, his brow quickly furrowed as he asked, “Why is your cultivation so low?”
Zu An had Concubine Bai’s spice bag. Together with the Mirror Mirage technique he cultivated, it was difficult for others to see his true cultivation. He said indifferently, “It’s enough as long as I can defeat those I want to deal with.”
Golden Token Seven couldn't help but give the other party a look. This fellow only had six levels of cultivation, yet his speech was definitely quite arrogant. But he admired such a temperament. If the other party were a yes-man, it would instead lower the prestige of all of the golden token envoys. If this person’s cultivation was so low, that meant his majesty and the chief commander valued other aspects of him.
“I came here to ask you all for help in the investigation of a certain matter.” Golden Token Seven slowly explained his purpose for coming.