Chapter 991: A Crafty Escape Plan
“What are you investigating?” Zu An’s expression was somewhat serious. After all, even though golden token envoys weren’t forbidden from interacting, they rarely met with each other. If the other party had taken the initiative to meet him, that meant it was definitely not a small matter.
Unfortunately, he was completely preoccupied with Qiu Honglei’s matter at the moment. He wasn’t in the mood to listen to Golden Token Seven’s issue. Of course, since he had brought it up, there was no way he could refuse. He could only listen for the time being. Then, he would just leave Xiao Jianren and the others to follow up, while he himself would deal with it once he had some free time.
Golden Token Seven opened his mouth. After some hesitation, he said, “I have a suspicion. However, I still don’t have any proof and need to investigate further to know for certain.”
Zu An could sense his hesitation. The other party didn’t fully trust the two of them yet, and the matter might be extremely important. Without more of a guarantee he could trust, he might easily be bringing himself trouble.
This world wasn’t like his previous world where one could easily cancel someone specifically with just a few tweets. There were too many individuals in this world that couldn't be offended. Furthermore, it was also expressly stipulated that accusing aristocrats and important ministers without proof was a huge crime. The more serious punishments could even amount to clan eradication.
“Could it be that it involves King Yan?” Zu An didn’t want to bother with this matter. But if it did have to do with King Yan, he would try and see if he could use it as a way to save Qiu Honglei.
Golden Token Seven gave him a look and replied, “No. Don’t make random guesses, or else you’ll be inviting trouble onto yourself.”
“But you’re not even speaking in detail, so how am I supposed to help?” Zu An shrugged when he saw how the other party was deliberately mystifying the matter. He already planned to ignore it.
But Golden Token Seven’s next words almost made Zu An jump in alarm. “Help me rescue the Devil Sect’s Saintess.”
Zu An was stunned. He was overjoyed to hear that, but on the surface, his expression instead darkened. “What are you saying? Don’t you know that colluding with the Devil Sect is a crime punishable by clan eradication?” Is this guy testing me?
“Of course I know, but I don’t have anything to do with the Devil Sect, nor am I doing this to save her. Rather, I’m doing this to confirm one thing,” Golden Token Seven explained.
“This matter involves too much, so please forgive me for not joining in on it. But since we’re both golden token envoys, I won’t report this. Please act accordingly on your own.” Zu An felt extremely conflicted inside, but he didn’t know what the other party was really thinking and thus couldn’t agree so easily.
Sure enough, Golden Token Seven also realized that Zu An probably wouldn’t help if he didn’t tell him anything else. He could only say, “Alright, to be honest, I need to catch the Devil Sect’s Saintess to personally ask her something.”
Zu An asked, “Isn’t she currently in King Yan Manor? King Yan’s people have already interrogated her, and she’ll soon be brought to the capital. Why do you need to interrogate her yourself? Could it be… that you don’t trust King Yan?”
Golden Token Seven was a bit surprised. He clearly hadn’t expected Zu An to know so many details already. His opinion of Zu An immediately changed. He said, “Once we interrogate the Devil Sect’s Saintess and prove some of my thoughts, I’ll tell you everything that has happened. This matter will earn tremendous contributions that will be enjoyed by both of us. However, this is also a huge matter that could easily lead to terrible consequences if executed poorly. That’s why I hope for your understanding right now.”
“This…” Zu An still pretended to refuse. “This matter is too dangerous. There will definitely be heavy security around the Devil Sect’s Saintess.”
Golden Token Seven said, “You don’t need to worry about that. I won’t make you take the risk. I’ll face them head on and draw their attention. You’ll take that chance to leave with the Devil Sect’s Saintess.”
Zu An couldn't be happier. This was simply a gift from the heavens! However, he still couldn’t lower his guard. He asked, “But what if you use this as a chance to frame me?”
“We’ve never associated with each other before, and the golden token envoys each manage a separate area. We don’t have any clash of interests between us either, so why would I try to frame you?” Golden Token Seven gave the shuddering Xiao Jianren a look. “I never made this person leave. Can’t you see I did that to leave behind another witness to help you feel more at ease?”
Xiao Jianren had a bitter expression on his face. He really wished he hadn’t heard a single thing from start to finish. This was a huge matter that even made golden token envoys feel danger, so wouldn’t he die many times over if he got involved?
Since the other party was already going this far, Zu An nodded and said, “Fine, I can help you.” He had planned to save Qiu Honglei himself anyway. He was obviously happy to have another helper.
Golden Token Seven cupped his hands and said, “Good; I’ll owe you a favor because of this. As long as it’s not something that goes too far, I’ll do everything I can to help you once.”
Xiao Jianren looked surprised. This was a serious promise! Even though the other party hadn’t explicitly said he was willing to break the law, it was obvious that he was willing to help even to that extent.
It was easy to see just how much this matter bothered Golden Token Seven. He was even willing to make a promise like that. Xiao Jianren began to tremble all over when he thought of that. Was he going to be silenced by these two after the matter was resolved?
Zu An cupped his hands and said, “Much appreciated. When will we act?”
Golden Token Seven replied, “I still need to look into their escort path. I’ll contact you once I have more information.”
Zu An pointed at Xiao Jianren. “You can just pass on the message to him if you can’t find me.”
Xiao Jianren was immediately overwhelmed by the favor. Sir Eleven really thinks highly of me! He even handed such an important matter to me!
Golden Token Seven didn’t feel any suspicion. Golden token envoys usually worked in the shadows, so it was common for them to not be able to find each other. Having someone act as an intermediary was a good thing. As such, he gave the other two a nod before pushing open the window and disappearing into the darkness without any noise. It was easy to see just how high his cultivation was.
“Sir Eleven…” After Golden Token Seven left, Xiao Jianren wanted to say something, but then hesitated.
Zu An patted his shoulder and said, “Don’t worry, I won’t silence you afterward. I’m not that type of person.”
Xiao Jianren sighed in relief. He had already forgotten when it started, but as an Embroidered Envoy, he was used to mutual deception. And yet, when he heard what Sir Eleven said, he felt a mysterious feeling of trust.
…
Zu An secretly left after consoling him. However, he didn’t go back to his room to sleep, and instead went into the city. He found the Devil Sect’s hiding spot according to the information Xiao Jianren had given him. He couldn't place all of his eggs in one basket; thus, he needed to contact Yun Jianyue first.
This gathering spot was a tavern. It was already late into the night, so of course it was already closed. However, Zu An didn’t have any misgivings and charged straight in. He quickly detained the people inside. Apart from the tavern boss, there were two other assistants. He didn’t waste any time and questioned them separately.
At first, they refused to talk, but Zu An naturally had his reason for using force. He summoned Daji. These individuals’ cultivation ranks weren’t high; thus, they were quickly knocked out by Daji’s Fox Charm skill.
But even after all of that, he discovered that they were all small fry. They didn’t know how to contact the Devil Sect’s upper echelon. Every so often, the Devil Sect would contact them to collect some intelligence, but that was completely a unilateral form of communication. Furthermore, their actions were extremely secretive. Not even the people from this tavern knew who came to take the information.
The most important part was that the last time they had collected information was three days prior, and it would be another ten days at the earliest before the Devil Sect would come back. How could Zu An wait for that long?
Daji erased their memories of what had just happened and knocked them unconscious. Zu An could only helplessly return to the imperial envoy fleet.
Sang Hong also came back with his men soon afterward, and sought out Zu An to discuss some things. “I just met with Governor Zhang. He originally wasn’t willing to do this, but because of my appearance, the pressure from King Yan’s side, and the fact that some local officials want this opportunity to accumulate contributions and thus urged him to accept this mission, he still agreed in the end.
“He’s worried that the longer they wait, the more variables there will be. Those from the Devil Sect might realize what’s happening. That’s why they’ll escort the prisoner out tomorrow at noon.”
Zu An was shocked. “Tomorrow at noon?” Half a day of time really was too rushed for the Governor Manor.
“Indeed. When the time comes, Governor Zhang will march over with his men to visit the sick King Yan, using that chance to move Qiu Honglei from the manor’s prison to his own fleet. This way, when his men leave the city, those from the Devil Sect won’t realize that Qiu Honglei is already no longer in King Yan Manor. By the time they react, the procession will already be a thousand miles away. At that point, it will be too late for the Devil Sect to put together a rescue group.” Sang Hong sighed and said, “That Governor Zhang really is quite something. He actually thought of something like this in such a short amount of time.”
“He is indeed formidable.” Zu An felt a bit of a headache. Would he really be able to rescue Qiu Honglei with just Golden Token Seven, and without the Devil Sect’s people diverting attention?
“Who’s in charge of the escort?” Zu An wanted to take the chance to get more information. The more he knew, the more assurance he would have.
“Yi Commandery’s Martial Supervisor Yang Sheng, an expert at the initial stage of the ninth rank. Yi Commandery’s City Lord Liao Ling, a cultivator at the peak of the seventh rank, is also going with him. I don’t know about the other officers and guards.” Sang Hong looked at Zu An as he said that, as if warning him to be careful.
Zu An knew that the governor was the most authoritative figure of a commandery, and that the Martial Supervisor was the highest military officer. They were similar to the highest officers of each geographical area of command in his previous world. He asked, “Why do these Yi Commandery officials’ cultivation ranks seem much higher compared to similarly ranked officials from other commanderies?”
After all, the governors and martial supervisors of other commanderies were only at the eighth rank. The city lords were usually only at the seventh rank too. Yi Commandery was clearly much different.
Sang Hong gave the distant King Yan Manor a look and began, “That’s a long story. Yi Commandery, this place, is a bit special…”