Chapter 1538: Intrusion of Bad Guys

Zu An flew quickly through the sky on the Wind Fire Wheels. When he saw the white clouds all around him, he was deeply moved. The Wind Fire Wheels had practically no offensive power, but their function was just too powerful! They pretty much turned the user into a private jet.

In truth, all cultivators above the master rank could fly, but unless they reached the earth immortal rank, they could not keep flying forever. Furthermore, this world was much bigger than Zu An’s previous one. It was not something a master rank could traverse quickly. Such a distance was something that only an earth immortal, who could ignore the limitations of space to some extent, could move freely through. As such, the Wind Fire Wheels actually increased his mobility tremendously.

Zu An thought about the many things he had to take care of back in the capital. He had been away for too long without exchanging any letters. His friends were definitely worried sick.

Right, I have to deliver a message for the Peacock Wise King.

He recalled the situation from a few days ago when he had visited the Peacock King Manor. From here on out, he needed the Peacock Wise King’s support to ensure the stability of the Fiend King Court. Considering the friendship he had with Kong Nanwu and Kong Qing, the Peacock Wise King was naturally someone deserving of a large investment.

When he arrived at the Peacock King Manor, however, the Peacock Wise King wasn’t at home. Instead, Kong Qing, Paper Bride, and his other old acquaintances who had emerged to receive him with great hospitality. When they thought back to how they had almost killed each other back in Cloudcenter Commandery, and yet were now friends, that left them quite moved.

Paper Bride, in particular, had mysterious skills. She was quite beautiful herself. If he hadn’t been busy all this time, Zu An would likely have tried to get closer to her. Her Paper Puppet Technique was quite unique.

After they talked for a while, the Peacock Wise King finally received news of Zu An’s arrival and hurriedly rushed over. In many situations, such a small detail was already enough to know what kind of attitude a person had toward someone. It was obvious that the Peacock Wise King was showing Zu An the highest level of courtesy, so Zu An naturally returned the favor. They all chatted with each other happily.

The Peacock Wise King soon discovered that what he could obtain from Zu An was even greater than what he had received from the late Fiend Emperor. He naturally found Zu An more and more pleasing as time went on.

Later, when he heard that Zu An was going to leave for a while, he immediately struck his own chest, guaranteeing that he would do his best to support the Second Empress and the young prince. At the same time, he entrusted Zu An with contacting his daughter Kong Nanwu on the human side, telling her not to hurry to return to the fiend side. At the moment, she still bore the reputation of being the former Crown Princess. Even though they hadn’t truly gotten married, many people among the Fiend races knew about the engagement.

If she returned to the fiend side now, those with ulterior motives could abuse the situation. They could potentially ask for her to remain faithful to the Crown Prince and be buried with him or something like that. At that point, the Peacock race would be in a really tough spot. As such, it would be best for Kong Nanwu to stay on the human side for some time. Once the storm passed, the Peacock Wise King would find another clan to marry Kong Nanwu off to.

Furthermore, the king had entrusted Zu An with the task of taking care of Kong Nanwu. Even though his daughter had always been quite sharp, and her cultivation wasn’t low either, the human race was full of powerful cultivators. If her real identity were ever revealed, she would still be in danger.

Meanwhile, Zu An’s performance on that night had already won the Peacock Wise King’s complete respect. He already treated Zu An as an equal. Asking Zu An to pay some attention to a junior was no doubt within his capability.

Zu An naturally agreed to that. Forget about anything else; after Kong Nanwu had given him that special feather in the past, there was no way he would let anything happen to her.

Furthermore, the Peacock Wise King was a smart individual. His first reason for entrusting her to Zu An’s care was that he really was worried that something would happen to his daughter; the second was that it was like a transaction, so Zu An could feel at ease about the Fiend King Court.

Still, Zu An could never have expected that he had still underestimated the Peacock Wise King. The king had a third reason, but that was something he would only find out about in the future…

…

Apart from that, the most important thing was Sang Hong’s situation. Zu An had tried to contact him several times, but the call never went through. He was now almost certain that something had happened on the other side.

Even before factoring in Zheng Dan and Sang Qien, he and Sang Hong had already formed a relationship equal in value to master and disciple, perhaps even a close friendship. As such, when Zu An suspected that something had happened, not even the Fiend King Court’s beauties or the glory and splendor of his new Regent identity could keep him on the fiend side. He quickly rushed back.

Zu An wasn’t even in the mood to enjoy the view of the mountains and rivers along the way; he just wanted to get back as quickly as possible. According to the information he obtained from different channels, Sang Hong’s group should have been about to reach the capital. As such, the location of the incident likely wouldn’t be too far away either.

After flying tirelessly for several days in a row, he finally reached the human side. He clearly sensed that the climate there was much warmer. He sighed in amazement. No wonder the Fiend races’ culture was tougher. They lived in a far harsher land and had to survive in such an environment; thus, they had to be much tougher in order to thrive.

Zu An continued flying for several more days before finally reaching a spot that wasn’t too far from the capital. Along the way, he retraced the path the Imperial Envoy had been scheduled to take, eventually arriving at Silkworm City.

After a brief investigation, his expression turned ugly. The common people were still discussing what had happened that night. They talked about how a huge fire had suddenly broken out in the middle of the night by the relay station, and how all of the Imperial Envoy’s people had been burned to death inside. Some claimed there were still survivors, while others made rather far-fetched claims, claiming that the Imperial Envoy uncovered some conspiracies set by the local officials, so the local officials had risked it all and tried to destroy the Imperial Envoy.

The common people’s information was too inconsistent, however. When Zu An got a rough sense of what had happened, he looked for the local authorities. Of course, he didn’t use his personal identity, but rather the Embroidered Envoy title. That identity was far better at intimidating the officials.

However, he only learned that a group of Embroidered Envoys had arrived to investigate a few days prior, then brought all of the evidence and involved personnel to the capital. Furthermore, the official who was in charge of the relay station had been burnt to a crisp in the flames. Silkworm City’s County Magistrate had been locked up, but he had died in prison. They didn’t know whether he had committed suicide to escape punishment or if someone had silenced him.

The only useful piece of information Zu An obtained was from the many charred corpses found in the wreckage. When he compared them to the information he had, he recognized a large portion of them to be the relay station and Imperial Envoy’s personnel. He didn’t find Sang Hong’s corpse among them.

Zu An sighed in relief. Even though things boded ill for Sang Hong, as long as there was no proof of his death at the scene, there was still hope.

Then, he realized he couldn't find anything else, so he decided to return to the capital first, heading there directly. By the time he arrived in the capital’s vicinity, the sky had already brightened again; he quickly found a spot to land outside the city gates.

There were countless strong people in the capital, as well as the city defenses and all kinds of defensive formations. Flying straight in would immediately bring forth huge retaliation from the city defense formations. As such, no matter how incredible any visitors were, none of them dared to fly brazenly in.

Zu An gazed at the grand city walls in the distance. Whether it was the city outskirts or the lively scenes from inside, such as the commoners selling vegetables or the merchants carrying large amounts of goods… All of it seemed to continue almost endlessly.

When he saw all that, Zu An suddenly felt as if he were gazing upon a scene from a lifetime ago. It was like a different world when compared with the cold scenery of the fiend side. He thought, As expected, it’s still the human side that’s better… No wonder Yu Yanluo still has lingering feelings about this place.

Zu An was worried that someone with ill intentions would recognize him. As such, he put on an ordinary face before entering the city.

…

𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Meanwhile, at Sang Manor, a group of bailiffs roughly kicked the door aside. Then, a group of men stormed in and searched the area like wild animals. The entire manor was thrown into disarray.

“What are you all doing?” a voice called out.

Two beautiful figures supported each other. One was a beautiful young lady; her sole weak point seemed to be that her waist seemed to be a bit wide. The other was an elegant and beautiful woman dressed in a married woman’s outfit. The two really were like twin lotus flowers on a stalk, each having their own charm.

The eyes of the one leading the charge lit up.