Chapter 1983: Information

Zu An called her several times, but the other side never picked up.

A recording mirror was often connected to one’s soul. Even if it was placed in a storage pouch, they would still immediately sense it. There were several possible explanations for the situation. It could be that Yun Jianyue didn’t have enough ki stones to operate the recording mirror, or it could be that she wasn’t in a situation where she could pick up the call. It could even be that she was seriously injured and unconscious, so she couldn't sense the call.

Yun Jianyue was a sect master,, so how could she not have enough ki stones to connect the call? That meant it had to be one of the latter two.

Zu An immediately felt nervous when he realized that. He sent some people to call over the Embroidered Envoy to check if they had any intelligence regarding the Devil Sect.

While waiting, he thought a bit to himself, then contacted Yan Xuehen’s recording mirror. He first had to contact the White Jade Sect and let them know about the monsters’ invasion.

This time, the call connected quickly. The mirror rippled, and a cold-looking woman appeared in the mirror. She was also stunned when she saw him, saying, “I thought that the court needed me for something.”

This was the court’s public account, and Yan Xuehen was the sect master of the White Jade Sect, so she naturally had some connections with the officials.

“Would you not have answered if you knew it was me?” Zu An replied with a sigh.

Yan Xuehen didn’t reply. Instead, her eyes sparkled and she seemed to be looking behind him.

Zu An continued, “Don’t worry, I'm the only one in the room right now. No one else can listen in on our conversation.”

With his current identity, no one would dare to stay behind if he said he was going to discuss some secret matters.

Yan Xuehen’s face turned a bit red, saying, “The two of us are completely innocent. What would we talk about that others could not listen in on?”

Zu An was speechless. This woman clearly cared a lot, and yet she just refused to admit it. If it were any other time, he would at least use the chance to tease her a bit, but he wasn’t in the mood today. He decided to just tell her about the spatial rift and the monsters’ invasion.

Yan Xuehen’s expression changed. She asked, “Does this mean that the end of the world is coming?”

“The situation isn’t that bad…” Zu An said, then gave her a rough summary of what had happened on the court's side. “We’ve discovered a few more spatial rifts, but the court’s experts swiftly put an end to them. The only strange part is that none of those rifts produced anything as strong as the War Priest again.”

Yan Xuehen asked gravely, “Could it be that they're trying to lower our guard, but then if everyone relaxes a bit, those powerful beings will invade again?”

“That’s not entirely impossible,” Zu An said; he was quite troubled as well. “But it’s also unlikely. It’s not too realistic to try and make everyone nervous.”

Yan Xuehen thought for a bit, then said, “Exorcising evil is a duty of the daoists, so the daoists will contribute our part. We'll assign our disciples to patrol the secret dungeons of the world.”

Zu An was stunned. He previously hadn't thought of that. After all, over the past few decades, the court’s policies regarding the daoists had always been more restrictive for fear that they would become giants again the way they had in the past. After decades of that, the daoists were now much weaker than when they were at their strongest.

Even so, a weakened camel was still bigger than a horse. The daoists still had many experts and talents.

Zhao Han had been on guard against the daoist sects, but Zu An didn’t share those motives. Putting aside his own personal friendships with them, for the sake of fighting against the monster invasion, there was no reason to restrict the daoists at all.

After thinking through all of those things, Zu An nodded and said, “Good. With the daoists moving out as well, I'll send some of the academy’s people to get in touch with you all. We’ll say that this is all in the name of collaboration with the Royal Academy.”

The court had been on guard against the daoists for too long, after all. If they were too extreme here, it would easily incur the retaliation of some stubborn factions in the court.

Yan Xuehen was stunned. She asked, “You don’t need to discuss this matter with the empress dowager and empress first?” She naturally knew just how large of a matter this was. At that moment, she was feeling a bit of disbelief.

“There’s no need,” Zu An said, waving his hand. That kind of decision was still something he could take care of.

“I almost forgot that you were now the court’s regent,” Yan Xuehen said with a smile. She was quite pure in thought and didn’t suspect him of having anything with the empress dowager.

Immediately after, she got up and showed Zu An a serious bow, saying, “Ah Zu, I will thank you in the place of all of the daoist disciples. If not for your support, the daoists might have been doomed to vanish in the great river of history.”

Zu An was startled and quickly tried to get her to stand back up, but he then realized that there was a recording mirror between them. He replied, “There's no need for that. I was only doing what I should.”

“I need to thank you properly. What you did has brought about the rebirth of the daoists,” Yan Xuehen said seriously.

Zu An couldn't help but chuckle and reply, “If you really are that thankful, isn’t it a bit too sloppy if you only talk about it?”

“Then how do you want me to thank you?” Yan Xuehen asked with a blush; it was unclear what she was thinking.

“You know," Zu An said. He couldn't help but sigh. Even through the recording mirror, he could still sense just how stunning the woman on the other side was. There was also that unique aloof and magical feeling about her.

“Then I’ll have Chuyan thank you properly," Yan Xuehen said; she didn’t dare to continue off of what he was implying.

A shocked voice emerged from the recording mirror. “Master, what did you say? That I was going to thank someone?” Immediately after, a door opened, and a young woman in a blue dress entered.

“Chuyan!” Zu An exclaimed happily. It had already been a long time since he last saw her.

“Ah Zu?” Chu Chuyan exclaimed, feeling shocked and happy. “So you were chatting with Ah Zu, master!”

“He had important matters to tell the daoists. It's related to the invasion of monsters,” Yan Xuehen said in alarm. She was scared that Chu Chuyan's thoughts would go in the wrong direction and quickly explained thing. At the same time, she glared at Zu An, warning him not to say anything stupid.

“What?!” When she heard what happened, Chu Chuyan was incredibly shocked, but she also felt as if it was to be expected. After all, they had seen too many mysterious and bizarre beings in the secret dungeon with Zu An. Then, after listening to the explanations from both sides, she also understood that the situation hadn’t reached its worst point yet.

Yan Xuehen used the chance to say, “Since Ah Zu helped the daoists lower the restrictions that were placed on us, as a member of the daoists, shouldn’t you thank him properly?”

Chu Chuyan smiled and replied, “Master, you are the leader of the daoists, right? I think that it is more important that you thank him, right?”

“I’ve already even given you, my good disciple, to him. How else would I thank him?” Yan Xuehen said as she tried to put on a frown, but her heart was pounding inside. Pretending to be ordinary friends in this kind of situation really put quite the strain on her. After all, before she met Zu An, she had never told a lie. And yet now, she had to lie again and again.

“How is that equivalent to gratitude from the master? Master, you definitely have your way of thanking him too,” Chu Chuyan said, although she had no idea just how badly her words were scaring Yan Xuehen.

Yan Xuehen was really alarmed and didn’t dare to continue on the subject. She quickly said to Zu An, “Ah Zu, judging from our earlier conversation, I sensed that you have been a bit preoccupied. Just what happened?”

“It’s related to Sect Master Yun and Honglei. Back then, Lu Sanyuan’s army appeared near Violet Mountain, but even as the sect master, she had no idea about that. After the matter, she returned to their main headquarters to check on the situation, but I’ve never received any information about her since. I tried to contact her through the recording mirror, but the call never connected,” Zu An said with a frown.

Yan Xuehen and Chu Chuyan were shocked. At any other time, perhaps they would even have said some words of mockery. After all, Yun Jianyue and Qiu Honglei were their greatest adversaries. And yet, now that it was related to their safety, how could they still have such thoughts?

“Ah Zu, don’t worry too much. I've fought against that witch for most of my life and understand her abilities best. She's always been the one to harm others; when has she ever been harmed by others? Even if she is in some danger, she likely has a way of dealing with it. Besides, Honglei isn’t weak either. If the two work together, they should be able to protect themselves.”

As long as she wasn’t talking about Zu An, Yan Xuehen was still a famous grandmaster in the end. Even though she wasn’t as full of trickery as Yun Jianyue, the fact that they could face each other on relatively even footing meant that she was incredibly smart. She quickly offered her analysis to console him.

Zu An felt that what she said was reasonable and sighed a bit in relief. It seemed he had let worry get to him after all.

Chu Chuyan suggested, “How about I make a trip to the Devil Sect?”

Yan Xuehen was startled and quickly said, “If it's a situation that not even Yun Jianyue can deal with, there’s no need for you to cause more trouble and make Ah Zu worried. I think I should make this trip.”

Zu An shook his head and replied, "You still need to contact the other sects and organize the defenses against the monsters. I'll personally make a trip to the Lake of Hatred.” Even though he wanted to meet the two of them, how could he let his selfish interests get in the way of what was more important?

Yan Xuehen understood her own responsibility too and didn’t persist with it. She asked, “Do you have any intelligence on the Devil Set? Or do you know where the Lake of Hatred is?”

“I have a rough idea of which mountains it's located in, but I don't know the exact location,” Zu An said, shaking his head. In the end, the Devil Sect had opposed the court for so many years. If their home base was exposed, they would already have been dealt a ferocious blow. However, because they had always been very careful, the court had never found out their real location.

“I actually know a bit…” Yan Xuehen slowly said, explaining everything she knew to him.