Chapter 616: Come and Go as We Please

Translator: Pika

Zu An panicked. He pulled her to the side. “They were caught unprepared by you guys earlier, but the guards have already reacted to the situation. The defense systems have been fully activated. Aren’t you just throwing your life away by running in now?”

“But my elderly master has taken good care of me all this time. How can I just do nothing?” Qiu Honglei was panicking.

“Elderly?” Zu An had a strange look on his face. The long-haired woman didn’t look that old! Fuck! The world of cultivation is just that unreliable! They look like a freaking loli on the outside, but their real age might be older than your grandma!

But those female immortals in the books he read were all in the thousands as well. All those stories about Chang’e, that lady in the moon, those seven female immortals… did those lurkers on the female streamers’ channels ever care about any of that?

Forget about those female immortals, if there was a wealthy girl who was even a bit attractive, many guys would start saying ‘auntie, I don’t want to work hard anymore’…

He coughed and put away these random thoughts. He quickly said to Qiu Honglei, “But you can’t throw away your own life while trying to save someone else! I could tell that you were about to end your own life from that dagger you pulled out. What if you get captured on your way back inside the palace?”

Qiu Honglei pursed her lips. “I’ll just fight to the death with my master if I have to! My master definitely needs help right now. If I abandon her now, then I’ll regret it for the rest of my life. My path of dao will also be disturbed and I won’t be able to make any more progress.”

Zu An knew that she wasn’t lying. Many cultivators of this world paid careful attention to their own mental states. If something happened to their conviction, then forget about not being able to advance, it might be hard for them to even maintain their current cultivation.

He could only say, “Let me bring you out of the palace first. Then, I’ll look for your master.”

“Really?” Qiu Honglei was overjoyed. She jumped into his arms and gave him a peck on the cheeks.

Qiu Honglei blushed when she saw his surprised expression. “What are you looking at? It’s not like I didn’t kiss you before. Didn’t I suck out the poison from your back before?”

Zu An laughed. “Even that’s considered kissing?”

𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

“Of course!” Qiu Honglei harrumphed. Worry returns to her face. “I’ll go with you. We’ll be able to watch out for each other.”

Zu An shook his head. “No, I have the identity of an Embroidered Envoy right now which makes things much easier. It’ll instead become more inconvenient if you come with me.”

Qiu Honglei nodded. She wasn’t the type of woman who would pester endlessly. She was able to understand what was most important right now. “Then I’ll have to trouble you. You have to help me save my master.”

“Okay, I’ll do my best. You don’t need to be too worried. Your master is a glorious grandmaster rank cultivator after all. It’s not that easy to finish her off.” Zu An held her hand and said in consolation.

Qiu Honglei was still worried. “I wouldn’t be that worried if it was anyone else, but she faced the emperor!”

“Don’t worry. Even if it is just for your sake, I will do everything I can to save her.” Zu An said.

Qiu Honglei’s teary eyes looked at him with a gentle gaze. She was incredibly moved. “Ah Zu, you’re the best.”

She already completely forgave him for protecting the crown princes and fighting on the other side.

Zu An said with a smile, “In that case, how about you give me another kiss?”

Qiu Honglei’s face turned red. She got on her tiptoes to give him another kiss on the cheeks. However, the other party suddenly turned his head and met her lips with his.

Caught unprepared, the two of them kissed each other on the lips. She was extremely embarrassed and backed up. Her face was entirely red. “You… you’re shameless!”

Zu An laughed. “I’m much more motivated to save our master now, after getting a kiss from Honglei.”

Qiu Honglei rolled her eyes when she heard him call her master ‘our’ master. This fella really was as shameless as before. But… I don’t hate that.

She felt her cheeks heat up and quickly said, “But my master has a mask covering her face. How are you going to know whether or not it is her later?”

Zu An had a strange look on his face. He recalled the woman from the eastern palace. “With hair that long, it’ll be hard to not recognize her, right?”

“I guess you’re right.” Qiu Honglei chuckled. She had always been envious of her beautiful long hair.

“I’ll bring you out of the palace first.” Zu An gave the nearby city gate a look. “I’ll draw the guards’ attention. Use that chance to climb over the wall.”

He chose this place because the palace walls were a bit lower.

“Alright!” Qiu Honglei gave the walls a look. As long as no one was watching up there, then with her cultivation, she should be able to scale this wall.

Then, Zu An strut towards the nearby city gates.

“Halt! Name yourself!” The city gate’s guards immediately noticed him.

He didn’t reply and instead slowly walked over. His Embroidered Envoy outfit made those guards’ eyes narrow.

“May I ask what sir is doing here?” A lesser officer asked. His eyes continuously drifted towards Zu An’s waist token. He was incredibly shocked! It was a golden token envoy!

“I wish to leave the gates.” Zu An said with a low and muffled voice.

Those guards looked troubled. “Sir, there were assassins that just entered the palace, so the palace gates are shut. That is why no one is allowed out.”

Zu An picked up the Embroidered Envoy golden token and held it in front of them. He deliberately roared out in anger, “I carry the emperor’s mission. You all dare to stop me? Can you all bear the consequences of delaying his majesty’s orders?”

Those guards all looked at each other in dismay. They wanted to dissuade Zu An, but Zu An maintained an unquestionable attitude. They were starting to get angry as well.

This golden token envoy really is something!

Uh… wait. He really isn’t someone incredible…

But they didn’t dare let anyone out after the assassins that stormed in today. They had the confidence in standing against him.

The atmosphere was growing more and more tense, the guards around the city wall also gradually approached. If there really was some conflict, these guards were definitely going to suffer against this golden token envoy.

Qiu Honglei smiled when she saw Zu An discipline those guards like they were his grandsons. This fella really was a top class bully.

She didn’t waste this chance he gave her. She used this gap in the guards’ defenses to silently scale the wall.

Zu An sighed in relief when he saw her leave safely. When he saw more and more guards move over, all of them holding blades with unkind expressions, he coughed lightly and said, “All of you are excellent men, you have carried out your orders loyally. I was only coming here to test out your reactions. I am satisfied with the result. Remember that you have to be like this. No matter who comes, unless they come with the emperor’s decree, no one is allowed to leave! Do you understand?!”

“We understand!”

Zu An raised his voice at the end, and these guards were scared to the point where they subconsciously replied.

“All of you have worked hard. I am heading to the other gates to inform them.” Zu An looked unfazed on the surface, but his heart was pounding. He quickly turned around to leave.

All of the guards here. “……”

Is he crazy?!

What kind of situation were they now in? Yet he is here to test us out like this?

We had to listen to your scolding too! Are you using us for your own amusement?

But when they recalled his golden token envoy status, all of them could only hold back their anger.

You have successfully trolled the palace gate guards for +666 +666 +666…

Zu An felt incredibly refreshed when he saw the incoming Rage points. As expected, Rage points were easier to earn when there were more people to taunt! He had to pay the city outskirts camps a visit some time. He’ll definitely make a killing in Rage points there!

But he quickly remembered his task of saving Qiu Honglei’s master. The imperial palace was so large, finding her was going to be quite troublesome.

He returned to the eastern palace and was about to ask around about the situation. However, when he saw the palace razed to the ground, he was completely confused.

The emperor fought against a grandmaster… aren’t the results a bit too ridiculous?

He was just about to question someone when a bronze token envoy rushed over. “Sir, I’ve been looking for you for a while.”

Zu An was stunned. “Why were you looking for me?”

There was one thing that was bad about Embroidered Envoys, which was that everyone wore masks and uniforms. It was really hard to tell who was who.

That person said respectfully, “His majesty has summoned you. We haven’t been able to find you after all this time.”

Zu An was startled. “I will head over immediately.”

He followed this person to the imperial study. Even before he even entered through the gates, he could already hear the emperor’s furious voice. “Do you think the imperial palace is a food market? Are those assassins allowed to go wherever they please? Do you still want to keep your heads or not?!”