Chapter 1665: Frontal Clash
“Enough?” Xiao Jianren exclaimed, aghast.
Are you kidding me? King Yan is a grandmaster, and this is his terrain! There are experts everywhere, and he even has his own private army! We’ll be blown away instantly!
He had always felt that Sir Eleven was profound and mysterious, but that depended on who you were comparing him to! His decision this time really was way too reckless!
“Sir, perhaps it would be better if we took some more time in making our decision?” Xiao Jianren continued, swallowing nervously. He felt that perhaps it would still be better if he convinced Sir Eleven otherwise. “We haven’t investigated the contents of the account book yet. Just an account book alone isn’t enough to bring down a king!”
Zu An shook his head and said, “Being swift and resolute in your actions is important. He’ll find out that the account book has been stolen soon, and he’ll start to destroy the evidence. We need to detain him first, then track further evidence through the account book. Without their leader, King Yan Manor’s people will be much easier to investigate.”
“But what if the account book is fake? Slandering a king is a serious crime…” Xiao Jianren replied weakly in a final protest.
“I previously investigated some issues in Cloudcenter Commandery. The account book’s contents more or less match what I saw. So, there should be no issues with it,” Zu An replied.
Seeing that he had already made his decision, Xiao Jianren sank into utter despair. He gave Zhang Zitong a look, hoping for her to speak up and advise him. However, all he saw was a look of adoration on her face, as if she had already been completely won over by his heroic nature.
He loosened his collar and stuck out his chest. Then, with a light cough, he said, “We Embroidered Envoys have always wandered along the brink of death. For the sake of righteousness, for the sake of upholding the court’s laws, I will advance despite any difficulty!”
When he sensed that Zhang Zitong was looking at him in a favorable manner, he felt that the Embroidered Envoy uniform he was wearing seemed a bit more handsome.
Zu An gave him a strange look. What the heck is this guy doing?
Yan Xuehen gestured for him to talk with her off to one side. Zu An followed her to a corner, where she asked with a frown, “Are you really going to arrest King Yan?”
“Does it look like I’m joking?” Zu An replied. Then, he added, “I know that big sis Yan’s status is special, so I won’t trouble you further. I don’t need you to interfere in the following arrest. You can return to Violet Mountain first.”
Yan Xuehen was a bit unhappy. That was clearly not what she meant. She looked at Zu An and asked, “Didn’t you exhaust a lot of mental strength, and isn’t your body weak?”
With the strength he had displayed in the Fiend King Court, even if he couldn't successfully capture King Yan, it wouldn’t be too difficult for him to keep his life. However, he had just used the Soulspeak ability, leaving him in a weakened state.
“Don’t worry. Thanks to big sis Yan feeding me ki and protecting me, I’m still in good shape. But it’s still not quite enough. How about you give me a bit more?” Zu An replied as he moved closer to her with a bashful expression.
“Get lost!” Yan Xuehen snapped, realizing that she had fallen for his schemes again. Her expression turned completely cold. Inwardly, however, she wanted to laugh. This guy was such a scoundrel. Just how had someone like Chuyan ended up liking him?
Zu An had a strange expression. This woman’s words were harsh, but she hadn’t even gotten angry at all…
However, he also became serious and said, “Big sis Yan, I know that you’re worried about me, but you are the White Jade Sect Master. It isn’t suitable for you to get involved in King Yan’s arrest. Please return to Violet Mountain first. I’ll look for you after completing this.”
“Who is worried about you?” Yan Xuehen retorted, rolling her eyes. “Also, once you’re done, stay as far away from me as possible. You’re not allowed to look for me.” She turned around and left afterward.
…
Zhang Zitong ran over when she saw Yan Xuehen leave, asking, “Why is she leaving?”
That other mysterious woman had also disappeared mysteriously. Now that someone with such incredible cultivation left, their side had been weakened again.
“It’s fine. Just our current group is still enough,” Zu An said, waving his hand. “Let’s go.”
Xiao Jianren and the others’ faces turned pale. However, the way things stood right now, they could only brace themselves and continue. Still, they all thought that they were dead for certain. All they were hoping was that the court would empathize with their loyalty and take care of their families.
When they left, Yan Xuehen actually returned. She couldn't help but stomp her feet a bit, muttering, “That kid really is too unreliable. How can King Yan be so easy to deal with?!”
She bit her lip. In the end, she was still too worried and secretly followed along.
…
Meanwhile, in the governor manor, there were all sorts of festivities going on. The music was beautiful, and the dancers were even more alluring. However, the mood at the main table wasn’t so enthusiastic.
King Yan looked at Zhang Jie with narrowed eyes, saying, “It has been so many years since Sir Governor has invited me to a feast. I wonder what all of this is about?”
Zhang Jie said with a smile, “Your respected self is a great king who rules over a great region. I am merely a governor assigned here by his majesty, so we should be cooperating to begin with. Because of various past events, there may have been some misunderstandings between us, so I invited King Yan for all of us to get closer to each other.”
King Yan had an ambiguous smile as he replied, “Why do I feel that this banquet of Sir Zhang’s seems to harbor malicious intentions?”
He naturally didn’t believe the excuse. Their positions were naturally in opposition, so how could they possibly just get along? They weren’t three-year-old children. Unfortunately, he couldn't figure out Zhang Jie’s motive. He could only continue to sound things out while signaling for his subordinates to be on alert.
Just like that, they continued, but King Yan didn’t notice anything. He was starting to get a bit annoyed, feeling that staying here was completely meaningless. As such, he got up to leave. He didn’t change his mind no matter how much the other party tried to keep him.
Zhang Jie grimaced inwardly. He had already done everything he could to keep King Yan here. He wondered if Sir Eleven had finished what he wanted to do on his side.
Not long after King Yan left his seat, a cold voice suddenly called out, “So it turns out it was this lively here.”
Zhang Jie’s eyes lit up. At the same time, he was a bit confused as to why Sir Eleven would be here.
“Embroidered Envoy?” King Yan said with a frown. He gave Zu An’s clothes a look. Golden Token Envoy!
He didn’t hesitate to ask directly, “Did Golden Token Seven die? And this distinguished one is?”
“Golden Token Eleven,” Zu An said, showing him the golden token.
King Yan harrumphed. He said in a haughty tone, “Nowadays, the Embroidered Envoy seems to act without any rule or order. You aren’t even going to show this king any courtesy upon meeting me?”
Zu An calmly replied, “If it were another time, it would indeed be correct to greet King Yan. However, things are a bit special today. King Yan, you’ve been exposed.”
King Yan’s subordinates’ expressions all changed as soon as they heard those words. They instantly drew their swords. It seemed that a battle was on the verge of breaking out.
Zhang Jie swallowed. What is going on? Didn’t Sir Eleven say that he was investigating a case? Why does it look as if he’s going to arrest King Yan? Most importantly, he only brought a few people! Who’s going to capture whom here?!
King Yan was also stunned. Then, he burst into laughter that made all of the tiles in the governor manor tremble.
He suddenly turned to look at Zhang Jie, saying, “Amazing. I was wondering why Sir Zhang suddenly went out of his way to invite me. So it was because of this.”
“A misunderstanding, there has to be some kind of a misunderstanding here!” Zhang Jie exclaimed, wiping away his sweat. How could he have anticipated that Golden Token Eleven would be so direct and reckless, carrying out an arrest right in the governor manor? He hadn’t even sent notice ahead of time so preparations could be made.
Even if Zhang Jie could survive this conflict, after the fact that a king had committed mutiny got out and news reached the court, as the governor, it went without saying that his head would fly. His thoughts moved rapidly as he began thinking about how he could shift the blame onto Golden Token Eleven.
When he saw Zhang Jie’s distress, Xiao Jianren actually felt a bit calmer. It wasn’t just me after all, even a glorious governor feels this way! It’s Sir Eleven who was too reckless this time.
Zu An took out the account book and said, “King Yan is suspected of colluding with the Fiend races, smuggling military goods, and harboring a private army. Please cooperate with us in this investigation. If anyone else resists, it will be viewed as conspiring against the empire!”
King Yan’s subordinates’ expressions changed again when they heard those words. After all, the power of the emperor and the court was deeply embedded in their hearts. Which one of them dared to bear the crime of treason?
When he saw the account book in Golden Token Eleven’s hands, King Yan’s eyes rapidly contracted. He immediately realized that Zhang Jie had invited him to a feast to lure the tiger from its den. He gave Zhang Jie a resentful look, then said with a harrumph, “I do not know what Sir Eleven is saying. Is any random account book enough to wrongly accuse this king? What a joke.”
He released his grandmaster power as he spoke. A terrifying power enveloped the entire governor manor. Those with lower cultivations immediately collapsed onto the ground and found it hard to breathe. Even elites like Xiao Jianren and Zhang Zitong could only barely hold on, without much fighting strength left.
Zhang Jie was covered in cold sweat too. At the same time, his expression changed several times. He began to weigh his options, wondering whether to try to arrest King Yan with Golden Token Eleven, or work with King Yan to oppose Golden Token Eleven. After fighting against King Yan for so many years, the governor manor had accumulated some hidden strength.
“Any random account book?” Zu An replied, remaining unfazed. He opened the account book and began to read. “... fourth of the eighth month, eight thousand jin of fine iron left Yi Commandery in secret to Cloudcenter Commandery and reached the Fiend race territory through the Pegasus Merchant Group… eighteenth of the ninth month, ten thousand jin of rice reached the Fiend race territory in the north by route of water…”
As he chose a few to read aloud, Governor Zhang Jie’s expression quickly turned grave. Even many of King Yan Manor’s followers revealed looks of shock. After all, the smuggling was an absolute secret that not everyone knew about.
“Shut up! Stop deluding people with lies!” King Yan exclaimed furiously. He reached out, and a massive hand immediately appeared above the account book.
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