“The one who sent us was… was…” Ninth Lady l.u.s.t opened her mouth, but she couldn't say anything. She suddenly seemed to have realized something. She grabbed her head and shook it back and forth frantically, her expression full of alarm.
“What’s wrong?” Zu An asked, feeling a bit dejected.
Right at that moment, Ninth Lady l.u.s.t’s head exploded like a watermelon.
Zu An was speechless. Even though he had already spent enough time in this world and had witnessed his fair share of slaughter, he still felt a bit out of sorts when he saw that. However, he endured the feeling to examine Ninth Lady l.u.s.t’s remains. It wasn’t poison, nor was it some kind of bug. Could it be a kind of imprint on her soul or something?
These top-tier a.s.sa.s.sins had actually been given such a soul imprint without any knowledge of it. If they gave out any extreme secrets, it would trigger and they would die. The one who had used this skill really was ruthless! To be able to accomplish something like that… Could it be the Shadow Group again?
With a wave of Zu An's hand, a flame enveloped Ninth Lady l.u.s.t’s remains, quickly burning her away into nothing before waking up another a.s.sa.s.sin. He didn’t want them to see Ninth Lady l.u.s.t’s gruesome fate and decide to hide information. Then, he used the same words he had used on Ninth Lady l.u.s.t again.
Sure enough, the a.s.sa.s.sin's will quickly broke down and he was willing to confess. But when he was about to say something, Zu An stopped him and said, “I'll ask the questions; you only need to answer.”
The a.s.sa.s.sin was stunned, but he still nodded in the end.
“I won’t ask about your a.s.sociation, and will only ask about the employer this time. Do you know who that is?” Zu An asked, staring carefully at him. He wanted to see if he could avoid triggering that soul imprint.
“I do. They are…” the a.s.sa.s.sin began, sighing in relief. As long as he didn’t have to sell out the a.s.sociation, he wouldn’t have that much of a mental burden.
And yet, once again, his head still exploded like a watermelon!
Zu An was stunned.
You can’t even talk about this?
He burned up the corpse and woke up the next one.
“Don’t take the initiative to speak. You can only answer my questions.”
“Okay.”
“Is the employer male or female?”
“They’re…”
Boom!
Zu An was speechless. He continued on to the next one with a numb expression.
“You don’t need to speak. You only need to nod or shake your head."
“Is the employer male?”
The a.s.sa.s.sin's head twitched.
Boom!
Zu An was dumbfounded.
What the h.e.l.l is this? You can’t even answer such basic information?
He woke up the next person.
“The employer should be female, right? Did she come from…”
The a.s.sa.s.sin's head twitched.
Boom!
Zu An was speechless once again.
Why did his head move before I even finished my sentence? And it even exploded, at that…
From the start until now, he hadn’t even gotten to ask anything, and yet most of the a.s.sa.s.sins had already died. He thought over the questions he had asked, and suddenly thought of something.
Then, he woke up the last a.s.sa.s.sin.
“Is the employer… a eunuch?”
The a.s.sa.s.sin was stunned. He reflexively nodded... and then, his head exploded!
Zu An burned away the remains until there wasn’t even a drop of blood left. Then, he returned to the room.
Xie Daoyun had already calmed down considerably. Zu An wanted to support her, but Xie Daoyun said in embarra.s.sment as soon as he touched her ice-cold skin, “Big brother Zu, I’m already awake. I think I should get up on my own.”
“Okay," Zu An said as he walked outside. With a wave of his hand, he moved the screen between the two of them to cover her. He began to think over the intelligence he had received. Don’t tell me that…
Xie Daoyun gave the figure outside a look with a strange expression.
Why is big brother Zu staying in the room when I’m changing?
But when she recalled how he had already seen everything he wasn't supposed to see, and they had even touched, she felt that it was meaningless anyway. She could only swiftly wipe down her body with a towel before hastily putting on her clothes.
Achoo!
When he heard the sneeze, Zu An asked, “Little sister Ling’er, it was a bit cold just now, wasn’t it?”
“It was a bit cold,” Xie Daoyun said, feeling a bit embarra.s.sed. She'd pretended to faint, and could thus only soak inside the whole time. She was actually feeling unbearably cold.
“You’ve gone between both extreme heat and cold today, so you might be a bit weak and sick for the next few days. Make sure to take care of your health,” Zu An said. He took out several nourishing pills after thinking things over. With his current status, he obtained some designated pills every month from both his official post and n.o.ble t.i.tle. Even though they weren’t especially precious, they were still good medicine.
“Okay. Thank you, big brother Zu,” Xie Daoyun said, moving over to his side. Her lowered head was still flushed red. What had happened earlier was way too embarra.s.sing… Just the thought alone made her want to faint again. She quickly changed the topic and said, “By the way, I seem to have heard you interrogating those a.s.sa.s.sins outside earlier. Did you learn anything?”
“Didn’t you faint earlier?” Zu An said with an ambiguous smile.
Xie Daoyun was speechless.
Just let me die, ahhhh!
She could only brace herself as she said, “I woke up and heard a bit toward the end.”
Zu An didn’t expose her and gave her an explanation of what happened.
“It was actually a eunuch?” Xie Daoyun exclaimed in shock. That alone already explained many things. When she saw Zu An’s grave expression, she asked, “What does big brother Zu think?”
When he saw that she was still a bit wet, making her clothes a bit transparent, Zu An felt something stir a bit inside. He didn’t reply and soaked himself directly in the ice-cold pool. He sighed in relief.
“Big brother Zu, what’s wrong?” Xie Daoyun jumped in fright. At the same time, her heart began to pound.
I already soaked in that pool earlier, and big brother Zu is actually soaking in there now…
All sorts of wayward thoughts appeared in her head, making her flush red from ear to ear. She even wondered if that poison was flaring up again.
“I was also affected by that poison,” Zu An said with a sigh. It was only because of his higher cultivation that his resistance was a bit stronger.
“Ah!” Xie Daoyun covered her face and didn’t know what to say. She just felt that her face was scalding hot. Some scenes began to appear in her mind.
Big brother Zu should have just helped me detoxify right there, then both of us would have been fine…
Still, she quickly gathered her thoughts.
Why am I thinking such things! Big brother Zu is a true gentleman!
She took a deep breath and continued the earlier topic. “Could it be someone the crown princess sent? After all, she's the only one who knows about your return.”
Zu An shook his head and said, “It’s not her.”
“Why is big brother Zu so certain?” Xie Daoyun asked, sounding a bit surprised.
Zu An couldn't tell her that he and Bi Linglong had that kind of intimate relationship, right? He could only explain, “The crown princess doesn’t have a motive. Everyone knows that I'm someone from the Eastern Palace, her most capable subordinate. She's currently at a disadvantage in the capital and needs people to use, so why would she possibly act against me?”
“If it isn’t the crown princess, it has to be the empress’ faction. From what big brother Zu is saying, the empress’ faction is at odds with the crown princess’ faction. The emperor has already died, and the crown prince is weak intellectually. The one who seizes the advantage here will be able to seize the greatest authority. Meanwhile, the empress and crown princess all have proper reasons to aim for that authority, so of course they're bound to fight," Xie Daoyunsaid. “Since you're a capable subordinate of the crown princess, as long as the empress eliminated you, the crown princess’ side would be greatly weakened. She wouldn’t have much strength to fight back.”
Zu An shook his head and said, “It can't be the empress either.”
“Why?” Xie Daoyun replied, now feeling really confused. Zu An was so certain when he said that it wasn’t the crown princess, and he was just as certain in his rejection of the empress being the culprit.
Just where does big brother get his confidence from?
Zu An was starting to get a headache. He couldn't just say he had an affair with the empress, right? He replied, "The empress and I actually share a personal friendship. Our relationship isn’t bad, so I believe that she wouldn’t harm me.”
Xie Daoyun was quite surprised to hear that. The empress usually stayed inside and rarely left, so her presence was already so low that not even the court’s officials had seen her. Xie Daoyun hadn’t expected her to actually have a good relationship with Zu An! It seemed that the empress had already been plotting for a long time. Still, she didn’t suspect Zu An’s relationship with the empress. After all, with the empress’ status, that was too inconceivable. An ordinary person wouldn’t think of something like that.
Even though Zu An said those words to the emperor in the secret dungeon, that was likely just to provoke him in order to save us.
“Big brother Zu, even though I don't understand politics too well, I still grew up in an official’s family and know that personal relationships are never reliable. You absolutely can't act on impulse,” Xie Daoyun couldn't help but warn him.
Zu An now began to think to himself.
Don’t tell me it really is the empress?
He really couldn't imagine that fiery and pa.s.sionate woman would set her hand against him. Still. his thoughts moved quickly. Their relationship was still just an exchange of interests in the end. She'd needed his transcendent apt.i.tude blood to treat her injuries, and now that she had recovered, she naturally didn’t need him anymore.
She also lied to me back then. She said she needed many sessions to recover, and yet she's already recovered ahead of time, becoming a grandmaster at that. Who could have expected that, really…
If the empress is willing to make that kind of choice, why wouldn’t the crown princess be willing either?
The royal family was entirely different from others. The imperial clan was the most ruthless of all.
Ling’er is right. The one who understands my itinerary best is the crown princess.
Still, he didn’t let that problem bother him for too long. He didn’t care what kinds of schemes they had; he’d just end it all with a single sword slash.
“There are still a few hours before daybreak. You should get some rest first,” Zu An said to Xie Daoyun.
Xie Daoyun bit her lip. After some hesitation, she asked, “Big brother Zu, can you sleep with me?”