Chapter 1659: Urgency in Military Operations

Zu An frowned. This situation was indeed troublesome. He secretly transmitted his ki to Yan Xuehen, asking, "Sister Yan, can you sense if there's an exit anywhere around here?"

Yan Xuehen shook her head slightly. "I can only detect that there are no obvious exits in this room. It's likely that a hidden mechanism is involved."

"Can you find that mechanism then?" Zu An continued to ask.

"The materials in this room are special. The walls, floor, and ceiling are all mixed with Soul-Absorbing Stones, and a special magic array has also been set up. My spirit is greatly affected here, so I can only probe a very small distance. It would probably be very difficult to find it quickly." Yan Xuehen felt the warmth emanating from her palm, and a blush appeared on her cheeks. Fortunately, they were in darkness, so she wasn't afraid of being seen. "And I can't see the patterns of the magic array, so I can't decipher it either."

"King Yan truly has a lavish hand to be able to set up such an astonishing place," Zu An remarked, noticing how soft her hand felt.

Zhang Zitong worried, "Then won't we be trapped here until we die? King Yan's manor will discover the anomaly here sooner or later."

Zu An also frowned. He knew that Daji's control over the guards outside was also time-limited.

"There's no other way," Zu An sighed, raising one hand. "Let there be light!"

The moment he finished speaking, a light suddenly appeared throughout the entire room.

A light appearing in absolute darkness made both women instinctively squint their eyes.

However, Yan Xuehen reacted faster and quickly pulled her hand away from Zu An's, her demeanor very resolute this time.

Zhang Zitong slowly opened her eyes, gradually adapting to the light. Although it wasn't as bright as daylight, they were all masters, and this much light was enough to see the situation in the room clearly.

"Lord Eleven, how did you do that?!" Zhang Zitong was both surprised and delighted. She had tried to create fire earlier, but each time all light was absorbed by the surrounding special magic array. Yet, the beam of light in his hand was completely unaffected by this peculiar room.

"Don't worry about the principles now, quickly find the mechanism!" Zu An commanded directly.

"Oh!" Zhang Zitong hurriedly began searching around; this was her specialty.

After she left, Yan Xuehen's expression turned sour. "You tricked me!"

Yan Xuehen's rage points instantly surged.

"Tricked you about what?" Zu An secretly groaned, his mind racing to find a solution.

"You clearly could create light, yet you insisted on groping around in the dark..." Yan Xuehen was too embarrassed to continue speaking, but her eyes were filled with frost.

Zu An suddenly let out a gasp and slumped sideways.

"What's wrong?" Yan Xuehen was startled and instinctively steadied him.

"You know I have to pay a price to use this skill," Zu An said weakly.

Yan Xuehen's expression changed. Knowing he had used that mysterious 'Word Spirit Art,' she quickly channeled a stream of ki into his body. "Don't speak. Calm your mind and spirit, and restore your foundational energy."

Zu An hummed in acknowledgment and naturally leaned into her embrace. It was cool and soft, truly making one want to linger.

Yan Xuehen was momentarily stunned, but remembering the price he had to pay for using such a skill, she bit her lip and said nothing.

She could only keep telling herself that since she was masked, no one would know her identity.

Zhang Zitong was startled by Zu An's collapse and was about to go to him, but Yan Xuehen said coldly, "Finding the mechanism quickly so he doesn't have to use that skill again would be the greatest help."

Zhang Zitong's heart jolted, and she dared not delay any further, hastily resuming her search.

Meanwhile, she secretly wondered, "It seems Lord Eleven and this woman have an extraordinary relationship. He collapses right into her arms at the first opportunity."

Yan Xuehen squatted down, letting Zu An's head rest on her lap. Seeing his eyes tightly closed and his brow furrowed, a trace of pity rose in her heart.

"This guy always has such a poor sense of priority, using such a powerful Word Spirit Art in this situation."

Zu An, however, was beaming internally. Although Sister Yan verbally protested, she was still quite kind to him in her heart.

Just now, he had used his 'Key' ability to create a beam of light. Of course, to mitigate the backlash, he hadn't even dared to add "God said" before it.

This wasn't the first time he had summoned light, and the side effects were still within a manageable range.

Of course, in front of Yan Xuehen, he still had to feign a bit more suffering...

After a while, Zhang Zitong's joyful cry suddenly rang out, "Found it!"

After she jumped a few times near some floor tiles in a strange rhythm, a series of clicking sounds echoed nearby, and a hidden door in the wall opened, revealing a secret room behind it.

Zu An was somewhat displeased that the woman found the mechanism too quickly; he couldn't even lie there a little longer.

Just then, Yan Xuehen's concerned voice came, "The exit's found, you don't need to emit light anymore."

Zu An then "slowly" opened his eyes. "Ah, has it been found already?"

As he spoke, he extinguished the light in his hand.

Yan Xuehen helped him up. "How do you feel now?"

"My body is fine, just a bit dizzy in the head. My mental energy feels a bit overdrawn," Zu An replied. He knew Yan Xuehen was a Grandmaster and had just channeled ki into his body, so she would definitely know if his physical body was genuinely unwell. He could only feign mental exhaustion, as mental energy was difficult to verify.

As expected, Yan Xuehen slightly furrowed her brow but continued to support him as they walked into the inner room.

The inner room had no special magic arrays or Soul-Absorbing Stones. Zhang Zitong quickly lit a torch. The room was simple, with a stone platform in the center, and on it, a box that exuded an aura of "I contain something important."

Zhang Zitong introduced, "This box has a Seven-Aperture Exquisite Lock, which is very unique. No more than a handful of people in the world can open it."

After speaking, she received no prompting or encouragement, so she had to awkwardly add, "I happen to be one of them."

As she spoke, she took a hairpin from her hair. Upon closer inspection, one part of it resembled a curved, fine needle.

She gently inserted the fine needle into the keyhole, tilting her ear to listen to the subtle sounds from the lock mechanism.

Yan Xuehen stared at her in surprise, wondering why every woman around Zu An possessed such extraordinary skills.

After a moment, with a crisp click, the lock sprang open.

Leaning against Yan Xuehen's soft body, Zu An asked curiously, "Although this lock is remarkable, isn't it a bit too simple for the final hurdle?"

Compared to the other stages, this one seemed relatively easier.

Zhang Zitong replied, "It's likely King Yan had absolute confidence in the previous stages, so he didn't put as much effort into this one. However, besides this lock, he also set a trap here: once this ledger is taken out, an alarm will be triggered, and the entire room will self-destruct."

Zu An nodded inwardly. Reaching this point, it would be easy to become complacent, thinking success was at hand.

Zhang Zitong took out an identical ledger. "Who among you is most skilled with their hands? We need to swap the real ledger inside for this one in the shortest possible time, so the mechanism below doesn't have time to react."

Yan Xuehen subconsciously looked towards Zu An, whose expression immediately turned strange.

Yan Xuehen instantly realized her mistake, and her pretty face flushed completely red. She immediately pushed him away.

To alleviate the awkwardness, Yan Xuehen stepped forward and said, "I'll do it."

Zhang Zitong gazed at her, a little dazed. "How can this woman's voice be so ethereal and beautiful? It sounds almost otherworldly."

Yan Xuehen took the ledger from her, focused her mind, and then moved with sudden speed.

"Done," Yan Xuehen said, handing the ledger directly to Zu An. Although she wasn't particularly known for her manual dexterity, she was a Grandmaster, so achieving this wasn't difficult for her.

Zhang Zitong rubbed her eyes, barely believing what she saw. She hadn't even seen her hands move; could her speed truly be this extreme?

"What level of cultivation does she possess?!"

Zu An took the ledger and his expression immediately turned serious. To describe King Yan as simply "audacious" would be an understatement.

The group then left King Yan's manor. Outside, Xiao Jianren, who had been waiting anxiously, visibly relaxed when he saw them. "Did you succeed?"

Zu An nodded. Everything had gone smoothly. He had initially expected some unforeseen incidents, but then he reconsidered: with Yan Xuehen present, it was a complete power overwhelming, so it would have been truly strange if anything had gone wrong.

"Is King Yan still at the Prefect's residence?" Zu An asked.

"Yes, Prefect Zhang is more reliable than we thought; he's kept him tied up the whole time," Xiao Jianren replied.

Zu An nodded. "Let's go to the Prefect's residence."

"But King Yan is still there right now..." Xiao Jianren hesitated.

"Precisely because he's there, I'm going," Zu An answered casually. "How can an arrest operation proceed if the culprit isn't present?"

"Oh~" Xiao Jianren responded subconsciously, then after a few steps, he suddenly realized the implication and asked in horror, "What? Arrest King Yan?"

"Otherwise?" Zu An raised the ledger in his hand. "We have the evidence. Speed is of the essence in military affairs."

"Just the few of us?" Xiao Jianren swallowed.

"That's enough," Zu An's nonchalant reply made the faces of the several Silver-Badge Embroidered Uniform Guards turn ashen.