Misunderstanding

"Naturally." This time, the resolute young man named Cangbei did not hesitate, bowing solemnly to Xu Yuan. "May I borrow brush and ink? I will sketch the location of the commandery princess for the young master." A sketch? Xu Yuan hesitated for a moment before asking, "That can be arranged, but why sketch it instead of taking me there directly?" Cangbei raised his eyes toward the sky. He was not looking at the vast starry night, however, but rather at the grand array cloaking the entirety of Zhenxi Prefectural City beneath it. He lowered his voice. "Young Master, the matter of you sending men to shout at dusk has likely drawn some attention. The city's defense level has been heightened considerably tonight." With that, Cangbei reached into his robes and brought out a jet-black medallion engraved with the character for 'West.' "And this token can only protect one person beneath the array." Human hearts were difficult to guard against; only a preset array would remain ever faithful to its duty. Xu Yuan stared at the medallion for several seconds, then glanced over at Zhou Chen. Seeing this, Zhou Chen hurriedly reached into his robes and produced a similar medallion, offering a hearty chuckle. "Young Master, since being transferred to Zhenxi Prefectural City, I have accomplished quite a few practical things. This medallion is—" "Enough." If one's work was not seen by higher-ups, it was equivalent to doing nothing at all. This Grandmaster Zhou truly wished to advance his standing. Xu Yuan chuckled, cutting off his bid for credit, and exchanged a glance with Cangbei beside him. Though a military officer, Cangbei understood the ways of the world. A trace of self-deprecating sorrow surfaced in his eyes as he murmured, "What this gentleman holds is merely a qujiang medallion from our Zhenxi Manor. It has severe limitations. Given tonight's heightened city defenses, the risk of exposure is immense. We cannot take that gamble." Cangbei's meaning was clear. Coming here with Zhou Chen was already a risk, but under no circumstances could he lead danger back to the commandery princess. Xu Yuan understood. Turning to walk into the hall, he said softly, "Fair enough. In critical times like these, the slightest stir attracts attention. Follow me inside." Inside the hall, bright lamplight illuminated the room amid a faint scent of incense. Behind a desk sat an elegant maiden in court attire, catching the eye at once. The young woman reclined lazily in a cushioned chair, resting her cheek in one hand against the armrest while browsing a book with the other. Her demeanor was mature and imperious, though her figure fell rather short of that imperial maturity. As the three entered, Tianye lowered the book before her face slightly, revealing clear golden eyes that swept over them once before she disregarded them and resumed reading. Walking up to the desk, Xu Yuan glanced at this enchantress. Where they stood was the headquarter grounds of the Black Scale Guards in Zhenxi Prefecture, storing many confidential archives. Out of sheer boredom, Tianye had spent the entire afternoon reading through dossiers here. Hailing from twenty thousand years ago, she needed to understand every aspect of the present era. Taking brush and ink from his Sumeru ring, Xu Yuan placed them on the desk and murmured to Cangbei behind him, "If you would." "..." The efficiency bred from military life left no room for needless words; Cangbei picked up the weasel-hair brush and began sketching swiftly on the rice paper with brisk strokes. Taking advantage of this lull, Xu Yuan glanced at Tianye and frowned, sending a voice transmission: "Aren't you going to conceal your appearance?" "Haven't you noticed those two can't see me?" "..." Xu Yuan raised a brow and looked back at the other two men in the room, only to see that just as Tianye said, neither Zhou Chen nor Cangbei seemed aware in the slightest that a fourth person was present. Tianye chuckled softly, casually resting the book on the desk, and smiled faintly. "I concealed my presence beforehand with the true word for 'Hide.' How about I accompany you later to see this Commandery Princess Li Junwu?" Xu Yuan rolled his eyes and snorted softly. "You should know full well the power of the city-protecting array." Without burning her life force, no matter how powerful Tianye was, she was ultimately constrained by Tianyan's cultivation realm. Meanwhile, the sensory components of the city-protecting array in a frontier fortress like Zhenxi Prefectural City rivaled a Saint. With the spatial art ring protecting him, Tianye was best off not taking the risk. Yet if this enchantress ever listened obediently, she wouldn't be called an enchantress. With this thought, Xu Yuan let out a sigh. "Then again, if I told you not to come, would you actually listen?" Hearing that, Tianye murmured with a trace of displeasure, grumbling, "Tsk, tsk... Look at you, looking down on me the moment you got that spatial art ring~ What a fickle man." Saying this, her eyes suddenly curved into a smile, her tone turning teasing: "Besides, you just don't want Tianyan to see your relationship with that commandery princess, do you?" With those words, the maiden giggled, giving Xu Yuan no chance to retort before raising the book to hide her face once more. Xu Yuan wanted to say more, but Cangbei had already finished drawing the map. The moon was bright, the stars few and high above. Li Junwu's hiding place was not far from Xu Yuan's courtyard—only four or five li in a straight line, and at most seven or eight li even with the detours required to bypass checkpoints and sentry posts. At Xu Yuan's usual speed, that would take no more than half an incense stick of time, but owing to Zhenxi Prefecture's strict curfew and night patrols, it took him a full quarter of an hour to reach the inn marked on the map. The long street was desolate and deserted, doors and windows tightly shuttered. Bathed in the moonlight, it resembled a ghost town. Standing alone before the inn, Xu Yuan looked up to verify that the name matched before directly using Source Qi to unlatch the locked wooden doors and slipping inside. Because of the curfew policy, apart from refined establishments and brothels backed by powerful patrons, any tavern or inn hosting guests had to clear its main hall and force everyone back into their rooms as the hour of Hai approached. Sweeping his gaze around, by Xu Yuan's standards, the inn his good 'bro' was staying at was truly shabby. The hall was pitch-black and quiet. The cheap, crude stench of low-grade alcohol and leftover food mixed with the sweaty odor of traveling merchants drifted in the air, smelling thoroughly foul. This was evidently an inn for mortal merchants. The interior layout somewhat resembled the Tongfu Inn Xu Yuan remembered from his past life. He was rather surprised that Li Junwu had chosen to hide in a place like this. Though people said the greatest hermit hides in the bustling city, that applied to worlds without supernatural powers. In a place where mortals congregated, cultivators had zero scruples; a powerhouse could drag you out with a single sweep of their senses. On the contrary, places where cultivators gathered were relatively safer. Large pleasure houses and entertainment quarters possessed arrays for soundproofing and blocking soul probes, and they might house hidden masters, making pursuers wary of causing trouble and hesitant to scan brazenly with their intent-souls. Puzzled, Xu Yuan leapt straight over the wooden staircase onto the second floor. The second floor was not particularly large. A single hallway ran down the center, flanked on both sides by a dozen guest rooms. In some, lamplight still burned, shining faintly through the oiled paper pasted over the wooden doors. Just as Xu Yuan went to take a step, a bout of soft groans and muffled singing filtered through the crack of a neighboring, lamp-lit door. A strange look flitted across his eyes, and he casually glanced toward that illuminated room. Through the crack in the door, he caught sight of four or five figures within. Four men and one woman. Judging by the clothes scattered on the floor, the woman seemed to be the dominant figure among the five. Her garments were made of silk, whereas the men's clothing was coarse hemp. "Heh." Shaking his head with a chuckle, Xu Yuan glanced away after that cursory look and headed straight toward the guest room deeper in the corridor that Cangbei had described. Mortals in the merchant trade lived with their lives hanging by a thread, not to mention this was the frontier of Great Yan, where one might end up dead in the streets any day. Naturally, they made merry while they could; worldly etiquette held no sway over them. Having traveled far and wide by now, he had long ceased to find such things surprising. With these thoughts in mind, Xu Yuan arrived before the designated guest room. The wooden door was firmly shut without a crack, and no light filtered through the oiled paper on the door or windows. The guest inside seemed to be asleep. Thanks to the formidable hearing granted by the Body Integration realm, Xu Yuan could pick up the guest's heartbeat inside, yet he sensed an inexplicable incongruity. Pondering for an instant in the plain, darkened corridor, Xu Yuan glanced sideways at the adjacent room. Of course. The heartbeat inside this room was identical to the one next door. Synchronized to the point of being an exact duplicate. A technique of Li Junwu's? No wonder she chose to stay here. She really had a few tricks up her sleeve. Thinking this, Xu Yuan retrieved a dagger with a blade thin as a cicada's wing from his Sumeru ring, slipped it through the door seam, and lifted gently, unlatching the crossbar inside. Creeeak— Pushing the door open and taking in the scene inside, Xu Yuan curled his lips slightly. Sure enough, contrary to the pitch darkness perceived from outside, the oil lamp on the desk was lit, casting a soft, flickering glow. The room's layout matched his expectations: a wooden bed draped with gauze curtains, two chairs, a wardrobe, an oil lamp, and a kettle with porcelain cups set quietly on the desk. Crude, but functional and complete. However, Xu Yuan didn't see Li Junwu. Subconsciously glancing toward the curtained bed, Xu Yuan extended his spiritual vision while taking a slow, smiling step into the room. The instant he stepped inside— Pfft! Amid the nighttime silence— Hummm—! A sword chime resonated through the room, though the outside remained dead silent. A longsword abruptly pierced the oiled paper of the wooden door, thrusting straight toward Xu Yuan's head! "..." Xu Yuan. In that split second, a sudden gust of wind gently lifted Xu Yuan's unbound black hair, and the faint glow along the sword edge instantly dissipated. Catching the thrusting blade between two fingers, Xu Yuan shot an amused glance toward the figure hiding behind the wooden door. "Hey now, we haven't seen each other in so long, and you go this hard the moment we meet?" "Jiayi!" Li Junwu's familiar voice rang out. "Strike! We've been deceived—prepare to run!" With those words, a terrifying aura of desolation engulfed Xu Yuan. Amid that aura, he faintly glimpsed a pair of wolf eyes glinting with a frigid, eerie light. The Great Desert Linlang. "..." Xu Yuan. After a fleeting daze, Xu Yuan suddenly drew a sharp breath. Crap. He was still wearing the human-skin mask! The thought flashed through his mind, leaving no time for further contemplation. Void-Stepping Slash! His form vanished on the spot. When he reappeared, he had briefly broken free of the Linlang's lock-on and stood directly behind Li Junwu. Li Junwu seemed to sense this as well. Her pupils contracted sharply, and she spun around, unleashing a whip-kick at Xu Yuan that tore through the air, leaving an afterimage in its wake. A flash of crimson gleamed in Xu Yuan's eyes. Strands of blood qi emerged on his palm as he seized Li Junwu's ankle, turning sideways while pulling back forcefully. In an instant, Li Junwu lost her balance, stumbling forward as her slender, bare legs were forced into a full split in midair. Biting her lower lip and staring at the unfamiliar face before her, Li Junwu slashed her sword horizontally with her other hand, only for the man in front of her to seize her wrist in a vice grip. Staring at close range at the valiant, beautiful face of his good 'bro' grinding her teeth in fury, Xu Yuan felt a surge of amusement. Switching back to his original voice, he said with a grin: "Come on, sis, it's only been that long, and you don't even recognize me anymore?"