The Empress's No.1 Lackey-Chapter 252 - 221, asking for help from someone influential

He was already a dead man... dead man...

Inside the Drunken Moon Inn, Zhao Douan stood frozen in place, listening to Mr. Hai’s words. The same sentence kept echoing in his mind.

So, the Thousand Faces God was a dead man? No...

Zhao Douan’s face changed as he considered a possibility, and he grabbed the maid Qing Niao by the arm. Supporting himself with one hand on the railing, he leaped down to the first floor, next to the supine body of the Thousand Faces God.

At that moment, as Eunuch Hai turned the body over, the handsome nobleman lay face up on the exquisitely carpeted floor.

Eyes wide open, bloodshot, with deathly pale cheeks, he showed no signs of life, and only a trickle of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

And then, as if "dying," the body’s visage began to contort suddenly.

Gradually, it transformed into another man with a plain, common appearance, his identity unknown.

"He is the Thousand Faces God?"

Zhao Douan dropped the maid on the ground and asked sternly.

Qing Niao, the maid codenamed "Qing Niao" and of only Mortal Realm cultivation, was already weak after Zhao Douan had struck her dantian.

Seeing Eunuch Hai standing beside her, she didn’t entertain thoughts of running away.

Hearing the question, she looked blankly toward the man on the ground and shook her head:

"I don’t know... I have followed him for a year and never seen his true face..."

Really? Zhao Douan was skeptical.

But Eunuch Hai narrowed his eyes and said:

"She’s probably not lying."

As a skilled veteran of the imperial court, he could determine lies to some extent just by observing the other party’s heartbeat and blood flow when they spoke.

Of course, there was no evidence, and accuracy wasn’t guaranteed.

Zhao Douan continued with a stern face:

"He is a dead man, and you didn’t know?"

Qing Niao looked increasingly bewildered and now also frightened, shaking her head: "No..."

Zhao Douan sneered:

"You’d better think carefully before you speak. Even if a body is enhanced with some kind of technique to hide its flaws, you, being by his side, should have noticed something. Or are you waiting to tell the truth when you’re under the big torture in the Imperial Prison?"

Qing Niao, unlike Zhuang Xiaocheng’s foolish disciple or the hot-blooded Yun Xi, was obviously not as loyal.

Without much hesitation, she said:

"Indeed, there was nothing unusual during the past ten days or so since we entered the city. However, last night he returned late, and his demeanor was a bit off, not allowing me close. By morning, his expression was back to normal."

Zhao Douan and Eunuch Hai exchanged glances, both seeing the other’s thoughts.

"Mr. Hai, is there such Magic in the world that can make a corpse act like a living person and possess considerable cultivation?" Zhao Douan asked in a low voice.

The old eunuch in his python robe fell silent for a moment before replying:

"There is. But most are the techniques of Evil Mages, and just now, even I did not notice anything amiss for a moment. Indeed, the techniques are extraordinary, and as for this disguise, it’s this person’s trademark skill."

Zhao Douan said:

"Last time, when the Cold Frost Sword arrived in the Capital, the Kuangfu Society gave him a scroll as an ace up his sleeve. This time, the Thousand Faces God entering the Capital, I expect Zhuang Xiaocheng and other rebels also prepared some tricks for him.

So, the Thousand Faces God is not dead—it seems he took advantage of some technique to manipulate the corpse to converse with us."

He exhaled, his expression complex:

"That makes sense. In the reports, this person is skilled at assassination and meticulous in thought. Even using the You family’s people to deceive me, he feared repeating the Cold Frost Sword’s mistake, hiding his real body and using a false one against me... truly difficult to handle."

Eunuch Hai’s countenance was slightly embarrassed too.

Having taken action with his status, he was fooled by a junior, which was a blow to his pride:

"However, the more powerful the technique, the greater the cost. I’ve broken his false body, and his true body will surely be injured."

But they hadn’t caught the person...

Zhao Douan sighed with a trepidation of letting the tiger return to the mountain.

At this moment, outside the Drunken Moon Inn, official soldiers swarmed in.

Apparently, they had heard the commotion here and came to investigate.

The leader saw the eunuch in the python robe, paused in recognition, but did not recognize him at first.

Upon seeing Zhao Douan, his face changed dramatically, and he saluted:

"Master Zhao, we are ordered to patrol the streets..."

"No need for idle talk," Zhao Douan waved his hand, interrupting him, and instructed:

"Take all these people on the ground to the medical clinic for treatment, and send someone to search nearby for any suspicious lingerers."

He looked down at the large black umbrella on the ground, which was violently pierced, and felt a twinge of regret.

He thought it a pity to destroy such a good thing.

But with the Suppressing Object forced, the cursed power dissipated, and the innocent people inside the Drunken Moon Inn saw their ailments lessened and would be alright.

As for the people of the You family...

Zhao Douan glanced at You Zhande, who had fainted from severe injuries, shook his head, and said:

"Take him away for treatment as well."

The soldiers complied and busied themselves with their duties.

Eunuch Hai made another round of inspection nearby.

Not finding any trace of the Thousand Faces God, he led Zhao Douan and the captive maid back to the Imperial Court.

Then, he returned alone to the Imperial Palace to report back.

...

"He escaped? A false body?"

In the Imperial Garden, the Empress furrowed her beautiful brows upon hearing the report from the eunuch in the python robe.

She asked, "How is Zhao Douan?"

Eunuch Hai’s mouth twitched as he said:

"That young man is doing quite well. He seems to have guessed that someone was protecting him from the shadows. I was planning to test his mettle... but he forced me to show myself."

The old Tributor was very confident in his ability to hide his presence; he did not believe that he had been detected.

The only possibility left was that the information had been leaked through other channels.

The Empress nodded upon hearing that Zhao Douan was unscathed, not surprised at all:

"It’s good that’s the case. The thief is cunning, to have fooled you, must be thanks to Zhuang Xiaocheng and others, providing him with a way to save his life. Although we failed to kill him, inflicting serious injury is also good."

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Mr. Hai understood, this was the Empress trying to save his face, he sighed and turned to take his leave.

After he left, Mo Chou expressed her concern:

"Your Majesty, now that the thief has been startled away, catching him again will be difficult."

With another sigh, she continued:

"If only the Heavenly Master Mansion or the Divine Dragon Temple, even just one of them, would break tradition and send a master to help, we wouldn’t be at the mercy of someone who is hiding his head and showing his tail."

Xu Zhenguan remained silent.

How could she not understand this?

Not to mention her own cultivation, just the Tributors of the Imperial Palace, the head of the Imperial Guards... she had many strong warriors under her command.

But, alas, they were all Martial Artists.

If it were a direct confrontation, they feared no one, even facing the two major cultivation powers, they had the confidence to level them.

But against these Magician’s tactics, she was somewhat at a loss.

Of course, over the years, the Royal Family had also raised their own Magicians, and in the back lake alone, there were two formidable ones hidden.

But Magicians also had their specializations, and most of them were not adept at divination and locating people.

Resulting in that, clearly just a small fry, but it had stirred up chaos in court, causing widespread anxiety.

"Order the soldiers in the Capital to search more thoroughly, if the fish doesn’t bite the bait, then drain the pond water, leaving him no place to hide, and force him to surface."

Xu Zhenguan looked down at the dispersing school of fish in the pond as she calmly instructed.

...

...

Imperial Court.

Inside Lihua Hall.

In the "office" exclusively used by Master Zhao.

Zhao Douan walked in, threw himself onto the recliner, and emptied his mind.

Reflecting on his experiences today, he felt he had been somewhat reckless, his vigilance inexplicably lowered

—he did not know that this was the result of a curse the Thousand Faces God had been secretly casting on him since the day he entered the Capital.

Now upon reviewing, the main reason for his boldness was his belief in his numerous trump cards, confident that he could extricate himself if he encountered an enemy.

Moreover, the significant improvement of his Martial Skills during this period had also made him a bit eager to try them out.

"Now it seems, the Divine Chapter Realm is not to be underestimated, unless I use all my trump cards, it’ll be difficult to win."

He silently summarized.

As for the hidden Eunuch Hai... he wasn’t certain.

But based on reason, he felt that with the Cold Frost Sword in advance, it’s possible there were also masters protecting him.

However, it was actually the response from the Dragon Essence in his body that made him shout that phrase.

"That moment, the Dragon Essence in my body was about to awaken, yet I clearly felt the fluctuations of the Martial God lineage from the roof... So, one of the abilities of the Dragon Essence is to sense within a certain range the ’kin’ who also cultivate the legacy of the Great Yu Grand Ancestor?"

"No... not just that, when Eunuch Hai took action, I even vaguely felt that as long as I awakened the Dragon Essence, I could even suppress him... Yes, it seems like I could suppress Eunuch Hai...

Is it because the Dragon Essence represents old Xu, and the Tributors of the Imperial Palace are all somewhat like old Xu’s disciples and grandchildren? The ancestor commands and the descendants must kneel?"

Zhao Douan speculated wildly.

Unfortunately, at that moment, he was only focused on suppressing the Dragon Essence and didn’t dare to really try.

"Um... If the Dragon Essence can suppress Eunuch Hai, then can it suppress Zhenbao?"

Zhao Douan shook his head, discarding this audacious thought from his mind.

Could a Heavenly Human Realm expert be so easily dealt with?

He was getting slightly ahead of himself...

"Think about the situation at hand! There’s a saying that a thief cannot always stay hidden, but there’s no way to always be on guard against one.

The Thousand Faces God obviously came to kill me... If I don’t eliminate him, even if he hides temporarily, once he recovers, with his disguise skills, who knows when he might strike me with a knife...

My stepmother and sister won’t be able to go out in peace anymore... How can this be acceptable?"

Zhao Douan frowned in deep thought.

The maid named Qing Niao had already been ordered to be interrogated by his people below, but Zhao Douan didn’t think they would dig up much information.

"When the Thousand Faces God fled, he used the maid as a shield... similar to how Zhuang Xiaocheng discarded his female disciples... It shows there’s no way she could hold key information."

"My Fengyue Treasure Mirror, although it can probe others, I have no idea what the Thousand Faces God looks like now... It’s utterly useless."

"The other party is alarmed, by now he’s probably already hidden away, a disguise expert hiding in a Capital of a million people, where do I even start to look?"

Zhao Douan had no leads.

"Unless... I find a professional."

Zhao Douan’s eyes lit up, he sat up, took out a silver scroll, and gently poured out a partially burned yellow incense stick.

He was prepared to summon someone!

This idea wasn’t new, but he hadn’t taken action before, firstly because he didn’t know if the other side could help.

Secondly, he didn’t want to use up his own favors.

But now, the Thousand Faces God had clearly become a threat to him.

"It’s all your fault..."

Zhao Douan muttered to himself, as if possessed by a beast, lit the yellow incense, and watched the thin smoke spiral up, passing over the ridge of the roof, the tiles, and disappearing into the sky.

One minute...

Three minutes...

Five minutes...

Suddenly, the incense trembled, and in the half-space of the room.

A petite girl appeared slowly, wearing a priest robe embroidered with gold thread on a dark background, her skin pale, eyes unfocused and alert.

One of this generation’s Zhu Dian, Priest Jin Jian of the Heavenly Master Mansion, looked wary:

"What do you want from me?"

She suspected that Zhao Douan was there to collect a debt.