Feeling the other party's aura lock onto him, as if they might kill him at any moment, Zu An thought to himself, "So what if you have high cultivation!"

However, he quickly lost heart. High cultivation level was indeed remarkable, but at least he couldn't resist it now.

He bowed and replied, "Your Majesty, we have not found any information about the leader of the Demonic Sect."

The emperor snorted in dissatisfaction: "Then what use is it to have you infiltrate the Demonic Sect?"

Zuan was very displeased. This guy was far too impatient. "Your Majesty, although I have not found any information about the leader of the Demonic Cult, I have found a secret stronghold of the Demonic Cult in the capital."

This was something he and Yun Jianyue had agreed upon. Although Yun Jianyue didn't know that he was tasked by the emperor to infiltrate the inner circle, she didn't mind giving him a reward. After all, from her perspective, Zu An had caused a lot of trouble to help her, so this reward would be an extra layer of protection.

As for that secret outpost, it was definitely a prepared expendable pawn.

"Oh?" The emperor's expression softened slightly. "Well done. In a moment, you will lead a team of men as an embroidered-robed envoy to take down that stronghold."

"Yes!" Zu An bowed, thinking to himself that the emperor was quite cunning. He had provided information for me to make an arrest, but if I could only find an empty stronghold, he would most likely become suspicious.

Unfortunately, you think you're on the second level, but I'm on the fifth. I had already anticipated this. There are quite a few figures from the Demonic Sect in that stronghold, including many mid- to high-ranking members. Of course, these are all against Yun Jianyue. Yun Jianyue doesn't mind using the emperor's sword to eliminate dissidents all at once.

They're all cunning old foxes!

While criticizing the emperor, Zuan also lamented Yun Jianyue, who looked like an ethereal fairy from the clouds, but whose methods were actually quite insidious.

I really need to be extra careful when dealing with these guys in the future, otherwise I'll be sold out and still be counting the money for them.

The emperor nodded in satisfaction, then casually asked, "By the way, I heard you had a conflict with the Prince of Qi's heir? Do you know what a serious crime it is to offend a high-ranking official of the court!"

"I am innocent!" Zu'an cried out hastily. "It was not that I wanted to offend him, but that he plotted to harm me."

He then gave a general overview of the Prince of Qi's plan.

"Zhao Zhi's methods are indeed quite inherited from his father, but unfortunately he is still too inexperienced," the emperor chuckled, but his gaze toward Zu An was full of praise. "I didn't expect you to be able to see through all of this and even make him suffer a great loss. You are truly a promising young man."

Seeing the barely suppressed smile on his face, Zu'an knew that he was probably ecstatic. After all, he had been fighting fiercely with Prince Qi for years, and he had never seen Prince Qi suffer such a great loss.

Taking advantage of the emperor's good mood, he deliberately put on a bitter face and said, "It's a pity that I've completely offended Prince Qi. If Prince Qi wants to retaliate, I'm really doomed."

"Don't worry, given Prince Qi's personality, he most likely won't deal with you directly but will manipulate others. You can even handle Zhao Zhi and Han Fengqiu, so how could anyone else possibly do anything to you?" The emperor looked pleased, thinking that he had underestimated this guy before. Judging from the current development, even if he fails to complete the task of giving the fake manual to Prince Qi, he can still play a huge role.

These days, this troublemaker has really made things difficult for King Qi.

Zu An secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Although the emperor had not made any guarantees, he knew that the other party would definitely not sit idly by and let Prince Qi deal with him personally.

These days, deliberately and openly opposing the Qi King's faction is not only out of necessity, but also largely for the emperor's benefit.

Only by proving his abilities and his irreconcilable enmity with the King of Qi in front of him will the King fully trust him and be willing to protect him, rather than treating him as a pawn that can be discarded at any time.

"By the way, what was that big water sphere that suddenly appeared?" the emperor asked casually.

Zu An felt a chill run down his spine. The incident had just happened, yet he knew all the details so clearly. The intelligence capabilities of the Embroidered-Robed Envoy were truly impressive.

Luckily, I was prepared!

He immediately exclaimed "Ah!" and feigned surprise: "I thought it was a master guard secretly sent by Your Majesty to protect me."

The emperor gasped for breath, grunted, and offered no explanation, as if he had indeed sent people to protect him.

At the same time, he was secretly wondering which faction's expert was helping him.

The Chu family? But Chu Zhongtian's current cultivation level is only eighth rank; how could he possibly help him?

Could there be other forces involved that I am unaware of?

As the emperor, he disliked this uncertainty, but knowing that further questioning would yield no results, he changed his question to: "Why did Yu Yanluo invite you to her carriage?"

He didn't ask Yu Yanluo why she helped Zu'an, because Yu Yanluo had pleaded for him before, so he knew about Zu'an saving her.

Zuan noticed a hint of jealousy in his eyes and thought to himself that Yu Yanluo had a lot of sycophants. He could tolerate the others, but he had to be careful with this most vicious one, otherwise who knew what he might do if he was consumed by jealousy.

He hurriedly explained, "Perhaps because I saved her in Bright Moon City, she treats me like a junior."

Upon hearing this explanation, the emperor's tightly furrowed brows relaxed. "It's good to be a junior," he thought. "By the way, why has your cultivation improved so quickly? Even Zhao Zhi and Han Fengqiu couldn't do anything to you. Is it because of the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra?"

Zu An felt a chill run down his spine as he sensed the fleeting killing intent emanating from the other party.

Knowing that the secret manual he had given him would never have such an effect, he probably already had doubts about its authenticity.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!