The Empress's No.1 Lackey

Chapter 1008 - 566: Zhao Douan: Prince, We Meet Again

Royal Mansion guards?

In the dark garden of the Royal Mansion, Zhao Douan’s body instinctively conjured an illusory golden bell the moment he felt the fierce wind rushing at him.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

Two air waves rippled across the surface of the golden bell, erupting with a muffled sound, and Zhao Douan stumbled back two steps, relieving the force.

In his view, a tall, slender, elderly man in a plain robe gracefully descended.

They locked eyes.

Lv Qingfeng!

Zhao Douan immediately recognized the man as Xu Junling’s guard, the once infamous "Demon Lv" of the Martial World, who had been wounded by Mr. Hai in the Capital, and later took part in the Taicang Silver Mine incident.

"Zhao Douan!" Lv Qingfeng, upon seeing Zhao Douan’s face, was equally shocked and stunned, his actions halted for a brief moment until he noticed a Flying Sword at his throat. A chill ran up Lv Qingfeng’s spine; he tried to speak but a water ball clogged his throat!

Ji Yue, hidden in the shadows, silently made a spell, using the gurgling water from the nearby pond.

"Don’t make a sound, unless you want to die." Zhao Douan stepped forward, punched Lv Qingfeng’s Qi Sea, unsettling his abdominal Qi Mechanism into chaos.

He whispered.

"Mmm-mm—" Lv Qingfeng’s vision went black, trying to speak, when suddenly a finger swiftly pressed his brow. The martial arts expert shivered all over and silently passed out.

Yu Xiu withdrew her hand, and the Green Jade Flying Sword retracted into her pure white sleeve, she lowly said:

"A mere Divine Chapter, nothing to worry about."

The recent brief combat noise attracted approaching maids, red lanterns swayed in the dark, abruptly falling to the ground.

Jin Jian withdrew the Magic Wand he had pointed out, pushed the glasses on his nose with another small hand, looked at Zhao Douan, proudly stood straight to Zhao Douan and said: "Done!"

Lang Shiba’s ear twitched, pointed to a distant direction, and whispered: "Master, there’s movement over there."

...

In the western wing of the Royal Mansion.

Inside the window lattice, it was brightly lit, and a graceful beauty’s silhouette was imprinted on the window paper by the light.

Inside, Xu Junling, who was of elegant demeanor and sweet appearance, sat at the table perusing her favorite poetry booklet.

Night had just fallen, she hadn’t gone to bed yet, still fully dressed in exquisite attire. Under the candlelight, her smooth face was as tender as warm jade.

"Sigh!"

However, the poetry collection she never tired of reading on usual nights felt tasteless, Xu Junling sighed, closed the book, and her delicate eyebrows revealed worry.

The Commandery Princess lately had been facing some of the most difficult months of her life.

With the Empress engaged in Sealing, the Six Rebel Kings invading the Capital, the Huai River divided by two princes, even the Taicang Silver Mine and the Royal Mansion’s base, Jingchuan City, fell into Mu Prince’s hands.

Prince Huai shut his doors to visitors, seeking to avert disaster by hedging many bets, only for the situation to suddenly escalate beyond expectation.

Now that Zhao Shixiong had pledged allegiance to the court, although the Huai’an Prince Mansion appeared normal in atmosphere, in truth everyone was on edge, unable to sleep, as was she, the Commandery Princess.

"What sound is that?"

Suddenly, Xu Junling heard a vague disturbance outside. She became tense, stood up, pushed open the door, and gracefully stepped over the threshold, looking down the dark garden corridor to call out tentatively:

"Xing’er? Lan’er?"

The maids did not answer.

Xu Junling furrowed her brows, unease driving her to turn back into the room, but as she stepped in, the door behind her slammed shut with a "Boom."

Inside, the candles flickered, lighting the room erratically.

"Who’s there?!" Xu Junling cried out in shock, then astonished, she saw several figures with varying appearances inside the room, as if in the blink of an eye.

Among them, someone sat in her former seat, leisurely browsing through the poetry collection.

The person looked up, grinning at her: "Commandery Princess, long time no see."

"Zhao Douan!" Xu Junling’s pupils narrowed, her scalp tingling, and she instinctively turned to dash out the door—though they were old acquaintances and had connections, the present situation was unlike the past.

But in the next moment, Lang Shiba’s bright curved blade blocked the way at the room’s door.

Zhao Douan stood up, gently walked over, held Xu Junling’s chin with his fingers, forcibly turning her head to face him, smiling: "Why does the Commandery Princess avoid me like I’m a viper?"

"You... how did you..." Xu Junling dared not move, recalling that time at Hu Ting, Yansuo Lake, when Zhao Douan kidnapped her as a shield:

"Where is Master Lv?"

"Relax, he’s alive." Zhao Douan leaned in:

"There’s no time for reminiscing, we’re here to meet the Prince, trespassing as strangers, could the Commandery Princess guide us?"

He’s here for father... Xu Junling’s breath tightened, dared not defy, and immediately complied nodding:

"I’ll lead... you there."

Zhao Douan wasn’t worried about any tricks, escorted the Commandery Princess out of the western wing along the corridor towards the east.

Along the way, any patrolling house servants were dealt with jointly by Lang Shiba and Ji Yue.

Possibly due to infiltrating from the rear inner courtyard, they hadn’t encountered strong enemies apart from Lv Qingfeng.

On the way, Xu Junling’s hands were bound by a strip of buffalo leather, she walked and cautiously asked:

"Commander Zhao, with your grand arrival, there’s no need for this, a mere ordinary woman like me, can’t stir up waves. Now that the front line is in battle, are you coming from there?"

Zhao Douan smiled: "No need for probing, Commandery Princess, we are acquainted, as long as you cooperate tonight, I promise the Royal Mansion will remain intact."

As they spoke, a group of people entered the inner courtyard, unexpectedly quiet.

The courtyard planted with ink bamboo, inside the majestic main hall, the lights shone brightly, each lamp’s glow spreading to illuminate a corner in front of the hall.

Zhao Douan, leading four Worldly Realm experts, escorted the Commandery Princess to the main hall, where they suddenly saw, inside the hall, two figures ready and waiting.

Sitting in the main seat was a portly figure, with fair face, maintained so well that it was hard to distinguish his age.