Chapter 1664: Swift Victory

Zu An frowned. This situation was indeed troublesome. He secretly sent a telepathic message with his elemental energy to Yan Xuehen, "Sister Yan, can you sense where an exit might be around here?"

Yan Xuehen shook her head slightly. "I can only tell that there's no obvious exit in this room. I suspect it's hidden behind some mechanism."

"Can you find that mechanism then?" Zu An pressed.

"The materials in this room are special. The walls, floor, and ceiling are all mixed with Soul Absorbing Stones, and a special array has been set up. My spiritual perception is greatly affected here; I can only sense a very small distance. It will probably be very difficult to find it in a short amount of time." Yan Xuehen felt the warmth emanating from her palm, and a blush crept onto her cheeks. Fortunately, they were in darkness, so she didn't fear being seen. "And I can't see the array patterns, so I can't break the array here either."

"King Yan truly spared no expense to set up such an astonishing place," Zu An sighed, noting how soft her hand felt.

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

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

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

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

A light appearing in absolute darkness caused both women to instinctively squint.

Yan Xuehen, however, reacted faster, quickly pulling her hand away from Zu An's. This time, her stance was very firm.

Zhang Zitong slowly opened her eyes, gradually adjusting 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.

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

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

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

After she left, Yan Xuehen's expression turned somewhat displeased. "You lied to me!"

Anger points from Yan Xuehen +100, +100, +100...

"What did I lie about?" Zu An secretly groaned, his mind quickly racing to find a solution.

"You clearly could produce light, yet you insisted on groping around in the dark..." Yan Xuehen trailed off, embarrassed to finish, but her eyes were filled with icy disapproval.

Zu An suddenly let out a gasp and slumped sideways.

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

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

Yan Xuehen's expression changed. Knowing he had used that mysterious 'Word Spirit' technique, she quickly channeled a stream of elemental energy into his body. "Don't talk anymore. Calm your mind and spirit, consolidate your foundation and restore your vitality."

Zu An hummed in acknowledgment and naturally lay back in her arms. It was cool and soft, truly making one reluctant to leave.

Yan Xuehen froze for a moment, 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 she was masked now, and no one would know her identity.

Zhang Zitong was startled by Zu An's collapse. Just as she was about to go over, Yan Xuehen coldly said, "Finding the mechanism sooner so he doesn't have to use this skill again would be the greatest help."

Zhang Zitong's heart jolted. Not daring to delay further, she hastily resumed her search.

At the same time, she secretly mused, "It seems Sir Eleven and this woman have an extraordinary relationship, seeing as he collapsed into her arms immediately."

Yan Xuehen squatted on the ground, letting Zu An's head rest on her lap. Seeing his eyes tightly closed and his brows furrowed, a trace of pity involuntarily arose within her.

This fellow always has such poor judgment, using such a powerful Word Spirit technique in this situation.

Zu An, meanwhile, was secretly grinning. Although Sister Yan said she didn't want him to, she was still quite kind to him at heart.

He had just used 'Key Come' to create a beam of light. Of course, to lessen the backlash, he hadn't even dared to add the words "God said" before it. It wasn't his first time summoning light, and the side effects were still manageable. Naturally, in front of Yan Xuehen, he still needed to appear a bit more in pain...

A moment later, Zhang Zitong's excited 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 came from nearby. A hidden door in the wall opened, revealing a secret room behind it.

Zu An was somewhat displeased; this woman found the mechanism a bit too quickly. He couldn't even lie down for a little longer.

At that moment, 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?" he said, extinguishing the light in his hand.

Yan Xuehen helped him up. "How are you feeling now?"

"My body's fine, just a bit dizzy, and my mental energy feels somewhat depleted," Zu An replied. He knew Yan Xuehen was a Grandmaster and had just channeled elemental energy into him. Any physical issues couldn't be hidden from her, so he could only claim mental exhaustion, as mental energy depletion was impossible to verify.

As expected, Yan Xuehen frowned slightly, but continued to support him as they walked towards the inner room.

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

Zhang Zitong introduced, "This box has a Seven Orifice Exquisite Lock, which is very special. Fewer than ten people in the world can open it."

After speaking, she received no prompting, so she somewhat awkwardly added, "I just happen to be one of them."

She then took a hairpin from her hair. On closer inspection, one part of it resembled a curved thin needle.

She gently inserted the thin needle into the keyhole, tilting her ear to listen to the faint sounds from the lock's mechanism.

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

A moment later, with a crisp click, the lock sprang open.

Leaning against Yan Xuehen's soft body, Zu An asked somewhat curiously, "Although this lock is remarkable, isn't it a bit too simple for the final obstacle? Compared to the other stages, this one seems relatively easier."

Zhang Zitong replied, "Presumably, 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 the ledger is removed, an alarm will trigger, and the entire room will self-destruct."

Zu An secretly nodded. If one reached this point, it would be easy to become complacent, assuming success was imminent.

Zhang Zitong took out an identical ledger. "Who among you has the fastest hands? We need to swap out the ledger inside in the shortest possible time, so the underlying mechanism doesn't have time to react."

Yan Xuehen instinctively looked at Zu An, whose expression immediately turned peculiar.

Yan Xuehen quickly realized, and her pretty face flushed crimson. She immediately pushed him away.

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

Zhang Zitong gazed at her blankly, wondering how this woman's voice could be so ethereal and beautiful, completely unlike anything from the mortal world.

Yan Xuehen took the ledger from her hand, concentrated her mind, and then suddenly moved.

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

Zhang Zitong rubbed her eyes, barely believing what she saw. She hadn't even noticed the other person's hand move; the speed was truly astonishing. What cultivation level was she at?

Zu An took the ledger and his expression immediately turned solemn. To call King Yan audacious would be an understatement.

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

Zu An nodded. Everything had gone smoothly. He had originally anticipated some unforeseen circumstances, but on second thought, with Yan Xuehen accompanying them, it was an absolute overwhelming display of power; it would have been 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 managed to keep him occupied," 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.

"It's precisely because he's there that we're going," Zu An casually replied. "How can we conduct an arrest operation if the culprit isn't present?"

"Oh," Xiao Jianren instinctively responded. After a few steps, he suddenly realized, and asked with a horrified expression, "What? We're going to arrest King Yan?"

"Otherwise?" Zu An raised the ledger in his hand. "We have the evidence; speed is paramount in military affairs."

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

"Enough," Zu An replied casually, causing the faces of the Silver-badge Embroidered Envoys to turn ashen.