Chapter 626: Refusal

Looking at the Imperial Medical Institute not far away, Zu An didn't expect to revisit this familiar place so soon.

He walked inside, subconsciously glancing at the room where Shi Kun had been. However, it was empty now; presumably, the Shi family had taken him back.

"I wonder if they found that severed piece of his; otherwise, he won't be able to be buried whole," Zu An maliciously mused.

At that moment, groans from imperial guards occasionally echoed around. They lay on communal cots, their bodies covered in bloodstains, as staff from the Imperial Medical Institute busily applied medicine and bandaged their wounds.

Zu An secretly sighed. This time, with the assassins entering the palace, both the Demonic Cult and the palace's personnel suffered heavy casualties.

While he sympathized, he would not show mercy if the safety of those around him were truly jeopardized.

Just then, bursts of loud voices came from nearby. A group of imperial guards surrounded a man, listening to him boast: "When the assassins stormed the Eastern Palace, they killed everyone they saw! Those guys were all top masters; the Eastern Palace guards were almost half-decimated at the very beginning."

"We retreated into the main hall, planning to use the Eastern Palace's protective array to defend ourselves. Who knew they seemed to be well-prepared? They took out some kind of magic artifact that directly disrupted the hall's formation, and then their leader shattered the grand protective array with a single palm strike."

Zu An glanced at the man in the middle; he had dark circles under his eyes, looking like a certain "time management master" from a previous life.

He secretly nodded, thinking that if even his own residence had a protective array, how could the Eastern Palace not? But Yun Jianyue and her group were well-prepared; they even easily breached the Eastern Palace's magical array.

The other imperial guards all gasped in surprise: "Then what did you do?"

The dark-eyed guard said excitedly, "Luckily, the Crown Prince's Junior Tutor arrived in time and stopped their leader, but the other assassins still charged towards the Crown Prince. Seeing everyone plunged into fear, before you knew it, I roared, charged out with my saber, and fought my way from the main hall's entrance to the courtyard, then back from the courtyard. I went in and out three times, slaughtering those assassins until bodies littered the ground—I didn't even blink!"

A tall, thin imperial guard next to him sneered, "You didn't blink for that long?"

"Of course I didn't blink! In that situation, enemies were everywhere, so how could I dare to be even slightly distracted?" The dark-eyed guard puffed out his chest, feeling utterly pleased as he looked at the other guards' admiring gazes.

The tall, thin guard beside him spoke again: "Wouldn't your eyes get dry if you didn't blink that whole time?"

The dark-eyed guard's smile froze. "I'm talking about fighting my way in and out three times and slaughtering those assassins until bodies littered the ground. Are you really concerned about whether my eyes got dry?"

"I'm concerned about the same thing," the tall, thin guard replied. "Was it three times in, or three times out?"

The dark-eyed guard snorted, "Of course it was both three times in AND three times out!"

"You said you slaughtered assassins until bodies littered the ground. Exactly how many assassins did you kill?"

"How could I possibly count them one by one in such a critical moment!"

"I counted," the tall guard said. "You killed 3 assassins and wounded 4."

The surrounding guards booed. They had been listening to his confident bragging, and that was all?

Although they knew that, given the skill of those assassins and fighting while outnumbered, such an achievement was quite good, everyone still couldn't help but mock him, mainly because he had just boasted so excessively.

The dark-eyed guard angrily retorted, "Jiao Sigun, do you always have to argue with me? How many did *you* kill then?"

The tall, thin guard, who seemed to be a natural contrarian, looked as though he had been waiting for this question. He raised his head and said triumphantly, "Humbly, I managed to kill exactly one more assassin than you."

The dark-eyed guard: "..."

The surrounding guards tactfully went to flatter the tall, thin contrarian next to him.

Seeing his thunder stolen by his companion, the dark-eyed guard was very displeased. "Ultimately, our contributions were just minor scuffles. The one we should truly thank is Lord Eleven."

"Which Lord Eleven?" the surrounding guards asked, filled with doubt. "We've never heard that name."

Zu An was just about to walk inside to find a physician, but hearing this, he couldn't help but stop. *Sigh*, why are people so vain?

Then the dark-eyed guard said, "Of course, it's Lord Eleven, the Golden Embroidered Envoy!"

"Nonsense!" one guard retorted. "As everyone knows, there are only ten Golden Envoys."

"We also thought there were only ten before, but today we discovered there's an eleventh," the dark-eyed guard said. "At the time, we were outnumbered, and even the Crown Princess personally joined the battle. When the Crown Princess was in danger, Lord Eleven appeared and directly embraced... *cough cough*, I mean, he directly struck with his blade and instantly killed several high-level assassins."

Although he was loose-mouthed, he understood that the incident of the Crown Princess being embraced was a taboo, and he wouldn't dare spread it around.

At this, his tall, thin companion corrected him: "Strictly speaking, Lord Eleven didn't instantly kill those assassins; he merely defeated them in one move. He didn't kill them at all."

"You have to argue with me about everything!" the dark-eyed guard fumed. "If you say another word, I won't play dice with you anymore!"

"Oh," the tall, thin guard said, and only then did he close his mouth.

The dark-eyed guard continued, "Anyway, as soon as Lord Eleven arrived, the pressure on all of us lightened. He alone, with a single sword, protected the Crown Prince and Crown Princess. Truly, his sword light chilled all nineteen provinces! Countless assassins charged towards him, but not one could take a single step past him."

His own boasting had just been exposed, so now he had to boast about Lord Eleven to satisfy his vanity. Seeing the guards' sparkling, admiring gazes, he instantly felt a shared glory and immense satisfaction.

His tall, thin companion's expression instantly became extremely conflicted. He hesitated several times, wanting to speak but holding back, until he finally couldn't resist correcting him: "Lord Eleven didn't use a sword..."

"Shut up!" The dark-eyed guard was so furious he wanted to fight him on the spot. Just then, a nearby guard asked curiously, "But I heard a Grandmaster appeared among the assassins later. Could Lord Eleven even deal with a Grandmaster?"

The dark-eyed guard quickly explained, "Lord Eleven is naturally no match for a Grandmaster, but even a Grandmaster's full-power flying sword strike couldn't harm Lord Eleven in the slightest! Everyone in the Eastern Palace saw how terrifying that sword strike was. I'm not afraid to admit it to you, that terrifying aura almost made me wet myself, even from far away."

"Even a ninth-rank master might not be able to withstand a Grandmaster's full-power strike," the surrounding guards said, somewhat disbelievingly, looking at the tall, thin contrarian next to him.

This time, however, he didn't argue. Instead, he agreed, "Lord Eleven indeed dodged that sword strike and was completely unharmed."

*Hiss*. The imperial guards were all masters, so they naturally knew what that meant. A group of people were instantly filled with admiration for that mysterious Lord Eleven.

At this point, Zu An deliberately coughed and said, "Actually, I wasn't completely unharmed. That Grandmaster's sword strike caused me a not-insignificant internal injury. Isn't that why I specifically came here for medicine?"

He was just worrying about not finding a good reason to get medicine, and unexpectedly, this guard provided him with one.

Hearing his voice, the group of people over there all turned their heads to look.

The dark-eyed guard and the tall, thin guard instantly recognized him and excitedly ran over. "Lord Eleven!"

The other guards all looked him over. *This* was the mysterious Golden Eleven? Indeed, he wore the attire of a Golden Embroidered Envoy.

Seeing that both guards were still bandaged with thick gauze and clearly not lightly injured, he quickly helped them up. "What are you doing? Please, get up."

The two guards said excitedly, "If Lord Eleven hadn't intervened, we two brothers would probably have perished today. How could we ever forget such life-saving kindness?"

Zu An didn't actually remember them. The Eastern Palace had been too chaotic at the time, but he had indeed conveniently saved some guards, and he hadn't expected these two to be among them. "You two are too kind," he said. "How should I address you, brothers?"

He also had another identity as the Crown Prince's Retainer, and it was crucial to establish good relations with these personal guards of the Eastern Palace.

"Oh, no, no," the dark-eyed guard said with a smile. "My name is Pu Duandiao."

"My name is Jiao Sigun," the tall, thin guard said, attempting to force a smile, but unfortunately, it looked worse than crying.

Zu An's expression became strange. "The people who named you two are truly 'talented'."

Pu Duandiao and Jiao Sigun nodded repeatedly in agreement. "Hehe, we think so too."

The other guards gathered around, all asking about the situation of that great battle, looking at him with admiring gazes.

Zu An felt somewhat lightheaded from all the praise. The Imperial Medical Institute truly was his blessed place; the people here were super nice and spoke so pleasantly.

However, he ultimately didn't forget his original purpose. He deliberately coughed a few times. "I'm injured, so I'll go get some medicine first, alright?"

Pu Duandiao and Jiao Sigun volunteered, "Lord Eleven, we'll take you to see the Assistant Director of the Imperial Medical Institute."

As imperial guards, they would occasionally get injured and come here, so they were quite familiar with the place.

The head of the Imperial Medical Institute was the Director, but most daily affairs were managed by the Left and Right Assistant Directors beneath the Director. The one on duty today was Lord Ma An, the Left Assistant Director.

"Thank you both," Zu An said, cupping his hands in greeting.

"Lord Eleven, you're too polite," Pu Duandiao and Jiao Sigun secretly rejoiced. This Lord Eleven wasn't as aloof as other Golden Envoys; it was definitely the right move to get closer to him. Perhaps they could even gain a powerful patron in the future.

Soon they found the Assistant Director and explained their purpose. The Assistant Director was an old man with a goatee. He looked Zu An over and asked, "May I ask where Your Excellency is injured?"

Zu An replied, "I took a Grandmaster's sword strike earlier, and ever since, I've felt somewhat disoriented. Even a slight thought makes me feel scattered."

"Oh, you've injured your spirit, then," the Assistant Director said, stroking his goatee as he frowned in thought. "Let me see what medicines can treat the spirit." He rarely encountered such ailments in his daily practice, so he was a bit uncertain at the moment.

Zu An tentatively asked, "Do you have the Five Essences Secret Ganoderma?"

The Assistant Director's eyes lit up. "Indeed, that substance can nourish the spirit. The barbarians from the west presented two as tribute a few days ago."

Zu An was overjoyed. Before coming out, Yun Jianyue had roughly analyzed it with him: some medicines were too precious for even the Imperial Medical Institute to possess, so she had specifically chosen a few with higher probabilities for him to ask about. He hadn't expected to hit the mark on the first try.

But then the Assistant Director frowned and said, "However, this item is quite precious. By regulation, it is reserved for imperial concubines and princes. I'm afraid it cannot be given to Your Excellency..."