The Attack of the Wastrel

“Protect the king, there is an assassin!”

Gu Lingzhi exchanged a look with Rong Yuan at the sound of the commotion outside. She quickly hid Rong Yuan in the Inheritance Space before she stood up. Her legs were weak and she almost fell to the floor. She cursed at Rong Yuan before she dragged her exhausted body out of the palace.

At that point, the Royal Palace was chaotic. Lamps lit by fire and spiritual energy light lit up the surroundings as groups of guards surveyed their surroundings with vigilance. Pan Wen’s guards were also on duty in the area and the moment Gu Lingzhi appeared disguised as Pan Wen, a guard hurried before her and explained, “Your Highness, someone sneaked into the palace. For your own safety, you should remain in your palace. You should not give the assassin any chance to get close to Wenrong Palace.”

“Oh?” ‘Pan Wen’ asked, “Do you know who the assassin is?”

“I…” The guard stammered, unsure of how to reply. Truthfully speaking, the group of guards in charge of Wenrong Palace were not sure what had happened. They had only heard the cry of other guards in the palace before they were called into action. This was done as a precautionary measure in case the unknown assassin entered Wenrong Palace.

Their experiences in the past told them that disrupting Pan Wen from his rest meant that they would be in deep trouble!

“You don’t know?” ‘Pan Wen’ nodded his head thoughtfully. All of a sudden, her expression turned terrifyingly dark and she yelled, “How can you ask me to rest within my quarters if you don’t even know who the assassin is? If that person has a high cultivation rank, am I a sitting duck waiting to be killed? Or are you guys together with the assassin? Do you want to do nothing and wait to be killed by the assassin?”

‘Pan Wen’ raised his voice and scolded the guards out of the blue. His fierceness and unreasonableness instantly caused the guards to turn pale with fright and their knees fell to the ground as they kneeled in front of him in apology. Without hesitation, they denied any collusion with the assassin and begged ‘Pan Wen’ for forgiveness.

‘Pan Wen’ held his chin up as he scoffed at them, deciding to let them off this time. He lifted his leg in a menacing movement that threatened to stomp down on the guards. Yet, before he hit them, he suddenly whipped around and returned to his sleeping quarters.

This left the guards in utter confusion. What was that about? Was the Crown Prince playing with them with his fierce act? Was he returning to sleep now that he was done torturing them? So what if the Crown Prince had a high status, could he disrespect them like that?

The answer – of course!

The dissatisfied guards could only indulge in self pity as they stared at ‘Pan Wen’ returning to the room. With helpless expressions, they could only lament their low status.

Back in the room, Gu Lingzhi had not been playing with the guards. She had suddenly thought of the possibility of Lord Fashen being the assassin.

She did a mental calculation. There was a high possibility of Lord Fashen and his men being the assassins to steal the Godly Weapon. However, something went wrong and the assassin was discovered. Rong Huachang was aware of the fact that Gu Lingzhi had infiltrated the North Qiu Royal Palace as Pan Wen. If the assassin was on her side, he would seek out Gu Lingzhi quickly.

As such, she had to stay in her room and be ready for anything to happen.

At a corner of the North Qiu Palace, the group of infiltrators from the Alliance were currently in a heated discussion. In order not to alarm the palace guards, only three Demigods were sent on the mission. They were Lord Fashen, Rong Huachang and Mao Dingling.

As the pillar of the Alliance, many people had not wanted Lord Fashen to participate directly in the mission and risk his life. However, as the oldest Demigod in the continent, he knew much more about the North Qiu Royal Family compared to other people. If he did not participate in the mission himself, it was akin to throwing others to the lion’s den. Therefore he remained stubborn on his decision to personally lead Rong Huachang and Mao Dingling on the mission.

He had considered the team for the mission.

With his cultivation level, Lord Fashen could easily enter the Royal Palace without a single trace easily. He was a powerful and essential advantage that they had in the operation regardless of offense or sneak attacks.

Rong Huachang was an expert in terms of speed. It was almost impossible for anyone else to catch up to her.

Mao Dingling on the other hand, had his own unique expertise.

Although Mao Dingling did not have exceptional combat power compared to the other Demigods, his unique Martial Skills techniques meant that he was particularly effective against anyone who was a lower cultivation rank than him as his realm carried poison in it. Whenever he released his realm, a large black flower would appear in the center of it.

This seemed somewhat similar to Hua Qingcheng’s abilities but it also had its differences. Mao Dingling’s black flower could dissipate additional black poison. Anyone in the same cultivation rank as him would feel their physical motions being restrained. At the same time, the black flower poison served as a powerful weapon to conduct a silent massacre. However, the scent of the poison did not distinguish between friend and foe. Mao Dingling himself hardly used this ability and Lord Fashen decided that he should only use it as a last resort. However, the trio found themselves in a predicament then.

“I disagree. Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi are definitely here and we would be safe the moment we find them. Why not just seek them out?” Mao Dingling whispered.

“We absolutely cannot go.” Rong Huachang’s expression was also dark. “If you had not been discovered by the guards, would we find ourselves in trouble? Gu Lingzhi risked her life to infiltrate the North Qiu Kingdom to be a spy for the Alliance. She is not here to clean up after your mess.”

“How dare you say that?” Mao Dingling frowned deeply. “All of us are doing whatever we can for the Alliance. We need their help this time and it is not even for a dangerous act. Why can't we seek her out? It wasn’t my intention to be caught anyway.”

“We cannot go. At the very most, we can just run away now and come back another day at another opportunity. There is no need to place Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan in danger for us.” Rong Huachang remained stubborn and she suddenly felt grateful that she had not revealed the exact details of their infiltration in the North Qiu Kingdom. Mao Dingling was only aware that the pair was in the Royal Palace but he did not know the exact details of where they were nor what they were doing.

They were aware that the North Qiu Kingdom had deep roots and secrets. Under such a dangerous situation, how could she risk Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan’s safety for their own?

“You…You are just too stubborn!” Mao Dingling scolded her. “How can you be so foolish now? Is our aim more important or are they more important? Since we have been discovered now, it will be even harder to infiltrate the North Qiu Kingdom the next time. They are just two Martial Sages, how can they compare to Demigods?”

“In my heart, they are much more important than you!” Rong Huachang quarrelled with Mao Dingling.

Why did he compare the pair with Demigods? Did Mao Dingling want to sacrifice Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan? If that was the case, she had to keep a tight lip about their whereabouts!

Seeing the argument between the two get more heated, Lord Fashen had to step in. He stood in the middle of the two and allowed his aura to suppress them. His stern voice barked, “Stop quarrelling, I know how to avoid being discovered.”

There was no way for her to get any sleep that night. All the lights in the North Qiu Kingdom remained brightly lit and Gu Lingzhi, still disguised as Pan Wen, stood anxiously in his living quarters as he carefully observed the situation. He tapped his foot impatiently but no one arrived.

At the darkest of the night, a strange visitor arrived at ‘Pan Wen’’s living quarters.

“Your Highness, these are the orders of the king. We have to obey them, please pardon us,” a guard informed him.

‘Pan Wen’ turned around expressionlessly and in the next instant, a few dozen guards moved swiftly into his room and searched his living quarters.

After silently observing the guards search her room, ‘Pan Wen’ sprung into action. He put on a hurtful expression and stared at Pan Yu.

“Father… Chief Duke… are both of you suspecting me?” ‘Pan Wen’ asked, his voice quivering slightly. Otherwise, why would the men enter her room at such an ungodly hour?

The moment ‘Pan Wen’ questioned Pan Yu’s fatherly love, Pan Yu’s face instantly softened. Placing an arm on ‘Pan Wen’’s shoulder, he tried to reassure him, “Don’t think too much about it. I am not suspecting you…but I just want to be sure of everything. We are also going to check on your fifth brother after searching your room.”

However, Pan Yu and Pan Liwen would not be involved in the search of the Fifth Prince’s room. Granted, he would not reveal that to ‘Pan Wen’. At that point, Pan Yu was dissatisfied with the Chief Duke for constantly suspecting the Grand Prince.

Even if it was too much of a coincidence that ‘Pan Wen’ returned and the Alliance struck at the same time, it did not mean that Pan Wen should be blamed. Why did the Chief Duke always try to find fault with Pan Wen?

Pan Liwen also felt that he was being somewhat unreasonable. However, for some reason, he had instantly suspected Pan Wen when the Alliance men snuck into the palace.

He had not checked on Pan Wen immediately after his suspicion because he had sent a spy to watch over Wenrong Palace.

With Pan Wen’s hurt expression staring at him, Pan Liwen felt guilty. His eyebrows furrowed together and his voice lowered as he scolded, “That’s enough! Are you supposed to show a weak side as the Crown Prince of the kingdom? How did your father teach you?”

With that, Pan Liwen strode past ‘Pan Wen’ and entered the room without batting another eye at her.

The guards moved and searched the room quickly. Afraid that ‘Pan Wen’ would scold them the moment Pan Liwen was gone, they obediently placed things back in their original position after searching through them.

Pan Liwen brushed past the guards and scanned the room carefully without letting a single inch escape his eye. However, the moment he encountered the bathtub in Gu Lingzhi’s room, he instantly stopped. Narrowing his eyes, he ordered, “Push that stone away. Something is not right there.”