Young Noble Be Monster Slaying

Chapter 605: Stealing a Fowl

Boom.

At the Spring of Virtue, Chu Liang sank back down into the pool without even the slightest splash. The only trace of his presence was a ripple on the surface of the water.

The eight guards stepped forward in unison. Instead of retracting the golden net, they extended their divine senses into the water to track Chu Liang's movements.

The golden net hadn't injured Chu Liang. However, he'd realized he wouldn't be able to break through it in one attempt, so he did a flip and swam back down to the bottom of the pool.

Before arriving at the Spring of Virtue, he had already expected the Golden Dragon Orb's location to be guarded and had a contingency plan in mind.

So, Chu Liang acted without any hesitation. Knowing that the Spring of Virtue wasn't connected to other bodies of water, he immediately used the divine spell Underground Escape Route to escape through the dirt wall of the pool.

The guards' divine senses quickly locked onto him and detected that he was using the divine spell Underground Escape Route. One of them swiftly flipped his hand and retracted the golden net back into his storage tool.

The guards then each summoned a golden pestle and leaped backward into the air. They formed a circle with a diameter of dozens of zhang in midair.

Bam, bam, bam.

As they landed on the ground, they drove their eight golden pestles into it, sealing off the earth within that circle. The earth surrounding Chu Liang, who was moving underground, suddenly became hard like metal and stone, preventing him from advancing even half a cun[1] further.

Not one to stubbornly persist, Chu Liang immediately changed direction. Redirecting his qi upward, he used the immortal art Dimension Compression.

Whoosh!

Chu Liang disappeared from several zhang underground and instantly reappeared in midair. The eight guards shouted in unison, swinging their golden pestles at him simultaneously.

Chu Liang didn't engage them in battle. Instead, he charged forward and used his back to receive two of the golden pestles' strikes.

Wham! Wham!

The strikes left Chu Liang shaking, but they also propelled him forward another dozen zhang[2], bringing him to one of the walls of the Imperial Garden. Without pausing for even a second, he used Dimension Compression again—this time to pass through the wall and make his escape.

Seeing that, the eight guards shouted, "Catch the flying thief!"

They pursued him closely, leaping over the high wall of the Imperial Garden. However, Chu Liang had already vanished without a trace in just the blink of an eye.

The guards scanned their surroundings and followed the faint trail of residual qi in the air. No matter how amazing Chu Liang's transformation into wind might be, all usage of divine abilities would leave behind traces of qi. The Dragon-Keeping Eunuch's eight guards chased after Chu Liang's trail of qi, alerting the patrolling imperial guards along the way.

The group of guards chased the trail all the way to an exquisite flower garden, coming to an abrupt halt there. They looked through the archway before them and saw a small lake in the courtyard. There was a woman sitting by the lake, dressed in palace robes. She was gazing at the water, seemingly lost in thought.

The earlier drizzle had ceased, leaving the water crystal-clear. It showed a reflection of her stunningly delicate and beautiful face.

The guards bowed deeply in unison as they greeted her. "Your Highness!"

"What is the matter?" the imperial consort asked, raising her gaze.

One of the guards sounded a bit confused as he explained, "There was a thief in the imperial palace just now. We tracked the trail of qi all the way here..."

The trail of foundational qi had abruptly vanished upon reaching this courtyard, without even the slightest trace of where the thief might have gone.

Could the thief have vanished into thin air?

The guard paused for a moment, then he continued, "For Your Highness's safety, we must search the garden."

"I see." The imperial consort glanced around. "Go ahead, but be careful not to damage anything in my chambers. Otherwise, I'll report you to His Majesty." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"We wouldn't dare," the guards replied.

They hastily spread out to search the area thoroughly. Yet, the trail of qi truly ended there. They couldn't find any signs of where the thief might have gone.

Upon finding nothing, the lead guard turned his gaze toward the imperial consort who was still sitting by the lake.

He asked, "Your Highness, did you notice any disturbance in the water earlier?"

Though the thief's stealth technique was exceptional, it couldn't entirely erase their presence. If they had gone into hiding underwater, it would explain why the trail of qi had cut off there. Nevertheless, the thief would have certainly made a sound when they entered the water.

"I've been staring at this lake water the entire time. If there had been any movement, I would have noticed. But there was nothing at all," the imperial consort answered bewilderedly. "Could you have made a mistake?"

"This..." the guards uttered. They exchanged glances and then apologized, "Our apologies for disturbing you, Your Highness."

They were fortunate to be under the command of Yao Dengxian, whose high status had given them the confidence to act as they had done. If it had been the ordinary imperial guards, the fruitless search would likely have resulted in punishment.

After the guards left, the imperial consort gazed at the water and muttered like she was talking to herself. "What a daring little fish indeed."

...

The Imperial City was vast, and on the other side of the Imperial Garden was the Beast Taming Park. It housed countless exotic beasts from across the nine provinces, with the Dragon-Keeping Eunuch's office located on the edge of the park.

To the east of the Dragon-Keeping Eunuch's office, past several large landscape gardens, was the Qinghong Aviary. It was home to the last remaining flock of Qinghong, divine birds known to be the most delicious in the world.

Aside from when the Assembly of Immortal Sects was being held, no one was permitted to disturb the Qinghong birds' mating and nesting, as the goal was to grow their population. Normally, only the palace attendants tasked with maintaining the aviary dared set foot inside.

However, today, two heads peeked out from behind a rock garden in the aviary.

The head on the left belonged to a handsome middle-aged man in flowery robes. He carried an air of nobility and stood with his hands held behind his back.

The middle-aged man repeatedly shook his head and sighed. "This is a sin..."

The head on the right belonged to a tall, elegant woman in red robes. She was a gorgeous woman of unparalleled beauty, but her eyes gleamed like those of a sparrow in a granary or a weasel in a chicken coop.

Inside the Qinghong Aviary, brightly colored wings fluttered as sharp cries rang out incessantly. Occasionally, a large green bird would fly across the large aviary. Most of the Qinghong birds were perched languidly in the woods.

The woman's eyes darted back and forth. "That fat one—let's just go with that one. Oh, no, that one's even fatter. But it's a female... Better leave it... Oh, there are eggs! Can we eat the eggs? No? Ah..."

The middle-aged man sighed again. "I spent the first half of my life as Crown Prince and the second half as the Dao Master of Incinerating Heaven. I've lived my life in an upright manner—or at least, in an open and honest manner. To think that I would end up sneaking around and stealing a fowl..."

"Oh, please. If you're a good man, how did you end up having me? You've got some nerve saying that," the woman retorted, giving him a shove. "I want that one."

She pointed decisively at the Qinghong bird with the most beautiful feathers.

These two people were, of course, Di Nufeng, the peak master of the Mount Shu Sect's Silver Sword Peak, and Mingde, the guardian of the imperial family.

Taking advantage of the Assembly of Immortal Sects, Mingde had hoped to spend some quality time with his daughter and rekindle their bond as parent and child. Yet, Di Nufeng's mind was filled with dreadful schemes.

She would frequently share her outrageous ideas with him at the drop of a hat—like how she wanted to become emperor, or how she wanted to seize the Great Dao from him, or how she wanted to make hot pot... with Qinghong birds. In short, all of the things she wanted to do were capital offenses.

Left with no other choice, Mingde could only let her do the least harmful thing. He brought her to the aviary to catch one Qinghong bird in the hope that having a good meal might placate her for a while.

Mingde was the guardian of the imperial family, but he couldn't openly flout ancestral rules. Thus, he opted to secretly catch one of the birds and then quietly inform the emperor later. After all, stealing a bird wasn't an honorable deed, so it wasn't something he wanted to publicize.

Yet, just as he moved toward the colorful and radiant Qinghong bird, he noticed a heavy aura of death emanating from behind a nearby rock.

Mingde immediately sensed something was amiss. He extended his divine sense behind the rock and found a corpse!

It was the body of a woman with snow-white skin, dressed in palace robes. She seemed to have been dead for some time, but her face was still intact and in good condition as if she were still alive.

Mingde recognized that face.

Though the palace was filled with beauties, few could compare to this woman.

Her name was Gong Yu'er.

1. An inch. ☜

2. Over 30m. ☜