Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 148: Spiritual Illusion Arts

Tang Buqi decided to listen to Zhao Changhe’s suggestion. He slipped out through the back door of the guest house, then quickly headed straight to the military camp outside the city.

Meanwhile, Zhao Changhe and Sisi stood on the rooftop of the guest house, observing the commotion at the gate of the Tang Clan from afar.

The major families of Gusu had gathered hundreds, if not thousands of people and were blocking the entrance to the Tang residence. Some had even already gone to block the other exits. It seemed that if they had delayed a moment longer, Tang Buqi would have had a much harder time getting out.

Every person looked furious, and curse after curse was echoing through the air. One could faintly hear shouts demanding accountability from the Tang Clan for the alleged leakage of vicious qi from the Tiger Hill Sword Pond that was harming the people of Gusu.

A middle-aged man with a long beard rushed out with a group of people. He was Tang Buqi’s father, Tang Wanzhuang’s brother, and the current head of the Tang Clan, Tang Wangsheng. Tang Wangsheng’s father, the old patriarch, had long retired and went to spend the rest of his life in the capital, and his focus was probably on his daughter’s marriage. As a result, all matters concerning the Tang Clan of Gusu were now overseen by Tang Wangsheng.

Not every family had a leader as capable as Cui Wenjing of the Cui Clan, who excelled in both military and political affairs. Zhao Changhe’s impression of the Tang Clan was that they were closely following Tang Wanzhuang’s political footsteps, but their abilities were limited, and they appeared to be in a state of decline. Tang Buqi’s father was a reflection of the overall state of the Tang Clan, and his leadership played a significant role in their current situation. At least for the moment, he did not seem up to par for his role.

Therefore, despite staying in their residence. Zhao Changhe had no intention of paying respects to the family head. It seemed pointless to him, and he might ultimately just face ridicule or hostility. The only member of the clan he had any interest in, besides Tang Wanzhuang, was Tang Buqi.

Tang Wangsheng’s voice echoed, resonant and forceful, “The Tiger Hill Sword Pond has been under the control of the Tang Clan for a century, and there have never been any incidents. This is known to everyone! If there truly was a leakage of vicious qi from the sword pond, then why has nobody in our family been affected? Don’t be misled by rumors and hearsay!”

On the opposing side, one of the people leading the crowd said aggressively, “You have been keeping watch over the sword pond in your rear mountain this entire time. How could we outsiders really know what’s going on inside? My son went astray after visiting your sword pond, as did the young master of the Gu Clan! How can we take your word for it and believe that there’s nothing fishy about the sword pond you’re keeping from everyone else?”

Tang Wangsheng was speechless. “There are so many people who have visited the sword pond! I myself even went there a few days ago to play chess. How come I didn’t go mad?”

However, nobody paid attention to him. The crowd’s emotions surged, and the head of the Lu Clan said, “Do you really think mere words are going to be enough to convince us? How about you let all of us enter and investigate? We’ll believe what we see with our own eyes!”

Tang Wangsheng’s expression grew solemn, “Brother Lu, I understand your pain as a parent whose child has gone mad, but our residence is not a place where you can throw a tantrum as you please! Are we supposed to allow you to enter and investigate just because you say so? What do you think the Tang Clan is?”

Zhao Changhe pulled Sisi aside and said, “Let’s go. The Tang Clan still holds some prestige, the two sides will remain in a stalemate for the time being. That person surnamed Lu and the Maitreya Cult will need to continue to stimulate people’s emotions until a conflict escalates before they can take action. Before that happens, let’s go do our own thing. Besides, this kind of battle between thousands of people is not our business.”

Sisi whispered, “Is this what you were referring to when you said that there would not be many people in the Lu Clan?”

“Yes, I suspected that something was off from the moment I saw Lu Shaoxiong. I have been speculating about their intentions... I’ll tell you the details later. Right now, the strongest members of the Lu Clan are all here. There should not be that many powerful individuals among those guarding their forbidden area at the moment. We might still have a chance by acting now.”

Sisi forgot that as a maid, it was nowhere in her job description to accompany her master to such risky places. She followed Zhao Changhe as they rushed toward the southern part of the city where the Lu Clan’s residence was. At this moment, her curiosity and excitement were no less than anyone else’s.

The Lu residence located in the south of the city, far from the Tang residence, which was located in the northernmost part of the city. In theory, it seemed highly unlikely for the Lu Clan to be able to do anything that may cause problems to arise at the sword pond in the Tang residence. After all, it simply did not make sense for them to dig a tunnel under the entire city. That would honestly be too incredible.

Despite the distance between the two estates, Zhao Changhe and Sisi quickly arrived at the Lu residence. As Zhao Changhe had expected, the Lu Clan’s estate was almost entirely deserted at this time. The majority of their forces had gone to the Tang Clan, leaving only several guards and servants to patrol the grounds.

Although Zhao Changhe was not particularly skilled in stealth and infiltration, he was still able to deal with these ordinary guards. They were able to swiftly and covertly circle around to the back of the Lu Clan’s estate, where there was a heavily guarded small hill. This was the forbidden area of the Lu Clan.

Zhao Changhe whispered into Sisi’s ear, “I have some knowledge of the Maitreya Cult’s spiritual illusion arts, though my skills might be a bit rubbish... I wonder if I would be able to trick these guards into letting me in? On the other hand, we could always just force our way through. I’m just worried about being blocked off from behind. That would be very dangerous.”

Suppressing the itching sensation in her ears, Sisi hesitated for a moment before responding in a low voice, “Follow me.”

With a faint smile on his face, Zhao Changhe followed Sisi as she led him to a small courtyard.

“Under normal circumstances, this would be the residence of a certain young master,” Sisi said with remarkable familiarity as she jumped through an open window. She deftly knocked out a maid who was pretending to be asleep at the table, and then she rummaged through the cabinets until she found a set of clothes belonging to a young master of the Lu Clan. “Put these on.”

Without saying a word, Zhao Changhe changed into the clothes he was handed. Sisi took out some jars and containers from seemingly nowhere, selecting some sticky substances to smear onto Zhao Changhe’s face, saying, “This is just some simple makeup. We need to cover up your scar at the very least... Hm, that should be good enough. If you use your illusion art now, you should have a much better chance at fooling people...”

Zhao Changhe smiled slightly. “Alright.”

Sisi rolled her eyes, feeling like she had already given herself away. At this critical moment, it was not appropriate to hide anything. Even if her identity as Sisi from the Thieves Guild were exposed, what difference would it really make?

Seeing no particular reaction from Zhao Changhe, Sisi wondered if he had already guessed who she was a while back. Perhaps he had suspicions from before, like from the bath, the teasing, and her foolish “servicing,” as well as from Dragon Bird’s reaction.

Blushing deeply from the embarrassment, Sisi decided to drop the act and directly applied makeup to her face until she resembled the maid she had knocked unconscious.

Zhao Changhe: “...”

Sisi urged, “What are you looking at? You already know, so what am I supposed to do? I also want to see what the Lu Clan is hiding.”

Zhao Changhe was stunned for a moment. “You’re going in too? It’s very dangerous.”

Sisi hesitated as if she had not even considered the possibility of not going in. After a moment, she scratched her head and said, “I want to go in and have a look...”

Zhao Changhe glanced at her thoughtfully and simply said, “Alright.”

They both averted their gazes from each other, then almost simultaneously leaped out the window, returning to the foot of the hill.

Zhao Changhe walked up confidently, and immediately, a guard stepped forward to intercept him, “Stop! This is the forbidden area... Huh? Second young master? Didn’t you head to the Tang Clan with the rest?”

Zhao Changhe stared at the guard’s eyes, his gaze rippling with hidden meanings, “Father asked me to come back and fetch something.”

Zhao Changhe had only learned the spiritual illusion arts contained in the Pure Bliss Art but had never actually used it on others. Now, using them for the first time, he felt a slight dizziness. He felt that the power involved was very different from the internal and external systems he was used to. Strangely, it resembled the spiritual will he had when combating the vicious qi-induced madness.

However, this was not the time to dwell on such matters. At this moment, he just had to worry about the skill being enough to affect ordinary guards. Clearly, there were no actual strong individuals left here. They had all been dispatched to the Tang Clan. The remaining guards seemed even more confused than him. “Second young master, you can’t bring a maid in when fetching something...”

“Who says that I can’t take advantage of this time and play with a maid while I’m at it?” Zhao Changhe simply hugged Sisi and gave her a playful squeeze. “Come on, we’ll be out soon. Who cares about these things during such critical times?”

Normally, such a request should not have been entertained, but under the influence of the spiritual illusion arts, the guards relented. One of them merely rolled his eyes and turned to open the stone door, muttering to himself, “Who actually says that out loud in public? Isn’t it humiliating to let others know how fast you are...”

There was more than one guard present, and they were all secretly laughing at him.

Zhao Changhe remained composed, still holding the smiling Sisi as they strode through the entrance

The stone door quickly closed behind him, and there was a soft light in front of them guiding their path forward. It was unknown where exactly the passage led.

Despite the absence of any sound, Zhao Changhe still tensed his muscles and let go of Sisi, reaching for the hilt of his saber.

Sisi, too preoccupied to tease him about being hugged and squeezed, urgently whispered, “Do you sense anything? Is there vicious qi here?”

“No... It would be better if there was. Everything would be clear then—the Lu Clan hiding vicious qi and attempting to frame the Tang Clan,” Zhao Changhe’s expression was grave as he whispered. “But the absence of vicious qi makes this much trickier. We have no idea what the Lu Clan is guarding. Going further in may lead us into a tiger’s den. Are you still willing to go?”

Sisi looked at his side profile, and her tone became calm, “You’re willing to risk it for the sake of camaraderie. Why would I not be willing?”

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