At deep night, midnight.
Qingyunfang City had long since enforced a curfew, the marketplace district sealed shut, not a soul in sight.
Zhang Yao donned a black cloak and an iron mask, quietly leaving the west residential area.
A closer look revealed his stature had become noticeably shorter and sturdier, clearly the result of deliberate disguise through bone adjustment.
Along the way, Zhang Yao saw several similar figures with concealed identities, but everyone tactfully avoided each other.
Moments later, Zhang Yao reached the edge of the marketplace district, and after showing his token, passed through a hidden door into the underground.
He followed the subterranean passage, arriving at an underground hall.
Looking around, the underground hall was vast, tens of zhang in every direction, with a dozen hidden doorways encrypted on the surrounding walls, shrouded in dim light.
