Cyan Mountain, just outside the Imperial City.
The night grew deep.
"Drink your fill of this wine."
"Great Liang is doomed to fall…"
Before a small earthen mound marked by a nameless stone, Su Chen poured out two bottles of White Confucian Wine he'd bought from a tavern in the Imperial City. After a moment of silence, he finally left, walking toward the Imperial Palace.
This time, the world had truly been turned on its head.
It was on a completely different scale from the few palace disturbances before.
'Whether it was the Prince's rebellion led by the Purple Star Daoist, or the Northern Garrison Marquis fighting his way into the Imperial Palace to turn against Great Liang, those were all just minor squabbles. This time, over a dozen First-Grade Minor Grandmasters died in one fell swoop, and even the Grand Ancestor of Liang was forced to act…'
Su Chen walked down the street and held out his palm.
Ripples spread across his palm, which took on the appearance of root-like tendrils. The transformation rapidly spread over his entire body. By the time he looked normal again, he had taken on a completely different appearance.
This was a new ability that came with reaching the Fourth Grade on the Path of Qi, where one's Inner Qi converged and fused with the entire body.
At the Fifth Grade, he could rapidly mature Treasure Medicines.
At the Fourth Grade, he could alter his form.
All in all,
He was becoming less and less human.
'It's been nine years,' he thought, 'and this is my first time ever leaving the Imperial Palace to walk the streets of the Imperial City…'
Su Chen reached out and tore a wanted poster from the wall.
The young man on the poster was incomparably handsome, with a perpetually languid air about him, like a young noble. Who else could it be but Su Chen?
The artist was quite skilled; they'd managed to capture about seventy percent of his essence.
Emperor Jianwu had truly spared no expense to have him hunted down and killed.
You could hardly walk ten paces in the Imperial City without seeing a wanted poster with his face on it.
"I've never been anywhere besides the Imperial Palace. Even if I were to run, where could I possibly go? And as for them wanting to hunt us down… it's always darkest under the lamp. They'd never imagine we'd dare to continue hiding right inside the Imperial Palace…"
A voice suddenly spoke.
It was high-pitched and thin.
It had the reedy squawk unique to a Eunuch.
"Who is it?"
Su Chen's senses were sharp. He moved in a flash, leaping up to the second floor of the shop next door. A familiar, exotic fragrance reached his nose.
It was the scent of perfume.
A quick glance revealed this was one of Zhang Gui's shops, specializing in selling perfume and soap, raking in a fortune.
Inside, on the second floor,
A Little Black-robed Eunuch was speaking with a man in black.
"Lord Envoy, the Sect Leader might not be dead. He could be hiding somewhere in the Imperial Palace."
"Lord Black-robed Envoy."
"Don't make me leave. I'm certain I can find some trace of him."
The Little Black-robed Eunuch pleaded.
However,
The man in black was furious.
"Huang Ba!"
"You're disobeying a direct order! Are you trying to turn traitor? Die!"
BOOM!
The Little Black-robed Eunuch collapsed to the ground, blood streaming from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
'Huang Ba?!'
'A Black-robed Envoy…'
'Is this the Black Abyss Holy Sect?'
Su Chen was stunned.
He hadn't forgotten that he himself still held the title of Black Abyss Huang Jiu, the nineteenth secret agent under the Saint.
Of course, as the nineteenth agent, his hands were stained with the blood of numerous Xuan Character agents and even Black-robed Envoys. He'd even gone so far as to twist the head off his direct superior, the Black Lotus Saint.
'What a coincidence.'
What the Little Black-robed Eunuch, Huang Ba, had said earlier resonated with Su Chen.
'He had entered the Imperial Palace the moment he'd transmigrated. In nine years, this was the first time he'd ever even stepped outside the Palace Gates. If he left, where could he go? It was better to continue hiding in the Palace. Who would ever suspect that the realm's most wanted traitor would actually run back to the Imperial Palace to lie low…'
"That's the plan, then!"
Su Chen made his decision.
"Who's there!"
The Black-robed Envoy suddenly sensed movement outside. Seeing it was just a frail, ordinary person with not a hint of a cultivation aura, he instantly struck out with his palm.
"You heard that, so you don't get to live!"
"If you're looking for someone to blame, blame your own bad luck for running into me—the thirty-first most wanted criminal in Great Liang…"
The Black-robed Envoy sneered.
In response,
Su Chen simply flicked his finger.
In an instant,
A bolt of Thunderbolt Force pierced the Black-robed Envoy's chest.
Even back when he was at the Peak Fourth Grade, in the Bone and Muscle Realm with the Fifty-fourth Level Thunder Roar, Su Chen could slaughter an average Third Grade cultivator without breaking a sweat. And now, he was in the Third Grade Marrow Cleansing Realm.
"No."
"*You're* the one with bad luck."
"You ran into me… the number one most wanted criminal in Great Liang."
Looking at the two corpses on the floor, Su Chen stripped off Huang Ba's eunuch robes. His body rapidly assumed the texture of wooden whiskers, twisting and contorting. In an instant, he had taken on the eunuch's appearance, transforming into a delicate-looking Little Black-robed Eunuch.
As long as he didn't speak, not even someone close to the real eunuch would be able to tell he was an impostor.
'Huang Ba, Huang Jiu… we really were fated to cross paths.'
'Looks about sixteen or seventeen.'
'Aside from not being handsome enough, it's a pretty good look.'
After examining his new appearance in a copper mirror in the shop, Su Chen nodded in satisfaction and hung the pass token Huang Ba had used to leave the palace from his waist.
'From now on, once I'm inside the palace, I'll have to play it by ear.'
Otherwise, if his identity were truly exposed, he might not be able to fight his way out like he did that night.
That night had been too chaotic.
A Second-Grade Red Robe had remained seated in his carriage, disobeying the Empress's Decree and choosing to watch from the sidelines to protect himself.
A First-Grade Purple Robe had stood by and done nothing, simply watching as he left the palace.
But that wouldn't happen now.
Because Emperor Jianwu, the "legitimate" ruler, had returned to the Imperial Palace. Despite his grave illness, he was now seated upon the throne in Jinluan Hall.
If he was exposed, he wasn't sure about the Second-Grade Red Robe Chief Steward, but the First-Grade Purple Robe would absolutely not let him go again as he had that night.
'These two bodies…'
Su Chen pondered for a moment, then held out his hand. He tried forming it into several tree whiskers, which he then burrowed into the two corpses. In an instant, their bodies and faces underwent a drastic transformation, and they became completely different people.
That was much better.
After a quick search of their belongings, he found a place to bury the bodies. Then, Su Chen hunched his back and headed for the Palace Gate.
After the recent upheaval, security at the Imperial Palace's gates had become noticeably tighter.
The post, normally watched by ordinary Forbidden Guards, was now manned by Killing Martial Guards who were at the Fifth Grade of cultivation.
"Eunuch, what business did you have leaving the palace at this hour?"
The Killing Martial Guard said, holding the Pass Token and scrutinizing Su Chen.
"I am Xu Ge, a Little Eunuch from Qianyun Palace. I was sent out to purchase perfume and soap for Princess Yunyang. Isn't it all written right there on the Pass Token?"
Su Chen gestured with the bundle in his hand, which was filled with brocade-boxed perfumes and soaps.
"Search him!"
"In case of assassins in disguise…"
The Killing Martial Guard stared at Su Chen with a frown, his hand moving to the hilt of his saber. For some reason, he had grown suspicious and gave the order.
"Now, cooperate!"
'A body search?!'
'This can't happen.'
'If they actually search me, my identity as a fake eunuch will be exposed!'
'Shifting Appearance could change his looks and posture, but it couldn't turn a man into a woman, nor could it make something… disappear.'
The crime of being a false eunuch was no less severe than that of being an assassin.
Just as Su Chen was about to erupt with violence and fight his way out,
"How dare you!"
"You lowly guards! How dare you offend a personal attendant of the nobility, one holding a valid Pass Token?"
"Who gave you the nerve?"
A shrill, angry shout came from behind Su Chen. He then saw another eunuch, dressed in the same black robes with a Pass Token at his waist, rush forward and slap each of the two Killing Martial Guards across the face.
"You watchdogs dare to humiliate us?"
This black-robed eunuch had no cultivation whatsoever, yet he dared to strike two Killing Martial Guards—and strangely, the two guards didn't dare to react.
"Honored attendant, please enter, please enter quickly…"
The Killing Martial Guards looked chagrined, forcing smiles onto their faces.
In that moment, Su Chen understood.
He understood what had given him away.
His tone just now hadn't been arrogant enough. He'd been too mild, not at all like a black-robed eunuch with a personality warped by castration.
"How dare you!"
"How dare you humiliate *me*?"
Su Chen's eyes blazed red. He landed a punch on each of the Killing Martial Guards. This time, Su Chen clearly saw the suspicion in their eyes vanish.
"Honored attendant, our apologies! Please enter, please, quickly!"
Like a cicada shedding its golden shell, the realm's most wanted traitor re-entered the Great Liang Imperial Palace under the identity of the black-robed eunuch, Xu Ge.