Chapter 221: Sifangguan, East Japan Envoy

"Do I still need to choose? Of course I want them all!" Chen Shicheng waved his hand grandly.

The old man didn't speak, just smiling as he looked at him.

After a long while, Chen Shicheng finally realized what was happening, and he asked resentfully, "How much?"

Upon hearing that, the old man's inscrutable image instantly collapsed; he raised a finger and said greedily, "One thousand taels of gold!"

"What nonsense? You want a thousand taels for this baseless information? You're robbing me!" Chen Shicheng stared at the old man, dumbfounded.

"You can't say that; there's a reason for the high price." The old man's expression turned solemn immediately: "The information about the copper plate is extremely secret; only three people knew it at first, and even now, fewer than ten people in the whole world know it, and moreover"

The old man didn't finish his sentence; he just tapped his foot lightly, and a stream of light flashed across the pattern on the ground. The room was instantly shrouded in a mysterious aura—it was a formation gathering power, its warning unmistakable.

"A threat of force?"

Chen Shicheng felt disdain in his heart; his finger twitched slightly, but he immediately restrained himself.

The other party must have planned this in advance, deliberately throwing out two follow-up clues about the copper plate as bait before charging him, clearly confident.

If he acted now, even if he could raze the place, the clues would come to an abrupt end.

Thinking this, Chen Shicheng had no choice but to accept the blow; he gritted his teeth, took out one thousand taels of gold from his storage compartment, and flung it onto the table.

"Bang!"

Hundreds of catties of gold smashed onto the table, making a huge noise; the four table legs emitted a series of "crack-crack" sounds.

But the old man didn't care at all; he flicked his hand, and the gold on the table vanished. Then he put on that smiling look again and said, "Fellow Daoist, since you're so generous, we won't be stingy either—among the next two pieces of information, one is on the house."

"The Zixiao Palace has a branch in the capital; inside it is a scripture pavilion that doesn't store cultivation techniques or skills, but some ancient secrets, so the guards aren't particularly strict. You can go check it out—you might find other clues about the copper plate."

"Zixiao Palace? The name sounds grand, but I don't know if I can remember it." Chen Shicheng silently noted the name, then continued, "I also want to ask who has the copper plate."

"Is"

"Wait a moment!"

The old man had just uttered a single character when Chen Shicheng cut him off; this time he had learned to be smart: "First, tell me how much this information costs."

"Hehe."

The old man smiled, raised another finger, and said, "This time the bargain only needs one hundred taels of gold."

It's still pricey, but having already spent the previous thousand taels, he didn't mind this additional hundred.

Chen Shicheng said nothing more and flung out another hundred taels of gold.

The old man collected the gold, satisfied, and continued, "Near the Yujie that leads straight to the imperial palace, there is the Sifangguan, a place specially set up for foreign envoys. The envoy from East Japan wears a copper plate similar to the one in your hand on his waist—you can go take a look."

Sifangguan, East Japan Envoy. How does this even involve those islanders? Anyway, it doesn't matter; as long as we know where the copper plate is, that's enough. As for how to obtain it from the heavily guarded Sifangguan, that will depend on Hui Siye's traditional skills.

"I'll go verify the truth of this information. If I don't find the copper plate, I'll come back and wreck your shop!"

After obtaining the information he wanted, Chen Shicheng didn't linger; after leaving a harsh remark, he got up and left.

Ten minutes later, Chen Shicheng, having avoided patrolling soldiers all the way, arrived at a corner beside the Sifangguan and began covertly observing the guard situation—but the situation was not optimistic.

As the Sifangguan is a place for foreign envoys, it can be considered the face of the court; therefore, even though city guards have started patrolling the streets in full force, the guards here have not been reduced at all—in fact, they have been increased to prevent players from running wild and barging in.

Moreover, what made him frown was that the affluent Dayu Dynasty actually had a protective formation installed at the Sifangguan, operating 24/7, to protect these foreign envoys.

If it were merely a formation, it wouldn't be a problem; once the Slaying Immortal Grand Formation is activated, he could also sneak in silently.

But the deadly part is, what then after getting in? The patrol soldiers outside are virtually nonstop; just standing here for less than two minutes, he saw four squads of soldiers cross‑patrolling—one can imagine how strict the interior must be.

Moreover, he isn't a professional agent; while fighting his way in might be possible, wanting to approach the East Japan envoy's quarters without alerting anyone is nothing short of a pipe dream.

At this moment, he began to miss the Illusion Body Talismans that had been wasted earlier.

If he still had a few of those, he wouldn't feel embarrassed here.

"Fourth Master, now it's all up to you—be careful." Chen Shicheng could now only place his hopes on Hui Siye.

For Hui Siye, taking the copper plate from the East Japan envoy poses no difficulty; the real challenge is how to get close to the envoy without alerting anyone.

Even if the guards were alerted, it wouldn't matter—death still allows resurrection.

But if the grass is startled and the snake bolts, the guards will surely become even stricter, and that is what gives Chen Shicheng a headache.

"I'm just a fate of toil."

Under Hui Siye's contemptuous gaze, Chen Shicheng took advantage of a gap in the guards' patrol, used Compress Earth to an Inch to reach the outer wall of the Sifangguan, opened a breach with the Slaying Immortal Grand Formation, and let Hui Siye crawl in through the dog hole.

He then stepped back a pace, teleported to his original spot, and began sharing Hui Siye's vision.

Just as he had worried, the moment he crawled into the dog hole, what met his eyes was a garden; even though this was a place for recreation, four or five soldiers stood there, each with eyes wide open in vigilance, scanning the surroundings, their hands resting on the weapons at their waists.

Chen Shicheng had no doubt that at the slightest stir of wind or grass, these soldiers would draw their weapons and look over.

It's just a bit strange—this isn't the inner palace; are the guards really this strict?

Moreover, the oddest thing is that these guards seem to focus more on the interior, with less vigilance toward the outside.

Of course, it's still that—Chen Shicheng isn't a professional, he just feels something is off.

It's obvious something happened here that Chen Shicheng doesn't know about! (End of chapter)

It's obvious that something happened here that Chen Shicheng doesn't know about! (End of chapter)