Chapter 222

Fortunately, his purpose for coming was only the copper pieces; the rest had nothing to do with him.

Ignoring the soldiers stationed throughout Sifangguan, Hui Siye didn't even dare to use invisibility, fearing that the aura he emitted would alert the yin qi.

He could only rely on the appearance and size of a rat, and carefully made his way to the residence of the East Japan Envoy.

Following the base of the wall, he narrowly made it to the window behind the house. Hui Siye used his sharp little claws, clung to the wall and crawled to the window sill, just about to pierce the paper and slip inside, when a flustered voice suddenly came from within.

"Damn, weren't we supposed to have wiped out all the nearby villages? Why is the news still reaching the capital? Now not only are people rushing to the seaside, but we're also under close surveillance; those idiots should all commit seppuku, die, die, die!"

"Huh? His feeling was correct—Sifangguan's tight security was indeed monitoring the inside, and it was targeting the East Japan Envoy! Chen Shicheng quickly pricked up his ears, continuing to listen to the movements inside through Hui Siye's five senses."

"\"Notify Yamamoto's people, conceal their whereabouts, and make sure they are not found by the people of Dayu. \""

"\"Yes! \""

"\"Also, activate all spies within Dayu's territory, notify them to all meet with Yamamoto, find an opportunity to encircle and slaughter the Dayu people there; if this is mishandled again, let them die loyal to the emperor. \""

"\"Yes! \""

Soon, a rustling sound came from inside the house, followed by footsteps approaching the window; Hui Siye quickly jumped down from the windowsill and hid in the grass.

"\"Creak. \""

The window was pushed open by a man with a shaved topknot; he peered left and right, seeing no one had noticed him, a white talisman appeared in his hand and ignited without fire, and then a bird-like monster with an old man's head and eyes blazing with fire appeared behind him.

The man whispered some instructions, the monster gave a strange laugh, nodded, concealed its form, and vanished on the spot.

Chen Shicheng quickly severed the link, confirmed his direction, then used Compress Earth to an Inch to arrive outside the wall where Hui Siye was, intending to use the mask's built-in true sight and the Eye of Bai Ze to identify this peculiarly appearing monster.

But he was still a step too late; as he teleported over, the monster had already spread its wings and flown high, disappearing into the horizon without triggering any formation.

Still, it was alright; although he failed to intercept the monster, he at least obtained a very useful piece of information.

It's obvious that the East Japanese did something within Dayu's territory, which was discovered by Dayu's people, leading to Sifangguan's tight security.

In that case, even if they cause a disturbance, these guards' first reaction should be to seek out those East Japan Envoys, allowing him to use the time gap to escape.

"\"Hui Siye, no need to sneak around; I'll meet you outside the wall, we'll just grab it outright and then run! \" Chen Shicheng shook his head and communicated directly with Hui Siye in his mind."

"\"Received! \""

Hui Siye didn't hesitate either; after receiving Chen Shicheng's order, he directly broke the window, and before the people inside could react, he activated the Five Ghosts Transport, simultaneously sending the copper piece from one person's waist into his hand and also snatching the map from that person's hand.

But at the very moment it succeeded, a loud 'Boom' sounded from behind, and a hand covered in golden light pierced the perimeter wall, creating a large hole.

「#@%￥……￥%&！」

In a burst of frantic bird cries, Hui Siye turned into a fleeting shadow, shot out through the large hole before the opponent could intercept, threw the copper lump and map to Chen Shicheng, then immediately shrank back into the mask. Chen Shicheng didn't have time to examine the two items' details; he instantly exerted Compress Earth to an Inch, flashing around the capital until he confirmed no one was following him behind, then teleported to the valley where he had previously intercepted and killed Jiankong.

As for what will happen to Sifangguan afterward, that has nothing to do with him at all.

"\"Come, let me first take a look at the copper lump! \""

Chen Shicheng licked his lips, took out the copper lump, and directly appraised it.

【Mysterious Copper Piece (Five): A fragment shrouded by mysterious power, unable to be appraised for specific information; when three pieces are gathered, its content can be displayed, visible only to Returnees.】

"\"? \""

Seeing the returned attribute, Chen Shicheng froze, then quickly took out his own two pieces.

Indeed, the copper piece drawn from the mysterious gift box happened to be the sixth one together with the others; what's the situation with this piece in his hand—could it be a game duplicate made for him? But he immediately realized that the token formed from the copper pieces was probably not just one.

In ancient times, blessed grottoes weren't everywhere, but any famous mountain or river would have one; thus it's not surprising that many directional tokens exist.

But then, wouldn't he have been busy for nothing? "Damn, good thing he also snatched a map along the way."

Chen Shicheng wordlessly tossed the copper piece into his storage slot, then picked up the map to examine it.

【Map: A map recording sea routes, with nothing unusual about it.】

The result was greatly disappointing; it wasn't the treasure map he had expected, merely a chart of an unnamed sea route, yet the lines on it left Chen Shicheng utterly baffled.

He had once sailed out to sea; logically, the routes on a sea chart should follow some pattern—either marked by ocean currents or by sea winds.

But the routes on this map were like a child's scribble, with no pattern at all, just wandering randomly across the ocean, and some lines obviously overlapped, looping around in circles.

The only difference was that at a place where sea meets land, a red pen drew a circle, beside which were four characters meaning 'docking place'.

Chen Shicheng couldn't understand the preceding characters, but he could recognize the last two as meaning 'place'.

Moreover, from the map one can see that this point is where the sea route overlaps with land; unsurprisingly, it should be a place where ships dock.

Combined with the conversation he had just overheard, it comes as no surprise that this is precisely where those East Japanese slaughtered the surrounding villages.

Then the question arises!

What kind of ship docking would require wiping out the nearby villages to prevent any news from leaking? Chen Shicheng instinctively felt there was surely an advantage to be had, though he wasn't sure if it was worth making a special trip, especially since with the Green Silk Step-Cloud Boots he could reach the map-marked location in an instant.

However, upon remembering that this skill could be used only once a month, he abandoned the idea of going immediately.

For now, the most important thing is to figure out the situation with the copper pieces; wanting to go there also requires leaving the Zixiao Palace's Scripture Pavilion afterward. (End of chapter)