The crown princess felt her heart hit rock bottom. These Imperial Palace guards were all around fourth and fifth rank, and their armor and weapons bore standardized sets of rune formations.

Their armor could block a full force blow from someone at sixth rank, and could greatly diminish the power of a seventh ranked expert. The blades also had different elements. When they worked together, regardless of what kind of element their opponent had, they could still cut through the opponent’s elemental barrier.

Together with their formation tactics, they could easily take down a sixth rank cultivator, and they had a good chance against a seventh rank expert.

No matter what, Zu An and the crown princess were going to be held up by these soldiers for a while. Other soldiers were closing in after receiving news as well. Once they arrived, there would be no hope left.

The crown princess clenched her teeth and said, “Let me go. We’ll fight together!” She couldn’t even be bothered with the fact that she was naked right now. Once she faced them, these guards would see everything. If they couldn’t deal with these people as quickly as possible, more people would end up seeing her current state. She might as well just go all out now.

Zu An didn’t pay her any attention. Instead, the Poisonous Prick appeared in his hands with a flick of his wrist. Then, he used the Sunflower Phantasm to weave about, turning into countless afterimages.

The guards’ armor didn’t seem to offer any resistance at all, and the Poisonous Prick cut through it like paper. He didn’t choose to hit exposed hands or necks, because those targets were too small. He needed to kill with a single blow, and what he lacked the most right now was time.

The guards trusted their defenses too much, to the extent where they fought with the intent of taking damage themselves. But how could they have predicted that the dagger would cut through them like nothing? It could even cut through a powerful expert’s elemental barrier, let alone their armor.

The guards felt as if they were only slightly injured, so they completely ignored the damage. They planned to surround and take this guy down. However, their bodies suddenly stiffened and many black, cryptic runes spread out from their injuries. Everything went dark, and then they collapsed.

Zu An didn’t dare hold back during this moment of crisis. These guards had appeared so quickly as well, so they were definitely part of this trap. There was no reason for him to hold back.

The crown princess’ beautiful eyes widened. She had been thinking about how she should join hands with him to take them out a second ago; and yet a second later, he had already taken care of these people!

“How did you do it?” Even though it wasn’t the time to worry about such a thing, she still couldn’t help but ask.

After all, the report had stated that Zu An’s cultivation was only around the fifth or sixth level. Even though she’d found out that he had defeated the eighth ranked Zhao Zhi, everyone believed that he hadn’t defeated King Qi’s heir with his own strength, but rather that a mysterious expert had helped him. Furthermore, Zhao Zhi was always incredibly arrogant, so the result was probably because he had underestimated his opponent.

Now that she had witnessed this scene herself, the crown princess felt she had to reassess Zu An’s strength.

Zu An didn’t reply and instead gave the guards a look. Then, he reached out his hand, sucking their corpses into the Brilliant Glass Bead.

“Spatial storage!” The crown princess was a knowledgeable person. She immediately thought to herself that spatial storages usually weren’t large at all. It would be hard to store the bodies of four large men. Zu An actually had this type of treasure on him too!

She reacted quickly and asked, “Why are you storing their bodies? Hurry and store me inside too!” Right now, she only wanted a safe place to hide in. If she could hide in a storage space, then she wouldn’t be discovered.

Zu An replied impatiently, “Spatial storages can’t store living things. If you want to become a corpse, then be my guest.”

The crown princess bit her lip and said, “If there really is no choice, then just store me inside! I would rather be a corpse than be seen like this!”

Whether or not she could still remain the crown princess was secondary to her current appearance. How was she supposed to continue living if she were exposed in public without any clothes on? Never mind the fact that she would be dragging down the Bi clan too. She would rather just die and end all her troubles.

Zu An was shocked. He could roughly guess her intentions. Sigh, the women of this world all care deeply about the honor and glory of their clans.

For the sake of her family, Chuyan had chosen to take in a good-for-nothing piece of trash. Zheng Dan had married into the Sang clan for the Zheng clan. Now, the crown princess was even willing to sacrifice herself for the sake of her clan.

Zu An didn’t stay still. Instead, he continued to run with the crown princess in his arms.

“Return to the Eastern Palace!” the crown princess instructed. She knew that since Concubine Bai was targeting her, these weren’t the only people they had to deal with. They would send people towards the Eastern Palace as well to prove she wasn’t there.

The best way of erasing all suspicion would be to return to the Eastern Palace. That way, as long as she refused to admit to anything, then all of Concubine Bai’s efforts to frame her would become meaningless.

“Fine!” Zu An rushed in that direction. There were people everywhere in their path, yet he always seemed to be able to avoid them ahead of time, as if he knew where they were.

On several occasions, the crown princess felt as if her heart were jumping into her throat. However, when she saw that Zu An was able to evade them all, she couldn’t help but sigh in relief.

She finally had a chance to raise her head and look at him. She suddenly discovered that this fellow was quite handsome. His jawline was sharp and his expression was firm, giving one a strange feeling of security.

She thought to herself, How great would it be if this guy were like this normally as well? It’s just that he puts on that stupid shameless appearance. It really takes away from his bearing.

The crown princess felt her heart begin to beat frantically like never before. She didn’t know if it was because of the suspension bridge effect, but she subconsciously moved herself a bit closer to his chest.

His arms feel as warm as Sir Eleven’s… She immediately strangled this thought as soon as it emerged. How is this possible?! How can he compare to Sir Eleven… But he really did have the ability!

Zu An didn’t have the leisure of paying attention to her expression at all. Right now, he was a hundred and twenty percent focused. He used his jade badge to control the nearby creatures, borrowing their eyes to observe the guards around him. It was as if he had a radar map in his head, letting him avoid the guards each time.

But the disturbance was growing greater and greater. More and more guards rushed over when they heard the news, and there was less and less space for him to move around in. There were several times where he would have been discovered if he moved half a second too slowly.

But luck wouldn’t favor him forever. On one occasion, he finally couldn’t help but be seen by a guard. Even though it didn’t take much time for him to get rid of them, he still lost the chance to break out of the encirclement…

In reality, the security in the imperial palace was extremely strict. That so-called chance had never existed. It was merely a matter of being discovered sooner rather than later.

Zu An leapt into a rock garden’s shadow with the crown princess in hand, gasping for breath. He had exhausted a lot of stamina by running for his life just now. Both his ki and mind had been taxed like never before.

The crown princess was a smart person as well and immediately remarked, “Is there no way out?”

“Yeah.” Zu An’s expression was grave. More and more guards were flocking over, and there were no more gaps to exploit. He could only wait for an opportunity now.

The crown princess’ face was pale. Suddenly, she gathered her resolve and said, “You should just kill me, and then store me in the spatial storage. You might be able to get out if you’re by yourself.”

She wasn’t making a heroic sacrifice. It was because she knew that, the way she looked right now, she couldn’t meet with anyone.

Zu An thought to himself. He considered using Keyboard Come to see if he could say that the crown princess was currently in the eastern palace and teleport her over that way. However, he didn’t know what kind of price his soul had to pay to accomplish that.

After all, his head had felt as if it were splitting just from saying someone’s pants fell. He hadn’t reached the grandmaster level yet and hadn’t condensed his soul. Keyboard Come wasn’t a skill he could use carelessly. He was worried that if he sent the crown princess to the eastern palace, then he might just die on the spot. He didn’t dare take such a risk.

Next, he thought about making a set of clothes for the crown princess; that way, they might be able to bluff their way out. But he didn’t know what kind of clothes the crown princess wore. He wanted to use Keyboard Come, but he couldn’t picture a set of her clothes clearly.

He gradually understood that Keyboard Come, to a certain extent, was a manifestation of his thoughts. The reason why he had been able to make Golden Token Eleven’s uniform out of thin air was because he had worn it every day, so he understood the details. But the crown princess’ clothes…

According to the palace rules, it was disrespectful for an official to even give the women of the royal family a second look. Even though Zu An was daring and had stolen a few extra glances, he had never worn it himself, so how could he possibly know the details of her clothes? He naturally couldn’t make a complete set for her.

He had always been confused why the ones who framed them had taken their clothes. At first, he’d thought that would make the situation look a bit too forced.

But now, he finally understood. Who cared if it was a trap or not? The key was that the crown princess cannot be seen with another man naked! As long as they accomplished that, then they would have already achieved their goal. That was why they hadn’t allowed any variables and would rather have others suspect that the crown princess and Zu An’s clothes had been stolen.

Zu An’s expression suddenly changed when he saw Zhuxie Chixin approaching through the eyes of the small creatures around them. He could deal with ordinary guards, but against a grandmaster like Zhuxie Chixin… He didn’t have any confidence.