Young Master Has Impressive Skills

For a moment, Muye even began to doubt whether the information was true.

A demon hiding in Taiping City—or in the Taiping City Prefecture—was simply too absurd.

"Young master, do you dislike me?"

Seeing him hesitate, Yuan Shuang gazed at him with pitiful eyes, her every movement steeped in allure.

"The Taiping City Prefecture is a residence established by the imperial court. Even if there really is treasure, how could an ordinary nobody like me have the nerve to go looking for it there?"

Muye felt he still didn't have enough information, so he decided to probe a little further.

"Of course it's easy..." Yuan Shuang seemed to have expected his question. "In a few days, the prefect of Taiping City will be visiting the Drunken Fragrance Pavilion. There won't be many guards in the entire prefecture. It'll be easy for you to sneak in. The treasure is behind a hidden door on the lowest level of the Taiping City Prefecture's prison."

"Is it really that easy?" Muye pressed.

"Oh, young master... it's not difficult." Yuan Shuang cooed. "Would I lie to you? Just bring this map with you when you go, and you'll see. With your abilities, you'll definitely find where the treasure is. Remember, you have to carry this map with you to find it. Otherwise, you won't be able to."

"If you really can't find it, that's all right, too. I'll help you think of another way..."

Heh.

Muye didn't know why Yuan Shuang was so certain he'd be able to find it.

He didn't believe in any treasure. This was probably the location of the Seven-Extremes Demon.

The Seven-Extremes Demon was being held in the Taiping City Prefecture's prison. Come to think of it, that wasn't impossible.

The Taiping City Prefecture had Demon Sealing agents, too. Many official Demon Sealing agents had been sent along with Shen Tianxing to Redwater Village.

Of course, not all of these Demon Sealing agents possessed the ability to become demon slayers.

In that case, he'd go and investigate.

"So, in a few days, young master, all you have to do is follow the plan and head to the Taiping City Prefecture."

"How does that sound?"

"If you find the treasure and buy me out, then you and I will have more wealth than we could ever spend, and we can be together forever..."

"You mustn't let me down, young master..."

A beautiful woman's soft, sweet words could melt steel.

Muye agreed. But after leaving the Drunken Fragrance Pavilion, he immediately switched to the Heroic Thief character and headed straight for the Taiping Prefecture residence.

A few days from now? No way. I'm going to check it out right now.

The Taiping City Prefecture was small, even smaller than the Feng family's residence. The prison, on the other hand, was large, guarded by Demon Sealing agents, with soldiers patrolling the surrounding area. Sneaking in was even harder than breaking into the Feng family's residence.

"There aren't any great fighters in the Taiping City Prefecture..."

"With my current strength, sneaking in won't be a problem..."

The guards looked strict, but to a fourth-rank expert like him, they were nothing.

Taking advantage of the night, Muye easily slipped into the Taiping City Prefecture. With his Lightness Skill, a few quick leaps carried him into the prison.

Only after entering did Muye realize just how enormous the prison was.

"There's demonic energy..." Muye drew a deep breath. "Looks like they really are keeping demons locked up in here..."

In Realistic Mode, Muye had the heart-eye ability as a player, which meant every character had heart-eyes.

That was because the very first ability he'd extracted was the heart-eye ability of a Demon Sealing agent.

"But these traces of demonic energy... seem... pretty weak?"

The prison was built underground. Judging by the layout of the stairs, there were probably several more levels.

Could the Taiping Prefecture have found the Seven-Extremes Demon long ago, captured it, and been interrogating it in secret?

The thought crossed Muye's mind.

That couldn't be right. If that were the case, the Seven-Extremes Imperial Map was so important, and the dynasty was on the verge of collapse. With information about such an important treasure, why hadn't they sent some powerful people over?

Or did the Taiping City Prefecture intend to keep it all for themselves?

Just then, a squad of officers came up from the floor below.

Muye saw them and leaped lightly, crawling up to the rafters like Spider-Man. He pressed his fingertips against the ceiling, clinging to it as he melted into the darkness.

It was the third move of the Eighteen Hands of the Drunken Fragrance Pavilion: "Spider Cling."

Its essence was to let the fingertips generate a subtle force, allowing the user to cling firmly no matter how they moved.

The officers carried sacks on their backs, two to a sack, one in front and one behind.

A familiar smell of cooked meat wafted over.

"Is that... bitter meat?"

Muye's expression shifted. His gaze settled on the sacks.

"Wait. Is this where they make bitter meat?"

"Is the imperial court producing bitter meat to sell?"

As one officer after another left the prison, Muye's eyes changed slightly.

"Hey, when will these hard days finally be over?"

"Quit complaining. There aren't many demons left. At most, we'll be done in another thirty or forty days."

"Then we can be transferred out of here and go enjoy ourselves in Lingzhou."

"True... With Prince Qi's wisdom, I hope I'll be able to marry three or four concubines by then..."

The officers' conversation and complaints reached him.

Every so often, their voices held a trace of longing for the future.

Muye found it rather interesting.

Prince Qi.

Han Qi had mentioned before that he had once joined the army on Prince Qi's side...

After a moment's thought, Muye sneaked down through the next few levels.

Just as he'd expected, the lower levels held many demons. Some strange people were also using the demons' corpses to make bitter meat.

At last, he reached the bottom level. There weren't many people there, only piles of demon corpses, as if it were a place for disposing of them.

It looked rather horrifying.

Yuan Shuang had said there was a hidden door on this level. After searching for quite a while, Muye found one beneath a stone.

"This hidden door doesn't look abandoned. Has someone been here? If Yuan Shuang knows about this place, does that mean she's been here before?"

He stepped through the hidden door, and the scenery around him shifted subtly. The prison, which had been dark moments ago, now seemed filled with daylight. The cramped, gloomy cells had vanished, replaced by the streets of Taiping City.

"Is this... a formation?" Muye froze. "An illusion array?"

The cultivation world had formations. Muye didn't know much about them, but he'd seen them before.

This was clearly an illusion array.

Getting trapped in an illusion array would be trouble.

Illusion arrays were often linked to traps. One wrong step, and he could easily lose his life.

"Damn, I'm no good with formations... Even if this is the most pathetic formation around, I'm helpless..."

Muye took a few random steps. In an instant, the scenery around him vanished, and a dense storm of arrows and flaming stones came hurtling toward him.

Even a fourth-rank martial artist would be caught off guard by such a sudden trap.

Even if he were prepared, the best he could do was escape unharmed. He wouldn't be able to advance at all.

"Is this a guaranteed-death scripted event?"

Watching the image gradually darken, Muye fell into thought.

Unless he played in Normal Mode and kept reloading to try again.

But sneaking in on Normal Mode would be a little difficult. Without the Lightness Skill, the defenses here were every bit as tight as the Feng family's, if not tighter.

But if Yuan Shuang was right and security at the Taiping City Prefecture would be lax in a few days, then even in Normal Mode, he could get through easily.

Since that was the case, Muye didn't force himself to try again.

A few days later, Muye entered the game once more and, as promised, went to the Taiping City Prefecture. Just as Yuan Shuang had said, security there was very lax.

There were plenty of officers patrolling the prison. Even without playing as the Heroic Thief character, anyone nimble enough could sneak inside.

Of course, hardly anyone would sneak into the Taiping City Prefecture in the first place—especially not into a place like its prison.

Since he was following the normal route Yuan Shuang had laid out, Muye didn't use the Heroic Thief character. Instead, he used the Brothel Patron.

This time, he reached the second level without a hitch and began trying to break through the illusion array.

"This illusion array is pretty interesting."

How should he put it? It was like a maze, with the twisting, shifting streets of Taiping City making up its paths. Taking the wrong street would trigger a trap.

Finding the correct route was incredibly difficult.

The streets were constantly changing, making it easy to fall for visual distortions.

After observing for a long while, Muye realized that this maze...

"Why does it look a little like that Taiping River Map?" Muye froze.

Yuan Shuang's Taiping River Map depicted the many streets of Taiping City. With the light shining on it, you could see the scenes in the painting changing with time and so on.

Thinking of this, Muye carefully studied the pedestrians, carriages, and stalls on the streets... There was too much to remember, so he could only keep reloading and trying again.

Until...

"East Third Street, Pear Blossom Alley, North First Street, Taiping Alley, West Second Street, Rice Alley..."

"The numbers of pedestrians, carriages, and stalls on these streets are unusual, subtly different from those on the others... So, based on their order..."

Following the order from near to far, Muye walked along these streets one by one.

To notice these details, he had to remember the numbers of pedestrians, stalls, and carriages on every previous street he'd visited. Otherwise, it was hard to spot the differences.

Taking a wrong turn would trigger a trap.

"Could those questions Yuan Shuang asked earlier have been meant to lead someone to this prison and help them figure out how to break this illusion array?"

Muye fell into thought.

To find the right streets, he had to know everything about the previous and next streets, then spot the differences between them.

The farther he went, the more he had to remember. It had little to do with strength.

An ordinary person would never be able to do it.

Not long after he passed through the final street, the scenery around him vanished in an instant.

An underground cavern appeared before him, with a massive door at the far end.

"Why can't I sense any demonic energy?"

Muye was puzzled.

He'd thought that once he got through the illusion array, he'd find the Seven-Extremes Demon BOSS. The array had vanished, so why was there only a door?

As he drew closer, he saw several words written on the door:

"Imperial Map Secret Vault."

Huh?

Muye froze. The Imperial Map Secret Vault?

Was this the place where the Seven-Extremes Imperial Map recorded the treasure?

Wasn't this supposed to be where the Seven-Extremes Demon was?

Where was the BOSS?

The BOSS hadn't appeared, but he'd found the treasure first?

Just then, a bright, smiling voice suddenly rang out:

"Young master, you're quite capable. I didn't think you'd actually solve this Imperial Map Maze."

He turned around and saw Miss Yuan Shuang standing prettily not far away, a smile on her face.

It was a very alluring smile, but also... a little unsettling.

[1, Of course. I'm amazing.]

[2, You used me?]

[3, The Imperial Map Maze wasn't nearly as interesting as you were to figure out.]

[4, ...]

"..." Muye.