Chapter 30: The Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell

Green mountains outside the Imperial City.

The night deepened.

"Drink this cup to the fullest."

"The Great Liang will fall..."

Before an unmarked tomb on a small earthen mound, Su Chen poured two bottles of Bai Ru wine, purchased from an Imperial City tavern, onto the grave. After a moment of silence, he departed, walking toward the Imperial Palace.

This time, the world had truly been turned upside down.

It was far beyond anything the previous palace disturbances could compare to.

"Whether it was the rebellion of Daoist Ziwei's prince, or the Northern King's charge into the palace and subsequent betrayal of the Great Liang, those were mere trifles. This time, over a dozen First-Rank Minor Grandmasters have died in an instant, and even Emperor Taizu has been forced to act..."

Walking down the main street, Su Chen extended his palm.

Ripples rose upon his hand, transforming it into a shape resembling root-like tendrils, which then rapidly spread across his entire body. By the time he returned to normal, he had assumed an entirely different appearance.

This was a new ability born from the Fourth Rank of the Path of Qi: the convergence of internal qi to fuse with the entire body.

At the Fifth Rank, he could accelerate the growth of precious herbs.

At the Fourth Rank, he could alter his form and state.

In short.

He was becoming less and less like a human being.

"Come to think of it, it has been nine years, and this is the first time I have left the Imperial Palace to walk these streets..."

Su Chen reached out and tore a wanted poster from a wall.

On the poster, the young man possessed incomparable beauty, always surrounded by an air of indolence, looking like a noble gentleman. If it wasn't Su Chen, who else could it be?

The artist's skill was impressive; they had managed to capture seventy percent of his essence.

The Jianwu Emperor had truly spared no expense to hunt him down.

In this Imperial City, one could practically see a wanted poster regarding him every ten steps.

"Aside from the Imperial Palace, I have been nowhere else. Even if I were to flee, where could I go? Even if they wanted to hunt us, they would look under the lamp; they might not even suspect that we would dare to continue lurking within the palace..."

A voice rang out.

High-pitched.

Possessing the unique, nasal tone of a eunuch.

"Who is it?"

With keen senses, Su Chen quickly moved, leaping up to the second floor of an adjacent shop. A familiar, exotic fragrance drifted into his nostrils.

It was the scent of perfume.

With a quick glance, he realized this was Zhang Gui's business, specializing in the sale of perfumes and soaps to broaden its wealth.

On the second floor.

A small eunuch dressed in black was conversing with a man in black.

"The Sect Leader might not be dead yet; he could be hiding somewhere in the palace."

"Lord Black-Clad Envoy."

"Please don't let me leave; I am certain I can find a clue."

The small black-clad eunuch continued to speak.

However.

The man in black was exceptionally furious.

"Huang Ba!"

"Disobeying orders... you wish to betray the sect? Die!"

Boom!

The small black-clad eunuch bled from his seven orifices and collapsed to the ground.

"Huang Ba?!"

"A Black-Clad Envoy..."

"Is this the Black Abyss Holy Sect?"

Su Chen was stunned.

He had not forgotten that he still carried the identity of "Black Abyss Huang Jiu," the nineteenth secret spy under the Holy One.

Even though this nineteenth spy had stained his hands with the lives of many Xuan-rank spies and even Black-Clad Envoys—and had even twisted off the head of his direct superior, the Black Lotus Holy One.

Wasn't this a coincidence?

The words spoken by the small eunuch, Huang Ba, moved Su Chen.

He had entered the palace immediately upon transmigrating. In nine years, he had only just stepped out of the palace gates for the first time. If he left, where else could he go? It was better to continue lurking in the palace. Who would have thought that the world's number one rebel would actually run back into the palace to hide...

"That's it!"

Su Chen made his decision.

"Who's there!"

The Black-Clad Envoy suddenly sensed movement outside. Finding only a frail, ordinary person with no trace of cultivation aura, he immediately struck out with his palm.

"Since you've heard this, don't expect to live!"

"If you must blame someone, blame your bad luck for encountering a criminal like me, ranked thirty-first on the Great Liang's wanted list..."

The Black-Clad Envoy let out a sinister laugh.

To this.

Su Chen flicked his finger.

In an instant.

The Thunderous Force pierced through the Black-Clad Envoy's chest.

Back when he was at the peak of the Fourth Rank, the Bone-Tempering Realm at the fifty-fourth level of Thunderous Resonance, Su Chen could slaughter ordinary Third-Rank experts without pressure. Moreover, he was now in the Third-Rank Marrow-Cleansing Realm.

"No!"

"It is your bad luck."

"To have encountered a criminal like me, ranked first on the Great Liang's wanted list..."

Looking at the two corpses on the ground, Su Chen stripped off Huang Ba's eunuch robes. His body rapidly transformed into a root-like shape, twisting until he assumed the other's appearance, instantly becoming a delicate, black-clad small eunuch.

As long as he didn't speak, even those close to the original would be unable to recognize him as a fake.

"Huang Ba, Huang Jiu, you and I truly have a destiny."

"A look of sixteen or seventeen."

"Aside from not being handsome enough, it's quite decent."

Before the bronze mirror in the shop, Su Chen examined his new appearance and nodded with satisfaction, hanging the passing waist token Huang Ba used to exit the palace.

Next, once inside the palace, it would depend on his ability to adapt.

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.

There was a Second-Rank Red-Robed official sitting in a carriage, refusing the Empress's orders to simply observe.

There was a First-Rank Purple-Robed official who stood by with folded arms, watching him leave the palace.

But that was impossible now.

Because in the Imperial Palace, the "Orthodox" Emperor Jianwu had returned, sitting upon the Golden Throne despite his heavy illness.

Once exposed.

The Second-Rank Red-Robed official might not know.

But that First-Rank Purple-Robed official would certainly not let him go as he had that night.

"These two corpses..."

Su Chen pondered briefly, then extended his hand, attempting to transform into tree-like tendrils to burrow into the two bodies. In an instant, their forms and faces underwent a world-shaking change, directly becoming two different people.

This was much better.

After a cursory search of their belongings and burying them in a suitable place, Su Chen hunched his back and headed toward the palace gates.

Following the great chaos.

The guarding of the palace gates had clearly become much stricter.

The guards, who should have been ordinary sentries, had been replaced by Martial Killing Guards with Fifth-Rank cultivation.

"Eunuch, what business brings you out of the palace at this hour?"

The Martial Killing Guard gripped the passing token, scrutinizing Su Chen.

"Xu Ge, a small eunuch from Qianyun Palace, is leaving the palace to purchase perfume and soap for Princess Yunyang. Isn't it all written on the passing token?"

Su Chen shook the bundle in his hand, which was filled with perfume and soap in exquisite gift boxes.

"Search him!"

"To prevent assassins from using disguises..."

The Martial Killing Guard frowned while staring at Su Chen, his hand moving toward his sword hilt. For some reason, he had begun to suspect Su Chen and issued the order.

"Please cooperate!"

A search?!

How could he allow that?

If he were truly searched, wouldn't his identity as a fake eunuch be exposed?

Shapeshifting could indeed change one's appearance and posture, but it could not turn a man into a woman, nor could it make something that exists become nothing...

The crime of being a fake eunuch was no less severe than that of an assassin.

Just as Su Chen was about to erupt and kill his way out.

"How dare you!"

"You lowly guards, how dare you offend a noble attendant holding a passing token?"

"Who gave you such audacity?"

From behind Su Chen came a high-pitched, angry shout. Su Chen then saw a eunuch, dressed in black just like him and wearing a passing token at his waist, rush forward and slap each of the two Martial Killing Guards across the face.

"How dare gate dogs insult us?"

This black-clad eunuch had no cultivation at all, yet he dared to strike two Martial Killing Guards directly, and yet, the two guards showed no sign of anger.

"Noble attendant, please enter, please enter quickly..."

The Martial Killing Guards' faces turned grim as they struggled to maintain a forced smile.

At that moment, Su Chen understood.

He hadn't been exposed.

His tone just now had been insufficiently arrogant; it was too gentle, making him seem unlike a black-clad eunuch whose temperament should have been twisted by castration.

"How dare you!"

"How dare you insult me?"

With eyes turning red, Su Chen punched each Martial Killing Guard once. This time, Su Chen clearly saw the suspicion in the guard's eyes vanish.

"Forgive us, noble attendant, please enter, please enter quickly..."

Like a cicada shedding its skin, he, the world's number one rebel, re-entered the Great Liang Imperial Palace under the identity of the black-clad eunuch, Xu Ge.