Brocade Robe Unparalleled

Chapter 174 Goodbye, Aro
The capital of the Nanzhao Kingdom.

Late at night, in the Ministry of Justice prison.

The patrolling jailer walked past a row of cells, found nothing amiss, and returned to his desk to doze off.

Although it was late at night, the spies being held there remained highly vigilant.

Mandala sat alone on the hard stone bed, not asleep.

In her hand, she tightly clutched a sachet that was somewhat dark in color and had a few clumps of dried blood on the edge.

She gazed at the cold moonlight cut off by the bars outside the iron window, a rare hint of confusion and reminiscence showing in her usually serene eyes, as if she were lost in thought.

Outside the cell, a young prison guard kept his eyes fixed on her.

As an important figure in the Secret Service, her cell was guarded by special personnel 24 hours a day.

The jailer looked at the sachet in her hand, a subtle, complex emotion flashing in his eyes.

Inside the cell, thinking of the missing nettle, a trace of worry appeared on Datura's face.

The night bat and the fire scorpion are dead, and the nettle is probably in grave danger as well...

She had already lost the person she loved most, and now she had lost her best friend. A strong sense of sadness welled up in her heart.

Feeling the jailer's gaze, she wiped her eyes with her sleeve, not letting him see her tears.

The next moment, her expression shifted slightly.

A series of hurried footsteps sounded outside the prison cell.

Several dark figures slipped into the prison silently like ghosts. They moved swiftly and ruthlessly, quickly taking care of the guards along the way, making almost no sound.

These people were dressed in black robes, their faces covered with black cloths, revealing only pairs of cold and ruthless eyes.

Soon, they arrived at the door of the cell where several spies were being held.

Several men used a special key to open the cell door, lowered their voices, and said urgently, "The Second Prince intends to frame you for the case. The Chief Judge has sent us to rescue you. There's no time to say more, get out of here!"

These people were skilled at picking locks, and their techniques were exactly the same as those taught by the Secret Service. The several high-ranking secret agents who were imprisoned had no suspicions and immediately got up and followed them out of the cell without any hesitation.

However, just as they rushed out of the cell and turned their backs to the men in black, several men in black suddenly sprang up, their weapons thrusting out without warning at tricky angles, with ruthless precision!

"puff!"

"puff!"

"what!"

The sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh and a short scream rang out almost simultaneously. The few elite secret agents who were full of hope had no time to react before they were stabbed in the heart from behind or had their throats cut, dying instantly!
Their faces still held the joy of being rescued, but their bodies had already slumped limply into pools of blood.

The entrance to Mandala's prison cell.

The moment the man in black opened the cell door, Mandala instinctively stood up, but the next moment, she immediately became extremely vigilant and did not leave the cell.

Even though the man in black was well disguised, she could still sense a hint of murderous intent in his eyes.

She stared at the man in black, secretly circulating her inner energy, and quickly asked, "Whose subordinate are you? What's your code name?"

The man in black was slightly taken aback, then let out a cold snort and said in a sinister tone, "As expected of Lord Si Cheng..."

Although he spoke in the Nanzhao language, his tone was very strange, and Mandala's expression changed: "You are Western Barbarians!"

At this moment, the screams of agony outside had already reached here.

The man in black chuckled coldly and said, "Lord Si Cheng is indeed astute. Unfortunately, it's too late. We are here on the orders of the Crown Prince to send you on your way, lest you speak recklessly in court and ruin the Crown Prince's important affairs..."

Mandala looked incredulous. How could the Crown Prince send people to kill them?

Could it be that those officials were really killed by the Crown Prince's men?
She knew nothing about this!

But this was clearly not the time to consider such things. The black-robed man's aura suddenly erupted, revealing that he was a martial arts master at the late stage of the fifth rank. The curved blade in his hand drew a cold arc of light, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound that tore through the air, and slashed straight at her face!

Before being imprisoned, her weapons and Gu worms were confiscated by the Ministry of Justice. Not only was her strength far inferior to that of the man, but she was also not good at direct combat. In the cramped cell, there was no room to escape. She could only gather all her true energy in her arms and, at the risk of losing her arms, forcefully take the blow.

However, things did not develop as she had expected.

The strike didn't have the force I expected; it was even somewhat weak and powerless, clearly indicating that it wasn't imbued with true energy.

The curved blade landed on her arm, which was covered in true energy, and was directly knocked away. Without any hesitation, Mandala caught the curved blade and slashed it towards the neck of the black-robed man.

puff!
The next moment, a head flew high into the air and landed outside the cell.

Mandala stared blankly at the scene, instantly stunned.

This scene seems familiar...

In what should have been a life-or-death struggle, this late-stage fifth-rank expert from the Western Regions suddenly transformed into an ordinary person devoid of true energy, and this wasn't the first time she'd experienced something like this...

Without a second thought, she gripped the scimitar in her hand and rushed out of the cell.

Outside the prison cell, blood was everywhere.

The other five men in black were visibly taken aback when they saw her walk out of the cell and then glance at the blood-dripping head outside.

Dorje was the strongest among them, which is why he was sent to deal with the fifth-rank official in the Secret Service. A late-stage fifth-rank official against a newly entered fifth-rank official should have been a crushing defeat, but Dorje was unexpectedly killed so easily by her...

After a moment of surprise, their killing intent intensified.

"Kill her!"

Without needing to say a word, they acted simultaneously in perfect unison!

The blade flashed and the energy surged, sealing off all of Mandala's escape routes from different angles.

Mandala's heart sank. Although she hadn't expended much true energy, facing the combined attack of five experts of the same level, and with only a not-so-handsome curved sword in her hand, there was almost no chance of escape.

She gritted her teeth, ready to fight to the death...

At this critical moment, an invisible yet immense mental storm, like a tsunami, swept through the entire prison corridor without warning!

The five Western assassins suddenly froze as they charged forward, as if they had crashed into an invisible wall!

The next moment, their eyes suddenly became empty and unfocused, their faces showing extreme pain and contortion, and they could no longer hold their weapons, which clattered to the ground.

Mandala was stunned.

This familiar feeling...

It's that senior!
As a top-level secret agent, she didn't hesitate. A cold glint flashed in her eyes as she seized this fleeting opportunity. Her figure swept out like a whirlwind, and the curved blade in her hand drew several cold arcs!
A flash of light, and blood splattered!
The five Western assassins had not yet regained consciousness, and thin lines of blood appeared on their necks almost simultaneously.

The pained expressions on their faces froze instantly, then their eyes dimmed completely, and they fell straight down like felled logs.

In the blink of an eye, all five elite assassins were killed!

The passageway fell silent instantly, with only the heavy stench of blood filling the air.

Mandala stood with her knife in hand, her chest rising and falling slightly. She scanned the dimly lit corners of the cell, her voice trembling almost imperceptibly: "Thank you for your help, senior. Please show yourself!"

In the empty prison corridor, only her own echo reverberated.

There has been no further response.

That powerful spiritual force receded like the tide, disappearing without a trace, as if it had never existed.

After waiting for a while, there was still no movement.

Mandala knew that the other party was unwilling to show themselves.

She took a deep breath, suppressing the myriad questions in her mind, and solemnly clasped her hands in thanks to the empty passage: "Thank you for saving my life once again, senior!"

After saying that, she didn't hesitate any longer. With a few leaps, she quickly disappeared at the end of the passage and left this bloody place.

a long time.

Only after the aura of the mandala completely disappeared did a figure emerge slowly from a cell, like a ghost.

The young man in the prison guard's uniform looked at the corpses scattered all over the ground and the direction where Mandala had left, and breathed a sigh of relief.

However, the next moment, his brows furrowed sharply, and his figure almost instantly disappeared from the spot.

At the entrance to the prison cell.

The scimitar in Mandala's hand broke in two.

She knelt on one knee, barely supporting herself with the broken scimitar. Her dress was stained red, and blood continued to gush from a deep wound on her shoulder.

The intense pain and significant blood loss caused her to feel dizzy in waves.

If it weren't for her protective armor, which shielded her from most of the force of that blow, she would be dead by now.

Even so, it only prolongs her life by a little longer.

Looking at the man in black ahead, her consciousness was already becoming somewhat blurred.

Fourth rank...

In order to kill them, the Crown Prince actually sent a fourth-rank expert...

The man in black looked down at her, surprised, and said, "I didn't expect you to be able to escape from Dorje and his men. The Chief of the Secret Service is indeed quite capable..."

Then, his tone shifted, and he said in a completely emotionless voice, "However, this ends here..."

The man in black raised his curved blade again and mercilessly slashed down at her snow-white neck!

As Mandala gazed at the rapidly enlarging blade in her pupils, a flicker of despair and resentment flashed in her eyes. Instinctively, she clenched the blood-stained sachet in her hand and slowly closed her eyes.

Is it over...?

Suddenly, she felt herself being enveloped by an extremely gentle force.

This feeling is exactly the same as when I was saved by that senior in Bozhou!
puff!
The sharp blade energy left a deep mark on the ground.

Mandala opened her eyes and saw a tall, straight back. The young jailer slowly turned his head and saw the deep, bone-revealing wound on her shoulder. His eyelids twitched involuntarily, and he said in a deep voice, "Open your mouth." Mandala's body trembled slightly. The voice sounded incredibly familiar, but she couldn't remember where she had heard it before.

She obediently opened her mouth, and a pill flew into it, melting instantly upon entering her mouth. The bleeding from the wound on her shoulder stopped immediately, and at the same time, she felt her strength rapidly returning.

Even this pill feels exactly the same as last time.

She finally realized that the person in front of her was the senior who had saved her last time...

However, looking at this young and unfamiliar face, a deep sense of doubt arose in her heart. Who exactly was he? Were these two rescues of her just coincidences?

The man in black stood at the cell door, his vigilance at its peak. Just a moment ago, he had sensed an incredibly powerful spiritual force.

The opponent is at least a late-stage fourth-rank mage.

If he were a late-stage fourth-rank martial artist, he would not hesitate and would run away immediately.

But a late-stage fourth-rank sorcerer...

The sorcerer is troublesome, but he can't be killed.

He asked in a deep voice, "Who are you, sir? I advise you not to obstruct the Crown Prince's affairs... uh, ah!"

Before he could finish speaking, his expression suddenly changed, and he let out several miserable screams. He collapsed to his knees, the veins on his forehead and neck bulging, and he looked like he was in extreme pain.

Mandala looked surprised.

insanity!
She was proficient in Gu techniques and naturally knew what had happened to the fourth-rank expert opposite her. However, what she couldn't imagine was just how powerful the Gu worms were, that could cause a fourth-rank martial artist to be infected without any defense. This senior was not only a late-stage fourth-rank sorcerer, but also a powerful Gu master...

Lin Xuan slowly loosened his clenched fist. He had never used the Gu worm that Youmeng had given him, and he never expected it would come in handy this time.

A fourth-rank martial artist, with his current strength, although he is not afraid of his opponent, he is also helpless against him.

In a very short time, the man in black's clothes were completely soaked with sweat, and even a wet patch appeared on the ground.

He had no idea what was wrong with him; a wave of terror washed over him. He even forgot to pick up the precious sword in his hand, turned and fled in a flash, quickly disappearing into the night...

Lin Xuan did not give chase; the Gu worm had already entered the man's body, and he could not escape.

Mandala staggered to her feet, clasped her hands in a fist salute to Lin Xuan, and said gratefully, "Thank you for saving me several times, senior."

Lin Xuan looked at her and said calmly, "Back in Bozhou, I told you to change careers as soon as possible. It seems you didn't take my words to heart at all, Vice Minister Mandala..."

Mandala suddenly raised her head. She finally remembered where she had heard that voice before. Her eyes were fixed on Lin Xuan. She exclaimed in shock, "It's you!"

Chen Yu, one of the Sixteen Guards of Jingye in Yong Kingdom!

He saved her when she was in Bozhou!
He's been hiding his true strength!

No wonder, how could someone with only a sixth-rank cultivation level become one of the Sixteen Guards?
But why did he save her and give her such precious medicine?

At that time, the two were clearly on opposing sides...

Soon, she realized something else: Chen Yu had seen A'Luo when he was a guard at Yang Xiao's residence, which meant that he already knew that A'Luo was Mandala...

Given his relationship with Qingluan, did Qingluan find out as well?

In an instant, a jumble of thoughts flooded her mind. Her already extremely weak body couldn't withstand the impact, and her vision went black as she collapsed limply to the ground...

Lin Xuan supported her waist, looked down at her pale face due to blood loss, picked her up in his arms, and lifted her into the air, disappearing into the night.

Before long, the patrol officers from the Ministry of Justice saw the prison gates wide open and went inside in confusion.

……

The night is deep.

The Ministry of Justice compound was still brightly lit.

The Imperial Guards, the Court of Judicial Review, the Secret Service, and the Ministry of Justice all gathered together, each with a solemn expression.

Of the six secret agents from the Secret Service who were taken to the Ministry of Justice by the Second Prince during the day, five were killed, and the Director of the Intelligence Bureau, Mandala, disappeared without a trace.

The bodies of six assassins dressed in black were also found at the scene.

Judging from their faces and appearances, these people should all be from the Western Regions.

Both the secret intelligence agency and the Western Barbarian experts were the Crown Prince's men.

Fearing that his plot to order the secret service to kill court officials would be exposed, the crown prince dispatched Western barbarian experts to silence them overnight. The two sides engaged in a fierce battle, ultimately resulting in mutual destruction... This sounds strange, but there seems to be no other reasonable explanation.

There was a deep mark on the ground outside the cell door.

Black Lotus glanced at it and concluded, "This was left behind by a fourth-rank expert..."

Inside the prison, corpses lay strewn everywhere, and the ground was a scene of bloodshed.

After examining the bodies of several secret agents, Black Lotus had already reached a conclusion: the fatal wounds on these agents' bodies were all from attacks from behind; they were killed instantly by sneak attacks.

The people who ambushed them were clearly these Western Tibetan experts.

However, these people from the Western Regions also died.

Judging from the wounds on their bodies and the location of their corpses, they were killed by the same person in a short period of time.

On the Western Frontier side, five people died in the prison corridor, and one person died in a cell; his body was headless, his head had been severed in an instant…

She looked at a jailer and asked, "Who is being held in this cell?"

The jailer said in a trembling voice, "Princess Yanluo is imprisoned here."

Hei Lian's face showed a thoughtful expression. A Luo must have sensed something was wrong and took the initiative to kill this Western expert. However, she couldn't possibly have the strength to fight five people at once. Could it be that the fourth-rank expert helped her?

But where have they gone now?
Hurried footsteps echoed from the prison cell door. The Second Prince looked at the corpses scattered on the ground, his eyes narrowing slightly.

The deaths of the secret agents were exactly what he had expected.

But he didn't expect that the people of the Western Regions would also be almost all dead.

Those spies, apart from Yanluo, didn't even have a single fifth-rank spies. The Western Barbarians had one fourth-rank spies and six fifth-rank spies, one of whom was even a late-stage fifth-rank spies. How could they have perished together with them? Where did that fourth-rank expert from the Western Barbarians go?
His mind raced, and with a grim expression, he looked at Kong Rui, the head of the Secret Service, and said in a deep voice, "Chief Kong, I'm afraid you need to give me an explanation for this matter!"

Kong Rui's face grew even uglier, and he said in a gloomy tone, "Shouldn't it be the Second Prince who should be explaining to us? The Second Prince wanted people, and we let you take them away, but you let them be assassinated in the Ministry of Justice. My Secret Service also demands a reasonable explanation!"

"They were killed by people from the Western Regions. It's obvious that the Crown Prince wanted to silence them!"

"Second Prince, you must provide evidence to support your claims!"

"Does this even need evidence?!"

"Don't you need it?"

"do you need?"

"Don't you need it?"

While the Ministry of Justice prison was in an uproar, in a secluded courtyard in Taihe City...

Mandala's long eyelashes trembled a few times, and she slowly opened her eyes.

The moment she regained consciousness, the sharp pain in her shoulder made her groan involuntarily.

She turned her head and looked around, only to find herself lying on an unfamiliar bed, covered with a thin blanket. She subconsciously moved, and then her expression suddenly changed!
The blood-stained clothes she was wearing were gone, replaced by a clean white undergarment; even her most intimate clothing had been changed.

The wound on her shoulder had also been treated and was now wrapped in clean white gauze.

A feeling of shame, anger, and helplessness instantly welled up inside me.

Who changed her clothes?

Could it be him?

Just as she was struggling to sit up, her mind was in turmoil, and the door creaked open.

Mandala immediately looked over warily, her face tense. However, when she saw the figure entering the room, she was struck dumb, frozen in place. Then, her face lit up with wild joy, and she exclaimed happily, "Nettle, you're still alive!"

Nettle walked to the bedside, helped her sit up, and asked with concern, "How are you? Does your wound still hurt?"

Although the medicine Chen Yu gave her was extremely effective in healing, her injuries were too severe this time, and her wounds were still throbbing. She forced a smile and asked, "How did you end up here? What exactly happened that night?"

Nettle lowered her head and said, "That night, I was supposed to go to the Zheng residence to plant Gu, but I encountered people from the Yong Kingdom's Jingye Division there. They were the same Lord Chen we met in Bozhou. He kidnapped me and imprisoned me here..."

She looked at Mandala and asked, "And what happened to you? How did you get hurt like this? Did he hurt you?"

Mandala shook her head and said, "It's not him, it's the Crown Prince's man..."

A figure walked in from outside the door, looked at Mandala, and said coldly, "You're supposed to be the Chief of the Intelligence Bureau? You believe everything people say? I told you long ago, you're not suited to be a spy. You don't even know who wants to kill you. You deserve to be played like this by the Second Prince..."

Mandala's face showed surprise. Were those Western assassins sent by the Second Prince?
She lowered her head, not daring to refute.

Even though his attitude towards her was always so bad, as if she owed him something, he had already saved her life four times, so no matter how bad his attitude was, she had to endure it...

But what she couldn't understand was why he saved her time and time again when their positions were at odds and they should have been mortal enemies.

Looking at the nettle's pretty face, she suddenly thought of something.

The night before last, Night Bat and Fire Scorpion were killed, but he alone saved Nettle...

Tonight, the spy imprisoned in the Ministry of Justice only managed to save himself.

Considering his time in Bozhou, when he already had Qingluan by his side, yet still had ambiguous relationships with other women… it is said that he had already married another beauty from the capital of Yong…

Could it be that he saved them because...?

She silently pulled the blanket tighter around herself, looked at the person opposite her, and slowly asked, "Why did you save us?"

Lin Xuan sat down at the table, poured himself a cup of tea, and slowly said, "The Second Prince sought help from the Great Yong in order to seize the throne, but secretly colluded with the Western Barbarians. Such a treacherous person is not worthy of the Jingye Division's assistance..."

He turned his head, looked at that face that was all too familiar, and said, "Would you be interested in cooperating again, Lady Mandala..."

(End of this chapter)