Su Zhengping tried to pressure him with the palace, but Ye Chu naturally refused to show any weakness because of it. Back in the imperial capital of the empire, so many people had tried to threaten and tempt him without success. How could he possibly be frightened by the palace of a mere small kingdom? If the palace dared to come looking for trouble, then let them come. He was hardly afraid of them!
Of course, that did not mean there were no threats to him within the palace. On the contrary, several figures in the palace had already stepped into the third grade, far stronger than him by more than just one or two levels!
The third grade was the Innate Realm, possessing the profound mystery of complete transformation and rebirth! It involved turning one’s turbid qi into innate essence, refining one’s primal spirit, and having every muscle and bone in the body cleansed and baptised anew, becoming as pure as a newborn! After passing through this stage, the entire person underwent a true metamorphosis! Such cultivators could influence the surrounding spiritual qi with their own primal spirit, a level that ordinary people could only look up to in awe!
In the Kingdom of Yao, the number of people who had reached the Innate Realm absolutely did not exceed the fingers on one hand! And anyone who reached the Innate Realm would be personally ennobled by the king as a Protector of the Nation Grandmaster, standing above all but one person and on equal footing with the Chancellor of Yao City! In a certain sense, their status was even slightly more honourable! It was precisely because of this that Ye Chu was not afraid of the palace coming after him!
The palace would hardly mobilise a Protector of the Nation Grandmaster over something as trivial as a plaque. And as long as those grandmasters did not take action against him, Ye Chu had absolutely nothing to fear!
The Innate Realm was also Ye Chu’s current goal! Only by reaching that level could he barely scrape a passing mark in the circles of Qingmi Mountain!
…
The news that Ye Chu had entered the Chancellor’s residence and left safely soon spread throughout Yao City. Everyone found it astonishing and wondered how the Chancellor could possibly let him go after he had damaged the king’s plaque. Naturally, people were also curious about why Ye Chu had gone to the Chancellor’s residence in the first place!
But on that point, Liang Shan stepped forward to provide an explanation to everyone. Liang Shan declared loudly, “Ye Chu disregarded all danger to return to Yao City for one reason alone: Su Rong. Because Ye Chu has secretly been in love with Su Rong ever since he was a child!”
Once this statement came from Liang Shan’s mouth, almost no one doubted it. After all, Liang Shan and Ye Chu had been inseparable ever since they were five or six years old. If Liang Shan said it, then it was ironclad fact. Besides, Su Rong was such an outstanding beauty. It was perfectly normal for Ye Chu to have been harbouring feelings for her!
The news that Ye Chu had secretly loved Su Rong all along and had returned to Yao City this time because of her instantly ignited fury among the younger generation. Su Rong was the goddess in their hearts. How could their goddess be coveted by the scum of Yao City? No matter what, they could not allow Ye Chu to get anywhere near Su Rong again!
“If he dares to have any improper thoughts about Su Rong, even if he has reached the Intent Transformation Realm, we will still break his bloody legs!”
Quite a few outstanding young talents of Yao City issued bold declarations, vowing to drive Ye Chu out of Yao City completely and make him abandon any ideas about Su Rong once and for all!
Ye Chu had no idea that a single visit to the Chancellor’s residence would cause such an uproar among the young people of Yao City. At this moment, he and Pang Shao were walking through the main gates of the royal palace. Since he had decided to play this thrilling game, there was naturally no point in dragging his feet!
“Su Zhengping wants you to persuade me to accept one of their conditions? He really is daydreaming! I originally felt a bit guilty about bringing you into the palace, but now the two of us can join forces and properly rob this palace blind!” After learning Su Zhengping’s intentions from Ye Chu, Pang Shao curled his lip in utter disdain.
Pang Shao walked through the palace with complete ease, moving about as if it were his own home, which left Ye Chu puzzled. He asked, “Does the king really trust a lecher like you so much? He actually gave you permission to wander around freely in here! Isn’t he afraid you might defile the palace?”
“He would love nothing more than for me to take a fancy to one of the palace maids and force myself on her. That way he would have leverage to demand favours from me!” Pang Shao said with contempt. “But this young master has principles, you know. A little temptation like that means nothing to me!”
Ye Chu completely ignored that remark. He thought to himself that Pang Shao had no principles whatsoever when it came to women. The only reason he could hold himself back now was because the King of Yao was too foolish! If the king were a bit smarter and organised a group of maids for a bikini show, striking seductive poses to tempt Pang Shao, Ye Chu would find it unbelievable if Pang Shao did not fall for it!
“The thing I want is in the palace study!” Ye Chu said to Pang Shao. “You go and distract the King of Yao for me!”
“Fine!” Pang Shao grinned wickedly. “But if you get caught later, don’t you dare say we planned this together!”
“Get lost!” Ye Chu kicked him. He thought to himself, does this guy have to curse me like that or he’ll die?
“Your strength is not weak now, but be careful not to run into any Innate Realm figures in the palace. If you do, you won’t even have a place to cry!” Pang Shao reminded him. “Oh, and by the way! Remember to steal some paintings of beautiful women or something for me too! I hear the King of Yao is fond of women and has collected quite a few marvellous bedroom techniques. Rumour has it there is even a ‘man below, woman kneeling’ style! Make sure you find that for me!”
Ye Chu finally understood why Pang Shao was so enthusiastic about coming to rob the palace. It was all for this sort of thing.
“How pathetic!” Ye Chu could not help scorning Pang Shao inwardly. Country bumpkin through and through. Never seen the world. Getting so excited over something like ‘man below, woman kneeling’? Ye Chu was even wondering whether he should draw out all the moves he had learned from adult films in his previous life! At the very least he could sketch three hundred and sixty-five different positions. He wondered if that would scare Pang Shao half to death.
Ye Chu thought to himself that in this world he would never have to worry about not making a living. If things really got tough, he could just set up a street stall selling bedroom technique manuals. With supporters like Pang Shao, he would definitely live very comfortably in this world!
Pang Shao led Ye Chu to a spot not far from the imperial study before stopping. He said, “The building up ahead is the study! Be careful. Although the Protector of the Nation Grandmaster is not in this area, if you alarm the palace guards, there is no guarantee they will not step in!”
Ye Chu nodded. Looking at the sky that had already grown dim, he took out a set of black night clothes and wrapped himself in them!
“Go and keep the king occupied so he does not come this way. Half an hour should be enough!” Ye Chu said to Pang Shao. “Come back to pick me up in half an hour!”
Pang Shao nodded. He watched as Ye Chu’s figure flashed and shot forward. Ye Chu moved extremely fast, vanishing behind a pillar in an instant. The patrolling guards did not even notice him.
Seeing such swift movement from Ye Chu, Pang Shao could not help clicking his tongue in amazement. If Ye Chu had not said he had not reached the Innate Realm, Pang Shao would not have believed that someone with such incredible speed was merely at the Intent Transformation Realm!
“No wonder this guy dares to sneak into the palace to steal!” Pang Shao could not help getting excited. He thought that if Ye Chu managed to find those bedroom technique paintings for him, he would gain yet another tool in his conquest of women.
…
Once Ye Chu slipped behind the pillar and avoided the guards, his heart tightened. The palace was heavily guarded after all. If he were discovered here, the trouble he would face would be no small matter!
Just as Pang Shao had said, this was a thrilling game! It all depended on whether Ye Chu could steal what he wanted without alerting anyone!
He let out a soft breath. Looking at the guards stationed around, Ye Chu flipped over, stepped onto a pillar with his feet, and leapt up onto the roof of the study along the pillar.
Guards were posted at the door of the study, making it very difficult to enter through the front. Since that was the case, he would have to go in through the roof!
“Crack…” As he stepped on the roof, a slight cracking sound rang out. That noise made Ye Chu’s heart leap into his throat. He quickly glanced sideways at the guards stationed around. Seeing that they had not been alerted, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Ye Chu felt he had been too nervous. These guards were not that vigilant after all. They had probably never imagined that anyone would dare sneak in to rob the palace!