Volume One: The Youngest Among Three Hundred Chapter 125: Delivering Letters and Delivering Letters

When Chen Chang'an's consciousness left the Fragrant Pavilion and returned to the real world, he yawned lazily and lifted himself up from the bed. The very next second, he was completely dumbfounded. His hair was permed into tight, bouncy curls, and his thin brocade robe was shredded to pieces—virtually indistinguishable from equipping a brand-new skin.

Because he had never experienced any significant physical changes during his previous travels between the two realms, he had always assumed that the objective manifestations caused by events inside the Fragrant Pavilion would not affect or carry over into real life. Naturally, starting from today, he had to change that mindset.

"Fortunately, when she finished her Peach Blossom event last time, she put my clothes back on for me, otherwise how humiliating would that have been!"

"Speaking of Peach Blossom, one simply has to mention this Youwei. She has such a fiery temper... or rather, she's the little princess type, hard to handle and control. I wonder when I'll ever get to sleep with her. It'll probably be difficult just to stabilize her favorability rating around fifty percent."

Acting on his impulse, Chen Chang'an immediately summoned the Fragrant Pavilion Chronicle and flipped through it.

Youwei's current favorability: -77.77%!
Youwei's emptiness alleviated: 36%!
Bonus reward: None!
Harlot's secret arts possessed: Mystic Heart Beast-Communion Technique (Once activated, one can connect with the thought patterns, memories, and sensory perceptions of surrounding animals, as well as acquire their respective special abilities)!
Current retainable duration in the Fragrant Pavilion: 300 double-hours!

What the hell!

Chen Chang'an completely lost his composure. What on earth was this? Her favorability had skyrocketed to minus seventy-seven! Good grief, it was fast approaching the full scale, was that really necessary? Meanwhile, the degree to which her emptiness was alleviated had also risen significantly, which was utterly speechless. Logically speaking, the two metrics should vary in direct proportion.

Youwei's temperament was harder to conquer than ascending to the blue sky, and her emotions were completely beyond the realm of instability—they belonged to the category of being downright abnormal.

Of course, the most baffling operation of all was that she had retracted the so-called Opposite-Sex Aversion Blessing, replacing it with some sort of Mystic Heart Beast-Communion Technique, exchanging thoughts with animals—what a load of nonsense!

"Both secret arts given so far have been useless junk. Completely tasteless!"

Grumbling and cursing, he grabbed pen and paper, sat down at the desk, and rapidly penned a letter. After glancing through it a few times to ensure there were no major issues with the content, he cupped his chin with his hand and looked dejected. "This letter is the key to counter-killing Bai Jinghu, but I'm currently a wanted fugitive across the entire city. I might even die the moment I step out of the inn. How am I supposed to deliver it to Sister Cao Wu?"

"Go under the cover of darkness tonight?"
"No, I have to break into the imperial palace tonight to kidnap Bai Wan!"
"So vexed..."
"So damn vexed..."
"So terribly vexed..."
"I'm vexed to death..."
"Wait, no... I have the Mystic Heart Beast-Communion Technique, what the hell am I worrying about!"

While worrying, he abruptly slammed his hand on the desk and stood up. Excitedly stuffing the finished letter into his bosom, he casually grabbed two meat buns from the inn and went outside. He squatted down at the entrance of a side alley to the right, clicking his tongue continuously to make summoning noises for dogs. Soon, five large yellow dogs came running over.

"Shoo, beat it!"
"You! You! You! Go back!"

With a ferocious expression, Chen Chang'an chased away four of them whose appearance and demeanor were somewhat subpar, and tossed a meat bun to the remaining one. Watching it eat with immense relish, he squatted down, locked eyes with it, activated the Mystic Heart Beast-Communion Technique, and whispered softly, "Deliver this letter to the Armory Building in Black-Cloth Alley and hand it to Cao Wu. Did you understand?"

The large yellow dog twitched its nose, nodded, and let out a few woofs, but didn't leave.

Under the enhancement of the Mystic Heart Beast-Communion Technique, Chen Chang'an was able to understand its meaning without any barrier and immediately responded, "When you come back after delivering the letter, I'll give you ten more meat buns."

"Woof!"

This time, the large yellow dog wagged its tail, barked once, and bolted away on its legs.

Having finished his instructions, he picked himself up, brushed the dust off the corners of his clothes, and couldn't help muttering complaints. Overall, however, his mood was quite pleasant. Compared to counter-killing Bai Jinghu and the Dragon-Slaying Society, what were ten meat buns? Besides... it seemed he ought to thank Youwei, that eccentric woman. If it weren't for her sudden whim to change the secret art, how on earth could he have communicated thoughts with a dog? Even if the dog understood his words clearly, it might not have known the way.

Chen Chang'an sighed with sincere emotion, "That eccentric woman is a good person. I must thank her!"

Then, mimicking Youwei's tone, he answered his own question: "Why would you thank me? Are you out of your mind?!"

Then, reverting to his own tone: "Alright, then I won't thank her. Hahaha!"

Awesome!
Utterly awesome!

"Doggie, whether we can pull off a counterattack against the wind depends entirely on you guys!"

With that, he returned to the inn along the same path, smiling cheerfully as he walked to the door of his room. To his surprise, he found traces of the door crack having been pushed open. His nerves instantly tightened to the extreme, and holding the hidden-name blade in a defensive posture, he stepped inside lightly.

Scanning his surroundings, he found no abnormalities, but... an extra slip of paper lay on the table.

Confirming there was no potential danger, Chen Chang'an sheathed his blade and reached out to pick up the paper. The tiny, neat black characters clearly read: The leader of the Dragon-Slaying Society is Prince Jing'an Bai Jinghu; the deputy leader is the current Left Chancellor Cheng Jianzhi.

Chen Chang'an was greatly alarmed: "Holy shit!"

Looking at the few lines of words on the paper, Chen Chang'an's hand involuntarily began to tremble. An inexplicable fear welled up from the bottom of his heart and began to govern his thoughts. Who was the other party? Why were they aware of his whereabouts and the background of the Dragon-Slaying Society? Furthermore... what was the purpose of sending this letter?

He sat frozen in place, speculating for a long time without reaching any conclusion, so he simply stopped racking his brain and cursed instead, "Damn it, if you knew the clues and inside information, why didn't you send them earlier? Now that I've already investigated everything to the bottom, what are you still babbling on about?"

"Oh, it doesn't seem like babbling after all. At least I didn't know that the deputy leader of the Dragon-Slaying Society is the current Left Chancellor Cheng Jianzhi."

"However, judging by the outcome of the Left Guard Imperial Guards making trouble at the racecourse entrance, it doesn't seem too hard to guess. Since that's the case, I can just sit back and wait for the dog's news in peace. As long as the letter can be delivered, I will definitely be able to pull off a solid counter-kill."

With that, Chen Chang'an slumped over the desk and fell fast asleep. Around the fourth watch of the You hour, he woke up relying on his biological clock, opened his eyes, pulled out his hidden-name blade, and wiped it until it shone brilliantly. He grinned, "Next up is the most important part of my comeback plan: kidnapping Bai Wan!"

"Ah, just thinking about it is exhilarating."

...

In Black-Cloth Alley, at the base of the Armory Building, a dog sniffed around its surroundings, twitched its nose twice, and sneaked inside with a rather stealthy demeanor, making its way with practiced familiarity to the sixth floor.

Inside, Cao Wu and Cheng Molong were casting the 15th Prime Art: Pity for the World and the 5th Prime Art: As You Wish in tandem, using their Dharma images to treat Ye Lin and Ruan Jingchu. After bringing the corpses back to the Black-Cloth Guards, Cao Wu discovered that although their vital life breath had been severed, their souls had not yet dissipated.

In such circumstances, As You Wish combined with Pity for the World was capable of performing miraculous restoration.

Two Dharma images, with overlapping divine halos hovering above their heads, stood tall behind them. Exotic lights and colorful radiances intertwined and circulated, enveloping the two victims. It was clearly visible that as time went on, the deathly pale, ash-like complexions of Ye Lin and Ruan Jingchu were gradually regaining vitality, accompanied by the faint sounds of breathing.

Once their conditions stabilized, Cao Wu and Cheng Molong simultaneously withdrew their Dharma images.

"Woof! Woof woof!"
"Woof woof woof!"

At that moment, a dog's barking inexplicably echoed from outside.

Cao Wu and Cheng Molong exchanged glances. The former asked with a puzzled expression, "Do the Black-Cloth Guards keep dogs?"

The latter shook his head. "No. Let alone dogs, any kind of livestock is strictly forbidden. Of course... mosquitoes don't count!"

Cao Wu twitched the corner of her mouth in slight disgust, turned around, and walked out. There, she saw a dog with yellow fur standing with its tail cocked, staring right at her. Its gaze was extraordinarily human-like, and even seemed somewhat similar to a certain Chang'an fellow. Even more unusual was the fact that it was biting down on a letter in its mouth.

Cao Wu squatted down, slowly took the letter, and froze on the spot the moment her gaze fell upon it.

"Hey, why did you go outside? Hurry up and come in to keep an eye on these two. They haven't fully woken up yet; what if there's some unusual complication?" Cheng Molong shouted.

"Oh!"

Coming back to her senses, Cao Wu began to read the contents of the letter. First came surprise, then sudden realization, followed by shock, and finally she burst into a happy laugh. "So... so that's how it is... I knew it! How could Chen Chang'an possibly betray our Black-Cloth Guards!"

"What? What's going on? Let me see!" Hearing this, Cheng Molong immediately unleashed a triple inquiry fit for an onlooker eager for gossip.

After snatching the paper from Cao Wu's hands and finishing reading it, his mouth stayed open in a circle wide enough to swallow an egg. He clicked his tongue in praise, "Are... are you serious? This counter-espionage trick played by Chen Chang'an is way too brilliant, isn't it? He actually dug out both the secret base and the mastermind behind the Dragon-Slaying Society! Ah, as expected of someone I had my eyes on!"

"What did you say? Who had their eyes on him?" Cao Wu stiffened her neck and raised an objection.

"I... I..."

Cheng Molong tactfully shifted the concept. "I mean, he was discovered by our big family of Black-Cloth Guards, so there isn't really much difference between you and me, is there?"

"Hh, how is there no difference?" Cao Wu, who usually didn't like to quibble over gains and losses and rarely even spoke unnecessary words, meticulously began picking on his phrasing.

Cheng Molong said with an "ah-yah" sound, "The key right now isn't who discovered Chen Chang'an; it's the Dragon-Slaying Society! I truly never expected that the mastermind behind the scenes would actually be him!"