194: The Xiao-Wang Duo (Part 4)

Inside the Prince's Estate, two figures, one tall and one short, were slowly approaching the center of the estate.

It was Xiao Sheng and Wang Yao, who had already changed their disguises.

"Brother Xiao's Talisman Dao seems to have improved. Congratulations!"

"Naturally. I am the foremost Talisman Cultivator of my generation at Kurong Temple."

After the last banquet, Xiao Sheng had not been without progress.

Over the past few months, he had already stabilized his Foundation Establishment Perfection Realm, only lacking Mental Energy and a Breakthrough opportunity to attempt Core Formation.

And that banquet just happened to make up for the lack of Mental Energy.

Now, he was only one step away from Core Formation, and his Mental Energy had also reached the Core Formation standard.

Although he hadn't officially broken through yet, he could already draw more powerful Talismans.

"Speaking of which, are we just leaving those two there? Those masks don't look ordinary. Shouldn't we take them?"

Wang Yao recalled a small demon resembling a white mouse and a person covered in bandages lying in the garden. The masks on their faces clearly weren't common items.

At this moment, Xiao Sheng seemed to have found his home ground, speaking confidently.

"Old Wang, you don't understand this."

"Those masks came from the Night Roaming Ruins. I went there once when I was in West Jiangnan Circuit and even got one myself."

"They are produced by a Rat Demon Family, mostly disposable, and only effective within the Night Roaming Ruins. They don't work well outside."

"However, the ones they were wearing could clearly be reused, so they're obviously not simple. Plus, that demon was a mouse, so it's likely a demon from that Family, and of no low status."

"Therefore, those masks must have Restrictions on them. If we take them, we'll only invite unnecessary trouble."

Hearing Xiao Sheng mention "trouble," Wang Yao also became a little nervous.

"Then shouldn't we go back and deal with them? Leaving two high-status Lianxing Pavilion individuals there isn't even more troublesome?"

Xiao Sheng initially wanted to pat Wang Yao's shoulder, but remembered he was too short impersonating a small mouse. So, he simply patted his leg to offer comfort.

"Don't worry, I put a Sleep-Inducing Talisman on them. They'll sleep for at least an entire night."

"And no matter who they are, they're just temporary labor now."

"We didn't harm their lives. As long as they're alive, who would seriously investigate the whereabouts of two outsourced personnel?"

"By the time they wake up, we'll be long gone."

"If anything happens then, it'll be the Prince's Estate's problem. What does it have to do with us? No one knows who we are anyway."

Wang Yao thought about it and realized it made sense.

No one died, so even if there was trouble, the Prince's Estate would bear it, not them. It was just unfortunate for the bandaged man and the little mouse; they probably wouldn't sleep well tonight.

Indeed, having a token was convenient.

With the token, their progress was greatly accelerated. Coupled with their status as outsourced labor, they were largely treated as invisible, with no one paying them any mind, which further put the initially nervous duo at ease.

The two soon arrived at a rockery.

This rockery was located near Prince Kang's bedroom. It looked unremarkable, even less impressive than a random ornamental rock in the backyard, seeming more like leftover Materials from the garden, temporarily moved there to fill a gap.

Given the Prince's extravagant nature, it was unlikely he would be so frugal, making the rockery itself suspicious. However, Wang Yao didn't think this place could hide a Dragon Vein.

As he was thinking, Xiao Sheng had already climbed to the edge of the rockery and squeezed into a crack to investigate.

"Dragon Veins have a huge impact on feng shui and Luck. We've been circling the central area for so long, and this is where the energy field changes most noticeably."

"The Dragon Vein must be nearby. Search carefully."

Hearing Xiao Sheng say this, Wang Yao also put aside his distracting thoughts and began to search seriously.

Just then—

"Hey!"

"What are you two doing here?"

A familiar voice came from behind them. The two were startled and quickly turned around, seeing the thin young man they had met before.

The other party swaggered towards them.

"I'm asking you a question, what are you doing?"

Xiao Teng noticed their unusual expressions and his own expression gradually became serious.

Wang Yao was a little nervous, but fortunately, Xiao Sheng spoke up in time to break the deadlock.

"Reporting to Master Xiao, we are outsourced labor sent by the Lianxing Pavilion."

"We finished our work and came to collect our pay, but they said the stipulated time hadn't arrived yet, and we had to wait until then to get paid."

"During this time, we can't be idle; we have to continue working."

But as you can see, his health isn't good, and I'm small. We really can't do odd jobs right now, so they told us to loosen the soil for the flowers and plants."

"We just finished in the backyard, and now we've been called here."

After speaking, Xiao Sheng patted Wang Yao's leg again. Wang Yao understood and pulled out his identification from his bosom.

After Xiao Teng checked the identification, his vigilance lessened slightly, but he still eyed them with a strange expression.

"You outsourced labor... are you all so undignified? You'll do any kind of work?"

"And you, I remember you were with that group from the Prince's Estate to test Zhou Yan's true strength, weren't you?"

"You're injured like this and still doing farm work?"

"And even if you can't use magical power freely in the Prince's Estate, it's not like you have to dig with your bare hands."

Although he had lowered his guard, he still felt something was off, but couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Wang Yao also became quick-witted at this moment, promptly handing over another document.

"Master Xiao, please see, this is our identification from when we worked as outsourced labor for the Truth Cult."

"I was nominally a researcher there, but in reality, I just helped change light bulbs."

"Many times, they just lack people, but when they actually hire them, they don't have a use for them. However, they don't want to waste so much money, so they just find some random things for us to do, and this is mostly just to make them feel better."

"This Prince's Estate is so large, there must be dedicated personnel to maintain the gardens. They just saw us idle, so they told us to turn the soil."

"Let alone not being given tools, we've encountered even more outrageous situations."

After listening, Xiao Teng completely dropped his guard and even patted Wang Yao's shoulder.

"Brother, keep up the good work."

"When you're done, go collect your pay. Mention my name, and they won't make things difficult for you."

"It's not easy for any of us trying to make a living."

With that, Xiao Teng turned and left with a look of anger. Judging by his demeanor, a group of people was likely in for some trouble.

The two continued to maintain their digging posture, pretending to dig for a while longer. Estimating that the other party had gone far, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.

That person hadn't extended his Divine Sense, so their radar hadn't given a warning. Coupled with the excitement of almost completing the mission, they had been momentarily careless and almost exposed themselves.

That person was a Nascent Soul Cultivator. If he had just casually swept with his Divine Sense, the two of them would have been finished.

"Old Wang, I admire you more and more. You've successfully broken my stereotype of Body Cultivators."

"Not at all, Brother Xiao is truly exceptionally quick-witted. If it weren't for your opening remark, I might have given us away long ago."

The two exchanged a few compliments, also using the opportunity to calm their wildly beating hearts.

They continued digging and, sure enough, soon discovered a mechanism at the base of the rockery.

The two exchanged glances, confirmed with each other, and then Xiao Sheng pressed the mechanism.

After a brief wait, a small hole appeared in the corner of the wall.

They approached curiously. Within a few steps, their bodies began to shrink, becoming smaller the closer they got to the entrance.

Realizing this might be a special secret passage, they quickened their pace, soon becoming as small as ants and crawling into the "huge" hole.

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Xiao Teng, who had just finished scolding the financial staff, walked out of the main gate feeling refreshed.

His hands had been itching for days, but the Prince had instructed him not to act rashly. It just so happened that a few people ran into his gun, allowing him to vent his frustration.

It was just that those few financial staff were a bit unlucky. While being beaten, they even remembered all the false accounts they had made ten years ago.

But after the beating, they learned that the reason was that they had delayed paying wages.

However, this time they were truly wronged.

They had long heard that there were important figures among the outsourced personnel this time, and each of them had been extremely cautious, let alone delaying payments.

So, except for a few who hadn't come to collect yet, all other payable amounts had been settled.

But they dared not explain, because this Living Yama, once angered, was completely unreasonable. Explaining would only lead to another beating, so they could only wait for his anger to subside.

As Xiao Teng walked out, Old Mo stroked his beard and came to greet him.

"You never learn, do you? I just advised you this morning, and this afternoon you're hitting your own people again. If the Prince finds out about this, you'll be in for it."

Xiao Teng was not afraid at all, feeling he was in the right.

"Old man, I did a good deed this time, let me tell you..."

Old Mo was curious at first, but the more he listened, the graver his expression became. Halfway through, he rushed towards the Prince's bedroom.

Xiao Teng, who was speaking excitedly, was momentarily confused and quickly followed.

"What's wrong? Why the rush?"

"You fool, disaster is upon us, and you're still oblivious!"