CHAPTER SEVEN

Probe​

I faked a smile as I tossed the jade slip in my hand onto the tray cradled in my guard's arms. With a noisy clatter, the mystical data storage device joined the rest of the pile I had spent the entire day gathering. None of them contained what I came here to find; useless.

I looked around, ignoring the few skittish disciples scattered around the chamber as I double-checked that I hadn't missed any shelves.

"This was the last shelf?" I asked, more rhetorically than anything else.

"Yes, Young Master," the guard affirmed.

"Good, let's go," I ordered, leading the way out of the archive.

I exited the chamber with my face a content facade. While I had not been expecting things to be easy, the sheer size of the archive made finding the key slip much more challenging than I had initially assumed. I managed to scour the first and second floors, but given the fact that The East Cauldron was a twenty-five-story tall pagoda, it quickly started to dawn on me that finding the key might be a bit more challenging than I had initially assumed. Especially when I knew I had to be absolutely discrete about my true intentions here.

No one must know the true reason I came here. Not the sect, not my guards, and especially not one of my fellow princes back at the palace nor the spies they had most definitely sent to monitor me.

As I descended the stairs, the disciple from earlier looked up to stare at me, her face pale as a sheet of rice paper as she stood behind her desk. Seated beside her was a man dressed in a black and white robe with a pair of spectacles—a mystic artefact most probably—balanced on his nose. He glanced at me, his face a blank mask as he studied my face with an unblinking gaze.

"Prince Wei," he droned, very obviously unimpressed, "I take you had an enlightening experience?"

"Who are you?" I asked, my brow crooked in a manner that implied I also was not amused.

"Head Librarian Jiao," he introduced himself. "And before you ask, Elder Yao had instructed me to give you free rein to the archive, but that does not mean you can do as you please, Your Highness. If you are to return, I would appreciate it if you could follow the rules."

"You presume too much," I snorted as I snatched the tray of jade slips from my guard, swept past the foolish Head librarian, and dumped my unwanted findings before the girl beside him. "This is an archive available to even outer disciples to peruse, not some Elder's personal collection to be guarded jealously. You will not do this again," I said to him. "I have you know this Prince has very little patience for power plays of this nature. I will visit when and where I wish to, and you will do nothing. If you want to complain, this Prince suggests you go and seek an audience with

our ever-assiduous Emperor himself for I have no time. Now, if you don't mind, check these out so I might be on my way."

Jiao held my gaze for a long moment before shooting a stiff nod at the girl beside him. Given his rank and apparent youth, I knew for certain that he was not any younger than I was yet much more powerful, but given my guard's very passive response to his presence I knew I was most likely not in any real danger, a fact that only served to embolden me. The girl beside him shuffled a step forward as she retrieved a wooden token from the storage pouch strapped to her waist. Wordlessly, she fed the item a bit of her chi before tapping the pile of jade slips with the empowered token.

I reached for the pile, pulling it into my personal storage ring now that the inscription art protecting it was dispelled. Without waiting for a response, I walked out the doors and began to make my way back to my accommodations.

As I walked, a frown grew on my face. It seemed my stay at the White Orchid sect would be a lot more complicated than I had expected.