Pillar of Yita

Fang Hong glanced around, unsure if she and Tang Xin were here; they ought to be with the others from the Seven Seas Travel Group.

Once the Master of Ceremonies announced the start of the celebration, the atmosphere around became more relaxed. The open space was packed with people, their chatter growing louder, with everyone feeling a bit excited, and bursts of loud laughter occasionally echoing.

On the high platform appeared the royal officials, and Fang Hong glanced in that direction. He realized that the legendary King of Sand, Barbaltan, might soon make an appearance. Although he was curious about the legendary King, there were more urgent matters at hand that required him to step away. Once Barbaltan appears, the scene will surely quiet down again.

If things are too orderly, it’ll be inconvenient for him to act.

Taking advantage of the still noisy space, he turned around and made his way through the crowd toward the outskirts. He had entered the Royal Palace no less than twenty times over the past few days. Although he hadn’t found a chance to enter the Forbidden Palace, he was quite familiar with the outer regions of the Palace and had identified several routes for entering the Forbidden Palace.

Given the surrounding nobles, although packed, they still maintained their composure and weren’t packed like sardines compared to outside the Palace. It didn’t take him long to navigate through the crowd and reach the periphery. Naturally, there were guards patrolling outside, but this sight didn’t surprise Fang Hong but rather pleased him.

As expected, to prevent any incidents, the Royal House of Penelope had indeed assigned more guards to maintain order on this day. However, the number of guards in the Palace is limited; more here means fewer there, which is a natural consequence.

Without drawing attention, he started toward the perimeter towards the direction of the library. The guards familiarized with his face over these days, likely aware of his connection with Prince Aleph, asked as he approached:

”The celebration is about to start, Mr. Ade, won’t you stay a while longer?”

”The revelry hasn’t started yet, has the library opened?” Fang Hong feigned a question.

The guard chuckled inwardly, surprised that this young Alchemist was just like them, only interested in the revelry of the latter half of the celebration. ”The library hasn’t closed yet, Mr. Ade.”

Fang Hong nodded, thanked the guard, and headed in that direction.

Though he certainly wasn’t headed for the library; after a short walk, he suddenly veered and inconspicuously slipped into a narrow path. Upon entering, he effortlessly ducked behind a bush, glanced around, realizing it was quiet all around.

Assured no one was nearby, Fang Hong rustled off his jacket, stowing it under the shrub, and then retrieved a pre-prepared robe and headscarf, covering his face, pulling out a Control Gloves from his satchel, activating the Artisan System, and within moments reconstructed a Knight’s Curved Saber to wear.

He took out a small steel mirror, checked his appearance; outwardly, he resembled a royal guard, a desert knight, if one didn’t look closely.

The only disappointment was—slightly shorter.

Istania people seem to have some Giant Spirit lineage, with above-average heights; royal guards are selected based on strict criteria, each tall and muscular, towering above others.

In this robe, he appeared somewhat out of place compared to a typical desert knight, like a Papalarian donning human attire.

No matter; it’s good enough.

After completing these preparations, Fang Hong pulled out a dark crystal from his satchel—a weapon isn’t allowed in the Palace—neither is a Flexible Construct, nor an Information Crystal. However, he used a little trickery to convert his Information Crystal to mimic a Communication Crystal.

This meant carrying the original Communication Crystal was unfeasible, as no one would have two Communication Crystals, drawing unnecessary suspicion.

Fortunately, the Communication Crystal was not needed, avoiding any dilemma—

He released two ’Hornet-I’ from the Information Crystal, sending them flying, lowering his wind goggles, and began scouting the surroundings.

From previous days of probing, he was already quite familiar with this area—this path leads to a quiet garden, where passing through an iron gate leads into the Forbidden Palace courtyard; normally, it’s heavily guarded, with two patrols on the nearby paths, leaving him no room for maneuvering to sneak past into the Forbidden Palace.

But today, with palace forces allocated elsewhere, this area was noticeably less guarded. Fang Hong quickly observed through the Clockwork Fairy’s vision that while patrol guards were still present, they were noticeably one team short. He instructed the ’Hornet-I’ to fly lower, skimming through the vision of a hovering Clockwork Fairy, discreetly sneaking through below.

Among the royal guards, there are naturally Alchemists, and Fang Hong noticed this early on.

After clearing the vision, he easily spotted the gate in that direction, with guards still stationed, but their numbers had halved.

Having seen this, Fang Hong finally breathed a sigh of relief—things were going as he expected, the opportunity was here. He then cautiously instructed his Clockwork Fairy to perch in the branches there, keeping the camera focused toward the guards, lowering his wind goggles, and scanned around again—confirming once more there was no one around, he then emerged from the shrubbery.