Chapter 579: Zong Ge and Zi Di Converge

“Oh, right.” Before departing, Yuan Ci offered a final reminder. “I nearly forgot to mention one small matter.”

“You know that the divine dragon's remains within the Ten Millenia Ice Lake have created an exceedingly precious temporal resource within it.”

“Within the Ten Millenia Ice Lake, there exists a phenomenon where the flow of time is inconsistent.”

“Particularly during our journey through the shattered ice layers, time accelerated significantly.”

“So, when you, Magician Gui Teng, return to the capital and find time has passed much faster than you anticipated, don't be surprised.”

After hearing these instructions, Zi Di stepped onto the teleportation formation.

The next moment, the formation activated, spatial ripples rapidly forming and then vanishing.

Zi Di vanished from her original spot.

Gazing at the empty teleportation formation, Elder Yuan Ci sighed softly, murmuring, “At last, a level zero secret order has arrived.”

Zi Di's vision shifted dramatically, a wave of dizziness washing over her before fading away.

Essentially a spectral being, she differed from ordinary lifeforms, yet teleportation involved drastic shifts in spatial perception, still requiring adaptation and adjustment.

Zi Di found herself in a compact alchemy laboratory.

The crude, outdated alchemy apparatus and the dilapidated window frames and door jambs all revealed the decay of this alchemy chamber.

The spatial ripples from the teleportation gradually subsided, leaving dust swirling in the air.

The laboratory was empty, which brought Zi Di a slight sense of relief.

The room wasn't large. She spread her mental energy, easily mapping the structure, and swiftly reached the laboratory door.

Pushing it open, the light immediately became blinding.

Stepping formally outside, she found herself on a street saturated with ice and snow.

Looking up, she saw several ice sculptures lining the road, a castle in the distance, and towering ice walls beyond.

“So I'm back in the capital after all,” Zi Di murmured inwardly.

She began walking and soon merged into the flow of people.

At this early hour, the streets weren't crowded, just small groups here and there, almost all dressed as magicians.

Most of these magicians were snow elves, though occasionally humans, dwarves, or goblins could be seen.

Zi Di deliberately slowed her pace to observe them. After a moment, a thoughtful expression appeared on her face: "This street is almost entirely lined with alchemy laboratories. These magicians must be the staff here."

Alchemy labs like the one she had just left seemed to be quite numerous.

Zi Di never stopped walking, passing through several streets as the number of alchemy labs gradually decreased.

When she finally merged onto a main thoroughfare, the crowd grew dense, filled with the clamor of voices as people bought and sold, haggling over prices.

“There's a market here, mainly selling alchemy materials.” Zi Di quickly identified the market's name and pinpointed her location on the mental map she'd stored.

Of course, she had already committed the map of the Ice Sculpture Capital to memory.

Having narrowly survived an ambush, Zi Di didn't rush to reunite with Zong Ge. Instead, she entered the bustling market.

Only after observing the market, surveying prices, and chatting with numerous vendors while haggling did her mind truly settle.

“Yuan Ci really let me go.”

"Being able to craft a level zero Wisteria secret order likely means they're an ally. But it still can't be completely confirmed, especially after I was ambushed."

Having learned from her mistake, Zi Di grew more vigilant than before.

She feared this might be a scheme within a scheme, that Yuan Ci had orchestrated the rescue to gain her trust.

If Zi Di rushed to meet Zong Ge now, they could follow her or plant tracking devices on her, which would play right into their hands.

“I can't rush to meet him.”

“First, retrieve the three abandoned ice gargoyles!”

After a moment's thought, Zi Di decisively changed course.

Moments later, she approached the vicinity of the Wisteria shop once more.

She did not reveal herself immediately, halting three streets away.

This distance was sufficient for her to remotely control the three ice gargoyles.

As she had anticipated, the enemies lurking within the Wisteria shop remained oblivious to these three ice gargoyles.

Earlier, when Zi Di had been ambushed inside the shop, it was these three ice gargoyles that had instantly killed the enemies, unexpectedly yielding several gold level Chains of Confinement.

The key to this outcome lay in the ice gargoyles being imbued with a layer of Deceptive Disguise spell and Anti-investigation and Prophecy spell.

The synergy between these two spells yielded extraordinary results.

Even after Zi Di teleported away and lost contact with the three ice gargoyles, they remained frozen in place without alerting the enemy.

Even when the enemy swept the battlefield and searched the shops multiple times, bumping their heads against the ice gargoyles, they failed to detect them.

To be precise, they were deceived.

Despite deploying numerous alchemy reconnaissance tools and spells, they remained unable to penetrate the Deceptive Disguise spell and Anti-investigation and Prophecy spell combination.

“This spell combo is truly reliable and effective. Along the way, I can't even count how many crises it helped us avoid!”

Zi Di marveled after successfully retrieving the three ice gargoyles to her side via mental remote control.

"It's a pity I lost several ice gargoyles during the battle beneath the ice lake while buying time. I can no longer assemble the full twelve gargoyle formation."

With a hint of regret, Zi Di inspected the three recovered ice gargoyles, finding them intact.

She proceeded to assign them.

One ice gargoyle remained by her side for protection, while the second was dispatched back to the Wisteria shop.

Finally, she programmed the last one to seek out Zong Ge.

“Yuan Ci told me the ambushers were imperial spies.”

“That's one side of the story. While likely true, I still need to verify it myself.”

Zi Di moved away from the Wisteria shop yet maintained constant contact with all three ice gargoyles.

Soon after, the third ice gargoyle broke free from her control and continued forward according to its pre-programmed instructions.

Zi Di had programmed its route along rooftops. Though lacking sentience, the ice gargoyle bore numerous advanced magic circuits installed by Jia Bing, enabling it to execute relatively complex temporary commands.

The enchanted Deceptive Disguise spell and Anti-investigation and Prophecy spell functioned flawlessly, guiding the ice gargoyle safely to Zong Ge's vicinity.

Zong Ge immediately spotted the ice gargoyle.

A crucial trait of Deceptive Disguise spell was its inability to deceive those with insider knowledge.

Thus, even surrounded by people, the ice gargoyle approached Zong Ge unhindered.

A silver level transcendent from the Li Jian Clan was apologizing to Zong Ge.

The ice gargoyle slammed him straight to the ground.

The silver level felt nothing, rising immediately to return to his spot—only to smash his face into the ice gargoyle's frigid, frost-covered armor.

The silver level was knocked back, his head jerking upward.

Zong Ge couldn't bear to watch. He pulled him aside, anchoring him in place to keep him from crowding the ice gargoyle.

The silver level remained oblivious, repeatedly assuring Zong Ge that he would strengthen defenses and thoroughly investigate the reasons behind Hua Tang's actions.

Zong Ge had intended to apply pressure in order to leverage more support from the Li Jian Clan, but the arrival of the ice gargoyle made him decisively end the conversation.

He descended to the inn's ground floor, entered his new room, closed the door, crushed another pearl bubble, and only then initiated communication with the ice gargoyle.

Zi Di perked up instantly, activating her alchemy communication device. Soon, Zong Ge's voice transmitted through it.

Zong Ge was direct and to the point, opening with the code phrase.

Zi Di successfully matched the code and relayed the events unfolding around her.

Zong Ge's brow furrowed. “Imperial spies ambushed you?”

“They deliberately employed the Chains of Confinement. And during your battle beneath the ice lake, your ghosts were similarly suppressed.”

“This proves they've been waiting for you all along.”

Zi Di nodded, voicing her conjecture: “The flying messaging unit here contained no trace of the ransom note. This means we never actually sent it out.”

“The station on Two Eyes Island was tampered with. The shopkeeper there, Yan Yi, is likely compromised.”

“I was ambushed only after checking the communication logs.”

"This proves they couldn't confirm my identity beforehand. It wasn't until I arrived here that they confirmed it, which is why they moved against me."

“I believe they might have mistaken me for Cang Xu.”

During the Two Eyes Island battle, Zi Di and Cang Xu had disguised themselves as unfamiliar Wisteria elders, participating in the auction and making quite a splash. Later, due to the Devil Gold Coins, Cang Xu exposed his necromancer identity while fighting Ya Ma.

Following this, under the deliberate leniency of Yan Yi, codenamed Shadow, Cang Xu boarded the Iron Lump and successfully departed Two Eyes Island, participating in the subsequent Weeping Pine sea battle.

Zi Di's conjecture was reasonable and plausible. After pondering, Zong Ge acknowledged its validity.

“You did the right thing.”

"For now, avoid meeting up with me. This prevents the enemy from discovering your connection to the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps."

“Your priority is confirming whether those who ambushed you were imperial spies.”

“This is of utmost importance.”

Zong Ge sighed again. “I was actually hoping the royal capital would investigate the Wisteria shop, since spatial fluctuations were detected inside.”

“But now that you mention it, and considering no one from the capital has come to investigate, those spatial fluctuations must be on record.”

“Frankly, I never imagined a nation's capital would maintain such lax restrictions on spatial teleportation!”

“It poses far too many security risks.”

Zi Di, however, understood: “It's a historical legacy, I suppose.”

“When the Ice Sculpture Kingdom was founded, this became national policy. Overthrowing it would be exceedingly difficult.”

"Most crucially, too many people benefit from this policy. The kingdom's alchemy itself has flourished unrivaled, constantly innovating through countless laboratories."

“Furthermore, since spatial teleportation has never caused catastrophic failures, even those within the kingdom who recognize the risks are either isolated or beneficiaries themselves. Overthrowing this policy is exceedingly difficult.”