Chapter 183: Chapter 162: Nighttime Exploration of the Deep Palace

Although he decided to stay overnight in the palace, Du Chengfeng ultimately refused the young emperor’s request to sleep side by side, and also declined the young emperor’s offer to find someone to accompany him for the night.

On one hand, it wasn’t necessary, and on the other hand, what was coming next was more suited for him to handle on his own.

"It should be about time."

In the dead of night, when everyone was sound asleep, Du Chengfeng, who was lying in bed, suddenly opened his eyes.

After checking his personal equipment, Du Chengfeng only took out the half-broken Heavy Great Saber from his saddlebag for self-defense. As for everything else, along with his warhorse, he left them in the bedroom—of course, if possible, Du Chengfeng did not want to bring the horse into the bedroom, but he was uneasy letting others take the horse away, not to mention the pile of stuff in the saddlebag; just the horse alone, which had accompanied him for a long time, was something he couldn’t feel secure without. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

This is also why he is so dedicated to settling down, to having a place of his own. After all, earning this fortune wasn’t easy, and every weapon has great significance to him, but he can’t carry all his weapons every time he leaves home. He needs to find a place to store the excess weapons.

However, here’s where the problem lies.

In this vast world, is there any place that can be called absolutely safe?

"Therefore, I need strength."

With this in mind, Du Chengfeng already moved out of the room and, with a few climbs, got onto the rooftop.

Strictly speaking, this wasn’t the first time he’d sneaked into the grand palace of Da Chen. The last time he broke into the inner palace, he sneaked in all the way—though, to be fair, the last infiltration wasn’t very successful, and he nearly got spotted. However, he took care of the witnesses emitting Evil Qi, effectively equating to no one seeing him.

But this time, he wouldn’t be caught.

The fact is, assassin skills have their advantages too. Although this technique is probably useless on the battlefield where one blow could end it, the mighty generals with great swings often can’t move like assassins or spies, scaling walls and crossing ridges without making a sound.

This requires extremely delicate bodily control and precise handling of one’s footing strength, as well as the sharpest sensory perception.

If used properly, there’s no such thing as useless technique.

Just like that unknown protective skill on the young emperor, which at most makes the Emperor of Nan Chen harder to take down, but in Du Chengfeng’s hands, it could cover his greatest current flaw—his inability to increase defense, which had always been a source of concern for him. Although the old robe he wore, filled with daggers, could block some swords, facing true Evil Qi outbursts, it still wasn’t effective defense.

He needed something better.

"So, are you here?"

With this thought, Du Chengfeng on the rooftop turned over and descended, placing himself by the window frame.

Then he immediately returned to the roof.

Wrong place, this wasn’t a storeroom at all. Judging from the vaguely visible figure of a woman in the window, this was clearly the Emperor of Nan Chen’s harem.

If it were someone else, they might not resist taking another peek. However, for Du Chengfeng at this moment, a little allure of women couldn’t spark the slightest interest—because for a man, becoming stronger is always the top priority, and with the most important thing at hand, who cares about the rest?

What’s more, there certainly wouldn’t be just one weapon in the royal storeroom.

The night was still long, and he had plenty of time.

With that thought, Du Chengfeng again descended from the rooftop.

Then he immediately returned.

What a nuisance, he had seen the heavy guard here and thought it was an important place, but a quick check down revealed it wasn’t important in the way he’d thought—this time what he found wasn’t a storeroom at all, but the young emperor’s bedchamber.

He had no interest in peeking into people’s private lives; it was mainly because recalling that "side-by-side sleep" during the day made him feel uncomfortable.

Two wrong attempts led Du Chengfeng to scratch his head, but it was these missteps that made him realize the palace complex’s advantage—the best way to hide a drop of water is to place it in the ocean. With the rooftops looking similar, how could an outsider infiltrator like him quickly distinguish the different buildings?

"This might come in handy when I renovate my place."

Du Chengfeng thought about his idea of a safe home, thinking if he built a large area of similar buildings around his own place, few outsiders would know which was his home to break into.

After figuring this out, Du Chengfeng knew where to look next. Like him, if one were to build a warehouse to store weapons among a bunch of buildings, that warehouse would surely be the most inconspicuous, easily overlooked one.

With this in mind, Du Chengfeng’s steps stopped in front of a building.

Unlike other courtyards, this one had some typical scenic decorations, but upon closer look, seemed rarely visited—and what surprised Du Chengfeng the most was that there wasn’t a single guard in sight, as if this was just some abandoned courtyard, not even worth guarding.

However, was it really not worth guarding?

"It must be that it can’t be."

Du Chengfeng lightly shook his head.

The palace guards might protect other places, but asking these Martial Artists to guard a weapons storehouse... it is like asking a mouse to guard a rice jar.

The more one practices martial arts, the harder it is to resist the allure of weapons, particularly those Deadly Weapons with an inherent power to mesmerize people—just like what Du Chengfeng felt now, he could almost hear the call from behind that big door, something urging him to open it and take them in hand.

Thus, Du Chengfeng grabbed the half-piece of Heavy Great Saber he carried.

Having experienced the influence of the Overlord’s Halberd, he had a better understanding of these Deadly Weapons. At least, the allure from the storeroom couldn’t compare to the Overlord’s Halberd, nor even match his Heavy Great Saber—the moment he held it, he couldn’t sense the same call, indicating the weapons inside the storeroom were far from genuine treasures.

If he wanted a truly good weapon, he should look for another storeroom.

But what Du Chengfeng was searching for was this so-so storeroom.

"After all, the Emperor of Nan Chen is of esteemed status; if he were to practice martial arts, he surely wouldn’t use subpar weapons... but, with his frail look, he probably couldn’t wield top-class ones."

With that thought, Du Chengfeng casually slashed the lock with the Broken Saber, pushing open the storeroom’s door.

Rather than a storeroom, it felt more accurate to describe it as a study. Du Chengfeng didn’t see any weapon stands inside, but instead, bookshelves filled with dusty books along the walls—Du Chengfeng leaned in for a look, expecting some secret royal manuscripts, but saw they were popular storybooks circulating among the common folk.

And next to this old bookshelf, a desk stood silently.

But on the desk, there weren’t books.

Instead, there were three old knives and swords.