Chapter 297 Infiltration Failure
The two men landed silently, and with the faint moonlight and sparse starlight, they quickly shuttled between the palaces and corridors of the East Palace.

Although it was late at night and the East Palace was quiet, one could occasionally hear the low footsteps and whispered conversations of patrolling guards in the distance.

Li Yuanfang and Zhao Ji clung to the wall, using every shadow as cover to avoid all patrols.

Zhao Ji once worked in the Eastern Palace and had served as a Qianniu Guard for many years. He was very familiar with the patrol routes and speeds of these guards and could evade them with ease.

They went straight to the back garden as planned.

As we got closer to the back garden, the density of the patrol teams and the strictness of the guarding increased significantly.

However, this was not a problem for the two masters, Zhao Ji and Li Yuanfang. They just had to take a longer route, and there would always be some blind spots for patrolling and guarding.

Using their light skills to cross the last line of defense that was heavily guarded, Zhao Ji and Li Yuanfang entered the back half of the East Palace.

"Look over there!" After walking for an unknown amount of time, Zhao Ji suddenly whispered, pointing to a remote small building not far away.

Sure enough, there was a faint light shining through the window of the small building, forming a sharp contrast with the surrounding darkness.

"Just as Chengyuan expected, there seems to be someone in there!" Li Yuanfang's eyes flashed with excitement, and his eyes were full of admiration when he looked at Zhao Ji.

Zhao Ji nodded, and the two of them approached the small building more carefully.

When I got closer, I saw two guards standing at the main entrance of the small building, guarding the door with their eyes wide open.

Zhao Ji gave Li Yuanfang a tacit look. There was no need to say more, everything was implied.

The two of them followed the wall and quietly walked around to the side of the small building, peeking at the scene inside the house through the gaps in the window frames.

I saw the flickering candlelight in the room, illuminating two blurry figures. One of them looked like Crown Prince Li Xian, but I didn't know whether it was real or not.

He was talking in low voices with another person, but because of the doors and windows and the distance between them, it was impossible to hear what they were talking about.

"It seems that our guess is correct." Li Yuanfang said softly, he turned around and looked at Zhao Ji, "We must find a way to go in and take a look!"

Zhao Ji pondered for a moment, then quickly glanced around, finally stopping at the second floor of the small building.

He made a decisive decision: "It is safest to sneak in from above."

Li Yuanfang also looked up and said in a low voice: "Your lightness and concealment skills are better than mine. You go into the house, I'll be on guard outside and ready to pick you up at any time!"

Zhao Ji did not answer, but just nodded. Then he moved and jumped to the second floor as lightly as a fallen leaf. He pushed open the window silently and stepped into the small building.

Entering the house, Zhao Ji's footsteps were so light that they made almost no sound.

He quickly glanced around to make sure that no alarms had been triggered or anyone in the house had been awakened, then he found his way downstairs and prepared to approach the target on the first floor.

The layout of the house on the first floor is simple yet elegant. Under the candlelight, two figures are reflected on the wall, one looks tall and slender, the other looks decadent and bloated.

Zhao Ji carefully held the handrail of the stairs, walked to the corner, and quietly stuck his head out to peek down.

Upon seeing this, he was shocked - it was the figures of the two Crown Princes Li Xian!
Apart from the inconsistency in the color of the clothes, there is no difference in appearance. It is obvious that one is real and the other is fake.

However, the mental states of the two were obviously very different. The real Crown Prince Li Xian was sitting decadently on the couch, while the fake Crown Prince was standing with his hands behind his back, looking arrogant.

The fake prince kept walking back and forth in front of Li Xian: "Your Highness, the time for Luohe's miracle is almost up. We don't have much time left, and my patience is running out! Are you really not going to consider our plan?"

Li Xian sighed bitterly and shook his head helplessly: "I have nothing to say. I have done everything you asked me to do. Now it is too late to regret. Don't even think of me helping the tyrant again..."

After saying this, the man actually closed his eyes, as if he was ready to sacrifice himself.

Zhao Ji listened carefully to the conversation between the two and felt that the relationship between them was extraordinary. The fake prince laughed strangely: "What can I say about you? You are afraid of Wu Zhao like a mouse is afraid of a cat. You would rather be killed than resist her!"

When Li Xian heard the fake prince's sarcasm, he suddenly opened his eyes, his eyes flashing with anger: "Go away, you can kill me or chop me up, it's all up to you, but I won't help you anymore!"

The fake prince was about to speak again, but at this moment, there was a sound of the door opening.

A sudden gust of wind blew, the candlelight flickered, and the shadow reflected on the window frame also swayed, almost exposing Zhao Ji's position.

Zhao Ji's heart tightened and he quickly adjusted his breathing, steadied his body, and blended into the surrounding environment.

A woman in gorgeous palace clothes rushed in, leaned close to the fake prince's ear, and reported in an almost inaudible voice: "Xiaofeng is back, but the contact was not smooth. She only saw Xiaomei and did not contact Kui Wenzhong! And she also alarmed Di Renjie!"

Zhao Ji tried hard to listen carefully to the movements in the room, wanting to hear their whispers, and his feet moved unconsciously.

The fake prince didn't seem to notice this subtle change and just nodded slightly to show his understanding.

Just when Zhao Ji was secretly relieved, the fake prince suddenly attacked. He flipped his wrist and three cold lights shot towards Zhao Ji like lightning.

Three cold rays of light appeared in the blink of an eye, and Zhao Ji drew out his sword in a flash, knocking away three hidden weapons.

Without stopping, he stretched out his body, flew across the sky like a flying swallow, broke through the window frame, and rushed away in the night.

Upon seeing this, the fake prince also jumped up, pulled out a scimitar from somewhere, and chased after him.

At this moment, Li Yuanfang, who was hiding under the window on the other side, witnessed everything and was about to step forward to rescue Zhao Ji, but suddenly he heard the urgent cry of the woman in the house.

"Someone, please ask His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to move!" She knew very well that the matter of the real and fake crown princes had been leaked, and the position of the real crown prince was also exposed, so the transfer was imminent.

Upon hearing this, Li Yuanfang quickly adjusted his strategy, gave up the idea of ​​rescuing Zhao Ji directly, and went into hiding again, preparing to rescue the prince secretly.

After all, in Li Yuanfang's mind, Zhao Ji's lightness skill was unique, so escaping was not a problem. What's more, most of the Snake Spirit killers were second-rate stuff and were far from being Zhao Ji's opponents.

But things did not go as smoothly as Li Yuanfang expected.

Zhao Ji smashed the window and escaped, which naturally alarmed some snake spirit killers who surrounded and chased him. However, these people had mediocre skills and could only watch Zhao Ji fly high in the sky.

Only the fake prince followed Zhao Ji like a shadow, always maintaining a distance neither too far nor too close from him, which showed that his lightness skills were also exquisite and astonishing.

Zhao Ji couldn't help but wonder, "Where on earth did this guy come from? How could he be so skilled?"

He glanced back and saw that the fake prince's figure was not being pulled away, but seemed to be approaching. He could not help but sneer and speeded up again.

Zhao knew Li Yuanfang's style of doing things very well. When he did not hear any movement from Li Yuanfang while escaping, he knew that his good friend was ready to take action.

Therefore, he did not intend to confront the fake prince head-on, but just wanted to lead the fake prince as far away as possible.

Zhao Ji looked back again and saw that the fake prince was still chasing him, but his speed seemed to have reached its limit and he could no longer get closer.

After all, Zhao Ji had discovered his secret. From any perspective, the fake prince had no reason to let Zhao Ji go back. The only option was to kill him to silence him.

The two men, one chasing and the other fleeing, each of them was running at lightning speed, and in the blink of an eye they were out of the East Palace.

Seeing the fake prince taking the bait, Zhao Ji couldn't help laughing in his heart: "Good timing! Let's see if you dare to chase me!"

The Eastern Palace is also within the Imperial City. Once you pass the west wall, you will find the Ziwei Palace where Wu Zetian lived!

(End of this chapter)