Chapter 20: Arrival in Chang'an
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Yan Qing naturally did not enjoy the privilege of choosing one of three game classes for advancement. Like everyone else in this world, he could only choose between becoming a Martial Dao Messenger and a Literary Dao Messenger.
In terms of long-term potential, the Literary Dao Messenger was slightly superior after the fourth advancement. The Martial Dao attributes—vital energy and the related basic skills—became less useful as one progressed. Yet from the first to the third advancement, Martial Dao Messengers completely outclassed Literary Dao Messengers in combat. Besides, Yan Qing had no secret realm for advancing through the Literary Dao. Like the vast majority of people in this world, he could only take Martial Dao as his starting point on the path to transcendence.
Only a tiny number of geniuses, along with nobles wealthy enough to squander Literary Dao mastery manuals, could blindly pursue the highest theoretical level of strength like players in a game.
The reason he had delayed his advancement until today was that Martial Dao advancement had two strict requirements: level ten, and any basic physical technique raised to its maximum level. Yan Qing had possessed max-level Footwork for quite some time, but max-level Footwork had only raised him to around level five or six. He still needed at least one more max-level skill to reach level ten.
Three days ago, Night Four had obtained a Basic Saber Technique manual from the secret realm. Yan Qing had another use for that manual, however, so he had decided to wait for the next one. He had never expected that the wait would last three days. During the following days, the drop rate in the Three-Mountain Suppression secret realm had become abnormally low. Apart from spirit jade and provisions, it had dropped nothing at all. Fortunately, a Basic Saber Technique manual finally dropped this morning. Otherwise, Yan Qing would have had to participate in this journey to Chang’an with only an ordinary person’s strength.
Although a first-advancement Messenger was still an insignificant weakling in this world, for Yan Qing, this was the moment he had truly set foot upon the path of transcendence. Surging vitality, spiritual power responding to his every command—nothing could make him more deeply realize that he was no longer in his former world, that ordinary, mundane world without a single miracle.
It had once been a paradise for the weak.
Now it was a jungle ruled by the strong.
Yan Qing tightened his grip on the straight white-iron saber and looked at his reflection in its blade.
From this day forward, there would be only the saber in his hand.
Before the cold iron curled and dulled, who could break through the endless night?
“It’s time to go.”
Yan Qing casually flourished the saber before sliding it back into its sheath. For someone with Basic Saber Technique at its maximum level, a mundane skill like that was as effortless as breathing. He picked up the game console and made one final check of every contingency arranged under Auto-Evolution. There would certainly be unforeseen events when the time came. All he could do was minimize their impact on the plan as much as possible.
The sound of chairs being dragged came from outside. It was not yet time, but clearly someone had grown impatient and taken their position early. Before joining his “thief friends,” however, Yan Qing still had one last thing to do.
…
…
In the Thieves’ Hall, everyone was lost in their own thoughts.
Since they would soon descend onto Vermilion Bird Avenue in Chang’an, they could no longer continue wearing masks. If the masks attracted attention in the middle of the street, they would only defeat their own purpose.
Disguises were inevitable, and from every person’s perspective, the other two were barely holding theirs together.
Medicine Master Wish’s disguise was the most thorough. Nothing of her original appearance remained, from her figure to her face. At first glance, she looked like nothing more than a rather refined young man.
Ying Rushi’s disguise was the cleverest. She had disguised herself as a peddler selling masks and wore half a fox mask over her face. That way, no one would find it strange that she was wearing a mask.
Shang Xinlei’s disguise was the most perfunctory. She wore a pair of black sunglasses, seemingly a fine piece of jewelry polished by hand from gemstones.
Really? You would have been better off wearing a mask. At least people in the north had seen masks before. No one had ever seen something as bizarre as sunglasses!
And sunglasses could not conceal her appearance, either!
Just as the other two were silently criticizing Shang Xinlei’s awful disguise, they suddenly heard the door open. They turned their heads and froze in unison.
After three seconds of silence filled the hall, Shang Xinlei’s laughter finally shattered the stillness.
“Pfft—hahahaha! Yellow Hound, what in the world is that?” Shang Xinlei clutched her stomach, laughing wildly. “Did you hit your head?”
Indeed, Yan Qing’s disguise was simple, crude, and effective. He had wrapped his head so tightly in layers upon layers of bandages that only his eyes, nose, and mouth remained visible. He looked like a bandaged monster who had suffered severe burns.
Medicine Master Wish could no longer hold herself back. “If you two didn’t have time to disguise yourselves, you could have asked me for help! Do you even know what a disguise is? A disguise is meant to keep you from attracting attention. Look at yourselves—you would have been better off wearing masks!”
Ying Rushi tried to smooth things over. “All right, all right. Maybe it’s their first time, so they’re not used to it…”
Medicine Master Wish ground her teeth. “Don’t give me that. You’re not much better than they are. Who goes around selling masks without even carrying a cart, just wandering about with a pile of them on their back? More importantly, what if someone actually wants to buy one? Compared with those two, you’re even more likely to get pestered by other people!”
“We’re going to Chang’an to steal the Bingzi Pepper Grove! Could you three take this seriously?”
Medicine Master Wish was furious. She had finally steeled herself to complete this mission and make the Bingzi Pepper Grove her own, only to find that all three of her teammates were more absurd than the last. She was beginning to despair.
Could it be that her very first mission would end in failure, forcing her father to come and rescue her?
If she turned out like this, what right would she have to condemn her father for acting against all reason? What qualifications would she have to restore the glory of the Medicine Master clan?
“Snacks?” Shang Xinlei checked her belongings. “Oh dear, I forgot to bring any. What a shame. The kitchen prepared crab-filled rice dumplings in a steamer today…”
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Yan Qing felt his mouth flooding with saliva. Ying Rushi asked curiously, “Rice dumplings?”
Shang Xinlei explained, “They’re a little like dumplings, except the filling has shrimp, fresh pork, barbecued pork, bamboo shoots, and crab. They’re incredibly fresh and sweet…”
“That’s enough!” Medicine Master Wish slammed the table. “You three can take off the masks, sunglasses, and bandages. Showing your faces openly would be better than descending into Chang’an dressed like this—”
“All members confirmed present.”
“The mission will begin in five seconds. Descent location: Vermilion Bird Avenue, Chang’an. Five, four, three…”
The narrator’s voice, both strange and familiar, rang in everyone’s ears. Before they could react, the five-second countdown vanished in an instant.
As darkness swallowed their vision, the clamorous footsteps and hubbub of a distant crowd reached their ears before their eyes had even opened.
From the moment the countdown began, Yan Qing had kept one hand on his saber hilt. His body tensed as he opened his eyes while retreating a step, and he discovered that the four of them had appeared at the end of a small alley with a bend in it. Anyone going from there to the main street would have to pass around the corner, meaning that no one outside could possibly have seen them appear.
“This is behind Tongren Hall.” Ying Rushi surveyed the area and immediately identified their location. “Let’s go. Anguo Temple is about a quarter of a mile from here.”
Medicine Master Wish was skeptical. Even as a native of Chang’an, she had not recognized the alley. “How did you know?”
“There are four alleys like this one on the sand table. The surrounding buildings rule out three of them, so the answer is naturally the alley behind Tongren Hall,” Ying Rushi said. “The House of Thieves could not have transported us anywhere outside the sand table.”
“You memorized the entire sand table?”
“We had five days. Isn’t memorizing it the obvious thing to do?”
With that, Ying Rushi headed outside, and Yan Qing followed close behind.
Shang Xinlei glanced at Medicine Master Wish, then patted her on the shoulder in consolation. “Don’t worry. I didn’t memorize it either. I’m guessing Yellow Hound didn’t, too. Only White Fox is a genius. Hmph, let’s isolate her together!”
“Didn’t we agree not to make contact with one another recklessly?” Medicine Master Wish forcibly restrained the urge to shake her off and glared at her.
“You’re so difficult to please, sis. White Fox is a genius, Yellow Hound has information, and we’re the two little weaklings. We should stick together for warmth.” Shang Xinlei shook her head with a sigh and quickened her step to catch up with the other two.
Who are you calling a little weakling?
Medicine Master Wish ground her teeth at the thought. Then she suddenly felt a chill of alarm.
Had Red Snake discovered that she was a woman? Impossible. She had disguised herself so perfectly!
The four of them walked along Vermilion Bird Avenue, and sure enough, they attracted plenty of attention. Passersby kept turning to look at them.
Fortunately, it was only a quarter of a mile. Before long, they reached the market near Anguo Temple, where the crowds flowed around them, shoulders brushing shoulders.
Even mixed into the crowd, they were still conspicuous.
A bandaged monster, a mask seller, and someone wearing sunglasses—the combination was simply too avant-garde for Chang’an.
“Let’s go there first and order a bowl of noodles to reserve a table,” Yan Qing suddenly said.
He pointed toward a noodle shop called Number One Noodles.
Medicine Master Wish frowned. “Why are we eating noodles? Time is short. We only have half an hour, and we need to—”
“I want to eat, too!”
“I’d like to taste the flavors of Chang’an.”
Shang Xinlei and Ying Rushi interrupted Medicine Master Wish at the same time.
Only after Medicine Master Wish’s face darkened did Yan Qing explain:
“When we come back out, we’ll still need to remain on Vermilion Bird Avenue for another quarter of an hour before we can return. If we don’t reserve a place now, we’ll have nowhere to wait and will have to wander the streets. That would be riskier.”
Yan Qing turned and walked over as soon as he finished speaking. Clearly, he was informing them, not asking for their opinions.
Medicine Master Wish felt deeply stifled. At any other time, aside from her father, who would dare reject her suggestions? Yet in the House of Thieves, she had lost count of how many times Yellow Hound had overruled her. The entire plan had even been devised by Yellow Hound, and she had no way of knowing its details.
Watching the three people ahead of her, anger piled up in Medicine Master Wish’s heart.
White Fox was so self-important, and had even mocked her for failing to memorize the sand table. She deserved to die.
Red Snake had seen through her disguise, then mocked her as a weakling. She deserved to die.
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Yellow Hound had ignored her opinions and stolen her authority as leader. He deserved to die even more!
No. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She did not want to pretend anymore. She would summon the Divine Strategy Army of Chang’an and have them crush all three of these people to death!
“Black Wolf! Black Wolf!”
Yan Qing’s urgent cry suddenly came from ahead. “Our table has been taken!”
Medicine Master Wish looked over and saw that two large men had beaten them to the table and sat down.
One of the men glanced sideways at them. “Taken? I got here first. If you’re too slow, then line up properly—”
Medicine Master Wish walked up to them and stared expressionlessly.
The burly man still looked disdainful. “What, you want to fight? This is Chang’an. Do you think a bunch of bumpkins like you can run wild—”
Thud!
Medicine Master Wish reached out and seized them by their collars. She had an excellent physique, with long legs and long arms. Though the two men were slightly taller than she was, she lifted both burly men, each weighing well over a hundred pounds, as easily as if they were dolls. Their legs swung helplessly, knocking over the chairs.
Before they could resist, she flung them hard, sending them tumbling outside the noodle shop.
Anyone who could lift them with one hand was clearly a Martial Dao Messenger. Though Chang’an would protect them from serious injury, the two men did not dare provoke a Messenger. Without saying another word, they scrambled to their feet and slunk away.
“Good thing we have you, Black Wolf.”
“Yes, your vitality must be very high, right, Black Wolf?”
“We’ll probably have to rely on you to break through the difficult parts later.”
Medicine Master Wish’s expression remained calm, though perhaps because her vitality had surged, her face was noticeably more flushed. She sat down and said evenly, “Hmph. I knew from the start that none of you could be relied upon.”
Yan Qing, Ying Rushi, and Shang Xinlei exchanged a covert glance.
As early as their second meeting, they had vaguely sensed that Medicine Master Wish’s mood could swing wildly. When she kept falling into a bad mood, she would simply overturn the table—such as when she had abruptly ended the second day’s meeting.
Yet Medicine Master Wish also loved offering opinions and issuing orders. If anyone disagreed with her, she would silently grow displeased. Once that displeasure accumulated, she would easily erupt.
Logically speaking, a person like that was troublesome in the extreme. But Black Wolf was unexpectedly easy to handle. As long as they let her rise above them, she would return to her normal state.
Without discussing it, all three understood that they needed to give Black Wolf suitable opportunities to show her strength.
When the waiter came over, Yan Qing asked, “How long will four bowls of fresh-meat wonton noodles take?”
The waiter’s expression did not change in the slightest at the sight of these strange customers. He simply smiled and replied, “Sorry, honored guests. We have quite a few customers at the moment, so it may take about a quarter of an hour.”
“A quarter of an hour? That’s fine. Start cooking them, then. We’ll go to Anguo Temple to retrieve something and be back.”
“Certainly.”
Yan Qing raised his head. The sun was high overhead, its light falling almost vertically. Standing still, one could barely see one’s own shadow.
The time had come, he thought.
At the same moment, the Ciji Charity House behind Anguo Temple received three unexpected visitors.
A monk doing odd jobs was mopping the floor when he saw three identical people pull open the main doors and walk into the entrance hall. He stared blankly and asked, “The three of you are…?”
“An Seven.”
“An Eight.”
“An Nine.”
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