Scourge Messenger

Chapter 102 Royal Treasury
The two walked to the sculpture in the center of the square, and Yan Qing hesitated slightly.

Although I know the secret vault is right below, how do I get in?

"You really haven't studied the secret vault before?" Shang Xinlei couldn't help but laugh. "Then you really can't throw me away."

She drew her flying ring, which bounced back and forth across the carvings, striking the tiles containing the Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise patterns. As the tiles representing the four sacred beasts sank slightly, the sun in the center of the carvings emitted a crisp vibration, shaking out a lot of dust from the gaps. Then, the sun rotated along the central axis, revealing two crescent-shaped entrances.

Yan Qing looked into the cave and found that there were lights inside, probably ever-burning lamps produced in the secret realm, illuminating the almost abyss-like vertical passage.

"How to get down?"

“There are handrails on the walls of the passageway that you can climb to the side door…” Shang Xinlei said, then suddenly froze.

Yan Qing asked in confusion, "A side door? But this is the middle door."

“So you just jump down here.” Shang Xinlei looked at him. “Anyway, it’s the main city, you won’t die if you fall. They only prepared the path to climb up from the inside. The outer mechanism can only open the middle door, and the inner mechanism can only open the side door.”

Since I wouldn't die from the fall, I jumped right down.

Yan Qing slapped his forehead. He'd never lived in the main city, so he really didn't have this kind of thinking. No, this wasn't the thinking of someone from the main city; it was the thinking of a strong person—the messenger had defensive tokens and wasn't afraid of fall damage. He'd just jumped from a twenty-zhang (approximately 33 meters) palace wall; how could he possibly die from jumping over thirty zhang (approximately 33 meters) now?
Just then, a group of guards walked out of the palace gate in the distance, seemingly about to cross the central square along the edge. They might see them. Yan Qing said, "I'll go down first. Remember to close the gate later."

"Ah."

Yan Qing grabbed the edge of the crescent-shaped opening and was about to jump down, but then he caught sight of Shang Xinlei, who was motionless, and immediately realized something: "Where is your defensive token?"

"...It was shattered by a single blow from Layman Yu Li." Shang Xinlei took out a broken jade pendant from her bosom. As a second-tier messenger, she was not yet qualified to use the Heart-Protecting Mirror: "I can't go down."

Without the protection of a main city or any defensive artifacts, jumping down would mean facing the earth with her bare flesh, with only one possibility: a bloody massacre and pulverized remains. That's how powerful a Foundation Establishment messenger is; even if she could withstand a random attack, it didn't guarantee her safe escape.

Yan Qing fell silent. He lowered his head, picked up a pebble from the roadside, and threw it high into the air, seemingly venting his resentment.

Shang Xinlei was already mentally prepared; escape was impossible, but she didn't necessarily have to be arrested as the 'Red Serpent Thief.' She could easily pretend to have come to the palace to watch the excitement and search for her father. Punishment was inevitable, but it was better than—

"If you trust me after I jump, then jump down and let me catch you."

Shang Xinlei looked at Yan Qing in astonishment, but Yan Qing had no intention of explaining to her. He jumped into the crescent-shaped opening and landed steadily after five breaths.

The guards' footsteps grew closer, and the light from their lanterns was about to shine upon them. Shang Xinlei had to make a decision immediately: close the entrance and revert to her original identity, or jump down as the thief Chi She? Shang Xinlei would certainly be punished, but Chi She might end up as a bloody mess.

"There is no more foolish gamble than betting your life on a stranger," she thought.

"Ok?"

The guard abruptly turned his head and lantern towards the direction of the central square.

"what happened?"

"No, it's probably just the wind."

As the guards conversed, Shang Xinlei stumbled through the stagnant air, her robes fluttering like butterflies, her hair tangled with the wind. It wasn't the first time she'd fallen from a height, but this was the first time she'd crashed to the ground without any protective tokens. She closed her eyes tightly, unable to face the impending fate that would echo in her ears—perhaps the most piercing mockery of her life, a fitting testament to her foolishness.

One second, two seconds, three seconds... After learning this unit of time from Jiang Shi, which is equivalent to a breath, she also began to get used to using seconds to describe very short periods of time.

"How long are you going to pretend to sleep?"

Shang Xinlei opened her eyes and saw Yan Qing's yellow dog mask. The eyes behind the mask were full of contempt, as if she were seeing a big girl pretending to be naive.

"I...why didn't I hear a sound?" Shang Xinlei was surprised to find that she was unharmed and hadn't even felt any impact, as if she hadn't jumped from a height of over thirty feet, but rather climbed out of a window and leaped into Yan Qing's arms. "You're making a fuss over nothing." Yan Qing's expression was calm, but he was secretly delighted.

Since he dared to boast that he could catch Shang Xinlei, he must have been prepared in advance.

"Mountain Heart Protector"

"Rank: Third-tier Rare"

"Durability: 81/100"

"Equipment requirements: 15 points of health, 15 points of spirit"

"Effect: Sevenfold Mirror: After activating this effect, you will be protected by seven mirrors. Mirror defense is 0, and your health is linearly related to the number of mirrors. For each mirror, the mirror's health increases by 200. When all seven mirrors are present, a single mirror has 1400 health; when only one mirror remains, a single mirror has 200 health. Activating and replenishing mirrors costs 12 points per mirror. After all mirrors shatter, there is a five-second cooldown before you can reactivate it."

"Effect: Mountain Mirror: When protected by the seven mirrors, all non-material kinetic energy you bear is reduced to zero. You cannot be shaken, nor can you shake others."

"Comment: The words 'Immovable as a mountain' are written on the back of the mirror."

The first token Yan Qing enhanced using blood artifact materials was his most practical defensive token, the Heart-Protecting Mirror. While the previous Heart-Protecting Mirror was good, it required 70 points of spiritual power to activate, a condition Yan Qing couldn't meet before his third advancement.

After the enhancement, the spiritual power of each mirror of the Mountain Heart-Protecting Mirror increased to 12 points, but in return, the mirror's life value doubled, and it was no longer necessary to activate all the mirrors at once. Yan Qing could slowly activate the seven mirrors, enjoying the defense of a third-tier rare treasure with his first-tier strength, which is why he was able to block the Foundation Establishment Messenger's casual attack just now.

As for the second power, the Mountain Mirror, he initially thought it was just an add-on. Although it could grant immunity to kinetic energy damage, it didn't include damage caused by the token, which meant it was essentially useless. It wasn't until he jumped off the twenty-zhang-high palace wall and found himself landing silently that he realized the profound nature of this power.

Of course, Yan Qing wouldn't dare let Shang Xinlei risk her life just like that. Before jumping, he did a final test: throwing a stone. He caught the stone with the back of his hand and found that it stopped immediately upon landing on the back of his hand, remaining motionless.

Given the irregular shape of the pebble, a vertical impact would inevitably cause it to bounce, especially since the back of his hand wasn't flat but at an angle. This phenomenon can only mean that the kinetic energy of the pebble was completely absorbed by the Mountain Mirror's energy the instant it touched him.

Shang Xinlei is nothing more than a pebble that is a little bigger, a little taller, and a little heavier.

Of course, Yan Qing wasn't unprepared for any unforeseen circumstances—Bingzi Jiaolin's Overturning Heaven technique could heal all injuries, and as long as Shang Xinlei had a breath left, she could be revived with the legendary token. With him supporting her from below, plus Shang Xinlei's second-stage Qi and blood, there was always a chance to save her.

Looking back now, Yan Qing realized how incredibly bold she had been to ask someone to risk their life to believe in her.

Even bolder, of course, was Shang Xinlei, who risked his life.

One dares to speak, and the other dares to believe.

The two exchanged a glance, feeling that they were both a bit idiotic. Yan Qing went over and took her hand to support her. This time, Shang Xinlei didn't refuse, leaning half her body against Yan Qing, practically using him as a crutch. Yan Qing thought to himself that this woman was so impolite; she seemed to have a tendency to take advantage of others. It seemed he should have less contact with her in the future.

The secret vault's door was quite peculiar, crafted entirely from gold. Two five-clawed golden dragons adorned the side frames, their claws gripping two spheres made of spirit jade, creating an extremely luxurious and glittering spectacle. However, Yan Qing knew that in this world, gold and silver were merely used as building materials, decorations, and small-denomination currencies for mortals. The truly precious part of this door was the four spirit jade spheres.

The two pushed open the door together. Unlike the main entrance, the secret vault wasn't particularly luxurious inside; it was more like a showroom. Besides the bookshelves, treasure chests, and artworks piled in the corners, the most spacious and valuable part of the vault was its sixty-four glass pedestals, each holding a token, a secret manual, or a treasure of equal value.

They were probably so engrossed in the treasure that they didn't hear the faint sound of the secret vault door closing automatically.

Yan Qing immediately abandoned Shang Xinlei and went to study how to open the glass pedestal. On the pedestal at the very front was a secret manual called "Super Solution." Although she didn't know what kind of weapon's secret manual it was, getting it was a win.

However, the glass pedestal wasn't so easy to open, and the sand table didn't show its operating mechanism. Yan Qing first tried to chop it with a knife, but found that he couldn't even cut off the edges of the pedestal. He had no choice but to calm down and study how to open it. He soon noticed a turquoise slab under the pedestal, with eight pictures on it and a line of text that he recognized very well—"Please click on all the pictures containing 'token'."

Yan Qing blinked. Before he could even make a move, the turquoise slab changed, and the text changed to "Please click on all images containing 'demon'".

He managed to select two images this time, but the turquoise slab changed again after two seconds. He finally realized that the turquoise slab changed extremely quickly, leaving him no time to observe and judge!
Damn it, where did this kind of thing come from in Liang Kingdom? I transmigrated and now I have to endure this torture of human-machine verification?

(End of this chapter)