Scourge Messenger

Chapter 224 The Divine Marquis's Mansion is about to arrive on the battlefield

Late at night, in the Broken Blade Hall of the Duke of Jin's mansion.

The Pharmacist sat upright on the futon. In front of her was a mountain of swords with dozens of broken blades stuck in it. At the top were three broken spears, one of which was the tip of the Soul-Severing Spear, a testament to her achievements over the past two weeks.

The last time Yakushi Gon came to this place, he was filled with resentment, disgusted by his father's petty scheming, and seeing the broken swords scattered across the mountain as nothing more than his father's long-decayed glory. But now, returning to this place, Yakushi Gon's mindset is different.

Because she actually broke the weapon.

Breaking a weapon is actually quite difficult, especially for someone of her noble birth. After a battle, there are always specialists to maintain her weapons, and she always has multiple weapons on hand. Using a nearly broken weapon would be irresponsible. She would only break a weapon when facing an enemy far stronger than herself, or when caught in a series of battles.

The Broken Blade Hall has dozens of broken blades. Even if most of them are just for show, the fact that a few are genuine is enough to prove the bravery of Pharmacist Moke.

Although from the perspective of her biological daughter, Yaoshi Yuan always felt that her father was an indecisive, cowardly, selfish and power-hungry minister, if Yaoshi Moke had always been this kind of person, how could he have gained the appreciation of Changqiu Zhenren? He was even personally selected by the latter as a seed for Foundation Establishment, ruling the Zhou Kingdom for twenty years, and even deposing and killing emperors.

The Immortal Changqiu lived for 130 years, spent 77 years in Foundation Establishment, and achieved the fifth level of cultivation, dominating the Great Zhou Dynasty. In these 82 years, at least tens of thousands of people must have tried to curry favor with her. But only the Medicine Master Moke became the Foundation Establishment seed she personally selected. In the very beginning, there must have been something that moved the Immortal Changqiu.

Moreover, Pharmacist Moke was already a third-stage cultivator before Pharmacist Yuan was born. If you calculate carefully, he was not even thirty years old at that time. Even with the support of the Ba River Pharmacist family, it was by no means easy. But why did he transform from a Foundation Establishment seed who was proud of breaking his sword into a power-hungry middle-aged man in Pharmacist Yuan's memory? Pharmacist Yuan couldn't understand it before, simply thinking that her father was inherently despicable. But now, looking back, she seems to understand her father's mentality a little.

While personality is certainly a key factor, what might stop a brave, third-tier messenger from pursuing a foundation-building goal is perhaps the appearance of someone or something more important than achieving foundation-building.

“Father, I have not disgraced the honor of the Ba River Pharmacist family.” She bowed towards the mountain of knives: “From now on, I will live for myself.”

With that, she turned and left Broken Blade Hall. As she pushed open the door, the night wind swept through the hall, and the broken blades gleamed, as if offering a farewell blessing.

……

...

Because of the need for prior preparation, everyone had already gathered at the Thieves' House half an hour before the mission began.

As Yan Qing left the room, he saw three masked guards staring at him.

That's right, their infiltration plan can be summed up in one sentence: they disguised themselves as soldiers of the Chang'an Prefecture.

While it's possible to go without disguise, this would require avoiding all patrols' line of sight and not walking under lights, which is not only troublesome but also carries a higher risk of exposure. Conversely, by disguising oneself as a soldier of Chang'an Prefecture, one can pass through the military compound openly and without arousing suspicion even if seen by other patrols, providing ample room for maneuver.

As for the masked guard set, it's easy to get. You can find it in the armory of the Pharmacist's house, since the guards at the gate of the Duke of Jin's mansion are masked guards.

Even after Yan Qing sat down, everyone was still staring at him. Yan Qing looked at himself and then at them. They were all dressed the same, there was nothing different about them, so why were they looking at him like that?
At this moment, Shang Xinlei walked directly in front of him, bent down and stared at him, then suddenly reached out and grabbed his neck with both hands.

Where are your bandages?

"What bandage?"

"Didn't you always keep your rotten face wrapped in bandages? How come it's showing?!"

"Why would I need to wrap bandages when I'm already wearing a helmet?"

Although the helmet wasn't a full cover, it basically covered the upper half of his face. Yan Qing felt that this level of coverage was sufficient. Even Batman wasn't much different. His chin wasn't as noticeable as a double-door butt, so he naturally didn't bother to wrap it with bandages.

Aside from the pharmacist who clearly wore double disguises, Ying Rushi and Shang Xinlei both seemed to be appearing with no makeup, so they could just cover themselves with masks instead of helmets.

For some reason, Shang Xinlei was very unhappy and kept shaking his head: "No, you go back and wrap your bandages now!"

"No, it might attract attention if we run into someone on the way."

"Just kill them!"

"We're thieves, not serial killers! Why do you insist I wear bandages?!" Yan Qing thought this woman was simply unreasonable. There was another small reason why he didn't wear bandages this time, which was to satisfy Shang Xinlei's curiosity. After all, she always wanted to take off his bandages to see what he looked like... but she turned around and insisted that he wear bandages.

How could there be such a contradictory woman in the world? Yan Qing felt that she would never understand what Shang Xinlei was thinking.

“If you still refuse to wrap your face in bandages…” Shang Xinlei released her hands, and Yan Qing breathed a sigh of relief; it seemed she was finally willing to back down. However, the next second, Shang Xinlei pulled out a legendary flying ring: “Then at least let me disfigure you!”

"Did your brain just run away on its own?!"

Just then, the stone table in the hall suddenly changed, and a sand table projection rose up on its own. Yan Qing was startled, slapped Shang Xinlei's thigh, and pushed her away: "Stop fooling around, important matters are more important."

Shang Xinlei glanced at him defiantly, then suddenly laughed, nodding at him with her eyes crinkling, as if to say, "I'll let you off this time." After sitting down, she puffed out one cheek and glared at him, as if to say, "You just wait..." Although she didn't know what she had done to offend him.

"The constables of the Divine Marquis's Mansion already know that your target is rare iron."

The thieves' family captured their attention with just one sentence: "Ten minutes after you arrive in Chang'an, constables from the Divine Marquis's Mansion will appear near the rare iron to arrest you."

The dungeon's secret realm immediately expanded, and four phantom constables appeared at the bottom of the dungeon where the rare iron was located, representing the new enemies that were about to arrive.

"The Divine Marquis's Mansion will appear within the time it takes to brew a cup of tea after we arrive?" Ying Rushi exclaimed in surprise, "They will alert the Chang'an Military Prefecture from within!"

The others' expressions also turned extremely grim. According to their plan, it would take them at least a quarter of an hour to reach the room where the entrance to the secret realm was located, and that was assuming they could move at full speed without any obstacles. If they were delayed even slightly, it could take half an hour... But in that case, the Divine Marquis's Mansion would definitely appear before them!

Putting aside whether the Divine Marquis's Mansion would report them, even if they did nothing, the sudden appearance of the demons in the secret realm would be enough to set off an alarm in the dungeon. At that time, their most ingenious infiltration plan would turn into a head-on brawl—the Chang'an Military Prefecture's thousands of men would gang up on the four of them!

Fortunately, they all arrived at the Thieves' House in advance. If they had only arrived at the Thieves' House at the last second and seen the news, it would have been too late.

However, the situation is not optimistic. There are still about fifteen minutes before the mission begins. Can they come up with a better plan in these fifteen minutes?
"Can it be any faster?"

"Unless you run directly on the roof, but that would easily attract attention."

"Change into night clothes and take the shortest route to get there!"

"The front is manageable, but inside the bunker where Bailian is stationed, there's a brightly lit open space twenty paces away. Unless the guards are blind, they'll definitely have time to sound the alarm!"

One radical plan after another was proposed, only to be rejected time and time again. They had spent at least three hours discussing over the past two days to come up with a flawless, fastest plan. Now, with only fifteen minutes left, how could they possibly surpass their previous three hours of work? The fastest method was simply to ignore all the guards and run them over, but they weren't on a roll. If they dared to fight back, the tens of thousands of elite crossbowmen would give them a reason to reason with them.

“I remember,” Yan Qing suddenly said, “Li Long would have a girl from Xijiangyue serve him in bed every night.”

Xijiangyue was the biggest den of iniquity in Chang'an County. Having money alone wasn't enough to become a courtesan; they only entertained messengers, and many of the girls were even 'semi-messengers' who had used a basic cultivation technique. Because of their vigorous energy, messengers often had higher desires than ordinary people, but ordinary partners couldn't keep up with their boundless energy. It was these semi-messenger girls who could satisfy them, making their immense popularity inevitable.

'Rising Dragon Hand' Li Long was not an ascetic. On the contrary, they watched the sand table illusion's erotic scenes three times over the past three nights. Moreover, Li Long adhered to the principle of helping others when he was successful, and each night he chose a different Xijiangyue girl, fully demonstrating his role as a third-level messenger in payment and transfer.

In their original plan, they intended to sneak into the room and infiltrate the secret realm while Li Long was engrossed in his love affair.

The pharmacist zoomed out on the map, focusing on the road between Chang'an County and the military headquarters, and quickly locked onto the target: "Found it, this should be the carriage!"

The carriage bore a banner with the character '月' (moon), signifying that it belonged to Xijiangyue. A distinguished client like Li Long naturally deserved Xijiangyue personally escorting the young lady to his door. It had just left Xijiangyue and was traveling slowly; by the time Yan Qing and his party arrived in Chang'an, the carriage should not have reached the military headquarters yet.

There was no need for detailed explanation; everyone immediately understood Yan Qing's plan. After a brief silence, Ying said, "The four of us can travel in together by carriage, but apart from the young lady, the maids, servants, and coachmen cannot conceal their faces, otherwise it will only arouse suspicion. But once they show their faces, not to mention incurring the wrath of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, just revealing our true identities will be enough to cause us trouble."

"I'll be the coachman." The pharmacist removed her helmet, revealing an unfamiliar young face. Her shoulders and waist seemed to be stuffed with something, completely obscuring her figure.

“I can be a maid.” Shang Xinlei took out a pair of sunglasses. It was the easiest thing for her to disguise herself. Once she put on the sunglasses, she didn’t care about anyone.

“I have a human skin mask.” Ying Rushi looked at Yan Qing: “Do you have any props that can disguise yourself? Or you can show your face if you’re willing. The bandage outfit from last time is not acceptable, as you said yourself, it would attract attention.”

Yan Qing: "..."

"I'll get you two clothes!"

The pharmacist and Shang Xinlei spoke at the same time. They looked at each other, their eyes revealing an unwavering determination. They then turned and ran towards their rooms, instantly igniting the atmosphere!
What the hell are you guys doing, setting things on fire...?

(End of this chapter)