Scourge Messenger

Chapter 84 Jiangnan City

Unlike last time, this time it was a sunny day. The 'Rat Monk' descended into the alley of the market, and it was very noisy outside. The hawkers' cries could be heard from afar.

Yan Qing didn't rush out. Instead, he took a black belt from the public warehouse and had the 'Rat Monk' put it on.

Traveling in the Jiangnan region without a black belt would make one a spy and be reported. 'Rat Monk's' black belt was given to Jiang Shi by Qian Gongyu. Now that Jiang Shi is enjoying a life of luxury in the Pingcheng military camp, he naturally has to hand over the black belt ID to a smaller account that needs it more.

'Rat Monk' walked out of the alley openly and honestly. Sure enough, he didn't attract as much attention as Jiang Shi, but he also didn't blend into the crowd. After all, 'Rat Monk' was the only bald man on the whole street, and with the sun so bright, he looked like a giant, moving light bulb.

The Buddhist faith was indeed strong in the Jiangnan region. Passersby would greet the 'Rat Monk' with their hands clasped in prayer, and Yan Qing, even to maintain his facade, had to return the greeting. The journey of less than a hundred meters took him almost a minute. He couldn't wander around aimlessly any longer. Yan Qing casually approached an old woman selling persimmon cakes: "Excuse me, sir, could you tell me which direction Jiangnan City is?"

Although he was bald and had the system's default face, the 'Rat Monk' wasn't bad-looking. He was young, fair-skinned, and had a kind face, somewhat resembling Tang Sanzang from Journey to the West. The auntie didn't doubt the 'Rat Monk's' identity at all and quickly wiped her hands, offering him two persimmons: "Little Master, have some persimmons, they're delicious!"

"This humble monk is not hungry. I just want to know which direction Jiangnan City is in and how long it will take to get there."

"Jiangnan City? Dogwa's dad, come quick! Our master is going to Jiangnan City, can you give him a ride?"

Ten minutes later, Yan Qing watched as the 'Rat Monk' sat on a rickety oxcart laden with miscellaneous items, swaying and rattling along the road towards the southeast. Originally, knowing that it would take four hours to reach Jiangnan City, Yan Qing had wanted to create a few more demonic and eccentric fellow disciples to accompany the 'Rat Monk,' but the old ladies and gentlemen were too enthusiastic, insisting on giving the monk a ride for half the journey. Since the oxcart was only so big, Yan Qing had no choice but to let the 'Rat Monk' travel alone.

Yan Qing set 'Rat Monk' to chanting mode, then switched to his alt account 'Jiang Shi'. Since he was idle anyway, he might as well run some dungeons.

After completing the dungeon three times, Yan Qing switched back to his 'Rat Monk' alt account and found that he could already see Jiangnan County in the distance. Hearing the chanting behind him stop, the old man immediately asked, "Little monk, are you thirsty or hungry? I have some bread and water here—"

"No need, no need for this humble monk to worry."

"Young master, just ahead is the post station, where tax collectors have set up checkpoints to collect taxes. This old man..."

"Understood, you can leave me here."

After the 'Rat Monk' got off the bus, Yan Qing saw the old man scratching his head, looking like he wanted to say something but hesitated, so he took the initiative to ask, "Is there something you need, benefactor?"

"Ah, um." The old man hesitated for a while before saying apologetically, "Young master, my daughter-in-law is heavily pregnant and will be giving birth soon. I was thinking, could you please help her burn incense at the temple and pray for the safety of both mother and child? I've heard that the temples in Jiangnan City are very efficacious."

Yan Qing blinked.

"sure."

"Also, this old man has heard from others that the Buddha and Bodhisattvas at the Divine Marquis's Mansion are very efficacious." The old man's face turned red. "If possible, young master, could you please help me pray to them to bless my family?"

He felt he had asked too many favors this time, so he took a stack of persimmon cakes from the oxcart and stuffed them into Yan Qing's hands. Yan Qing felt unsure whether to accept them or not, and quickly explained, "The temple doesn't yet have an altar for the Buddha or Bodhisattva of the Divine Marquis's Mansion, so please take these persimmon cakes back, sir."

"No need, no need, it's all cheap stuff, young master, you can eat it on the way!"

As if afraid that Yan Qing would return the persimmon cakes, the old man quickly drove away in his oxcart. Yan Qing was somewhat amused and exasperated, so he put the persimmon cakes into the public warehouse and then began to run quickly towards Jiangnan City.

The "Rat Monk" quickly arrived at the post station the old man had mentioned. There were four or five people blocking the road; they were tax officials. They stood up straight when they saw someone coming, but their interest vanished as soon as they realized the man was bald.

Yan Qing thought he could just walk over, but they still stopped the 'Rat Monk'. He lazily stretched out his hand: "Ordination Certificate".

"Ordination certificate?"

"Monk, you don't have a certificate of ordination? Who allowed you to become a monk?" The tax collector immediately perked up. "Brothers, come quick! This is a charlatan who's illegally ordained. Arrest him and collect the reward!"

Before he could even call for reinforcements, the 'Rat Monk' had already dashed off at top speed. Even with their best efforts, how could the tax collectors possibly catch up with a 'Rat Monk' possessing only 6 points of innate qi and blood? They disappeared in no time, and Jiangnan County was practically within reach. A miscalculation; it turned out monks had their own special identification cards, something Yan Qing couldn't obtain. However, as long as he could infiltrate Jiangnan City, which had a main city protection mechanism, the 'Rat Monk' wouldn't be afraid of being expelled even without an ID card. Therefore, resolving the ordination certificate issue would be ideal, but not resolving it wouldn't affect the subsequent actions.

Like Chang'an County, the Jiangnan County outside the main city area was also very prosperous. The ground was paved with blue bricks, tiled houses stood in rows, and people were bustling about. There were all kinds of food stalls on the roadside, so lively that Yan Qing felt like she was walking on a commercial pedestrian street. What was even more shocking was that there was almost no dirt ground. All the ground in sight was paved with blue bricks.

If he wasn't mistaken, there must be a secret realm nearby, and the building materials for Jiangnan County were all transported from that realm; otherwise, the building materials wouldn't be so uniform and of such high quality. Just as the architectural style of the Pingcheng military camp is exactly the same as that of the 'Suppressing Three Mountains' secret realm, the architectural style of Jiangnan County is probably also closely related to the nearby secret realm.

Wandering around and having to respond to greetings from passersby, it took Yan Qing nearly an hour to reach the gate of Jiangnan City. He was determined to run directly to the gatekeeper if he was asked for his ordination certificate, but perhaps because of the dignified appearance of the 'Rat Monk', the gatekeeper greeted him with his palms together and let him pass.

"You have entered the main city of Jiangnan."

Based on your level, you can currently obtain the following milestone information

(Milestones already mentioned will not be reiterated.)
"Golden Tour Guide: You drew a complete map of Jiangnan, Chang'an, and the Never-Sleeping City."

"Old Jiangnan: You have discovered nineteen hidden haha ​​grasses in Jiangnan City (0/19)."

"Along the River in Jiangnan: You've found a perfect angle that captures the entire Jiangnan region in one glance."

"Trap Card: Different paving stones break every day in Jiangnan City. Stepping on them will cause sewage to spray out. You have fallen for this trap 100 times (0/100)."

"I walked on the edge of a cliff: There is a straight red line on the ground of Jiangnan City. You walked along the straight line all the way through Jiangnan City, and your feet were always on the straight red line the whole time."

"Increase your level or unlock milestones to get more milestone information."

Jiangnan City is so big!
After entering the city, Yan Qing was at a loss for what to do. Unlike last time when he went straight to Anguo Temple, this time the Heaven-Slaying Sword was carried by Shang Xuanwen. Who knew where Shang Xuanwen was? Was he going to investigate the yamen he was in charge of, or his home?

Or... Yan Qing looked at the ground and found that there really was a straight line painted red.

Why not try completing the "I Walk on the Edge of a Cliff" challenge?
Wait, Shang Xuanwen's house...

Yan Qing vaguely connected the dots, but then he saw a temple at the end of the street and remembered the old man's instructions. He thought he should complete the side quest of helping the old man offer incense first.

"Senior brother, are you looking to stay at our temple for a while?"

"No, this humble monk has come to offer incense and pray for blessings and protection from misfortune for others."

"No problem, no problem. Would you like the Lotus Hidden Sea Incense, which costs fifty spirit jades per stick, or the Mahaprajna Incense, which costs thirty spirit jades?"

"what?"

"If you're short on funds, our temple also has the Taiyi Salvation Incense made of nine-spirit jade and the Azure Phoenix Wishing Incense made of five-spirit jade. If none of these are available, then we only have the Vajra Incense made of one spirit jade."

"Why does it cost so much to light incense?"

"You dare to come and burn incense if you have no money? Get out!"

Yan Qing didn't react until the 'Rat Monk' was driven out of the temple.

Damn, the purchasing power of spirit jade is terrifying! In Chang'an City, one spirit jade can buy a hundred bowls of wonton noodles, but here it can only buy a stick of incense? And that's the cheapest one?
Although Yan Qing wasn't short of money—he had just earned over 100,000 spirit jades today, making him the wealthiest he could ever be—he still couldn't accept being ripped off by a bunch of bald monks!
Why don't I use this money to buy wonton noodles instead of offering it to the temple?
But Yan Qing had promised the old man that unless he absolutely couldn't do it, he was the kind of person who couldn't sleep if he broke a promise. It could only be said that the main city saved these monks' lives. If they were outside, Yan Qing would at least have beaten them up and burned a whole bunch of incense sticks, just to be considered as doing a good deed.

Yan Qing looked at this bustling city with its towering buildings and smoky atmosphere. He refused to believe that in such a large city in Jiangnan, he couldn't find a temple that didn't rip people off!
(End of this chapter)