Each Has Their Own Thoughts

In the carriage heading towards Evernight Sky City, Ying Ru Shi flipped through her notes, confirming that no information was missed.

After Yellow Dog solved the difficult problem of Opening the Golden Cabinet, the thieves' plan only had one last hurdle: Closing the Hall Doors.

Regarding this point, no one could offer any good solutions.

Anguo Temple was very large, with more than one exit, and more importantly, it had a second and even a third floor. Even if the four of them immediately controlled the largest main entrance, the monks in Anguo Temple would definitely know to run out from the side or back doors, or even jump directly from the second floor.

So, suppress all entrances and exits first?

Putting aside the fact that there were only four of them, and manpower was very tight, the bigger problem was that the main hall of Anguo Temple was not small, and it would inevitably take them a lot of time to close the hall doors and gather at the vault.

If Yellow Dog's method was feasible, then the four of them would have to work together in the vault, and there would be no way to split up.

However, there were still four days left, so Black Wolf suggested that they end here today, go back and think carefully about the Closing the Hall Doors assignment, and continue to meet at the Thieves' Den at the same time tomorrow to continue the discussion.

Ying Ru Shi understood in her heart that Black Wolf and Red Snake were definitely verifying the method provided by Yellow Dog.

They probably didn't believe that only such ordinary tools, coupled with effortless techniques, could achieve the destructive power that even third or fourth rank Herald Lore could hardly match. But before verifying, they couldn't refute it, so they simply interrupted the meeting and would use the verification results to slap Yellow Dog's face hard tomorrow.

They all wanted to suppress Yellow Dog's arrogance.

Yes, even though Black Wolf presided over the meeting, and Red Snake and she often participated in the discussion, the truly powerful person in this meeting was the taciturn Yellow Dog.

Everyone knew nothing about the Thieves' Den, but he knew how to operate the sand table;

Of the three major problems, he solved the most troublesome one, Opening the Golden Cabinet.

No one could reject the plan he proposed, everyone could only listen to what he said, and if this continued, he could easily seize the leadership of this small group of four.

As Black Wolf, who had been trying to fight for leadership from the beginning, realized that if this continued, she would become a little follower, she decisively stopped the meeting.

If Black Wolf wanted to prove that Yellow Dog's method was not feasible, then she was probably going to be disappointed, Ying Ru Shi thought.

Although it hadn't been verified yet, Ying Ru Shi was sure that Yellow Dog would never speak carelessly. This was both due to her observation of Yellow Dog and also due to... that White Iron Straight Blade.

Yan San's straight blade used to kill Uwan Ryu, the person died but the blade could not be found.

It was clearly a new Herald Lore that had never appeared in Herald Lore, but it appeared in Yellow Dog's hands.

Ying Ru Shi really found it hard not to associate Yan San with Yellow Dog, she even suspected that the blade in Yellow Dog's hand was the same one as Yan San's.

Before leaving Ping City, she specifically asked Bai Bao, who entered the Secret Realm today, to confirm that Yan San did not bring a straight blade at all before entering the Secret Realm, and even Yan San had never used a straight blade when fighting the Demon King.

Someone suggested that the straight blade looked very similar to the Demon King's weapon, but the two blades dropped by the Demon King today were both in the loot, and they also had no Herald Lore effect.

It was as if Yan San had borrowed the White Iron Straight Blade from someone before killing, and it was automatically returned after he killed.

It was as if there was someone standing behind the curtain, coldly watching everything in the world, and occasionally dropping a piece would change the fate of some people.

As if...

"Yellow Dog..."

Ying Ru Shi chewed on this code name, burying these unfounded guesses deep in her heart.

For some reason, she began to look forward to the theft operation four days later.

"Miss, the doors of the Wooden Cabinets have all been torn off, so impressive!"

Wu Qiu was very excited, and the other three maids felt similarly. They were all ordinary people, and even though they often did physical labor, they weren't very strong. But these four tattered Wooden Cabinets in front of them were their handiwork—so it turns out we can be this powerful!

However, Yaoshi Yuan's expression was not very good.

"Go buy four Iron Cabinets and try again," she ordered.

At this moment, a servant came to report that the Duke had finally finished his official duties and had time to see her. Yaoshi Yuan immediately rushed to Changqiu Study, closed the door, and said, "Father, we can now set up an ambush on Vermillion Bird Avenue. When we descend, you can capture those three thieves!"

Huff.

Yaoshi Mo Ke put down his long water pipe and exhaled pale smoke. He was silent for a long time, until Yaoshi Yuan became a little impatient, before he slowly said, "Compared to Bingzi Jiaolin, the Thieves' Den is more important, and you are even more important. Rather than making a big show for Bingzi Jiaolin, it's better to let you steal it. It won't be too late to return it after you control the Thieves' Den."

Yaoshi Yuan was stunned.

"Of course, I won't condone your theft of Bingzi Jiaolin. If you cause trouble, I can only guarantee your safety. If you want to steal Bingzi Jiaolin, you still have to rely on yourselves."

"Father," Yaoshi Yuan said, word by word, "I don't understand."

Yaoshi Mo Ke stood up and paced back and forth in the room.

He hesitated for a long time, then sat back in his chair, took a deep puff of water pipe, and sighed, "Yuan, I won't hide it from you. I have many enemies in the court. They seize every opportunity to deceive the Emperor and try to frame me... Bingzi Jiaolin is the Grand Ancestor's Sword. Once it returns to everyone's sight, these arrogant people are likely to collude and oppose me."

Arrogant?

They are clearly loyal.

"The reason you have so many enemies is because you appoint people based on favoritism and exclude dissidents," Yaoshi Yuan said. "You think Bingzi Jiaolin will remind many loyal officials of the Grand Ancestor's grace and the imperial family's grace, so you would rather we steal it to undermine the imperial family's prestige!"

"Impudent!" Yaoshi Mo Ke smashed the water pipe with a palm, stood up, and glared at Yaoshi Yuan. "Is that how you talk to your father!? Who do you think you are, the Emperor?"

"In order to monopolize power, anything can be used as a bargaining chip."

Yaoshi Yuan raised her hand to brush away the smoke in front of her, shook her head, and said, "Father, you will regret it."

"Chang'an's twenty-four prefectures are on my shoulders. It's not up to you to decide state affairs," Yaoshi Mo Ke said coldly. "Yuan, I am the Great Zhou's Grand Chancellor!"

Jiangnan City, Shang Residence.

"You're back?" Shang Qia hurriedly came to find his younger sister. "Are you alright?"

Then he saw Shang Xin Lei sitting there, eating Osmanthus Cake one mouthful after another. It seemed that not only was she alright, but she also had a good appetite.

"What did you talk about in the Thieves' Den? How do you plan to steal Bingzi Jiaolin?"

"Hmm..." Shang Xin Lei tried hard to recall, "The sand table in the Thieves' Den can be enlarged and reduced, it's very fun."

"Anything else?"

"Also... Black Wolf is a bit self-righteous and always wants to give us orders, but she makes it too obvious, which makes her seem clumsy. In comparison, White Fox is much more smooth, but I don't know why she was super, super concerned about Yellow Dog today, but it seems like Yellow Dog doesn't recognize her either. Could it be that she discovered Yellow Dog's real identity?"

"The most interesting one is Yellow Dog. He thinks he's pretending well, but he's always drooling when he looks at me!"

"What!" Shang Qia stood up abruptly, "He was drooling while looking at you?!"

"Yeah, especially when I was eating Osmanthus Cake and licking the glutinous rice flour off my fingers, I even saw him swallowing!" Shang Xin Lei giggled, "Even if he was wearing a mask, I could read his expression—he was definitely expecting me to share the pastries with him. Hmph, if he doesn't ask me, I won't share any with him!"

"So he was drooling at the pastries..." Shang Qia slowly sat down, "Then what about your theft plan?"

"Huh? They'll take care of the theft plan, I just need to go with them." Shang Xin Lei said, propping up her chin, "Overall, they're all a very interesting group of people, and I'm already looking forward to the day when everyone goes to Chang'an together."

Shang Qia felt strange.

The Thieves' Den should clearly be a dangerous Secret Realm where a group of Thief Kings scheme against each other to seize treasures, so how did it become a private gathering where a group of friends discuss travel plans in his sister's mouth?

They came to plot for the Secret Realm or plot for treasures, what exactly are you going there for, sister?