"Hmm?"
Yan Qing glanced at Xue Yan and the others, the "strange NPCs" he had seen in the game, but he didn't really care.
The content of his conversation with An Wu wasn't actually important. What mattered was that An Wu could accurately identify the account "Yan Qing" and respond correctly according to the plan Yan Qing had set up earlier under "automatic evolution."
According to his settings, An Wu would report the current progress of the plan only when Yan Qing himself appeared and said the password, "An Wu, I'm here." If either condition was missing, the response protocol would not activate.
If An Wu failed to recognize him, Yan Qing would have to make a complete fool of himself in front of Black Wolf and the others.
Fortunately, the test results were excellent. Identity recognition, voice recognition, and password recognition had all worked. This meant that even without the game console in his hands, Yan Qing could use the password to trigger the "back door" of his alternate account and control it by voice.
Although Yan Qing didn't care about what An Wu had said, Yaoshi Yuan, who was behind him, certainly hadn't ignored it. "What were they complaining about?"
An Wu naturally didn't answer Yaoshi Yuan's question—the evolution program could not do that—so Yan Qing could only explain on his behalf. "An Wu rescued them, and they complained that he came too late. They might've even complained that An Wu had Blood Replenishment Pills but didn't give them to them sooner."
Blood Replenishment Pills!
Yan Qing had said it casually. After all, he truly didn't care about Blood Replenishment Pills—who would care about the lowest-level red potions in a game? But the knowledgeable people around Yaoshi Yuan felt as if a storm had erupted in their hearts.
It had to be known that Blood Replenishment Pills had another common name among the people: medicine of immortality!
It meant that as long as one swallowed the pill, no matter how severe the injury, the person could be saved. Even if their heart was pierced, the pill could forcibly keep them alive!
Even someone of Yaoshi Yuan, Ying Ru Shi, or Shang Xin Lei's status could receive only a pitiful few Blood Replenishment Pills each month. They even had to submit applications for them. One reason Yaoshi Yuan had been able to establish the Embroidered Uniform Guard was that she could obtain a certain amount of Blood Replenishment Pills from her father to serve as starting capital.
Such precious pills had actually been used by Yan Qing to save a group of strangers. It was simply... far too extravagant!
Following the Fire Oil and bloodstains on the ground, Yaoshi Yuan looked all the way to the great iron gate leading underground in the inner hall. Adding in the earlier rumors that Anguo Temple trafficked people, she had basically pieced together most of the truth. She glanced at Xue Yan and the others. She had even seen several of them a few times before. They were all descendants of nobles and ministers of middle-ranking status in the imperial court.
However, Yaoshi Yuan didn't have the slightest bit of goodwill toward them.
Although they were victims, it was obvious from their appearances that they were merely parasites who had been born into powerful noble families. Yaoshi Yuan even felt that saving this group would only mean wasting Chang'an's rice.
"You... what are you trying to do?"
"I'm the nephew of Su Ling, the Grand Minister of Agriculture. If you save me, the Su family will surely reward you handsomely!"
Seeing Yaoshi Yuan approach with surging vitality and murderous intent, several people were so frightened that they wet themselves. Some begged for mercy, while others issued threats, but not a single one dared to resist or flee.
Seeing such an ugly scene, Yaoshi Yuan's disgust deepened.
Just as she raised her spear, a tiny girl summoned her courage and stepped forward. She shouted, "Not everyone complained! I'm very grateful that he rescued us!"
Xue Yan, whose legs had gone weak from Yaoshi Yuan's killing intent, also came to his senses and hurriedly declared, "Y-Yes, exactly! To repay An Wu and An Liu for saving our lives, I'm willing to do anything!"
Yan Qing didn't care about this group of strangers, so he hadn't interfered when Black Wolf wanted to act. But after hearing Xue Yan say this, he took an interest. "You said you're willing to do anything?"
Hearing this response, Xue Yan immediately understood Yan Qing's meaning. He turned to the others and said, "I'm willing. You're willing too, right?"
"W-Willing!"
"I'm willing to pay however much it costs! My father is Wang Yuanhai!"
"I can never repay you for saving my life. Whatever you benefactors ask, I'll definitely satisfy!"
The others also understood the importance of going with the flow. Under Xue Yan's urging, they hurriedly declared their willingness. The vicious man wearing the Black Wolf mask had even raised his spear. If they didn't lower their heads now, they would die!
"Black Wolf, they're still somewhat useful. Let them go." Yan Qing smiled.
What kind of tone was that? Did he think she was his subordinate!?
Yaoshi Yuan really wanted to kill this entire group and viciously slap Yellow Dog in the face. But since Yellow Dog had said they were useful, she still chose reason over anger. She glared at Xue Yan and the others, snorted, and returned to Yan Qing's group.
"There are more than a dozen jars of Fire Oil here. In a moment, An Wu and the others will splash Fire Oil over all the exits of Anguo Temple. If you want to help, carry the Fire Oil and follow behind them, helping to splash it. However, the four of them will block the exits and prevent anyone from entering or leaving. So if you want to escape later, you'll have to return to the main entrance and leave with us."
The nobles hurriedly agreed. Many of them were already scheming. Once they reached the exits, they could leave directly. As for An Wu and the others blocking the doors—Anguo Temple's main hall doors were so large; how could a few people possibly block them?
Yan Qing didn't know what they were thinking, but asking them to help had merely been a spur-of-the-moment idle move. Even if they proved completely useless, he wouldn't care. If they were useful, then at least saving them hadn't been a total waste.
As he passed An Wu and the others, Yan Qing said, "Proceed according to plan."
"Yes." An Wu lifted a jar of Fire Oil in one hand and walked out of the inner hall without looking back. An Liu and the others followed closely behind. Seeing this, the nobles naturally hurried after them, but when Yaoshi Yuan gave a cold snort, their hearts jolted. They obediently followed Xue Yan and picked up the jars of Fire Oil.
Third Miss Yang didn't hurry out. She saw Yan Qing draw his blade and cut through the lock on the inner hall treasury door of Anguo Temple. She instinctively wanted to say something, but in the next second, Xue Yan dragged her away.
"Haven't you heard? See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil!" Xue Yan stuffed a jar of Fire Oil into his arms. "Don't meddle in a filthy place like Anguo Temple!"
Third Miss Yang said, "But the treasury contains the possessions of the various families—"
"Do you really think they're good people? Let's hurry and leave after splashing the Fire Oil. This earth-shaking case is something even your father wouldn't dare touch, let alone you!"
Xue Yan carried the jar of Fire Oil outside. The first thing he saw was the horribly mangled corpses and blood covering the ground. The sight disgusted him so much that he nearly vomited. If his stomach hadn't been completely empty, he might really have thrown up. When he raised his head, his expression suddenly changed. "This is bad!"
Several monks had gathered before the main entrance and were about to open the door and flee. The monks weren't idiots. Seeing that Yan Qing's group of vicious criminals had entered the inner hall and still hadn't come out after quite some time, they had naturally looked for an opportunity to escape this place of trouble.
An Wu's task was to block the main entrance and prevent anyone from leaving. He threw the jar of Fire Oil straight at the door, then drew his blade and slashed out a Moon Ring!
The armor-piercing Moon Ring fell upon the monks, yet it had no effect at all. Clearly, ignoring the protection laws of the main city existed only between "thieves" and "non-thieves." An Wu and the monks both belonged to the "non-thieves," so the main-city laws still applied between them, making them unable to harm each other.
An Wu wasn't surprised by this. He charged toward the monks.
At a moment of life and death like this, even a rabbit would bite, let alone the martial monks raised by Anguo Temple. When they saw An Wu pounce toward them, they shouted and tried to block him.
But in the next second, they began screaming and fled in a panic as if they had seen a ghost!
Because An Wu had caught fire.
Only his left arm remained usable. Now, it too was drenched in Fire Oil and had become a torch, illuminating the dim Anguo Temple, whose doors and windows were tightly shut despite it being broad daylight.
The martial monks who had been splashed with Fire Oil immediately caught fire if they were even lightly brushed by An Wu's flames. Rolling on the ground did nothing to extinguish the fire.
A small gap had been opened in Anguo Temple's main entrance. An Wu walked over and blocked the gap. His feet stood amid Fire Oil covering the ground, and both his arms were crippled, yet none of the surrounding monks dared take even a single step closer!
The same thing happened at Anguo Temple's side and rear entrances.
An Liu, An Qi, An Ba, and An Jiu soaked both hands in Fire Oil, using their bodies as kindling to ignite the flames of evil ghosts and block the exits. Even though the monks argued until their tongues bloomed like lotus flowers, they couldn't make the four of them waver in the slightest.
The monks couldn't get out, so the nobles were naturally trapped here as well. Some monks noticed that they were the "merchandise" that had escaped from the dungeon and wanted to capture them. The nobles had no choice but to fight back. As they fled, they splashed Fire Oil at the monks. Before long, the entire Anguo Temple, from the ground to the roof beams, had been soaked in Fire Oil.
Xue Yan and Third Miss Yang splashed a ring of Fire Oil around the main entrance, frightening the monks into retreating even farther. Looking at An Wu blocking the entrance, Xue Yan swallowed and said in a trembling voice, "An... An Wu, could you move aside a little and let us out?"
An Wu's face remained expressionless. He neither responded nor looked at them.
"All right, then. We'll wait for your leader to come out and leave together."
Third Miss Yang suddenly said, "You can stop now, can't you? If you keep burning, your left hand will burn away too. Don't you feel pain?"
An Wu, who had shown no reaction to anything they did, suddenly looked at Third Miss Yang. Frightened, Xue Yan pulled the girl to his side. But before Xue Yan could apologize, he saw a smile appear on An Wu's face.
"If someone cares, then it isn't so bad." He muttered this to himself, then said to them, "It doesn't hurt."
"I don't feel anything at all."
Looking at the youth before him, who was only a little older than he was, his face burned beyond recognition and both hands reduced to charred wood, Xue Yan suddenly experienced an intense sense of déjà vu. It felt as if he had seen someone similar somewhere before. But after thinking carefully, he couldn't figure out who.
Suddenly, a ray of sunlight pierced his eyes.
Xue Yan raised his head and saw a small hole that had somehow appeared in the high wall of Anguo Temple.
Around the hole was a magnificent mural of the Dragon Subduing Arhat, holding a vajra pestle and rope, surrounded by fiery clouds, with compassion and majesty existing side by side. The hole happened to be in the Dragon Subduing Arhat's left eye. Sunlight passed through the gap in the hole and shone into this dim, centuries-old ancient temple.
It was as though the Dragon Subduing Arhat were watching over the mortal world.
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