Like Dew and Lightning, Contemplate Them Thus

After saying that, Yan Qing walked out of Anguo Temple without looking back. He removed the Yellow Dog mask and strode openly down Vermillion Bird Avenue.

Yaoshi Yuan followed close behind.

Ying Ru Shi glanced at An Wu and walked out thoughtfully.

Shang Xin Lei, however, waved at An Wu, then hopped after them with the large bag in her hands.

After they left, the nobles naturally swarmed to open the gates and rush out. They fled this most renowned temple in Chang'an as though escaping a disaster, running beneath the blazing sun. Looking at the crowded streets and the boundless sky, they did not know who started crying first. Then the weeping began to spread, and these scions of influential families who had always lorded it over others fell to their knees and wailed.

The monks who escaped with them, however, wore terrified expressions. Like cockroaches and vermin exposed beneath the sun, they burrowed into the alleys and vanished.

After Xue Yan walked out, he saw that An Wu was still counting down and asked, "An Wu, are you going to leave after you finish counting down?"

An Wu ignored him and continued counting. "Nine, eight, seven..."

"You saved us, so I'd like to invite you to my home. Don't worry—even if your injuries can't be healed, I can support you for the rest of your life!" Xue Yan said. "Besides, they may not be incurable. I've heard that some messengers can bring the dead back to life and restore flesh to bare bones..."

"Five, four, three, two, one."

When An Wu counted the final number, Xue Yan suddenly felt inexplicably panicked. He grabbed An Wu by the shoulders. "You've finished counting. You can leave now. Let's go!"

However hard Xue Yan tried, An Wu's body did not move at all. He did not respond to Xue Yan, merely lowering his head to glance at the candle beside his feet.

The candle he had carefully protected and never allowed to go out.

"Why aren't you leaving, you little darkie? Do you want to die?"

At that moment, someone suddenly dragged Xue Yan away. He turned and saw Third Miss Yang, then immediately grew frantic. "Let go of me! I want to carry him out. He—An Wu and An Liu saved us—"

"So don't follow them and die with them!" Third Miss Yang cursed. "You little darkie, haven't you figured it out yet? They never intended to leave alive from the very beginning!"

"But they can't... How could they be so reckless..." Xue Yan became incoherent. As he spoke, mucus and tears suddenly burst from his face. "Don't they value their own lives!?"

"I don't know either..." Third Miss Yang's eyes reddened slightly. "But don't you find it strange? They don't need to sleep, they don't eat, and they don't fear pain... He even said that he only hoped the world would operate according to his will..."

"If this world really has a deity, then that deity... might look exactly like this, right?"

Everyone who had escaped but had not gone far turned to look at the figure inside Anguo Temple's gate.

They saw An Wu sit down cross-legged, facing the gods and Buddhas of the heavens, with his back to all living beings of the mortal world.

The red candle fell, igniting the fire oil on his body and turning him into a torch brighter than the sun.

At the same time, An Liu, An Qi, An Ba, and An Jiu also sat down. Using the candles, they ignited the fire oil on their bodies, and the fire oil on the ground was then set ablaze by the flames on their bodies. In only a moment, the entire Anguo Temple was engulfed in roaring flames, while billowing smoke rose into the sky, as though blazing fire were burning away all sin.

At the First Noodle Shop less than a hundred meters from Anguo Temple, Yan Qing contentedly finished the savory broth from his wonton noodles. He raised his hand to call over the shop assistant, then took out a spirit jade. "Is this enough to pay the bill?"

"Enough—more than enough!" The shop assistant swallowed and did not dare reach for it. "Sir, that spirit jade could buy a hundred bowls of noodles. We can't make change."

"Keep the change," Yan Qing said. "If someone asks you later whether you've seen us, just tell them—"

"Understood. There are too many people today, so I can't remember clearly!"

"No. Tell them..." Yan Qing stood up and picked up Bingzi Jiaolin and the sack. "We came from the Thieves' Den."

The Thieves' Den?

The shop assistant was stunned, then could only nod in agreement.

He had given so much money, so he might as well go along with it.

Yan Qing was not trying to show off. He simply did not want his actions to implicate anyone else. He disliked having others cause him trouble even more than he disliked causing others trouble. That was his rule of the game.

"Fire!"

"Anguo Temple is on fire!"

Shouts of alarm rang out around the noodle shop. The shop assistant looked up and saw that Anguo Temple had actually caught fire.

He suddenly remembered that the customers at that table seemed to have just come out of Anguo Temple after retrieving something. Moreover, each of them had been carrying a large sack. Rather than retrieving something, it looked more like they had...

However, the shop assistant scanned Vermillion Bird Avenue and could not find those customers anywhere.

How strange. Those four customers had been quite conspicuous. How had they disappeared the moment he looked away?

Thieves' Den.

By the time the messengers of Chang'an City rushed to Anguo Temple to put out the fire and investigate, Yan Qing and the other three had already returned to their seats in the Thieves' Den. Just as when they had first arrived, they could not leave their seats and could only wait for the Thieves' Den to complete its process.

The Sand Table on the stone table had vanished without a trace. In its place floated a weapon in midair. It was none other than—

Bingzi Jiaolin!

Orange-red streams of light flowed and leaped around it like little fish. Radiance from all directions surged into its body one after another, as though the Creator were reshaping this weapon that had lain silent for countless years. Yaoshi Yuan and the others widened their eyes as they watched Bingzi Jiaolin change. This was the first time in their lives they had personally witnessed how a token was created!

When the streams of light faded and the radiance completely receded, Bingzi Jiaolin slowly stood upright in midair.

Clang!

Bingzi Jiaolin suddenly left its sheath. Its dazzling blade light made everyone close their eyes, as though a supreme existence had baptized it and completed the final transformation of its legend!

Once the radiance faded, everyone opened their eyes and saw flame-like orange light glowing from the Buddhist inscriptions on the blade. On the left was engraved, "All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows." On the right was engraved, "Like dew and lightning, contemplate them thus."

At the same time, the Thieves' Den displayed Bingzi Jiaolin's information on the aerial light screen, allowing all four of them to learn the weapon's detailed attributes:

Bingzi Jiaolin

Tier: One-Transformation Legendary

Durability: 100/100

Base Attack: 15–25 points

Equipment Requirement: 10 Vitality, 10 Spirit

Equipment Requirement: Basic Saber Technique MAX

Weight: Two jin and three liang

Length: Three chi and two cun

Effect: Enfeoffment: You can share Bingzi Jiaolin's authority with your allies. An enfeoffed weapon gains 50 points of damage for ten attacks, after which the effect expires, regardless of whether the attacks are normal attacks or token attacks. If the enfeoffed weapon is a blade and not a token, it will transform into Bingzi Jiaolin's appearance, and the enfeoffment effect will be doubled. Enfeoffing a weapon continuously consumes 100 points of spirit power.

Effect: Pillar of the State: The strength of your allies is your strength. For every ally within fifty meters equipped with an enfeoffed weapon, Bingzi Jiaolin will be enhanced, increasing its base attack by 30 points. It can be enhanced at most eight times. You can consume 20 points of spirit power to activate Pillar of the State, causing weapons within fifty meters that have previously been enfeoffed to gain the enfeoffment effect again. Cooldown: 60 minutes.

Effect: Overturning the Heavens: Even alone, you can turn the heavens and earth upside down!

You must consume all your current spirit power to activate Overturning the Heavens. Once activated, all enfeoffed weapons within fifty meters will be destroyed outright. Your injuries will instantly recover, and you will unleash a shock wave that knocks back nearby enemies and projectiles.

Your attacks can slash out Overturning the Heavens Blade Light ranging from three to thirty meters in length. Its damage will be ten to seventy percent of your base damage; the farther it travels, the lower the damage. You can adjust the length of the Overturning the Heavens Blade Light.

Overturning the Heavens lasts for ten seconds.

For every enfeoffed weapon destroyed, your base attack will increase by an additional 50 points, and Overturning the Heavens's duration will increase by three seconds.

Before the Overturning the Heavens effect ends, you will be in an "Unshakable" state. Any displacement, stun, or interruption effects will have difficulty affecting you.

Evaluation: Thunder and rain, dew and lightning—all are the ruler's grace!