Divine Marquis Manor Announcement

Chang'an City, Anguo Temple.

The Great Zhou Dynasty had an extremely strong atmosphere of worshiping Buddha. In addition, Anguo Temple was a Bodhisattva dojo that the Empress Dowager had rewarded many times. The news of the fire at Anguo Temple spread throughout Chang'an County like the wind. Not only did many people in the city help put out the fire, but even devout believers from outside the city rushed to help. Even the elderly who couldn't help would kneel and pray from afar, asking Heaven to bless them.

For such a major event in Chang'an City, the Grand Chancellor, Duke of Jin, would naturally come to inspect the situation. Therefore, the most flustered people present were the Wu Hou Garrison—they were okay at catching petty thieves, but there were usually few candles in Chang'an City, and the Wu Hou Garrison had long neglected fire extinguishing training. Now that Anguo Temple was on such a big fire, they were naturally in a panic.

The garrison chief directed his men to transport water to put out the fire, while secretly paying attention to the Duke of Jin's expression, thinking that he was afraid that he would be demoted to a gatekeeper in another place this time. Why is my luck so bad? Why did I encounter this kind of bad thing during my tenure? Alas...

"Duke of Jin."

Yaoshi Mo Ke was staring at the burning Anguo Temple in a daze. Hearing the sound, he turned his head and saw an old man in a wheelchair slowly approaching. The old man wore a hat, his face was covered with wrinkles and scars, and his beard was neatly trimmed. Even sitting in a wheelchair, his broad shoulders supported his gorgeous clothes with the demeanor of a martial artist. Although someone was following behind, no one was pushing the wheelchair. It was obvious that the old man himself used some method to control the wheelchair to move.

"Old Prime Minister Yang." Yaoshi Mo Ke quickly stepped forward and bent down to support the wheelchair, serving him with the etiquette of a junior: "How dare I trouble you to come..."

"I've been staying at home for too long, it's good to come out and bask in the sun." Old Prime Minister Yang chuckled and said, "Please forgive me for not being able to salute."

"Your words are killing me! If you hadn't saved Mo Ke from the chaotic army back then, how could Mo Ke be where he is today?" Yaoshi Mo Ke immediately said, "Just send someone to tell me if there's anything, why bother to come here?"

"I don't want to come out in a wheelchair to be conspicuous, but I heard that my granddaughter who has been missing for many days has finally been found. I'm anxious to come over because I love my granddaughter." Old Prime Minister Yang sighed: "She said she escaped from the underground of Anguo Temple and was hungry for many days, my poor little granddaughter..."

Yaoshi Mo Ke's gaze turned to the back of Old Prime Minister Yang. He saw a little girl being taken care of by several women. Although she had been simply cleaned, her haggard face and thin face were enough to prove that the little girl had experienced something that only poor people would encounter in the past few days—imprisonment and starvation.

At the same time, another voice sounded next to him: "Get out of the way!"

Along with the clanging sound of armor rubbing, a tall young military general walked over with vigorous steps, even the ogre warriors were squeezed away by him. He walked up to Yaoshi Mo Ke and knelt on one knee: "Your subordinate pays respects to the Duke of Jin!"

"Long Chen!" Yaoshi Mo Ke helped the young military general up. He saw the young man drinking hot soup in the distance, "Could it be that your relatives also..."

"It's my nephew. He's always been naughty, so it's normal for him to be deceived." The young military general clasped his fists in both hands: "But Anguo Temple dared to hide fire oil in Chang'an City. Their evil intentions are obvious and must be punished by exterminating all those who know about it!"

Even monks know the wonderful use of fire oil, so the Great Zhou Dynasty naturally couldn't be unaware. According to the laws of the Great Zhou, fire oil is an absolutely forbidden item that cannot be touched in Chang'an City. Once discovered, the death penalty will be imposed. The fire oil causing a fire is secondary. More importantly, anyone can become a mobile source of fire by drenching themselves in fire oil—and others have no way to stop or even harm them.

If Anguo Temple hadn't hidden fire oil, the crime of abducting women and children alone—even if these women and children were born into good families—wouldn't be worth mentioning to Anguo Temple at all. In this world where the power of the Herald exists, where there are Secret Realm demons that can be resurrected infinitely, and even safe zones like main cities, the demand for faith is unprecedentedly high. Everyone believes, or rather needs, a supreme existence to explain these incomprehensible and unavoidable phenomena.

Not to mention ordinary people, even among the Heralds, eight or nine out of ten worship Buddha and seek the Tao. In such a strong religious atmosphere, even if Anguo Temple commits a greater evil, everyone will only deprive those corrupt monks of their status to ensure the purity of the Buddhist team...

But hiding fire oil is different.

Even a Third Rank Herald may be burned to death by a self-detonating fire oil person if they are caught off guard—most defensive Relics consume spiritual power by the number of times or seconds. The Martial Monks who were burned to death in Anguo Temple used Arhat Robes to resist the flames for several seconds before being swallowed by the flames because their spiritual power was exhausted. Even if Third Rank Heralds can resist for longer, the fire poison produced by the fire will still put them in trouble.

"I have already sent people to search the Zhengde Temple and Dajue Chan Temple in Chang'an County." Yaoshi Mo Ke's face was gloomy: "The escaped Anguo Temple monks will also be arrested soon. Daring to hide fire oil is really a heinous crime!"

He looked around and said loudly: "Anguo Temple has done many evil deeds. Over the years, I don't know how many innocent women and children have been abducted. I will definitely investigate the truth and find as many of your missing relatives and friends as possible to give everyone justice!"

"It's the Duke of Jin!"

"The Duke of Jin is in charge of this matter, so we have hope!"

"Duke of Jin, you must find my poor child!"

At this time, those surrounding Yaoshi Mo Ke were not ordinary people, but well-known and wealthy figures in Chang'an City, either from aristocratic families or wealthy merchants and landlords. Without exception, they all had relatives who had disappeared in Chang'an City. Now that they discovered that Anguo Temple was likely the culprit, their desperate hearts ignited hope, hoping to find their relatives.

Of course, there were also many powerful figures like Old Prime Minister Yang and the young general who had found their missing relatives. They came here to thank them, and secondly, to pave the way for dividing up Anguo Temple later—Anguo Temple could afford to support Heralds, in addition to offerings, it also occupied a Secret Realm. Now that the behemoth of Anguo Temple is about to fall, these victims should be compensated.

The young general walked out of the crowd, and Xue Yan, who was drinking hot sparerib soup, immediately greeted him: "Third Uncle—"

"Don't worry, Anguo Temple is doomed this time." Third Uncle Xue Huaiyi reached out and rubbed Xue Yan's head: "You won't be shortchanged for what you deserve. It just so happens that you're about the right age, it's time to change your job to Herald. Use the accumulation of Anguo Temple to lay the foundation for you."

"Hehe, Third Uncle will definitely not let me suffer." Xue Yan obviously admired Third Uncle very much, but compared to the monks of Anguo Temple, he was more concerned about another question: "Have you found An Wu and An Liu?"

Xue Huaiyi shook his head, "The fire is too big. We can't even put it out now, let alone go in and search. And according to what you said... there's no way they could have survived."

"Is that so..." Xue Yan's expression didn't change much, but his tone became lower.

"Go back and practice your spear technique properly." Xue Huaiyi said, "Don't always think about using secret manuals. If you were the Herald, those bald donkeys wouldn't dare to harm you. Even in Chang'an City, you need strength to protect yourself."

"Okay." Xue Yan nodded and asked again, "Then... have you found those people?"

"No." Xue Huaiyi shook his head, "We can only confirm that they ate noodles at the noodle shop opposite Anguo Temple, and then disappeared. There are no eyewitness records at the city gate. Although it's possible they're still in the city, if their message is true, then... they've already left Chang'an and returned to the Thieves' Den."

"What is the Thieves' Den?" Although Xue Yan knew about Secret Realms, he obviously hadn't learned about such niche information as the Thieves' Den.

"I'll tell you when we get back." Xue Huaiyi didn't want to explain too much here.

"Then did they steal something very valuable?" Xue Yan asked curiously, "I saw their boss carrying a big bag and a new knife. They must have taken it from the vault! They seem to value it a lot. Is it a powerful Legendary Relic?"

"The really valuable things wouldn't be stored in Anguo Temple. What's stored in Anguo Temple are just some unimportant, vulgar things." Xue Huaiyi said, "As for that knife... it is indeed valuable, but it's not a Legendary Relic."

"Hey, Tender Black!"

Hearing the snoring behind him, Xue Yan turned his head and saw that girl, Yang Third Miss, calling him. He replied with displeasure, "Don't call me Tender Black! I've been putting up with you for a long time. Do you have any manners?"

"I don't know your name, so I can only call you according to my impression of you." Yang Third Miss pouted and said, "I only know that you're a Tender Black with no brains."

"My name is Xue Yan!" Xue Yan said unhappily, "You act like you have a lot of brains."

"If I hadn't pulled you away, you would have been burned into a roasted pig. Obviously, I have a little more brain than you." Yang Third Miss said smugly, "My name is Yang Qianqian. Come find me to play sometime!"

She was quickly pulled away by her aunts, and faint admonishments like 'a lady shouldn't speak so loudly' could be heard. Xue Yan turned his head and saw his third uncle looking at him with a smile that wasn't quite a smile. For some reason, his cheeks turned red, and he said unhappily, "What?"

"Nothing." Xue Huaiyi looked at the old man in the wheelchair in the distance, "The granddaughter of the former Grand Chancellor, Prime Minister Yang..."

The victims are from the Xue family, the Yang family, the Li family, the Su family... all of them are central aristocratic families in the court. There isn't a single victim with a Northern Border military background... Xue Huaiyi exchanged a glance with Prime Minister Yang in the distance, and both saw the distress in each other's eyes.

"Third Uncle," Xue Yan tried hard to change the subject, "So, even though the Anguo Temple vault was robbed, nothing valuable was actually lost? Then why did they save us and burn Anguo Temple? What were they after?"

"I don't know either," Xue Huaiyi suppressed the annoyance in his heart and guessed, "Perhaps they can obtain something from the Secret Realm..."

At this moment, a grand voice resounded throughout the sky above Chang'an, clearly echoing in everyone's ears:

Divine Marquis Manor Announcement: The Thieves' Den recently had four unknown thieves who successfully stole the Legendary Relic Bingzi Jiaolin from Anguo Temple in Chang'an. They are hereby wanted.

Divine Marquis Manor Announcement: The Thieves' Den recently had four unknown thieves who successfully stole the Legendary Relic Bingzi Jiaolin from Anguo Temple in Chang'an. They are hereby wanted.

In Jiangnan City, some people hadn't recovered from the first announcement, but when the second announcement sounded, almost everyone knelt on the ground.

"It's a divine decree!"

"The gods have spoken!"

"So there really are gods!"

"Gods bless us, gods bless us!"

In the Shang Family, Shang Qia listened blankly to the three announcements, then suddenly grabbed the nearest servant, "Go, go and tell Father... no." He immediately rejected his previous thought, "Have the head instructor close the mansion gates. No one is allowed to enter or leave. Everyone is to stay in their own courtyard, acting as if there's a curfew. Anyone who dares to violate this will be punished according to family law!"

Outside Evernight Sky City.

"No kneeling allowed!"

"Get up, get up!"

"Why are you kneeling to the monsters from the Divine Marquis Manor? Get up!"

Ying Le, wielding a horsewhip, drove her chariot into the city, lashing out at anyone who dared to kneel on the road. But if anyone actually dared to stand, she would still lash out with her whip, angrily shouting, "How dare you not kneel before me! Utterly disrespectful!"

She continued to whip and kill the common people, even officials and nobles, along the way. Faced with the near-mad emperor, they couldn't even run, only praying that the whip would hear their pleas. As the chariot approached the city gate, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, some even collapsing on the ground, unable to stand.

However, the chariot suddenly stopped.

The guard kneeling beside the chariot felt his scalp tingle, his mind blank. Despair gripped his heart tightly. He didn't know whether he should kneel or stand, nor did he know if his current position was outside or inside Evernight Sky City... Although, in most cases, being outside or inside the city only changed the way His Majesty killed people.

Tap.

A pair of beautiful, fair, bare feet appeared in his vision, the arches of the feet graceful, each toe as clear as a pearl, the nails carefully trimmed and flawless. When these jade feet stepped on the dirty soil at the city gate, the extreme contrast created a sense of sacredness being profaned.

But as these feet walked in front of the guard, almost touching his nose, no one knew what thoughts were running through his mind—he took a deep breath.

"Does it smell good?" A curious voice came from above.

"No, there's no smell." Knowing he was doomed, the guard replied in a trembling voice, "This humble one only smells the scent of soil."

Then Ying Le did something that no one expected—she stood on one leg, raised her other leg, and sniffed it, not caring how ungraceful her action was, or whether her skirt would reveal anything.

"Very good, you didn't lie."

Ying Le picked up the guard, dragged him to the side of the city gate, and pointed to the notices above, asking, "Did you put these up?"

The guard stared for a moment, then immediately shook his head, "No! Absolutely not! The wanted posters are all posted in our barracks, they would never be posted outside!"

"Is that so..."

Ying Le casually threw the guard aside, narrowed her eyes, and looked at the four wanted posters plastered on the city wall.

"Divine Marquis Manor wanted posters..." She gnashed her teeth as she chewed on these words, reaching out to rub her right chest, where an old wound seemed to be throbbing again.

"Divine Marquis Manor!"