Chapter 142: Chapter 142

They arrived outside a shop with the sign ‘Book’ hanging overhead. Two Messengers stood watch at the door, and even a red-named Messenger acted as a bodyguard inside.

But once they stepped inside, the tight security made sense—an entire wall behind the shopkeeper was filled with manuals. Though there were only thirty to forty in total, manuals were consumables that disappeared upon use. Overall demand far exceeded supply; even a Military Camp couldn’t stock this many.

「What kind of book are you looking for, dear customer?」 the shopkeeper asked, stroking his rat-like mustache. 「If I don’t have it here, then Changle City likely doesn’t have it at all.」

「Do you have any advanced manuals?」 Medicine Master Wen asked coldly.

「Well…」 The shopkeeper gave an awkward smile. 「Not that I don’t, but they require pre-ordering.」

「If you don’t have advanced manuals, then you must at least have the Basic Blade Technique Manual and the Basic Footwork Manual, right?」

Surprisingly, the manuals here weren’t expensive—in fact, they were slightly cheaper than what Yan Qing had seen on the Trading Board. He thought about it briefly and realized the reason: these manuals were clearly embezzled national supplies being sold by corrupt officials, with virtually zero cost. And customers who came all the way to Changle City had already paid a hefty price—if the shop kept prices high, why wouldn’t buyers just use official channels instead? Basic manuals couldn’t be monopolized.

No wonder the Blade Technique Manuals were so cheap. After all, if customers were willing to spend more, they could buy manuals safely through the main city’s Trading Board. If black market goods weren’t cheaper, what would be the point?

Seeing Medicine Master Wen buy those manuals, Wu Qiu and Shi Dong both guessed what she was up to.

Wu Qiu accepted the manuals in silence. Only Shi Dong nervously said, 「Miss, I… I don’t have the talent, and I’m scared to fight…」 Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on ⓝovelFire.net

「No talent? I’ll feed you. Scared? Then get used to it,」 Medicine Master Wen replied coldly. 「You must learn to protect yourselves.」

「Shi Dong, aren’t you afraid of being kidnapped?」 Wu Qiu whispered into her ear. 「Miss will protect us, but what if something unexpected happens? If not for Bunny Heroine, we might already be dead. The Duke of Jin’s Mansion is gone. We can’t just be Miss’s maids anymore. Miss needs more than that… If you keep being this cowardly, we’ll have to leave you behind.」

Under the pressure from both Medicine Master Wen and Wu Qiu, Shi Dong nodded hard and, with a loud snap, used both manuals on the spot. 「I’ll work hard!」

None of them expected Shi Dong to actually use the manuals then and there. The surge of Vital Energy and Blood from changing class to Messenger instantly drew the attention of everyone on the street. In Changle City, Messengers vastly outnumbered ordinary people. For an ordinary person to change class here was like shouting to the whole city: I’m weak, and I’m rich!

「What are you looking at?」 Bunny Heroine raised her eyebrows, munching on a candied hawthorn skewer. 「Yeah, you! Farewell Hook Deng Xiao! Want to fight one-on-one outside?!」

The masked man she pointed at froze, then turned and left immediately, abandoning his shopping. The crowd’s attention instantly followed him.

「Farewell Hook? He actually dares show up in Changle City?!」

「This is gonna be good. He stole Firecloud Hand’s goods. Those four brothers are hunting him all over the world.」

「It really is Farewell Hook. The more I look, the more convinced I am!」

Taking advantage of the distraction, Medicine Master Wen’s group quickly slipped into another street. Wu Qiu asked in wonder, 「Heroine, do you know that guy?」

「Nope,」 Bunny Heroine shook her head. 「Told you—I can see bad people’s names. And he was masked. Normal folks wear masks here to avoid trouble. Bad guys wear them ‘cause they’ve done bad stuff and pissed off someone. No harm calling him out. Worst case? One-on-one fight.」

Shi Dong knew she’d messed up and shrank her head like a quail.

Medicine Master Wen patted her hair and sighed. 「Don’t be so reckless next time.」

Medicine Master Wen knew all too well—Shi Dong wasn’t cut out for the world of Messengers. If Wu Qiu was a winter plum able to survive alone, Shi Dong was a dodder vine, nurtured in luxury, raised to serve. In the past, she served her Miss; in the future, she’d serve her Miss and Master. Submissive, diligent… good, but only the kind of good that came with weakness.

But from now on, they had to survive in the demon-ridden lands, in a jungle where the weak were devoured by the strong. They could no longer afford to be weak.

As they passed a store, the shopkeeper suddenly called out, 「High-quality Apothecary Glue! Come take a look!」

Yan Qing was immediately intrigued and went in decisively to buy a large batch.

He checked the effect. As expected, it worked on all Tokens, but only up to Third-Stage and below. At most, it could restore 70% of durability. The price was fair too—just 500 Spirit Jade for a large bottle. Feeling flush with cash, Yan Qing bought ten bottles.

Medicine Master Wen didn’t need that much. She had her own reserves and only bought a small bottle for 100 Spirit Jade to replenish last night’s usage.

During the transaction, the shopkeeper suddenly lowered his voice and said, 「Yesterday, someone from Zhou Kingdom went up Shu Mountain—an Undang Guard.」

She looked up in shock, but the shopkeeper had already returned to his previous demeanor, as if nothing had happened.

Once they left, Medicine Master Wen glanced at Bunny Heroine still munching her candy, deep in thought.

Why had the shopkeeper warned her? She wasn’t sure. Maybe it was her father’s lingering influence—or maybe certain factions didn’t want her walking into a trap. Great Qi and Liang would certainly love to nurture a princess with deep hatred toward Zhou Kingdom.

The Undang Guards belonged to Chang’an’s soldiers and were the Emperor’s private troops.

If what the shopkeeper said was true, and the Undang Guards had gone to Shu Mountain, it meant the Court was collaborating with demonic forces. Those same forces might act against Medicine Master Wen—either on imperial orders or due to some shady deal.

And Shu Mountain’s biggest demonic force was none other than the Three Grand Protectors who controlled the Secret Realm.

Each was a seasoned Third-Stage, commanding unknown numbers of Demon-Path Messengers. They’d long turned Shu Mountain into a tiger’s den. For Medicine Master Wen to step foot there was like putting one foot into the gates of death.

But where else could she go? Escape to another country? Even if Great Qi or Liang accepted her, they wouldn’t let her near Third-Stage Secret Realms. They’d exile her somewhere idle. Without the Secret Realm, her Foundation Building would only get further out of reach.

To build her Foundation as a Messenger, one had to either claw through a bottleneck amidst thousands or transform through life-or-death battles!

Now, if she ascended Shu Mountain, both paths seemed possible.

If it’s a dragon’s lair—I’ll slay the dragon. If it’s a tiger’s den—I’ll kill the tiger!

I, Medicine Master Wen, am going to Shu Mountain. You think I’m going there to make money with demonic Messengers? Let’s see who’s more vicious—you or me!

But there’s no need to drag others into my mess.

She resolved that after today, she’d part ways with Bunny Heroine. As long as they didn’t climb the mountain together, the demonic forces working with the Court wouldn’t implicate Bunny Heroine. Still… parting before repaying her debt would probably make her little sister think she was dodging repayment.

But really, what could she offer before completing her Foundation and vengeance? If she dragged Bunny Heroine down, that would be a debt she could never repay.

She couldn’t cause her trouble.

Soon, they arrived at the liveliest shop in Changle City—an auction house. More precisely, it was a black-market auction held every seven days. As luck would have it, today was the day. Unfortunately, they had already missed more than half.

None of them had seen a real auction before and couldn’t resist going in to watch. But after a while, both Medicine Master Wen inside and Yan Qing watching from outside wore disappointed expressions—it was too low-tier.

Second-Stage Common Tokens? Those were being auctioned?

Second-Stage Rare Defensive Token… alright.

Third-Stage Common Boots? Seriously? Still wearing that trash at Third-Stage? Enjoy your athlete’s foot!

Still, these were hotly pursued by many Demon-Path Messengers.

Yan Qing once again revised his understanding of demonic factions: a bunch of powerful but broke folks. Not broke as in poor, but lacking access to rare resources. Rare Tokens and Marvel-Class Tokens were tightly hoarded heirlooms by major families. Even someone like Shang Xuanwen wasn’t allowed to keep any post-retirement—they were all locked away in the Military Camps. As if the demonic ones could just storm in and snatch them?

They would if they could.

The hottest auction item? Confidential intel on the Yin Nest Military Camp—including Token data, Messenger numbers, deployment maps, rotation times. Only an insider among insiders could leak that.

The red-named Messenger who bought it had also snatched several other items. Every time he bid, it was a decisive win. No one dared compete.

「That’s Blood Attendant Zhong Ji, a Third-Stage Demon-Path Messenger,」 Medicine Master Wen suddenly said. 「His older brother is Blood Minister, one of the Three Grand Protectors of Shu Mountain. They once slaughtered an entire prefecture in Liangzhou, and even killed a Third-Stage from the Yuwen Family. He’s top ten on Zhou Kingdom’s wanted list.」

Both brothers were Third-Stage Messengers, and part of one of Shu Mountain’s top three factions. No wonder no one dared challenge them.

At that moment, the auctioneer took out a box and said loudly, 「For today’s grand finale, we have a treasure none of our honored guests have seen before. Even I, seasoned as I am, have never seen anything like it.」

The audience, some of whom had been about to leave, sat down again.

「This treasure is—an Advanced Manual.」

Someone scoffed. 「An Advanced Manual? Big deal. That’s the grand finale now?」

The auctioneer smiled. 「If it were a regular one, I wouldn’t dare call it a treasure. But this is one-of-a-kind—it merges swordsmanship and blade techniques into one!」

He opened the box to reveal the manual’s title:

《Advanced Blade-Sword Mastery Manual》

「Usable only after learning Basic Blade, Basic Dual-Blade, Basic Sword, or Basic Dual-Sword techniques. Once used, the Messenger’s blade and sword skills merge into a single path. No more distinctions between blade or sword, single or dual. Only the One Blade-Sword Path. Rumor has it, this can lead to an extremely rare profession!」 the auctioneer announced. 「Starting bid: 10,000 Spirit Jade. No bartering, only bids!」

「50,000 Spirit Jade!」

Like a stone dropped into still water, a thousand waves rippled through the auction. Bids rose rapidly to 100,000.

「130,000 Spirit Jade!」 Blood Attendant Zhong Ji stood and scanned the room. 「This manual is a gift for my nephew. Let’s see who dares bid against me!」

Silence fell. Even the auctioneer’s expression soured—Zhong Ji had already ruined several bids. Though his sponsor was a powerful Liang family unafraid of Zhong Ji, they couldn’t stop others from being intimidated. Unfortunately, no other Grand Protector’s Third-Stage had come today, so there wasn’t even anyone to challenge him. Whatever Zhong Ji said, went.

He sighed and prepared to quickly wrap things up.

「150,000 Spirit Jade.」

At that moment, a sweet, childlike voice rang out from the corner of the room.