Scourge Messenger

Chapter 30 Announcement from the Divine Marquisate

Chang'an City, Anguo Temple.

The Zhou Dynasty had a strong Buddhist cult. In addition, Anguo Temple was a Bodhisattva temple that had been awarded many times by the Empress Dowager. The news of the fire in Anguo Temple spread like wildfire throughout Chang'an County. Not only did many people in the city help to put out the fire, but even believers outside the city rushed to help. Even the elderly who could not help would kneel down from afar and pray for God's blessing.

For a major event like this that happened in Chang'an City, the Grand Chancellor, Duke of Jin, would naturally be there to inspect the situation. Therefore, the most panicked person on the scene was Wuhou Pu - they could catch petty thieves, but there were few fires in Chang'an City on weekdays, and Wuhou Pu had long neglected fire-fighting training. Now that there was such a big fire in Anguo Temple, they were naturally in a panic.

While directing his men to bring water to put out the fire, the shop manager secretly observed the Duke of Jin's expression, thinking that he might be demoted to a distant province as a gatekeeper. Why is my luck so bad that such a nasty thing has to happen to me during my tenure? Sigh...

"The Duke of Jin."

Yaoshi Moka was lost in thought, gazing at the burning Anguo Temple. Hearing a voice, he turned and saw an elderly man in a wheelchair slowly approaching. He wore a hat, his face crisscrossed with wrinkles and scars, his beard neatly trimmed. Even in his wheelchair, his broad shoulders held up his ornate clothes, giving him a warrior-like demeanor. Although someone was following behind, no one was pushing the wheelchair; it was clear that the elderly man was controlling it himself, using some method.

"Old Master Yang." Pharmacist Mo Ke quickly stepped forward, bent down, and supported the wheelchair, offering him the courtesy of a junior. "I'm so sorry to trouble you to come here..."

"I've been staying at home for so long, it's good to go out and get some sunshine." Old Yang said with a chuckle, "Forgive me for not being able to perform the ceremony."

"You're really embarrassing me! If you hadn't saved Moke from the chaos of the enemy, how could he be where he is today?" Pharmacist Moke immediately said, "If you have anything to say, just send someone to tell me. Why bother coming all this way?"

"I didn't want to be conspicuous in my wheelchair, but I heard my granddaughter, who had been missing for so many days, had finally been found. I was so anxious to come here." Old Yang sighed, "They said she escaped from the underground of Anguo Temple and had been hungry for many days. My poor little granddaughter..."

Pharmacist Mo Ke looked behind Old Mr. Yang and saw a little girl being taken care of by several women. Although she had been simply washed, 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, someone else's voice sounded nearby: "Get out of the way!"

With the clanging sound of armor rubbing against each other, a tall young warrior approached with the swift gait of a dragon and a tiger, pushing aside even the evil ghost warriors. He walked up to the pharmacist Mo Ke and knelt on one knee, "I pay my respects to the Duke of Jin!"

"Long Chen!" Pharmacist Mo Ke helped the young general up. He saw a young man drinking hot soup in the distance. "Could it be that your relative is also..."

"He's my humble nephew, known for his mischievous ways, so it's only natural he'd be deceived." The young general clasped his hands together. "But Anguo Temple actually dared to secretly store kerosene in Chang'an City. Their evil intentions are obvious. All those who knew about this must be executed as a warning to others!"

Even monks knew the wonderful uses of kerosene, so the Great Zhou court certainly couldn't be unaware. Under Great Zhou law, kerosene was a strictly prohibited substance within Chang'an. Anyone caught in it was subject to death without mercy. The fact that kerosene could cause a fire was less important than the fact that anyone could become a mobile source of fire by dousing themselves in kerosene—and no one else could stop or even harm them.

If Anguo Temple hadn't secretly stored kerosene, the crime of trafficking women and children—even if these women and children were reborn into good families—wouldn't be worth mentioning. In a world where the power of messengers exists, where secret demons can be infinitely resurrected, and even where safe zones like the main city exist, the demand for faith is unprecedented. Everyone believes in, or rather, needs, a supreme being to explain these incomprehensible yet undeniable phenomena.

Not to mention the common people, even among the messengers, eight out of ten were Buddhists seeking the Way. With such a strong religious atmosphere, even if Anguo Temple committed the most monstrous atrocities, everyone would only strip the monks of their status to ensure the purity of the Buddhist ranks...

But hiding kerosene is different.

Even a third-level messenger could be burned to death by a self-detonating kerosene man without realizing it - most defensive tokens consume spiritual power by the number of times or seconds. For example, the monks who were burned to death in Anguo Temple used Arhat clothes to resist the flames for several seconds before being swallowed by the flames due to exhaustion of spiritual power. Even if a third-level messenger can resist for longer, the fire poison produced by the fire will still put them in trouble.

"I've already sent people to search and confiscate Zhengde Temple and Dajue Monastery in Chang'an County." Yaoshi Moke's face was gloomy. "The escaped monks from Anguo Temple will be apprehended soon. Those who dared to secretly store kerosene deserve the death penalty!"

He looked around and said loudly, "The Anguo Temple has committed countless evil deeds. I don't know how many innocent women and children have been abducted and sold over the years. I will definitely get to the bottom of this and find as many of your missing relatives and friends as possible to bring justice to everyone!"

"It's the Duke of Jin!"

"The Duke of Jin is in charge of this matter, and the sky will be clear!"

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

The people surrounding Yaoshi Moke were no ordinary people; they were all prominent figures in Chang'an, either descendants of aristocratic families or wealthy merchants and landlords. Without exception, they had all lost loved ones in Chang'an. Now that they knew Anguo Temple was the likely culprit, their long-despaired hearts were rekindled with hope, hoping to find their loved ones.

Of course, there were also many powerful figures like Mr. Yang and the young general who had found their missing relatives. They came to express their gratitude and to pave the way for a share of the Anguo Temple later on—the Anguo Temple could afford messengers, and besides offerings, it also possessed a secret realm. Now that this behemoth of Anguo Temple was about to collapse, these victims deserved compensation.

The young general walked out of the crowd, and Xue Yan, who was drinking hot pork rib 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. "I'll compensate you with every cent I owe you. You're about the same age now, so it's time for you to switch to a messenger. I'll use Anguo Temple's savings to lay a foundation for you."

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

Xue Huaiyi shook his head: "The fire is too big. We can't even put it out now, let alone go in to search. And according to what you said... there is no chance of them surviving."

"Really..." Xue Yan's expression didn't change much, but his tone dropped.

"Go back and practice your spear skills well," Xue Huaiyi said. "Don't keep thinking about using secret manuals. If you were a messenger, those bald donkeys wouldn't dare to harm you. Even in Chang'an City, you need strength to protect yourself."

"Yeah." Xue Yan nodded and asked, "Then... did you find that group of people?"

"No." Xue Huaiyi shook his head. "All we can confirm is that they ate noodles at the noodle shop opposite Anguo Temple and then disappeared. There are no records of them being seen at the city gate. Although they may still be in the city, if their message is true, then... they have already left Chang'an and returned to the thieves' home."

"What is the Thieves' House?" Although Xue Yan knew about the secret realm, he obviously had never known such niche information as the Thieves' House.

"Let's talk about it when we get back." Xue Huaiyi didn't want to explain too much here.

"Did they steal something precious?" Xue Yan asked curiously. "I saw their leader carrying a large bag and a new knife. He must have taken it from the vault! They all valued it very much. Is it a powerful token?"

"No truly precious things are kept in Anguo Temple. Only insignificant and vulgar things are kept there." Xue Huaiyi said, "As for that knife...it is indeed precious, but it is not a keepsake."

"Hey, Nenhei!"

Hearing the snoring behind him, Xue Yan turned his head and saw Miss Yang San, the girl, calling him. He replied with an unhappy look on his face: "Don't call me dark-skinned! I've tolerated you for a long time. Do you have any manners?"

"I don't know your name, so I can only call you by my impression of you." Miss Yang pouted and said, "All I know is that you're a brainless, dark-skinned person."

"My name is Xue Yan!" Xue Yan said unhappily, "You act like you're very smart." "If I hadn't pulled you away, you would have been roasted like a pig. Apparently, I have a little more brains than you do." Miss Yang said proudly, "My name is Yang Qianqian. Come and play with me when you have time!"

She was quickly pulled away by the concubines, and faintly heard a reprimand like "Ladies shouldn't speak so loudly." Xue Yan turned around and saw his uncle looking at him with a half-smile. For some reason, his cheeks flushed and he asked unhappily, "What for?"

"Nothing." Xue Huaiyi looked at the old man in the wheelchair in the distance: "The granddaughter of the former Minister Yang Xianggong..."

The victims included the Xue family, the Yang family, the Li family, the Su family... all of them were powerful families from the Central Plains within the imperial court. There wasn't a single victim with a military background from the northern border... Xue Huaiyi and Yang Xianggong, who was in the distance, exchanged glances and saw the distress in each other's eyes.

"Uncle San," Xue Yan tried to change the subject. "So, even though the Anguo Temple vault was robbed, nothing valuable was actually lost? Then why did they rescue us and burn down the Anguo Temple?"

"I don't know either," Xue Huaiyi suppressed his annoyance and guessed, "Maybe they can get something from the secret realm..."

At this moment, a loud voice resounded over Chang'an, echoing clearly in everyone's ears:

"Announcement from the Divine Marquisate: Four unknown thieves have recently arrived at the Thieves' House. They successfully stole the legendary Bingzi Jiaolin from the Anguo Temple in Chang'an. They are hereby wanted."

……

...

"Announcement from the Divine Marquisate: Four unknown thieves have recently arrived at the Thieves' House. They successfully stole the legendary Bingzi Jiaolin from the Anguo Temple in Chang'an. They are hereby wanted."

In Jiangnan City, some people were still in shock after the first announcement, but when the second announcement sounded, almost everyone knelt on the ground.

"It's an oracle!"

"The gods have spoken!"

“It turns out that gods really do exist!”

"God bless you, God bless you!"

In the merchant's house, Shang Qia listened to these three announcements in a daze, then suddenly grabbed the nearest servant and said, "Go, call someone to inform father... That's not right." He immediately rejected his previous thought and said, "Have the head coach seal the gates of the house. No one is allowed to enter or leave. Everyone must stay in their own courtyards. It's like a curfew. Anyone who dares to violate the family rules will be punished!"

……

...

Outside the city that never sleeps.

"No kneeling!"

"Get up, get up!"

"Monsters from the Divine Marquisate, why are you kneeling? Get up!"

Ying Le, whip in hand, drove her chariot into the city, whipping anyone who dared to kneel on the road. If anyone dared to stand up, she would still whip them and curse, "How disrespectful of you to not kneel before me!"

She whipped the common people and even the officials and nobles along the way. Facing the almost mad emperor, they could not even flee and could only pray that the whip would hear their pleas. When the chariot was about to enter the city, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and some even collapsed on the ground, unable to stand up.

But the chariot suddenly stopped.

The guard kneeling beside the chariot felt his scalp tingle, his mind blank. Despair gripped his heart tightly, and he didn't know whether he should kneel or stand up, let alone whether he was outside the city or inside it... Although in most cases, being outside or inside the city would only change the way His Majesty killed people.

despair.

A pair of beautiful white bare feet appeared in his sight. The arch of the foot had a graceful line, each toe was as crystal clear as a pearl, and the nails were carefully trimmed and flawless. When this pair of jade feet stepped on the dirty mud at the city gate, the extreme contrast had a kind of sacred and profane beauty.

But these feet walked in front of the guard, almost touching his nose, and it was unknown what thoughts were running through the guard's mind - he took a deep breath.

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

"No, there's no smell." The guard, knowing he was doomed, replied in a trembling voice, "I only smell the smell of mud."

Then Ying Le did something that no one expected - she stood on one leg, lifted her leg and smelled it, not caring how indecent her action was or whether her skirt would be exposed.

"Good, you didn't lie."

Ying Le picked up the guard, brought him to the city gate, pointed at it, and asked, "Did you put this there?"

The guard stared at it for a moment, then immediately shook his head: "No! Absolutely not! The wanted posters are posted in our barracks, they won't be posted outside!"

"Yeah……"

Ying Le threw the guard aside and squinted his eyes at the four wanted posters posted on the city wall.

"Wanted order from the Shenhou Mansion..." She chewed on these words with gritted teeth, and reached out to rub her right breast. The old wound seemed to ache again.

"Shenhou Mansion!"

(End of this chapter)