Wizard: I am a goblin

Chapter 215 The Thief's Self-Cultivation

The crescent moon was faintly visible, and the lanterns were just beginning to light up. On the city wall, two soldiers from the New Kingdom, one tall and one short, patrolled with torches, chatting idly.

"—So, nuns aren't the wives of monks?" Gao Bingshi scratched his head and said incredulously.

"Huh? Is that even human language you're talking about?" The short soldier looked at his companion as if he were an idiot.

"Aren't nuns and monks a couple? I thought if you became a priest, the church would match you with a nun as a wife." The tall soldier's eyes widened, unable to believe what he was hearing.

His worldview was greatly impacted.

"How novel! — I don't even want to criticize you, have you ever seen a nun enter a priest's room in the middle of the night?"

The short soldier taunted.

"I've seen them!" the tall man replied immediately. "I saw the nuns from the Thousand Lakes Church, who would sneak into the priest's room every night and stay there all night. Sometimes they would bring several children—I think they were called holy children. The room was always creaking and making noise, it was quite lively."

"what?"

Now, the one whose worldview was shaken became the short man.

As the two were chatting idly, a strange noise suddenly came from below the city wall. The soldiers immediately became alert, grabbed torches, and shouted in the direction of the sound, "Who's there?!"

The short man was the first to react. He grabbed his weapon and rushed forward, shining his torch on the city wall, only to find it deserted.

"Hmm?" He looked around, then peered out from the edge of the city wall. There was nothing unusual in his field of vision.

Uh—at the edge of the firelight, there seems to be a blurry black shadow—

Splash!

A huge bat flew towards the guard's face, startling him so much that he dodged backward and fell to the ground with a thud!

The bat circled in a figure eight in the air and then flew away.

"Oppa's Buck!"

"What's going on?! The wizard killed someone?" the tall guard shouted from behind.

"What wizard? Don't make a fuss, it's just a bat." The short guard quickly got up, brushed the dust off his backside, his face covered in bruises.

Feeling humiliated, the guard, in an attempt to regain his dignity, nonchalantly urged his companions to continue patrolling and leave this shameful place.

The bat flew into the sky, circled halfway around, and then flew back, landing on the head of the little ticket, whose hood was being held by the wizard's hand and who was hanging half-upright in the air.

The little girl's hands, unable to grasp anything, formed two circles in the air. The magical pet exerted a force, and together with the wizard's hand, pushed little Tani back onto the city wall.

After her hands touched the city wall again, Tani quickly adjusted her center of gravity and then, in one go, scrambled up to the top of the wall.

"Wow—that was close!"

Little Tani wiped the cold sweat from her brow, and the bat transformed back into a toad shape, landing on her head.

"Quack."

"I know, I know, please stop scolding me. But thank you anyway."

"Quack."

Tani looked up at the northern part of the city wall, where rows of beacon towers rose higher and higher, stretching like long snakes up the mountains. Standing on the ground, she could feel the gurgling sound of water flowing beneath the stone slabs, from north to south. Beneath this city wall lay the irrigation canal that supplied water to Shanhaiguan.

Under the cover of darkness, the little girl made her way north. In the darkness, the positions of the guards were very obvious; by following the movement of the torches, their patrol patterns could be clearly deduced.

During Gebu's absence, bored little Tani and the catwoman Fina spent all their time together, and their sleep schedules turned into those of night owls. The catwoman took her on adventures, exploring every town they passed through, not to steal anything, but simply to enjoy the freedom of going anywhere without being bound by high walls.

The little girl was in a phase of rapid learning and growth, and was a clever child herself. Back then, she could easily sneak into Geb's room and ransack it while he was meditating. After receiving Spartan-style practical training from the catwoman (Fina didn't treat her like a child at all; if she couldn't keep up, she would really abandon Tani), her grass-skimming skills improved rapidly. Sometimes Geb couldn't even find her anywhere.

I flipped through it.

Tani rolled behind the box, and as the guard turned around, she slipped behind the brazier. Then she climbed over the city wall, vaulted onto the outside, and clung to the wall like a gecko, slowly making her way around the heavily guarded watchtower.

Half an hour later, Tani finally passed through the heavily guarded city walls and arrived at the top of the city tower of the highest of the three cities of the Three Passes: the Mountain City.

Hmm—it's pitch black, which way should we go?

Little Tani bent down, pressed her ear to the ground, and listened to the sound of the water flowing in the ditch.

The waterway is in this direction.

She turned her gaze to a towering stone arch on the west side of the city wall—a series of stone arches that descended in a stepped fashion from the cliff, ending in a tower on the city wall.

That must be the water conservancy hub on the city wall.

The girl spent half an hour evading the patrols on the mountain city wall and arrived at the tower. A narrow arched stone bridge connected the mountain city wall with the water conservancy hub tower. This was the only way to the tower, and the stone bridge was more than 100 meters long.

"Just one more step," Tani thought. She looked back at the demon-slaying beacon a few hundred meters behind her. The beacon's force field would end at the edge of the city wall, not reaching the tower itself or the stone bridge in front of it.

However, there was a problem: the entrance from the city wall to the stone bridge was guarded by fixed guards—two royal knights in plate armor stood motionless before the brazier. Two patrol teams also patrolled the city wall, alternating shifts, leaving virtually no blind spots.

Ugh, how awful.

Little Tani hid in the corner and observed for a long time, but there was no opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

Going straight ahead won't work. Catwoman Fina's favorite way to infiltrate is to bypass static defenses from a high vantage point, such as jumping off rooftops or climbing walls.

However, there were no other buildings next to the city wall, and the view was flat, so it was impossible to walk on it.

Above is not below?

However, the guards were positioned at the entrance to the stone bridge. Climbing over the city wall would have brought them right into their line of sight, which would have been tantamount to suicide.

Just as the little hostage was struggling with her decision, she heard the sound of water underground and suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

Water can flow out of the tower, so can't I just climb back up the way I came?

Her gaze searched the floor and then settled on a round metal lid.

It’s so cold!

In the narrow, semi-circular waterway, little Tani used all four legs, his body spread out like a spider, gripping the half-palm-wide edges of the waterway on both sides, and slowly crawled uphill.

The rushing water was only half a meter in front of her face, crashing against the rock walls of the canal with a deafening noise. The splashing water soaked the little girl completely.

"Pah, pah!"

The hostage pulled out a hand to wipe her face, then continued her arduous climb up the ditch. The mountain spring water in early winter was bone-chillingly cold, and the little girl felt as if she were about to freeze.

The magical pet couldn't help much at this point; the location was too far from the bottom of the city wall, beyond Gebu's synesthetic range. The toad simply obeyed its master's commands, clinging tightly to the girl's scalp to keep from falling, until the little girl's eyes rolled back in her head.

The canal stretched almost indefinitely. Tani didn't know how long she had been crawling under the city wall. Based on her intuition, she guessed that she should have left the main city wall and was now somewhere under the stone bridge of the tower.

The hostage imagined that his hand slipped and he fell into the water, where he rolled around in the icy water for more than ten minutes, freezing into a block of ice, and then being washed into the sea—his body never to be found.

Geb—I'm scared—Fina, save me—

Mother----

The little girl's eyes reddened for a moment, but now was not the time to cry! Thinking of her mother's face, a surge of resentment welled up in her chest.

If I can't even do this simple thing right, wouldn't it be a waste for my mother to risk her life to save me?

The little boy gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and, like a spider with its tail on fire, scurried towards the end of the ditch, braving the cold wind and moisture.

She tried her best, but still couldn't reach the first one. She tried her best again, but still couldn't reach the first one. Just when Tani was about to give up, she suddenly felt her hands go empty and she was in freefall. She quickly grabbed upwards haphazardly and managed to stay upright in the pipe, forming a starfish shape to support herself.

Arrived!

At the end of the canal lay a spacious area, the sound of flowing water echoing within the secret chamber. Looking up, countless pipes of varying sizes connected to the hemispherical ceiling of the chamber. Water flowed continuously from these pipes, converging here from hundreds of waterways connected to mountain streams, forming a huge reservoir, from which water flowed out from a canal at the water level of the reservoir—this was the place Tani had crawled into.

The circular pool is unfathomably deep, and the hemispherical dome resembles the night sky, with countless streams of water hanging down like curtains of water.

A circular skylight opened in the center of the dome, reflecting light and shadow, and scattered moonlight rippled in the pool.

The water, the moon, and the stars create an atmosphere that feels like stepping into another world.

Oppak bless, it's spectacular!

Tani couldn't help but marvel at the scale of the building, unlike any human structure she had ever seen. The stone was perfectly fitted together, and geometric patterns were carved on the huge stone slabs—somewhat like the style of dwarven craftsmen.

Could this water-storing tower have been built by the dwarves? Tani had never been interested in history, but at this moment she suddenly developed a strong interest in the history of the New Kingdom and the Dwarven Kingdom.

How long has Shanhaiguan been established? This place looks older than the time of Obak—could this pool have existed before the birth of Christianity?

If it has such a long history, then who was this pass built to defend against back then?

Just as Tani was stunned by the building in front of her, the toad suddenly twitched and then croaked.

"Croak!"

"Oh, sorry, what was I supposed to do again?!" Tani quickly recalled, then jumped onto the circular walkway at the edge of the reservoir and started looking for the steps leading down the tower. She saw the stone steps and followed them down to a solid iron gate.

Door - key, three turns on the left, seven turns on the right, then push, then pull.

Tani silently recited the incantation Geb had given her, and pulled a palm-sized bronze key from her chest. The key was very new, clearly a newly molded piece. These were all provided by Father Helan.

"How does Brother Helan know so many secrets?" Tani asked Gebu. Gebu's only reply was, "Don't ask what you shouldn't ask, you little brat."

Tsk, all mysterious.

Tani cursed Geb in her mind several times while turning the key in the lock according to the incantation. Then she pushed and pulled, and the heavy bronze door made a heavy thud.

Then, the door opened a crack.

Tani pushed forward with all her might, but the door was stuck and she couldn't move it.

"Oh dear!"

The little girl used all her strength, but it was no use. The door wouldn't budge, and she almost tripped and fell. Cold and tired, she sneezed, then kicked the door in frustration.

squeak-

Unexpectedly, the door opened by itself after she stepped on it. Little Tani stared at her foot in disbelief, then looked up to see a burly, dark figure appear on the other side of the door.

The shadowy figure took a step forward, revealing twisted fangs, and the little hostage gasped.

"A child? Can I eat him?" the dark figure asked with a simple, honest smile.

"Eat my ass—this is Gebu's wild child, our precious treasure. If you eat him, he'll fight us to the death."

As the sound followed, a dark-skinned half-elf emerged from behind the large orc. She bent down, flicked the little girl's nose, and then gave her a sunny smile.

"Hello, little hostage—you did a great job. Now, leave it to us." Yvette said, taking off a thick robe and putting it on the little girl. "Look how cold this little rascal is. He can't afford to catch a cold. Big guy, it's your turn now—please carry these dozens of buckets upstairs."

"Oh, okay." The orc replied foolishly, then looked at the little hostage with wise eyes, making her heart tremble.

"I don't see any hair on you, so why are you a brat?"

"I—I'm not—a bear—"

Little Tani wanted to complain, but her nose itched, and after holding it in for a long time, she could only make one sound: "Ahhh—ah."

"Ah Qiu!!!!!"

The sound of the little girl sneezing echoed in the spiral staircase. She had a feeling she was going to get very sick—

I'm definitely going to catch a cold.

At this moment, the resilient little boy only wanted to return to the camp, dry himself by the fire, and then snuggle into Fina's fluffy embrace for a good night's sleep.

Gebu, you owe me a huge one!!!

The kingdom's knights guarding the stone bridge kept their eyes fixed ahead, diligently fulfilling their duties.

silence.

silence.

"—Did you hear the little girl sneeze?" the knight on the left whispered, his expression unchanged.

"No?" the knight on the right asked, puzzled. "Did you hear that?"

"It seems like... no."

"Um."

The two knights remained motionless, like two statues.

The knight on the left thought:

What am I saying? A little girl sneezing? How can I even bring myself to say something so absurd? How embarrassing.

The knight on the right thought:

I think I heard it too—but I just blurted out that I didn't. Now, the time to admit it has passed, and bringing it up again is really embarrassing.

The two knights thought at the same time:

Just pretend you didn't hear that.

Meanwhile, the orc Goliath and the half-elf Yvette were moving red dye and cheap liquor, worth thousands of gold coins, to the water tower that controlled the drinking water source for the entire Shanhaiguan Pass.