"Oh?"
Yan Qing glanced at Xue Yan and this group of 'unknown NPCs' he'd seen in the game, but he didn't really care.
The conversation he had with An Wu wasn't actually important. What mattered was An Wu's ability to accurately recognize the 'Yan Qing' account and respond according to the plan Yan Qing previously set up in 'Automatic Evolution'.
According to his settings, only when he personally appeared and said the secret phrase 'An Wu, I'm here,' would An Wu report the current plan's progress. Missing any single condition wouldn't trigger the feedback program.
If An Wu couldn't recognize him, Yan Qing would be humiliated in front of Black Wolf and others.
Luckily, the test results were quite pleasing—identity recognition, voice recognition, and secret phrase recognition all took effect. This meant Yan Qing could trigger the 'hidden door' of a small account through secret phrases and then voice-control it, even without the game console in hand.
Although Yan Qing didn't care about An Wu's words, the Pharmacist's Wish certainly didn't ignore them: "What are they complaining about?"
Since An Wu didn't respond to the Pharmacist's Wish's question based on his evolution program, Yan Qing had to explain: "An Wu just rescued them, and they complained about being saved too late, and maybe that An Wu didn't give them the Blood Replenishing Pill sooner."
Blood Replenishing Pill!
Yan Qing spoke nonchalantly, as he truly didn't care about the Blood Replenishing Pill—who would care about the lowest level red potion in the game—but those who understood like Pharmacist's Wish felt tidal waves in their hearts.
It's worth knowing that the Blood Replenishing Pill has a folk alias: Elixir of Immortality!
Meaning, if you take this pill, no matter how severe the injury, you can be saved, even if your heart is pierced, it can forcibly keep you alive!
Even for people like Pharmacist's Wish, Ying Rushi, and Shang Xinlei, they could only obtain a very limited amount every month, sometimes even needing to apply for it. One reason Pharmacist's Wish could form the Brocade Guard was she could get a certain amount of Blood Replenishing Pills from her father as seed money.
Using such a precious elixir to save strangers—Yan Qing was simply... too extravagant!
Pharmacist's Wish followed the trail of fire oil and blood on the ground, all the way to the big iron door leading underground within the inner hall. Coupled with previous rumors about An Guo Temple's human trafficking, she deduced most of the truth. She looked at Xue Yan's group; she even recognized a few faces as children of aristocratic bureaucrats.
But Pharmacist's Wish felt no goodwill towards them.
Though they were victims, their appearance showed they were just parasites born into noble families. Pharmacist's Wish even felt that saving these people would only lead to them consuming Chang'an's rice.
"You, what do you want?"
"I'm the nephew of Minister of Agriculture Su Ling, save me and the Su Family will surely reward you!"
Seeing the vigorous and murderous Pharmacist's Wish approaching, many were scared into scrambling, either pleading or threatening, but none dared to resist or escape.
Witnessing such a disgraceful scene, Pharmacist's Wish's loathing deepened.
Just as she raised her long spear, a young girl mustered the courage to step forward and shouted, "Not everyone complained, I am very grateful he saved us!"
Frightened by Pharmacist's Wish's murderous aura, Xue Yan also snapped back, quickly expressing, "Yes, yes! To repay An Wu and An Liu's life-saving favor, I'm willing to do anything!"
Yan Qing didn't care about these strangers, so he didn't intervene when Black Wolf wanted to act, but upon hearing Xue Yan's words he was somewhat interested: "You say you're willing to do anything?"
Xue Yan immediately understood Yan Qing's implication and turned to the others, saying, "I'm willing, aren't you all willing too?"
"Willing, willing!"
"I'm willing to pay any amount, my dad is Wang Yuanhai!"
"I'll meet any request to repay the life-saving favor!"
The others also recognized the situation, and under Xue Yan's urging quickly expressed willingness—seeing the fierce figure with the Black Wolf Mask had already raised the long spear, they had to comply or face death!
"Black Wolf, they still have some use, spare them," Yan Qing smiled.
You speak as if I'm your subordinate, don't you!?
Pharmacist's Wish wanted to kill this group to put Yellow Dog in his place, but since he said they have value, she chose reason over anger. She glared at Xue Yan and his group, snorted coldly, and returned to Yan Qing and the others.
"There's a dozen jars of fire oil here. Later, An Wu and the others will spill the oil over all the exits of An Guo Temple. If you want to help, pick up the fire oil and follow behind them to help pour. However, they'll block the temple to prevent anyone entering or leaving, so if you want to escape later, stick with us towards the main entrance."
The nobles quickly agreed, many with thoughts of escaping as soon as they reached an exit, thinking there's no way the temple's large gates could be completely blocked.
Yan Qing might not know what they were thinking, but asking them for help was just a whimsical idle move. Even if it turned out to be useless, he wouldn't care. If it proved useful, then saving them wouldn't have been in vain.
Passing by An Wu and the others, Yan Qing said, "According to the plan."
"Yes." An Wu grabbed a can of oil with one hand and walked out of the inner hall without looking back, followed by An Liu and the others. Seeing this, those nobles naturally hurried out, but with a cold snort from Pharmacist's Wish, their hearts sank, and obediently they helped Xue Yan carry the oil cans.
Third Miss Yang didn't rush out; she saw Yan Qing sever the lock on the treasury door of the inner hall of An Guo Temple with his sword. Instinctively wanting to say something, she was dragged away by Xue Yan in the next moment.
"Haven't you heard? See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil!" Xue Yan stuffed a can of oil into her embrace, "Don't concern yourself with such filthy places like An Guo Temple!"
Third Miss Yang: "But the treasury contains the assets of all the families—"
"Do you really think they're good people? After pouring the oil, let's leave quickly. Such an earth-shattering case, even your father wouldn't dare touch it!
Xue Yan ran outside, carrying the oil can, and the first thing he noticed were the corpses on the ground, horribly dead and bloodied everywhere, so gruesome he almost wanted to vomit—if he had had anything in his stomach, he probably would have—but when he lifted his head, his expression changed: "Not good!"
Several monks had gathered at the main door, attempting to open it and escape. The monks weren't foolish; seeing Yan Qing and his group enter the inner hall for a long time without coming out, they naturally sought to flee this troublesome place.
An Wu's task was to block the main door, preventing anyone from leaving. He threw the oil can directly at the door, and then drew his sword to unleash a Moon Ring Slash!
The Armor-Breaking Stone-Crushing Moon Ring Slash landed on the monks but had no effect whatsoever. Clearly, the rules of protection in the main city apply only between 'robbers' and 'non-robbers,' while An Wu and the monks both belonged to 'non-robbers,' hence the rules of the main city were still adhered to, and they could not harm each other.
An Wu wasn't surprised at this, and he charged at the monks.
In such life-and-death moments, even a rabbit will bite, let alone the Martial Monks nurtured by An Guo Temple? Seeing An Wu attack, they shouted, attempting to block him.
But the next moment, they screamed miserably, as if they had seen a ghost, hastily escaping!
Because An Wu burst into flames.
With only his usable left arm, soaked in oil, An Wu became a torch, illuminating the darkened An Guo Temple with closed doors and windows in broad daylight.
The Martial Monks drenched in oil would ignite immediately if slightly touched by An Wu's flames, no matter how they rolled on the ground, the fire couldn't be extinguished.
The main door of An Guo Temple was opened a crack. An Wu stood blocking the entrance, surrounded by spilled oil and himself being disabled in both hands, yet none of the monks dared to approach him even half a step!
Similarly, at the side and back doors of An Guo Temple, An Liu, An Qi, An Ba, and An Jiu, having soaked their hands in oil, used their bodies as fuel, igniting ghostly flames to block exits. Even if the monks spoke eloquently, they couldn't sway them in the slightest.
The monks couldn't escape; naturally, the nobles found themselves trapped inside. Some monks noticed they were 'goods' escaped from the dungeon and tried to capture them. They had no choice but to fight back, escaping while pouring oil on the monks, soon drenching the entire An Guo Temple from floor to beams with oil.
Xue Yan and Third Miss Yang poured a circle of oil around the main door, scaring the monks further away. They looked at An Wu blocking the entrance, and Xue Yan swallowed nervously, stammering, "An, An Wu, can you move aside a bit to let us out?"
An Wu was expressionless, not responding or looking at them.
"Alright, then we'll wait for your boss to come out and leave together."
Third Miss Yang suddenly said, "You can stop now, if you continue burning, your left hand will burn away too. Don't you feel the pain?"
An Wu, who had been unresponsive to their actions, suddenly looked at Third Miss Yang, startling Xue Yan who pulled her towards him. But before Xue Yan could apologize, he saw An Wu's face reveal a smile.
"If someone cares, then it's not too bad." He murmured, then told them, "No pain."
"I don't feel any pain at all."
Xue Yan looked at the youth before him, barely older than himself, his face destroyed by flames, his hands turned to charcoal, suddenly feeling a strong sense of déjà vu, as if he had seen someone similar to him before. But upon careful thought, couldn't think of any reason.
Suddenly, a ray of sunlight pierced his eyes.
Xue Yan looked up to see the high walls of An Guo Temple, where a small hole had been broken through somehow.
Surrounding the small hole was a majestic and awe-inspiring mural depicting the Subduing Dragon Arhat holding a Vajra Pestle and ropes, surrounded by fiery clouds, embodying both compassion and authority. The small hole happened to be in the Subduing Dragon Arhat's left eye, and sunlight seeped through the crack, illuminating the dark hundred-year-old temple.
As if the Subduing Dragon Arhat was gazing at the world.