Chapter : 59

After wasting nearly half of the Mithril, Yan Yunqing finally managed to craft three Portable Anchor Points.

However, only one of these anchor points could exist on the map at a time, and it couldn't exceed a distance of five thousand meters.

After pondering for a good while, he decided to install the Portable Anchor Point outside the city.

The capital city of Bartovita was not very large. It was generally oval-shaped, wide at both ends and narrow in the middle, with the royal palace situated in the center of the city. Yan Yunqing set up an anchor point just outside the city, so that after entering the palace, he could also teleport to the anchor point's location.

After leaving the city, Yan Yunqing found a sparsely populated forest and placed the anchor point on a large tree, ensuring that even if someone passed by, they would not witness his sudden appearance.

Just as it was set up, a countdown timer appeared for the anchor point. The anchor point would last for a total of seven days, and could only be used three times during that period. When the time was up or after three uses, the anchor point would immediately shatter and become unusable.

After returning to the inn, Yan Yunqing deliberately wasted one teleportation chance to test the effect of this portable anchor point. During the channeling time, he couldn't move, but he could do other things.

When the one-minute channeling progress bar was full, Yan Yunqing only felt a wave of dizziness, and then his entire person appeared at the location where he had placed the portable anchor point, silent and without warning. He even scared a small bird resting nearby into letting out a squawk, flapping its wings and flying away with a miserable cry.

Yan Yunqing felt a tinge of apology for scaring the poor little bird, and conveniently set up a defensive magic formation near the anchor point, so that birds couldn't fly in anymore.

Yan Yunqing, taking advantage of the cooldown, grinded the instance he currently knew, [The Curse of Sunset Village], several more times. After barely raising his level to thirty-five, grinding that instance no longer gave him experience, so Yan Yunqing could only give up with regret.

With all preparations complete, all that was left was for the banquet to begin.

As for that Adrien living opposite Yan Yunqing? He had come knocking on his door from time to time these past few days, inviting Yan Yunqing to eat, drink, and so on.

Yan Yunqing would politely refuse, and casually ask a heart-stabbing question: "You have money again?"

Whenever this happened, Adrien would show a look of embarrassment.

On the third to last day before the banquet, Yan Yunqing packed his luggage, preparing to create the illusion that Edward had already left the capital city. When the time came to take out Feu, he would immediately teleport and run, giving no one time to react, and make a clean getaway.

This way, the long-gone Edward couldn't possibly be connected to the Joker who broke into the royal palace and murdered the prince. He could even continue to use Edward's identity in the future.

The ideal was plump, but reality was bony. He had just stepped out of his room with his luggage when he came face to face with Adrien.

Adrien glanced at the luggage in his hand and was very surprised: "Are you preparing to leave?"

Yan Yunqing cursed his bad luck under his breath, but his face remained calm, "Yes, I've stayed here long enough. I'm going to look for my younger brother."

Adrien frowned, but Yan Yunqing's reason was very sufficient. He couldn't stop Yan Yunqing from looking for his brother, so he remained silent for a while before speaking: "It's very dangerous for you to travel alone. I heard there have been many incidents of demonic beasts injuring people near the capital."

Demonic beasts injuring people?

This was the first time Yan Yunqing had heard of it. He had been busy preparing for the assassination these past few days and hadn't had much time to gather information. What Adrien said about demonic beasts injuring people made Yan Yunqing subconsciously feel that something was wrong.

According to what Lilian had said, the reason the capital of Bartovita was built here was because historical records showed no gods had fallen here. Demonic beasts should not appear frequently in this area.

And from Yan Yunqing's perspective, the only ones connected to demonic beasts at present were the Augreer family and that Fifth Prince Feu. If there were frequent incidents of demonic beasts injuring people nearby, then it must be related to the Augreer family.

Thinking of the Augreer family's few strongholds that he had vaguely identified while gathering information some time ago, Yan Yunqing pursed his lips and decided that before he left, he would destroy as many strongholds as he could.

He had to deal a heavy blow to the Augreer family. These people were simply too arrogant.

"I understand. Thank you for the reminder." Yan Yunqing nodded, picked up his luggage, and prepared to walk past Adrien, but was blocked by Adrien again.

Yan Yunqing: ? What on earth does this person want?

Adrien: "If you're not in a hurry, you can wait... wait a few days. Wherever you're going, my personal guards and I can escort you for a part of the way."

Yan Yunqing: ...Politely declined.

"No need." Yan Yunqing's expression was difficult to describe, "My next destination is in the opposite direction of Skane, so there's no need to trouble you with the trip."

Adrien opened his mouth, wanting to say something more, but Yan Yunqing cut him off, "Besides, you'll be staying here for quite some time, right? There's really no need to trouble you. We'll meet again if fate allows."

Adrien had no more reasons and could only slowly make way. As Yan Yunqing brushed past him, he reached out and grabbed Yan Yunqing's wrist.

"I... can I ask where you... plan to go next?"

Yan Yunqing thought to himself, how could I possibly tell you that?

"If nothing unexpected happens, I will go to the Romunik Empire."

Not a chance. The second place he ruled out was the Romunik Empire. The first place he ruled out was the Church of Light.

Yan Yunqing struggled a bit with the wrist that Adrien was holding, "Can you let go now?"

"Oh, sorry." Adrien let go. He quickly fished out a piece of parchment from his clothes and stuffed it into Yan Yunqing's hand, "This is my address. You can write to me when you reach your destination. If you need any help, you can also come find me."

Yan Yunqing discovered that Adrien had been added to his NPC friend list. The system had so readily judged Adrien to be his temporary teammate.

Taking a closer look, Adrien's favorability was surprisingly high, almost catching up to Lilian's. He could even directly initiate a private chat with Adrien one-sidedly now.

Yan Yunqing: ...You're making yourself look really cheap by giving yourself away like this.

However, having one more friend and one less enemy, Yan Yunqing still felt it was worth it. At least, this Adrien Sawyer didn't seem like the kind of scumbag who would hang out with someone like Feu.

He raised his hand and took the parchment from Adrien's hand, folded it into a small square, and tucked it into his pocket, "If I ever need to."

***

Yan Yunqing, wearing Edward's shell, walked out of the city gate. He found an empty corner, stuffed all his luggage into his backpack, and changed his appearance before re-entering the capital.

This time, he did not return to the inn run by the Augreer family. Instead, he walked towards the temporary residence he had found for Uncle Lane earlier—that black inn where the gatekeeper was a level sixty-two old man.

He would stay here for the last two days. No one here would be bored enough to guess his identity.

He still got a single room. The gatekeeping old man glanced up at Yan Yunqing, "Two nights? Ten gold coins, no bargaining."

Yan Yunqing: ...? It was three gold coins a night before. How did the room rate skyrocket by two gold coins in just a few days?

"No money?" the gatekeeping old man said lazily, "If you have no money, go stay in the large dormitory. Why sleep in a single room?"

However, Yan Yunqing couldn't possibly reveal that he had stayed here before. Faced with the gatekeeping old man's on-the-spot price hike, he could only pinch his nose and accept it, taking out ten gold coins from his pocket and tossing them on the table.

"Two nights."

The gatekeeping old man pinched the gold coins and muttered, "Misjudged again? There are so many rich people these days..."

He once again pulled out that large ring of keys from the drawer, picked out one after some rummaging, and tossed it to Yan Yunqing, "Here, your room."

Yan Yunqing caught it. It wasn't the same room he had last time, not even on the same floor.

Just as he was about to leave with the key, the gatekeeping old man's lazy voice sounded again, "Kid, tell your friend to tuck in her little tail a bit. It's too obvious."

Yan Yunqing froze. Lilian, who had been hiding under his hood, held her breath and hid even deeper. He looked back at the gatekeeping old man and saw no extra reaction from him. He was still lying there like a corpse, only twitching occasionally to prove that he hadn't dropped dead on the spot.

"...Oh."

Yan Yunqing quickly left with Lilian. As soon as he entered the room, he immediately closed the door and checked for any eavesdropping magic before letting Lilian out.

"What's going on?" Yan Yunqing was a little uneasy, "Did that old man just now discover you?"

Lilian wasn't too sure either; "...Probably?"

Yan Yunqing frowned: "Is it because the level difference is too great, so he can discover you? Tsk, I wonder what that gatekeeping old man's identity is. It would be bad if he developed greedy thoughts towards you."

Elves always fetched a high price on the black market. Didn't Yan Yunqing first meet Lilian in the warehouse of an auction house?

Lilian comforted him: "Don't worry, I can still protect myself. Even if his level is higher than mine, he might not be able to catch me."

Yan Yunqing retorted: "Then how were you caught by the people from the auction house before?"

"Uh..." Lilian scratched her curly hair and laughed embarrassedly, "That was a momentary mistake! How could I possibly make the same mistake twice!"

Yan Yunqing was skeptical, "Really?"

He then thought of Adrien from before, "That General Sawyer, he didn't discover you either, did he?"

"That's probably not the case." Lilian shook her head, "The reason this gatekeeping old man found out is probably because my mana fluctuations are a bit unstable."

"Unstable mana fluctuations?"

Yan Yunqing was surprised: "What's wrong?"

"It's just a very normal phenomenon for the elf race..." Lilian looked a little guilty, her eyes darting around, not daring to look at Yan Yunqing, "You don't need to worry too much about it."

Yan Yunqing narrowed his eyes: "Spill it."

Lilian held out for a moment, but finally gave in, "Alright, alright. It's just that I'm transitioning from my childhood to my growth period. The mana fluctuations on my body will be more chaotic and might leak out a little occasionally. That gatekeeping old man probably discovered the mana fluctuations on me, which is why he said that to you."

"He probably didn't even realize I'm an elf!"

It was mentioned before that elves had two forms. One was the childhood period, where elves were elemental life forms and were basically pocket-sized, like Lilian, who was currently no bigger than ten centimeters.

The other was the adult period. At this time, elves would grow to be about the size of a fifteen or sixteen-year-old human. After that, their appearances would more or less be fixed. Unless an elf had a special need and went to the Mother Tree to make a wish, they wouldn't change easily, nor would they grow old.

And in between, there was a transitional growth period. Each elf's growth period was different. Some passed through it quickly, while others might even take decades to get through it. It was not entirely uniform.

Elves in their growth period shared a common characteristic: their mana fluctuations would be rather chaotic, making it the weakest period for elves.

The Elf King only allowed adult elves to leave the territory to train outside, precisely because this growth period could easily put elves in danger.

Although elves did not fear death, no one was willing to see their own clansmen die inexplicably due to the dangers of the growth period.

As the Demon King, Yan Yunqing had lived in the elven territory for a long time before, so he had some understanding of this growth period.

He frowned, feeling a little troubled by the current situation.

If that was the case, Lilian couldn't enter the royal palace with him. There were countless high-level guards inside. Lilian's chaotic mana fluctuations would be like a spotlight in the dark in their eyes; even a fool would think something was wrong with him.

But Yan Yunqing wasn't at ease leaving Lilian outside alone, because after he was done with his business, he would teleport directly out of the city, leaving Lilian behind. He couldn't just have Lilian wait for him outside the city, right?

...Actually, that might work?

Lilian seemed to have noticed Yan Yunqing's dilemma. She thought for a moment and tugged at Yan Yunqing's hair, "You should send me back to Yuli's place, and then I'll wait for you to come back there."

Yan Yunqing's eyes lit up. This was a good option. Sunset Village could be considered his very first novice village. Plus, since he had solved the curse of Sunset Village, the Sunset Village faction's favorability towards him had reached 'Trust.' Lilian staying there would be even safer than an elf staying in this black inn.

"But in that case, I won't be able to help you."

"I can do it alone." Yan Yunqing bent his finger and flicked Lilian on the forehead, "Don't treat me like some weak creature. Besides, even if this plan fails, I'm one hundred percent confident that I can escape."

Lilian landed on Yan Yunqing's shoulder. Hearing his confident words, she was quiet for a long time before letting out a soft "mm," as if she had made a decision.

***

Yan Yunqing took some time to return to Sunset Village and sent Lilian to the blacksmith's shop.

Yuli, seeing Yan Yunqing after a long time, happily pounced on him, "Brother A-Yan!"

"Little Yuli!" Yan Yunqing picked Yuli up, spun her around three times, and casually weighed her, feeling she was a little heavier than before. He commented, "You've grown taller."

Little Yuli giggled, her laughter like a crisp little bell.

Yan Yunqing played with Little Yuli for a while before pulling Old Jason into a room.

He had told the old village chief about the origin of the village's curse before, but he didn't know if the old village chief had made it public to everyone. So, he still planned to explain the events of that year to Old Jason and the hunter, Uncle Lawson, separately.

"...So that's how it was?" Old Jason was stunned for a moment, then nodded, "So, Henry and Kalenna have been protecting the village all this time?"

"Yes... but after Henry decided to completely deal with the god's bones attached to Kalenna... well, they should have already started a new life by now."

Yan Yunqing hinted that the spirits of Henry and Kalenna had already disappeared. As for the two bosses in the instance, they were obviously just things copied by the game system, merely using the appearances of Henry and Kalenna.

Old Jason was in a bit of a daze. Finally, he let out a long sigh, "I understand. Thank you very much for everything you've done for Henry and Kalenna."

Old Jason's hands, like old tree bark, firmly grasped Yan Yunqing's hand and said solemnly, "I heard that the Seta City castellan's son was murdered in his home."

Yan Yunqing was startled.

The taciturn Old Jason's slightly cloudy eyes contained complex emotions, "Good child, I know you want to avenge Henry and Kalenna, but..."

"Just from what you've told me, I can feel that it is a very, very difficult matter. It must be very dangerous."

"My selfish heart prevents me from saying 'please don't continue,' but I still want you to be well. You are a very brave child and shouldn't fall into the hands of those despicable people."

"If... you encounter danger, or if you feel that continuing like this will be dangerous..."

"Please give up."

"No matter what, as long as you are alive, there will be hope to continue."

Yan Yunqing's heart was filled with mixed feelings. After receiving kindness from others once again, he could no longer treat this world as just a game, and everyone as just people generated by game data.

He held Old Jason's hand back and gave him a reassuring smile, "Please don't worry. I will of course return safely."

"Henry, Kalenna, Adelaide, and her students... someone has to pay the price for their deaths."

If no one could wield the scepter of justice, then he, the former Demon King, would swing this sword.

Just as he had done before.

To end the war of the gods and put an end to the darkness that had shrouded this continent for hundreds of years.