Chapter 145: Chapter 117: Second Case Settlement

Second-Turned Legendary!

Seeing the grade of the Heaven-Swaying Sword, Pharmacist’s Wish became more convinced of Ying Rushi’s speculation.

There are countless secret realms in the world, but they always follow the rule ’the more you give, the more you receive.’ There has never been a major prize from a First-Turn Secret Realm, nor a trash reward from a Fourth-Turn Secret Realm, as if there is a supreme deity, cold and fair, pricing all things and granting rewards and trials to all beings.

The Thief’s House rewards a Second-Turn Legendary Token, indicating that it acknowledges the increased difficulty of this task. It also means that the Thief’s House will indeed adjust the difficulty of the tasks, with future tasks only becoming more difficult, and the rewards naturally becoming richer. Pharmacist’s Wish had never heard of a secret realm that dynamically adjusts its difficulty, let alone one that binds to the messenger, allowing only failure and death as exits from the endless trial.

The four of them were like sitting on a boat heading into a stormy sea, or a carriage rushing toward the Underworld—someone might leave, someone might vanish, but as long as someone remains, the Thief’s House will lead the survivors to the peak or to death.

Not only Pharmacist’s Wish realized this, the others also noticed the uniqueness of the Thief’s House through the changes in rewards. Shang Xinlei couldn’t help but say, "If this time it’s second-turn, then the next task will reward a Third-Turned Legendary? The time after that, a Fourth-Turned Legendary? Does it mean the rewards from the Thief’s House will keep rising, with fourth-turn, fifth-turn, even sixth-turn possible?"

"I don’t know whether to look forward or fear it." Ying Rushi said with a wry smile, "To get hold of this Heaven-Swaying Sword, Black Wolf and I gave it our all. If the Thief’s House really plans to reward us with a Third-Turn Legendary Token in the next task, it might be a true trial for us four. As for a Fourth-Turn Legendary Token... perhaps I would only bid you farewell and voluntarily leave the Thief’s House—after all, no matter how powerful the token, one’s life is required to claim it."

"White Fox makes a valid point: unless there’s an extraordinary event, the difficulty of tasks from the Thief’s House will gradually increase." Yan Qing nodded in agreement but shifted the tone: "But there’s no need to overestimate the difficulty. The Thief’s House isn’t a combat secret realm, and we are not warriors but thieves."

Yan Qing highly appreciated Ying Rushi, being undoubtedly the most outstanding thief in terms of temperament, moral character, vision, and strength. Before tonight, if he could only choose one teammate out of the four, Ying Rushi would definitely be Yan Qing’s first choice, so Yan Qing didn’t mind saying more as a checkpoint planner to comfort him.

"Our route for the past two tasks wasn’t optimal. At An Guo Temple, although we didn’t infiltrate perfectly, at least we didn’t cause too much disruption, while this time in Jiangnan City, we completely went from ’stealing’ to ’robbing openly.’" Yan Qing was somewhat annoyed at this point, the Mouse Monk had hardly been of any help: "If it hadn’t been for the frequent surprises tonight, we could have stolen the Heaven-Swaying Sword without anyone noticing, instead of causing a whole city’s uproar, almost leading to a clash with the Liang Kingdom’s messenger."

"If more difficult tasks appear in the future, we can completely avoid the confrontation and focus on crafting a theft plan, giving up the task only when necessary."

Thinking carefully, they stole in such a way that they almost ended up fighting the Capital Imperial Guard—someone not in the know might think they were trying to steal a nation, with their commotion even surpassing a coup.

Ying Rushi pondered for a moment and slowly nodded: "Yellow Dog, you make a good point; besides, our strength won’t remain stagnant. If tasks involving the Foundation Establishment Messenger truly appear in the future, we might already have the strength to face the Fourth-Turn challenges."

Perhaps because Wolf Fox had actively returned to save Snake Dog, the relationship among the four of them saw a breakthrough for the first time. The atmosphere in the Thief’s House was unprecedentedly good, but Shang Xinlei, watching Yan Qing actively approach Ying Rushi for conversation, was resting her chin on her hand, lost in thought.

Since they foresaw facing greater challenges in the future, the way they looked at the Heaven-Swaying Sword naturally became more fervent. There are many ways for messengers to become stronger, such as learning cultivation techniques, mastering secret techniques, or changing professions, but all these methods are far less of an enhancement compared to acquiring a powerful token!

As a legendary token, the Heaven-Swaying Sword holds unparalleled allure for each of them.

Realm of Governance not only enhances the Heaven-Swaying Sword Master’s own strength but also impacts others, with a significant degree, 10 points of Qi Blood, spirit, and agility—enough to turn a coward into a Soldier King, transform the sickly into the strong, even for a messenger, it’s akin to an enhancement of another level of job transition. If managed properly, it’s practically a powerful tool to unite people.

Chaos Authority is simple, brutal yet full of potential. Although the damage stacking has a time limit, as long as the messenger pairs it with a token that increases attack speed, the stacking of Chaos Authority’s destructive power could reach unimaginable levels, making surpassing-class killing easy.

Dominion, although with a considerable cost, when truly unleashed, can’t afford to worry about too much, potentially even absorbing damage temporarily to delay the explosion, possibly saving a life at a critical juncture.

Not just those three, even Yan Qing was tempted.

Although Bingzi Pepper Forest is also decent, it leans more towards teamwork, with a very stable skill set complement. Yet he happens to be a lone wolf and a wild dog, usually just helping small accounts with weapon enchanting and sealing.

If placed in a game, the Heaven-Swaying Sword is far less practical than imagined. Governance requires ten hours to increase 10 points of three-dimensional attributes; unless always in a team, where would players accompany you for ten hours? Chaos Authority, although highly potential without spiritual power expenditure, players don’t need to conserve spiritual power; there’re plenty of high-consumption, high-output tokens, others finish off small monsters in five seconds, but the Heaven-Swaying Sword has to deal the highest output at the tenth second; as for Dominion, without Governance as groundwork, Dominion is just a ten-second duration of the undead.

Overall, just like Bingzi Pepper Forest, the Heaven-Swaying Sword is an apparently appealing but actually insignificant toy.

But these problems in reality are not problems at all. Increasing attributes and reducing spiritual power costs, the former represents a stronger body, the latter signifies longer combat endurance, both decisive factors in secret realm battles, compared with life and death, spending a bit more time is hardly worth mentioning.

"Everyone," Pharmacist’s Wish suddenly smiled, "I’ll be accepting the Heaven-Swaying Sword."

Although not yet concluded, she already regarded the Heaven-Swaying Sword as within her grasp. She couldn’t help but feel confident—the Heaven-Swaying Sword was seized by Ying Rushi and her together, and she had made the greatest contribution. Moreover, after the last task, she had the most Thief Points stored.

That’s why Pharmacist’s Wish didn’t have much resentment towards the Snake Dog duo for looting the Secret Vault. She knew they had gained a lot from the Royal Secret Vault, but the cost was that the Snake Dog duo lost their chance to compete for the Legendary Token.

However, Ying Rushi didn’t give up. She was determined to get the Heaven-Swaying Sword: "Black Wolf, haven’t you already reached Third Transition? Moreover, you don’t use a sword. Why not compete for the upcoming Third-Transition Legendary Token?"

Shang Xinlei was a bit surprised to hear this news, but Yan Qing had already expected it. When they came out of the Secret Vault, Pharmacist’s Wish had pulled him up with just one hand, effortlessly, even though he was carrying large and small bags and his Qi Blood was strong at the time, making him quite heavy. In contrast, when Yan Qing pulled Shang Xinlei up, he had to use both hands and feet. Unless Shang Xinlei weighed twice as much as him, it only meant that Pharmacist’s Wish’s Qi Blood was at least twice as strong.

Thinking of this, Yan Qing glanced at Shang Xinlei. Shang Xinlei noticed his gaze too. Unaware of Yan Qing’s inappropriate thoughts, she gestured for silence, signaling to watch quietly, looking as if she relished the excitement.

"Time waits for no one," Pharmacist’s Wish said. "Although I don’t use a sword, the Realm of Governance of the Heaven-Swaying Sword is very useful for me. I won’t give up, White Fox, don’t waste your breath."

She had also considered saving up Thief Points to buy the future Third-Transition Legendary Token, but upon thinking it through, she gave up. The risk was too high. What if she couldn’t steal it in the future? What if she couldn’t make a decisive contribution in the next task? Although Pharmacist’s Wish was proud, she admitted her teammates weren’t mediocre. If it weren’t for Yellow Dog’s spy making a mistake, Yellow Dog might have dominated this task again.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. With the Realm of Governance of the Heaven-Swaying Sword, Pharmacist’s Wish was confident she could significantly expand her Brocade Guard’s power, bringing her closer to the day she could topple her father and control the court!

Not seeing eye to eye, Ying Rushi stopped talking. The rest would have to be proven with action. Even if her points weren’t as many as Black Wolf’s, if she could bid first, there might still be a chance!

At this moment, the settlement for the Thief’s House concluded, and new text appeared on the light screen:

"Heaven-Swaying Sword Theft Case"

"Task difficulty: Easy"

"Task completion: Herculean Effort (Evaluation ranges from Low to High: Not worth mentioning, Effort insufficient, Herculean Effort, Outstanding, Outstanding achievement)"

"Task completion reward: 30 Thief Points"

"Thief Points can be accumulated and are only spendable within the Thief’s House. They are non-transferable, and losing the qualification to enter the Thief’s House will reset the points to zero."

With the sound of chips clattering down, different numbers appeared on the light screen in front of everyone, which were the combination of their previously stored Thief Points and the 30 points from this task’s reward.

Next came the individual settlement.

"Yellow Dog’s task settlement list"

"Thief Leaves No Empty: You visited a Royal Secret Vault, gaining much historical insight, 10 points"

"Thrilling Escape: You faced off against the Foundation Establishment Messenger and fled, 5 points"

"You gained an additional 15 Thief Points"

Yan Qing was a bit surprised. He hadn’t expected that opening a Royal Secret Vault side task could add points, even though he was just struck by the Foundation Establishment Messenger. It even counted as having faced off against him. Next time, before returning to the Thief’s House, if he could throw a dart from 800 meters away at the Foundation Establishment Messenger, couldn’t he farm Thief Points that way?

Basic 30 points, reward 15 points, plus last time’s remaining 14 points. Yan Qing had a total of 59 Thief Points now. He glanced at Shang Xinlei’s points, which were 56, indicating that Shang Xinlei’s task evaluation this time was exactly the same as his, only increasing by 45 Thief Points.

"How is that possible!?"

Suddenly, there were two explosive sounds. Pharmacist’s Wish slammed the stone table with both hands, turning to glare at Ying Rushi. Even with her mask on, everyone could imagine her eyes must be bloodshot with anger, and if it weren’t for the Thief’s House forcing her to remain seated, she would definitely rush over and grab Ying Rushi.

Black Wolf, 80 Thief Points.

White Fox, 86 Thief Points.