Ying Rushi glanced between Pharmacist’s Wish and Yan Qing, suddenly saying: "I never noticed before, but Black Wolf, your voice is so pleasant, and your figure is quite enviable."

This remark was like a cold shower, extinguishing the flames of emotion within Pharmacist’s Wish. She realized she shouldn’t react like this in this setting, so she took a deep breath and returned to her seat, calmly replying: "You’re not bad yourself."

Although her background had been completely exposed to Yellow Dog, and Yellow Dog probably knew the same about Red Snake whom he mingled with, someone so enamored with women like Yellow Dog could hardly keep secrets in front of them. But there was still one person in the Thief’s House who didn’t know her identity, which was White Fox. Having one less person aware of her identity was always better.

Pharmacist’s Wish turned her head to observe White Fox and Red Snake, confirming once more that the woman held in Yellow Dog’s arms earlier was indeed Red Snake, or rather, Red Snake made no effort to disguise herself.

Though the style and color varied slightly, Red Snake’s attire remained in the style from three days ago, convenient for moving while fully displaying her charm, obviously the type that uses her allure for entertainment. No wonder she got involved with someone like Yellow Dog... thinking about this made Pharmacist’s Wish turn away, fearing she couldn’t suppress her emotions.

"Although we only have three days for preparation, an idle day can still be barely squeezed out, moreover since the operation is at midnight tonight." Ying Rushi spoke calmly: "I can leave first to give space to you all, and tomorrow at dawn we can—"

"There’s no need." Pharmacist’s Wish exhaled and enlarged the projection of the dungeon on the sand table: "Let’s discuss the plan... this Secret Realm is completely unfamiliar to me, I’ve never even heard of it before. But the entrance to the Secret Realm is located within the Hundred Refinements Institute in Chang’an City, and the institute is in the deepest part of the Chang’an Military Mansion. In Chang’an, the most heavily guarded place is the Chang’an Military Mansion, with the number of messengers being ten times that of the Imperial Palace."

"I can see that." Ying Rushi looked at the dense figures cultivating within the Mansion: "But why do so many messengers stay in Chang’an wearing out their strength instead of conquering the Secret Realm?"

"Retirement and training."

In the past, Pharmacist’s Wish might have hesitated, after all, it concerned the Zhou Kingdom’s military system, but now she seemed to have broken free from invisible shackles, speaking with fewer scruples:

"Every Military Town sends aging soldiers with waning Qi Blood to Chang’an to become instructors, and talented young people are sent here for focused nurturing. Rather than special techniques, what they exchange here are methods for conquering the Secret Realm. For instance, if Jia Army Town devises a more ingenious method, Yi Army Town can use it as well. They discuss specific battle plans for the Secret Realm here, which ultimately turns into results for the Military Town."

Shang Xinlei couldn’t help but ask: "Would Military Town accept the strategy of the Secret Realm being leaked?"

Pharmacist’s Wish glanced at her, speaking with pride: "Red Snake, not all places are as backward and closed as Liang Kingdom."

It’s like an offline forum, Yan Qing thought.

MMORPGs are online games, not single-player. Single-player solutions might be simple, no matter how difficult, the correct answer would be placed in the hands of the player, it’s just that the player might momentarily overload their brain, but once discovered, it becomes clear; but online games are not like this, perhaps the correct key is a certain profession or specific equipment, if you don’t have it, you simply don’t. Shu Dao Mountain is the best example; if it weren’t for Prajna having a Buddhist Sect keepsake by chance, they’d have hit a dead end inside and never discovered the correct strategy for Corpse Bone Forest.

That’s why online games have an incredible demand for communication; the solution you can’t think of no matter how hard you try might be written in the pinned post on the forum.

Given the noble military towns consider the Secret Realm as their exclusive prey, Yan Qing thought they’d infinitely repeat the process of reinventing the wheel, unexpectedly there was a place akin to an offline forum. Just as Pharmacist’s Wish said, Zhou Kingdom isn’t closed like Liang Kingdom, what Shang Xuanwen can’t accomplish now may have already been successfully implemented by Zhou Taizu back in his day through his prestige.

"In other words, if our operation has the slightest mistake, it could potentially alert a multitude of battle-hardened veteran soldiers, elite officers." Ying Rushi tapped on the stone table: "This isn’t exactly good news."

"But it’s not the worst news." Pharmacist’s Wish stared at the sand table: "There are worse issues ahead; look at the specific location of the Secret Realm entrance, it must pass through the largest room at the Hundred Refinements Institute."

The group took a closer look and discovered that the entrance to the Secret Realm was indeed in a room sealed on all sides, with walls unimaginably thick, making it impossible to sneak through without breaking the walls; compared to this heavy chamber like a cage, next to it was a spacious living room with study, toilet, reception hall, bedroom, luxurious furniture, being empty now, but at dawn three days later, surely the owner of the room would rather reside inside than sleep on the streets.

"Although I’ll confirm tonight, this room is likely the residence of the Chang’an Military Mansion’s Commander, Third-Turn Messenger ’Rising Dragon Hand’ Li Long." Pharmacist’s Wish’s tone was very serious: "He was involved in the contest with Emperor of Qi Ying Le for the Foundation Establishment Pill ten years ago, failed with grudging resentment but retreated whole, and is among the Third-Turn most likely to establish Foundation by himself in Zhou Kingdom."

Despite having participated in defeating Helan Que, Prajna, and other Peak Third Transition fighters, Pharmacist’s Wish did not underestimate the strength of a Third-Turn Messenger. Li Long’s prowess was no worse than Prajna, Helan Que, etc., even more important since he’s right at Chang’an Military Mansion, being the Mansion’s Commander, engaging in combat with him here is akin to snatching the enemy general’s head amid thousands of troops.

"To enter the Secret Realm, we must pass through his room; unless we can swiftly handle him, our only choice is to do everything possible not to disturb him." Ying Rushi couldn’t help but massage her temple: "And that’s just the trouble before entering the Secret Realm."

"The good news is once inside the Secret Realm, it’s a smooth path; we can directly use the vertical passage to reach the Exotic Iron location," Yan Qing looked at the sand table projection of the Secret Realm: "The bad news is the Secret Realm only has this vertical passage, which means there’s no way to avoid the crowd, we are bound to alert the people inside."

Inside the prison, the structure is equivalent to a towering round tower, filled with cells, and it’s unclear whether the people inside are laborers or prisoners, but they’re all bound in Lock Chains.

As the prison guards shouted, they gritted their teeth and pulled the chains to their limits, hundreds of chains exerting force together, pulling the massive iron hammer weighing tens of tons to the top. At the top, there was a spring-like energy storage module, and only when the hammer compressed the spring to its limit would the prison guards give the second command. Everyone would simultaneously release, and the hammer would explode with a terrifying speed, crashing down as if the sky was falling!

Each level of the dungeon had stairs connecting them, but the stairs were near the center. Going down the stairs or jumping directly made no difference, as people on every level would see you!

"Although I don’t know the strength of these prison guards, when the prisoners pull the chains, I suspect the force is at least a hundred pounds, right? This is the kind of work done year after year, and only messengers could withstand such labor intensity," Ying Rushi analyzed. "To manage the messenger prisoners, the prison guards must also be messengers. It’s very likely there are Second-Turns among them, and even having Third-Turn Messengers wouldn’t be surprising—if the Zhou Kingdom values this place greatly."

"Compared to the Military Mansion, these prison guards are still manageable," Yan Qing said. "As long as we block the entrance and prevent them from alerting the outside world, we can slowly deal with these prison guards."

"So our action plan is to enter the Secret Realm, swiftly defeat the prison guards inside, and seize the Exotic Iron, then return the way we came," Shang Xinlei summarized. "The critical part now is how to enter the Secret Realm unnoticed."

"It’s difficult, but not impossible," Ying Rushi shrunk the sand table and refocused on the Military Mansion outside the Secret Realm. "You can see that although the Military Mansion also has patrol guards, they’re just going through the motions. Inside, there are definitely many loopholes. We just need to spend some time, and we’ll surely find a safe route."

Yan Qing reminded, "Don’t forget, there’s also the Divine Marquis Mansion."

"Yes, there’s also the constables from the Divine Marquis Mansion," Ying Rushi was somewhat helpless. "But we know nothing about the constables from the Divine Marquis Mansion and how they will affect our mission. There are too many unpredictable factors in this mission, so we can only prepare enough contingency plans to respond—"

"My plan is not just to seize the Exotic Iron."

Pharmacist’s Wish slowly stood up. Ying Rushi and Shang Xinlei immediately turned to look at her, but her gaze passed over the sand table phantom, glaring straight at Yan Qing across the table.

She extended three fingers to enlarge the sand table dungeon phantom, pointing at the huge prison at the deepest part of the dungeon, and with a decisive tone said, "I intend to rescue this person from inside during this action."

She had no intention of hiding her thoughts, nor did she plan to secretly act on her own in such a dangerous theft mission, as letting personal feelings influence the action plan would undoubtedly betray her companions. Even wearing a Black Wolf Mask, Pharmacist’s Wish would not bring shame to the honor of the Ba River Pharmacist... nor would she become a sister who disappoints the Rabbit Heroine.

After a brief silence, Ying Rushi asked a question that couldn’t be avoided: "This prison is inside the Earth Flame Magma. How do you plan to enter?"

The Exotic Iron is on a stone pillar platform surrounded by Earth Flame Magma, and beneath the magma lies the huge prison where the Rabbit Heroine is located. The entrance to the prison is the magma waterfall, akin to a magma Water Curtain Cave. To enter, one must dive into the Earth Flame and swim in the magma pool.

Although defensive tokens are very versatile, this is not an environment that a Third-Turn Messenger can withstand. The answer is clear without the need for testing.

"I will prepare iron armor that can withstand high temperatures," Pharmacist’s Wish said without hesitation. "As long as you help pull me out from outside when the time comes, it will be fine."

"What if the iron armor melts? Even if it just develops a small crack—"

"I can take this risk. Even if I die, it will only be me dying!"

When Pharmacist’s Wish said this, Ying Rushi knew there was no persuading her. Continuing to argue would only result in a falling-out. She was willing to take all the risks and was prepared to perish in the magma, leaving no remains. Who in this world can stop someone with such a resolve? Ying Rushi couldn’t stop her anyway.

She paused for a moment: "As long as everyone agrees, I have no objections."

Pharmacist’s Wish looked at Shang Xinlei, "Red Snake?"

"I..." Shang Xinlei glanced at Yan Qing, "If everyone agrees, then I have no..."

"Yellow Dog." Pharmacist’s Wish finally looked at Yan Qing, "I’m not troubling you, I can do it myself—"

"I disagree," Yan Qing said.