Chapter 21: A Hot Potato

A Spatial Ring, it really was a Spatial Ring.

After Zuo Qianqian handed it to Lei Qing, he held it in his hand for a long time, unable to believe it. It was simple: items of this level were far beyond what a bandit like One-Eyed Dragon, who terrorized remote mountain areas, could possess. Even in the Imperial Capital, many nobles with insufficient backgrounds could not get their hands on a Spatial Ring that displayed their status, no matter how much effort and money they spent.

The royal family only bestowed a Spatial Ring upon generals who commanded tens of thousands of troops.

But how could a mere bandit have such an item? Had he gotten lucky? Or…

Spatial Rings were not as magical as described in some biographical novels, such as the concept of binding to the master with blood. Although Spatial Rings were extraordinarily precious, the idea of binding with blood was still too exaggerated.

Therefore, after Lei Qing put it on his finger, he circulated some Heavenly Thunder Fighting Qi to activate the spatial array engraved in its core. Immediately, ripples like those caused by dropping a stone into calm, mirror-like water spread out.

Then, the ripples began to rotate like a vortex, beautiful and radiating an aura of mystery. Lei Qing reached his hand into the vortex space, grabbed something at random, and pulled it out. His pupils contracted, and he exclaimed in disbelief, “A Thousand-Mechanism Crossbow.”

The crossbow was entirely black, with extremely exquisite and heavy workmanship. It was decorated with some profound and beautiful patterns, all of which highlighted its extraordinary nature.

Indeed, this Thousand-Mechanism Crossbow was no ordinary item; it was a specialty of the Tianlan Empire. This crossbow possessed extraordinary power and could easily pierce two feet of rock from a distance of ten zhang. As a result, even steel armor with strong defenses found it difficult to withstand the terrifying penetrating power of the Thousand-Mechanism Crossbow.

Not only was the crossbow bolt powerful, but its flight speed was extremely fast. It covered a distance of ten to twenty zhang in an instant. Even powerful fighters found it difficult to react, block, or dodge. Once hit, the result was either death or severe injury.

Therefore, the Thousand-Mechanism Crossbow was not only a sharp killing weapon on the battlefield but also an excellent helper for assassins carrying out ambushes.

Such a powerful weapon was difficult and arduous to manufacture. The Tianlan Empire itself preferred scarcity, keeping it strictly confidential and absolutely refusing to export or leak it. Whether in production or allocation to the army, the management laws were extremely strict. Anyone daring to sell Thousand-Mechanism Crossbows on the black market would, if discovered, likely face the execution of their entire family.

Lei Qing was able to recognize this item because when he was in his teens, a pampered friend from the capital had a father who was a general in the military. One day, he secretly took out a Thousand-Mechanism Crossbow to show off to his friends, letting everyone enjoy it. That boy was unlucky in the end; he was severely beaten by his father and confined for a whole year. The general himself even went to court to apologize with a thorn on his back.

Fortunately, the Emperor found out that it was just the second-generation rich kids of the capital competing with each other, so there was no further investigation. The Emperor merely punished the general symbolically by deducting his salary for one year.

However, this showed how precious and hard to find the Thousand-Mechanism Crossbow was, especially given the terrifying strictness of its management. In fact, the powerful figures in the capital also strongly requested strict management of the Thousand-Mechanism Crossbow. After all, everyone was afraid of death, wasn’t they? The speed and power of the Thousand-Mechanism Crossbow made it difficult for ordinary people to resist or react. No one wanted to live in fear, surrounded by guards.

Lei Qing secretly thought how dangerous it had been. Fortunately, the Thousand-Mechanism Crossbow was in the Spatial Ring, and the bolts were not strung. Or perhaps One-Eyed Dragon did not know what was inside the ring, or was too enraged to think straight. Otherwise, if he had strung it early and pulled out such a thing to deal with him, it would have been hard to say who would win.

Even more, what made Lei Qing sweat profusely was that there seemed to be more than one Thousand-Mechanism Crossbow in this Storage Space. He hurriedly dealt with the scene, destroyed the evidence, and then counted them in a secluded place. Grandma, there were fully twelve of them, along with over a thousand special bolts and some maintenance supplies.

What did the person who brought out these Thousand-Mechanism Crossbows want to do? Those were twelve Thousand-Mechanism Crossbows! The countries of the continent had tried to steal and copy them but had failed until now. Even if twelve ordinary elite soldiers, after some training, used twelve Thousand-Mechanism Crossbows to sneak attack a Silver-rank expert, in the end, that Silver-rank expert would likely die in despair on the spot.

“Was it smuggling? Or treason? Was it the first time, or had it been done many times?” Lei Qing did not know the purpose, but he knew one thing. The person who could conceal the production of twelve Thousand-Mechanism Crossbows from the Empire’s supervisory department must be a person of great importance in the Tianlan Empire.

Counting on his fingers, there were no more than twenty people in the entire Tianlan Empire, excluding the Emperor, who had such great power. The Lei Family was definitely not among them. When the Lei Family was at its peak, they might have been able to, but now, even if they wanted to, they could not.

It could be imagined that within these less than twenty people, each was an individual of extremely prominent status, a powerful figure whose footstamp could shake the Tianlan Empire. These powerful figures all had extensive influence and connections. If a trouble like this occurred here, they only needed to investigate slightly to understand the origin and course of events, and in the end, it would likely be traced back to him.

At this moment, Lei Qing even felt the urge to cry. Those powerful figures were not comparable to Yu Shanshan. After all, Yu Shanshan was merely the daughter of Yu Tianji, the Grand Preceptor of the Cabinet. The others were real power players. If people of this level targeted him, they would be much more terrifying than Yu Shanshan. The power they could mobilize far exceeded that of Yu Shanshan. Yu Shanshan, for some personal grudges, had mobilized a Mercenary Group to deal with Lei Qing, but that was as far as she could go. Unless Yu Tianji personally intervened, it was almost impossible to get stronger people to chase Lei Qing across borders. But those powerful figures, when pushed to a corner, could do exactly that.

It was precisely for these reasons that when Lei Qing suddenly obtained so many Thousand-Mechanism Crossbows, he did not feel like he had been hit by a pie; instead, he felt that holding them in his hand was like holding a hot potato. Twelve Thousand-Mechanism Crossbows were like twelve death warrants. He had simply gone to wipe out a bandit hideout, which was supposed to be a good deed, but how could it lead to such a mess? Was it really true that good people do not live long?

Seeing that Lei Qing’s face was pale and he looked desperate, Zuo Qianqian hurriedly showed her concern.

Lei Qing also smiled bitterly, explained the situation and his deductions, and said helplessly, “Even if I throw the items away now, it will be useless. The powerful figure hiding in the shadows will certainly trace us back after we wipe out One-Eyed Dragon. Whether we have the Thousand-Mechanism Crossbows on us or not, he will kill us to silence us. Qianqian, this time I have dragged you into this.”

“Brother Lei, you are overthinking it,” Zuo Qianqian said indifferently, not feeling it deeply. “So what if he sent people to chase us? Didn’t you say before that that ‘Yu something’ also sent people to chase you? Weren’t you able to counter-kill many of them and live freely?”

“It’s different. The people sent by that bastard are definitely much more powerful than those sent by Yu Shanshan. They might even be extremely powerful assassins.” Lei Qing sighed. “You don’t know how deep the water is here.”

“Anyway, I believe Brother Lei is the strongest. Assassins and killers? With Qianqian by your side, kill one if one comes, kill a pair if two come.” Zuo Qianqian said domineeringly. “Didn’t Brother Lei often say that strength cannot be cultivated to a great extent through secluded meditation? Every expert who reached the peak was formed by fighting sword by sword and experiencing numerous hardships and temperings? Let these pursuers be your whetstone. They will also be the stepping stones for your path to the peak in the future.”

Lei Qing’s eyes brightened at her words. Indeed, he was in the middle of the situation, blinded by the methods and power of those powerful figures. Hadn’t he also thought he was definitely going to die when he was chased by the experts of the Free Mercenary Group?

However, he had survived in that deadly environment and became stronger and more powerful than before.

“A whetstone, well said.” The gloom in Lei Qing’s heart dispersed completely, and his calm eyes filled with boldness: “Since things have come to this, why worry about gains and losses or pity oneself? It is better to bravely face the bleak life and move forward despite the difficulties.”

……