The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#166 - Fire Scale Armor

Anxious to return and study the black heart, Lu Jing didn't even bother to accept Yazdan's gratitude after saving him. He hurried back to the tailor shop with the female shopkeeper.

Unexpectedly, two uninvited guests were already waiting for him there.

One of them was the girl named Sarah who had come before.

She had proposed that Lu Jing kill Yazdan, but Lu Jing refused without hesitation, and she left angrily.

Frankly, Lu Jing didn't expect her to come back, especially with another slightly younger girl by her side.

"Nikaal?" Lu Jing's gaze fell on the girl beside Sarah, and he raised his eyebrows.

The girl nodded, stood up, and bowed to Lu Jing politely, saying, "Hero Lu."

After speaking, she nudged Sarah, who had a stern face, and the latter reluctantly stood up and bowed, saying, "The last time I coerced you to kill Yazdan, I was the one who insisted on it, and it has nothing to do with Nikaal."

However, before she could finish speaking, Nikaal said, "No, no, no, I was indeed persuaded at that time. I really wanted to avenge my father, but… in any case, we shouldn't have used the lives of the entire city as a bargaining chip, let alone take advantage of your benevolence."

Hearing this, tears welled up in Nikaal's eyes again, "It's true that my father is a drunkard, but he has always been very good to me. In fact, after he was called away by the guards, he returned very panicked, but he didn't want to tell me anything, and he pretended to be very happy to the outside world, and even bought a lot of wine to celebrate."

"But in reality, he was already trying to arrange a way out for me. I didn't run away from home myself, but he entrusted me to Sister Sarah."

"Is that so? Then you're here to find me now…"

"Hero Lu, we have all seen what you have done during this period of time. You are truly benevolent and unparalleled. Perhaps only you can save Marasarkand. I am here this time to tell you everything I know, without any conditions."

Without waiting for Lu Jing to answer, Nikaal continued, "I come from an ancient family. My ancestors were originally nobles of a small kingdom in the Western Regions, but later, because they were dissatisfied with the king's exorbitant taxes, they led a group of people who were willing to follow him all the way west."

"They entered the Mingsha Desert and, after more than two months of arduous trekking, discovered this oasis. So they built a city here, which is Marasarkand."

"My ancestor was a very powerful and resourceful man. Under his leadership, Marasarkand quickly transformed from poverty and backwardness into prosperity. And like Hero Lu, his martial arts were also very powerful."

"It is said that our family originally had a divine skill called the Firescale Armor. When practiced to the highest level, it could make one's body seem to be covered with scales, making it a first-class body protection skill that is invulnerable to swords and spears and difficult to injure with sharp blades."

Hearing this, Lu Jing couldn't help but let out a soft exclamation, because during the great battle between him and Tus before, Tus's body had also flashed with scale-like patterns when it was hit hard.

Could it be this divine skill called the Firescale Armor? But wait, Tus isn't from Nikaal's family, is he? Why would he know the Firescale Armor?

While Lu Jing was thinking, he heard Nikaal continue, "My ancestor relied on this divine skill and a battle spear to run rampant in the Western Regions, invincible to ten thousand men. That was also the reason why the king didn't dare to make things difficult for him when he left."

After Nikaal finished speaking, she noticed that the female shopkeeper also let out a soft exclamation, so she couldn't help but ask, "Is there a problem?"

Lu Jing did guess some possibilities, but now that Tus was gone, there was no way to verify it, so he just shook his head, "No, please continue."

"Oh, oh, in short, my ancestor was both civil and martial, almost omnipotent, and even more miraculously, as time went by, he showed almost no signs of aging, and looked as young as ever, so the people in the city regarded him as a god."

"However, he had been secretly building a mausoleum for himself. His family couldn't understand why, until the day the mausoleum was completed, he called his eldest son into the house and told him that he was about to die."

"Because he had made a deal with a demon, exchanging it for great power, a clever mind, and immortality. However, the price was to share his body with the demon."

"In about half a year, the demon in his body would awaken. If it wasn't handled properly, it would definitely bring disaster to this city. So he planned to use this mausoleum to trap himself underground forever."

"He first used several very powerful formations to seal himself, and then prepared three hundred and sixty-two sand warriors as guards."

"How many?"

Lu Jing suddenly spoke at this time. So far, he had killed a total of two hundred and twelve iron-clad warriors, but speaking of the number of iron-clad warriors he had seen on the murals before, it did seem to exceed three hundred.

"Three hundred and sixty-two." Nikaal's face was full of worry.

"But after more than four hundred years, these warriors now seem to have been bewitched by the demon, becoming extremely violent and bloodthirsty, but they should still remember their original mission in their hearts."

"Yazdan learned about these things and the location of the ancient mausoleum from my father. He should have sneaked in several times, and then, more than twenty days ago, he probably took something important from the ancient tomb, causing the sand warriors in the tomb to run out."

"The sandstorm that is now descending on Marasarkand is caused by this. We must return the thing he took to the ancient tomb in order to stop this disaster."

Nikaal said with a serious face.

However, after she finished speaking righteously, she found that Lu Jing and the female shopkeeper both looked a little strange.

Nikaal thought that the two didn't understand the seriousness of the matter, so she hurriedly explained, "We have to hurry…"

As a result, her words were interrupted by Lu Jing just as she started, "It's not Yazdan."

"Huh?"

"The person who took something from the ancient tomb was not Yazdan, but the city lord Tus. The murderer who killed your father should also be him." Lu Jing said, "And he is already dead now."

"Dead? How did he die?" Nikaal asked in surprise.

"Hero Lu killed him, just now." The female shopkeeper briefly told the two girls what had happened before.

Sarah's face also changed. When she thought about how she had almost made Lu Jing kill the wrong person, she couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.

Nikaal muttered, "No wonder the time of the previous sandstorm was wrong… Wait, that's not right, why did the sandstorm disappear again? That thing shouldn't have been returned yet."