Brothers Reunited

"Who is it?!"

Qin Feng jolted.

He immediately rushed out the door, but only saw a black shadow flash past at the end of the road.

"You dare come find me again!"

Qin Feng gathered his energy and sprinted wildly.

But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't catch up to the black shadow.

"Movement technique, you know movement techniques? Are you Chen Sanshi?!"

Qin Feng barely managed to trail behind the black shadow.

The two, one chasing and one fleeing, left Yanbian Village and headed straight towards Tiger Head Mountain.

They arrived all the way at Second Mountain.

The black shadow flashed again and disappeared into the dense forest, vanishing completely.

"Clang—"

The long sword was drawn from its sheath. Qin Feng held the sword in one hand and cautiously entered the dense forest.

The night sky was clear and cloudless, with a bright moon and sparse stars.

Pale moonlight spilled onto the ground, shattered by the dense branches, turning into mottled light and shadow.

With every step Qin Feng took, rustling sounds echoed from the surrounding jungle. He didn't know if it was startled insects, snakes, or beasts, or if someone was lurking in the shadows.

He angrily swung his sword forward, cutting down a large patch of plants to clear his vision, but he still couldn't find the black shadow that had lured him out.

"Who exactly are you?"

"You said you'd take me to see my brother, where is my brother?!"

Finally, that faint voice sounded again.

"Your brother's head was almost crushed by you, and you're still asking me?"

What?

Qin Feng was startled and looked down.

He saw a stark white skull in the muddy ground beneath his feet.

Scattered around the skull were bones and fragments of clothing.

Judging by the remnants of the clothes, they seemed to have been torn apart by wild beasts.

This is...

Qin Xiong's clothes.

How could he forget?!

"Brother!!!"

"Whoosh—"

Qin Feng roared, his heart suddenly turning cold.

A Wolf-fang arrow pierced through his heart from behind and emerged from his chest.

Thump!

Qin Feng knelt on one knee, using his long sword planted in the ground for support, doing his utmost to stay upright. Blood gushed from his mouth and nose like a spring.

He had lost all strength and no longer attempted to resist. He just stared blankly at his brother's remains.

The salt-like moonlight illuminated them, one living and one dead, two brothers.

"Damn it!"

"I'm too kind-hearted to watch this scene. Since your brotherly bond is so deep, I'll grant you a reunion!"

Chen Sanshi emerged from the shadows.

He channeled his qi and blood to his arm. The Plum Blossom Spear moved like a bamboo, and he thrust it through Qin Feng's heart, creating a transparent hole and ending his life.

From beginning to end.

Qin Feng never even got to see the killer's true face.

This was the terrifying aspect of ranged weapons.

As long as one couldn't dodge or withstand the attack, they would almost certainly lose their ability to resist in a single blow.

Clearly, Blood Tempering Proficient was not enough to resist.

Chen Sanshi began searching the corpse and found ten taels of silver.

"You're more well-off than your brother!"

Besides that, there was also a sword.

Chen Sanshi thought for a moment and decided against taking it.

This sword was issued by the Tianyuan Martial Arts Academy, its markings are too obvious, so I can't sell it.

To prevent anyone from seeing the arrow and spear wounds on Qin Feng's corpse, he first pulled out the Wolf-fang arrows, then picked up the long sword and slashed randomly at the corpse more than ten times, ensuring the wounds were indistinguishable before he was satisfied.

"Finally done."

With the major worry dealt with, Chen Sanshi felt comfortable.

This trip also significantly improved his Tracking and Archery progress.

Skill: Archery (Minor Accomplishment)

Progress: (50/1000)

"Tracking broke through!"

Tracking (Minor Accomplishment)

Progress: 0/1000

Effect: Night as day, astonishing perception, light as a swallow, conceal breath and hide form. Two new effects were added on top of the original ones.

Even though it was night, Chen Sanshi could see every subtle movement as clearly as if it were daytime.

Conceal breath and hide form, as the name suggests, needs no further explanation.

With these two attributes, Chen Sanshi was practically an assassin who came and went without a trace.

"Time to go back."

There was a major operation in the county town tonight; he wondered if it would affect the area outside the town.

He dared not linger and returned the way he came at extreme speed under the cover of night.

When passing Sujia Village, Chen Sanshi keenly noticed movement in the woods.

He was fully alert, immediately climbing a tree and employing the concealment technique he had just learned.

Instantly, he felt as if he had merged with the tree, not even disturbing the birds roosting on it.

Shambling footsteps came from the woods, like a drunken man. He would stumble and fall to the ground every few steps, breaking branches and making "rustling" sounds.

Finally.

The source of the sound entered Chen Sanshi's field of vision.

However, it wasn't a drunkard, but a severely wounded person.

The person was not tall, dressed in rags, covered in blood, with more than a dozen knife wounds, some deep enough to expose bone, even revealing pulsating internal organs.

To be able to walk with such heavy injuries was a miracle.

"Where are you from?"

Looking at the man's attire, with earrings and a braided beard, Chen Sanshi knew he wasn't from this dynasty.

"A barbarian?"

"That assassin?"

"Didn't Lord Thousand Households Xiang Tingchun personally oversee things tonight, along with three hundred soldiers and hundreds of martial arts school disciples? How did he escape?"

He didn't act rashly, observing secretly.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

The barbarian coughed out black blood continuously. As he walked, he stumbled and fell into the grass. He tried to get up several times but fell back to the ground. He was clearly at the end of his rope, about to die.

He was seen lying on the ground, using his blood-covered hands to tremble as he dug up mud from beneath a stone.

After great effort, he managed to dig a small hole.

Then, he took out a box from his chest and buried it with all his might.

"He's hiding something?"

Chen Sanshi watched intently.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

After burying the item, the barbarian grabbed weeds and branches to cover the tracks.

At this point, he was barely breathing in and out, close to death, but he still persisted in crawling forward, trying to get away from where he had hidden the item.

After crawling about ten meters, his body stiffened, and he stopped moving completely.

Chen Sanshi waited on the tree for about ten minutes, confirming the man was truly dead, before jumping down. He used his spear to poke open the soil and retrieved the hidden item.

"What is it?"

Chen Sanshi played with the palm-sized box, pondering.

Something hidden with his last breath before death must be very precious.

But the problem was...

Why would an assassin carry a treasure with him on a mission?

Or was it...

The Barbarian's goal was to steal this thing from Poyang County?

"No, no."

Chen Sanshi shook his head.

There were still inconsistencies.

If they were here to steal something, the Barbarian shouldn't have lingered after killing the County Magistrate, and then killed the Yunhe Martial Arts School's Cult Master.

Besides.

What treasure could a small place like Poyang County possibly have?

Intelligence was even less likely.

With the situation escalating this much, even intelligence would be useless, so why bother burying it?

The entire affair had been strange from the very beginning.

The yamen and martial arts schools had never mentioned looking for anything; they only spoke of apprehending assassins.

"Up ahead!"

"Quick!"

"..."

Not far away, the sound of footsteps could be heard again, rapid and solid, clearly the pursuers catching up.

Chen Sanshi naturally couldn't expose himself for being out at night. He immediately restored the dirt pit, covered it with stones, and returned to the tree with the box.

The ones chasing them weren't soldiers from the yamen or the garrison.

They were people from a martial arts school, and there were only three of them.

A middle-aged man leading two personal disciples.

Judging by their clothes, they were from the Zhao Clan Martial Arts School.

The leader was the Cult Master, Zhao Ben.

"Master, it's just him."

"And he's dead!"

They found the Barbarian's corpse.

Zhao Ben's expression turned sharp, and he lunged forward, searching the body. "Where is it?!"

"Search for me!"

"Yes!"

The two disciples drew their swords and searched the vicinity.

Of course, they found nothing.

"Master, there's nothing. I suspect the other people took it."

"Damn it! We were so close!"

Zhao Ben's fists clenched until they turned white. After a long moment, he suppressed his anger. "You didn't let any wind leak tonight, did you?"

"Don't worry, Master. Besides the Cult Masters of the three major martial arts schools, only a few personal disciples and Lord Thousand Households know that we are searching for an Immortal Treasure.

"All the ordinary disciples and garrison soldiers believe it's simply a search for assassins."

"That's good."

Zhao Ben warned, "This matter concerns our century-long plan. If even a shred of it leaks, the consequences would be unimaginable! Therefore, even if an outsider learns even half a piece of news, they must be killed on sight!

"Let's go back. Carry the Barbarian's body back and cut it open. Who knows, the item might be inside him!"

"Yes!"

"..."

Watching the group leave.

Chen Sanshi spent a good while digesting the information from their conversation.

Immortal Treasure?

They were looking for an Immortal Treasure?

And Lord Thousand Households Xiang Tingchun was cooperating with them?

And anyone who came into contact with it would be killed on sight, how overbearing!

Chen Sanshi weighed the box in his hand.

"In that case, it's even more impossible for anyone to know I touched this thing."

"I guess I'll just have to..."

"Keep it for myself!"