Brothers Reunited

"Who?!"

Qin Feng jolted.

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

"You still dare come looking for me!"

Qin Feng gathered his breath and sprinted after it.

Yet no matter how hard he pushed himself, he could not catch the shadow.

"Lightness skill—you know lightness skill too? Are you Chen Sanshi?!"

Qin Feng barely managed to trail behind the shadow.

One in front and one behind, one chasing and one fleeing, they left Yanbian Village and headed straight toward Tiger Head Mountain.

They went all the way to Second Mountain.

The black shadow flashed again, slipping into the dense woods and disappearing completely.

Clang—

His longsword left its sheath. Qin Feng held it in one hand and cautiously entered the forest.

The night sky was cloudless for miles, the moon bright and the stars sparse.

Pale moonlight spilled over the earth, only to be shredded by dense branches into mottled patches of light and shadow.

With every step Qin Feng took, rustling came from the surrounding woods. He did not know whether he had startled insects, snakes, and wild beasts, or whether someone was watching from the shadows.

Furiously, he swung his sword ahead, cutting down swathes of vegetation to clear his view, yet he never saw the black shadow that had lured him out.

"Who exactly are you?"

"Weren't you going to take me to see my elder brother? Where is he?!"

At last, that faint, ghostly voice sounded again.

"You're about to crush your brother's skull beneath your foot, and you're asking me?"

What?

Startled, Qin Feng lowered his head.

In the mud beneath his feet lay a stark-white skull.

Bones and scraps of clothing were scattered sparsely around it.

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

This was...

Qin Xiong's clothing.

How could he forget?!

"Brother!!!"

Whoosh—

As Qin Feng roared, his heart suddenly turned cold.

A wolf-fang arrow pierced through his heart from behind, its tip emerging from his chest.

Thud!

Qin Feng dropped to one knee, driving his longsword into the ground for support. He used every ounce of strength to keep himself from falling as blood gushed from his mouth and nose like a spring.

He had no strength left, nor did he try to resist. He merely stared blankly at his elder brother's remains.

Moonlight like salt shone upon one man and one ghost, two blood brothers.

"Damn!"

"I'm softhearted—I can't bear to watch this. Since you brothers are so close, I'll grant you a full reunion!"

Chen Sanshi stepped out from the shadows.

He drove his blood and qi into his arm. The Plum Blossom Spear smashed through all resistance, punching a transparent hole through Qin Feng's heart and ending his life.

From beginning to end,

Qin Feng never even saw his killer's true face.

That was the terror of ranged weapons.

As long as one could not dodge them or withstand them, a single strike would almost always rob one of the ability to resist.

Clearly, Blood Refinement Mastery was still insufficient to endure it.

Chen Sanshi searched the corpse and found ten taels of silver.

"You were better off than your brother!"

Besides that, there was also a sword.

Chen Sanshi considered it, then decided against taking it.

The sword had been issued by Tianyuan Martial Arts Academy. Its characteristics were far too obvious, making it impossible to sell.

To prevent anyone from seeing the arrow wound and spear wound on Qin Feng's body, he first pulled out the wolf-fang arrow, then picked up the longsword and hacked wildly at the corpse more than a dozen times. Only after confirming that the wounds could no longer reveal what weapon had caused them was he satisfied.

"Finally, it's done."

With this great danger removed, Chen Sanshi felt at ease.

Over the course of this trip, both his Tracking and archery progress had improved considerably.

Skill: Archery (Minor Mastery)

Progress: (50/1000)

"Tracking broke through!"

Tracking (Minor Mastery)

Progress: 0/1000

Effects: Night as bright as day, astonishing perception, light as a swallow, conceal breath and hide oneself

On top of the original effects, two more had appeared.

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

Concealing breath and hiding oneself needed no explanation.

With these two traits combined, Chen Sanshi was utterly an assassin who came without a shadow and left without a trace.

"Time to head back."

There was major activity in County Town tonight. He did not know whether it would spread beyond the city walls.

He did not dare linger. At great speed, he retraced his path through the night.

As he passed Sujia Village, Chen Sanshi keenly noticed movement in the woods.

On high alert, he immediately climbed a tree and used the breath-concealing method he had just learned.

In an instant, he had the illusion that he had fused with the tree itself. Even the birds roosting in its branches were not startled.

Swaying footsteps came from the woods, like those of a drunken man. Every few steps, the person would stumble and crash to the ground, snapping grass and branches with rustling sounds.

At last,

the source of the sounds entered Chen Sanshi's field of vision.

However, it was not a drunkard, but a severely wounded man.

The newcomer was short, dressed in rags, and covered in blood. He had more than a dozen blade wounds alone, deep enough to expose bone, and even his pulsing organs could be seen.

To still be able to walk with such terrible injuries was practically a miracle.

"Where did he come from?"

Chen Sanshi looked at the man's attire. His ears were pierced with studs, and even his beard was braided—nothing like the style of people from this dynasty.

"A barbarian?"

"That assassin?"

"Wasn't Lord Thousand Households Xiang Tingchun personally overseeing things tonight, along with three hundred men and several hundred martial arts school disciples? And he still got out?"

Chen Sanshi did not act rashly. He observed in secret.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

The barbarian continuously coughed up black blood. As he walked, he staggered and fell into the grass. Several times he tried to rise, only to crash back to the ground. He was clearly at the end of his tether and about to die.

Lying prone on the ground, he used hands slick with thick blood to tremulously dig into the dirt beneath a stone.

After great effort, he finally scraped out a small hole.

Then he pulled a box from his robes and buried it with all his remaining strength.

"Is he hiding something?"

Chen Sanshi watched intently.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

After burying the object, the barbarian grabbed weeds and branches to cover the traces.

By then, he was practically only drawing breath and no longer exhaling. He was close to death, yet he still crawled onward, wanting to get away from the place where he had hidden the object.

Only after crawling roughly ten meters did his body stiffen and become completely still.

Chen Sanshi waited in the tree for about ten minutes. Once he confirmed the man was truly dead, he jumped down, used his spear to poke open the soil, and took out the item hidden within.

"What is this?"

Chen Sanshi toyed with the palm-sized box as he pondered.

Something the man had insisted on hiding with his last breath had to be precious.

But the question was—

why would an assassin carry treasure on him while going out to carry out a mission?

Or perhaps...

the barbarian's purpose had been to come to Poyang County and steal this object?

"No, no."

Chen Sanshi shook his head.

There were still things that did not add up.

If he had come to steal something, then after killing the County Magistrate, the barbarian should have been even less likely to remain here. Yet during that time, he had also killed the headmaster of Yunhe Martial Arts School.

Besides,

what treasure could tiny Poyang County possibly possess?

Information was even less likely.

With things having blown up this badly, even intelligence would have become useless. Was there any need to bury it?

The entire affair had been strange from the very beginning.

The yamen and martial arts schools had never mentioned searching for any object. They had only spoken of hunting down the assassin.

"Up ahead!"

"Quick!"

"..."

More footsteps sounded nearby—swift and solid. Clearly, the pursuers had caught up.

Naturally, Chen Sanshi could not expose the fact that he had gone out at night. He immediately restored the pit, pressed a stone over it, and returned to the tree with the box.

Those pursuing him were not soldiers from the yamen or garrison.

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

A middle-aged man led two personal disciples.

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

The leader was its headmaster, Zhao Ben.

"Master, it's just him."

"And he's dead!"

They found the barbarian's corpse.

Zhao Ben's expression turned icy. He rushed over and searched the corpse. "Where is it?!"

"Search!"

"Yes!"

The two disciples drew their swords and searched the area.

Naturally, they found nothing in the end.

"Master, there's nothing. I think the others must have taken it."

"Damn it! We were so close!"

Zhao Ben clenched his fists until they turned white. Only after a long while did he suppress his anger. "You didn't let anything slip tonight, did you?"

"Rest assured, Master. Apart from the headmasters of the three great 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 we are simply hunting the assassin."

"Good."

Zhao Ben warned, "This concerns our century-long grand plan. If word leaks, the consequences will be too dreadful to contemplate! Thus, even if outsiders learn the slightest bit, kill without mercy!

"Let's go back. Carry the barbarian's corpse back too and cut him open. The object might be in his belly!"

"Yes!"

"..."

Watching the group depart,

Chen Sanshi spent quite a while digesting the amount of information in their conversation.

An immortal treasure?

They were searching for an immortal treasure?

Lord Thousand Households Xiang Tingchun was working with them too?

And damn it, they would kill anyone who came into contact with even a scrap of outside information? How domineering.

Chen Sanshi weighed the box in his hand.

"In that case, I definitely can't let anyone know I touched this thing."

"So it can only..."

"Belong to me!"