Assassin

Gao Xian lay back in a reclining chair, warming one hand over a brazier while holding a book in the other.

Yet as Gao Xian read, his brow remained furrowed. The toe of his boot, crossed over one knee, tapped faster and faster against the table leg. At last, he sprang up and flung the book onto the table.

Having finished Romance of the Sword Immortal, Gao Xian was so furious smoke seemed to pour from all seven of his orifices.

"Defamation! Those vile commoners actually dared spread rumors about this Great Immortal—and even wrote this Great Immortal a dirty little book."

"This Great Immortal's body was steeped in Immortal Qi, his sleeves filled with divine winds, and all of it has been ruined by those vile commoners."

Nowadays, whenever the Sword Immortal Kongchenzi was mentioned, people spoke not only of that sword strike, Flying Immortal Beyond the Heavens, which had made him famous throughout the land. They also brought up all manner of romantic tales, recounting the heartrending love story between the Sword Immortal and The Two Daughters of the Li Family. Young Master Silver Flower and several wandering martial heroes were woven into the tale as well, described with such convincing detail that it seemed almost real.

And all of it had originated from a book written by someone called Hongyuan, titled Romance of the Sword Immortal. Though Duke of Wei's Estate had already banned the book, it was selling more and more fervently in secret.

Even General Donkey, the Grand Protector, had somehow gotten his hooves on a copy. That alone showed just how brazenly this Hongyuan was selling books behind the scenes.

The copy in Gao Xian's hands had come from the donkey, along with a beating that had made it howl its head off.

After sulking for a while, Gao Xian picked up some fruit from the plate, preparing to read through it several more times with care.

He would find its flaws and properly condemn that unscrupulous author called Hongyuan.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you could fight a hundred battles without defeat.

"The writing is terrible."

"It has neither literary merit nor intellectual depth."

"It twists the facts and distorts the truth."

"All it knows is how to pander to readers with salacious content. It has none of the integrity or steadfastness of a true scholar."

From writing style and literary thought to social responsibility and even a writer's moral backbone, Gao Xian condemned the book from every possible angle, criticizing it until it was worthless. Yet as he read on, his voice gradually fell silent, and he became completely immersed in it.

His verbal criticism had ascended into spiritual criticism.

When he reached for another piece of dried fruit, Gao Xian suddenly sensed that something was wrong.

"Hmm?"

He leaned toward the table and found a transparent thread hanging in the air, aimed directly at his fruit plate.

Following the thread upward, he discovered that it led straight to the roof. A thief dressed in black was lying atop it, pouring a colorless, odorless poison down through the thread.

Gao Xian caught him red-handed.

The small eye in the roof tiles met Gao Xian's wide eye exactly.

But Gao Xian's gaze was full of mockery, while the other man's was filled with panic.

The man immediately tried to flee, but it was already too late. The instant Gao Xian saw him, he had made his move.

Gao Xian flicked a finger, and the poison flowed back up along the thread. In an instant, it became a water arrow that pierced the man's eye, drawing out a scream.

Then he rolled off the roof and crashed onto the ground, his life and death unknown.

This was not the first time.

Recently, someone had poisoned his food. Gao Xian had detected it after one taste, then lay on the bed pretending to be dead. When several men came in to collect the corpse, they sampled their own handiwork—and left horizontally afterward.

The morning before yesterday, a master of disguise posing as a waiter had come in to clean before the sun was three poles high, intending to steal in secret. Gao Xian, in an enormous fit of morning temper, had hammered him to death.

Yesterday, there had even been people trying to steal beneath the beams and replace the pillars, digging a tunnel. Before they could reach the room below, General Donkey stamped its hoof and buried them alive.

Five or six first-rate martial experts had died in succession, turning this courtyard into a place of bloodshed and foul winds.

The matter had grown so serious that the entire Yinglai Inn had been sealed off and rented out by Gao Xian.

Apart from the waiters who came in with meals at fixed times, no one dared approach the area anymore. Every martial wanderer knew that the Sword Immortal and the people of Silver Flower Palace had clashed again.

The Sword Immortal had killed Silver Flower Palace's master and taken away its inherited treasure. No matter what, Silver Flower Palace could not let the matter rest.

Without that inherited treasure, all of Silver Flower Palace would decline and collapse.

Without the antidote to Silver Flower Powder, who knew how many people would die.

Gao Xian was in no hurry. He wanted to see just how many people Silver Flower Palace could send to their deaths. It would be best to kill them until their hearts went cold, to slaughter them all—that would be ideal.

The instant the thief on the roof died, it was as though a signal had been given. Two or three dozen people suddenly appeared around the inn.

For so many days in a row, only one person had appeared each time, and after every assassination attempt, a long interval would pass before the next wave came. It was as if they had merely been trying to make Gao Xian lower his guard. These people seemed to have been building toward this very moment.

"Move!"

It was deep in the night. Aside from night owls, most people were asleep. From a carriage around the corner stepped a short child, his face full of the triumphant smile of a scheme fulfilled.

With that single command,

all of them moved at once.

"Boom!"

Towering flames erupted, setting several courtyards and the inn's entire wooden building ablaze.

The violent blast rolled outward like an earthquake, alarming all of Gongzhou City.

Residents from other wards opened their doors and looked toward West City Street. They saw firelight staining the sky, flames shooting more than ten meters into the air.

Inside a government office in the eastern part of the city, Zhongxing Du seemed to have known long ago that Silver Flower Palace's people would make their move. The moment he heard the commotion, he rushed out, with quite a few men already gathered and awaiting orders.

But Zhongxing Du had never imagined that these people would be so audacious as to use Yu Fire Thunder within Gongzhou City. Seeing the towering blaze in the distance, he was utterly dumbfounded.

This was Yu Fire Thunder, used on battlefields and banned from transport by the imperial court—a top-grade prohibited item that was extremely difficult to obtain. Anyone caught with it would lose their head. Yet to deal with Gao Xian, Silver Flower Palace had brought out dozens of them at once.

Their value alone exceeded a thousand gold, and even with a thousand gold, one ordinarily could not buy them.

More terrifying still, this Yu Fire Thunder contained the fat of exotic beasts. Once ignited, it was exceedingly difficult to extinguish. If the fire spread, it could burn ceaselessly for days and nights.

"Those dog-bred remnants of Silver Flower Palace—how did they smuggle such things into the city?"

"Men! What are you standing there like fools for? Put out the fire... put out the fire!"

Zhongxing Du hurriedly rushed outside, shouting in utter panic as he made for West City Street.

Duke of Wei's Estate was also in chaos. Duke of Wei Li Guoyuan had been awakened and was gathering men to guard against any unexpected developments.

In a small rear-courtyard tower, Li Rong'er rose and draped a garment over herself. She stood atop the tower, looking into the distance, when the maid at her side hurried upstairs and said,

"Miss! It seems something has happened at Yinglai Inn in the west of the city. Master told us to go to the main hall."

A trace of worry appeared between Li Rong'er's delicate brows.

Within a courtyard, a swordsman with graying temples had been practicing his sword. Upon hearing the disturbance, he immediately stopped.

"Not good." Though Lu Canghai had no eyes, he could tell by instinct that something had happened in the direction of West City Street. He seized his sword and hurried over.