Fire Cooking Oil, Killing with a Cup of Wine

The fire rose swiftly.

The drapes were finest Suzhou-Hangzhou silk, and the lamp oil was whale fat from the deep sea. When the two met, it was like pouring oil onto a raging blaze.

Red light flooded half the pavilion, while screams, running footsteps, and shattering porcelain melded into a boiling chaos.

Amid that seething turmoil, only a figure in blue moved against the tide of people, stepping over tongues of flame as he drifted soundlessly up to the third floor.

Third floor, Heaven-class private rooms.

The heavy nanmu door was tightly shut, sealing out the uproar beyond.

Four Barbarian guards stood rigidly at the entrance, hands gripping their curved sabers. They did not move, even though the floor beneath their feet had begun to grow hot.

They were death warriors.

Barbarian death warriors recognized only their master's orders, never their own lives.

"Stop."

Seeing the blue-robed figure emerge from the smoke, the leading guard spat out two cold words.

His Great Liang speech was stiff, carrying the rank smell of mutton.

Ji Ye did not stop.

He carried that iron sword in his hand, its tip dragging along the floor and carving a shallow mark into the wooden boards with every step.

"I came bearing gifts."

Ji Ye's voice was soft, as though he were chatting with an old friend.

"What gift?" The guard's fingers had already tightened around his saber hilt.

"To send you on your way."

Before the words had faded.

The wind stirred.

Ji Ye suddenly vanished.

It was not the teleportation from storybooks, but speed pushed to the uttermost limit, beyond what human eyes could catch.

The guards saw only a blur before an icy chill pressed against their faces.

"Ha!"

The four guards drew their sabers at once.

Their curved blades flashed like snow, weaving a net of death through the air. This was the Barbarians' combined battle formation, the Wolf Fang Formation. Even an Organ Tempering expert would be skinned alive if caught within it.

But Ji Ye was not caught inside.

Because he was faster than the net.

"Clang—"

The iron sword left its sheath.

There was no technique in this strike, only a simple, direct arc that carried a strange rhythm within it.

Like the final stroke a master calligrapher laid upon rice paper.

The brush lifted. The ink ran dry.

All four guards froze at once.

Their sabers remained in midair, their eyes still wide, yet thin red lines had slowly seeped across their throats.

"Pfft. Pfft. Pfft. Pfft."

Four soft sounds rang out almost simultaneously.

Four heads rolled neatly to the ground, their faces still locked in the savage expressions they had worn when drawing their blades.

Ji Ye sheathed his sword.

There was no blood on the blade.

The sword had been too fast for the blood to catch up.

"Bang."

Ji Ye kicked open the private room's door.

At that moment, one of Tuli's feet was already on the windowsill.

He turned back and met Ji Ye's utterly still eyes.

In that instant, he felt that he was not looking at a person, but into a bottomless well.

"Stay."

Ji Ye raised his hand and swung his sword.

The sword light stretched like a bolt of silk, crossing more than a zhang.

Tuli felt a chill at his neck, and the scene before him suddenly began to spin as heaven and earth whirled around him.

He saw his headless corpse still hanging over the windowsill, blood spraying from its neck.

He also saw the blue-robed swordsman slowly returning his sword to its sheath.

What a fast sword...

That was Tuli's final thought.

"Slap."

The head hit the ground.

Ji Ye walked over, picked up the still-dripping head, and casually tore down a piece of drapery to wrap it in.

Then he turned and left the private room.

The blaze had already reached the third floor. Waves of heat rushed at him, baking his skin dry.

Carrying the head, Ji Ye walked to the railing.

Below, the second-floor hall had already descended into utter chaos.

Yet amid that disorderly crowd, one spot was completely empty.

Someone stood there.

Dressed in snow-white robes, immaculate and untouched by dust.

He held a cup of wine and looked up toward the third floor.

Qin Wuji.

Their gazes collided in midair.

One was a lofty young scion of an aristocratic family; the other, a jianghu assassin carrying a severed head.

In his previous life, Qin Wuji had pierced Ji Ye's heart with a single sword, ending his life.

In this life, they met again.

Only this time, who was hunter and who was prey remained unknown.

Qin Wuji looked at the blue-robed figure, a flicker of surprise passing through his eyes.

What a fast sword.

What crushing killing intent.

"Your skills are impressive."

Qin Wuji raised his wine cup in a distant toast. "You kill on my Qin family's turf, then set the building ablaze. How should we settle this debt?"

His voice was not loud, yet strengthened by Internal Strength, it pierced through the noisy inferno and clearly entered Ji Ye's ears.

Ji Ye smiled.

His smile was somewhat cold.

He lifted the head in his hand and gave it a shake.

"This Barbarian's head is a token of thanks for helping Young Master Qin clean house."

"As for this fire..."

Ji Ye glanced at the roaring flames behind him.

"The weather is dry. Be careful with fire and candles."

With that, he pushed off from the railing and leaped out of the building like a great bird.

"Trying to leave?"

Qin Wuji snorted coldly.

The wine cup in his hand suddenly flew out.

That delicate porcelain cup, infused with Internal Strength, let out a shrill whistle as it tore through the air. Like a cannonball fired from its barrel, it shot straight for Ji Ye's back.

This blow was enough to pierce through gold and stone.

Yet Ji Ye, suspended in midair, seemed to have eyes on the back of his head.

He did not turn around.

He simply swung his sword backward.

"Clang!"

The flat of the sword struck the side of the wine cup with perfect precision.

It was not a head-on clash, but borrowing force to redirect force.

With that strike, the wine cup changed direction. Rather than shattering, it shot toward a load-bearing pillar on the second floor at even greater speed.

"Boom!"

The wine cup struck the pillar, and Internal Strength erupted.

That nanmu pillar, thick enough for two people to wrap their arms around, was blasted apart by that tiny wine cup, half of it shattered by sheer force!

Wood chips flew everywhere as the building shook violently.

Qin Wuji's expression finally changed.

"What an exquisite technique for dissipating force."

He looked at the broken pillar. When he raised his head again, the blue-robed figure had already vanished into the boundless night.

Only a sentence drifted away on the night wind.

"Young Master Qin, the wine was good."

"Next time, I'll treat you to Blood Wine."

Qin Wuji stood where he was, staring at the empty night sky as his fingers lightly stroked the hilt of the sword at his waist.

After a long while.

He suddenly laughed.

His smile was chillingly cold.

"Interesting."

"Investigate."

He gave the old servant behind him a calm order.

"Dig three feet into the ground if you must, but find this 'sword' for me."

"When did such a river-crossing dragon come to Capital City?"

Grand Princess's Manor, Tingxue Tower.

The tea had gone cold.

Xiao Hongxiu still sat there, her fingers lightly tapping the tabletop.

"Your Highness, that man is likely not coming back."

The black-clad man behind her said coldly, "Zuisheng Tower is engulfed in flames, and Qin Wuji is inside. He may be able to kill Tuli, but as a mere jianghu drifter, he cannot escape Qin Wuji's sword."

Just then.

"Plop."

Something round was thrown over the wall, rolling to a stop at Xiao Hongxiu's feet.

It was a human head.

Tuli's head.

Immediately afterward, a figure vaulted over the wall and landed lightly in the courtyard.

Ji Ye brushed the soot from his clothes, carried that iron sword, and climbed the steps.

He looked at Xiao Hongxiu and pointed at the cold tea on the table.

"Your Highness."

"The tea has gone cold."

"But that is all right."

Ji Ye grinned, revealing a row of white teeth.

"This head is still warm."