Killer Crow!

"Struck by lightning at birth?" Cui Xiaoxin widened her eyes and cried out in astonishment.

Because it was so utterly bizarre, even Cui Xiaoxin, usually calm and broad-minded, could not help voicing her shock and doubt.

Everyone in the Beast-Faced Pavilion turned their eyes toward them, and their expressions gradually became teasing and strange.

"That kid really stops at nothing to win a girl's favor..."

"Struck by lightning and still survived? Do you take us for fools?"

"It's not impossible. Otherwise, how do you explain why he's so black..."

--

Cui Xiaoxin knew she had spoken too loudly and might cause Li Mu Yang unnecessary trouble. With an apologetic look, she said, "Li Mu Yang, I didn't mean to. I just feel that... something like this is really hard to accept."

"I understand." Li Mu Yang nodded and said bitterly, "It's not as if I can accept it either, even after being struck for more than a decade."

"Is this really true?"

"Absolutely." Li Mu Yang nodded with utmost certainty.

Cui Xiaoxin believed him. She could read his sincerity—and his pain—in his eyes.

It was understandable. Anyone struck by lightning would hardly consider it a pleasant experience.

"So your health has always been poor?"

"Mm. Apparently, when I was born, my whole body was covered in blood, and I nearly didn't survive. Later, my parents hired a wandering physician from outside. He was the old Taoist who taught me the Body-Breaking Technique I mentioned teaching my younger sister. Every day, he forced me to drink all kinds of herbal medicine. I drank it for more than a decade before my body was maintained in this condition... but there are many aftereffects. I can't drink stimulating tea because my heartbeat is very weak. I can't eat stimulating food or do overly strenuous exercise, and I have no way to learn martial arts or the empire's widely taught Five Animal Frolics."

Li Mu Yang looked at Cui Xiaoxin and said helplessly, "When the old Taoist left, he said that my brain had been impacted, so I was always drowsy and exhausted. There was nothing anyone could do to cure it; I could only leave it to fate. It wasn't that I didn't want to study hard. It was just that whenever I opened a textbook, waves of sleepiness would wash over me. I tried all kinds of methods—tying my hair up to the rafters, sticking needles into my thighs, rubbing chili water on my temples—but none of it helped. Sleepiness defeated me. You know what happened after that: I gave up on myself."

Cui Xiaoxin was filled with sympathy for Li Mu Yang. "But the Literary Examination is only a month away. If you don't prepare at all... have you thought about how you'll live afterward? You can't sleep your whole life, can you?"

"I have. I think about it every day. But what can I do?"

"Starting today, I'll tutor you." Cui Xiaoxin gritted her teeth. "Right here."

Li Mu Yang waved his hand in refusal. "Cui Xiaoxin, I'm very grateful for your kindness. But I can't drag you down at a time like this. Li Sinian often wanted to tutor me before, hoping to improve my grades. But she failed too."

"I don't believe that." Cui Xiaoxin's face was full of determination. She had always been stubborn; once she decided on something, she would never give up easily. "I don't believe there's anything in this world that can't be overcome. I don't believe there's any field in this world that humanity can't conquer. Starting today, I'll tutor you here. We'll start from the basics. Whatever you want to learn, I'll teach you. Whatever you don't understand, I'll explain. Even if we're short on time, it's still far better than giving up without doing anything."

"But I'm afraid..."

"No buts." Cui Xiaoxin cut Li Mu Yang off. "Don't think you'll affect my studies. I'm already prepared. I will definitely get into Xifeng University."

"..." The girl's confident appearance was dazzling.

"Li Mu Yang, what's your answer?"

"Then I'll be counting on you." Li Mu Yang spoke in a deep voice.

The young man and young woman looked at each other and smiled. A powerful warmth surged through Li Mu Yang's heart.

This feels really good.

"Miss, here is the fruit you ordered." A staff member in a Beast-Faced uniform carried over a fruit platter.

Li Mu Yang glanced at him and saw a handsome young man with delicate features. He was not the same person who had brought the Jade Water earlier. Smiling, Li Mu Yang said, "Thank you."

He imitated Cui Xiaoxin's use of imperial noble etiquette, doing so so perfectly that Cui Xiaoxin's eyes lit up. It was as if the person sitting before her really were a noble imperial warrior.

"Did you order fruit?" Cui Xiaoxin asked.

"No." Li Mu Yang shook his head. "Didn't you order it?"

"I didn't."

Cui Xiaoxin's little face instantly went pale, and she opened her mouth to say something—

Her reaction had already been lightning-fast, but she was still one step too late.

A cruel smile appeared on the young attendant's face. The sharp fruit knife in his hand stabbed toward Cui Xiaoxin's neck.

It was one of the most vulnerable parts of the human body. As long as he pierced her carotid artery, the beautiful girl, whose body still carried the fragrant scent of maidenhood, would vanish like smoke in thin air.

She was the target of his trip to Jiangnan.

"Danger."

Li Mu Yang sensed the aura of danger.

It was like walking through a desolate, uninhabited mountain and feeling a terrifying beast eyeing you hungrily.

His heart raced, and every hair on his body stood on end.

Li Mu Yang was seated opposite Cui Xiaoxin, so the moment he saw the knife in the attendant's hand, his first reaction was to lunge at the killer.

There was no better choice. He did not even know whether he had any other choice.

Run away? That would have been a good option. But the thought never even appeared in his mind.

He opened his mouth to shout, but no sound came out.

His heart was pounding so hard that he feared it might leap out of his chest.

Li Mu Yang was frightened too—terrified.

But he still spread his arms and lunged at the killer.

He wanted to knock him away. He wanted to shield Cui Xiaoxin with his own body.

Before striking, the killer had already been watching the situation here carefully.

Apart from the imperial heiress, there was only a dark-skinned young man seated opposite her.

As one of the empire's top twenty killers, Killer Crow possessed superb skill and razor-sharp eyes.

He trusted his judgment. That ugly boy was merely an ordinary person, perhaps even weaker than one. Just from speaking a few sentences, fine beads of sweat had appeared on his forehead, and his legs had kept trembling while he stood.

He had personally witnessed everything that had happened when Li Mu Yang tried to keep Cui Xiaoxin from leaving. He had observed it more carefully than anyone else.

What an idiot courting death, Killer Crow thought contemptuously.

He had not originally intended to do anything to Li Mu Yang. After all, he had only been paid for one head. In the assassin business, there was no buy-one-get-one-free service.

By his estimation, the fool would probably have been so frightened upon seeing him attack that he would collapse there, unable to move. He had never expected him to charge over at a time like this and play the hero rescuing the beauty.

Did heroes ever meet good ends? Was a beauty so easy to rescue?

Before Li Mu Yang could reach him, Killer Crow had already brought the fruit platter in his left hand down over Li Mu Yang's head.

Clang—

The fruit platter smashed into Li Mu Yang's head, halting his charge.

As he covered Li Mu Yang's face with the platter, Killer Crow's right hand did not remain idle.

The fruit knife in his hand spun into a beautiful flourish before sliding toward Cui Xiaoxin's throat.

He would carve a cherry blossom into Cui Xiaoxin's snowy, tender neck. When red blood seeped out, that cherry blossom would bloom in dazzling splendor.

Slash—

The fruit knife drove cleanly into flesh.