Time to Bail

Make a move? Now!?

Was it really appropriate to strike while everyone else was this busy?

The question flashed through her mind, but she had always been decisive.

She had agreed that everything on this trip would follow Chu Qing's command.

Since he had told her to act, then she would act!

As her thoughts turned, her longsword was already in hand. With a flick, its cold edge descended from the heavens.

Amid the crash of shattering tiles, the busy Tang Xi suddenly looked up just as the blade arrived before him.

Without a second thought, before the terrified eyes of the woman beneath him, he grabbed her and rolled over, switching positions with her.

Wu Qianhuan's gaze darkened.

She did not know who this woman was, but she clearly possessed no cultivation.

Faced with her sword, she showed nothing but terror...

After all, she was not a true assassin. Nor would the education she had received since childhood ever permit her to kill a woman who was unarmed, utterly incapable of resisting... and even completely naked.

Thus, in that instant, she turned her sword, sweeping its blade sideways.

She swept the woman from the bed to the floor. The woman did not even groan before passing out.

But this cost her the initiative... At the same time, Wu Qianhuan discovered something else that made her heart sink without end.

That "Night Emperor" who had just told her to act had not attacked alongside her!

Had that bastard sold her out?

No sooner had the thought arisen than Tang Xi thrust out his palm.

The moment that palm emerged, she faintly smelled blood. Seeing the crimson color in Tang Xi's palm, realization dawned on her.

Blood Transformation Divine Palm!

This demonic art was said to have originated from a Blood Transformation Divine Art. Once, an expert of the demonic path had relied upon it to run rampant through the martial world.

It could even be used to refine blood slaves and make them serve as tigers' accomplices.

But when that demon died, the art vanished from the martial world as well.

Later, someone discovered fragments of the art and adapted them into this Blood Transformation Divine Palm, though the secret method for refining blood slaves had already been lost.

Even so, this palm technique remained ruthless and perilous. The blood poison contained within it made one wish for death rather than life upon contact. If this demonic art were cultivated to great mastery, a single palm strike could instantly drain a person's blood and qi, turning them into a desiccated corpse.

Wu Qianhuan did not dare receive this vicious palm head-on. With a flicker, she retreated from the bed.

Tang Xi, disregarding the fact that he was still unclothed, leaped up and pressed his advantage.

It was not that Tang Xi had no shame. With life and death at stake, everything else was a triviality. Killing this assassin of unknown origin came first.

Wu Qianhuan retreated again and again. Just as there was nowhere left to retreat, she gritted her silver teeth. Over those few steps, she had already gathered her sword momentum and was about to strike... when a crash rang out and a figure burst through the window.

A flash of sharpness erupted, like lightning striking flint.

Fast!

Incomparably fast!

Not only had this strike exceeded Tang Xi's expectations, even had he been fully prepared, he might not have been able to receive such a swift sword.

There was no time to turn around. He could only barely shift his vital points aside.

The sword edge pierced through his body with a hiss, entering through his left chest and emerging from his right back.

Chu Qing landed his strike and gave Tang Xi no chance of survival. The longsword embedded in his body suddenly twisted, tearing everything apart...

But at that moment, Tang Xi suddenly grabbed the blade and retreated with the momentum, trying to pull the sword from his body.

A glint of purple flashed through Chu Qing's eyes. He turned the blade, and with a wet rip, several fingers fell to the ground. Tang Xi, who should have been sliced in half, narrowly escaped, though an extremely deep gash remained across the left side of his chest.

At the same time, Wu Qianhuan did not stop. The sword momentum she had accumulated poured forth.

Flowers of sword light left bloody marks across Tang Xi's body.

An ordinary person would undoubtedly have died from such wounds.

Yet Tang Xi cultivated the Heaven-Hating Demonic Art and possessed the Blood Transformation Divine Palm. Even at this point, he still had not died.

His feet turned, and his figure flickered in and out of sight as he abruptly broke free from the battle circle.

Chu Qing had anticipated this. He had long prepared for the windows and doors, with sword intent poised and ready.

Yet he had not expected Tang Xi to understand as well that today's situation allowed him no escape. Rather than seek a way out through the windows, he rushed to the bookshelf, reached out, and fiddled with the lampstand. The bookshelf shuddered with a rattling sound before slowly opening into a door.

The instant a gap appeared, he impatiently squeezed inside.

But after entering and running only two steps, his body stiffened.

A sword tip emerged from his throat. Tang Xi gritted his teeth and reached for the blade, but before he could exert any strength, Wu Qianhuan cut off his arm.

Freed from the restraint of that hand, Chu Qing gave his sword light a shake.

A head rolled from Tang Xi's neck.

It rolled several times across the floor with a gurgling sound, its eyes still wide in death.

"Fucking hard to kill."

Only after seeing Tang Xi die did Chu Qing shake the blood from his sword. He was about to sheath it, but looking at the weapon in his hand, he bared his teeth again.

The sword blade had been corroded by Tang Xi's Blood Transformation Divine Palm and was now mottled beyond repair.

It likely would not last more than a few more uses before becoming useless.

But there was no time to worry about that. With one hand, he seized Wu Qianhuan, and with the other, he used his inner force to draw Tang Xi's head back to him before flashing away.

The pursuit, the beheading—though complicated to describe, it had all happened in but an instant.

The moment their feet settled, a crack sounded behind them as the bookshelf finally closed.

"Time to Bail."

Chu Qing spoke, and Wu Qianhuan followed behind him without the slightest hesitation.

Though she dearly wished to thoroughly search that secret chamber, now truly was not the time.

What was inside the chamber, how large it was, whether it contained mechanisms or hidden personnel... all of it was unknown.

Moreover, the commotion just now would certainly draw people from Falling Rain Hall to investigate.

If they were trapped inside that secret chamber then, they would not be able to get out even if they wanted to.

This was a perilous place they absolutely could not enter. Even if they wished to investigate it, they needed to first leave Falling Rain Hall, inform Wu Ganqi, then deploy the Heavenly Dance Guards to surround Falling Rain Hall completely. Only after bringing everything under their control could they investigate it properly, rather than drag Chu Qing into danger now.

Seeing her conduct, Chu Qing felt gratified.

That little girl from back then, bare-bottomed with her hair in ram's-horn braids, had truly grown up.

Tang Xi had ignored the windows and doors and instead rushed into the secret chamber. Most likely, he had known death was inevitable and had simply intended to lure them into the chamber and trap them there. Once the others from Falling Rain Hall arrived, they could avenge him as well.

At the very least, he could not let the two of them leave Falling Rain Hall alive.

Wu Qianhuan had not been blinded by the immediate gains before her. That alone made her worthy of greater regard.

The two barely lingered in the room before leaping up and returning to the rooftop through the hole Wu Qianhuan had made.

The moment they landed, someone shouted sternly:

"Who goes there?"

"Assassins!!"

It was Falling Rain Hall, after all. Their response was swift.

Without a thought, Chu Qing and Wu Qianhuan used their lightness skills and prepared to flee.

These ordinary Falling Rain Hall members naturally could not stop the two of them.

But just as they were about to leap beyond Falling Rain Hall's courtyard, a voice suddenly rang out:

"What petty wretches dare trespass into my Falling Rain Hall?

"Stay behind!!"

A palm shadow arrived in a flash, its vast force causing even the rain curtain between heaven and earth to tilt beneath its momentum.