Who Are You?

In the blink of an eye, the two of them were fighting in the courtyard.

Both sides fought speed with speed, killing moves bursting forth one after another within inches of space.

As Chu Qing watched, he prayed that the Heavenly Dance Guards would happen to patrol this place and drive out these two fools who had come to someone else's courtyard to fight.

However, the spot he had chosen was already remote. Though the Heavenly Dance Guards patrolled the entire city, they could not possibly attend to every corner.

Neither of them used any particularly powerful moves during the fight, so even after battling for quite some time, no one noticed anything unusual.

This exchange also allowed Chu Qing to see Wen Rou's capabilities.

Her martial arts still did not stray from the scope of the Great Easy Sect, and she wielded the Great Easy Sect's three supreme arts with effortless ease.

Yet the martial arts that were incomparably fierce and unyielding in Chu Fan's hands became either ethereal and unfathomable or exquisitely nimble in hers. Clearly the same martial art, yet it produced entirely different effects in her hands.

Beyond that, she also possessed an exquisite finger technique, weaving it between the three supreme arts and often catching her opponent off guard.

Thus, even at this point, she and the Third Boss of the Divine Sand Gang remained evenly matched.

However, that was mainly because Wen Rou had not given Mei Qianluo a chance to open up the distance since the moment they began fighting.

The first four words of Flying Cloud Sparrow Fan, Withered Leaves Thousand Fall referred to his iron fan technique.

The latter four words referred to his concealed weapon technique.

Yet in the current situation, Mei Qianluo's concealed weapons had no chance to be used at all. The distance was too close... there was simply no room for him to strike.

And his original iron fan had been too conspicuous, so tonight he had switched to a folding fan, its power greatly diminished.

Still, one was a veteran of the martial world while the other was a junior. For their fight to have remained undecided until now already counted as Mei Qianluo suffering a crushing defeat.

Had they fought before others, Mei Qianluo would definitely have been too ashamed to continue fighting Wen Rou.

But tonight was different. This was a fight to the death. Seniority and juniority were cast aside; victory and defeat meant nothing—only life and death would decide it!

Mei Qianluo suddenly raised his head and flicked the folding fan in his hand. With a rattling sound, the fan flew from his grasp.

Wen Rou swept one hand, and the folding fan circled around her once.

Then it returned to Mei Qianluo.

She had expected Mei Qianluo to reach out and catch the fan, and Wen Rou had already prepared the follow-up moves.

But unexpectedly, with another rattle, Mei Qianluo shot out two fingers. The fan shattered directly, and in that moment of surprise, his fingers were about to land on Wen Rou's shoulder.

Wen Rou remained calm in the face of danger. Her move changed with the momentum, and she sent out a punch that struck squarely against those two fingers.

A crack rang out.

The sound of bones fracturing immediately came from Mei Qianluo's two fingers.

Yet there was no joy on Wen Rou's face. When things defied common sense, there had to be something sinister at work... Those two fingers were definitely not the killing move. Why had he struck now?

Then her expression changed. With a muffled grunt, her entire body flew backward.

Looking at her fist, there was now a slender silver needle embedded in it.

The needle had been dipped in poison, and a patch of her fair hand had already turned black.

There was still little change in Wen Rou's expression. She merely frowned slightly and pressed two fingers of her left hand against the Quchi acupoint on her right arm.

Her inner breath surged, and with a whoosh, the silver needle in her palm shot out at once.

"Despite being considered a senior of the martial world, you actually resorted to such despicable methods..."

When Wen Rou spoke, her expression remained mild.

It was as though she was not troubled in the slightest by her own situation.

Mei Qianluo's face reddened at her words, and he could not help feeling ashamed.

"The matter we are planning this time is of tremendous importance. Not even the slightest mistake can be allowed.

"You possess such martial arts at such a young age. If another ten years passed, I fear I would not even be worthy to carry your shoes...

"Unfortunately, you do not have ten years to wait.

"It was already wrong for me to use my seniority to bully a junior today. Using poisoned silver needles to take your life is even less fit to be known by others.

"Otherwise, the name Mei Qianluo would surely become a laughingstock.

"Fortunately, once you are dead, no one will know any of this."

Having said that, he stepped forward, inner force gathering in his palm as he prepared to smash Wen Rou's head apart.

But just as he raised his palm high, he discovered that Wen Rou was looking behind him.

There was a trace of confusion hidden in her pale, calm eyes.

"Hm? At death's door, you still want to deceive me?"

The moment he saw that clear yet faintly foolish look in her eyes, Mei Qianluo recalled how Wen Rou had deceived him earlier into revealing his own identity.

How could he possibly fall for it again now?

That palm was about to descend when his heart suddenly tightened.

He felt that something behind him really did seem wrong.

He spun around sharply and saw that the tightly shut door had somehow opened.

A young man in coarse cloth clothes had already walked out of the room.

He seemed not to have seen Mei Qianluo, nor Wen Rou.

He walked over to the assassin Wen Rou had killed with a single palm strike.

Then he picked up the man's blade from the ground.

"You are..."

For a moment, Mei Qianluo could not decide what to do.

But before he could finish speaking, the young man shifted his footing and had already closed in before him.

The blade came with force, its trajectory strange and unpredictable.

The blade intent was ruthless and absolute, far beyond any ordinary saber technique. For a moment, Mei Qianluo did not even know how he ought to dodge it.

In the end, he simply rolled across the ground, avoiding the slash in an utterly miserable fashion.

But when he rose to his feet, he found blood streaming from his left arm. Half his arm had already fallen to the ground.

Mei Qianluo's face turned ashen. Staggering backward again and again, he stared at Chu Qing in disbelief.

"Who are you?"

Chu Qing, meanwhile, felt an unprecedented sense of satisfaction.

Sure enough, a blade was still the handiest thing for severing limbs.

He ignored Mei Qianluo and looked instead at Wen Rou.

"How are you?"

Mei Qianluo's silver needle had been too well concealed. Thinking about it now, it must have been hidden in his sleeve. As he struck, he flicked his wrist and drew out the needle, pinching it between two fingers. When Wen Rou struck his fingers, he used inner force to shoot the needle out, exchanging the shortest distance for the greatest damage.

Under such circumstances, even Chu Qing, who had watched the entire battle, had failed to notice it.

By the time he realized, Wen Rou had already been struck by the needle.

"...I won't die."

Wen Rou looked at Chu Qing with an odd expression.

"Who are you?"

Now that was fresh!

Chu Qing was somewhat surprised. This girl had not recognized him?

Did she not recognize people by scent?

Could it be that he had been diligent about bathing these past two days, making his scent too faint for her to distinguish?

But that was not right either...

When he had gone to the Chu Family that day, he had also bathed before going.

Why had she been able to recognize him that day, but not today?

Chu Qing thought carefully, then suddenly felt that the scent this girl spoke of might not be body odor.

Could it be... the scent of inner force?

After all, these past few days, aside from turning the Ruoxu Scripture into the Purple Mist Ruoxu Scripture, he had undergone no other changes.

But if that were truly the case, it would be even more astonishing than a keen sense of smell.

Was she born extraordinary, or had she cultivated some strange martial art?

Thinking of this, Chu Qing rubbed his nose and smiled.

"I'm not telling you."

"???"

Question marks surfaced in Wen Rou's eyes. Then she looked toward Mei Qianluo and said to Chu Qing,

"He ran away."

Chu Qing smiled at this and looked at Mei Qianluo, who had already vaulted over the wall.

"Mm, it's good that he ran."

Wen Rou: "?"