Murderous Intent at the Black Inn

Dry Bone Town—the very name carried an air of ill omen.

It stood alone beside the official road leading north. The town was small, its houses low and dilapidated, mostly built from grayish-brown stones, as though they had melded into the barren hills behind them.

On the crooked wooden archway at the town entrance, the three words "Dry Bone Town" had faded into illegibility. A gust of wind swept past, stirring sand and a few dead leaves with a sound like mournful sobbing.

Near dusk, Chen Qing and his party arrived at the town entrance. They decided to spend the night here, because this was the only place to rest for miles around.

The only inn—Yue Lai Inn—had its banner hanging listlessly outside. Rather than inviting business, it looked more like a white flag of surrender.

Chen Qing's party slowly entered the town. The creaking of the donkey cart sounded especially piercing on the overly quiet streets.

Several sallow, emaciated townspeople squatted in the corners, watching the newcomers: battered escorts, a bearded burly man with blood on his collar, a handsome young man in green robes with sharp eyes, a "youth" whose female disguise could not conceal her delicate beauty, and... a gigantic wolf that made people recoil at the very sight of it.

Wolf King kept his head low, his dim green pupils sweeping over the townspeople. A low growl rumbled from his throat—a warning.

Chen Qing's expression did not change. His gaze seemed to casually sweep over the inn's half-open doors and the tightly shut windows on the second floor. His divine sense had already spread out like spilled mercury.

There were no guests inside the inn. From the direction of the kitchen drifted a faintly fishy-sweet scent.

"We'll rest here tonight," Chen Qing said flatly, pulling on the reins.

Liu Meng struggled to prop himself up in the cart. His injuries were severe, but his Jianghu experience was extensive, and he too sensed that something was wrong with the town's atmosphere. He lowered his voice. "Young Hero Chen, this place..."

"It's fine." Chen Qing cut him off and jumped down from the cart shaft. "We need to replenish our food and water, and the wounded need a proper rest. Even if we stayed outside, what was coming would still come. We can't avoid it." He patted Wolf King's restless head, his thoughts shifting slightly as he conveyed an order that carried both reassurance and vigilance.

Wolf King flicked his tail and finally quieted down, but those wolf eyes remained on the highest alert.

The innkeeper was a gaunt middle-aged man with cloudy eyes. He came out wearing a deliberately warm smile, but when he saw Wolf King, he staggered back in fright, his face turning pale. "G-Guest, this... this beast..."

"He won't hurt anyone. Find us a secluded courtyard. We're taking it all." Chen Qing flicked out a piece of silver, which landed precisely in the innkeeper's palm. "Prepare some hot food. Make sure there's plenty of meat and dried rations, and boil some hot water."

The innkeeper took the silver and bit it. The greed on his face diluted his fear, and he nodded repeatedly. "Yes, yes, yes! The rear courtyard is nice and quiet! Esteemed guests, this way!" He shouted for the equally pale-faced waiter hiding behind the counter to come help support the wounded, though his eyes could not help drifting toward the wooden chests guarded by the escorts.

Yan Yunxi supported Liu Meng and followed nervously behind Chen Qing. In a low voice, she said, "Brother Chen, that innkeeper's gaze makes me uncomfortable."

"Mhm." Chen Qing gave a soft response. "A Ning, don't stray too far from me."

A Ning nodded and stayed glued to Chen Qing's side.

The rear courtyard was indeed relatively isolated, though its walls were not high. The rooms were simple, but at least fairly clean. Chen Qing personally inspected the food and water. When his fingertip touched the kettle, a thread of star power slipped inside.

"The water is fine. The food..." He picked up a meat pie and sniffed it beneath his nose, a cold smile curling his lips. "It's been tampered with, but it's only knockout drug. The dose is heavy, but the method is crude." The star power within him circulated on its own. He was immune to all poisons; such a small amount of drug had no effect on him.

He looked at Wolf King. Wolf King gave the meat pie a disdainful glance, swallowed it in one bite, and snorted through his nose.

"Looks like this is a black inn, but it doesn't seem like Shadow Kill Tower's handiwork. Far too rough." Chen Qing looked at Liu Meng and Yan Yunxi. "Let's beat them at their own game. Don't eat any of this. Split up the dry rations we brought."

That night, the moon was dark and the wind was high.

Several shrill owl cries came from outside the courtyard, making the dead silence all the more oppressive.

Inside the room, Chen Qing sat cross-legged on the bed, seemingly meditating, while his divine sense actually blanketed the entire courtyard and the inn's surroundings. A Ning slept curled up beside him, her breathing steady. Wolf King lay at the doorway, his ears twitching from time to time.

In the neighboring room, Yan Yunxi lay fully dressed with her sword in hand, not daring to fall deeply asleep at all.

In another room, Liu Meng forced himself to stay alert. He gripped his Nine-Ring Saber and sat against the wall, vigilant at every moment.

Just past midnight—the darkest hour.

Chen Qing's eyes suddenly opened.

They were here!

Not through the door, but through the window! Several slender bamboo tubes silently pierced the window paper, blowing a pale gray mist into the room, carrying a sweet, cloying fragrance.

"Drugged smoke?" Chen Qing sneered inwardly. With a slight circulation of star power within him, the smoke he had inhaled dissipated.

He gently covered A Ning's nose and mouth, sending a thread of mild star power into her body to protect her heart meridian and make her sleep even more deeply. Wolf King at the door merely lifted his eyelids. Smoke of this level had little effect on his powerful physique.

Almost at the same moment the drugged smoke entered, the door bolt was silently pried open by a thin blade! Several black shadows slipped in like ghosts, the weapons in their hands lunging straight for the bed!

Yet they struck empty air! Then a terrifying growl sounded behind them, and two eyes like ghostly flames had already fixed upon them.

The instant the door bolt was disturbed, Chen Qing had already carried A Ning and drifted up to the ceiling beam like willow catkins in the wind!

"Attack!" A low shout came from outside the window! More black-clad men vaulted over the courtyard wall, flashing blades charging straight for the other two rooms! At the same time, flames suddenly flared at the front and rear of the inn, and fire arrows rained toward the courtyard and rooms like a swarm of locusts! They intended to murder everyone and burn the place down, leaving no survivors!

"I've been waiting for you!" Chen Qing shouted coldly, his body dropping like a falling meteor directly into the midst of the three assassins who had rushed into the room!

He did not even use star power. Relying only on the strength of his body, his footwork shifted with mysterious precision, dodging the descending blades like a phantom. His fingers shot out in rapid succession!

"Puff! Puff! Puff!"

The three assassins felt their wrists go numb. Then the vital points on their chests seemed to be struck by iron awls. Without even a groan, they collapsed limply to the ground!

On the other side, Yan Yunxi and Liu Meng rushed out of their rooms as well! Yan Yunxi gave a sharp cry as her sword left its sheath, its light clear and cold. Liu Meng roared and swung his Nine-Ring Saber with savage force, the sound of wind and thunder rising once more. But his injuries were too serious, slowing his movements, and several more wounds were instantly carved into him by flashing blades.

"Miss, be careful!" Liu Meng roared, desperately trying to shield Yan Yunxi.

Chen Qing flashed out of the room, only to face several crossbow bolts shooting toward him! He swept his sleeve, and starlight flashed briefly within it. With several clanging sounds, every bolt was knocked aside!

His gaze swept over the courtyard, where more than a dozen black-clad assassins were locked in battle with the barely holding escorts. The innkeeper and waiter hid in the distance with steel blades in hand, their faces savage. There was no trace left of their earlier timidity.

"You're courting death!" Chen Qing's gaze sharpened. He held two fingers together like a sword and struck through the air!

"Whoosh!" A condensed finger force of star power tore through the air, swifter and fiercer than the one that had shattered the Judge's Brush before!

Splat! A black-clad man who was raising his blade to strike a wounded escort suddenly had a bloody hole appear in his forehead. He fell backward!

Just then, a black shadow appeared soundlessly at the second-floor window. Both hands flicked out, and dozens of cold stars descended upon Chen Qing like a torrential downpour. The range was enormous, even enveloping Yan Yunxi nearby! The shriek of hidden weapons cutting through the air was piercing—those weapons were clearly coated in deadly poison!

Chen Qing pulled Yan Yunxi behind him. The Ancient Star Ruins Scripture circulated within him, and an extremely faint, nearly imperceptible hazy starlight spread over his body!

"Clang, clang, clang..." Countless poison needles and iron caltrops struck the starlight as though they had hit an invisible barrier, falling one after another!

"What?!" The black-clad man at the window cried out in alarm, clearly unable to comprehend what he had just seen.

"Awoo—!!!"

A furious wolf howl shook the night sky! Wolf King smashed straight through the window and pounced into the courtyard as a violent gray shadow! He was unbelievably fast. With one bite, he tore through the throat of a black-clad man about to set fire to the place. A swipe of his massive paw sent another assassin flying like a kite with its string cut, smashing him into the wall and shattering his bones!

The giant wolf's arrival instantly turned the tide outside! His savagery and strength were simply beyond what these assassins could withstand. Every strike brought a spray of blood and a scream! The black-clad men fell into disarray. Even the once-fierce inn hands were so frightened that their legs went weak, forcing them to retreat again and again.

Chen Qing moved once more, weaving through the crowd. Every time his fingers struck out, an assassin or a black-inn accomplice fell, either with severed meridians or a fatal point pierced.

He even casually grabbed a handful of bamboo chopsticks from the table and threw them. The chopsticks, infused with a trace of star power, gave off sharp whistles as they tore through the air, their force no weaker than powerful crossbows!

The pressure on Yan Yunxi lessened greatly. Her swordsmanship unfolded, and with Chen Qing's occasional guidance—"Three steps left," "Attack his lower body"—it became sharp and effective. Working with him, she instantly stabbed one assassin.

Liu Meng's heart surged with excitement, and he could not help shouting, "Good! What marvelous skill, Young Hero Chen!"

As the fierce battle raged, the black shadow on the second floor—the leader of this operation, codenamed Shadow Fox—finally could not hold back any longer. His body drifted down like smoke, heading straight for Chen Qing! His movement technique was strange, leaving behind layer upon layer of afterimages. The pair of short spikes in his hands stabbed rapidly at Chen Qing's vital acupoints, their forceful wind far fiercer than that of the previous assassins.

"Interesting." Chen Qing could sense that this man's inner force was cold, sinister, and tricky. He was already close to the peak of first-rate martial artists, and his illusory movement technique in particular had its own unique strengths.

The two figures crossed at high speed. Finger winds collided with short spikes in a dense series of crackling impacts.

The longer Shadow Fox fought, the more alarmed he became. His Phantom Shadow Movement seemed to have little effect against his opponent. Chen Qing always found his true body with perfect accuracy, and those seemingly casual finger-sword strikes carried terrifyingly condensed power, shaking his blood and qi into turmoil and nearly knocking the short spikes from his hands!

What horrified him even more was that the power Chen Qing used was unlike any inner force he knew! It was upright and peaceful, yet carried an overbearing aura. The moment his cold inner force touched it, it collapsed! And it seemed as though his opponent had been toying with him all along, merely wanting to see how strong he was!

"Who exactly are you?!" Shadow Fox shouted sharply, a trace of terror in his voice.

Chen Qing could not be bothered to answer. Through his fight with Shadow Fox, Chen Qing understood his own strength for the first time:

"You have no value left!"

Star power suddenly condensed at his fingertips. One finger thrust forward, and a streak of light tore through the night!

Shadow Fox roared wildly and pushed Phantom Shadow Movement to its limit, attempting to evade, but the finger force seemed to have locked onto his aura!

"Puff!"

The sound of his shoulder blade exploding was clearly audible! Shadow Fox screamed as he was hurled backward, crashing heavily onto the ground and vomiting blood.

He struggled to raise his head and looked at Chen Qing approaching step by step, his eyes filled with disbelief and terror. In a hoarse voice, he said, "You... who exactly are you...?"

He suddenly gritted his teeth, as though making some decision, and shouted, "Retreat! The mission has failed!"

The remaining black-clad men felt as though they had been granted amnesty. They hurriedly helped him up and fled miserably into the darkness, not even bothering with their companions' corpses. The black-inn accomplices had long since scattered like birds and beasts.

Chen Qing did not pursue them. He merely watched coldly as they vanished. Flames flickered in the courtyard, illuminating the wreckage and corpses strewn across the ground. The stench of blood mingled with the smell of scorching, unbearably foul.

Wolf King gave a low growl and paced to Chen Qing's side. He licked the blood from the corner of his mouth, his gaze still fierce.

Yan Yunxi leaned on her sword, panting, her face pale. Supported by the escorts, Liu Meng walked over. His old wounds had reopened, blood staining the bandages red, but when he looked at Chen Qing, his eyes held only shock and gratitude.

Chen Qing walked to where Shadow Fox had vomited blood and bent down to pick up an item that had fallen from him—a Mysterious Iron Token more refined than those of ordinary assassins. On its back, besides the character for "shadow," was a tiny fox-patterned character.

He looked at the token. "Shadow Kill Tower... interesting..."

Chen Qing murmured softly, his gaze turning toward the heavy night curtain in the north.

It seemed this muddy water ran deeper than he had imagined.