A Beggar

Verdant mountains rose over winding streams, and the ancient road stretched on and on.

Beside the dusty old road, the teahouse was bustling with activity.

The young waiter dashed about as if smoke were rising from his heels, serving tea and water to merchants and wandering swordsmen from all directions.

During a lull in his work, the innkeeper turned to glance at the teahouse entrance. There, he spotted a ragged beggar curled up in a ball, sleeping against the steps with a bamboo staff in his arms.

A chipped bowl sat beside him, but it was empty.

"In these troubled times, human lives are cheap. Everyone's got it hard."

The innkeeper sighed, beckoned one of the waiters over, and nodded toward the entrance.

The waiter immediately caught on and rolled up his sleeves.

"Leave it to me, boss. I'll chase him off right now."

Before he could leave, the innkeeper smacked him on the head.

"Go to the back and get two flatbreads. Pour him a bowl of clean water."

The waiter gaped for a moment, then sheepishly went off. A short while later, he returned with two flatbreads in hand and a bowl of water. He crouched beside the beggar and set the bowl down.

"Wake up. Come on, wake up."

He nudged the beggar with his foot.

The beggar opened his eyes. His gaze was slightly clouded, and he stared at the waiter in bewilderment before quickly saying,

"I'm leaving, I'm leaving..."

"Don't go. My boss is kindhearted; he can't bear to see anyone suffering. Here, these two flatbreads are for you. If you need more water, just ask. Eat and drink your fill before you leave."

The waiter tossed the flatbreads into the bowl, then went back into the teahouse without looking back.

The beggar was overcome with gratitude and thanked him over and over.

But when he lowered his head again, a glint of sharpness quietly passed through his eyes.

He put one of the flatbreads away, then wolfed down the other.

He wasn't really very hungry... He'd eaten a wild duck that morning, and still had a duck leg tucked inside his clothes.

But if he was going to play a beggar, he had to look the part.

Chu Qing was quite confident in his acting skills.

That wasn't because he'd studied acting in his previous life. It was because the original owner had learned this sort of thing from an expert.

To become a good assassin, acting and disguise were essential.

If you played a woodcutter, you had to look like a woodcutter. If you played a physician, you had to carry yourself like one.

A top assassin needed more than complete control over his killing intent. He also needed a thousand faces and the ability to change his appearance at will, so he could come and go like a ghost.

A convincing disguise let him catch his target off guard and improve his chances of a successful assassination.

And if he mastered this skill, even a failed assassination wouldn't necessarily mean a quick death.

As the saying went, "If the first strike misses, flee a thousand miles."

There was a great deal to learn from that word, "flee." It wasn't just about running fast; it was about hiding fast.

Fail to kill your target, and retaliation was inevitable. If the target had plenty of people at his side, surrounding and pursuing you, how could you possibly escape so easily?

That was why you had to hide.

Crouching in a corner was one way, but it was the inferior choice. Standing in the middle of a crowd without anyone recognizing you—that was the superior one.

Hide as you flee, and no one will ever catch you.

That was what it truly meant to "flee": arriving without a trace, vanishing without a sound.

So, for an assassin, acting and disguise were sometimes even more important than martial arts.

Of course, Chu Qing wasn't disguising himself to assassinate anyone. Although he'd obtained the Assassin System, he didn't have a commission at the moment.

After breaking free half a month ago, he hadn't had time to brood over his transmigration. Instead, he'd begun thinking about what to do next.

His original plan had been to flee a thousand miles, find somewhere no one knew about, and use the system to build up his strength.

Once he was invincible, he'd tear down the very foundations of the Sin Mirror Platform and leave it without a single intact piece.

But that secret letter had changed his plans...

Chu Yunfei had been publicly marked for assassination and added to the Sin Mirror Platform's list.

As a transmigrator, Chu Qing didn't feel any fatherly affection for Chu Yunfei.

But inheriting the original owner's memories had left him with complicated feelings toward him.

Part of him resented the fate Chu Yunfei had arranged for him, while another part couldn't bear to see him in danger.

And deep down, he still hoped to earn his approval... All those thoughts had settled into Chu Qing's heart along with the memories. They weren't enough to leave him pacing anxiously over that secret letter, but they were still hard to put out of his mind. He couldn't help worrying.

If Chu Yunfei really was killed by the Sin Mirror Platform, Chu Qing figured it might become a thorn in his heart.

That would hardly be worth it.

So he'd made up his mind to secretly return to Heavenly Dance City and warn Chu Yunfei.

With Chu Yunfei's reputation as Iron Palm Crossing Calamity, along with the power of Heavenly Dance City, he'd be hard to deal with even for the Sin Mirror Platform—especially on Chu Yunfei's own turf—if he made preparations in advance.

As for Chu Qing himself... he had no intention of showing his face.

Whether Chu Yunfei still remembered the betrothal from back then was one thing. More importantly, with the system he had, it was better not to have attachments.

The rain half a month ago had washed away his tracks. His journey in stealth had been uneventful, and he was now close to Heavenly Dance City's territory.

As he thought this, the clopping of hooves grew louder in the distance.

This place was a crossroads. Three hundred years ago, when the Great Qian Dynasty still existed, there had been a post station here.

Though the area was somewhat desolate now, plenty of travelers still passed through.

Chu Qing hadn't paid the hoofbeats much attention at first. He'd simply noted that there were two horses. In the blink of an eye, they were right in front of him. Their riders dismounted and exchanged a few casual words, addressing each other as senior brother and junior sister. They were clearly fellow disciples.

Only when the bowl rang with a "clink" did Chu Qing raise his head in "surprise."

A young man and woman stood before him. The man looked around twenty, dressed in a blue robe cinched at the waist. Bracers wrapped his wrists, and his hands were broad, with prominent knuckles.

At a glance, he was clearly skilled in fist and palm techniques.

The woman looked a little younger than the man. Her clothes were much like his, only tailored for a woman.

She had delicate features, but her face was expressionless.

By comparison, the man's expression was rather complicated.

For some reason, when Chu Qing saw his face, he found it inexplicably familiar...

But he quickly came up with a response, changing his voice as he spoke.

"Thank you, thank you, young master and miss."

With his face caked in black mud, his true features were impossible to make out. His voice was rough and hoarse, making him sound like a middle-aged beggar.

When the young man heard his voice, the complicated look vanished from his face. He seemed disappointed, yet also relieved, and gave a slight shake of his head.

"Think nothing of it."

"Senior brother... On this journey, you've given money to every beggar we've passed. Why?"

Chu Qing heard the woman speak. Her voice wasn't cold, but neither was it warm. She sounded as if she and the man weren't particularly close.

The man sighed.

"Junior sister, there's something you don't know. My younger brother left home when he was a child and never came back. We've had no word of him to this day.

"For the past half month, whenever I wake from a dream in the dead of night, I see him begging beside the road, dressed in rags, with nothing to eat or wear, his body wasted away... Every time I dream of it, I wake with a start.

"After that, whenever I see a beggar by the roadside, I can't help worrying that it might be him, and yet hoping it is..."

As Chu Qing listened, his head began to buzz.

Seven years had passed, and naturally his appearance had changed, but they were still bound by blood.

No wonder the man had seemed familiar just now... He was Chu Qing's second brother, Chu Fan!