Secret Passage

"So it was a saber technique..."

Chu Qing had never thought he would reach the end of the road in swordsmanship, but he had not expected a saber technique to appear so soon.

And it was the Blood Blade Technique...

In the next instant, all the mysteries of the technique had already merged into his mind.

They were all sorts of secrets for wielding a saber, along with the moves of the technique.

At the same time, Chu Qing felt that familiar warmth spread through his body once more. It subsided only after a moment.

"The Blood Blade Technique... comes from the Blood Blade Scripture of the Blood Blade Sect.

"I only acquired the saber technique, not the Internal Energy Technique from the Blood Blade Scripture.

"But that doesn't matter... I have my own Internal Energy to drive it."

Chu Qing let out a soft breath, feeling that this wasn't a bad thing.

The idea that you could bite off more than you could chew applied only to ordinary people. He was a cheat, so he didn't count.

Besides, as an assassin, sometimes you couldn't choose your weapon.

When sneaking in to assassinate someone, there were plenty of places where you couldn't bring a sword inside. You had to adapt to the circumstances and use whatever weapon was available around you.

Now that he had this saber technique, he had one more way to fend off enemies in a fight.

If he found himself without a sword, he could still use the saber technique.

Of course, compared to saber techniques, martial arts that could be used without a weapon—fist techniques, palm techniques, finger techniques, leg techniques, and the like—would be even better.

Chu Qing looked forward to acquiring some of those martial arts, but he could only wait for them to unlock one by one.

After settling his thoughts, he sat cross-legged and slowly circulated his energy.

The Purple Cloud Void Scripture was now at the seventh level. He still needed to keep working at it.

Although he had temporarily severed his entanglement with the Sin Mirror Platform, those people had noses like hounds. There was no telling when they might come back. While he was safe for now, he naturally had to cultivate seriously.

The Purple Cloud Void Scripture was much harder to cultivate than the original Void Scripture. It would probably take several months to advance another level.

And even several months from now, there was no telling whether he might unlock another Internal Energy Technique and achieve another great leap in Internal Energy.

But every bit of foundation he gained would still count.

Even with his current Purple Cloud Void Scripture, if he hadn't first raised the original Void Scripture to the fourth level, then even after acquiring the Purple Cloud Divine Skill and fusing them, he wouldn't have reached his current level.

So he couldn't slack off in the slightest.

Besides, he had something to take care of tomorrow.

Earlier, at Luoyu Hall, he had used that Sleeve Arrow, so he needed to find a way to get another one to replace it.

That thing was actually very useful.

The man from the Iron Horse Seven Bandits had treated it as a trump card to beg for mercy and save his life. He hadn't realized that suddenly pulling one out in a fight was even harder to guard against.

Tang Yinfeng's Blood Transformation Divine Palm practically had the words "there's something wrong with this palm technique" carved into his forehead. How could Chu Qing possibly have met it head-on?

Using the Sleeve Arrow to turn the tables had not only forced Tang Yinfeng back and allowed him and Wu Qianhuan to escape Luoyu Hall, but had also poisoned him.

It could hardly have gone better.

"Good stuff. I should get a few more arrows as backups."

Chu Qing was an assassin. Assassins didn't care about methods; if it could kill someone, it was a good method.

Only gallant heroes of the martial world insisted on fighting fair and square.

For Chu Qing, the tumult of that night had finally come to an end.

For everyone else, though, it was only the beginning.

Inside Luoyu Hall.

Wu Qianhuan had already gone through the secret door in Tang Xi's room.

She was now sitting in a room, looking through the letters on the bookshelf.

The more she read, the darker her expression grew.

These letters were all evidence of Luoyu Hall's collusion with Ten Thousand Night Valley. Among them were also some outrageous plans for what they would do after taking Heavenly Dance City.

Tang Xi in particular had written many filthy, shameless things in his letters. Wu Qianhuan felt that she had let him off too easily when she killed him.

He should have been hacked to pieces!

Who could have guessed that someone who seemed so proper in public would be so vile behind closed doors?

As she continued going through the letters one by one, a Heavenly Dance Guard came to report:

"Eldest Young Lady, we've finished searching this area. We found a great deal of gold, silver, and jewelry, as well as all kinds of weapons, though we haven't finished counting them yet.

"Also, we found more than ten of the commoners who went missing earlier in the underground passage.

"And... this secret passage is very long. It leads all the way to Cicada Forest outside the city."

"Cicada Forest..."

Wu Qianhuan nodded thoughtfully. Cicada Forest had always been the subject of strange rumors. They said people had seen unclean things in the woods, so no one was willing to go near it.

Even when the City Lord's Mansion sent the Heavenly Dance Guard to investigate several times and confirmed the rumors were false, the commoners still refused to believe it. No matter how convincingly anyone explained it, they wouldn't dare set foot inside.

As she was about to speak, Wu Ganqi appeared, holding the bloodstained purple-gold Xing Tian Axe in one hand and dragging Tang Yinfeng along with the other like a dead dog.

The battle that night had ended in silence. Liu Shijie was the first to be knocked flat by a blow from Wu Ganqi's axe. Tang Yinfeng had managed to struggle for a little while, but only a little.

He had been poisoned, and most of his Internal Energy was being used to suppress the poison in his body.

The fact that he could still fight Wu Ganqi under those circumstances showed that he truly had some skill.

It was worth mentioning that Wu Ganqi hadn't seen him use the Hate Heart Demonic Art during their fight. It seemed that Tang Xi was the only one who had cultivated the Hate Heart Demonic Art.

Wu Ganqi tossed Tang Yinfeng onto the ground and looked at Wu Qianhuan.

"Did you find anything?"

Wu Qianhuan stood and answered expressionlessly:

"Father, the secret passage leads to Cicada Forest. They planned to use it to bring Ten Thousand Night Valley into Heavenly Dance City and attack our city from both inside and out!"

Wu Ganqi smiled without getting angry. He simply looked at Tang Yinfeng, who had been left with the meridians throughout his body broken and was completely unable to move.

"Old Tang, ever since you joined my Heavenly Dance City, I've never treated you poorly.

"So I truly can't understand why you would pull this stunt, working with people inside and outside the city.

"Just what made you do it?"

Even now, Wu Ganqi still spoke with a kind expression.

Tang Yinfeng smiled at his words.

"People bustle about for profit; they rush and scramble for gain.

"All I wanted was fame and fortune.

"Ten Thousand Night Valley promised that if this succeeded, Heavenly Dance City would be mine.

"Tell me, wasn't that risk worth taking?"

"It was."

Wu Ganqi replied without hesitation.

"But that's not enough!

"You don't have the appetite to swallow my Heavenly Dance City, and you wouldn't have the standing to challenge Ten Thousand Night Valley after they destroyed my city.

"Old Tang, you're no fool. Don't take me for an idiot.

"What exactly gives you the confidence to do this?

"Where did the demonic art you practice come from?

"Who... are you, really?"

Tang Yinfeng's expression didn't change as he looked at Wu Ganqi.

"I can tell you. But are you sure you want to hear it?"

Wu Ganqi smiled.

"You've certainly made me curious. Go ahead. I'm all ears."