Chu Qing silently raised his head, listening to the tiles clatter beneath the footsteps of the passerby. A moment later, the sound faded into the distance.
He pondered for a moment but didn't think much of it.
There were far too many things happening in the martial world, and far too many people in it.
Everyone was busy with their own affairs every day. It was hardly unusual for people to run around the streets in the middle of the night.
The City Lord's Mansion's curfew could keep ordinary folk in check, but it couldn't stop these masters who leaped from roof to roof.
Nor was there any reason for him to go investigate every bit of excitement.
Unless it had something to do with him, or there was a job to take, it was better to leave other people's business alone.
Thinking that, he closed his eyes again and circulated the Purple Cloud Void Scripture.
But he had practiced for no more than the time it took an incense stick to burn when the footsteps that had gone away suddenly came back.
And this time, there was more than one person...
Chu Qing listened closely and realized that the footsteps of the person who had passed by earlier were much more hurried now.
It sounded as though he were fleeing for his life.
The person behind him was faster. By some cruel twist of fate, they reached Chu Qing's roof, where the pursuer caught up with him.
The two of them began fighting on Chu Qing's roof.
Chu Qing reluctantly drew his Internal Energy back into his dantian, then propped himself up on an elbow and looked toward the roof.
The tiles cracked beneath their feet, and dust kept drifting down. His spirits sank.
"Is this ever going to end?"
A trace of wariness stirred in Chu Qing's heart. How could there be such a coincidence in this world?
First someone passed over his roof, then came back and started fighting on it.
Could people from the Sin Mirror Platform have discovered where he was and come to stage a show on his roof?
Those two bastards wouldn't suddenly break through the roof and hit him with a killing move in the middle of their fight, would they?
At the thought, Chu Qing grew alert.
But soon the two fighters moved from the roof to the ground... Judging by the sound of the first one landing, someone had been knocked off the roof and fallen into the courtyard.
There was no lamp lit in Chu Qing's room. He crept up to the window and peeked out from the side.
The one who had landed was a Black-clothed man.
From his manner and movements, Chu Qing found him strangely familiar... He had the air of one of their kind.
"An assassin?"
Chu Qing narrowed his eyes slightly. Just then, the person on the roof leaped down as well.
She landed in the courtyard.
Starlight spilled down, revealing her face.
She wore blue robes, and her skin was as pale as snow.
Her brows were like distant mountains brushed with ink, and she was strikingly beautiful.
Yet her almond-shaped eyes held not a trace of emotion. Her whole face was cold...
As though nothing in this world mattered to her.
The moment Chu Qing saw her, he felt a headache coming on.
Wasn't that Junior Sister Wen?
What was she doing here?
Was the assassin trying to kill her?
If it had been someone else, Chu Qing might have gone out to toss the two uninvited guests out.
The problem was that there was something strange about Junior Sister Wen.
Before, at the teahouse, she seemed to have noticed something. Then, at the Chu Family, she had directly handed him the broken bowl he had once used.
There was a good chance she had somehow figured out that the beggar at the teahouse and the servant at the Chu Family were the same person.
Chu Fan still didn't know that Chu Qing was in Heavenly Dance City. If Junior Sister Wen knew he was staying here and brought Chu Fan over to "visit," things would get lively indeed.
No!
He had to move. Tomorrow, no later!
He had just thought this when he saw Junior Sister Wen look at the assassin and speak in a low voice:
"What are you... Never mind."
Her voice had been grave, but now it sounded listless.
She followed by pointing a finger, aiming straight for the assassin's brow.
That left not only the assassin but Chu Qing confused as well.
Hadn't she been about to ask him something?
Why had she given up halfway through?
Did she know assassins kept their mouths shut and there was no point asking?
Or was there some other reason?
That finger strike was astonishingly fierce. Chu Qing thought carefully. In the Human Scroll of the Book of Unchanging Heaven, he had heard only of three Ultimate Skills: the Tai Yi Divine Fist, Tai Yi Divine Palm, and Tai Yi Divine Leg. There was no Tai Yi Divine Finger.
Yet from the technique alone, its finesse was in no way inferior to the martial arts of the Taiyi Sect.
The assassin had no idea what Junior Sister Wen had done to him. Faced with that strike, he was utterly helpless and could only close his eyes and await death.
Just as he was about to meet his end, Chu Qing abruptly looked up. When had another uninvited guest appeared on the roof?
This person's martial arts were even more formidable. Their steps were lighter than Junior Sister Wen's or the assassin's by far.
Chu Qing had only noticed their presence at that very moment.
At the same time, Junior Sister Wen turned around and sent her fingertip thrusting forward.
With a humming sound, a steel ball halted three inches from her finger, unable to move another inch.
At the same time, Junior Sister Wen swept her left hand behind her. The assassin on the ground suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood and flew backward. Her palm strike, sent through the air, had crushed his chest inward by more than an inch.
"How vicious!"
The person on the roof spoke coldly. Meanwhile, Junior Sister Wen, still holding back the steel ball, sounded a little puzzled as she said:
"It's you."
"Hm?"
The person on the roof sounded astonished.
"You know who I am?"
Junior Sister Wen pressed her left hand against her right forearm, and the force of her finger strike suddenly surged.
With a loud bang, the steel ball was crushed apart by the force of their Internal Energy.
Then Junior Sister Wen said:
"Yesterday, I returned the fan you dropped. How could I not know who you are?"
The person on the roof didn't answer for a moment, but leaped down from midair.
Only then did Chu Qing realize that this person was also dressed in black and masked.
And he was at a loss for words...
Junior Sister Wen could recognize someone dressed in black and masked.
How on earth had she managed that?
"How did you recognize me?"
The same question clearly troubled the Black-clothed man as well.
But Chu Qing doubted Junior Sister Wen would readily reveal a secret like that to anyone.
By now, he had more or less figured out what was going on.
Somehow, Junior Sister Wen had picked up this Black-clothed man's fan.
And she had kindly returned it to him.
Just like when she had returned that bowl to Chu Qing...
As a result, this Black-clothed man, whose identity was unknown, had suddenly grown worried that his identity would be exposed.
So he had hired an assassin that night to kill Junior Sister Wen.
Unfortunately, the assassin's skills were lacking. He had failed to kill her, leaving the Black-clothed man to do it himself.
The situation was clear, but it only left Chu Qing even more baffled...
What was the deal with Junior Sister Wen?
Was she born with some kind of talent for picking things up?
She had picked up his broken bowl, and now she had picked up the Black-clothed man's fan. Then she could find the owners just from the things they had dropped.
What was that supposed to mean?
Then Junior Sister Wen said:
"I smelled it.
"Your scent was on the fan. It was easy to tell it was yours."
The Black-clothed man was utterly taken aback.
Chu Qing, however, suddenly understood.
"A police dog!"
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