Cooperation

Most of King Yue Yao's troops were stationed along the western edge of Dragon Court, fighting the other princes for control of the ruins while building the first line of defense. Behind that line were the camps of Little Yanzhi, the Dragon King, and King Yue Yao himself. The three camps stood at equal distances from one another and could provide mutual support at any moment with the help of torches and horns.

Tosai believed his camp was impregnable. He had even refused the Dragon King's offer to send men to guard him. He had his own way of guarding against assassins: if assassins liked the dark, then he would "order" the darkness never to fall.

So torches burned through the night in Tosai's camp, bright as broad daylight. If it rained, he still made sure the lamps stayed lit in several of the main tents.

It couldn't be said that this tactic had no effect. Gu Shenwei regarded it as an obstacle difficult to overcome, as well as a test for the twenty young assassins.

He and Hu Shining personally led the teams, dividing the assassins into groups of three or five. The groups slipped into King Yue Yao's camp one after another, left a mark at the farthest point they could reach, then returned safely without alerting a single sentry.

This was no harmless exercise where a close call ended with everyone unscathed. King Yue Yao's guards would never hold back their arrows against an assassin whose presence was exposed. If anything went wrong, the Dragon King would never admit that the assassins were his men.

The first few groups returned without incident. Gu Shenwei took part in the final group, which had five members and was led by Nie Zeng.

This group had a special task: to