Under Currents

Li Nuo finally understood where his beautiful handwriting had come from.

He gazed at the floating Code of Law before him. It seemed that, without realizing it, he could acquire one of the abilities possessed by the criminals recorded in the Code of Law—for instance, the Female Assassin's calligraphy, the Goatee Thief's thievery, and could even use them without knowing it.

Calligraphy was one thing, but what the hell was this Sleight of Hand Technique that neither Steward Wu nor his wife, two Martial Arts Masters, had noticed? Even if true qi had not been projected outward, their senses should have been far sharper than those of ordinary people.

If he got arrested someday for stealing unconsciously, wouldn't that be absurdly unfair...

He had no idea whether this skill was permanent or temporary. From now on, he had to be more careful. Getting caught stealing in public would be utterly humiliating.

With that thought in mind, Li Nuo glanced at the Code of Law and discovered that the number on its cover had refreshed.

"Name: Li Nuo."

"Lifespan: Ten days."

His remaining lifespan had changed from eleven days to ten. Li Nuo did not know the exact time, but midnight must have passed already. It seemed the time on the Code of Law refreshed at midnight every day.

Li Nuo put out the lamp, climbed into bed, and went to sleep.

In his previous life, midnight had still been far too early for bed. Pulling all-nighters for work had been commonplace.

That was why he had ended up here.

No more staying up late, starting now.

After a day of turmoil, exhausted in both body and mind, Li Nuo soon drifted into dreams.

At the same time, in another courtyard of Li Manor, the lights in one room were still on.

Steward Wu placed a packet of pastries on the table and said with a smile, "Heaven truly blessed us. After that bump, Young Master actually became smarter. He could blurt out the answer to a thousand plus a thousand without even thinking, and the way he carried himself in the County Court Hall today—he truly had some of Master's bearing from when he was young. What a pity Master did not see it..."

A Middle-aged Man stood before the desk in the room.

The middle-aged man stood tall and straight, handsome and dignified, with sharply defined features. Authority and wisdom shone between his brows. Three neat strands of long beard hung from his upper lip and chin, lending him an added air of calmness and gravity.

He picked up a pastry and placed it in his mouth, chewing slowly. There was little expression on his face, only a faint weariness between his brows. Yet whenever Steward Wu mentioned the Young Master, a rare softness surfaced in his eyes.

Steward Wu said, "Young Master truly is different from before. Does Master wish to go see him?"

The Middle-aged Man looked toward another courtyard, pitch-black in the night, and gently shook his head. "He is already asleep. There is no need to disturb him further. Let him rest well."

"Master returns so rarely, and each time it is so late. Then you leave early again. It has been a long time since you last saw Young Master..." Steward Wu sighed. "Still, Young Master was indeed badly frightened today. Letting him rest well is for the best."

The Middle-aged Man asked, "Has the assassin's identity been confirmed?"

With a thud, Steward Wu dropped to his knees and said reproachfully, "She was the daughter of Gu Wenhan, the Qinghe County Magistrate whom Master sentenced to execution a year ago. This Old Servant was negligent and allowed her to infiltrate the manor, nearly causing a great disaster. I beg Master to punish me!"

The Middle-aged Man personally helped him up. "There are as many people in this world who wish to kill This Official as crucian carp crossing a river. No matter how careful one is, there will always be oversights. This is not your fault... It is late. Go back and rest."

The Old Man nodded, then reminded him, "Master should retire early as well."

As he reached the door, the Middle-aged Man suddenly asked, "There should be no shortage of maids in the manor. Who recruited her into the manor?"

Steward Wu froze for a moment before saying, "A month ago, three maids in the manor had saved enough money to redeem themselves and wished to leave. Master once said not to make things difficult for servants who wished to stay or go, so this Old Servant gave them their Deeds of Sale and let them go. With three maids gone, the manor was short-handed, so this Old Servant recruited three more from outside. I never expected the Female Assassin to be mixed among them. She had no martial arts foundation, so this Old Servant did not guard against her..."

The Middle-aged Man stroked his long beard. "Did you recruit them personally?"

Steward Wu shook his head. "At the time, this Old Servant was accompanying Young Master to catch crickets, so I asked Mama Wang to choose them at the broker's."

"How long had the maids who left been in the manor?"

"Let this Old Servant think... Two had been here three years, and one had been here four."

The Middle-aged Man slowly said, "When the maidservants entered the manor, they had not a penny to their names. Their monthly allowance was one tael of silver, twelve taels a year. Their expenses in the manor were very few. Aside from rouge and face powder, and occasionally buying pastries or candied fruit when they went out to satisfy a craving, they had almost no expenses. Even if they saved ten taels a year, that would be thirty taels in three years and forty in four. Yet the redemption fee was one hundred taels... Did you ever consider where they got the money to redeem themselves?"

Steward Wu was stunned. After scratching his head, he said, "This Old Servant truly did not think that far..."

The Middle-aged Man shook his head and asked again, "Where is Mama Wang?"

Steward Wu said, "She should already be asleep. Now that you mention Mama Wang, it seems I barely saw her at all today..."

The Middle-aged Man sighed softly. "Mama Wang..."

Steward Wu finally realized something. He abruptly raised his head and said in shock, "Master means someone gave those three maids the money to redeem themselves, intending to create a shortage of staff in the manor, then seize the opportunity to have Mama Wang recruit that assassin into the manor so she could wait for a chance to assassinate Young Master..."

He slapped his thigh and said belatedly, "Damn that Mama Wang! I was wondering why she had been so eager that day. So she had planned it all along! That treacherous bastard, eating from the bowl and smashing the pot! I'll go find her!"

With that, he rushed out like the wind.

The Middle-aged Man stood before the table, picked up another pastry, and calmly placed it in his mouth.

A moment later, Steward Wu returned, muttering, "Mama Wang is gone. That damned woman, she ran away..."

The Middle-aged Man's expression did not change in the slightest, as though he had not been surprised by this outcome.

He paced slowly to the cabinet beside the desk, took out three incense sticks, lit them from the candle flame, and inserted them into the incense burner. With a trace of sentiment and regret, he said, "If I remember correctly, Mama Wang had been with this family for ten years, hadn't she?"

Steward Wu said angrily, "A full ten years! Ten years, only to raise a white-eyed wolf. Raising a dog would have been better than raising her!"

The Middle-aged Man gently shook his head. "In life, many things are beyond one's control."

Watching the three incense sticks burn slowly in the incense burner, he bent down and bowed to it.

Steward Wu asked curiously, "Three incense sticks? Master, whom are you honoring?"

The Middle-aged Man did not explain. He merely said, "It is late. Go rest."

That night.

By a river outside Chang'an City.

The small boat swayed gently, sending a ripple across the water and outward into the distance.

A plump middle-aged woman carried a wooden chest into the cabin. A man who had been waiting there could not help opening it. Moonlight fell into the chest, reflecting streaks of golden light that turned his eyes gold as well.

Greed appeared on the middle-aged woman's face. "With this much money, we can enjoy ourselves for the rest of our lives..."

The man said fearfully, "What if your Master finds out? If we are captured and taken back, won't we be skinned alive and have our tendons pulled out..."

At the mention of Master, the middle-aged woman's face turned deathly pale as well, though she still forced herself to remain calm. "What is there to fear? As long as he does not catch us, it will be fine. Tonight, we will leave Chang'an, leave Great Xia, and go to Great Chu, to Great Qi. Can his reach extend that far—You, what are you doing?"

Before she could finish, her voice suddenly became shrill with pain. She lowered her head in disbelief at the dagger lodged in her chest, then laboriously raised her head to look at the man across from her.

The man pressed his palm against the hilt and shoved the dagger deep into the middle-aged woman's heart. Only when the blade had completely disappeared did he grin. "Who wants to spend the rest of his life with you? With this much gold, what beautiful woman could I not find? Why would I need to face someone old and faded like you..."

The middle-aged woman's eyes widened, filled with unwillingness, as her hands slowly fell limp.

Just as the man hid the wooden chest and prepared to shove the middle-aged woman's corpse into the water, a voice suddenly sounded beside his ear.

"You men truly are all worthless. She risked her life to earn all that gold, all so she could elope with you, yet you had the heart to kill her. Are you even human..."

"Who's there?!"

The man jolted in fright and spun around. Only then did he discover that, at some unknown time, a slender figure had appeared at the bow of the boat.

The moonlight was hazy, and he could not make out the person's face. He only felt that the voice was soft and effeminate, though the figure did not seem to be a woman.

The man's throat bobbed as he prepared to speak. Then he suddenly saw a flash of white light, followed by a sensation of sky and earth spinning. He saw the moon above him, then below him, then to his left, then to his right...

Splash!

Something seemed to have fallen into the water, and then he knew nothing more.

Clang!

The slender figure at the bow sheathed the Longsword and looked at the two corpses. "That was quick and painless. With your abilities, you could never have escaped. Once you fell into that man's hands, even dying would not have been so quick and painless. So you should thank me..."

Then he stepped over the man's headless corpse and the woman's corpse, whose eyes remained open in death, entered the cabin, picked up the bloodstained wooden chest with some distaste, and tapped lightly off the boat. He vanished over the water, leaving a trail of ripples behind him.

Not long afterward, fierce flames rose from the small boat and swallowed everything whole...

The night had grown deep. Within an underground Secret Chamber beneath a secluded residence somewhere in Chang'an, two figures were speaking in low voices.

"Didn't you say you had succeeded?"

"I did succeed. I infiltrated Li Manor and personally used a Secret Technique to destroy his Heart Meridian. I confirmed that he had no breath or pulse, then sent a false message to that little Maid and had her act that very night. No one would suspect us then. Even the master of that dead eunuch-like freak probably thought they had done it. Then we could leak the news and let Li Xuanjing fight them while we watched tigers fight from the mountain, reaping the fisherman's profit from behind the curtain..."

"But he is still alive."

"This is a damn ghost story!"

"How are we supposed to explain this to His Highness? Why not assassinate him again?"

"If you want to go, then go. After this, the Li fellow will certainly be on guard. If I go now, would I not be walking straight into a net? You know Li Xuanjing's methods. Let me make this clear first—if I fall into his hands, do not blame me for giving you up..."

"Forget I said anything."

"Hiss... I still cannot figure it out. How did that fool survive? He clearly had no breath or pulse at the time. Could it be that I have not used the Secret Technique in so many years that my hands have gone rusty..."