Again 3

The iron gate opened. Lin Sheng quickly went inside and shut it behind him.

Holding the Black Sword, he surveyed the mansion courtyard.

Black, fluffy clumps were scattered all over the ground. He had no idea what they were. The cold wind kept blowing them across the ground, sending them tumbling and skidding along.

A bronze plaque hung on the wall to the right of the iron gate, covered in verdigris and mold.

Lin Sheng reached out and wiped the plaque, revealing the blurred image and lettering beneath.

"Duke Cayman's Mansion—No. 6 Temple Street."

Below the lettering was an image of a large bird resembling an owl, spreading its wings.

"A duke's mansion?"

Lin Sheng narrowed his eyes and didn't look any further.

He turned his gaze away and walked forward slowly, sword in hand, cautiously entering the deserted courtyard.

He headed past the fountain and soon reached the stone stele in front of its pool.

By moonlight, he kept watch on his surroundings while reading the words carved into it.

"No credit."

"No currency accepted."

"No members of the Feyton family."

"If you have anything or any information that interests me, perhaps I'll waive the fee.—Cayman Vester"

"This place doesn't seem like an ordinary duke's mansion." Lin Sheng began to suspect as much.

He walked around the stele and went straight to the mansion's front door.

A large owl-like bird with its wings spread had been carved in relief on the white door.

As Lin Sheng approached, the bird creaked and slowly folded its wings, opening its eyes. The door slowly swung open by itself, revealing an entrance just wide enough for one person.

The sudden movement startled Lin Sheng, and he immediately took up a guarded stance.

But even after he'd held that stance for a long while, nothing happened.

Only a narrow gap had opened in the door, and a faint, cold breeze kept seeping through.

Only then did he narrow his eyes, touch the door with the tip of his sword, and give it a gentle push.

The door slowly swung all the way open.

Inside was a spacious, lavish golden hall.

A huge oil painting hung on the wall opposite the entrance. It depicted a middle-aged, fair-skinned man with curly brown hair and a small mustache, dressed in a fine, medal-covered nobleman's uniform.

Lin Sheng looked closely by moonlight.

The middle-aged man in the painting seemed to be holding a sword. A massive black dog crouched on the ground beside him.

The dog was crouching, yet its head nearly reached the man's chest. It looked fearsome, with a thick black mane along both sides of its neck, like a black lion.

His heart tightened, but he had no intention of retreating in haste.

He had absorbed so many Memory Fragments and meditated on the Gray Seal runes for so long that he had gained some confidence in his current strength.

The white line displayed by the Test Tower just now also indicated that, even back in Black Feather City, he would qualify as a Level Two warrior.

And he was a Level Two warrior who had inherited the Gray Seal, to boot.

Within Black Feather City's system, Level Two fighters counted as elite troops. Even if he might have received the rating because of the Gray Seal runes, it was still good enough.

Lin Sheng had the Memory Fragments, so he knew full well that his physical strength was far below that of a Level Two warrior.

In other words, the most likely reason he'd been rated Level Two was the Gray Seal runes he'd meditated on.

The Gray Seal runes gave him decent resistance to blows. That was what he had going for him!

Gripping his sword with both hands, Lin Sheng slowly entered the hall.

He began searching from left to right, checking the cabinets and hidden compartments along the walls one by one.

He quickly opened the countless cabinets and hidden compartments to inspect them. But they were all empty; there was nothing inside.

He continued searching until he reached the huge painting hanging on the wall. Suddenly, Lin Sheng froze.

He seemed to have heard something.

The faint sound of footsteps was approaching.

The hall had no carpet on the floor, only hard stone slabs.

The footsteps weren't being deliberately muffled. They made a faint tapping sound against the stone.

Lin Sheng turned around, tightened his grip on the Black Sword, and focused on the approaching sound.

Suddenly, he caught a flash of shadow from the corner of his eye on the right.

"Here she comes!" Lin Sheng swung his sword in an instant, slashing viciously at the shadow.

Clang!!

Their swords clashed.

The shadow came into view in the moonlight slanting in through the window.

It was a masked swordswoman about 1.7 meters tall.

To Lin Sheng's surprise, the masked swordswoman was a woman.

She wore tight black leather armor from head to toe. Her chest was full, and her long black hair was tied in a ponytail. A mask covered everything below her eyes.

Even through the close-fitting mask, it was clear she was attractive.

A second strike came at him almost immediately.

Gripping his sword with both hands, Lin Sheng swept it to the side, knocking her blade away with a clang.

But the swordswoman held her sword in one hand and drew a short knife with the other, thrusting it straight at him.

The short knife was aimed right at Lin Sheng's abdomen.

He sucked in his stomach and narrowly dodged it. At the same time, he turned sideways to avoid the sweeping slash that followed.

The two fought at breakneck speed in the hall.

In less than ten seconds, Lin Sheng had been cut twice. Both times, the sudden, unorthodox strikes with the short knife had thrown him into disarray.

The masked swordswoman was incredibly fast—more than a whole level faster than Lin Sheng.

If the Gray Seal Sanctuary hadn't been protecting him, those two strikes would have disemboweled him.

Fortunately, her swordsmanship wasn't particularly strong. Against Lin Sheng, who had combined a mercenary's instincts with orthodox Black Feather Swordsmanship, she was still at a disadvantage.

They exchanged blows at speed, their blades clashing almost twice a second.

The tremendous exertion left Lin Sheng panting, his chest heaving like a bellows.

But the swordswoman seemed tireless, continuing her relentless assault at the same furious pace as before.

The one thing Lin Sheng was grateful for was that her eyes were pitch-black and she seemed to have no mind of her own, wielding her sword by instinct alone.

Thud!

Suddenly, he kicked out, hooking a low stool off the ground and sending it flying at her.

The swordswoman swept it aside with her sword. Before she could charge again, Lin Sheng pulled a wooden bookcase over and slammed it down on top of her.

With a loud crash, the bookcase splintered.

The swordswoman froze. A Black Sword had pierced the center of her chest through a gap between the shelves.

She charged forward two more steps, letting the Black Sword pierce through her chest and emerge from her back.

A great deal of black blood gushed from the wound, but the swordswoman seemed not to notice. She struggled wildly, swinging her sword and hacking indiscriminately at Lin Sheng behind the bookcase.

But as she lost more and more blood, her movements quickly slowed. She grew weaker and weaker, then collapsed forward with a thud. Her head struck the bookcase, and she rolled onto the floor.

Lin Sheng worked the Black Sword loose, pulled it free, then stabbed the swordswoman hard again. Only after confirming she wasn't moving did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"If this monster weren't so stupid—if she hadn't kept hacking at me even with the bookcase in the way—I'd have been the one to die this time."

Lin Sheng felt a wave of lingering fear.

The confidence he'd gained from being a Level Two swordsman had quickly cooled.

If the swordswoman hadn't turned into a monster and lost her mind completely, she could have easily taken him out.

She was faster than him and had more stamina. Aside from her weaker sword techniques, she had the advantage in every other way.

"She doesn't seem quite dead, but she definitely can't move." Lin Sheng pushed the bookcase aside and carefully set it down.

He walked over to the swordswoman, crouched down, and quickly inspected the spoils.

The long sword in her hand was of ordinary quality. It had already been chipped in several places by its clashes with the Black Sword.

Three black steel needles were tucked into the side of her chest armor. He had no idea what they were for.

A black leather pouch hung at her slender waist.

Lin Sheng took the pouch down and tipped it open. A yellow scroll tumbled out.

He picked up the scroll and quickly unfolded it. The writing had become somewhat blurred; it seemed to be an item list.

"The full blood volume of three adults, one standard bottle of Deer Blood, one standard unit of Red Cedar. Nine standard units of silver powder—Spirit Sacrifice Ritual."