Night Assassination

Outside the Divine Shrine, the night wind howled, as if wild wolves were baying.

"Damn, in a place this lousy, running into wolves wouldn't be impossible. But was there ever a Divine Shrine here?" Though he knew wolves were unlikely, the skinny man could not help worrying. He craned his neck to peer outside. "Why don't I remember one? Could I be remembering wrong?"

As he spoke, he saw a black shadow flash past outside and immediately cried out, "Second Brother Yan, someone's there!"

"Huh?" Second Brother Yan was startled as well. If someone had overheard what they had just said, it could bring disaster upon them. Just as he was about to toss aside the meat bone in his hand and go out to investigate, a wildcat's cry came from outside.

"Look at you, scared witless by a wildcat!" Second Brother Yan finally let out the breath he had been holding, spat, and glared as he cursed the skinny man.

The skinny man looked embarrassed too. "I... I just heard it wrong, didn't I?"

After a while, the skinny man could not help standing again. Seeing Second Brother Yan glare at him, he said awkwardly, "Um... I'm going outside to relieve myself."

Second Brother Yan frowned. "Go quickly, and get far away. I'm eating meat—don't let me smell that stink!"

Why does this brat have so much business to do?

The skinny man was in a foul mood too as he headed outside, thinking, What's so great about you? We're both following Boss Zhang. You think I'm afraid of you?

His hands moved faster as he untied his belt. He had no intention of going far, stopping only a little distance away to piss against the wall.

It was February, and the cold wind bored into the cracks of one's bones. The skinny man hurriedly finished pissing and was just about to pull up his trousers and fasten his belt when moonlight suddenly spilled through a gap in the clouds in the pitch-black night. In a daze, he saw two shadows appear on the wall before him.

"Ah, this is..."

Before he could turn around in terror, a searing pain accompanied by bone-deep cold reached his chest half a beat later.

Looking down, he saw a sharp iron point, dripping with blood. Th-this was his blood? Was he going to die here?

As the iron spike was pulled out, his unwillingness and resentment became only a muffled cry before he collapsed soundlessly.

"This skinny one was easy enough. There's only one left inside." Su Ziji dragged the corpse to the corner and looked toward the door of the Divine Shrine.

Without deliberately concealing his footsteps, he carried the iron spike over.

Second Brother Yan did not even raise his head. Thinking the skinny man was still outside, dawdling instead of coming in, he shouted, "It's freezing—get in here and shut the door!"

That was followed by disgruntled cursing. Clearly, between the two of them, the skinny man was the one being oppressed.

Su Ziji said nothing and walked straight in with the iron spike.

"A lazy donkey has plenty of shit and piss when it comes time to turn the millstone. If it weren't for your luck, how could Boss Zhang have let you follow him? You deserve to starve to death for being such a coward..." Second Brother Yan said with a frown, then suddenly felt something was off.

This brat usually at least argued or tried to curry favor. Why was there not a peep from him now?

He had only just raised his head when he saw the sharp iron spike thrusting straight for his chest.

"Ah!" Second Brother Yan was startled and hurriedly rolled away. But there was a pile of things on the ground, scattered with broken stones and bits of wood. Though he reacted in time, he did not fully evade it. With a Pfft, the spike pierced his side, and the intense pain made Second Brother Yan scream.

When the weapon was pulled free, a spray of blood spurted out.

"Y-you, who are you?" By the firelight, Second Brother Yan saw that the person standing before him was a youth, far less burly than himself. His heart settled somewhat. Then he saw that the other's first strike had missed and that he seemed panicked, the hand gripping the weapon trembling slightly. He thought he had guessed the truth.

He immediately moved closer and snarled viciously, "You dare rob me? Do you know who I am? I'm Boss Zhang's man, you—ah!"

Su Ziji did not answer at all. He only watched Second Brother Yan. When he saw him slowly approaching, about to suddenly seize his weapon, he lunged forward and stabbed once.

Pfft! The iron spike went in again, this time entering through his chest and piercing out through his back.

Second Brother Yan's eyes widened. He simply could not believe that he had died at the hands of a youth. He stared fixedly at Su Ziji, filled with the feeling of dying with eyes unclosed.

He had injured people in his previous life, but this was his first time killing someone. When he killed the first man, he had felt nothing much. Only after killing Second Brother Yan did Su Ziji feel a trace of lingering fear. His palms sweated, and his back was soaked through.

A gust of sinister wind swept through the Divine Shrine, as though someone were howling in unwilling resentment.

Su Ziji closed his eyes. "What ghosts or gods are there in this world? Even if there are, I merely returned tooth for tooth and eye for eye. If I didn't kill them, they would surely kill me."

After silently repeating this to himself, he opened his eyes without fear.

"This place may be remote, but I can't leave the corpses lying here like this."

"I heard just now that these thugs had human lives on their hands, and they all sank their victims in ponds. That means the method works. I might as well sink these corpses in the river too."

Thinking this, Su Ziji was about to drag the bodies away when he stopped. "Let's see whether they have any silver on them. I've already killed them—there's no reason to leave the wealth behind."

After searching, he found a silver ingot weighing five taels, along with scattered bits of silver and copper coins, worth perhaps another two or three taels.

"An unexpected windfall. Is this the money the Mount Tong Temple daoist paid? Why is there only five taels?" Su Ziji immediately understood. "The Mount Tong Temple daoist paid ten taels, and Boss Zhang took half. Only right and proper."

Tucking the silver into his clothes, Su Ziji placed the two corpses on a battered wooden board. Without even cleaning the bloodstains, he dragged the board straight to the riverbank, tied a stone to them, and with two splashes, threw the corpses into the water. In the blink of an eye, they sank.

"The snow is still falling. It will cover the traces soon enough. Besides, even if they are discovered, the dead cannot testify."

"People like them already lived in the gray zone, with blood on their hands. Even if they disappear, they would not dare report it to the authorities. Of course, revenge will surely come."

"But there is a gap in time. When all is said and done, passing the Imperial Examinations is my greatest protection for now."

The snow was heavy, and Su Ziji was drenched in sweat. Going outside now could easily turn into a chill, and in ancient times, that was an extremely dangerous illness. He returned to the Divine Shrine. Though he had killed two men, the bonfire still crackled, and the meat hanging over the rack to cook still gave off a rich fragrance that made one's mouth water.

Su Ziji did not touch it. He merely assumed a stance and closed his eyes to calm the discomfort from killing, recalling what had just happened.

"The first assassination went fairly well, but the second was actually a little rushed and flustered. That gave the second man an opportunity. As expected, having killed before and never having killed at all are completely different."

"It wasn't a matter of skill, but mentality and experience."

"Experience especially. If that thrust had been off by even a fraction, the result would have been completely different."

The moment had been brief. Su Ziji pondered it, adjusted his angle slightly, and immediately felt as though the weapon had become an extension of his hand.

Su-style Fist Technique Level 3 (58/2000)

A notification suddenly appeared on the iron spike, startling Su Ziji. Only after a while did he realize what it was.

"Leveled up?" Su Ziji examined it carefully. For some reason, he felt it seemed to have brightened a little, though he could not tell clearly.

"No matter what, eat first."

Only then did he steady himself and look around. In the main hall, a curtain hung before the shrine niche, and within was a goddess statue, surrounded by shrimp soldiers and crab generals. This should be a water goddess, right?

The offering table was empty. Not only were there no offerings, even the incense burner held nothing but old incense ash. Clearly, no one had come to make offerings here for a long time.

The sight made Su Ziji shake his head. He bowed toward the goddess in the shrine niche. "After all, I borrowed this water goddess's territory to rest. Even if there are no ghosts or gods, I should still show some sincerity. Let it count as a guest's thanks to the host."

With that thought, Su Ziji picked up some incense, lit it with a tinderbox, and offered three sticks. After thinking a moment, he took a cold steamed bun from the oiled-paper packet in his clothes and placed it on the table... out of sympathy.

Of course, if the deity did not eat steamed buns, it would be good if some child too poor to eat stole it.

"The skull is ancestral remains. The graves are unsafe now. Once this matter is settled, it won't be too late to bury it properly." Outside, the sky had become increasingly dark and heavy. Su Ziji wrapped the skull in cloth, went to the side of the bonfire, and ate meat in great mouthfuls. By the firelight, he took out a book and began to read.

To speak frankly, anyone seeing him study after killing people would surely be shocked. Even Su Ziji felt his personality was somewhat unusual. Thus, after injuring someone in his previous life, someone had advised him, "With your temperament and martial skills, it'll be easy for trouble to happen. Why not take the civil service exam? Cultivation is easier when one is within the gates of public office."

Su Ziji had found that reasonable. So, in a year's time, he reviewed his studies and passed in one stroke. Unfortunately, he failed after barely getting through the interview.

Now that he had resolved one problem while burying another hidden danger, Su Ziji needed even more to cultivate through the gates of public office—but studying was not merely a case of clasping Buddha's feet only when trouble came. He had a purpose.

"Thus the gentleman remained harmonious without drifting; how strong and unyielding he was. He stood at the center without leaning to either side; how strong and unyielding he was. When the state had the Way, he did not change from his steadfastness; how strong and unyielding he was. When the state lacked the Way, he remained unchanged unto death; how strong and unyielding he was."

After finishing a chapter, a line of text floated up from the book.

[Experience +1]

It vanished in an instant. Su Ziji remained expressionless and continued reading aloud.

"When felling an axe handle, when felling an axe handle, the pattern is not far away. Holding an axe handle to fell an axe handle, one looks askance at it and still thinks it far away. Thus the gentleman governs others by what is in themselves, stopping when they correct themselves. Loyalty and reciprocity are not far from the Way. What you do not desire for yourself, do not impose upon others."

Another line floated up from the book.

[Experience +1]

"As expected!"

According to his tests, experience actually increased his own understanding. Every chapter he read gave him one point of forced experience. Even if he could not accumulate much over half a night this way, grains of sand could pile into a tower. It was already far faster than ordinary scholars.

His Four Books and Five Classics were only Level 3. Judging from the manifestation in his mind, the deeper his understanding, the more experience he gained. And better teaching materials worked the same way.

But teaching materials were a problem. In this era, good materials were the secret collections of various families. Without some connections, one could not even copy them by hand, much less see them printed and widely circulated.

Some people short on money would publish model essays, but those essays not only used traditional characters without punctuation, their sentence structures and meanings were complex, and their content twisted and roundabout. Even if they held true meaning, it was like gold hidden among sand and gravel.

Moreover, the authors themselves had roots in various schools. Without understanding those schools, later learners faced far too high a threshold for entry. This was the gentry class's customary method—crude, yet effective. Su Ziji had no room to resist it.

What was certain was that if he could not rapidly seize knowledge and form a system, then if he failed this examination, not only would the trouble from the killings erupt, but after his father's death, the fear of hunger and uncertainty, never knowing whether he would survive from morning to evening, and the complicated feeling of being a proud youth supported by the neighboring girl who had grown up with him, would all remain buried in his heart.

After awakening, his mature mind had kept all of it under control, but he also knew that blindly suppressing it was no solution.

Better to channel than to block. His thoughts had to flow freely!

Wasn't it just the Imperial Examinations?

Then let him see how difficult this ladder to heaven of the ancient age truly was!

At the very least, with this cheat, every time he read something, he automatically understood a little more. If one reading was not enough, then he would risk his life reading it a thousand times, ten thousand times. Let him see who could stop him!

He would surely pass as a Cultivated Talent, a Provincial Graduate!

The fire flickered faintly within the shrine, stirred by the cold wind blowing through cracks in the windows and doors. Even with the fire to warm himself, Su Ziji still had to rub his hands and move from time to time, or the cold would remain unbearable.

After moving around a little, he sat down again, held up the book, and began reciting. On the road, a convoy of carriages slowly approached.