I Came for the Light; I Am the Light

The night was as black as ink, too thick to dissolve.

The volcanic valley where the Duke's Mansion stood had not fallen silent with the coming of night.

Instead, the dark-red glow of magma played across the mansion's towering walls.

At an inconspicuous sewage outlet behind the mountain, the bodies of two patrol guards lay silent.

"Three quarters past midnight. Between guard shifts, we have only the time it takes half an incense stick to burn."

The old woman kept her voice low. Her withered fingers gripped the sharpened scissors so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

She lay in the grass, the dark sewage outlet reflected in her cloudy eyes.

It was the path to survival she had earned after enduring three months in hell.

"Half an incense stick is enough."

Jiang Hao's voice was as soft as a passing breeze. He glanced back at the others and gave a slight nod.

The next instant, he vanished.

There was no earth-shaking surge of Soul Power, no dazzling flash of a Soul Skill. Jiang Hao simply melted into the shadows.

Owl Bro followed like a ghost, with Marionette close behind, gliding on a silent hovering device.

A slender silver sword appeared in Yan Shaozhe's hand. His scholarly air had turned entirely to icy killing intent.

The stench inside the sewage outlet was overwhelming, but to those present, it was nothing compared to the malice in human hearts.

Blue Silver Grass snaked from Cao Bro's hand. Rather than striking, it wrapped precisely around the necks of two dozing servants ahead.

Crack. Crack.

Two faint snaps. Neither man managed a scream before his life ended.

The toxin on the Blue Silver Grass leaves could paralyze the nerves in an instant, letting them die in their sleep.

It was the last mercy he