Under cover of night.
Two black-clad figures vaulted over the courtyard wall and landed lightly inside.
Slowly drawing the long sabers at their waists, they split left and right, creeping quietly toward the main hall and its half-open door.
"Hey!"
Just then, a shout abruptly rang out behind them, shattering the night's stillness and giving the two tautly strung men a violent start.
Both spun around at once!
Before he even saw anyone, Pang Tao heard the sound of a sharp blade cutting through bone.
Then he saw his companion's head soar into the air, blood spraying like a fountain from the severed neck.
At that moment, he saw the tall, striking figure standing behind his companion. The man flicked the blood from his saber and said mildly,
"Were you looking for me?"
"Wei Sheng?!"
Pang Tao's heart jolted, but the sight of his companion's headless corpse instantly darkened his face.
When he had first received this assignment, he had hardly thought anything of it.
With both of them at Six Refinements, killing someone newly advanced to the fifth refinement should have been easy.
Yet one of them had died just after entering the courtyard, before they had even seen their target!
When had Wei Sheng appeared?!
Or had he been in the courtyard all along?
No, what was he doing out in the courtyard in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?!
Pang Tao drew a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the thoughts churning within him as he fixed Wei Sheng with an icy stare.
"To think you came out on your own. That saves me-"
Before he could finish,
a chilling gleam of saber light slashed toward his face. Alarmed, Pang Tao hastily retreated, only just evading that ferocious strike!
His strike missed, and surprise appeared in Wei