After the flying sword exhausted its strength and was flicked away with a finger, Hou Niao immediately knew he had lost his best chance.
The underworld's intelligence had been fairly accurate. There were powerful True Disciples among the Qi Sect's guards, but not one-two. One was outside, the other inside.
As the flying sword hurtled backward, a voice rang out in grief and fury. "How heartless Shanmen is! I, You Chao'en, risked life and limb for Quanzhen for decades, and a single injury earned me a silencing strike?
"Since you have shown me no mercy, don't blame me for showing you no loyalty. From this day forward, not a single secret spy in Jianye will escape. That is what you wanted to see, isn't it?"
Clearly, the voice came from the man lying incapacitated inside the sedan chair. Although Hou Niao had taken the form of a sword spirit and had never seen his face, that tone alone told him exactly who the man was-and exactly what mistake he had made!
You Chao'en had not defected to the enemy. The Qi Sect had deliberately staged all of this. Just as Hou Niao had feared before acting, the Qi Sect meant to use this approach to shatter You Chao'en's illusions about Shanmen completely!
This also indirectly explained why Jianye's secret-spy network remained entirely unscathed despite his long captivity: they had been waiting for Hou Niao to come and silence him!
It was not that the Qi Sect had suddenly grown kindhearted, but that they had failed to pry anything out of You Chao'en. So they had laid this trap, waiting for Shanmen's assassin to attempt to silence him-the final straw that would break the pillar supporting You Chao'en's resolve.
Strictly speaking, this was not his fault. The false intelligence obtained by