"You've lost your minds!"
Zeng Jing could not help clenching her fists, her low voice slowly echoing through the small courtyard.
Using Rama's Remains to lure King Runner out for a fight was certainly feasible. After all, Rama's Remains had nearly become King Runner's obsession.
He was determined to restore his male body and free himself from his eunuch identity.
Rama's Remains were his only hope.
But King Runner was no fool. If he came to meet Wen Qingkong and the others, would he not bring Black Stone assassins with him?
"This is our only chance to kill King Runner. Give me Rama's Remains."
"Drizzle."
Jiang Asheng's expression was grave, his gaze blazing.
For a moment, Zeng Jing found those eyes strangely familiar.
Li Guishou was a famous physician in Mingzhou, and what he excelled at most was changing one's appearance.
But while the face and head could be altered, those eyes could never be changed.
Wen Qingkong watched from the side without speaking.
Last night, if Zeng Jing had not shielded Li Lan and her mother from the Black Stone assassins, he would have killed Zeng Jing as well.
Now, he found this married couple's tangled love and hatred even less interesting. It only annoyed him.
"Time is running out."
"King Runner already knows we are here. After all, he controls Black Stone."
"Although Lei Bin, Lian Sheng, and Ye Zhanqing are dead, Black Stone still has plenty of assassins."
"If we do not strike first, then once King Runner has made full preparations, we will be the ones who die."
Wen Qingkong calmly reminded the couple.
Jiang Asheng strode into the house, lifted a brick from the floor, and revealed a rectangular wooden box beneath it. He opened the box, revealing two swords, one long and one short.
At the sight of those two swords, Zeng Jing's body trembled. She could not help taking a step back, her face turning deathly pale.
She had actually been living all this time with the man who had slaughtered her entire family.
Jiang Asheng carried the two swords before Zeng Jing.
"You want to kill me?"
Zeng Jing stared stubbornly at Jiang Asheng. At that moment, she displayed some of the bearing of Drizzle, Black Stone's elite assassin.
Jiang Asheng said nothing. He merely drew the two swords.
After so long without use, the two swords had actually rusted.
"I thought I would never need them again."
"Until Black Stone came last night, I realized that unless I eliminated Black Stone, even if I changed my appearance, I would still need them."
"I understand that you are unwilling to take out Rama's Remains."
"But please sharpen these two swords for me."
Jiang Asheng pushed the long and short swords before Drizzle.
Wen Qingkong secretly thought Jiang Asheng was truly formidable. He had probably known Drizzle's identity from the moment she arrived here disguised as Zeng Jing. That was why he had taken the initiative and married her.
Even Auntie Cai had been able to see his blatant affection back then. Love at first sight happening to a former noble young master and wandering swordsman like Jiang Asheng was inevitably a little melodramatic.
But if Jiang Asheng had done it deliberately, then everything made sense.
Jiang Asheng had set an emotional trial for Zeng Jing.
And now, Zeng Jing could not pass it.
Zeng Jing's hands trembled. She had thought Jiang Asheng would kill her, yet he instead wanted to eliminate the dangers threatening their life together.
He had already put down his hatred. What did she have to fear about risking everything?
Even Wen Qingkong, a fifteen-year-old boy, could see the situation clearly. How could she, an elite assassin, fail to understand it?
"Fine!"
"I'll sharpen your swords!"
"I'll go with you!"
Zeng Jing took out a whetstone. Wen Qingkong leaned against the gate, quietly watching with Jiang Asheng as Zeng Jing polished the Sansha Swords until they gleamed like new.
"Rama's Remains are beneath the Buddha statue at Yunhe Temple. We will arrange the duel there."
Zeng Jing handed the Sansha Swords to Jiang Asheng.
"Good!"
"I'll notify him."
Jiang Asheng took the swords and leaped away. His qinggong was exceptional; otherwise, he would not have made a profession out of running errands.
Wen Qingkong said lazily, "Let's go. To Yunhe Temple."
Zeng Jing looked at the young man before her. His decisiveness put her, an assassin, deeply to shame.
After retiring into this city, selling cloth, cooking, and washing clothes every day, she had gradually become hesitant and overly cautious.
The two left the city and headed straight for Yunhe Temple.
Yunhe Temple stood halfway up the mountain. Behind the temple lay a vast, open clearing filled with all kinds of stone statues.
Zeng Jing retrieved the upper half of Rama's Remains from beneath one of the statues. Then the two waited there for Jiang Asheng and King Runner to arrive.
"We suddenly challenged him, so King Runner has been caught off guard. He will not have time to mobilize too many Black Stone assassins."
"This is our only chance."
Wen Qingkong looked at the sun in the sky as Drizzle's voice sounded beside his ear.
She turned to look at the young man's delicate, youthful profile. He was handsome and gentle.
"If you were an assassin, you would definitely be the greatest assassin."
Zeng Jing was not flattering him. Having experienced these events herself, she genuinely felt that way.
"What is so good about being an assassin?"
"You never know if you will survive the day."
"Assassins are what I hate most."
"Then why did you become a corpse seamstress?"
"Corpse seamstresses make their living from the dead. People have always looked down on them."
Zeng Jing felt that no matter what, assassins were better than corpse seamstresses.
Wen Qingkong glanced at her. "I could not find food, my fate was poor, and I was destined to be alone for life. So the Ministry of Justice in Yujing City took notice of me and assigned me to the Corpse Seamstress Workshop. The workshop was disbanded not long ago, and to make a living, I came to Mingzhou."
"Corpse seamstresses live off the dead, but whenever I look at those corpses, I can learn the stories of their lives. All sorts of stories, all sorts of lives. That is far better than being an assassin."
Zeng Jing frowned slightly. She did not understand what Wen Qingkong meant.
How could a corpse possibly reveal so many things?
He was still just a young man, boasting wildly because he did not want others to belittle him.
From Zeng Jing's expression, Wen Qingkong knew she did not believe a word he said.
Wen Qingkong did not care. If he had not possessed the system, even he would not have believed himself.
It was already noon, and the sunlight blazed fiercely.
Jiang Asheng returned.
His expression was animated. Clearly, King Runner had agreed to come.
"He will arrive within half an hour at most."
"When I found him, a young eunuch was berating him. The way he groveled and fawned was truly nothing like his usual arrogant manner."
Zeng Jing said in a low voice, "The Mingzhou royal house is a non-imperial princely house of Great Xia. They favor eunuchs and often clash with the prime minister and outside officials. King Runner is being so cautious for more than just concealing himself. I have always felt that he has another purpose."
"After all, Black Stone even manipulates the promotions of officials within Mingzhou. That is already beyond the scope of what an assassin organization should be involved in."
The Great Xia Empire had the Zhu Family, non-imperial princes of Mingzhou; the Zhao Family, non-imperial princes of Songzhou; and the Yang Family, non-imperial princes of Suizhou. Each commanded vast fiefs stretching thousands of miles and over a hundred counties, forming nations of their own.
Black Stone's manipulation of official promotions in Mingzhou truly did not resemble the work of a simple assassin organization.
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