‘There must be something strange about these things going on! This must be the experts of the palace coming back to find fault with us. Darn it, we can’t afford to offend them, and yet we still can’t even hide from them? Isn’t it good enough that we move away every time we see you?’ All the guards present had a belly full of fire as they internally cursed the other party’s mothers even while they maintained their smile. They courteously bowed before escaping for their lives because with one look you would know that these experts had some problem in their head. Even if they were to dress up as assassins, they should at least be more professional! What assassin would swagger so openly, asking for the guards to take a look, just so they would greet them? Forget about it, thinking about it would only give them the chills!
As a result, in the deep dark night within Blazing Sun City, an extremely weird situation was seen where a true assassin held his weapon as he paraded through the place openly as though it was the right thing to do. The funniest part was the imperial guards that were supposed to arrest the assassin actually ran away from him as quickly as they could the moment they saw him. Let’s not even talk about interrogating or arresting him.
Of course, the actual reason remained unknown by our First Pavilion Head!
However, whatever he saw already made him wish to explode in anger. ‘This lord here is looking for people to kill to solve his frustration!’ But everyone just had to run away from him, none of them coming over to seek death!
At this intersection with three different directions, each held a troop of guards that had pulled back inside. Every now and then, they would stretch out their heads to take a look, and upon seeing the expert still standing there, they would immediately retract their heads as though things would be fine so long as they continued hiding…
Ling Jian was speechless as he looked at the most spacious fork in the road. Both his hands idly held on to the sword as he looked up into the sky. ‘Am… Am I still an assassin? Even from the ancient times till now, what assassin has been so domineering? What assassin would be so bold as to clash head-on and fight in the open, as and when they wished… what am I even thinking?!’
Was this what it was to completely throw away any and all the misgivings one had, going where and when they wished to freely? Looking at the tiny heads from far off carefully surveilling the surroundings, Ling Jian felt as though his whole brain was stuffed with wool, and he was depressed beyond belief!
‘Who can tell me, what the h*ll is going on?!’ Ling Jian raged.
Assassin, killer… as the name implied, it was no honorable job. All those that had done so had carried it out in utmost secrecy, waiting when everyone’s nerves were stretched taut and they were all in panic, then to burst out and slaughter the target in one blow before vanishing once again. This was treating even the highest of experts as trash, this was what unrestrained really was! This was the type of satisfaction that tens of thousands sought!
This was where the true value of an assassin shone!
Just like how his young noble assassinated the DongFang Family Head, DongFang JingTian in one blow, that was the highest realm of an assassin!
But now… what was this all about?!
The moon had already risen, and it was the time when Ling Jian was supposed to be carrying out his mission. However, he found out that he could not muster up any strength to do so. There was no longer the excitement of the past, as though he was sent on a mission to assassinate a corpse. There was no satisfaction in doing so!
‘Just treat it as though this assassin had run a long way over just to slaughter a pig’s head!’ The great killer Ling sighed in defeat, leaping over the wall and slowly vanishing.
He finally left!
The demon left!!
That sick pervert left!!
From the three roads simultaneously came the sound of relief, followed by endless cursing.
“Dammit, that idiot almost suffocated me to death.”
“That’s right, if you dress as an assassin, then be more like one! Who does this sort of thing? Does he think that we’re as foolish as him?”
“That person is sick in the head, hoping for us to go and interrogate him about his outfit. F**k his mother! Does he think we are idiots?”
“I really don’t understand those eunuchs from the palace. Aren’t they just missing the piece of meat in their pants? How could they be so perverted? F**k!”
“Hahaha….”
“All right, let’s hurry and go on patrol, if something really happens, then that would be bad.”
Everyone left, opening their eyes wide to seriously do their patrolling duties. Every now and then there would be a short burst of laughter, as one of them thought about the stupid expert who tried to trap them earlier…
As for the fool that they were referring to, oh, that was also our First Pavilion’s Head, great killer Ling! At this moment, he was lazily sashaying through the Lord’s manor in Blazing Sun City.
He went in completely unimpeded, without any danger, not alerting anybody along the way whatsoever!
In fact, all the experts and guards of the Imperial Family had the same thought: Why would there even be so many assassins? Did they really think that assassins could be found like cabbages? The traitors had long been chased away by DongFang Jing Lei, their numbers only numbering a few thousand. They did not even have enough manpower to fend for themselves, and they still wanted to employ an assassin? For what? Even if the assassination succeeded, with the amount of manpower they had left, how could they come back? Furthermore, the DongFang family had already been cleansed inside Blazing Sun City, so why would they have to be so unnecessarily suspicious?
Making a mountain out of a molehill! Deliberately looking for problems where there are none!
Right now, however, Ling Jian was completely in awe!
On the tree he was hidden, two ‘experts’ were leaning on either side of the tree, their thunderous snoring resounding through the surrounding hundred feet around them…
On a side room at the Southern Courtyard, there was a lamp flickering, as conversations and laughter continuously poured out from within…
“There are five leaders…”
“Sixth of Sixes, ease in success… 1
“I saw a seven!”
“Eight horses make up a team…”
“One heart for respect…”
“Three orchards side by side…”
From the East, another room lit up, as a man held on to his pants while he drunkenly walked out topless. He stumbled around till he reached the latrine, but actually did not go in, instead letting go of his pants and revealing a white pair of buttocks. He actually placed his hands behind his back, letting out a deep sigh of relief as he stuck out his hips! “Chi… chi” The sounds of water tinkling was heard as a beautiful arc of water shot in front of him like an arrow…
Hmm, peeing with his hands behind his back, ‘without support!’ 2
Ling Jian’s eyes nearly popped out at the sight!
This… was this still the temporary residence that the Eastern Zhao monarch lived in? Ling Jian opened his mouth in shock and anger, unable to stop himself from cursing out, “F**k this sh*t!”
Thinking about this, Ling Jian thought something was fishy, as how was this a residence of the Imperial Family? Looking to his left and right, Ling Jian suddenly dashed out, covering the mouth of the guy who was exposing his white buttocks while urinating outside the latrine. Before anyone could see, he had dragged him into the latrine, and a horrid smell assaulted his nose…
That guy was having the time of his life peeing, and upon being captured so suddenly, he panicked. The originally straight water flow became a ‘torrential downpour’, spraying all over the place and completely wetting his pants…
Ling Jian held on to his nose, lowly cursing. He shot a disgusted look at the smooth body of this wastrel, and picked him up in disdain, pressing him down into the latrine pit.
Ling Jian perfectly controlled his strength, just enough to allow the guy to sink up to his neck. If he exerted more, it would cause some splash… and it would raise a stink.
The bloke wanted to scream, but Ling Jian’s eyes flashed as the point of a sword was suddenly stuffed down his throat. The cold metal was laid firmly on his tongue, giving the person a sense of fear so strong that he could not help but lose control of his bowels. Luckily, Ling Jian had stuffed him down the latrine pit earlier, so it seemed like he had planned it perfectly…
The bloke almost felt his soul leaving his body, and he pleaded through his eyes. However, because the sword was still in his mouth, he did not dare to even twitch a muscle, and could only allow two streams of sparkling tears to silently seep out.
“Where is DongFang MingRi? Speak!”
“Wu… wu…”
Slowly withdrawing his sword, Ling Jian kept it pointed at the man’s mouth as he coldly repeated. “Speak.”
“His Majesty… His Majesty is behind in the back courtyard. The City Lord has a tunnel dug from the main study room of that courtyard, connecting to a mountain resort about five hundred meters outside…” Under the extreme shock and fear, the man trembled and unconsciously spilled everything he knew.
“Such a secretive matter, how would you even come across it?” Ling Jian frowned his brows as he became suspicious. Not only did the person come clean so quickly, he did it in such detail! This wasn’t normal!
“This, this subordinate is the head of the Imperial Guards. When we just arrived in Blazing Sun City, it was the City Lord who first received us…” The man’s face turned bitter as he stared at the sword coming ever closer to him, “Sire, please spare my life. I’ve said all there is to say, please pity me, I have an ailing eighty-year-old mother at home and a newborn child to look after…”
“Which room has the tunnel? How do you operate it?!” Ling Jian pinched his brows together to stop himself from laughing out loud. ‘This man isn’t even in his thirties, but he actually claimed to have an eighty-year-old mother. Wasn’t that as good as saying that his mother was around fifty when she gave birth to him? Really an old oyster producing a pearl! Furthermore, he had a month-old baby, which gave him some credibility… wait, what? What’s wrong with me today? Why am I nitpicking about these small matters?!’
“It’s just… just at the room opposite the osmanthus tree. There’s an inner room inside, and if you shift the wardrobe, there’s a stone tablet behind. Behind that is the hole, which allows two people to exit or enter side by side…”
“Are there any people there guarding the area?”
The man made a face as he replied, “The guards should all be at the West Wing… drinking. That has been the case for the last few days…”
“What the f**k!” Ling Jian finally lashed out at him. “To be useless to such extent, you guys are really talented at it, geniuses!”
Seeing the blood fountain splashing from the man’s throat, Ling Jian still remained expressionless as he placed his sword on the man’s head, slowly pushing his frozen frightened face into the latrine pit… covering it up totally…
‘An eighty-year-old mother, a month old baby? Sorry about that, this daddy here has been holding in his frustration for too long, so just take it as you were unlucky!’
Ling Jian sharply exited the latrine in impatience, quickly scaling the tree and blending in under the lush leaves. He exhaled and inhaled in great breaths. The smell inside the latrine was almost enough to knock out the great killer, and he had to hold in his breath till the interrogation ended, causing him to nearly suffocate as well…
He swore to himself that he would never come to Eastern Zhao to carry out any more missions in the future. ‘This daddy here would rather cross the seas and oceans to Heavenly Wind just to assassinate someone than to come to this sh*thole of a place… if there are more missions here, Ling Chi shall take them! Didn’t he mention that he likes to kill monarchs? Then let him, I’ve had enough anyway…’
Ling Jian no longer hesitated and leaped off the tree in a flash, and like a sash fluttering in the wind, gently landed outside the door. His right hand pushed forward, and the door soundlessly opened, the wooden horizontal barricade behind it having turned into a pile of wood shavings.
“Whozzat?” A vague and blurry voice sounded out, thick with sleep.
“It’s me.” Ling Jian quickly darted in.
“Oh, it’s so late already. What are you… WHO are you?!” The person in bed bolted up at the last part, upon realizing that Ling Jian’s voice was foreign to him. However, before he could scream, Ling Jian’s blade had already caressed his throat, and using the bedsheet to cover his wound, he wrapped the victim up before stuffing him under the bed.
He then dashed into the house, and pushing with his left while bracing with the right, the huge wardrobe actually slide to the side without a sound.
On the wall was placed a large limestone tablet. Ling Jian slowly exerted his strength, pushing the tablet aside to reveal a round hole over two meters high. He clicked his tongue as he stared at the hole thinking, ‘What’s with the large hole? A huge horse can even be squeezed through it, no wonder the Emperor would deign to lower himself to squeeze through a tunnel!’
Before entering the tunnel, Ling Jian made sure to carefully put the stone tablet and wardrobe back to their usual place. In the darkness of the tunnel, a dim light shone up ahead. On the two walls were actually lined with Night Illumination Pearls the size of a finger!
‘It seems like this Blazing Sun City Lord really knows how to rake in the dough! To actually have so many Night Illumination Pearls, what a huge sum of money this is!’
With contempt in his eyes, Ling Jian plucked every single pearl without restraint as he walked along the path, collecting over a hundred pearls in total… all these would fetch quite a tidy sum when he went back. As the young noble would put it, even the smallest locust is also a type of meat!
In a short moment, Ling Jian found himself in a clean and elegant little courtyard. When he was inside the tunnel, he had already sensed that a great defense had been constructed around this area, which caused him to regain his former cautiousness. Instead of moving rashly, he only hid in a flower bed near the tunnel, and the vividly blooming flowers served the purpose of hiding Ling Jian’s figure.
While he moved, Ling Jian surreptitiously activated his inner energy, and the stone tablet originally covering the exit silently moved back to its original spot.
The shifting of positions gave Ling Jian a pleasant surprise because he could feel the difference in his degree of control at this moment. Among the field of chrysanthemum flowers, nary a petal was touched by his actions, but he still managed to hide his actions flawlessly. This was a sort of miracle that should be unachievable based on his current standard. Ling Jian also felt bewildered, as at that moment he felt as though he was one with the flowers, a sort of mysterious feeling.
To Ling Jian, this was a completely new realm. This was when he discovered what Ling Tian was actually talking about. To use all your surroundings as though they were part of you, even if it was a piece of dust, there was still some use in it. This was the deeper meaning Ling Tian mentioned!
Ling Jian had barely hidden when he heard the sound of wind fluttering against clothes as a few shadows sped towards his current location. They viewed their surroundings a little suspiciously, with their bodies tensed and senses heightened, not the least bit remiss.
While Ling Jian was absolutely silent in this operation, the experts had been guarding around the area all these while. They still had a sort of sixth sense which told them that something was wrong.
“Strange. I thought I sensed someone sneaking in, but why haven’t I spotted anyone? Even if it’s my misconception, how could there be a coincidence where all of us sensed wrongly?!”
“That’s right, I sensed something wrong too. However, there’s only one exit in this flower garden, and there’s nothing suspicious at all. In such a short time, how could anyone successfully hide in this place? But if no one is present, then what’s with our senses?” Another voice was heard mumbling to themselves in confusion.
“Could it be that we’re just too nervous these past few days?” a third voice consoled. “Ever since the monarch insisted on shifting over here, the atmosphere has been anxious and tense, and even if a worm were to drop down there would be a hell of a commotion.” He paused a while before proudly continuing, “But since we people are all here, let’s not talk about some third-rate thief, even if the famed Pavilion Head of the First Pavilion were here, it would be impossible for them to escape all of our gazes.”
The others snorted and approved of the latter’s bragging.
“Then it was probably a false alarm,” one of them decided, before laughing. “However, I really wish that so-called Pavilion Head would come around here. Who knows, maybe we could kill them to let off some steam?”
A sigh rang out, coupled with the lonely tone of someone at the top, “That’s right, without opponents, and with only us six brothers to spar, it gets a little dull sometimes. However, with our strength, how many such opponents actually exist?”
“This is also an inevitable situation.” A sigh came out sounding bleak and lonely. “Even after surveying the entire world, there’s actually not a single sword that can match me. To speak the truth, such a life is really meaningless.”
The rest collectively sighed as well, and one of them remarked, “Big brother doesn’t have to be so downcast, it is a prerequisite for an expert to understand loneliness, and for us to have reached such heights, feeling a little solitary should be normal.”
“I only hope that the First Pavilion will not disappoint this old man, or else this life will be too uninteresting,” one of them replied, with the demeanor of a first-rate expert.
As the three of them walked away while laughing, Ling Jian heard one of them laughing out, “… what First Pavilion, it’s just a laughingstock! Let’s not talk about the First Pavilion, so what if it’s Heavenly Justice from the Beyond Heavens? They speak about it as though it’s so grand, a medallion for a life, and yet they can’t even deal with the kid Ling Tian who’s less than two decades old! In the end, they’re just stronger ants. Do they really treat themselves as number one in the world? Don’t forget that other than ants, there are still many strong creatures.”
‘I’ve seen many shameless people, but not one that’s so shameless!’ If not for the fact that Ling Jian was trying to conceal his tracks, he would have shot out a wave of true energy at them! Those three jerks dared to boast so excessively! Confidence might be a good thing, but when it has reached such extreme levels, then it would only be the root for disaster. Heavenly Justice was merely a ‘stronger ant’ in their eyes??! If Justice were to hear this phrase, his expression would be delightful to behold. Oh, young noble also mentioned that Justice did not have good temper; one wrong word from Yang Wei, the Young Master of the Yang family, and he had been killed by Justice! Imagine what would happen if he had heard what these guys were saying!
Ling Jian silently spat out in contempt, scolding a few sentences of them viewing the sky from the bottom of a well as well as being full of foolish conceit. Let’s not even mention Justice, even Ling Jian himself had the assurance to take on the three of them with just himself! The reason was simple, ‘This daddy was right under your noses and you couldn’t even spot me, so what reason do you have to think so highly of yourselves? And Justice would be more than one notch higher than me, to the point that even though my young noble had just broken through, he was still inferior to that perverted martial addict. This was the meaning of frogs in a well, right?’
‘Most likely, those old fogeys have gotten used to living in the DongFang Imperial Court, and have thought to themselves as the strongest in the world. Their brains have long been muddled, and they do not realize just how high the heavens are, or how deep the earth goes!’
‘Seeing one small spot can sometimes show you the whole situation. Within the DongFang Imperial Court, if they are only comprised of such ‘experts’, then they are no match for this lord at all!’
If he didn’t witness it himself, Ling Jian would never have believed that there existed people that were so arrogant and conceited in this world! If it were three youths, then that would make sense, but those three were old fogeys!
Ling Jian twisted his mouth in disdain. ‘These sort of people, if killed, would only dirty one’s sword!’ Just as the trio was walking away, Ling Jian took the chance and congealed his energy, floating up directly from his lying down position and bouncing up to the top of the building before plastering himself just like a piece of paper on the rooftop.
While he wasn’t afraid of these so-called ‘peerless experts’ together with their companions, Ling Jian did not want to alert DongFang MingRi to his presence. With the airtight security they had, if exposed, he would lose his chance of assassination.
He lay there without moving for a long time until he met with a window of opportunity where he figured out the direction towards the main residence from his current spot. While this mountain villa was quite large, Ling Jian knew that with the status as Emperor, he would not lower himself to stay where his subordinates lived. Thus, the place he resided in would have to be the main residence, which was facing the South!
This was common sense, and this also showcased the pride of a monarch in DongFang MingRi. Even if he knew that someone would come to assassinate him, he would still choose to reside in this room. Although that being said, the reason why he even came to here in the first place was to avoid being assassinated!
Ling Jian gathered his mental energy, slowly sending out a thin thread of divine sense as he detected movements down below.
DongFang MingRi’s elite troops were outside of the compound, patrolling the area. These patrolling soldiers were far more severe and strict compared to the ones outside this residence!
Inside the courtyard, there were more than ten strong sources of divine sense, scattered around as they scanned the area now and then. However, their senses all converged onto one point, which was the master bedroom of this residence.
Ling Jian knew that his window of opportunity would be extremely small. The moment someone found out about the corpse hidden under the bed, then the fact that an assassin had infiltrated would be exposed. Ling Jian couldn’t pin his hopes on it not being discovered until dawn. After all, for someone to be suddenly missing would certainly attract attention after a while.
From the time that he took action until someone found out would be a short amount of time. He had to lock on to his target and carry out his plan in the fastest time possible!
Suddenly, Ling Jian’s ears picked up some sounds.
“Oh…. Your Majesty…” The room to the left suddenly sounded out with some soft moans, clearly transmitting into Ling Jian’s ears. DongFang MingRi was inside that room with a woman!
“My beloved concubine… you’re really smooth down here…” A man’s voice, filled with lust, sounded out heavily in response.
“Your Majesty… is… too good at this, ohhh…” The woman let out a lovable moan, and as though she had bitten onto something, she muffledly continued, “It’s too big… even though… it’s pretty swollen… uncomfortable…”
“Uncomfortable? I’ll show you what’s uncomfortable!” DongFang MingRi seemed to have gotten worked up, his panting getting more pronounced. The sound of flesh meeting flesh continuously sounded, followed by the creaking of the bed… a man and woman simultaneously groaned at the end of this symphony, as though they wanted to die but could not die…
Even at such a jittery time, with so many problems, this monarch of Eastern Zhao still had so much excitement. This made Ling Jian feel a little strange.
‘How unlucky!’ Ling Jian never thought that he would come across a live pornographic scene. Even though he was a bachelor and had not experienced such scenes himself, he was after all an assassin, and he excelled in searching for the weaknesses of his targets. At the point when a man and woman finished their lovemaking was when both of them were the weakest!
Thinking about the disgraceful performance below, a cold smile surfaced on Ling Jian’s face. In the period where his martial arts had reached a high level, it had been almost three years since he had been in this kind of a situation. He might as well allow the DongFang Emperor to die in the arms of a beautiful woman. This was the saying of ‘If one dies under a peony, he would become a lascivious ghost, and if an emperor were to die because of his lust, then he would become an unfettered spirit!
Ling Jian’s sense had fully locked onto those two, waiting for the opportune moment. When the two of them had intertwined with each other and dozed off, he started to rotate his energy to a maximum. This was followed by his figure flashing like lightning as he appeared in the air above that particular room, before dropping straight down!
At this moment, Ling Jian did not care about holding back and keeping himself concealed! His speed had reached the maximum, and this movement of his actually created a sonic boom behind him! The roof tiles below him all rattled as though a typhoon passed by, dislodging and spinning into the air.
His domineering true energy was released without restraint, just like the Thunder God from the Nine Heavens, smashing down with his hammer straight towards the particular roof!