Under the moonlight, atop the roof.
Chen Ji looked at the Ei dagger in his hand, then at the Ei dagger held by the black-clad assassin...
Trace Ji had planned to pin the death of General Wang on the owner of the Ei dagger, foreseeing that the assassin, a knight of Jianghu skilled with the Ei dagger and yearning to avenge Prince Jing, would co. However, he hadn’t expected the adversary to actually arrive.
The black-clad assassin’s face was uncovered, her black hat having fallen off in the fierce combat... it turned out to be a woman.
Chen Ji held his breath and took a good look at her. She appeared to be in her mid-thirties, with a beautiful but weathered face, like the peony stone bridge over the Luo River, enduring decades of wind and rain.
Her eyes were bloodshot, as if she had cried countless tis, falling asleep in tears and waking up in tears.
On the bluestone street, the assassin faced over ten soldiers of the Thousand-year Army. As the assassin moved left, the armored soldiers also shifted left, creating a net, their auras interacting as they searched for each other’s weaknesses.
Under the eaves, General Wang clenched his teeth, propping himself up. He did not try to remove the Ei dagger stuck in his armpit but rather drew his sword from his waist and said coldly, "Su Zhou, I understand your desire to avenge Prince Jing, but how can you be so sure that I betrayed him? I have been loyally serving the Prince for years without a single fault."
The woman known as "Su Zhou", holding the Ei dagger in one hand, slowly swept her blood-red eyes over each soldier of the Thousand-year Army, "Prince Jing taught to judge a person not by what they say, but by what they do. The Thousand-year Army is Prince Jing’s direct command; since the Prince has fallen and you all are still well, isn’t that proof enough that you are the traitors?"
General Wang’s expression hardened as he gripped the sword hilt tightly.
Su Zhou flipped the Ei dagger in her hand, bent down and raised it in front of her, resembling the hook on the arm of a mantis.
She sneered, "Wang Chongli, rember when you were shot through the thigh with an arrow outside Liuzhou City? It was Prince Jing who carried you into the city, and later got you the Immortal dicine from Laojun Mountain Dao Court, scouring the Jianghu for the Cultivation Path of Green Sun Swordsmanship. The sword in your hand, wasn’t it a gift from him when you were promoted to junior general? When he had that sword forged, he went through great efforts to get teorite iron from the Inner Court and invited a master swordsmith from Cangzhou three tis over, have you forgotten all this?"
"Wu Yong, back when you were a re foot soldier, your family sent a letter about your sick mother. You deserted to return ho but were captured by the Constitutional Supervision Departnt. It was Prince Jing who spared your life for your filial piety and even got a doctor for your mother, and passed the Cultivation Path to you."
"Gou Lintao, you were just a nobody in the Jianghu, your father’s Cultivation Path coveted and he killed with poison. Prince Jing avenged you, reclaid the Cultivation Path—you repay his kindness with ingratitude now?"
On the bluestone pavent, Su Zhou’s words fell heavily, each word firm as iron.
She and these core mbers of the Thousand-year Army were all old acquaintances, she nad them one by one, their records clear as daylight.
After a long silence, an armored soldier spoke, "Aunt Su, we did not harm Prince Jing."
Su Zhou asked sternly, "If I asked you to kneel in the City God Temple, swearing an oath in your parents’ na, shedding blood to swear that if you betrayed Prince Jing, let the City God take your parents to the underworld, would you dare?"
The soldiers unconsciously tightened their grip on their swords, yet none dared to accept the challenge.
Chen Ji, lying on the roof, listened bewildered, unsure if it was because the people of Ning Dynasty were superstitious and thus afraid to swear, or if swearing with blood in the City God Temple really had so effect.
At that mont, General Wang spoke slowly, "The reason we are still alive is also to keep a useful body to avenge him, biding our ti to exterminate the Eunuch Party. We did not betray Prince Jing, it was that bastard of the Chen family nad Chen Ji who betrayed him."
Su Zhou scoffed dismissively, "You think by throwing the dirt on a re apprentice, I will believe you? It doesn’t matter, you must be killed, so must he. After killing you, I will go kill him, everyone must die!"
General Wang clenched his teeth and said, "Madwoman, have you lost your mind?"
Su Zhou’s gaze was as deep as an abyss. "I indeed have."
General Wang looked down at the Ei dagger in his left shoulder, and then with a slight flick of his right wrist, his long sword emitted a sonorous clang. "Do you really think you can kill so many of us? You’re overestimating yourself. In the past, out of respect for the Prince, we let you have your way. Now you really think you’re so sort of great knight?"
Su Zhou’s voice burst through her teeth. "Try ."
As her words fell, she charged into the midst of the armored soldiers.
An armored soldier swung his blade at her, but before it could strike her, she had already vanished from his sight.
A piercing pain spread through the soldier’s leg; he turned back to see his thigh had been penetrated by the Ei dagger, blood gushing forth.
Using the Ei dagger against his neck, Su Zhou pulled him backward from behind, retreating from the encirclent. The remaining armored soldiers hesitated, afraid to act rashly.
In the next mont, Su Zhou’s Ei dagger rapidly stabbed several tis in front of the armored soldier’s chest, blood splattering and staining her hands red.
The armored soldier slowly fell down, his eyes lifeless. "Aunt Su, I’m sorry..."
Su Zhou’s eyes briefly flickered. "Go apologize to the Prince, why apologize to ?"
After speaking, she once again charged forward, her movents unpredictable. With every step, her body followed, her palms changed with her body, and her steps turned with her palms, all connected in a constant flow.
Her Ei dagger moved in harmony with her form, like a fluttering, traceless leaf.
Gradually, an invisible wind gathered beside Su Zhou, causing the nearby armored soldiers to stagger, and the fallen leaves on the ground swirled into a pattern resembling a yin and yang fish.
However, just as the yin and yang fish was about to take shape, General Wang seized the mont to strike with his sword, wounding Su Zhou’s right arm and disrupting the yin and yang fish formation.
After his successful strike, General Wang did not linger in the fight and quickly exited the battle circle. "The Prince actually pleaded for that old Cheng Tinghua to teach you the Eight Diagrams Elental Technique," he said.
With that, he waved his hand lightly, signaling all the armored soldiers to surround her.
As an armored soldier passed by him, he grabbed the soldier’s arm guard and whispered, "I’m not sure what realm her Eight Diagrams Elental has reached; you and I might not be her match. Go to the South City Gate and call the Luocheng Military Departnt here to surround her! Quickly!"
The armored soldier nodded, leapt onto his horse while Su Zhou was being surrounded, and galloped towards the South City Gate.
Just as General Wang was about to wield his sword and return to the fight, he felt a slight numbness in his left arm.
His expression changed, and he tore open the shoulder area of his clothing. The spot where the Ei dagger had struck had turned black and purple, with dark veins spreading like a spiderweb. Frightening.
General Wang dipped his finger in the blood, sniffed it under his nose, and his eyes grew cold. "Blood Seal?"
He started running towards Anxi Street with his long sword in hand, but after only a few steps, he rembered that Taiping dical Hall had been sealed along with Prince Jing Mansion.
General Wang paused for a brief mont, then decided to mount his horse.
But he clearly felt, his body’s strength was being drained, bit by bit. In just 15 minutes, he no longer had the strength to mount a horse.
General Wang hoarsely said, "Su Zhou, where is the antidote for ’Blood Seal’?"
As Su Zhou fended off the armored soldiers circling to kill him, he said coldly, "Today it’s either you die or I perish, do you think I would bring the antidote?"
General Wang pleaded softly, "Su Zhou, for Prince Jing’s sake, give the antidote, and I will join you in avenging the Prince! How can you alone seek revenge on the Poison Minister? He has the Twelve Signs, what do you have?"
Su Zhou’s heart was as hard as iron. "No need! The poison ’Blood Seal’ can only be cured by Doctor Yao in Luocheng City. I can’t cure it!"
General Wang turned and staggered towards the dark alley behind him.
Su Zhou just gave him a cold glance, as if looking at a dying man, with no intention of pursuing.
...
In the dim alley, only the sounds of Wang Chongli’s footsteps and heavy breathing remained, black blood flowing from his shoulder and dripping down his arm and robes onto the ground.
Bluish bricks, gray tiles, white walls, the alley like a maze.
In a daze, he felt as if he were back in Liuzhou City, the young Prince Jing carrying him through streets and alleys, calling loudly, "Is there a doctor? Is there a doctor? My brother has been shot by an arrow. If a doctor can treat him, there will be a reward of a hundred taels of silver!"
It seed Wang Chongli could hear again the war song of the Thousand-year Army, "With united hearts as one, even Mount Tai could be shaken. With loyalty and righteousness only, our aura pierces the fighting bulls. To report to the Emperor above, to rescue the common people below. Slay all the bandits completely, to find a noble title..."
He seed to see his forr comrades passing by one after another through the alley, so patting his shoulder, "Let’s go, kill the enemies!"
Then, those comrades disappeared one by one at the end of the alley.
Wang Chongli shook his head, rubbing his eyes vigorously to reduce the double images and the illusions in his mind.
He walked aimlessly for a long ti, until the sounds of fighting behind him faded.
He leaned on the white wall of the alley, gritting his teeth trying to pull out the Ei dagger embedded in him, but just as he pulled it halfway, a dark shadow fell from the eaves.
A hand pressed on the handle of the Ei dagger, pushing it back in!
Wang Chongli groaned in pain and cried out in a low voice.
He looked up at Chen Ji, who had appeared suddenly, furious, but suddenly burst into tears, "Prince!"
Chen Ji was taken aback.
Wang Chongli leaned against the wall and slowly sat down, snot and tears flowing together, "Prince! I have failed you, I can no longer face you!"
Chen Ji remained silent, just quietly watching him.
Wang Chongli, trembling, wiped the tears with his sleeve, "But I had no choice, the Poison Sect captured my family, chopped off my mother’s ten fingers, I couldn’t watch her die. If I didn’t comply with them, who knows how many of the Thousand-year Army would have died. Please forgive us, Prince, I will be your servant in the next life..."
Before he finished speaking, Wang Chongli’s eyes suddenly cleared.
He looked down at himself, then up at Chen Ji. His right hand suddenly shook, and with a straightened sword, he thrust the Green Sun Sword at Chen Ji.
But Chen Ji effortlessly sidestepped the attack.
In an instant, before Wang Chongli could change his sword move, Chen Ji had grabbed his right wrist and stepped in close.
In a split second, Chen Ji pulled out the Ei dagger from Wang Chongli’s shoulder, stabbing repeatedly, and with a final thrust, pierced his heart through the ribs, black blood flowing out.
Wang Chongli coughed up a mouthful of blood, breathing more in than he could breathe out.
Chen Ji said softly, "Everyone makes mistakes, just correct them in the next life."
"That makes sense," Wang Chongli gave a bitter smile, his vision growing dim once again.
He didn’t look at Chen Ji anymore. His gaze moved past Chen Ji’s shoulder to the white wall behind him, as if he really saw sothing.
A few monts later, he murmured, "Slay all the bandits, to find a noble title... You promised we all would be ennobled, but these bandits never seem to be completely wiped out..."
Chen Ji crouched in front of Wang Chongli, quietly observing the changes in his pupils until they fully dilated, a current of Ice Flow bursting forth from Wang Chongli’s chest, rging into his Dantian.
Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly turned back in astonishnt.
In the alley, Wang Chongli’s Green Sun Sword ignited, burning fiercely, decaying inch by inch.
The Green Sun Sword, like wood turned to ash, left only a burst of pure and intensely bright Sword Intent, which flew into Chen Ji’s chest, rging with the long-nurtured Sword Qi in his body.
The once shapeless Sword Qi finally took on a black sword form!
Chen Ji recalled Xuanyuan once saying that the sword was the king of all weapons, and the path of the Sword Seed required seizing the world’s Sword Intent to complete oneself.
This was the first sword Chen Ji had seized!
It turned out that cultivating the Sword Seed Path indeed required killing and stealing swords!
Above on the eaves, Wu Yun softly owed above his head, and he swiftly dispersed the traces left by the Green Sun Sword before disappearing at the end of the alley.
Monts later, Su Zhou, her face sared with blood and bearing injuries, silently approached. She crouched down and inspected Wang Chongli’s wounds, startlingly realizing that every wound matched the places she had stabbed the armored soldiers earlier.
She furrowed her brows and looked around, wondering who had finished off Wang Chongli.
anwhile, from a distance ca the sound of dense horse hooves, the Luocheng Military Departnt had arrived. Su Zhou quietly leapt onto the roof and fled towards the city center.
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