In the main hall, Su Zhou sat weakly on the bed. Xiao Man peeked out from behind Chen Ji. The dim, flickering candlelight stretched and distorted their three shadows, mirroring their unsettled minds.

Chen Ji instructed Xiao Man, “Stay in the room. I’ll be back soon.”

Xiao Man tugged at his sleeve and whispered, “Young Master, this woman is too fierce. I’ll go with you!”

Chen Ji reassured her, “Keep an eye on the door. Don’t let anyone else in.”

Xiao Man replied, “Oh…”

Su Zhou looked coldly at Chen Ji. “I advise you not to have any ulterior motives, or your entire Chen family will die.”

Chen Ji said slowly, “Don’t worry, I’m going to get some things for your injuries.”

With that, he turned and left, closing the two wooden doors of the main hall before heading out into the courtyard.

Behind him, Xiao Man anxiously called out, “Young Master, please go and come back quickly! I’m a bit scared to be alone with this woman.”

Chen Ji raised an eyebrow but didn’t look back.

The moment the door closed, Xiao Man straightened up, and the panicked expression on her face lessened.

Casually, she pushed the door open a crack and peered outside. Without looking back at Su Zhou, she said, “You’ve definitely got it wrong, you fierce woman. My young master would never betray Prince Jing. He already proved it this afternoon at the Zhang residence…”

Before she finished speaking, Xiao Man turned her head and found Su Zhou had appeared behind her like a ghost.

Xiao Man formed her fingers into a blade and struck at Su Zhou, but Su Zhou’s figure was like an elusive loach. She deftly dodged along Xiao Man’s attacking arm and slipped behind her.

The Emei Dagger was once again pressed against Xiao Man’s jaw. The slightest movement would drive the poisoned dagger into her chin.

Caught off guard, Xiao Man gasped, “Let me go! Let’s go outside and find a place to fight.”

Su Zhou whispered, “Don’t shout, or I’ll kill you too.”

She observed Chen Ji through the crack in the door. Seeing him converse with the soldiers of the Military and Horse Department and no one entering to apprehend her, she finally let out a small breath of relief.

Xiao Man mumbled, “Are you relieved now? My young master definitely won’t betray you, nor will he betray Prince Jing.”

Su Zhou said in a low voice, “One may know a person’s face, but not their heart. If even the Prince’s brothers, who have been by his side for years, could betray him, why couldn’t Chen Ji?”

Xiao Man said helplessly, “My young master isn’t that kind of person. He couldn’t even bear to kill a chicken since he was little. He once raised two chicks, and when one accidentally died, he cried for a long time. He’s very kind-hearted.”

Su Zhou sneered, “People change. Everyone in the jianghu says he has an inseparable bond with the Princess and the Heir. Yet, I see the Prince Jing’s Mansion has suffered a great calamity, and he shows no sorrow at all. Doesn’t that prove he betrayed the Prince?”

Xiao Man watched Chen Ji’s retreating figure outside the door. After a long silence, she said, “He is very sad. He just doesn’t want others to see it, but I can tell.”

Su Zhou scoffed, “Are you his internal parasite?”

Xiao Man was silent for a moment, then calmly said, “Hey, we both work under the Supervisor. I kindly saved you, so don’t be ungrateful. You’ve held that Emei Dagger to my neck twice now. What, do you really think you can kill me?”

The candlelight in the room seemed to freeze for a moment, and the atmosphere turned cold. Even the charcoal brazier in the room seemed to dim.

Su Zhou calmly said, “You’re just a seventh-rank Torchbearer. How dare you speak to me like that?”

Xiao Man opened her mouth. “I… I just don’t have as strong a killer instinct as you, and I don’t like killing, which is why I haven’t been promoted. Oh, right, I saved you this time, and you haven’t given me the copper coin yet.”

Su Zhou thought for a moment, then slowly lowered the Emei Dagger. She took a copper coin from her sleeve and tossed it into Xiao Man’s arms.

Xiao Man picked up the copper coin and examined it closely. She saw that it wasn’t engraved with “Jianing Tongbao” but with the words “Lantern Light.” “So this is a Lantern Light coin,” she murmured. “Can it really be exchanged for two hundred taels of silver?”

Su Zhou looked at her, puzzled. “You’ve never seen a copper coin?”

Xiao Man stuck out her neck. “Who said I haven’t seen one? Haven’t I just seen it now?”

Su Zhou became even more puzzled. “You really haven’t seen a Lantern Light coin? Have you never taken on a single mission before? Who exactly recruited you into Lantern Light?”

Xiao Man pouted. “Who are you? Why should I tell you? Oh, by the way, did the Supervisor ever say why we’re called ‘Lanterns’?”

Su Zhou sighed. “How can you know nothing? ‘Lantern’ symbolizes ‘home.’ When returning home, a lit lantern means someone is home. ‘Lantern Light’ is meant to give us, the homeless, a home.”

Xiao Man lowered her head and tucked the coin into the pouch at her waist. “Well, I don’t need that. You might not have a home, but I do.”

Su Zhou was speechless.

Xiao Man put away the coin and warned, “Saving you is one thing, but I’m warning you not to harm my Young Master, and don’t reveal my identity, and don’t ever hold that Emei Dagger to me again… Hey, you!”

Before Xiao Man could finish speaking, Su Zhou had fainted to the ground.

When Chen Ji returned, he was carrying two red lacquer food boxes.

Outside the gate of Mingquan Garden, six soldiers from the Military and Horse Department stood with torches. Chen Ji handed them the food boxes. “Generals, it’s not easy serving in this biting cold. I’ve asked the kitchen to prepare some food for you all. Please eat it while it’s hot.”

The soldiers were flattered. “Young Master Chen is too kind. We couldn’t possibly trouble you to think about our food.”

Although Chen Ji was a concubine’s son in the Chen family, to these soldiers, he was already a lofty figure, far beyond their reach.

Chen Ji smiled and casually asked, “By the way, with so many of you guarding the Chen residence, what about the capture operation?”

The leading soldier at the gate sighed. “We in the Luocheng Military and Horse Department know our limitations. Serious arrests are still the responsibility of the Secret Intelligence Agency.”

Chen Ji nonchalantly asked, “Are there any clues from the scene of the incident?”

The soldier smiled and replied, “You’ve asked the right person. We were among the first to arrive there. Xingluo Street was covered in blood. Only one soldier from the Imperial Army remained, and General Wang’s chest was riddled like a sieve.”

Chen Ji gasped, “So many people killed. How many culprits were there?”

The soldier blurted out, “The living Yama of the Secret Intelligence Agency said there were two culprits in total: a female assassin from Lantern and an accomplice who controls spirits.”

Chen Ji smiled and asked, “Since the Secret Intelligence Agency is on the case, I presume they’ll certainly catch them. Did the agency say how or when they’ll catch them? After all, it’s quite frightening to have such dangerous criminals at large.”

“Young Master Chen, there’s no need to be afraid. We brothers are here guarding you,” a soldier said with a simple laugh. “The Secret Intelligence Agency is currently searching all the medical clinics in the city. It’s said the female assassin was severely wounded and might not survive without timely treatment.”

Chen Ji hummed in acknowledgment, then smiled and entered Mingquan Garden. “Thank you for your hard work, brothers. I’ll go back and rest now.”

The soldiers quickly bowed and said, “Thank you, Young Master Chen. Please go back and rest.”

Chen Ji secured the courtyard gate’s latch and returned to the room.

Su Zhou lay unconscious on the bed. Seeing Chen Ji return, Xiao Man quickly rushed over, still shaken. “Young Master, you were gone for so long! I was almost scared to death staying in the same room with that fierce woman.”

Chen Ji smiled, not taking her words to heart.

The most peculiar thing about tonight’s events was how Su Zhou managed to precisely locate his room while on the run.

Finding the Chen residence wouldn’t be difficult, but how could a lone female assassin, new to Luocheng, pinpoint his exact location within the mansion?

Both Su Zhou and Xiao Man treated him as an ordinary person, thinking he was easy to fool.

Chen Ji didn’t expose them, quietly observing what they were truly up to.

He pulled a palm-sized white porcelain bottle and a needlework box from his sleeve, handing them to Xiao Man. “The white porcelain bottle contains the strongest liquor in the mansion. Use it to clean her wounds on the bed, and they won’t fester.”

Xiao Man looked at the needlework box. “What’s this?”

Chen Ji glanced at Su Zhou’s knife and sword wounds. “Heat the needles over the charcoal brazier. After heating, stitch her wounds as if sewing clothes. Whether she survives depends on her own luck.”

Xiao Man’s eyes widened. “I’ve heard of pouring strong liquor on wounds, but did Young Master learn about stitching human skin with needles and thread at the medical clinic? Why have I never heard of it before?”

Chen Ji grunted. “What I learned at the clinic is useful.”

Stitched wounds prevent secondary infection and can form granulation tissue and heal in about ten days. Without stitches, it might take one or two months to fully recover.

Chen Ji exited the room, leaving Xiao Man to tend to the wounds.

He sat by the stone table in the courtyard, quietly looking at his palm.

The next moment, he closed his hand, and when he opened it again, a black ‘sword seed’ floated in his palm.

The black sword seed resembled a bamboo leaf, without a hilt or guard, thin as a cicada’s wing.

Chen Ji ran his fingertip over it. Its surface was rough, as if forged from black iron, and even the edges were not smooth or even. It didn’t look refined in any way.

He mused to himself, “Why is Xuanyuan’s sword seed shimmering and vibrant, resembling a shooting star when it moves? Yet my sword seed looks like an unremarkable piece of iron… Is it because I haven’t seized enough swords, or haven’t nurtured it long enough?”

Chen Ji attempted to control the sword seed with his mind, but the black iron piece wobbled unsteadily before him, constantly disobeying his command and failing to pick up speed.

In an instant, he simply directed the sword seed to charge towards the winter plum tree in the courtyard.

His original intention was to pierce a single leaf, but the sword seed veered off several inches before reaching the winter plum tree.

With a *hiss*, a winter plum branch, two fingers thick, snapped instantly. When the sword seed returned to Chen Ji’s palm, it was completely unscathed.

Chen Ji walked closer and looked up at the winter plum branch. Its cut surface was smooth and even, as if he had just sliced a block of tofu, not severed a piece of wood.

He lowered his gaze to the sword seed. The cultivation path of the sword seed had finally begun for him; he was no longer an amateur.

However, he wondered how many sword intents he would still need to seize and how many people he would have to kill to fully achieve his potential.

With a creak, the door to the main hall opened.

Chen Ji flicked his wrist, putting the sword seed back into his sleeve, and casually asked, “What’s wrong?”

Xiao Man eyed him suspiciously for a moment, then said, “The wounds are all stitched up. You can come in now.”