Under the moonlight, on the ridge of the roof.

Chen Ji looked at the Emei daggers in his hand, then at the Emei daggers in the black-clad assassin’s hand.

As early as when Yun Yang and Jiao Tu wanted to kill him, they had mentioned a wandering martial artist who was skilled with Emei daggers and determined to avenge Prince Jing. Chen Ji kept this in mind, intending to pin General Wang’s death on the master of the Emei daggers. He never expected the person to actually show up.

The black-clad assassin was not masked. The black conical hat she had worn earlier had fallen off during the intense fight, revealing that she was a woman. Chen Ji held his breath and observed her, noting that the black-clad assassin was around thirty-six or thirty-seven years old. Her face was beautiful but showed signs of weariness, like the Peony Stone Bridge over the Luo River, weathered by decades of wind and rain. Her eyes were bloodshot, as if she had cried countless times, falling asleep in tears and waking up still weeping.

On the bluestone street, the black-clad assassin stood off against more than ten soldiers of the Qiansui Army. As the assassin moved left, the soldiers also shifted left, forming a net, their energies drawn to each other as they searched for weaknesses.

Under the eaves, General Wang gritted his teeth and pushed himself up. He didn’t pull out the Emei dagger from his shoulder; instead, he drew the sword from his waist and said coldly, “Su Zhou, I understand your desire to avenge the Prince, but how can you be so certain that I betrayed him? I have been loyal to the Prince for all these years. Where have I gone wrong?”

The female assassin, named Su Zhou, held an Emei dagger in one hand. Her bloodshot eyes slowly swept over each Qiansui Army soldier. “The Prince taught me that to judge a person, you shouldn’t look at what they say, but at what they do. The Qiansui Army is the Prince’s direct lineage. The Prince is gone, yet you are still alive and well. Isn’t that enough proof that you are traitors?”

General Wang’s expression hardened, and he tightened his grip on his sword hilt. Su Zhou’s Emei dagger rotated slightly in her hand as she bent down, holding it before her like a praying mantis’s barbed arm. She sneered, “Wang Chongli, remember when you were shot in the back with an arrow outside Liuzhou City? It was the Prince who carried you into the city, pleading with everyone he could find until he located a reclusive medic to treat you. Later, he sought out the Green Sun Sword Art from the martial world for your cultivation. The sword in your hand was given to you by him when you were promoted to lieutenant. When the Prince commissioned this sword, he went to great lengths to find meteoric iron from the inner court and visited the Cangzhou swordmaster three times to persuade him. Have you forgotten all of this?”

“Wu Yong, when you were just an infantryman, the shoes issued by the quartermaster didn’t fit, and your feet were ruined after marching seventy li. The Prince gave you his own shoes.”

“Gou Lintao, you were once an unknown nobody in the martial world. Your father’s cultivation method was coveted by others, leading to his poisoning. The Prince avenged him and recovered the cultivation method for you, yet now you repay his kindness with malice.”

On the bluestone path, Su Zhou’s words rang out, each one as hard as iron. She was surprisingly familiar with these trusted Qiansui Army members, calling out each by name and recounting their past experiences as if they were her own treasured possessions.

After a long silence, a soldier spoke, “Aunt Su, we didn’t harm the Prince.”

Su Zhou asked in a low voice, “I asked you to kneel in the City God Temple, swear on your parents by dripping blood, that if you betrayed the Prince, the City God would claim their souls for the underworld. Do you dare to do that?” The soldiers involuntarily tightened their grip on their blades, but none dared to agree.

Lying on the roof ridge, Chen Ji listened, uncertain and surprised. Was it because the people of Ning Dynasty were superstitious and thus afraid to swear, or was a blood oath in the City God Temple truly effective?

At this moment, General Wang said slowly, “The reason we are still alive is to preserve our useful lives to avenge him, to seize the opportunity to execute the eunuch faction. We did not betray the Prince; it was Chen Ji, the illegitimate son of the Chen family, who betrayed him.”

Su Zhou sneered, “Do you really think I’ll believe you if you pin the blame on a mere apprentice? No matter, I’ll kill you, and I’ll kill him. After I kill you, I’ll go kill him. I’ll kill them all!”

General Wang gritted his teeth and said, “Madwoman, have you lost your mind?”

Su Zhou’s eyes were like an abyss. “I have indeed gone mad.”

General Wang glanced down at the Emei dagger in his shoulder, then with a slight flick of his right wrist, his longsword vibrated with a clang. “Do you truly believe you can kill all of us? We’ve only indulged you in the past out of respect for the Prince. Do you really think you’re some formidable martial hero?”

Su Zhou’s voice escaped through gritted teeth, “Try me.”

As her words fell, she charged into the midst of the soldiers. A soldier swung his blade, but before it could strike her, she vanished from his sight. A sharp pain shot through the soldier’s leg; his thigh had been pierced by an Emei dagger, and blood gushed out. Su Zhou pressed the Emei dagger against his neck, pulling him backward from behind to break free from the encirclement. The other soldiers hesitated, fearing to act.

The next moment, the Emei dagger in Su Zhou’s hand flashed, repeatedly stabbing the soldier’s chest several times. Blood spurted out, completely staining her hands red. “I rushed here from the capital for five days and five nights, exhausting three horses, but I still didn’t get to see the Prince one last time. The first thing I did when I arrived in Luocheng was to ask what the Qiansui Army did when the Prince was imprisoned. Someone told me, the Qiansui Army did nothing.”

Su Zhou choked back a sob. “I thought I misheard, or that the person I asked didn’t know, so I kept inquiring, again and again, afraid of wronging you… Were all those years of fighting side by side, and the words you spoke while drinking together, all fake?”

The soldier she held captive slowly collapsed, his eyes vacant. “Aunt Su, I’m sorry…”

Su Zhou’s eyes flickered for a moment. “Apologize to the Prince, not to me.”

With that, she charged forward again, her movements erratic and unpredictable. It was said that when the body moved, the waist moved first; the body followed the footwork, the palm changed with the body, the foot turned with the palm, with upper and lower parts connected, the whole body moving as one. The Emei dagger in her hand synchronized with her body, making her movements as elusive as a drifting leaf, seemingly traceless. Even with more than ten soldiers surrounding her, they couldn’t pin down her shadow.

Gradually, an invisible wind swirled around Su Zhou, causing the soldiers near her to sway unsteadily. Fallen leaves on the ground were caught by the airflow, slowly forming a Yin-Yang fish pattern. Just as the Yin-Yang fish was about to fully form, General Wang seized the opportunity, striking with his sword. He cut Su Zhou’s right arm, breaking the Yin-Yang formation.

After successfully landing a blow, General Wang did not linger, quickly retreating from the battle. “The Prince actually sought out that old man Cheng Tinghua for you to teach you the Eight Trigrams Embracing Primal Unity technique.” With that, he waved his hand, signaling all the soldiers to surround her. As a soldier passed him, he grabbed the man’s arm armor and whispered, “I don’t know what level her Eight Trigrams Embracing Primal Unity has reached, but you and I might not be her match. Go to the South Gate and summon the Luocheng Military Affairs Office to surround her! Hurry!” The soldier nodded, and seizing a moment when Su Zhou was surrounded, he swung onto his horse and galloped towards the South Gate.

Just as General Wang was about to raise his sword and rejoin the fight, he felt a slight numbness in his left arm. His expression changed. He looked down and tore open the clothes on his shoulder. The area where the Emei dagger was embedded in his shoulder was already black and purple, with black veins spreading like a terrifying spiderweb along his bloodstream. General Wang dipped a finger in the blood, brought it to his nose, and sniffed, a chill entering his eyes. “Three Departments? When did you obtain the Three Departments from the pharmacist of Mount Huang Daoist Temple?”

He ran with his longsword towards Anxi Street, but after only two steps, he remembered that the Taiping Medical Clinic had also been sealed along with Prince Jing’s residence. General Wang pondered for two breaths, then tried to swing onto a horse. However, he clearly felt his strength draining away bit by bit. In just half an incense stick’s time, he no longer had the energy even to mount a horse.

General Wang asked hoarsely, “Su Zhou, where is the antidote for ‘Three Departments’?”

While fending off the surrounding soldiers, Su Zhou said coldly, “You’ve seen the Three Departments before. If there’s an antidote, it’s a good conscience.” The ‘Three Departments’ referred to a poison named by the Mount Huang Daoist Temple after the Departments of Rewarding Good, Punishing Evil, and Investigation. If one’s heart was clear, the Three Departments would not only be harmless but also a cultivation resource for enhancing one’s power. If one harbored evil, it would be the deadliest poison in the world.

General Wang pleaded in a low voice, “Su Zhou, I know the Mount Huang Daoist Temple has an antidote. For the Prince’s sake, give me the antidote, and I will avenge him with you! How can you seek revenge against that venomous Prime Minister alone? He has his Twelve Zodiacs; what do you have?”

Su Zhou’s heart was hard as iron. “No need!”

General Wang turned and stumbled into the dark alley behind him. Su Zhou wanted to pursue him but was heavily besieged by the soldiers, unable to move for a moment. In the dimly lit alley, only Wang Chongli’s footsteps and gasps remained. Black blood oozed from his shoulder, dripping onto the ground along his arm and robes.

With bluestone bricks, gray tiles, and white walls, the alley was like a labyrinth. In a daze, he stumbled along, leaning on the wall, as if he were back in Liuzhou City, where the young Prince Jing carried him through streets and alleys, shouting, “Is there a doctor? Is there a doctor? My brother has an arrow wound. If a doctor can treat him, there will be a hundred taels of silver as a reward!”

Weakly, from Prince Jing’s back, he asked, “My Lord, will I die?”

Prince Jing laughed loudly, “How can you die? We haven’t finished killing all the bandits yet! Don’t close your eyes. When we’ve eliminated the bandits, I’ll go to His Majesty to request rewards for you, and you’ll all be granted marquis titles!”

Wang Chongli murmured, “Marquis titles…” He seemed to hear the battle song of the Qiansui Army again: “With ten thousand hearts as one, Mount Tai can be shaken. Only loyalty and righteousness, can pierce the heavens. Reporting to the Emperor above, saving the common people below. Kill all the bandits, seeking a marquis title…”

Wang Chongli looked back, as if seeing his former comrades passing by him, one by one, from the alley. Someone patted his shoulder: “Come on, let’s go kill the bandits!” Then, those comrades disappeared one by one into the end of the alley. Wang Chongli shook his head, rubbing his eyes hard to reduce the double vision and the illusions in his mind.

He didn’t know how long he walked until he could no longer hear the sounds of fighting behind him. He leaned against the white wall of the alley, gasping, gritting his teeth as he tried to pull out the Emei dagger. But just as he pulled it halfway out, a dark figure dropped from the eaves. A hand pressed down on the hilt of the Emei dagger, pushing it back in!

Wang Chongli cried out in pain, letting out a low growl of anger. He looked up at Chen Ji, who had suddenly descended from above. Just as he was about to unleash his anger, he suddenly burst into tears, “My Lord!”

Chen Ji was startled.

Wang Chongli slowly slid down the wall, snot and tears streaming down his face. “My Lord! My Lord, your humble general has failed you. I have no face to see you again!”

Chen Ji remained silent, quietly observing him.

Wang Chongli trembled as he wiped away his tears with his sleeve. “But your humble general had no choice. That venomous Prime Minister sent Jiao Tu and Yun Yang to capture my family, old and young, and cut off all ten of my old mother’s fingers. Your humble general couldn’t watch her die. If I didn’t agree to their demands, who knows how many more Qiansui Army soldiers would have died. My Lord, please forgive us. Your humble general will be your ox and horse in the next life…”

Chen Ji said in a low voice, “They also promised you immense wealth and power, didn’t they?”

Wang Chongli murmured, “Yes, immense wealth and power…”

Before his words had fully faded, Wang Chongli’s eyes suddenly regained clarity. He looked down at himself, then up at Chen Ji, his right hand suddenly twitching as the Green Sun Sword in his grip straightened and lunged towards Chen Ji. But Chen Ji merely shifted his body slightly, easily evading the strike. In an instant, before Wang Chongli could change his sword technique, Chen Ji had already grasped his right wrist and moved in close. In a flash, Chen Ji pulled out the Emei dagger from Wang Chongli’s shoulder and stabbed him several times. The final strike pierced his heart from beneath the ribs, releasing already blackened blood.

Wang Chongli coughed up a mouthful of blood, his breathing shallow and labored. Chen Ji said softly, “Everyone makes mistakes. You can correct them in the next life.”

“That makes sense,” Wang Chongli said with a bitter smile, his eyes once again losing focus. He no longer looked at Chen Ji. His gaze went past Chen Ji’s shoulder, towards the white wall behind him, as if he truly saw something there. After a few breaths, he murmured, “Kill all the bandits, seeking a marquis title… You promised we would all be granted marquis titles, but why can’t these bandits ever be eliminated…”

Chen Ji knelt before Wang Chongli, quietly observing the changes in his pupils. When his pupils had fully dilated, a stream of icy energy surged from Wang Chongli’s heart, flowing into Chen Ji’s dantian. He remained silent for a long time. “Wuyun, do you think what he said just now was sincere?”

Wuyun meowed from the eaves above his head, answering, “I don’t know.”

Chen Ji suddenly felt that Wang Chongli’s loyalty when he followed Prince Jing that year was real, his laughter was real, his drunkenness was real, and the sunsets and morning glows were also real. But such is life; even the most beautiful things lose their grandeur over time.

Chen Ji stood up and said softly, “Let’s go home.” Just as he stood up to leave, he turned back in astonishment. In the alley, the Green Sun Sword in Wang Chongli’s hand burst into flames, decaying inch by inch under the fierce light. The fiery glow was like a blazing sun, illuminating the night sky inch by inch, making the entire neighborhood as bright as day.

The sound of a sword being unsheathed, as if awakened from a slumber of ten thousand years, echoed through the heavens and earth. Within the neighborhood, hundreds of dogs barked and poultry scattered in fright, as if a king had arrived. Chen Ji looked up in shock. This resonating sound was unexpected; Xuanyuan had never mentioned it. Looking down again, the Green Sun Sword had turned to ash, like burnt wood. Only a pure sword intent, like a blazing sun, burst forth and flew into Chen Ji’s chest, merging with the majestic sword qi he had cultivated for a long time. The sword qi that had previously been formless, regardless of his efforts, finally took on the shape of a black sword!

Chen Ji recalled Xuanyuan’s words: “The sword is the king of all weapons. To master the Sword Seed path, one must seize the sword intent of the world to complete oneself.” This was the first sword Chen Ji had seized! So, to cultivate the Sword Seed path, one truly had to kill people and seize their swords!

On the eaves, Wuyun let out a soft meow above his head. He quickly blew away the traces left by the Green Sun Sword, then vanished into the end of the alley. A moment later, Su Zhou, her face stained with blood and wounded, quietly approached. She knelt down and examined Wang Chongli’s wounds, startled to find that every one of them was identical to where she had stabbed the soldiers earlier. She frowned, looking around. Who had finished off Wang Chongli? And what was that martial arts resonance just now? As she pondered, the sound of dense hooves echoed from afar—the Luocheng Military Affairs Office had arrived. Su Zhou lightly leaped onto the rooftop and fled into the city.