With a flare of the dark fire, the do-gooder went up in smoke. Ling Yue made a grabbing motion with his left hand and produced a strange, indescribable suction force. Unfortunately, he was a little too late.
If even Meng Qi failed to save the man, what use would he be?
Shi Xiaoxiu, Shi Xiaodang, and the rest were even worse off. They only recovered their senses enough to react after taking a breath, all of them making sounds of surprise, anger, and frustration.
Meng Qi unfurrowed his brows and adopted a mask of indifference despite his tempestuous heart and wild thoughts. “Is it the shaman’s secret technique that has a similar appearance yet different essence or is it a contract handed down from the Six Realms? If the answer is the latter, does this involve the Myths? Could Housekeeper Zhou be an associate of the Myths?”
“It’s over… It’s all over… We have no clues left…” Shi Xiaoxiu’s composure finally cracked after receiving repeated blows. He immediately held on to the corner of the desk with his right hand as he felt his body swaying.
Ling Yue took a deep breath as if he was trying to suppress his grief.
Meng Qi caressed the handle of his saber with his right hand. “That’s not necessarily true. There’s a rhythm and a rule to everything. If you can grasp the crucial point, you will be able to glimpse a part of the truth,” he said solemnly.
The morning sunlight spilled into the room through the window, landing directly on him.
With a startled look, Shi Xiaoxiu immediately asked, “Young Master Su, did you notice anything unusual?”
“In the past few years, had Housekeeper Zhou or his wife and children acted strangely? For example, was there a sudden explosive growth in their strength? Did they go on an adventure? Did he marry a beautiful concubine or become more influential in the citadel out of the blue?” Meng Qi asked, careful to give detailed examples.
Shi Xiaodang, who sat next to Meng Qi, racked his brain. “Housekeeper Zhou and his family have been the same as always—conforming to the norms of society, behaving earnestly. They didn’t do anything out of the ordinary and focused on their own affairs. Once in a while, he would intimidate others with his connections with the citadel and the others. He does things in bits and pieces. Meanwhile, his son is average in martial arts but is rather talented in Confucian studies. He has been clamoring to study at Changle Academy and recently received approval from his father…”
“From the look of things, the possibility of Housekeeper Zhou and his family being associates of the Myths is pretty low. Few people would risk their lives for something that brings them no benefit. If this was a case of coercion, the contract from Six Realms isn’t cheap and this wasn’t a special circumstance. One would need to be at least a probationary member to use the contract. Other methods… Considering Shi Tianqi’s Heaven-connecting Eye of the Hand approach as well as his rigorous, meticulous manner, all Housekeeper Zhou needs to do is leave him a small hint. That would be enough to tip him off and make him find a way to solve it…” Meng Qi made a preliminary inference. He sank into silence for a moment before asking in a way as if he was seeking confirmation.
“Housekeeper Zhou, who came from humble origins, has known your father for decades. Thus, he gained your father’s trust by exerting a great deal of effort in expanding the Shi Clan Citadel over the years?”
“Yes.” The rims of Shi Xiaoxiu’s eyes were red. “Housekeeper Zhou definitely knows things we don’t about the things happening inside the citadel!”
“His family is well-off and his position in the citadel is considerably high as well. Moreover, he had long lost hope of advancing his martial arts. His son is still young and is inclined toward Confucianism. I really can’t see any signs of him having been a long-time traitor.” Meng Qi stood with his back against the window, allowing the sunlight to envelop him in a layer of gold. “Furthermore, if he had turned traitorous a long time ago, the Lone Wolf incident would have long been revealed. Regardless if it is the Golden Tent of the grassland or some other influence, they would never allow Lone Wolf the opportunity to obtain such important intel once they have decided to work together.”
“Couldn’t it be some other influence like the Unrelenting Tower working under someone’s request?” Ling Yue asked, finding Meng Qi’s inference a little far-fetched.
“Lone Wolf, who was hidden deep in the Golden Tent, risked everything just to kill and even involved the Blue Stair Assassin of the Unrelenting Tower. These two points make it clear that this is a matter of grave importance. How could the Golden Tent hand this matter over to an influence they couldn’t trust?”
The excessively callous and rational reputation of those from the Unrelenting Tower was built over several millennia. Even if the Golden Tent could trust them not to scheme, how could they guarantee that about the other influences?
“You’re right. The Golden Tent and Changsheng Denomination are strong enough with their many spies in Northern Zhou and their collusion with numerous disgraceful bastards who renounced their ancestors.” Ling Yue looked visibly infuriated when he mentioned this.
“Thus, under the circumstances whereby Lone Wolf’s intel wasn’t leaked, how could the other party find the precise location of Shi Clan Citadel and force or tempt Housekeeper Zhou into becoming a traitor?” Meng Qi asked, expressing his primary doubt.
“On the surface, my father was a valiant martial arts hero but he was secretly colluding with the grassland spies. This isn’t much of a secret. Perhaps they came for this reason?” Shi Xiaoxiu suggested hesitantly.
Meng Qi nodded. “There must be plenty of masters with such identities. How could the other party be certain it was your father?”
Ling Yue, who sat beside him, was hit by a sudden realization. “Casting a wide net!”
“Yes. Since casting a wide net causes a great deal of commotion, how could the other heroic martial artists not leave any sort of clue? Let’s report this immediately to the nearest sect, Huamei Heights, and have them order their disciples all over the nation to investigate. It’s best to leave such an important matter for a great power to handle!” Meng Qi said in one breath. “We can obtain more clues from finding the whereabouts of Housekeeper Zhou’s family, investigating whom he met in the days before he sent his wife and child to Changle, and waiting for Lone Wolf’s backup plan to be set into motion.”
Ever since their father was murdered, Shi Xiaodang and Shi Xiaoxiu had felt as if they had been shrouded in a constant fog. Determined as they were, they were unable to achieve anything. With Meng Qi now leading a painstaking investigation into the murder, the fog had disappeared in a flash. There was now a goal for them to work toward and a backbone to keep them on the right path!
“Thank you for your pointers, Young Master Su.” The siblings solemnly bowed to Meng Qi.
Meng Qi was about to say some words of consolation when a jolt shot through his heart. The fine hairs on his body stood on end as his premonition of danger surged like a violent wave. Yet he saw nothing out of the ordinary around him.
“Don’t tell me that the Blue Stair Assassin has secretly passed through the protective spell of the Shi Clan Citadel and is now hiding in the vicinity? Could he have gained the urge to silence us after hearing our analysis?
“The Unrelenting Tower has a history that spans millennia. No one would dare claim to be better than the assassins of the Unrelenting Tower. It isn’t impossible that a Blue Stair Assassin would possess secret techniques capable of concealing themselves from ordinary formations.”
“More importantly, what Housekeeper Zhou betrayed and sold was not necessarily Lone Wolf’s intel alone!
“Is the Blue Stair Assassin, one capable of killing a grandmaster, about to make his move?”
Many thoughts flitted across his mind. Soon, he came to his senses and realized that he had neglected something. His premonition of danger deepened even further but he had always been the type to be more cool-headed the more dangerous the situation was. Ignoring the sweat that was drenching his back, he unsheathed his saber and poured his spiritual force into it. He slashed to his left with a movement that appeared both slow and urgent. The way he thrust his sword was indescribable, as was the direction of the thrust. Everything was indescribable and unfathomable.
He used his exquisite Precious Weapon as his eyes and ears!
Meng Qi could only feel Heaven Inflicted Pain taking over his spirit at this moment. The saber merged with the unseen world of spirits between heaven and earth. The entire scene enveloping the Shi Clan Citadel entered his mind. The threads of danger became faint and indiscernible.
The saber traveled in a mysterious trajectory as the thunder light became introverted, hacking at the shadowy area near the corner of the walls to Meng Qi’s left.
“Clang!”
The saber hit a solid object before it could travel even half of its trajectory. In fact, a burst of sword light had flared from that spot nearly at the same time Meng Qi had unsheathed his saber. It was a sword light that carried a pure deathly will.
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A cold and immense power came out of the crisscrossing of Meng Qi’s saber and the sword light. Meng Qi felt his body shaken to its core and a numbing pain in his right hand. The skin between his thumb and forefinger was nearly split open. He immediately recognized his opponent to be a genuine grandmaster. When confronting such a strong opponent without Law Phenomenon, he was clearly much weaker!
It was at this moment that Meng Qi felt the person in front of him turning a little illusory. He would not have noticed it were it not for his connection to the Qi activity of the world. Suddenly, he felt a stabbing pain and a burst of coldness at the Yuzhen meridian point on the back of his head. His premonition of danger rose to explosive levels!
Trusting in the hunch of his Eight Nine Mysteries, Meng Qi somersaulted and dashed forward without a second thought.
The cold and sharp killing intent, like a corrosive force that would gnaw at his flesh, seemed a lot faster than a sprinting Meng Qi. Though he was not completely slow, he felt as if the intent was about to pierce the back of his head.
Meng Qi’s heart thumped furiously like a drum. His premonition of danger seemed to have become a notice of death.
Suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind. He opened all the Aperture acupoints in his body at the same time, prompting their collapse in his blood and flesh. They merged with the Celestial—reaching the end, only to return to their very beginning.
Darkness fell over his surroundings. Meng Qi felt a sword light imbued with killing intent about to hit him but this sort of Chaos seemed to turn its movement somewhat sluggish.
In that instant, Meng Qi’s body turned into a saber radiance that shattered the darkness in a flash. He emitted brilliant rays of light that demolished all sorts of obstacles standing in his way.
“Bang!” The wall collapsed from the impact as Meng Qi used an unimaginably high speed to run more than hundreds of meters away. He had very narrowly escaped the deadly sword light!
Since his body was on par with a mid-grade Precious Weapon, he could most certainly use his body to replace his saber to unleash the Big Bang Technique. He sought not strength but speed!
Having sent himself flying several hundreds of meters away, he began dashing forward with the Heaven Inflicted Pain in his right hand pointed behind him at an angle. He seemed to be accumulating strength.
The assassin who had ambushed him from behind had the same breath as the assassin who struck him from the front!
“The assassin knows how to create doppelgangers?
“Is it a technique that allows the main body and the doppelganger to assassinate in unison?”
“What an impossibly difficult technique to defend against!”
“Thump, thump, thump!” Meng Qi managed to reach the assassin’s face in just a few steps. He abruptly thrust the saber that he had been dragging behind him. The saber abruptly struck the assassin like a dragon formed out of lightning breaking away from its shackles.
The assassin tapped lightly with his sword and the lightning dragon dissipated instantly.
Suddenly, Heaven Inflicted Pain bounced before hacking downward with the force of a falling mountain that was enough to shake the Nine Heavens.
This was a trick that Meng Qi had secretly adapted from Martial Monarch’s skill of accumulating powers with several repeated movements. It was also imbued with the concealment ability of his Eight Nine Mysteries. Truly, his new and improved skill was even better than the original owner’s!
“Clang!” The Blue Stair Assassin barely managed to block the attack with his sword before his chest. The sword was flung away into the chaos within a nearby building. He was forced to take several steps in retreat.
Meng Qi was waiting to launch a chain of attacks with Law Phenomenon when the Blue Stair Assassin’s body suddenly turned illusory and vanished without notice.
Stunned, Meng Qi raised his saber in alarm. He was wary of possible ambushes but the surroundings were empty except for the traces of their battle.
“Blue Stair Assassin?” A frowning Ling Yue flew over with his hands tightened over his bamboo rods, looking as if he was ready to confront death.
Meng Qi nodded and sighed. “He has already escaped far away after failing to kill me with one strike.”
This was the style of the assassins of the Unrelenting Tower.
The thing that came to Meng Qi’s mind now was Shi Tianqi’s death. The latter had moved forward to strike yet was stabbed in the head from behind, but there was only one assassin.
“This Blue Stair Assassin’s magical power is the seamless transition between his body and his shadow?
“The main body acted as the bait while its shadow hid stealthily behind the body, only to exchange places at the crucial point?
“No wonder he has the ability to kill a grandmaster! Even I was nearly fooled!”
“Young Master Shu, did you force the Blue Stair Assassin into retreating?” Shi Xiaoxiu and Shi Xiaodang, who had caught up to Meng Qi, stared wide-eyed at him. Their voices were full of shock.
“I blocked a few of his strikes. He retreated when he saw he had no chance,” Meng Qi said honestly.
“That’s already powerful enough! This is a Blue Stair Assassin, you know? An assassin capable of killing a grandmaster?” These thoughts occurred to them at the same time.
Meng Qi did not have the mood to feel any other emotions. With a straight face, he said, “Seeing as the protective spell of the Shi Clan Citadel failed to keep the assassin out, it is dangerous to stay here. You all should immediately come with me to Huamei Heights to hide for now. Otherwise, you will all be silenced.”
Shi Xiaoxiu’s face turned pale. “B-But we will be ambushed on our way there. We will just trouble you, Young Master Su. W-Why don’t you go and get help from Huamei Heights while we stay here to guard the citadel and wait for reinforcements?” she asked, biting her lower lip.
Meng Qi held his saber horizontal to his chest and the blade reflected the bright sunshine. In a clear voice, he said:
“It takes no more than three to four hours to get to Huamei Heights. With my saber in hand, what can the Blue Stair Assassin of the Unrelenting Tower do to us?”
Shi Xiaodang and Shi Xiaoxiu were momentarily stupefied. It took them a second to snap out of it and they saluted Meng Qi. “Young Master Su, you’re truly a gallant hero!”