Three strikes, swift and efficient!

When she saw Uncle Xiang’s headless body lying in a puddle of blood, Cha Jin’s beautiful eyes widened in bewilderment.

“To think the glorious Thunderflame Sword”, Nan Wenxiang, would die like this…” Cha Jin muttered.

Before Su Yi’s godlike power, grand authority and a shocking background seemed like nothing but jokes.

Facing someone who killed with a calm smile on his lips, a grand expert who saw men as ants, who wouldn’t have been terrified?

“This is what they call ‘refusing a toast and being forced to take a penalty instead’” said Su Yi. He straightened his clothes and put his hands behind his back. His calm gaze turned towards Cha Jin. “Don’t you think so?”

“Young Lord Su, you have nothing to gain from this, and everything to lose.” Cha Jin let out a long sigh. “Perhaps, in your eyes, a Grandmaster of the Dao of the Sword like Nan Wenxiang isn’t even worth mentioning. You might be able to obliterate someone like him without any effort.

“But don’t forget: His Second Highness stands behind him. Of the princes, he has the greatest hopes of ascending to the throne. Becoming his enemy is no different from becoming enemies with half of the Great Zhou Dynasty.”

As she spoke, she glanced at Su Yi, but to her astonishment, she saw nothing but indifference in his gaze. It’s like he sees all others as nothing but ants. How many people do you need to kill to achieve such a mentality?

“Drop the act,” said Su Yi, seemingly out of nowhere. “I’m afraid most of the responsibility for this fool’s death lies with you. If I’m not mistaken, your choice to visit me tonight wasn’t really because you wanted to recruit me, but because you wanted to borrow my hands to take this guy out. Am I right?”

Cha Jin froze, then asked in a daze, “What makes you say that?”

Su Yi smiled and picked up the sword, Reflecting Purple, lying within the pool of blood. He strode toward Cha Jin.

“Young Lord Su, you….” Cha Jin’s expression changed dramatically, but before she could speak, Su Yi casually swung the sword.

Bzz!

The sword’s shadows were like lightning, unbelievably quick. If Nan Wenxiang weren’t already dead, he most likely couldn’t have blocked this attack.

Yet an unearthly light flashed deep within Cha Jin’s eyes. She blurred, leaving afterimages in her wake as she dodged the sword by a hair. She soon reappeared about fifty feet away.

“You’d even attack a woman? Young Lord Su, you’re sure hard-hearted.” Cha Jin bit her lip and clutched her chest, looking terrifying.

However, her charming eyes showed no signs of terror. On the contrary, she looked downright sly.

“Not pretending anymore?” Su Yi picked up the sword and smiled faintly.

“It seems I can’t escape your discerning gaze. If I keep up the act, won’t I just invite your ridicule?” Cha Jin smiled with her eyes. She looked enchantingly amorous, and even in men’s clothing, her every movement was thoroughly charming.

She was a monstrous temptress among women; her every gesture was charming enough to steal a man’s soul.

But this didn’t work on Su Yi. He said expressionlessly, “Since you already know you’re inviting ridicule, stop with that crude, embarrassing charm spell. I hate nothing more than over-the-top, coquettish little tricks.”

Why was it that, in his past life, he severed that fox spirit’s nine tails?

His reasoning was simple: Su Xuanjun detested none more than those who abused charm magic.

A true beauty ought to be unique and extraordinary in every way, from her temperament to her mentality, and she ought to look natural. For the truly beautiful, there was no need for artifice. This was the kind of beauty that truly moved the heart and pleased the senses.

If you had an innate charm, that naturally made you a top beauty.

But even amongst the fox clans, not just everyone had that talent; it was one-in-ten-thousand.

Was Cha Jin beautiful?

She was indeed a rare beauty.

But in Su Yi’s eyes, her charm magic was superfluous as adding legs to a snake. She was like a woman who was obviously beautiful even without make-up, yet for some reason insisted on applying heavy, garish makeup all over herself. This only ruined her pre-existing appeal.

Cha Jin was stunned, and her expression changed erratically. Some time passed before she finally said, “So you saw through me a long time ago…”

“Tell me: why borrow my hands to kill him?” Su Yi couldn’t be bothered to waste any further words. She’d just tried to exploit him; no one would be in a good mood after that.

“I won’t lie to you. The second prince assigned Nan Wenxiang to keep tabs on me. I was worried that if I didn’t eliminate him, he’d reveal my secrets.” Cha Jin’s beautiful eyes were tranquil, and she was suddenly calm and at ease, with no trace of her earlier coquettishness. 

Suddenly, her eyes flashed with cold light. She continued, “When Nan Wenxiang arrived at the prefectural capital last night, I already made up my mind to kill him, which is what led to this.”

“He only arrived last night?” asked Su Yi thoughtfully. “No wonder he didn’t know about what happened at the Qingding Military Drill Grounds. But if you wanted to kill him, why use me to do it?”

Cha Jin pressed her lips into a smile. “If I did it myself, it would surely cause an enormous disturbance, and it would inevitably lead to complications. But it’s different for you, Young Lord Su. You only just caused such an enormous uproar, but people have already stepped in to cover it up for you. Thus, I believed there’d be no impact to speak of so long as you were the one to kill Nan Wenxiang.”

“Oh,” said Su Yi. “You’re rather crafty. You’re not just borrowing a knife to kill your enemies; you even plan to make me take the fall for it, getting rid of yet another latent threat in one fell swoop.” 

Cha Jin batted her eyes and giggled. “If you’re angry, how about I repay you with my body?”

Su Yi snickered. “You? A woman who dabbles in charm spells? You think you’re worthy of spending a night in my bed, enjoying my company? Contemptible!”

“.....” Cha Jin’s pretty face alternated green and white, and her eyes filled with shame and anger.

With her good looks, even the second prince salivated over her. All she had to do was hook her finger, and countless handsome young talents would rush to her like moths to the flame.

She’d never been insulted like this before!

What did he mean, unworthy?

What did he mean, despicable?

Cha Jin was so angry that she felt the urge to shatter Su Yi’s skull. She’d never met a man so disinterested in her feminine charms.

Quite some time passed before she repressed her anger and said, “Young Lord Su, I know you’re angry, but there are only two paths before you now. Either you accept the second prince’s rage, or you cooperate with me.”

“Cooperate? Su Yi nodded.

“That’s right. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, I’m not really working on the second prince’s behalf. Otherwise, with the methods at my disposal, I would have dealt with His Sixth Highness, Zhou Zhili, a long time ago.” As she said this, a proud smirk tugged at her lips.

“So you’re a pawn someone placed at the second prince’s side? This is really getting more and more troublesome.” Su Yi sighed.

“Exactly,” said Cha Jin solemnly. “But if we work together, we can resolve his trouble easily.”

Su Yi rubbed his forehead. “I knew you were a troublesome woman when I first saw you back on the tower ship, but I didn’t realize you’d be this much of a hassle. If I’d known, I would have just killed you and saved myself the trouble.”

Cha Jin was stunned.

However, before she could react, Su Yi laughed. “But it’s not too late. You used me to kill your enemies, expected me to take the blame for it, and now you want me to work for you too? You…. Your greed really knows no limits.”

Clang!

Before his words even stopped echoing, Su Yi swung the sword in his hands.

It was a simple attack, but Reflecting Purple arced like a white ray through the sun, bursting with terrifying power beyond imagination. Cha Jin was fifty feet away, but it sliced right towards her.

Her pupils constricted, and she suddenly whipped a pair of silver daggers from her sleeves. She held one in each hand and crossed them in front of her.

The power of Su Yi’s attack was so great, slicing through a Grandmaster like Qin Wenyuan’s trump cards was well within the realm of possibility.

Nevertheless, Cha Jin blocked it.

Clang!

As the deafening collision rang out, Cha Jin flew backward, then landed stably atop the courtyard walls.

However, her arms were numb, and her hands trembled. Her blood and qi were flowing in reverse, and it was obviously unpleasant.

This left her stunned, but also made her increasingly aware of Su Yi’s terrifyingness.

Then, she flashed him a charming smile. “Young Lord Su, let’s end this here for the night, shall we? I’ll visit again once I’ve thought of a good way to make this up to you.”

She turned and was just about to leave when an obscure, inexplicable sound resounded through her ears.

“Tch!”

It was like the voice of a demon or god bursting within Cha Jin’s mental sea. Her mind buzzed, and her soul was in agony. She could vaguely discern a massive sword, as towering as an ancient mountain, bearing down on her from the heavens.

Irrepressible despair and a sense of utter insignificance filled her heart.

But then, she bit down on her tongue, hard, and called upon her last resort, a life-saving secret technique. This forcefully suppressed the power invading her soul, and she regained some of her mental clarity.

When she recovered her full field of view, she saw that the distant Su Yi was already swinging his sword with the intent to kill.

Cha Jin was so shocked that she broke out into cold sweats. If she delayed even a second longer, she might never escape!

She naturally dared not hesitate. She immediately turned and fled.

Swoosh!

A ray of sword light shot towards her back.

Cha Jin felt a chill run down her spine as the back of her shirt tore open, revealing skin as white as suet. Her fair complexion stood out against the darkness of the night sky.

The attack didn’t cleave her body, however. The sharp edge of the attack merely swept across her back. A faint, bloody line appeared, spreading directly down the curve of her spine….

“Ah—!” Her startled cry rang out. Then, Su Yi watched as she pulled her robes, which were on the verge of falling apart, close. 

Su Yi stood atop the courtyard walls, watching her flee in panic. Despite himself, he was a bit surprised. This Cha Jin actually neutralized the Great Void Soul Sword Incantation’s invasion! 

“It seems the power at this woman’s disposal is greater than I imagined,” he said. “That’s somewhat interesting.”

Su Yi paused for a while, then laughed. She wants to use me, Su Xuanjun? She thinks she can make me her scapegoat? I don’t care who she is, where she’s from, or who’s backing her. I’ll make her pay the price for what she’s done!

As he thought, he turned and jumped off the wall.

“Senior Apprentice Su, you didn’t run into problems, did you?” Feng Xiaofeng, Feng Xiaoran, and Huang Qianjun were all there to greet him.

“They’re the ones who ran into problems,” laughed Su Yi.

Huang Qianjun exclaimed, “Brother Su, it seems there’s something really off about Cha Jin’s background!”

“Nonsense.” Su Yi waved his concerns away. “Alright, hurry up and deal with the corpse. Junior Apprentice Brother Feng, you and Xiaoran should go to bed early.”

Even as he spoke, he started walking back to his own room.

“Qing Wan, do you remember that enchantress’s aura?” asked Su Yi.

“I remember. So long as she’s within ten thousand feet of you, I’ll sense it immediately,” said a timid voice from within the Soul-Nurturing Gourd.

“Not bad. You’re finally somewhat useful. I didn’t spend all that effort training you for nothing,” said Su Yi.

Qing Wan had already metamorphosized into a haunt, which made her innately sensitive to soul power, far more so than most people. If she memorized your presence, there was no escaping her keen senses, not even if you disguised yourself perfectly.

Within the gourd, Qing Wan was so happy, her big eyes closed, like crescent moons. She looked stunning and innocent, but also a bit silly.

Before long, Huang Qianjun’s voice rang out from beyond the room. “Brother Su, I found a sealed scroll and a jade medallion. Want to take a look?”