Book 14: Chapter 87

Night

Present? Why didnt you respond?

That dimwit Chen Lin annoyed me, so I was distracted.

Although the commander could sympathise, he still cursed under his breath. Their entire squad ran around all night only to run into two naked men. Should he have not been annoyed at Chen Lin for not choosing a better time?

The commander resumed roll call and then after giving out instructions, stressed, Stay sharp and dont slack. If you mess up tonight, youll have my blade for breakfast. Right after, he used needing medical attention for an old injury to rush off with hare feet.

The commander accepted 1520 silver taels from w.a.n.g Zhenyun to a.s.sist him on the nights of the imperial exams, but he now regretted accepting the offer. He thought itd be an easy job since he couldnt imagine scholars causing a big mess; never did he imagine hed chance upon Young Master Fengs big secret. To make matters worse, he foolishly obeyed w.a.n.g Zhenyuns instruction to move Chen Lin. If Chen Lin was truly Young Master Fengs romantic partner, not even offering their heads would be enough to appease Young Master Feng. As if he was going to stick around for an extra second.

It went without saying that the absence of the commander was a wish come true for Ming Feizhen. He didnt have to worry about anyone finding out he wasnt in his exam room for he was the very person a.s.signed to that zone. The arrangement was no coincidence. As soon as the others realised that they also discovered Young Master Fengs secret, they reacted the same way as their commander. They couldnt have been happier to hear foolish Jia Ren was willing to take charge of the area. For that reason, there were no guards within the vicinity of Ming Feizhens column.

Ming Feizhen picked a spot to sit down, wrapped his arm around a broadsword and reviewed what happened.

One of the a.s.sa.s.sins was a brainwashed imperial guard of Yan Liren. One of them was Jia Ren, the imperial guard he was now posing as. Ming Feizhen didnt know where the real Jia Ren was because he pulled the face of the a.s.sa.s.sin straight off to use as a mask. Considering Jia Rens skills with a broadsword, Ming Feizhen wouldve perished had it not been for his modified shuttle. As for the archer, he had evidently trained to an accomplished level in his internal and external training based on the fact that he pierced the tile without making much nose. Thus, he was the most advanced martial artist among the three a.s.sa.s.sins. Due to the fourth a.s.sa.s.sin disappearing before he could take action, Ming Feizhen couldnt determine exactly how many a.s.sa.s.sins were at the exam venue.

Three hundred imperial guards were stationed at the exam venue. There couldnt have possibly been more than thirty a.s.sa.s.sins because itd no longer be an a.s.sa.s.sination if they exceeded 10% of the total imperial guards. At that point, they might as well have walked straight up to Ming Feizhen and gutted him without any regard for stealth.

The guards outside the imperial city werent particularly strict, but that wasnt to say that it was easy to sneak past them. The fact that so many people could sneak in at once indicated that the central command group majority of members of Hanlin Academy with the highest authority were likely under Yan Lirens control already. They were an easy and ideal group to target; they couldnt fight, and they held authority. This wasnt the root of the problem, though.

Yan Liren shouldnt have had such a formidable a.s.sistant. Given the upheaval in the capital, he shouldnt have been able to recruit such capable a.s.sa.s.sins on the spot. Moreover, there was another faction that had infiltrated the exam venue for another purpose besides avenging Yan Lirens son.

Motherflipper

There was still one more day to go until the end of the imperial exams. w.a.n.g Zhenyun was h.e.l.lbent on sabotaging Ming Feizhen. Ming Feizhen hadnt completed his exam, which would come back to bite him if he didnt complete it; hed be in trouble with His Majesty, and, even if he could get out of it, there were still more problems he couldnt explain. How was he going to explain how he single-handedly took out numerous a.s.sa.s.sins when he couldnt fight well? Tell them he had befriended a band of criminals?

Hence, rather than wait around, Ming Feizhen decided the best course of action was to try and find out who the people after him were.

***

The archer zipped through the palace doors and shut the door.

You got hurt? questioned the person in the darkness.

The middle-aged man checked around and then pulled the archer in between the two rows of bookshelves for cover.

The abandoned palace in the Imperial Library was reserved for miscellaneous items that didnt belong anywhere else, but it had now become a hiding spot for a.s.sa.s.sins.

The man used his tools to remove the needle in the archer, applied herbs and wrapped up the injury proficiently. How did you get hurt?

Once he caught his breath, the archer answered, He used the trajectory of my arrow. Before I could move after shooting my arrow, he caught me What weapon did he use?

The archer glued his brows together when he saw the weapon the doctor held up. A shuttle?

The two of them looked up at each other and saw each others wide eyes.

An arrow could hit with enormous force thanks to the string system, and its force could be multiplied even from afar through adding internal energy. A shuttle, on the other hand, was a hidden weapon that was designed for convenience. As such, it was faster to operate than bow and arrows, but it lacked the same force capacity, yet there was undeniable proof before them that it could.

It was difficult to track down an archer based on the trajectory of an arrow, but the amount of internal energy needed to shoot a shuttle the same distance and still inflict serious harm was unthinkable.

Is he even human?

The doctor shook his head. Dont take it to heart. Theres still one more day. There are still nine of us. We can definitely kill him.

The archer nodded, then shook his head. No There arent just nine of us. Theres another group, as well.

Yan Liren? Hes on our side

No. I monitored the situation for a long time from the roof. While I failed to kill Ming Feizhen, I saw a myriad of other things We are not the only ones targeting Ming Feizhen.