Chapter 87: The Quality Assassin

The next day.

“Coo-coo-coo~ Cluck-cluck-cluck~ Cluck-cluck-cluck~”

When Ding Suian left in the morning, Make Do, the chief steward of the front yard, was imitating chicken calls while summoning his old hen all over the courtyard.

Ding Suian pretended not to see him and quickly walked past, but Make Do turned back and said, “Young Master, is our manor being troubled by a Yellow Immortal?”

“Ah? What happened? Did a chicken go missing?”

Ding Suian had no choice but to stop and ask feignedly. Make Do replied gloomily, “Exactly.”

“Sigh, if one is missing, then one is missing. Just buy another chick to replace it.”

“Young Master, what do you mean ‘one is missing’? We’ve lost seven, intermittently, these past few days!”

“How many?”

“Seven are gone!”

…

Ding Suian glanced back at the inner residence, patted Make Do’s shoulder, and comforted him, “If you want to eat them in the future, just buy them directly. Our family’s Feng Shui isn’t suited for raising chickens.”

The Vermilion Bird Army has a small training ground in the Northern City, which is usually only allowed for use by a few Battalion Commanders and Commandants.

Since the twenty-eighth, Ding Suian stopped reporting for duty at Honglu Temple Ward, spending every day here training his body, circulating Qi, and striving for a breakthrough.

Even if it was last-minute cramming, if it didn’t work, he’d still be disgraced.

Fortunately, the Protective Aura within his body was continuous. While there was no immediate clue for a breakthrough, he successfully opened the Hegu Acupoint, the last Cold Acupoint located on his upper arm.

“Specific Qi Circulation Path!”

Ding Suian followed the Qi Circulation path of the Specific Qi Circulation Path, channeling Protective Aura into the saber, Kunwu. Sure enough, wisps of cold air seeped out. When he brought the blade near the flowers and plants, a layer of white frost instantly formed on the vegetation.

Hey, never mind how effective it would be in a fight; at least it was a good way to cool down during the scorching summer.

Several days passed like this.

After entering the Sixth Month, to welcome Your Majesty’s eightieth birthday, Central Heaven City was adorned with lanterns and streamers everywhere, filling the city with a festive atmosphere.

The second day of the Sixth Month.

Exactly Xu Shi (7-9 PM), the sky was completely dark.

Li Baicheng finished his duty and returned home, passing by the small training ground.

Under the dim yellow lamplight, a shirtless young man was still swinging his saber methodically.

“Yuanxi!”

Hearing the distant call, Ding Suian sheathed his saber and walked closer. “Second Brother hasn’t gone home yet?”

Li Baicheng looked him over, seeing Ding Suian covered in sweat, and pulled him to sit nearby. “Yuanxi, don’t rush. Achieving the Manifesting Elemental State Perfection at your age is already outstanding. The Martial Artist’s Dao emphasizes ‘resilience.’ Haste makes waste and can easily injure your body.”

Ding Suian smiled, “What Opportunity did Second Brother have back then to transition from Manifesting Elemental State to Astral?”

“Everyone’s Karmic Affinity is different. A Martial Artist’s breakthrough is generally similar to others. The best scenario, of course, is like when I benefited from your Opportunity back then, where a single word helped me break through. But for most people, breakthroughs happen during life-or-death situations, as only then can all potential be unleashed.”

This is simple to say.

But it is actually very difficult. For example, if Li Baicheng were to attack Ding Suian now, the former wouldn’t dare truly injure him, and the latter would know the former wouldn’t truly injure him.

Without surging Killing Intent, one cannot experience desperation.

Either find a true enemy and fight a life-or-death battle.

Or, a Mighty Expert descends from the heavens. They must be able to create realistic Killing Intent while maintaining perfect control and precision, ensuring they don’t actually kill him.

Early Hai Shi (9-11 PM).

Ding Suian returned to Suimian Street. The house was quiet.

Street performers were rehearsing the Parade Lanterns for Your Majesty’s birthday. Zhao Yan must have gone out to watch the excitement.

‘Screak~’

Pushing the door and entering the Bedroom, Ding Suian was still thinking about breaking through. After two steps, he suddenly felt a chill behind his neck.

His steps instantly froze.

It was too quiet inside the room. It was exactly the same silence as when Chen Yi used a Magical Artifact to block sound on the night the Spark Society was established.

Furthermore, he could feel someone standing behind him, very close.

Although he couldn’t hear breathing, the hairs on the back of his neck could feel the airflow exhaled from the opponent’s nostrils.

…

Ding Suian’s scalp tingled. The fact that the opponent could stick closely behind him without a sound meant the gap between them was even larger than the difference between an A-cup and an F-cup.

‘Should I raise my hands and beg for mercy?’

This thought flashed through his mind for only an instant. The next moment, Ding Suian suddenly lunged forward, and while creating a step of distance, he completed the actions of twisting his waist, drawing his saber, and cleaving.

The lantern hanging under the outside eaves shone into the Bedroom. In the hazy light, there was indeed a person standing there, dressed entirely in black.

The person slightly shifted their body, dodging the blade while simultaneously side-stepping forward right against the edge, directly closing the distance to within a foot of Ding Suian.

‘Boom boom boom~’

He took three consecutive punches to the chest, sending him flying backward to crash against the wall with a thud.

Blood had seeped out from the corner of his lips.

Ding Suian propped himself up with his saber. “Your Excellency, who are you?”

The opponent didn’t react, and Ding Suian hadn’t expected him to speak. He was merely using the Opportunity of speaking to scrape off a piece of white plaster from the wall with his left hand, which was supporting him against the wall.

He clenched his palm, crushing the plaster into dust.

“Your Excellency hides your head and reveals…”

While speaking again, Ding Suian fiercely threw up his left hand, stepped forward, and thrust the Kunwu saber forward with his right hand to shorten the attack distance.

…

Ding Suian wasn’t seeing things, but the person in front of him vanished into thin air amidst the flying white dust.

He suddenly recalled that when he first met Zhao Yan in Southern Zhao, she had mentioned something about the Martial Artist’s Xiangwang Realm having a ‘Night Stealth’ ability.

Xiangwang is still above Yugang.

At least in the entirety of Great Wu, there was no one openly acknowledged as being in the Xiangwang Realm.

Young Master Ding was instantly filled with grief and indignation. Did a mere Manifesting Elemental State like himself warrant alerting such a major figure?!

“You son of a gun! Come out and fight Young Master properly!”

He could die, but he couldn’t back down!

‘Thud~’

Ding Suian took a kick to the butt and flew a long distance.

The black-clad person was somehow standing behind him again.

Fighting is one thing, but kicking the butt is blatant humiliation!

Is he trying to kill me…

“Specific Qi Circulation Path!”

He roared, and the Protective Aura within his body surged through the Three Cold Acupoints and frantically poured into Kunwu. The long, straight blade no longer glowed brightly, but with a deathly white cold light. The biting chill spread out from the saber’s center, making midsummer feel like deep autumn in an instant.

With a single thought, he decided to Fight to the Death to Survive.

He no longer cared about defense, abandoning even the worry that his own Meridians might be torn apart by the raging Protective Aura. Even if he died, he had to… he had to at least slash the corner of this Xiangwang bastard’s clothing!

The saber led, the person followed, surging forward relentlessly.

Perhaps intimidated by his Aura, the black-clad person actually didn’t dare to meet the attack head-on, side-stepping to dodge it.

Being able to force back a Xiangwang by a single step… that’s pretty awesome, right!

Encouraged, Ding Suian rushed to the wall, pushed off it, and soared up, raising the saber with both hands and cleaving down forcefully.

It was at this moment that Ding Suian felt as if something within his Zhongji Acupoint had suddenly cracked open.

The Protective Aura, like threads, no longer followed the fixed Qi Circulation route through the Acupoints. Like a stone dropped into a calm lake, it rippled outward in circles, permeating his muscles and every part of his body.

Kunwu’s white radiance suddenly turned a deep blue.

‘Did I break through?’

In that brief instant, there was no time for further thought. Kunwu was silent, but the deep blue saber light it carried cleaved toward the black-clad person’s face.

Yet, the person extended two fingers, and incredibly, they managed to pinch the blade edge, which seemed to carry the weight of a Thousand Jun.

…

Ding Suian tried to pull the saber back, but the black-clad person’s two fingers were as if welded to the blade, and Kunwu didn’t move an inch.

He decisively abandoned the saber, extended his leg to hook the chair in the room, and forcefully flung it towards the black-clad person.

‘Clang~’

The black-clad person released his fingers, Kunwu fell to the ground, and the chair flying toward his face was caught steadily and then gently placed down.

However, when Ding Suian hooked the chair just now, he bumped the Side Table in the room. The Jingci Vase placed on the table wobbled, spun a few times, and began to tumble down.

Then, the black-clad person suddenly lunged forward, moving as fast as a streak of light.

Ding Suian didn’t even react in time. Only after the person rushed past him did he instinctively make a delayed sidestep dodge.

But…

The black-clad person’s target was surprisingly not him, but the vase falling mid-air.

Two feet above the ground, the vase was firmly cradled in the black-clad person’s arms.

Ding Suian even felt that this guy sighed in relief because he managed to catch the vase.

…

Ding Suian, still frozen in his sidestep dodge posture, looked blankly at the black-clad person.

…

The black-clad person probably also felt that saving the vase just now was a bit… ridiculous.

At this moment, he seemed very awkward.

He was in a bow stance, upper body leaning forward, his body rigid while holding the vase for a few breaths. Suddenly, he loosened his hands.

‘Crack~’

The vase, which he had just saved, fell back onto the ground.

The black-clad person slowly straightened up, then slowly turned around, and then slowly walked towards the bedroom door.

“Hey!”

Hearing Ding Suian call out, the black-clad person suddenly sped up and dashed out, escaping with a whoosh.

He vanished in the blink of an eye.

Truly, he fled!

Ding Suian wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and looked around the Bedroom. Aside from that vase, the two of them had fought for a long time without damaging a single piece of furniture.

He… really has high quality standards.

I could cry~

Ding Suian stood still and pondered for a moment, then turned and left the house, running all the way towards Chilao Alley.

‘Thump thump thump~’

At the third quarter of Hai Shi, Ding Suian knocked on his family’s door.

“Who is it?”

His Old Man’s heavily nasal question came from inside the courtyard.

“It’s me.”

After a while, the sleepy Old Ding, wearing only a short loincloth, opened the courtyard gate. “Huh, Kid, why are you back in the middle of the night?”

Ding Suian looked at him suspiciously. “Dad, have you been home the whole time?”

“Yeah, where else would I go if I wasn’t home?”

Old Ding yawned.

Ding Suian naturally wouldn’t fail to recognize his Old Man’s build. The person just now did indeed have a different build from Old Ding.

But he was still somewhat suspicious.

“Dad, what realm are you in now?”

“Me? Manifesting Elemental State Perfection.”

“You always bragged that you entered Manifesting Elemental State at fifteen, so why are you still in Manifesting Elemental State after more than twenty years?”

“Do you think I don’t want to break through? What can I do if I can’t?”

…

Ding Suian looked at his Old Man again. The constantly yawning Old Ding finally grew a bit impatient. “Did you run all the way here in the middle of the night for something, or not?”

“…It’s nothing.”

“If it’s nothing, go back to sleep. I was sleeping soundly!”