In a blink of an eye, just as the sleeve sword was about to impale Ye Beizhi’s face, a white ribbon unfurled in midair.
A crisp chime sounded.
The sleeve sword was knocked aside, its tip still trembling. The stranger in front of the bed took a step back, easing the recoil from their strike being deflected. When they looked up again, they noticed that Ye Beizhi was no longer lying in bed. In that moment, he had somehow shifted into a cross-legged sitting position, the bloodstained, military-issue blade now resting across his knees.
Ye Beizhi lowered his head, his gaze fixed on his blade, his impassive expression betrayed no joy or sorrow.
Wordlessly, the stranger shifted their numb wrist and thrust their sword straight at Ye Beizhi's heart.
In an instant, Ye Beizhi pressed off the bed as he leapt up, causing the sleeve sword to miss its mark yet again. In a smooth motion, he slashed down toward the stranger's throat!
In that split second, the assassin dropped his body, flipping backward to form a perfect bridge to narrowly avoid the blade, then immediately lifted his leg to kick toward Ye Beizhi’s wrist, seemingly aiming to disarm Ye Beizhi before making his next move.
Ye Beizhi's expression was cold and unyielding. He neither dodged nor evaded the flip kick. His wrist flicked, and he slammed the butt of his blade directly down onto the incoming foot.
The foot and the knife’s handle collided with a harsh impact. Ye Beizhi pulled back, but the assassin also seemed to be in pain, twisting his foot while he stood in place. That last exchange clearly hurt.
"The master was right after all..." The assassin grinned through his teeth, glaring at Ye Beizhi. "You are not any ordinary—"
Before he could finish his sentence, Ye Beizhi, not interested in hearing more, leapt off the bed, and charged at the assassin.
His commander's words echoed in his ears. Kill your enemies, and the one left standing will be you.
Ye Beizhi held nothing back, his entire being exuding an aura like a tidal wave that had reached its peak! This was a straightforward downward slash, but it gave the assassin a feeling that there was no way to escape. This was no mere strike, it felt as if a tsunami was crashing down upon him!
In the critical moment, the assassin bit down hard on his tongue, the intense pain snapping his consciousness back to reality. He rolled clumsily to evade the strike and realized his back was soaked with cold sweat; this soldier had genuinely wanted to kill him just now!
At first, the assassin had merely intended to test Ye Beizhi’s abilities. Now, all he could do was try to survive.
Ye Beizhi had no intention of giving the assassin any more time to think. The moment his strike missed, he immediately turned the blade, shifting the angle and delivering another horizontal slash.
The assassin hooked his sleeve sword over the blade, using the leverage to propel himself upward and over the edge of the blade, which grazed his shoe. Even though he avoided the follow up attack, he was suspended in the air with nowhere left to go.
Ye Beizhi’s eyes gleamed, and, in a flash, he sheathed his blade and spun around, the heavy momentum of his blade trailing him. Taking a deep breath, he gripped the weapon at his side with his right hand. His entire aura became even more menacing!
The assassin, suspended in midair, felt as though his entire body was being pierced by countless needles. Instinctively, he knew as he was doomed, he would rather brave thousands of blades than face this next strike. The moment he saw Ye Beizhi shift into a blade draw stance, he knew something was terribly wrong. In his heart, he cursed his bad luck and urgently shouted, "Stop!"
Ye Beizhi remained unmoved, his left arm’s muscles tensing sharply!
"Stop!" The assassin almost screamed, "Niu Dayong! Niu Dayong! Niu—"
The sharp blade flashed toward him, and the assassin was barely able to instinctively use his thousand-jin fall technique, dropping quickly to avoid the strike.
A ferocious gust of blade qi swept through the entire tent. The assassin crouched on the ground, clutching his head, his vision clearing a little. He instinctively looked up and saw the tent’s roof fly into the air, carried away by the violent wind. The guards outside sat on the ground shuddering; their helmets were lying on the ground with their tassels sliced off, lying at their feet.
In the distance, soldiers from the camp were running toward them. A cold voice roused the assassin from his stupor.
"Do you know... Niu Dayong?"
The assassin realized that Ye Beizhi had deliberately held back earlier; otherwise, that blow wouldn’t have missed. Nevertheless, the fierce blade energy had still cleanly cut the tent in half.
Ye Beizhi took a step forward and asked one more time, "Do you know Niu Dayong?"
The assassin let out a long breath and stood up from the ground. He first waved his hand to dismiss the captain who was about to approach, then looked at Ye Beizhi and said, "Let me speak to you in private."
In a new tent, Ye Beizhi and the assassin sat facing each other.
At this point, it was inappropriate to keep calling the man an assassin. Although, in Ye Beizhi's eyes, this person had carried out an assassination attempt, his attire clearly indicated that he was not any ordinary soldier or commoner. His belt was inlaid with jade, and his brocade robe even had silver threads woven into it. It was clear at a glance that this person was either wealthy or held a high rank.
Ye Beizhi’s gaze never left this person as he waited for an answer.
The man pursed his lips and got straight to the point. "I don’t know Niu Dayong, nor do I know you, but I know everything about your affairs... more than you do yourself. I even know exactly what your ancestors did for the past three generations.
"That's because I am part of the imperial court." The man paused. "All you need to know is that I’m working for the imperial court. You don’t need to know who I really am. I’m just here to deliver a message. Remember this well."
Ye Beizhi’s interest waned when he heard that the man didn’t know Niu Dayong. That was not the answer he had been hoping for.
The man noticed Ye Beizhi’s reaction and took it all in. "I’ve looked into the matters of the Flying Mallard Battalion... and it’s no accident that you survived." The man gave Ye Beizhi a deep look and continued, "Deep down, you know—and so does Niu Dayong... After all these years of bloodshed on the battlefield, your survival depends on your own strength, not some nonsense about beliefs or anything else. This is also why I came to find you today."
Ye Beizhi raised his eyes to look at the man. "You... what do you want me to do?"
"Besides killing, what else can you do?" the man retorted.
Ye Beizhi remained silent for a long time, as if agreeing with the statement.
"I’m not telling you to kill anyone," the man said, taking something from his chest and placing it on the table, then slowly pushing it in front of Ye Beizhi. "Go to this place, kill, get things done, earn silver, and support yourself."
Ye Beizhi looked down and saw an ebony wooden plaque with the head of a ghost carved on it resting on a piece of white silk. The silk had some writing on it. Ye Beizhi picked up the plaque and turned it around to examine it. Upon the plaque was the title: Stormqueller.
The man noticed that Ye Beizhi still had some reservations, so he added, "Niu Dayong has a wife, and she lives off the military allowance he sends back every month... This line of work makes money quickly."
Ye Beizhi looked up at the man and put the plaque into his pocket.
The man chuckled softly. "The Ghostbane Association... hmm, you probably haven't heard of it." He unfolded the length of white silk, pointing to the characters on it. "Go to this place, and someone will tell you what to do."
Having nearly finished, the man seemed much more relaxed. "With your skills, it's a pity for you to remain a lowly soldier. However, even the Emperor has heard about the Flying Mallard Battalion's contributions, so the court has given you this rare opportunity. Don't forget this favor."
When the man finished speaking, he stared intently at Ye Beizhi. When Ye Beizhi nodded seriously, the man finally relaxed. His nerves, which had been taut, now loosened, and he couldn’t help but feel a bit dazed. He remembered the words his elder had said before he left...
"People in the jianghu, soldiers, there are some smart ones, but most are just simple, stubborn fighters. These people may not be very clever, but they have their endearing traits... One of the most obvious is that they remember gratitude and vengeance. If you do them a favor when they are in need, they'll never forget it for the rest of their life."