Book 14: Chapter 86

So It Begins

The moonlight and flame fluttered as though the wind moved them. The night scenery was beautiful. Alas, the silence, tension and movements performed deliberately slow to hide secrets ruined the beauty.

Quietly, Wang Zhenyun instructed, “Keep this secret. Nobody else is to hear about this.”

There was only one flame for light in my room, while there were two armed assassins shrinking the thirty steps we had between us one step at a time similarly to snakes.

“Of course. In saying that, what do we do about the situation here?” inquired the imperial guard commander.

The time frame one could control another’s mind using “Soul-Stealing Palms” was rather short, and it was impossible for the controlled subject to perform complicated movements. Ming Feizhen knew these weaknesses very well thanks to his knowledge in “Sinister Soul Breaker Palms”. Even in the original version, one couldn’t control someone for an hour or perform complex movements unless they killed the subject before brainwashing them.

Controlling another’s mind was difficult for every human being. After all, one’s mental place was a different subject of mystery to study outside of martial arts. Even Divine Realm adepts, for as long as they weren’t Heart Realm practitioners, were the same as ordinary men. That was why it should’ve been impossible for someone to have a puppet follow Wang Zhenyun and lay low until now – unless the order given was to imitate someone close by.

“Take him away yourself. No matter what method you use, you mustn’t let anyone else know about this,” answered Wang Zhenyun.

The exam rooms were small, so there weren’t many options besides fighting intruders head on if someone barged in. Furthermore, if everyone was alerted, the room would become a cordoned crime scene for investigation, which would sabotage Ming Feizhen’s exam. To make matters worse, there was nowhere to run since he was on the bed.

Wang Zhenyun waited for the commander to carry off Chen Lin before loudly declaring, “He had the audacity to barge into an examinee’s room with the intention of blackmailing the examinee. Luckily, we discovered him in time. Arrest him, and make sure he is put under strict surveillance in prison.”

The head of the smirking assassin suddenly became a geyser of blood. Ming Feizhen stashed away his shuttle, caught the unbalanced corpse, wiped the blood and set it down without making a sound. Next, he got up and plunged a needle through the neck of the brainwashed guard who’d frozen up due to losing his guide. Ming Feizhen caught the second corpse and repeated the process again without making a sound. The only sound that broke the silence and drew attention was the sound of an arrow piercing the tiles above.

Wang Zhenyun and the imperial guards instinctively headed to Ming Feizhen’s room upon hearing the sound of the arrow smashing into the tile.

Without looking, Ming Feizhen titled his head, letting the arrow pierce into the dead corpse, whilst he fired another needle from his shuttle. The archer muffled his own groan that gave away his shock prior to fleeing for dear life.

“Ming Feizhen.” Wang Zhenyun stopped outside the entrance to Ming Feizhen’s room. “This old one has recorded the way you disrespected a proctor. It is a matter of time before this old one sees you punished.”

“I will never do it again. Please have mercy,” Ming Feizhen pleaded without any sincerity.

Wang Zhenyun: Hmph, even you don’t stand a chance against me. Hmm? What’s that strange smell?

“Ming Feizhen, what are you doing?” Wang Zhenyun brushed the curtain aside and entered Ming the small room to see Ming Feizhen sitting on his bed and blocking the light out of his eyes as someone would upon waking. Unable to find anything to use against Ming Feizhen, he warned, “Hmph, don’t try anything funny.”

“I would never dare to.” Ming Feizhen wore on an innocent smile.

A lot had happened in a single night. Even if it meant crossing Young Master Feng, Wang Zhenyun had to question Chen Lin on why he sneaked into Young Master Feng’s room. He didn’t need an answer that’d make him happy; he needed the honest and accurate truth. He alone couldn’t shoulder the consequences if the matter was leaked; in fact, his life was riding on it. He was equally as prone to the consequences he threatened He Shi with. All of “them” faced the same fatal risks at all times. They’d be abandoned as soon as they were no longer useful. Wang Zhenyun had witnessed it frequently enough to know better than to consider himself an exception.

Not longer after Wang Zhenyun departed, Ming Feizhen uttered under his breath. “Four…”

Ming Feizhen had dumped two bodies in the passage and scared one off. The fourth and last assassin who wielded a spear could be heard clearly moving closer. For whatever reason, the last assassin called off the attempt once he reached the entrance to Ming Feizhen’s room. Once an assassination commenced, it was supposed to be one wave after the next, so Ming Feizhen was certain there had to be more than four assassins eyeing his room, but the procedure was abandoned due to the fourth assassin not sticking to the plan.

The most logical explanation was that there was someone helping him, except Ming Feizhen couldn’t find any persuasive evidence to support the hypothesis, and it was a bad idea to trust a conjecture lacking credible proof. What was more frustrating was the fact that he couldn’t prove they were on his side, either.

The situation was different to that back at the underground palace. The underground palace was an isolated sandbox. Accordingly, the number of people present, their habits, their manners, the patrols plan and the terrain remained constant. Ming Feizhen, therefore, only needed enough time in order to get a grasp of every detail. In contrast, he was now in an unfamiliar situation and up against an enemy he knew nothing about. On top of that, he had to hide the fact he was being targeted, or Wang Zhenyun would promptly move him out of the exam venue, which would be exactly what the assassins wished for. The last thing he wanted to do was to fight off assassins in the presence of an audience.

Though there wasn’t much Ming Feizhen could do, he knew for sure that sitting around and waiting was one of the things he shouldn’t have done.

***

“Wang Hu? Wang Hu?” The imperial guards’ commander started feeling anxious after not getting an immediate response.

“Pr-present.”

The commander spun to the stutterer and glared at him. If it weren’t for his old man being somewhat respected in the capital, the commander would’ve smashed his face in for being slow after all that had happened.

“Jia Ren.”

Once again, no response. The commander calmly repeated one more time, “Jia Ren.”

The commander looked around one more time before he decided to yell, and he spotted the moron in the crowd. “Are you deaf?!”

“Me?” responded Jia Ren.

“Who else?!”

Jia Ren – Ming Feizhen – promptly responded, “Pr-present!”