An Jiu thought that her first failed attempt to assassinate Li Ting must have drawn the madman’s attention. Since Li Ting was Prince Jing’s man, and Prince Jing had connections with the Misty Mountain Villa and Liao State, they might have sent the madman to protect Li Ting.
An Jiu’s guess was correct.
Important officials planted by Prince Jing and Liao State in Bianjing had been assassinated one after another within days. Misty Mountain Villa had dispatched more personnel to Bianjing. An Jiu’s first failed attempt to assassinate Li Ting had alarmed Prince Jing.
After An Jiu’s initial miss with the hidden arrow, she didn’t immediately follow up, giving Prince Jing time to seek help from Misty Mountain Villa overnight. However, by the time they arrived, An Jiu had already succeeded in her second assassination attempt. Cui Yichen had then tricked the madman into pursuing the killer. What he hadn’t expected was that the assassin was truly An Jiu! And he had been taken hostage by her a second time.
“With such a large-scale elimination of officials, I’m afraid the Crane Control will have to sacrifice some people again,” Chu Dingjiang opened his eyes.
“What do you mean?” An Jiu asked.
Chu Dingjiang stood up to stretch, feeling relieved only when half of his true qi had returned. “Court officials being mysteriously assassinated, and not just one – the emperor will surely need to make a show of it for the world to see. This case must not only be investigated but investigated thoroughly. Of course, he won’t implicate the Crane Control Army, and this matter won’t have any connection to the Crane Control. He’ll have to find some scapegoats.”
Chu Dingjiang laughed a few times, seeming somewhat schadenfreude. Seeing An Jiu’s cold gaze, he cleared his throat and explained seriously, “The scapegoats are those who fail the Crane Control trials. This has always been the rule. Ha, if you keep having such bad luck, you might end up paying with your life.”
Among the current batch of trainees, An Jiu had the lowest score, having been deducted four points.
“If I complete this task, won’t I gain two points?” An Jiu said.
“You’re easily satisfied,” Chu Dingjiang looked at her unambitious expression, both amused and exasperated. “Lou Mingyue already has six points. After completing this task, she’ll have eight. Only by exceeding twenty points before the trial period ends can one truly be safe. If the trial period ends and everyone passes, but they still need to pick out a few scapegoats, they’ll look at overall performance…”
They would select those with the highest error rates as scapegoats. Strictly speaking, An Jiu had already made three mistakes: first, recklessly releasing all the signals; second, failing to assassinate Master Fan; and third, failing to assassinate Li Ting on the first attempt… Although she eventually completed the task, not succeeding in one strike was considered half a mistake.
This task had been so troublesome that she might not even gain two points. If the situation was optimistic and the institute members were lenient, she might scrape by with one point.
An Jiu currently had the most mistakes. If she wanted to lower her error rate, she would need to take on more tasks and complete each one excellently to close the gap with others.
After Chu Dingjiang’s explanation, An Jiu finally felt a sense of crisis.
“Xuan Ren! Instructor Xuan requests your presence,” someone called from outside.
An Jiu went out and followed the person.
The guide led her to Instructor Xuan’s training room.
The four instructors’ training rooms were not far apart. As An Jiu approached, she saw Instructor Di leaning against a corridor pillar. “Well, if it isn’t little Xuan Ren. I heard you failed again. What a pity.”
Instructor Di had recently discovered that given An Jiu’s self-destructive tendencies, he didn’t need to do anything himself. Just watching her struggle step by step towards the abyss of death was more fascinating than taking action himself. Thinking about how An Jiu was following his wishes so well, he suddenly found her somewhat pleasing to the eye.
An Jiu stood at the door, waiting for the guide to announce her, not bothering to glance at Instructor Di.
“Please enter,” the guide returned and said.
An Jiu pushed the door open directly. Each instructor’s training room was about half the size of the martial arts hall, with various weapons and books piled along the walls in addition to the training area.
“Come over,” Instructor Xuan emerged from behind a bookshelf, gesturing for An Jiu to sit down.
After they were both seated, Instructor Xuan asked, “Did you capture the second master of Misty Mountain Villa?”
An Jiu was silent for a moment before answering, “Yes.”
“How?” As Instructor Xuan spoke, he swiftly threw a punch toward her face.
An Jiu didn’t dodge or even blink, because her spiritual force was several levels higher than Instructor Xuan’s. She could sense that the force of this punch was always in a state of being held back, rather than truly intending to hit her.
“Wei Yuzhi is an extremely cunning person,” Instructor Xuan withdrew his hand and explained. “We suspect he deliberately entered the Crane Control to scout the layout, so we need to understand if you truly can capture him.”
“Even if I have the ability, it could still be part of his plan,” An Jiu said.
Instructor Xuan nodded, not dwelling on this issue. Instead, he gave her some extremely bad news, “Wei Yuzhi has escaped.”
Without giving An Jiu time to process this, he immediately followed with even worse news, “The institute members have decided that your next target is Wei Yuzhi, with a deadline of eight months.”
Suppressing her agitation, An Jiu asked, “How did he escape? Isn’t the Crane Control heavily guarded?”
Even if Wei Yuzhi’s spiritual power was high enough to evade strict guards, he had been confined in an iron-clad cell from the beginning. Surely he couldn’t abandon his physical body and escape as a disembodied soul!
“Ahem, it’s a long story,” Instructor Xuan glossed over the Crane Control’s failure, focusing on the benefits instead. “However, if you can complete this task, you’ll successfully enter the Crane Control Army, and immediately as a sixth-rank official. The rule is to bring back the target, dead or alive.”
“What if he hides in Misty Mountain Villa for eight months? Are you asking me to go in and kill him?”
This was beyond the pale! Misty Mountain Villa was a nest of assassins, with at least eight hundred experienced killers if not a thousand. Even a first-rank official couldn’t pull off such a feat, let alone a sixth-rank one!
In her previous organizations, An Jiu would have accepted without a second thought. But now she couldn’t! Because she had begun to find life somewhat interesting.
This was a life-threatening mission, and for her current self, an impossible task.
Not only had she begun to cherish life, but she had also developed a sense of compassion. Although she had forced herself to kill Li Ting with a noble-sounding excuse, this didn’t negate her change.
“The original decision was six months. This instructor argued hard to extend it to eight months,” Instructor Xuan’s attitude turned serious, clearly indicating that this was a non-negotiable order. “Of course, such a dangerous mission won’t be assigned to you alone. Chief Instructor Chu will accompany you.”
Chu Dingjiang, who had been relegated to the Crane Control, held a nominal position as Chief Instructor, equal in rank to the Shen Wu Du Yu Hou of the Crane Control Army. However, this was just a fancy title; in reality, he had no real authority.
An Jiu asked, “What’s in it for him?”
“If successful, he’ll be reinstated to his original position,” Instructor Xuan tried to persuade her. “A master at the transcendent level can slaughter a city with a wave of their hand. Even if Chief Instructor Chu entered Misty Mountain Villa alone, he could manage. You’re getting a good deal here.”
What a load of nonsense!
Not many people knew about Chu Dingjiang’s restricted powers. This was someone trying to get him killed, with her as collateral damage!
However, An Jiu thought that Chu Dingjiang seemed shrewd and cunning. Surely he wasn’t someone who could be outmaneuvered to this extent…