The Fourth in the World showed not the slightest sign of retreat — perhaps he truly believed that being the Fourth in the World meant he could meet head-on the hundreds of black-uniformed Tingwei officers arrayed before him.
Earth, rivers, sea, all things — and him.
Li Chi had said: I am not a demon. I am skilled at catching demons, so I know how demons think.
Upon hearing this, the Fourth in the World actually broke into a smile. He looked at Li Chi and said earnestly, “Then, Prince of Ning, you may not qualify as a skilled demon-catcher quite yet. Demons shift a thousand forms, fly through the heavens, vanish into the earth — they’re not so easily caught.”
Li Chi nodded. “Haven’t caught quite enough yet. A few more and I’ll be qualified.”
The Fourth in the World jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Did you have people seal off the back as well?”
Li Chi nodded again.
The Fourth in the World said, with something like admiration, “If it were some other lord, he’d certainly be hiding behind his subordinates at a time like this, watching them charge forward one by one at most — or waving a flag and cheering from afar. You’re different. And for that alone, I respect you.”
Li Chi smiled. “You’ve never seen me. You don’t know me. Without seeing or knowing me, where does this respect come from?”
The Fourth in the World said, “Never seen you, don’t know you — but now I’ve witnessed it firsthand. So going forward I’ll be considerably more careful. Best not to fall into your hands.”
Li Chi said, “You’ve never seen me and don’t know me — so you don’t know why I stand at the front rather than hide at the back.”
The Fourth in the World seemed genuinely curious and eager to learn. “Then why?”
Li Chi said, “Because with the torches behind me, you cannot clearly make out my face. But if I stood behind my people, the torchlight would let you see and remember my features — and if you escaped tonight, you might come to kill me in the future.”
The Fourth in the World considered this, then nodded. “That is genuinely sound reasoning.”
He asked Li Chi, “When do you plan to make your move?”
Li Chi said, “Once my people have taken aim.”
As he finished speaking he suddenly dropped into a crouch — and from behind him, an uncountable volley of crossbow bolts launched toward the Fourth in the World.
In that courtyard, so many black-uniformed Tingwei officers stood — each with a repeating crossbow loaded full, each with more than sufficient marksmanship.
The Fourth in the World swept backward the instant Li Chi dropped into his crouch. One foot touched ground and he launched laterally, clearing himself to behind the building. That many crossbow bolts flew past, yet not one of them grazed him.
On this point alone, the Fourth in the World was already enough to command astonishment.
Bear in mind — he had sustained two separate injuries before this, inflicted by individuals who could be called supreme-tier fighters.
They say in civil matters there is no first; in martial matters there is no second — put another way, martial skill has its absolute ceiling while scholarship has no end. A martial practitioner, however gifted, will eventually reach the limits of the human body. There are no immortals or spirits in this world — no flying through heavens, no vanishing into earth, no claiming lives from a thousand li away.
Yet no one can say: I have mastered all the knowledge in this world and reached the summit of learning.
The Fourth in the World moved around to the back of the building, glanced at the rear window — a faint glow of lamplight seeped through — and couldn’t help but smile.
The window was shut. But what did that mean to the Fourth in the World?
A single punch shattered the rear window. Through the burst of broken wood — a flash of shadow — and the Fourth in the World was inside the room.
Just as he expected, Magistrate Wu’s wife was hiding there.
“Magistrate Wu has considerable good fortune.”
He took a moment, upon seeing the beautiful woman, to sincerely remark — for Magistrate Wu’s wife was indeed strikingly beautiful. Then he stepped forward, reaching out to seize Madam Wu by the throat.
Magistrate Wu never called his wife “Madam Wu.” To him, she was always that Su girl.
*Nine heavens could yield a passing celestial phoenix, yet no match for the mortal Su Xiaoxu.*
That was because Su Xiaoxu herself was the passing phoenix.
Her sword was like a phoenix in flight.
Zhuge Jingzhan had investigated and identified the man who had pursued and frightened them as Magistrate Wu Naiyu. He knew Magistrate Wu’s martial skill was at its absolute pinnacle.
That someone like Fu Baiyu — one of the Four Destined Heroes — had been frightened into turning tail and running, deploying almost every one of his escape techniques just to barely get away, spoke for itself: Magistrate Wu’s ability was evident.
But what Zhuge Jingzhan could not have known was that Magistrate Wu’s greatest strength was his sword — and that sword was taught to him by Su Xiaoxu.
When the Fourth in the World saw that flash of a phoenix in flight, his eyes snapped wide. He retreated with speed, and at the same time pulled several guqin strings taut across his body as a shield.
He had not brought his guqin — but he had brought several strings.
His strings were crafted from special materials, and ordinary weapons could not cut through them.
Yet Su Xiaoxu’s sword, midway through its strike, suddenly changed — from a sweeping slash to a thrust.
In swordsmanship, the thrust is the most fundamental technique.
The Fourth in the World went pale with shock. He watched helplessly as the sword threaded through the gap between the strings and drove toward him.
In that moment, only by igniting his full potential did he barely manage to shift enough — and even then, that thrust sheared off his left ear.
The Fourth in the World immediately snapped the strings outward to drive Su Xiaoxu back, pushed off the ground with both feet, and shot back out through the rear window in a reversed-body leap.
Outside the window, the Fourth in the World cared nothing for the loss of an ear. He swung his strings out, driving them into the trunk of a tree behind the building. He pulled — and his body swung out in a wide arc.
One must say: anyone else, in that moment of flying out the window feet-first, would likely have been shot dead by crossbow bolts.
Yet he managed, through some uncanny contortion, to evade — and then swung out clear of the compound wall. This agility and reaction — rare in the world.
The Fourth in the World wore a special pair of gloves on his hands. Without them, string as sharp as that would have long since sliced his hands into countless pieces.
And it was also thanks to those gloves that, while suspended in midair, he deflected several precisely aimed crossbow bolts.
Airborne, the Fourth in the World still managed to glance back. He saw the Prince of Ning, Li Chi, still standing in the courtyard — seemingly watching him with an expression of mild amusement.
That amusement sent a chill through the Fourth in the World’s heart. If Li Chi could wear that expression, it was certainly nothing good.
The Fourth in the World swung clear of the compound wall and landed in the alley beside it, then drove forward at maximum speed toward the mouth of the alley.
As he sprinted, he also turned over in his mind what had been wrong about Li Chi’s expression just now — why in that single instant he had felt a chill even in his heart.
A moment later, he understood.
Not long before, Li Chi had said to him: the reason I stand in front of my people is so that the torches are at my back, and you cannot clearly make out my face.
Yet in that instant he had escaped and glanced back — he had seen Li Chi’s face clearly.
So…
A trace of unease rose in the Fourth in the World’s heart.
—
At the same time, on the main street.
The carriage from the Tingwei offices rolled over the bluestone road, the sound of its wheels slightly sharp in the stillness of the night.
A curfew was in effect in Yuzhou City. The only movement on the street was this single convoy — one carriage and some twenty-odd mounted Black Cavalry guards.
The carriage belonged to the Chief Tingwei of the Tingwei offices. She was not accustomed to — nor did she wish to — live at the Tingwei offices, because Li Chi did not live there.
So no matter how busy she was, no matter how late she worked, Gao Xining would return home. And no matter when she returned, Li Chi would always greet her with what she considered the most handsome smile in the world.
Fu Baiyu crouched on the rooftop watching the carriage roll slowly past. A smile curved the corner of his mouth.
Kill Magistrate Wu’s wife?
Not worth making such a large commotion over.
What did killing an official’s wife amount to? Killing the Prince of Ning’s betrothed — that was the truly significant act. That was what could genuinely strike a blow against the one called the Human Emperor.
“Human Emperor…”
Fu Baiyu gave a quiet snort.
This was their actual plan. The Fourth in the World going to kill Su Xiaoxu had only ever been a decoy.
Yang Xuanji kept thousands of followers and advisors. Add up all their methods of killing combined, and none could match Fu Baiyu alone. He was a master of disguise, assassination, and poison. Every technique by which a man could be killed — he was a master of all.
So the one who appeared here was him.
He had entered Yuzhou City half a day before the Fourth in the World. Zhuge Jingzhan had said: every piece of preparation was for today.
What did it matter, doing things outside Yuzhou City? Burning down grain stores in ten county towns was nothing compared to killing the Prince of Ning’s wife.
He tore off the black cloak he wore and dropped from the rooftop.
On the street, the carriage continued forward. Then from behind came the sound of rapid footsteps.
The Black Cavalry immediately went on alert. The carriage halted. The cavalry formed a line.
But the one who came sprinting up from behind was Tingwei offices Centurion Yu Hongyi.
Yu Hongyi rushed forward. “My lord, be careful — the Prince of Ning caught a would-be assassin at Magistrate Wu’s residence, but that assassin may have been a decoy. Their real target may be you, my lord.”
Calling out as she spoke, Yu Hongyi reached the side of the carriage.
The mounted Black Cavalry soldiers bowed toward her from their saddles.
Yu Hongyi drew close to the carriage and clasped her hands in a bow. “My lord, the Prince of Ning’s residence is too far. Return first to the Tingwei offices — I have already dispatched personnel to establish a perimeter.”
The carriage door was opened from within. A hand reached out and beckoned — gesturing her to come aboard and speak.
Yu Hongyi nodded immediately, stepped forward, and mounted the carriage.
In that very moment, Yu Hongyi suddenly drew her soft sword and thrust it at the person inside.
A thunderous crack!
The entire carriage compartment shattered.
Yu Hongyi flew out of the carriage — her eyes wide with terror.
But she had barely left the ground when a hand shot out and seized her by the ankle. In this position, she had no way to break free.
And her opponent clearly had no intention of giving her the chance.
That hand gripped her ankle and swung her — and slammed her into the ground with tremendous force.
In the next instant, she was swung again and slammed into the ground on the other side.
A foot came down — directly onto Yu Hongyi’s throat. The force of it seemed enough to crush every bone in her neck to pieces.
Then — a foot planted on Yu Hongyi’s left leg, and a right hand seized her right leg and wrenched it savagely upward.
*Crack.* Too terrible to look upon.
Yet the one who had moved did not stop. One hand reached out, gripped the carriage shaft, and with a slight exertion, snapped it clean off. Then drove it downward with full force.
*Thud!*
The carriage shaft drove clean through Yu Hongyi’s chest. The shaft was thicker than an arm — the broken length was seven or eight feet, and more than half of it buried itself in the ground. The shaft had pierced clean through and into the earth.
The bluestone tiles beneath Yu Hongyi’s body shattered. The shaft sank deep.
In that instant, Yu Hongyi’s body folded upward — and then fell back.
The hand still braced against the shaft pressed downward once more — and the remaining half-foot of shaft protruding above was forced down flush.
The one who had moved was Li Chi.
He reached out and clawed at Yu Hongyi’s face. The disguise came away in large patches.
Li Chi looked down at the broken figure on the ground, his eyes cold.
—
At the same time.
Inside Magistrate Wu’s compound, the one standing as the Prince of Ning, Li Chi, reached up and scratched his own face — and a delicate mask came away.
The face beneath it belonged to Yu Jiuling. He smiled, looked back at the Tingwei officers with their chilling composure, and said, “Was my performance convincing? Airtight, wasn’t it?”
The Tingwei officers looked at him without expression. Their gaze made Yu Jiuling feel deeply unrewarded.
Yu Jiuling reflected: the one who ran won’t get far. And whoever the boss was waiting for won’t get far either.
The boss had stood on the city wall and thought for an hour and a half. These would-be assassins ought to feel honored.
Because the number of people who had ever made the boss think for a full hour and a half — was not many.
—