“Yes!” everyone responded in unison.

Gu Jinghong immediately laid out the stealth attack plan.

While Chu Dingjiang had stirred up everyone’s fighting spirit, it was only temporary. After all, this mission was tantamount to a suicide mission for them. Upon reflection, they still felt apprehensive. Fortunately, Gu Jinghong’s plan gave them a bit more confidence.

Moreover, Chu Dingjiang would be leading the team this time. He was like a mountain, and those who had interacted with him before seemed to have found their anchor. Although they were still risking their lives, they felt inexplicably at ease.

After understanding the entire situation, Mo Sigui quietly went back to pack his things, volunteering to participate.

As the key protected individual in the entire Crane Control Agency, Gu Jinghong and Chu Dingjiang naturally rejected his request outright.

Mo Sigui then asked to go out to purchase medicines, planning to prepare more drugs to support this mission.

Gu Jinghong didn’t object and assigned two skilled guards from the hidden outpost to protect him.

Inside the room, the lamplight was dim.

An Jiu laid out all the hidden weapons on her body one by one, applying poison to them.

“Ah Jiu.” Chu Dingjiang silently dropped down from the rafters, steadily sitting beside her.

An Jiu sensed that his aura had changed somewhat from the past few days. Her hand swung the long sword towards him.

The blade was stopped by a force when it was three inches from his black cloak. Visible cracks appeared on the sword. As she moved it away, two fragments fell onto the table.

“Your power has recovered,” An Jiu said. Chu Dingjiang’s protective aura was even more formidable than when she first met him, clearly not just a return to his original state.

Chu Dingjiang said, “Oh? Didn’t I mention that sealing my power was intentional?”

“No,” An Jiu replied.

Amusement colored Chu Dingjiang’s voice, “My mistake, I forgot.”

This was no mere forgetfulness; it was deliberate! An Jiu tossed aside the sword and picked up a dagger, wiping it with a cloth before applying poison. She said calmly, “You don’t need to blame yourself. You’re old, so forgetfulness is common. It’s understandable. However, given that you saved my life, I must responsibly remind you that with symptoms like yours, you should be wary of senile dementia.”

Chu Dingjiang didn’t know what “senile dementia” meant, but he understood the gist. Far from being angry, he nodded in agreement, “You have a point. So I should take advantage of my current state to marry a woman and have a child, passing on my intelligence and wisdom to my descendants.”

An Jiu finished wiping the dagger and moved on to the sleeve arrow, ignoring him.

Chu Dingjiang coughed, saying somewhat awkwardly, “When do you think you’ll have time? Let’s set a date.”

An Jiu was concentrating on wiping the sleeve arrow and took a while to react. She stopped her movements, put down her things, and turned to look at him. “I’m very busy. I don’t have time.”

“Then we’ll discuss it when you have time,” Chu Dingjiang deliberately misinterpreted her words, knowing full well what she meant.

An Jiu only saw his movement to stand up, and then her vision was left with just an afterimage.

An Jiu was stunned for a moment, then silently continued her task. After a while, she suddenly stopped, her fine eyebrows slowly furrowing as she muttered to herself: Could it be that I was just flirted with…

The more she pondered, the more she felt it was so.

“This…” An Jiu stared at the cloth in her hand, murmuring, “is a bit regrettable.”

Such an interesting situation, and what had she been thinking about to miss it?

“Oh, right.” Chu Dingjiang appeared in front of her again, his hand emerging from his cloak to place a bundle of feathered arrows before her. “These arrowheads have been specially forged. Like your dagger, they can pierce through protective auras. Keep them for dealing with eighth or ninth-level experts, or even those who have reached the transcendent realm. Piaomiao Manor’s assassins use drugs to enhance their power. The drugs had flaws last time, but that might not be the case this time.”

An Jiu didn’t touch these items, instead asking him, “How many people do you think will make it back alive?”

Chu Dingjiang was silent for a moment before slowly saying, “If only two can survive, it will be you and me. Where I am, you are.”

Before An Jiu could respond, he left.

An Jiu stared blankly at where he had been standing.

In truth, Chu Dingjiang was fleeing.

While he had appeared calm when saying those words, his heart was actually in turmoil. It wasn’t shyness – after all, he had lived for so many years and was no longer a naive youth in matters between men and women. His feelings were just very complex. In the past, women in his eyes were merely objects for continuing the family line and satisfying carnal desires, of little importance. Now, even the matter of continuing the family line seemed trivial to him. He couldn’t quite define his feelings towards An Jiu.

When Chu Dingjiang was still a descendant of the Hua family, he never would have dreamed that one day he would treat a woman this way.

The wind was cold, the moon bright, and the frost like silver.

Chu Dingjiang exhaled deeply and melted into the darkness.

Nine days later, conflict erupted between the Yu family and Piaomiao Manor.

The cause was Piaomiao Manor’s failed assassination attempt on Zhu Pianpian. As per the agreement, they paid a large sum in compensation. Surprisingly, Chu Dingjiang had arranged for this money to be secretly deposited into Yu family banks in batches.

The Piaomiao Manor official in charge of this task, considering Zhu Pianpian’s relationship with the Yu family and their recent strange behavior, speculated that Yu Pianfei wanted to force Zhu Pianpian back to the Yu family. This plan seemed to kill two birds with one stone – not only did they earn double the compensation, but it would also make Zhu Pianpian obediently return.

While Piaomiao Manor paying compensation was one thing, and they could bear the failure of a mission, being played for fools without reason was intolerable!

The official didn’t dare report this embarrassing incident upwards, determined to resolve it before seeking punishment. Thus, he ordered the assassination of Yu Pianfei and Zhu Pianpian, dispatching over a dozen assassins for this task.

The Yu family, having been entrenched in Yangzhou for many years, was no simple opponent. These dozen or so assassins couldn’t easily deal with them, but Piaomiao Manor’s relentless pursuit made Yu Pianfei miserable. He knew that this was Chu Dingjiang’s warning for his previous trick, and also a way to force the Yu family to take sides, leaving them no choice but to ally with them against Piaomiao Manor.

With his retreat cut off, Yu Pianfei wasn’t one to simply cower and take the blows. He decided to go all out and actively counterattack Piaomiao Manor’s assassins.

This was unprecedented! It immediately caused a huge stir in the martial arts world!

Just as Piaomiao Manor’s attention was drawn to this, trouble erupted in Bianjing. The Crane Control Army had successively raided four of their hidden outposts.

The manor’s officials suspected the Yu family might also be part of the Crane Control clan. Was the Crane Control Army planning to sacrifice the Yu family to eliminate their Bianjing forces in one fell swoop, or were they using this as a diversion to weaken their strength before attacking the main manor? Unable to decide, they immediately sent out a large number of carrier pigeons to seek guidance from the elusive Wei Yuzhi.

Meanwhile, Chu Dingjiang led twenty-six people to secretly infiltrate the northern part of Piaomiao Manor. This area was farthest from the docks, reducing the risk of being caught in a pincer attack.

However, even so, this would be a battle with the most disparate forces.

In this battle, everyone was prepared to die.

In this battle, the goal was slaughter.

In this battle, the greatest victory would be to emerge unscathed.