“Heh heh, it’s you…” Someone in midair spoke weakly and powerlessly, his tone light yet not losing a trace of cold mockery. Tang Lici sighed, “You really do talk like him. I heard you were stripped of your clothes—how do you still have Shadow Needles left in your hands to kill people?” All the corpses scattered on the ground had died under Shen Langhun’s “Shadow Needles,” shot into their foreheads before they could even realize it and already dead.

“My Shadow Needles have always been inserted in my hair. I heard that hidden weapon masters can carry dozens of types of concealed weapons in their robes, but I don’t have that skill. I don’t want to inexplicably lose my life to poisonous needles tucked in my own clothes.” The person in the cage coughed twice and said hoarsely, “I heard… Chi Yun is dead? Did you kill him?”

“I killed him.” Tang Lici said softly. “Are you afraid?” Shen Langhun seemed to laugh once, “Killing… is just killing, that’s all… cough cough, when will you get me out of this cage?”

Tang Lici picked up a long blade from the ground, leaped up and slashed about. The poisonous snakes outside the iron cage fell one by one. Finally, he could see Shen Langhun’s appearance clearly. He was indeed completely naked, but at least still wore a pair of pants. He sat leaning against the cage, motionless, his entire body covered in bloodstains. It was unclear how many wounds he had suffered. Tang Lici held the blade in his hand, forming a blade technique with his fingers, his features smiling, “Looking at the wounds, it’s death by a thousand cuts.”

Shen Langhun laughed once, “I suffered thirty-eight cuts… but I’m not dead yet…”

“Thirty-eight cuts—what were they trying to force out of you?” Tang Lici sighed, still forming that blade technique, the blade’s edge seeming to emerge but not emerge. “And why did they spare your life?”

Shen Langhun smiled bitterly, “Of course, to persuade me to stab you when you’re off guard.” Tang Lici sighed, “Where are your guards? It can’t be just these dozens of worthless dead people on the ground, can it?”

Shen Langhun said hoarsely, “Bai Suche went out. Originally there were two more people in the courtyard, but they’re not here now. When I heard you talking with that dead girl Guan’er in front, I struck and shot dead this bunch of good-for-nothings. That little girl knew there were no guards in the back courtyard, so she wanted to play games with you to delay time, cough cough…”

“You abducted Liu Yan. When you see me again, aren’t you afraid I’ll kill you?” Tang Lici’s voice became slightly deeper. A gust of wind blew by, his features smiling, his blade technique held very lightly, as if he had no intention of drawing the blade at all.

Shen Langhun paused quietly, “I said long ago that before he gets you killed, I’ll kill him.” His tone was light. “I still haven’t killed him even now—do I need to apologize to you? Damn it!”

With a crisp “clang,” Tang Lici swung his blade to break the lock. The iron cage hanging in midair opened with the sound. “When you curse, you really are like him…” Before he could finish his sentence, Shen Langhun, who had been lying half-dead in the iron prison, raised his right hand and plunged a short blade he had been pressing under his body into Tang Lici’s abdomen.

With a “snap,” the long blade fell to the ground. Tang Lici stood completely still and motionless. Instead, it was Shen Langhun whose face was full of shock, staring fixedly at his own hand gripping the short blade. Fresh blood spurted slightly from the wound, splashing onto the back of his hand. He stared wide-eyed at Tang Lici, “You—”

He had thought this stab would definitely miss, so he felt confident. He had stabbed heavily and forcefully.

Tang Lici’s face instantly showed no expression. Shen Langhun asked in a low voice, “How could you—not dodge—”

The courtyard suddenly filled with many human figures—Fu Cui, Bai Suche, and that mysterious person in black clothes. Shen Langhun looked at Tang Lici angrily, “How the hell could you not dodge? You were clearly suspicious! You clearly knew to ask me why they didn’t kill me, why they only cut me thirty-eight times. I clearly told you they wanted me to stab you when you’re off guard. How the hell could you not understand? How could you not dodge? How could you…”

“Clap, clap”—two sounds of applause. Bai Suche coldly clapped her hands. Fu Cui bit into a chicken leg, smiling as she looked at Shen Langhun, “Worthy of being a gold-medal assassin. That stab was both fast and accurate—even a pig would have been stabbed to death by you. Your wife’s corpse is in the left guest room. Take it and bury it.”

Shen Langhun glared at Tang Lici through gritted teeth. Tang Lici smiled at him, reached into his robes to take out something and pressed it into his hand, saying in a low voice, “Go.”

Shen Langhun’s entire body convulsed, “You—you—you damn fool!” He roared and pulled out the blade, rising up. Fresh blood spurted out, splashing over the wounds covering his body, creating a ghastly and terrifying sight. Tang Lici fell back and sat on the ground following the blade’s momentum, pressing his hand to the wound, coughing twice with a slightly dizzy appearance. Fresh blood dripped bit by bit in front of him, spattering on the sandy ground.

Shen Langhun looked down at what Tang Lici had pressed into his hand. The object was studded with green gems on a golden base—it was actually a magnificent hairpin. “Ah—” he cried out wildly, his entire body trembling violently. This was the Spring Mountain Beauty Hairpin! This was the treasure that could exchange Lotus Lady’s corpse back from the Fallen Thirteenth Floor! He gripped the Spring Mountain Beauty Hairpin tightly and burst into the left guest room. Only a “bang” was heard as he smashed through a window and entered through it.

Fu Cui laughed heartily. A shrill wild roar came from inside the room, and the corpse of a sow flew horizontally out from the house. Before it could land, it had already been explosively cut into putrid flesh and blood, scattering everywhere on the ground. Shen Langhun held the Spring Mountain Beauty Hairpin, his eyes blood-red, walking out step by step from the house. His entire body was covered in blood—impossible to tell whether it was human blood or pig blood—like a malevolent ghost possessing him, walking out stiffly.

“Eastern Princess,” Bai Suche said indifferently, “Kill him to eliminate future trouble.”

Fu Cui spat out a chicken bone with a “ptui,” raised one palm, and chopped toward Shen Langhun’s head. Bai Suche drew her Severed Vow Blade and slashed toward Tang Lici on the ground.

With a rumbling sound, white mist filled the air. Everyone suddenly lost their targets before their eyes. Fearing it might be thunder-fire bombs, they all pulled back and retreated. A string of red firelight shot skyward. Fu Cui shouted loudly and struck several palms in succession to force back the thick fog, only to see the courtyard was completely empty. Shen Langhun had actually kept his composure and hadn’t charged over to fight desperately, but had rescued Tang Lici from the ground! She felt quite surprised and spat with annoyance, “I didn’t expect that fellow surnamed Shen to slip away so quickly, showing such loyalty and righteousness toward Tang Lici.”

Bai Suche shouted, “They’re wounded! Chase them in four directions!” The Demonic Soul death warriors responded and leaped over the walls, pursuing in four directions.

The person in black shook his head and said in a low voice, “Shen Langhun is the number one assassin in the martial world. His skills in concealing his tracks are rarely matched in the world. Today we carelessly let him escape—finding him will be extremely difficult. Fortunately…” he said coldly, “that stab he made was indeed very forceful. Even if Tang Lici doesn’t die, he absolutely cannot move for a short period of time.”

“It was this subordinate’s negligence in not being able to kill this person with one blade.” Bai Suche said with a solemn expression. Fu Cui looked at her sideways, “Susu, that blade strike of yours just now had quite the suspicion of competing for merit…”

Bai Suche lowered her head. She neither acknowledged nor denied it, her eyes indifferent.