HomeTales of Dark RiverAn He Zhuan: Act Two - Chapter 5

An He Zhuan: Act Two – Chapter 5

Luo Jiuxiao Inn.

Su Zhe lay on the bed, yawning, already half-asleep. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew open the window, making the golden rings on the Buddhist staff leaning against the table jingle. He grimaced, crawled out of bed, and walked to the window to close it. His eyes happened to glance down, catching sight of someone wearing a bamboo hat walking out of the inn.

“Oh?” Su Zhe’s lips curved slightly upward as he closed the window and returned to lie down on the bed.

“You kill me, I kill you, the song plays until death parts us.” Su Zhe hummed an unknown tune quietly, soon closing his eyes and falling into a deep sleep.

In the Spider Nest, the Great Elder sat bare-chested, covered in silver needles. Though the sight appeared gruesome, her complexion was much better than during the day. She spoke gravely: “You plan to use the Soul Transfer Technique on me today?”

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible today. Great Elder, you’ve just been through a major battle and your spirit is extremely weak. The Soul Transfer Technique heavily drains both the user’s and the recipient’s spiritual energy. If we forced it now, neither of us would survive,” Bai Hehuai shook her head slowly.

The Great Elder sighed lightly: “Very well, we’ll wait another day then.”

“Today you should rest well, Great Elder. As long as this Spider Nest is as impregnable as you say, we have nothing to worry about.” Bai Hehuai smiled, then lit a stick of calming incense. “Great Elder should get some good sleep.”

“Good!” The Great Elder nodded, closed her eyes, and almost instantly began to snore softly.

“Then Hehuai will go rest for a while and return to check on you tonight.” Bai Hehuai, now quite exhausted herself, yawned, bowed to the Great Elder, and pushed open the door to leave. The corridor was empty. She looked around—there were no places where anyone could hide. She was puzzled; previously, assassins had surrounded the Great Elder everywhere they went, so why were only the two of them inside after entering the Spider Nest? Could it be that the Great Elder suspected there were traitors within Spider Shadow, and no longer trusted the others, which was why she kept only Bai Hehuai by her side?

“Being the Great Elder is truly exhausting.” Bai Hehuai shrugged helplessly, walked out of the passage to the gallery, and looked at the moon in the sky, stretching. “The moon is so beautiful tonight.”

“Indeed, the moonlight is beautiful tonight.” An amused voice sounded beside Bai Hehuai.

Bai Hehuai instantly broke into a cold sweat. Though she had met everyone in Spider Shadow these past days, this voice was completely unfamiliar. Instinctively, she stepped backward.

The person wearing the bamboo hat, seeing Bai Hehuai retreat, flashed a cold light from their hand—a dagger flew toward her.

“Damn!” Bai Hehuai immediately halted, flicking out a silver needle to strike the dagger. The two collided; the needle shattered instantly, but it also deflected the dagger, which barely grazed her temple. Getting a moment to breathe, Bai Hehuai hurriedly shouted: “Help—”

Before she could finish, the bamboo-hatted figure had already flashed before her, striking at her chest. Bai Hehuai exhaled lightly, sidestepped leaving only an afterimage, and had already flashed a zhang away. The attacker’s strike met empty air. They paused briefly, then leaped forward to retrieve the thrown dagger, turning to say: “Ghost Trail Step—that’s a technique of the Su family from Dark River.”

“You’re mistaken, I just dodged randomly,” Bai Hehuai wiped the sweat from her forehead.

“Interesting.” The figure twirled the dagger lightly. “I thought I could kill this little girl in one move, but you’ve surprised me.”

“The surprises will keep coming.” Bai Hehuai flung three silver needles at the attacker.

“How boring.” The figure used the same movement technique Bai Hehuai had just employed, easily dodging the three needles, which embedded themselves in the door frame and wooden railings.

“Take off that hat—your eyesight isn’t good!” Bai Hehuai pulled back her hand, then leaped forward, passing by the attacker’s side.

Only then did the attacker notice that nearly invisible threads were attached to the three needles. By the time they tried to dodge, it was too late. As Bai Hehuai passed by, she yanked hard, and the three threads instantly tightened, binding the attacker completely. Bai Hehuai landed, turned, quickly retreated three steps, and then looked up at the attacker, whose arms were now bound tight, standing rigid like a pillar.

“The Su family’s Three-Needle Threading technique—many top-ranked assassins haven’t mastered this skill.” The attacker’s voice remained unperturbed.

“Don’t move, or I’ll kill you!” Bai Hehuai said sternly.

“I can’t move anyway. One more needle from you now would finish me,” the attacker said calmly.

“I’m not that stupid.” Bai Hehuai sneered. “Who knows what tricks you have? Someone come—”

“Silence!” The attacker kicked off the ground and charged at Bai Hehuai again. She panicked and pulled the threads, but found they had snapped strand by strand. How was this possible? These were silk threads woven from celestial silkworms, incredibly tough—ordinary blades couldn’t cut them. How had they broken free? Bai Hehuai looked down to see a spinning dagger rising upward. The attacker had managed to wield the dagger despite their bound hands. They grabbed the dagger: “Though I’m increasingly curious about you, it’s better to end this with one strike!”

Those idiots, how could there still be no response with all this fighting? Bai Hehuai’s thoughts flashed to the wooden bird in the room. Even without it, waking the Great Elder to fight would be better than dying like this. She immediately turned and ran madly back down the corridor toward the room.

“This is the most interesting way to kill.” The attacker kicked off, flipped onto the roof, then dove down toward Bai Hehuai.

Sensing the cold intent behind her, Bai Hehuai used all her strength to leap forward, tumbling several times. The floorboards where she had been were struck with a huge hole by the attacker’s dagger.

Bai Hehuai scrambled up from the ground. She was still ten steps from the Great Elder’s room, but the attacker had already landed in front of her, slowly raising their dagger.

With a sharp “crack,” the bamboo hat split in two, flying to either side, revealing a young, proud face.

“It’s you,” Bai Hehuai exclaimed.

The attacker glanced back slightly, seeing the figure holding an umbrella, and stroked his small mustache: “So you’ve come.”

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