Feng Jiu’er let out a shriek and covered her face with both hands — she would rather have her hands bitten than let her face be harmed!

Yet the anticipated pain never came, and the snake did not leap onto her body.

A flash of cold air swept past, and in an instant, the scent of blood filled the air.

Blood…

Feng Jiu’er blinked and slowly lowered her hands from her face.

Before her stood Jian Yi, long sword in hand, a faint trace of fresh blood at the tip of the blade. Not far away, the venomous snake lay on the ground, its long body hacked into several pieces.

That had been truly dangerous — she had been certain she was about to be bitten.

She had not expected Jian Yi to save her. But wasn’t he terrified of snakes?

Jiu’er exhaled in relief and looked up at the man standing before her. “You… why aren’t you afraid?”

“I never said I wasn’t.” Even so, when he had seen the venomous snake launch itself at her, he had suddenly recalled how he had hacked snakes in that mountain cave.

And so — sword raised, sword fallen — he had sliced the venomous snake into several pieces in a single stroke.

Looking at it that way, killing a snake did not seem so very difficult after all. It was nothing more than a single sweep of the blade.

When he was young, he had lacked the strength and been tormented by a venomous snake, nearly losing his life because of it.

That was why he had always been afraid — terrified the moment he laid eyes on a snake.

But he had forgotten that he had grown up, and that the person he was now possessed more than enough ability to handle such creatures — not only to protect himself, but to save others as well.

All at once, Jian Yi felt that the dismembered snake carcass lying on the ground was not so frightening after all.

He even walked over to it, flicked his sword tip, and sent the section with the snake’s head flying off into the distance, where it vanished without a trace.

He sheathed the long sword and returned to stand before Feng Jiu’er, looking down at her. “How about it? Are you still not coming out? Who knows how many more venomous snakes might be in there.”

This time, it was Feng Jiu’er’s turn to be frightened out of her wits — she could not get out of that sunken patch of grass fast enough.

But her ankle…

Jiu’er bit her lip and pressed her palms against the ground. She refused to ask Jian Yi for help, straining with both arms to pull herself up.

Without her martial arts, without her internal energy, even her ordinary strength had diminished.

Using only her arms, she found she could not manage to climb out no matter how hard she tried.

Then suddenly, a large hand closed around her arm.

With only a light tug, Jian Yi lifted her whole body free of the grass, and she drifted down lightly onto the ground.

“What happened to your foot?” It was only when he noticed the sweat beading at her temple and the pallor of her face that he realized the girl had injured her foot.

“I twisted it just now.” She drew a deep breath. The moment her feet touched the ground, her sprained ankle blazed with pain, and she sharply sucked in a breath of cold air.

She nearly stumbled, but Jian Yi steadied her.

Looking at her foot, he could indeed see that it had swollen considerably.

“Sit down. Let me have a look.”

“No need!” What if he suddenly took it into his head to chop her foot off as well?

“I can apply needles myself, I don’t need…”

“It’s getting late. If we don’t head down to the village soon, who knows how many venomous beasts and serpents will come out once nightfall sets in here.”

Jian Yi was not trying to frighten her — what he said was the truth.

As the sun sank below the horizon, the distant sound of wolves howling began to drift toward them once more.

Feng Jiu’er instinctively drew in on herself. The mountain breeze gusted around them, and suddenly everything felt much colder.

Jian Yi glanced downward. The candlelight in the village below had begun to flicker on.

Dusk deepened further. If they tarried much longer, they would not even be able to make out the mountain path.

Suddenly he swept aside the hem of his robe and crouched down in front of Feng Jiu’er.

“What are you doing?” Jiu’er was still somewhat on guard around him. After all, he had ulterior motives where she was concerned.

“Get on. I’ll carry you down.” Jian Yi said evenly.

Feng Jiu’er hesitated, but when she glanced at her surroundings — the deepening night growing colder and more forbidding with every passing moment — she could not afford to keep deliberating.

She placed her hands on Jian Yi’s shoulders and finally lurched forward, draping herself across his back.

Jian Yi hoisted her up and immediately set off down the mountain.

Jiu’er’s mind was full of thoughts. After they had walked a short distance, her gaze settled on Jian Yi’s neck.

Less than two fingers’ width from her fingertips was the great artery of his throat.

If she were to drive a needle in there, his death would be certain.

As long as he died, there would be no one left to cut off her hands…

At some point without her realizing it, a silver needle had slipped into her hand. But she did not plunge it in right away. Instead she fixed her eyes on his profile, intending to distract him with conversation.

“When did you start working as an assassin? Is there truly no one else in your family?”

Jian Yi seemed to pause for a moment — whether he had fallen into memory or something else, she could not tell — but for a very long stretch, he said nothing.

Feng Jiu’er did not dare make a rash move. He was an assassin, acutely sensitive to any hint of danger.

If she could not draw his attention away first, there was no guarantee her strike would succeed.

She would have only one chance. If she failed, he would sever her right hand on the spot.

Feng Jiu’er had every reason to believe that the moment Jian Yi learned of her ill intent toward him, he would no longer show her the slightest mercy.

But what did that little mercy amount to anyway? He had never been willing to let her go.

What he called mercy was merely the difference between acting now and acting a little later.

Jian Yi continued to carry her through the darkening night. After some time had passed, he finally spoke. “I’m an orphan. From the time I was old enough to understand anything, I never once saw my family.”

A faint ache stirred in Feng Jiu’er’s chest… An orphan — another name for loneliness.

“Then why did you become an assassin?” Her gaze still rested on his neck, where a vein pulsed beneath the skin — the gateway between his life and his death.

“When I was small, I had nothing to eat,” Jian Yi said evenly. “I had no choice but to beg on the streets. I was constantly mistreated. Then one day…”

He glanced toward the horizon, as though something came to him, and the aura about him turned several degrees colder.

“One day, I accidentally bumped into a violent local bully on the street. He beat me and threatened to hack off my leg. I fought back with everything I had, and by accident I killed him.

“Afterward, a stranger came to find me. He wanted me to kill a wicked man who had wronged his daughter, and in return he would pay me…”

“So that was the first time you killed for money, and after succeeding you took the path of an assassin?”

Jiu’er lowered her lashes. She had not expected to hear something so heartbreaking.

Yet how could she allow her heart to ache right now? How could she afford to go soft?

This was a matter of her own fate.

He was determined to harm her — either he died, or she perished.

At a moment like this, she absolutely could not waver.

Jian Yi did not seem to notice anything amiss. “More or less,” he said evenly.

“And your martial arts…”

“Self-taught.”

She was astonished. This man truly was a remarkable talent.

But the silver needle at her fingertip was poised to strike, and at a moment like this, she could not hesitate any longer.

“If you were given a chance to fulfill the wish closest to your heart — what would you want to do with your life?”

The fingers holding the silver needle slowly drew nearer to the artery at Jian Yi’s throat…