Chapter 12: Chapter 12

Pockmarked He and his two companions exchanged glances. This pale-faced scholar was certainly stubborn.

“Young brother, honest advice is often hard to hear! I am warning you to mind your own business. I am having that woman, no matter what!” Pockmarked He snarled. The pockmarks on his face quivered as he spoke, making him look somewhat comical.

Zhao Jiu could no longer hold back his laughter at the sight. He hurriedly covered his mouth as he stood, then cast the three men a sidelong glance.

“You are welcome to try.”

Pockmarked He frowned. He could not quite size Zhao Jiu up. The man before him was thin and frail, with fair, delicate skin and no visible weapon. No matter how he looked at him, Zhao Jiu did not resemble an expert.

In Pockmarked He’s understanding, experts were not supposed to look like this. A true expert should openly announce his name and background, laugh three times, and order the three of them to leave at once. At the very least, he should stand aloof with a sword slung across his back, his expression cold and indifferent, looking as ethereal as an immortal.

Had Zhao Jiu been able to hear his thoughts, he would certainly have laughed at his childishness.

Zhao Jiu was an assassin. What assassin would roam the world with a saber carried openly in his hand? As for standing around with a sword on his back, only an idiot would do such a thing.

Only two things mattered most to an assassin: killing the target quickly and concealing oneself.

Using underhanded methods and maintaining an ordinary appearance were both perfectly natural. What fool would write “I am an assassin” across his forehead? In their daily lives, many assassins were unremarkable shop assistants, apprentices, or even eunuchs.

Even pigs knew better than to root around once their bellies were full. What sort of man could be even more foolish than a pig?

Old Fifth Zhang clearly could not comprehend such reasoning. He drew his saber and charged at Zhao Jiu.

“You worthless bastard! You have a death wish!”

Zhao Jiu moved in an instant.

His left hand seized the wrist of Old Fifth Zhang’s saber-wielding arm, forcibly halting the descending blade. He bent his right arm and drove his elbow straight into Old Fifth Zhang’s face.

Sour, salty, sweet, and burning sensations exploded through Old Fifth Zhang’s nose all at once. His body instinctively reeled backward.

Before he could recover from the bewildering mixture of sour, salty, sweet, and burning sensations, Zhao Jiu caught him by the collar and yanked him forward again. At the same time, Zhao Jiu drove off the ground and smashed a knee into him.

Zhao Jiu released Old Fifth Zhang’s wrist, swung both arms behind himself, then snapped them forward.

Twin Winds Strike the Ears!

Both palms struck Old Fifth Zhang squarely on the temples.

For this strike, Zhao Jiu employed the Monument-Splitting method of exerting force that Jiang Ruhai had once used.

The moment the blow landed, Old Fifth Zhang’s pupils dilated. His eyes became filled with blood, while blood trickled from his nostrils. His ears rang violently, and his mouth suddenly fell open, but whatever sound he had been about to make died in his throat.

Immediately afterward, Zhao Jiu circulated his Internal Qi and planted both feet firmly on the ground. He pressed his right palm against Old Fifth Zhang’s chest, unleashed his Internal Qi, and thrust forward.

Old Fifth Zhang’s body curled like a boiled shrimp as he was sent flying backward. He smashed through the wall of the ruined temple, leaving a large hole behind, before collapsing into the rain outside without a breath left in him.

Both Old Fourth Li and Pockmarked He stared in horror.

They had never seen such methods before. In fact, they had never even heard of them.

They immediately understood that they had provoked someone far beyond their ability to handle.

Old Fourth Li reacted quickly. He drew his saber and hurled it at Zhao Jiu in an attempt to delay him, then turned and sprinted toward the temple entrance.

How could Zhao Jiu possibly allow him to escape?

The instant Old Fourth Li moved his legs, Zhao Jiu flicked his hand and sent three Throwing Knives flying.

Before Old Fourth Li could take his second step, all three Throwing Knives had already struck him. One buried itself squarely in the middle of his back, another pierced the nape of his neck, and the last lodged in the back of his skull.

Old Fourth Li staggered forward another two steps before collapsing to the ground as blood sprayed from his wounds.

“Now you are the only one left, Brother Pockmarks.”

Zhao Jiu chuckled. Illuminated by the flickering firelight, he resembled a malicious fiend that had crawled out of the Underworld.

“How about this? If you can run over there without dying, I will spare you.”

Zhao Jiu displayed five Throwing Knives and pointed at Old Fourth Li’s corpse as he smiled at Pockmarked He.

“Are you ready? We are about to begin!”

Pockmarked He had long since lost any idea of what he should do, but his instinct to survive still drove him to run outside.

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps…

Pockmarked He had already made it past Old Fourth Li’s corpse when his legs suddenly lost all strength. He fell flat on the ground, with a Throwing Knife embedded behind each knee.

He looked back at Old Fourth Li’s corpse, then raised a trembling hand and pointed at Zhao Jiu.

“You cannot kill me! You said you would let me go if I ran past him! I made it past… I ran—”

A cold gleam flashed.

A severed hand fell to the ground.

“Ah! You worthless bastard! You do not keep your—” Pockmarked He screamed as he clutched the stump of his severed arm.

Before he could finish, Zhao Jiu interrupted him with a savage grin.

“Brother Pockmarks, I told you to run, and you actually did? If you made it past him, would that not prove that I was incompetent? Although you truly did make it past him.”

“You cannot go back on your word…”

“Pick up your hand.”

Zhao Jiu patted Pockmarked He on the face. When he saw that the man was still mumbling, he roared, “I told you to pick up your hand!”

Pockmarked He flinched in terror. Trembling violently, he reached for the severed hand on the ground.

Before he could touch it, a Throwing Knife pierced straight through his throat.

“I told you to pick it up, and you actually did? You never learn.”

Wrapped in the quilt nearby, Liu Rouwei’s face was drenched in cold sweat.

The blood covering the ground, the blood that had sprayed from Old Fourth Li’s body, Pockmarked He’s severed hand, and the Throwing Knife embedded in his throat had long since terrified her out of her wits.

In all her twenty-odd years of life, she had never witnessed anything so bloody and brutal.

Zhao Jiu pulled out the Throwing Knife, wiped it clean on Pockmarked He’s clothes, and retrieved the rest of his knives.

When he saw Liu Rouwei’s dazed and frightened expression, he assumed that Pockmarked He and his companions had terrified her. He walked over, stroked her head, and said, “It is all right now. Everything is fine. Do not be afraid.”

Sensing someone before her, Liu Rouwei wrapped her arms around him without hesitation.

“I am afraid… I am so afraid…” she said, trembling.

Zhao Jiu had no experience comforting women. He could only pat Liu Rouwei gently on the back as though soothing a child to sleep.

“It is all right now. It is all right. None of this was your fault. Think about it—had you fallen into their hands, your fate would not have been much better than theirs. Does thinking about it that way make you feel better?”

Hearing his voice, Liu Rouwei finally returned to her senses.

When she realized that she was embracing Zhao Jiu, she hurriedly released him, and a deep blush spread across her face.

Seeing that she finally looked somewhat better, Zhao Jiu smiled happily and pulled the Abacus from his robes.

“Miss Liu, I conduct my business fairly, impartially, justly, and transparently. There were three of them, at two hundred taels each, making six hundred taels in total. They all came after you, so you are not going to refuse to pay, are you?”

“Fine. Once we reach Hexi, I will definitely pay you.”

Liu Rouwei looked at Zhao Jiu’s face with an unnatural expression.

“Wonderful! Thank you for your generous reward, Miss Liu!”

Zhao Jiu delivered the line with exaggerated cleverness.

Liu Rouwei could not help laughing. Her smile immediately revealed an abundance of captivating charm.

Zhao Jiu could only mutter inwardly, A beauty truly is a source of calamity.

“I am hungry.”

Once Liu Rouwei relaxed after her terrible fright, she felt that her stomach was completely empty. Since she had no food of her own, she could only ask Zhao Jiu, “Do you have anything else to eat?”

Zhao Jiu pulled two Steamed Buns from his robes and held them out to Liu Rouwei.

“Are there no meat buns left?” Liu Rouwei asked cautiously.

“No. You should be grateful that there are still Steamed Buns.”

Zhao Jiu looked helpless. Although he possessed a Storage Space, he still had to put things inside before he could take them out again.

Only Doraemon could produce whatever he wanted on demand!

“Is that not a sack over there? Did they not say it contained pork? We could cut off a piece and roast it.”

Liu Rouwei nibbled on the Steamed Bun and blinked at him.

“You truly think that is pork?”

“What else could it be?” Liu Rouwei asked in confusion.

“A person. A half-dead person!”