Chapter 4: Chapter 4

On the official road outside Jianzhou City.

A carriage rolled slowly forward, with Zhao Jiu seated inside.

Zhao Jiu drew a deep breath and gradually relaxed. After taking Essence-Nourishing Pills without interruption for five days, he had finally advanced to the Sixth Rank. Jianzhou was also close at hand. At the thought, he could not help laughing aloud.

“Open the panel.”

Host: Zhao Jiu

Cultivation: Sixth Rank

Martial Arts:

Chasing Stars and Moon (Perfected)

Grand Purity Jade Void Scripture (Sixth Level)

Heavenly Origin Saber Art (Beginner)

Secret Arts:

Tang Sect Mystical Art: Thousand Flowers, Myriad Blooms

Disguise Technique

Tortoise Breathing Technique

God of Wealth Points: 100

During the journey, he had spent one hundred God of Wealth Points on a discounted bottle of White Jade Flesh-Regeneration Pills, a miraculous medicine for treating injuries.

For some inexplicable reason, Zhao Jiu had a bad feeling about this commission. The ease with which the employer had handed over more than a thousand taels left him deeply uneasy.

“Young Master, we have arrived at Jianzhou.”

The driver lifted the curtain, interrupting Zhao Jiu’s thoughts.

Zhao Jiu jumped down from the carriage and readily paid the fare. Standing beside the official road, he carefully examined the surrounding terrain.

Lush trees lined both sides of the broad road, and anyone approaching could be seen clearly from a distance. Zhao Jiu leaped to the top of the tallest tree and surveyed the area. There were hardly any people within several li.

It was an excellent location for an assassination.

However, Zhao Jiu had no intention of acting there.

An Imperial Envoy would never visit such an impoverished region merely to enjoy the countryside. He had undoubtedly come to investigate an important local case.

Under such circumstances, the local officials would certainly have received advance notice and left the city to welcome him.

Killing an Imperial Envoy in front of several hundred people was difficult enough. Escaping through a crowd of several hundred afterward would be even more troublesome.

Never mind a Sixth Rank martial artist. Even a First Rank expert who did not specialize in lightness skills would have little chance of succeeding.

Martial artists were not invincible. Once theirInternal Qi was exhausted in the middle of several hundred enemies, they would be no different from lambs awaiting slaughter.

Zhao Jiu admired the scenery of the south for a while as he silently calculated the route the Imperial Envoy would take into the city and estimated when he would arrive.

Since Zhao Jiu could not kill him outside the city, he would have to strike at the place where the man stayed.

Having reached that conclusion, Zhao Jiu stopped dwelling on the matter. He entered the city, found an inn, and rested until his energy had fully recovered.

During that time, he created three new human-skin masks and purchased several sets of clothing in different styles.

This assassination would require numerous masks, and many of his identities would have to be permanently discarded. He might even have to abandon every identity he had used before and reenter the Jianghu with an entirely new appearance.

Assassinating an Imperial Envoy was no simple task.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

On the twenty-sixth day of the seventh month, Jianzhou City became lively.

The Imperial Envoy, Jiang Ruhai, arrived as expected.

The hunt had begun.

Zhao Jiu put on a new set of clothes and a human-skin mask, disguising himself as an apprentice from a cloth shop. He followed the crowd while carefully examining Jiang Ruhai.

Jiang Ruhai sat astride a tall horse. At a glance, he appeared to be more than seven chi tall. He was a middle-aged man dressed in a bright-red official robe, with a tiger embroidered on the rank badge over his chest.

He wore a black gauze official hat, a gold-trimmed belt, and a jade pendant. He had sharp eyes, sword-like brows, a prominent nose, a fair complexion, and no beard. His gentle expression made him look like a civil official, but the insignia on his robe unmistakably marked him as a Third-Rank military official.

A full Third-Rank military official. He is either a General of Awe-Inspiring Might or a General of Pacifying Trust. In modern terms, he would be a major general with full ministerial rank. Why would someone like him come to a place like this? It makes no sense. The emperor sent a Third-Rank general to serve as an Imperial Envoy. Has that old man gone mad?

Zhao Jiu considered the matter inwardly, but his expression remained as calm as still water.

“Have you heard? He is a full Third-Rank General of Pacifying Trust! General Jiang was the one who quelled the Yanyun Rebellion. His valor is unmatched!”

“Indeed. He suppressed the unrest in Xuanfu and impeached corrupt officials. He is truly a good official.”

“I heard that Lord Jiang still has no wife.”

“Please. He would never be interested in you.”

“How could you possibly know that?”

Zhao Jiu listened to the crowd’s teasing as he quietly followed Jiang Ruhai.

Only after Jiang Ruhai entered the Prefectural Yamen did Zhao Jiu turn and leave.

For three consecutive days, Zhao Jiu secretly monitored Jiang Ruhai’s every movement. Piece by piece, he gathered and organized the essential information.

Jiang Ruhai was staying in the rear courtyard of the yamen and had brought no attendants with him. The yamen itself was not heavily staffed. Aside from the gatekeeper, only four men usually guarded the front entrance.

The four men had unstable auras and did not appear particularly strong.

However, the Prefectural Yamen stood directly beside the Commandant’s Yamen. Once an attack began, the Prefectural Guard would arrive within half an hour.

“He will not be easy to kill.”

Zhao Jiu sighed.

He had to act as soon as possible. Once Jiang Ruhai departed, all his efforts would have been wasted.

After observing for a while longer, Zhao Jiu decided to act that very night. Judging by the weather, it would rain after dark, presenting the ideal opportunity.

Night fell, and the night watchman sounded the first watch.

Zhao Jiu leaped through his window and began the operation.

Amid the misty drizzle, he silently approached the outer wall of the Prefectural Yamen’s rear courtyard. He pressed one ear against the wall while circulating the Tortoise Breathing Technique to its limit.

When he could no longer hear any movement inside the courtyard, Zhao Jiu activated his lightness skill and leaped over the wall.

Jiang Ruhai was sitting peacefully beneath a pavilion, drinking tea and reading a book.

When he saw Zhao Jiu enter, he put down the book, poured another cup of tea, and pushed it forward.

“Sit.”

Although Zhao Jiu was suspicious, he still sat opposite Jiang Ruhai and raised the cup to drink.

The two resembled old friends who had not seen each other for many years. Neither of them spoke. They merely poured and drank tea in silence.

Once the pot was empty, Jiang Ruhai finally spoke.

“You have followed me for three days, little brother. Surely you did not come merely to share a pot of tea with me?”

“Of course not. I came to borrow something from you, Lord Jiang.”

“Oh? What would you like to borrow?”

Jiang Ruhai set down his cup and looked at him curiously.

“Your life!”

As the words left his mouth, Zhao Jiu hurled an assortment of hidden weapons.

“You are rather greedy, little brother. You drank my fine tea, yet you still want my life?”

Jiang Ruhai swept both hands outward and released hisInternal Qi beyond his body, blocking every hidden weapon flying toward him.

Fifth Rank!

Zhao Jiu was secretly astonished. He had encountered a formidable opponent.

No wonder the employer had handed over more than a thousand taels without hesitation.

During that brief moment of distraction, Jiang Ruhai used the force of his movement to spring into the air. He reached forward with both hands and clawed at Zhao Jiu.

Zhao Jiu drew the Tang saber from his storage space and fired several more hidden weapons. He held the saber close against his back before sweeping it outward in a powerful slash.

Jiang Ruhai was an experienced veteran of the Jianghu. He twisted aside to avoid the hidden weapons, circulatedInternal Qi through both hands, and met Zhao Jiu’s saber strike head-on.

Before the force of Zhao Jiu’s slash had fully dissipated, he hurriedly kicked off the ground and retreated two steps, narrowly avoiding Jiang Ruhai’s sweeping kick.

Jiang Ruhai had spent years in the military and naturally understood that Zhao Jiu could not be allowed a chance to recover his breath. His claws became palms as he immediately pressed the attack.

Zhao Jiu’s previous breath ofInternal Qi had already been spent, while his next had yet to gather. With no way to evade, he put away the Tang saber, concentrated hisInternal Qi into one hand, and exchanged a palm strike with Jiang Ruhai.

Borrowing the force of Jiang Ruhai’s blow, Zhao Jiu flipped backward over the wall. He hurled a handful of flying needles behind him and fled without looking back.

After repeatedly twisting through the streets and changing directions, he finally returned to the inn by the second watch.

Zhao Jiu sat on the bed, swallowed a White Jade Flesh-Regeneration Pill, and circulated his cultivation technique to expel the remnants of Jiang Ruhai’sInternal Qi from his meridians.

Fifth Rank.

Worse still, Jiang Ruhai was a Fifth Rank expert who had already stepped more than halfway into the Fourth Rank.

Had Zhao Jiu’s lightness skill not been exceptional, he would have nearly died at Jiang Ruhai’s hands.

At the thought, cold sweat covered his body.

He had assumed that Jiang Ruhai had brought no attendants or guards because there was something wrong with the man’s head. As it turned out, Zhao Jiu was the one whose head had something wrong with it.

Sure enough, no one who rose to such a high official position could possibly be mediocre.

Zhao Jiu removed the human-skin mask and threw it into the stove along with his clothes. As he watched sparks rise from the flames, he considered everything that had gone wrong with the assassination.

He sighed.

The person who hired him probably had no idea that Jiang Ruhai was a Fifth Rank expert. The employer likely believed that he was merely an accomplished general with many military achievements.

A Fifth Rank expert who was also a Third-Rank general was not someone who could be assassinated for a mere two thousand taels of silver.

Zhao Jiu swallowed several Essence-Nourishing Pills, but even then, he could only barely break into the Fifth Rank.

At the Sixth Rank, forget killing Jiang Ruhai within half an hour. Now that Jiang Ruhai was on guard, Zhao Jiu would find it difficult even to approach him.

The Martial Dao had nine ranks. Above the Seventh Rank, every rank was as different as heaven and earth.

Zhao Jiu was no miraculous Smirking Dragon King capable of casually killing an opponent above his own rank.

Moreover, his reckless attack had already alerted his prey. It would be impossible to approach Jiang Ruhai so easily a second time.

He would have to enter the Fifth Rank before making any further plans.

Zhao Jiu extinguished the candle, lay down on the bed, and began devising a new assassination plan.