"She wants to kill a cultivator, and so does he.
But their methods are different, their reasons different,
yet their bloodshed is the same."
---
The yellowish light from the broken window panes slanted inside,
dust floating in the air, reflecting off the mottled grey walls.
Shen stood in the corner of a broken spiritual formation shop,
his sleeve mechanism still tense, the short blade pressed against the girl's throat.
The blade was just an inch away from slicing through her carotid artery.
The girl didn't struggle.
She only coldly stared at him, as if assessing the speed of his strike,
the angle of his aim, and the probability of a fatal hit.
No extra breath passed between them.
There was no fear in her eyes.
It was like two snakes, long accustomed to lurking,
coming close and then intertwining.
After a moment, Shen spoke:
> "Who are you, and why are you following me?"
The girl hesitated for a second, then coldly replied:
> "My surname is Qi. Qi Lin."
Shen frowned.
He had never heard of this surname.
But there were many great families in this world, and cultivators often hid their true identities.
> "Your purpose?"
> "I want to kill a cultivator." She paused, then added, "He's one of Lingyun Sect's outer sect hall masters. Three years ago, he wiped out my entire family."
Shen didn't respond immediately.
His knife didn't move, but his gaze shifted slightly.
Three years ago?
How old was she?
The killing intent... It's real.
He withdrew the knife and stepped back, the blade still poised at his fingertips,
asking:
> "You want me to help you kill him?"
> "No." Qi Lin shook her head.
"I came to test you.
If you were just a crazy mortal, I would have left you alone.
But you noticed me, and you suppressed me... I know you're no ordinary person."
She stared directly into Shen's eyes, her tone calm and indifferent:
> "You're like me—
not a cultivator, but you want to kill cultivators."
---
Shen didn't answer.
He turned and glanced at the night sky outside, murmuring quietly:
> "Killing a cultivator... It takes more than just a reason."
> "I know." Qi Lin stepped forward.
"That's why I've spent two years preparing. I can draw poison talismans, make spiritual barrier powders, and I know a three-second Spirit Severing Technique."
Shen glanced at her coldly:
> "But you're not an assassin. Your movements are too light, and your breath is too fast.
If you really had killing intent, you'd have been dead just now."
Qi Lin's expression shifted.
She lowered her head, but didn't argue.
After a long silence, she spoke in a lowered voice:
> "I need someone who can really kill...
I'm willing to make a deal."
---
Shen: "Say it."
> "The person you're looking for is Wan'er. She's in Illusory Water Hall."
Shen's eyes narrowed instantly,
and his fist tightened reflexively.
> "You found her?"
> "I didn't find her." Qi Lin took a deep breath.
"The person I've been watching closely is the vice administrator of Illusory Water Hall.
He's in charge of grading and cultivating spiritual roots,
and controls the roster for all spiritual child transformations."
> "Wan'er... is on that list."
Shen's mind flared like a wildfire,
rage and killing intent rising like a tide.
> "You want to kill him?"
> "He's also on my list."
> "...Why?"
Qi Lin didn't answer, her gaze hardening.
Shen didn't ask further.
He knew that if she wanted to speak, she would have already.
After a long silence, he nodded:
> "I'll cooperate. But I don't save people, I don't block swords,
I only kill."
---
Qi Lin's lips curled into a slight smirk,
a cold laugh escaping her:
> "You think I want you to save me?
I'm just afraid I can't kill him and die for nothing."
---
[Assassination Target: Mu Youlou]
Shen stood on top of the tallest watchtower in Fenglin City,
holding the portrait Qi Lin had drawn with a spiritual pen.
> "Mu Youlou, vice administrator of Lingyun Sect's Illusory Water Hall,
a fourth-tier cultivator, skilled in Mind Wave Technique and Water-Element Binding Divine Technique.
He has repeatedly secretly stripped the spiritual veins from failed spiritual root awakeners,
turning their souls into medicine."
> "Wan'er... is likely already undergoing the transformation process."
Shen stared at the smirking man in the portrait,
and whispered:
> "He's going to die."
---
[Initial Plan]
Assassinating Mu Youlou wouldn't be easy.
He had personal spiritual talisman guards and spiritual formation sensors around him.
He frequently moved between Illusory Water Hall and the outer Fenglin City bases,
and was a highly alert, brutal man.
But—
He came to Fenglin City once every two months,
personally delivering soul body records and special spiritual child distribution lists.
In three days.
Shen carefully analyzed the data and patrol patterns,
choosing the trading point—Black Abyss Bridge, a narrow and aging terrain with broken spiritual formations.
It was the only place where he and Qi Lin could set up an ambush.
---
[Division of Labor]
Qi Lin would be in charge of setting up talisman formations and disrupting spiritual patterns,
creating visual and spiritual obfuscation.
Shen would infiltrate the enemy's route, lock the position, and assassinate before the exchange was completed—
One chance, zero tolerance for failure.
Shen stood up and asked quietly:
> "Are you afraid of death?"
Qi Lin coldly answered:
> "Aren't you afraid of failure?"
He nodded.
> "Alright, we'll gamble with our lives."
---
[Ending]
Late at night, the two of them left Fenglin City separately,
the wind lifting the dust from the ground.
In the distance, the starlight was dim.
A bloodstained assassination was quietly set into motion.
Shen looked back at the cultivator world beneath the yellowish lights,
murmuring softly:
> "Wan'er, wait for me."