Chapter 17 - Trade For Your Life
Merchant Zhou, who was cowering under the man's feet, made the plea, but the interjection came from behind the man.
Merchant Zhou couldn’t believe his ears. He didn't expect someone to speak up for him in his life-and-death situation.
The man holding a smoking pipe turned his head and saw Rao Shuang standing there, clenching her luxurious brocade fan and looking his way.
The man took a puff at his pipe, white smoke fleeing from the faint smile on his lips. Closely watching Rao Shuang, he inquired, "Miss Fang, is your mother in good health?"
"Who exactly are you?" Rao Shuang asked cautiously.
Her expression was tinged with embarrassment, as she realized that this person was teasing her about her early morning deception.
The man chuckled and cupped his hands towards Rao Shuang as he revealed who he really was. "Forsaken Phoenix, Tang Jinnian."
"Forsaken Phoenix... Are you also a member of the Ghostbane Association? What rank are you?"
The man merely smiled and shook his head, brushing aside her follow-up questions and taking a deep breath of the air laden with Dream Butterfly Dust. Delighted by what he detected, he remarked, "Miss, you must not be an ordinary person either. This soporific is not something that any ordinary person can whip up. The main ingredient is mandrake. As for the auxiliary ingredients… they should be clove, angelica, and would you mind telling me what else?"
Hearing the man analyze her crutch, Rao Shuang grew even more wary of this man. Forcing herself to calm down, she insisted, "You cannot kill this man."
"Why is that?"
"He is my mission."
"Heh, what does that have to do with me?"
It was the exact same phrase and carried the exact same apathetic tone he used in the pharmacy.
Rao Shuang narrowed her eyes, skewering Tang Jinnian with her gaze. Her temper as a Heaven-ranker was finally ignited. Nevertheless, Tang Jinnian remained unmoved, still smirking at Rao Shuang.
"Since you refuse to do this the easy way, we are going to do it the hard way!"[1]
Rao Shuang stepped into the courtyard with a resolute expression.
"I am Flowerless Butterfly. Don't you dare underestimate me!"
As soon as the words left her lips, she flicked her brocade fan and shot three willow-leaf shaped throwing knives from the fan's ribs toward Tang Jinnian!
Tang Jinnian waved his gloved right hand, swatting away the flying knives aimed at his face as if he were shooing away a fly. While he handled the projectiles, a figure leaped from the roof and plummeted directly toward Rao Shuang's head!
Rao Shuang was caught off guard. She didn't expect such an ambush in the middle of her attack and only narrowly dodged the falling figure. Seeing the first strike fail, the figure immediately lashed out with a whip kick toward Flowerless Butterfly.
The surprised assassin agilely leaped over the kick, kicking off the figure's forehead to build some distance. She reached the roof and landed silently on the tiles.
Rao Shuang initially thought that the person she kicked-off of would definitely fall to the ground. She had used subtle force in her attack, but to her surprise, the person merely swayed slightly before regaining balance. Rao Shuang could sense that the person's stance seemed extremely stable, yet there was something unusual about it.
"Exquisite movement skills!" Tang Jinnian complimented, standing with his hands behind his back. A cold smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he concluded, "But that can only take you so far."
She heard the wind whistling behind her before Rao Shuang could process what he meant by that.
She preemptively dove forward, like a donkey rolling in the dirt, to escape whatever was coming. Before she could get up, she glimpsed a woman jump at her, raising her hands high and hammering down!
Rao Shuang hurriedly rolled to the side yet again, relieved as the woman missed and crashed down through the roof, breaking a hole on her way down.
Rao Shuang finally had a moment to reorientate herself. As she was catching her breath, she heard Tang Jinnian remind faintly from the courtyard, "Can you afford to let down your guard?"
What? Rao Shuang's heart tightened in her chest as a hand suddenly erupted through the roofing tiles beneath her! The hand grabbed Rao Shuang's ankle and dragged her down through the roof!
The shattered tiles fell with her, shrouding her sight. In that chaotic moment, Flowerless Butterfly relied on her killer instincts and kicked hard toward her assailant’s head with her free leg. The woman's head snapped back from the kick, but the iron grip on her leg held firm.
The two fell together, landing heavily in the main hall.
Taking advantage of the impact, Rao Shuang finally extricated her leg from the woman’s grasp and pulled off a twisting cartwheel to create some distance. However, the woman rushed forward faster than anticipated and fired a punch toward Rao Shuang's abdomen.
Rao Shuang barely intercepted the incoming fist with an open palm, but the force behind the fist was far beyond her expectations, instantly tearing through her haphazard defense and hitting her in her abdomen, hard.
Rao Shuang clenched her teeth, forcing down the urge to crumple in pain, as she frantically counter-attacked with her brocade fan.
Her brocade fan fanned out in a deadly arc, sharp tips slashing viciously toward the woman's neck. To Rao Shuang’s disbelief, sparks flew wildly where the fan's tips swept across the woman's neck!
Seeing this, Rao Shuang was dumbstruck as the heavy punch sent her careening out of the banquet hall and back into the courtyard.
The figure that leapt down from the roof earlier was waiting outside at the door.
Rao Shuang blasted out the main door and crashed straight into the figure's waiting arms.
The figure grabbed Rao Shuang from the air, spun halfway to offset her momentum, and executed a heavy suplex!
Blam!
The suplex slammed Rao Shuang to the ground, leaving her breathless. The precious brocade fan in her hand slipped to the ground as she spat out a mouthful of blood.
Tang Jinnian walked over leisurely, still with that playful smile on his face.
"Flowerless Butterfly Rao Shuang… Heh, I know you, the only assassin who became a Heaven-ranker as a puny Martial Master."
Rao Shuang propped herself on the ground, trying her best to sit up as she coughed. "Who exactly are you?"
"A dead person doesn’t need to know who I am… Hehehehe!" Tang Jinnian laughed maniacally as he grabbed Rao Shuang by her jaw. "Besides, you don’t deserve to know."
Tang Jinnian took a deep puff from his pipe and asked Rao Shuang, “How do you want to die?
"Hmm? This little thing seems interesting," Tang Jinnian commented, noticing a luxurious brocade fan from the corner of his eye. He picked up Rao Shuang’s treasured tool and began toying with it.
Flowerless Butterfly, who was lying on the ground, agitatedly struggled to stand up. "Give that back to me!" she demanded.
Tang Jinnian lifted her up by her throat. He pondered over Rao Shuang suspended in one hand and the brocade fan in his other hand. "To trade your life for a fan… it’s a good deal."
Upon making his decision, he carelessly tossed Rao Shuang aside. Her back cracked against the wall and she slumped down, unconscious.
Tang Jinnian meticulously examined the multifunctional brocade fan in his hand, discovering the compact components inside. Forcibly disassembling it would be inconvenient at the moment, so he put it away and focused on Merchant Zhou instead.
Zhou Ye had anxiously watched two of them fight for some time. At some point, he had secretly stood up to try to limp away and make his escape. When he saw Tang Jinnian turn around to find him again, he was so frightened that he collapsed in a wretched mess.
"Don't, don't kill me! I don’t know anything!"
By now, the sky was completely dark and Tang Jinnian was growing a bit impatient.
Tang Jinnian walked over to Merchant Zhou to settle things for good. He stomped on the man’s right leg, breaking it, and kicked him savagely in the mouth before Zhou Ye could even yelp in pain. Blood flecked with loose teeth sprayed from his mouth as his body was sent flying.
Tang Jinnian advanced on him and stated, "Hand over the Transcendence Stone… and you can live. Say any more nonsense… and you will die."
That pitiless pledge, accompanied by a bone-chilling killing intent, spread over Zhou Ye. He quivered as he nodded repeatedly, not trusting himself to say another word. Terrified, Zhou Ye guided Tang Jinnian into the inner hall where his most precious possessions were hidden.
Transcendence Stone in hand, Tang Jinnian set the Zhou family mansion alight. The fiery backdrop bathed the bloody mansion in flickering flames in the middle of the night. As for Zhou Ye? Tang Jinnian had stuffed him into a large chest and dumped him into the pond.
However, something outside of Tang Jinnian's expectations occurred. After he and Zhou Ye came out from the inner hall, Flowerless Butterfly, who he assumed would be unconscious beside the wall, had disappeared without a trace.
That woman's movement skills are indeed impressive. Tang Jinnian admitted. Shaking his head, he put those irrelevant thoughts in the back of his mind for now. It was time to go.
1. The Chinese idiom is translated as Since you refuse a toast of respect, then you can drink as punishment. ☜
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