Night. An encompassing darkness barely illuminated by the moon helped to hide Tian Lin’s passage as he made his way toward the Wu Clan compound. Despite the darkness, he could see perfectly fine. He had a skill called Luminate that allowed him to see in the dark by channeling chi into his eyes. It was a unique technique he had discovered at an auction one day that helped him with his assassinations.

It also helped him when he was tasked with kidnapping young boys for his sister.

He walked past the trees, ghosted over the gravel, and soon found himself standing beside the wall that surrounded the Wu Clan estate. Tian Lin didn’t hesitate to channel chi into his legs and leap into the air. He easily ascended over the wall, which was barely ten meters tall, and landed on the curved roof in a low crouch.

The familiar sight of the Wu Clan compound soon came into view.

Tian Lin had been observing the Wu Clan every night for the past week, ever since his sister decided that she wanted to make Wu Jian her plaything. He thought his sister’s taste was weird. Still, she was his sister and a talented alchemist despite what those old codgers of the Alchemist Association said. It was because of her that he could live the life he wanted.

Besides, it wasn’t like he could judge.

Just like his elder sister had weird tastes, Tian Lin was also considered a weirdo by everyone who knew him, though if they knew the true depths of his depravity, they might have died from shock. While his sister enjoyed playing with little boys, he enjoyed killing people. Nothing brought him greater pleasure than chopping people up while they were still alive. And he was particularly fond of killing little girls.

That was another reason he had agreed to help his sister. Wu Jian had two girls by his side during the incident in the north market. Both had been beautiful, and Tian Lin had every intention of chopping them up at the first opportunity.

He didn’t know when this fixation of his started. Maybe it was all the way back when he was a young boy pulling off the wings and legs of insects, or perhaps it was when he killed his first person.

Tian Lin still fondly remembered that first time. People often said killing someone for the first time induced revulsion so strong it made them vomit, but not him. No. His first time filled him with indescribable joy. The feeling of blood on his hands had been ecstasy far greater than any orgasm caused by sexual intercourse.

He eventually began expiramenting, killing different people to see who brought him the most pleasure. That was when he discovered his love for killing young girls. Even now, the thought of listening to the dying screams of those two girls caused him to shiver with pleasure.

But first he needed to kidnap Wu Jian.

With the stealth of a trained assassin, Tian Lin dropped from the roof and landed in a crouch on the gravel. He activated another technique to make his drop silent. Cushioning was the act of channeling chi into his feet and creating a cushion to silence his landings. It required a lot more control to activate than the typical technique, but he had always possessed an abnormal amount of Chi control for someone who was only at the Ninth Subrealm of the Hunger Realm.

He crept through the trees and bushes before eventually emerging near the edge. Tian Lin remained hidden behind a bush and activated his next technique. Shadow Masking. He cloaked his entire body in chi and used it to blend in with the shadows.

This was a skill that only worked at night and only if he was wearing dark clothes. All it did was make his body and the shadows blend together, adding an extra layer of protection, though all anyone would need to do to see him was look at the way the shadows moved.

There were a lot of people patrolling the compound. Tian Lin had memorized their patrol routes, however, and now all he needed to do was quickly travel through the break in their formation toward Wu Jian’s building.

Several people were guarding the building, of course. Two Wu clansmen stood in front of the door and another two stood by the window leading to Wu Jian’s bedroom. That would make sneaking in more difficult, but it was still doable.

Sneaking around the back, he waited until the patrolmen wandering around the building left, then swiftly climbed onto the roof. This roof, like all other roofs of the Shang Kingdom, was curved and featured decorations on each of the four corners. While the dragons on each corner looked like they were made from gold, his discerning eye could see they were clearly just gold plated.

He crept toward the edge of the roof, until he was standing directly underneath the window. Then he channeled chi into his throat and shouted. The shout echoed from a tree ten meters away and surrounded by vegetation. Ventriloquism was another specialty of his, and while it wasn’t an assassination technique, he had used it plenty of times to create distractions.

“What was that?!”

“Is someone there?!”

Like a couple of idiots, the two guards shouted and raced toward where they heard the shout. Tian Lin dropped to the ground, opened the window, crept inside, and closed the window behind him. It all took barely a second.

The room he found himself in was small. That probably had to do with all of the equipment inside. A lot of workout equipment for training one’s strength was strewn around the room. There was also a table, a mirror, and a large dresser, plus the bed itself.

He looked over at the bed to find a barely moving lump underneath the covers. Soft breathing echoed from it. Wu Jian had not awoken when he entered and remained deep asleep. Not surprising. His skills at stealth were top notch. He would have been more shocked if anyone from this backwater city could sense him.

Preparing a bottle of chloroform, Tian Lin crept over to the bed, grabbed the cover, and quickly pulled it back. His intent was to smother the boy and knock him out before he could scream.

What he found instead was a woman with hair like midnight, eyes like daggers, and an expression so cold it could have frozen over the Qing Desert—an arid land that was so hot even its people didn’t go out in the sun without ample reason.

“What?!”

Before he could get over his shock, the woman twisted her body around and slammed her feet into his chest. The loud cracking sound echoed around the room as he was lifted off his feet. Tian Lin groaned as his back struck the wall, denting it. He managed to land on his feet, but his legs felt wobbly. That last attack had almost fractured his ribs. If he hadn’t strengthened his body with chi at just that moment, he might have been killed!

“D-damn it!”

With this woman here, it was clear that his attempted kidnapping attempt was a bust. The only thing he could do now was leave.

Yet the moment he made for the window was the moment Wu Taohua launched herself at him. She moved between him and his exit. He gnashed his teeth together as she threw several sharp needles at him, contorting his body to avoid them. One of those needles stabbed into the ground before him as he stepped back. He looked down. The senbon was coated in poison.

“I see. You’re an assassin just like me,” he said at last.

Wu Taohua did not respond as she threw several more needles at him. He dodged them all, but then she moved her hands into a seal.

Hand seals were based on the Celestial Zodiac. There were twelve of them, and each one could be used in conjunction with each other to perform a variety of techniques.

It was an older style of utilizing chi. Most people didn’t like to use hand seals because they took time to form and people who knew them could figure out what technique you were going to use. One of the benefits, however, was that it allowed users to better control their Chi.

The one she used was the monkey seal.

“Shit!”

Swearing as all of the senbon she had thrown rose into the air and converged around him, Tian Lin gathered his chi and used it to form a thin but protective barrier around his body, then charged head first at Wu Taohua.

He was no longer using the stealth of skills of an assassin.

Just sheer brute force.

While many of them missed, several senbon stabbed into his body, and he grimaced at the stinging sensation. He shunted aside the pain and continued his charge. Wu Taohua was forced to leap out of the way lest she be struck, and he burst through the window, landed on the ground, and began running.

Behind him, the sound of feet thumping against the ground let him know that his ambusher had taken up the chase.

Alarms began blaring across the compound, alerting everyone to the fact that there was an intruder. Tian Lin cursed within his mind.

Shit! Shit shit fuck shit! What the hell happened?! How did they know I was going to kidnap that brat?! I had been so careful to cover all my tracks! No one should have known I would be coming!

This was supposed to have been an easy mission. The Wu Clan was nothing like the families in the Imperial Capital with their heavy security and chi sensitive sentries. Sneaking in to kidnap one child should have been child’s play. Yet not only had he been caught, but he was on the run, and his body was beginning to feel sluggish.

That poison on those senbon… it must have been a sedative.

With an ugly grimace marring his face, he channeled chi through his body to help circulate the poison out of his bloodstream, even as he continued running. He reached the wall before anyone else could intercept him, leapt over it… and then stumbled to a stop.

Several dozen Wu clansmen stood in front of him as if they suspected he would leave this way. At the front was the man who had claimed to be the head of the Wu Clan, arms crossed, expression stern. The bloodlust emanating from him caused Tian Lin to shiver.

Tian Lin looked behind him to see Wu Taohua standing on the wall’s roof, several throwing knives neatly gripped between her fingers.

“You’ve been caught sneaking into my son’s building. That is punishable by death. Do you have any last words?” asked Wu Yōushì.

“I do, actually. It’s ‘see ya.’”

Before anyone else could do anything, Tian Lin withdrew several spheres and tossed them against the ground. Smoke exploded from each sphere. The sudden billowing smokescreen caused the men who had been poised to attack him to scream in surprise.

Tian Lin was about to slip away, but someone appeared beside him before he could, and he just barely managed to avoid having his left eye stabbed, though he couldn’t avoid the needle that impaled his stomach. He bit back a scream as he stumbled. Turning to face the woman, he blinked when, instead of Wu Taohua, he found Wu Yōushì standing before him, fist reared back and covered in glowing chi.

Well… shit…

Time seemed to slow as the fist flew toward him. Tian Lin was too tired to put up a fight and the sedative in his body was now making it difficult to manipulate his chi. He was, as they say, a sitting duck.

He barely felt the pain of his ribs being destroyed as the fist plowed into him. Perhaps it was the sedatives numbing him, but as he was lifted off his feet, Tian Lin felt a moment of clarity.

It looks like… I was the real frog in a well… dammit…

***

Wu Jian was woken up by the sound of several alarms ringing through the clan compound. They were far enough away that it seemed only he was awoken by them. The two girls by his side were still asleep.

Sitting up in bed, he first glanced at the two girls beside him. While Wu Meiying had barely changed positions and was clinging to his waist like a koala, Hou Jingshu had moved. She had been further away, but now she was sleeping right next to him and was gripping his arm.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Loud knocking echoed from the door leading into the hallway. Hou Jingshu jerked awake at the sound.

“Wazzat? What’s going on? What’s that noise?” she asked, blinking as she sat up and rubbed her eyes.

“Someone’s at the door. Come on in,” Wu Jian called.

“Ah! Wu Jian! W-what are you doing in my bed?!” asked a startled Hou Jingshu.

He gave her an amused stare. “Did you forget? This is Mei’s room, not yours, and we’re all sleeping together because she had a vision of me being kidnapped.”

“Oh… r-right. I remember now,” said an embarrassed Hou Jingshu. Blood rushed to her cheeks as she looked the other way. Then she realized how close they were, squeaked, and scooted away.

The door slid open and Wu Taohua, Father, and Mother stepped into the room. All of them looked quite serious. Wu Taohua and Father were even dressed for battle.

“Given your appearance, I’m assuming Tian Lin really did come to try and kidnap me?” asked Wu Jian.

Father nodded. “He did. He snuck into your room just a few minutes ago. It looked like he was going to knock you unconscious and smuggle you out of the compound. We of course defeated him and now he’s buried six feet under, but the fact that someone had the audacity to try and kidnap you is galling.”

It was at this moment that Wu Meiying woke up. The girl slowly sat up in bed, yawning and smacking her lips in a manner that was most unladylike. While Wu Taohua and Father looked disagreeable by her behavior, Mother was smiling.

“Mmm… what’s with all that noise?” she asked.

“Father came. Apparently, Tian Lin tried to kidnap me, just like you said he would,” Wu Jian said.

“Oh. Is that what… this is about?” Wu Meiying mumbled in between a big yawn. She blinked several times. Then she scooted closer, leaned her head on his shoulder, and hugged his arm. “Well, if that’s all this is about, I’m gonna sleep some more. Be a good pillow and stay still.”

“That girl… she really moves at her own pace, doesn’t she?” said Hou Jingshu as Wu Meiying’s breathing evened out.

“Yup. She most certainly does,” Wu Jian said fondly.

“Anyway, the biggest threat to your person has been dealt with, but the situation still isn’t ideal. We need to quickly deal with Tian Hao and the mercenaries she hired. We’re planning to enlist the aid of the Zhou Clan. They provided the information about her and Tian Lin, so they might be willing to help us with this,” said Father.

“If you’re telling me this, does that mean you want my help?” asked Wu Jian.

“Perceptive. Yes, I would like you to help us convince the Zhou Clan to lend us their aid,” Father said, crossing his arms. “It just so happens that Zhou Lihua’s sixteenth birthday is coming up soon. You have been invited. Your next task is to go to her birthday party bearing a gift from the Wu Clan and convince her to bring our request to her father.”