Chapter Forty-Four Assassin

  In the afternoon, someone delivered a letter written by Li Huai. The letter said he wanted to exchange Xia Qian's remains for his own Feng Sword, and had chosen a teahouse in the city center as the meeting place. He was waiting for us there, and his wording was very polite, at least it seemed that way.

  I said to Xiao Qian: "Follow me, let's go get your bones back."

  Old Wu said: "This remark sounds like Xiao Qian is a person with no principles at all."

  "I said: 'Alright then, let's go get back what you've lost.'"

  Jin Chengwu smiled and said: "This is usually what a rascal would say."

  Xiao Qian looked very nervous: "I don't want to see that bad Taoist priest again."

  I said: "What if you don't go and he cheats me?"

  Lao Wu said, "Logically speaking, he wouldn't dare to do it now. He's afraid of us, and choosing a location in the city center is probably to avoid Su Jing from making a move under the watchful eyes of everyone."

  Jin Cheng Wudao: "I also think he doesn't dare, this guy is a typical bully who preys on the weak and fears the strong. In front of Su Jing, he shouldn't joke about his own life."

  I told Xiaoyan: "If you don't want to go, then just don't go. Wait for good news from me."

  Before I left, I called Su Jing over and solemnly handed her a mobile phone that I had replaced: "Remember to bring this with you when you go out, and I'll buy you a card later." I didn't want to lose contact with her again. Since the invention of phones, people have actually lost their freedom; they complain about being controlled by phones while also being unable to tolerate losing touch with those around them. That's just how humans are enslaved by technology.

  Liu Lao Liu heard that I was going out to get a card, and Cold Ding suddenly appeared, saying: "Do you need to go outside to get a card?" He took out a bunch of phone cards and asked me, "Do you want China Unicom or China Mobile?"

  "You little scamp has so many cards and still lets your phone run out of credit?"

  Liu Lao Liu said: "Private matters are private, business is business. Can't even the apple seller eat apples to death?"

  I gave him a white eye and said, "That can't be starving to death without eating, right?"

  Liu Laosixi smiled and said: "Actually, I didn't want to use that card anymore. I just got a new campus card, it's cheaper!"

  "....where did you get your student ID?"

  "Sixth Master, what am I doing? Don't you know?"

  "Alright, this one will do." I picked a mobile card and inserted it into the phone, entered my number, and handed it to Su Jing: "If you can't find me in the future, just press this key and we'll be able to talk."

  As it was almost time for our appointment, I took out a stack of old newspapers and wrapped the Feng sword in them. Su Jing looked at me curiously and asked, "What are you doing?"

  "This thing is a controlled item, I couldn't just carry it into the city like this, could I?" I wrapped the Feng sword like a belt fish and then wrapped two circles with adhesive tape, taking Su Jing onto the car.

  When the carriage arrived in the city, I found the teahouse that Li Huai had mentioned. The waiter led me to a private room after I gave my name. Li Huai was sitting there, looking rather anxious. When he saw us come in, he lost his composure for a moment before standing up and bowing: "Greetings to both of you."

  "Sit." I waved at him and then mysteriously asked: "Where's the 'goods'?"

  Li Huai took out a cloth bag from under the table and patted it, then asked: "I don't know if you two have brought what I want?"

  I put "belt fish" on the table.

  Li looked at the waiter and waved his hand: "You go out first, no one else is allowed in."

  The waiter looked at us with a puzzled expression and left.

  After he left, I opened the mouth of the cloth bag and took a look inside. It was a small white skeleton with a skull on top. Although I knew it was Xiaoxian's remains, I still felt a chill. I stared at Li Huai: "You wouldn't deceive me, would you?"

  Li sighed and said: "I don't have much use for this thing, if it weren't for the inferior disciple's wild imagination, I wouldn't have to go through so much trouble."

  I still wasn't at ease, so I took out all the bones and laid them on the table. Then I used my mobile phone to take a few pictures and sent them to Liu Laosix via MMS with the text: Let Xiaoxian see if they are real or not?

  Liu Lao Liu suddenly sent a message: A goods, continue trading.

  "This old turtle wants to kill me!" If an outsider sees this message, can I explain it clearly? Since Xia Qian said it's no problem, I carefully put away the bones and pushed "dai yu" towards Li Huai.

  Li Huai saw his beloved object carelessly wrapped in a few sheets of old newspaper, with an air of desolation. He slowly unfolded the newspaper, stroking the Feng Sword with his hand, and tears almost fell from his eyes. After feeling sentimental for a while, Li Huai revealed the sword scabbard behind him, and lightly shouted: "Feng Sword, return to its sheath!"

  The Feng Sword, however, only made a slight movement on the table and was unable to be sheathed. Li Huai tried twice more but it still wouldn't work. Sighing, he used his hand to insert the sword into its scabbard, his eyes becoming even more desolate. I heard Old Wu and Jin Chengwu say that as a sword cultivator's sword ages, it will also develop a spiritual nature. The Feng Sword had suffered severe damage at Su Jing's hands, so it seemed that its spiritual nature was greatly damaged, no wonder Li Huai was heartbroken.

  The transaction went smoothly, and I didn't stay long. I'm not fond of Li Bao, he slaughtered his own sect's brothers, but that's none of my business. However, this guy himself has an aura that makes people dislike him. As I walked to the door, I couldn't help but turn back and say: "You're a figure with some reputation, how could you stoop to doing something as despicable as this for your disciple?"

  Li's expression turned gloomy, and he forced himself to say: "In my early years, I was pursued by someone and seriously injured. Just as I was about to die, Wang Qing took me in. Since I received his kindness of pointing out water, I should repay him with a gushing spring. How could I refuse when he wanted to make me his master?"

  "Hey, I didn't think you had a conscience after all." I said: "But you're quite ruthless to your fellow disciples."

  Li's expression changed greatly as he asked: "How did you know?"

  Su Jingdao said: "If you want to keep it from others, don't do it yourself. I hope you will be careful in the future." Su Jing would not scold people, these two sentences are already a very serious warning.

  Li was too afraid to say more and could only glare at us as we left.

  At the entrance of the tea house, I bought half a catty of flower tea and took it away to drink by myself.

  When I got outside, I patted the canvas bag and said, "You say Xiao Yatou will be so happy when she sees it?"

  Su Jing smiled and said: "Yes." But for some reason, she suddenly changed her expression, furrowed her brow and said, "No... that's not right..."

  "What's wrong?"

  Su Jing suddenly stopped responding, his hands slightly open as he shielded me behind him, looking extremely tense. Just then, a person suddenly burst out of the ground from behind me, this person had been hiding underground like a mole, and now suddenly jumped out high into the air, both hands holding a long and thin steel knife that chopped down towards my head, while loudly shouting: "Kill!"

  In the blink of an eye, I was startled and almost fell off my seat. Just as the steel knife transformed into a virtual shadow about to fall on my head, at the critical moment, Su Jing suddenly turned around, and with his curved middle finger, he flicked the knife, sending the man flying along with it, landing far away on the ground. The man was extremely short, probably only over 1.5 meters tall, with a head of slightly white short hair revealing that he was no longer young.

  Su Jing looked at him and unexpectedly said: "Lu Renjia, is it you?"

  "It's me!" With a loud shout, the old man swung his knife again, but still chopped at me. Su Jing pulled me to one side, and with a slap of his palm on the blade, the old man borrowed force to spin around in place, and with a whoosh, he turned from behind Su Jing to behind me once more, the knife edge chopping down fiercely towards the back of my head. Su Jing's body also spun with him, his palms pushing strongly, and the old man leapt high into the air. With a loud "bang", the electric pole behind him was struck by Su Jing's palm wind, leaving it riddled with holes. The old man flew over our heads, seemingly about to land far away, but his body twisted in mid-air and flew back again, the long knife in his hand chopping towards my head once more...

  Su Jing didn't dare to be careless, and seemed to be familiar with this person's routine. He pointed his palm at the air, releasing a "hiss" sound of sword energy. The old man could only use his knife to defend himself, and when he lightly landed on the ground, he didn't forget to slash another knife at me. Finally, he landed in front of us. But he didn't give us any chance to breathe, and again charged at us with his knife.

  All of this happened in the blink of an eye, and by the time he was tangled up with Su Jing, I finally came to my senses. I turned around and ran towards the other side of the road, with Su Jing shouting after me: "Don't leave me!"

  Don't leave you? This old man is like I slept with his daughter, the knife doesn't leave my back of the head, can I bear it? I ignore her and continue to run forward. Suddenly, a person flies down from the roof of the house opposite, holding a shining long sword in his hand, the sword light flashes over - undoubtedly his target is also me. Only now do I understand Su Jing's meaning: only when I am by her side can I be safe...

  But it was too late, the old man had grabbed her, and the killer on the roof could now face me alone. At this moment, the sword reflected the sunset, dazzling my eyes so much that I couldn't even open them. In a state of panic, I randomly threw the package of tea leaves at his face. This person seemed to be quite wary of me, seeing me take action, and immediately transformed his long sword into a shield of sword shadows protecting himself all around. The package of tea leaves was stirred up like snowflakes dancing in the air. The killer was stunned for a moment, hastily inspecting his own body, then looking at me who was busy and flustered, suddenly enlightened, and coldly laughed: "So you really have lost all your martial arts skills!"

  "Get out of here, you fart! Try it again!"

  The killer ignored my empty threat and laughed loudly: "You have your day too, hahaha——"

  "Hey, watch out behind you."

  The assassin looked at me with increasing complacency: "The great Sword God is actually playing tricks, you can still... Ah yo!"

  ...As early as when he was laughing loudly with his head thrown back, I saw a three-wheeled vehicle rushing towards him at a speed of 50 miles per hour from behind - I knew that this kind of vehicle usually had no brakes, and the old man riding it had dim eyesight. Wasn't Killer Brother standing in the middle of the road waiting to be hit?

  With a "bang", the old man's three-wheeled vehicle made solid contact with Killer Brother's lower back, sending him tumbling out in a somersault, and he ended up sprawled on the roadside curb, groaning and unable to get up...

  Division line

  The most tragic killer in history is finally out.