Yun Li retrieved a bottle of medicine from her space, poured the pills into her palm, and walked to the front of the stage to present them to the men.
"What is this?"
"Poison! Every month, I will give you the antidote. If anyone betrays me, their body will burst upon the poison's onset! Usually, it won't affect your health at all. Oh, by the way, this is called Forget-Worry Poison. I developed it myself, and no one else in this world can create an antidote for it! If anyone is unwilling to take it, you have the chance to leave right now—the door is that way!"
The men looked at each other. The man standing in the middle was the first to pick one up and swallow it without hesitation. Following his lead, the others also stuffed the pills into their mouths.
Yun Li looked at them with satisfaction and pointed at the man in the middle. "From now on, your name is Ye Yi. You will manage this team! The five people on your left will be named Ye Er to Ye Liu. The six on your right will be Ye Qi to Ye Shi Er!
"From today onward, you are my Night Phantom Twelve Guards! Our Night Phantom Pavilion is officially established!"
"We will follow the Pavilion Master to the death!"
"We will follow the Pavilion Master to the death!"
"We will follow the Pavilion Master to the death!"
Yun Li watched them, feeling gratified. It was getting late; if she delayed any longer, it would be dawn. She had to head back quickly.
"If you have anything to pack, hurry up! Once you're done, follow me down the mountain."
"Pavilion Master, we have nothing to pack."
"By the way, Pavilion Master, there are many treasures in the Assassin's Pavilion's Underground Vault. Should we move them out?"
"No need! I've already emptied it!"
The twelve men’s mouths hung open, and they were too shocked to speak…
"Pav… Pavilion Master, how did you move it all? How did we not know?"
Ye Yi slapped the assassin on the head. "Don't ask what shouldn't be asked. The Pavilion Master naturally has her ways! Why all the nonsense?"
Yun Li gave Ye Yi an appreciative look. She had good taste; this Ye Yi was quite savvy.
"Then let's go!"
The group arrived at the bottom of the small lookout tower used for sentries. Yun Li stopped, reached into her chest area, and pretended to pull several grenades from her space.
She pulled the pins and threw them in an arc toward the three-story building.
Boom! The massive power of the grenades caused the small building to instantly collapse, half-buried in debris.
She handed the grenades to them. "Here, did you see that? Pull this string and throw it!"
The twelve men were still immersed in shock. At that moment, they felt deeply that they had made the right decision. An expert admires strength, especially an expert as unprecedentedly powerful as Yun Li. They had traveled the world for years but had never seen the things she brought out—every single one was a weapon that killed without a trace. They couldn't help but feel immense admiration.
Yun Li urged them again, "Don't just stand there! Experience it quickly, there aren't many chances! Hurry up, don't waste time."
The twelve assassins took the grenades and threw them one after another. As the explosions rang out continuously, their eyes were filled with excitement and fervor, completely forgetting that they were currently poisoned…
At the foot of the mountain, Yun Li parted ways with them. She told them the location of the East City Courtyard and instructed them to stay there for the time being.
She then mounted her horse and rode non-stop back to the Prime Minister's Residence.
After returning smoothly to Wutong Courtyard, she decided to keep the horse in her space; she was too lazy to return it to the stables.
It was now nearly the fifth watch. She flashed into the space and checked on the baby. Xiao Bao was still asleep; otherwise, the child would have spoken to her upon entry.
She didn't disturb the baby and moved the gold, silver, and jewelry she had collected into the open space on the side. Usually, anything she brought in would be placed in the clearing in front of the villa unless she specified a spot. Fortunately, Xiao Bao had told her she could manipulate objects with her mind within the space; otherwise, she would have been exhausted moving everything by hand.
As for that locked box made of special material that the skeleton key couldn't open, she simply used a gun to blow it open.
Inside were thick books that looked like account ledgers. Could these be the records of the missions the Assassin's Pavilion had taken over the years?
Thinking this, she picked one up and flipped through it. Sure enough! She found this year's book according to the date on the cover and flipped from the back.
When she saw Prince Duan He Lian Qi's name, everything became clear… She had no grievance with Prince Duan and had never even spoken a word to him. How could he want her dead? It was undoubtedly Yun Ran's doing!
Truly restless; Yun Ran actually used Prince Duan's hand to try and kill her…
Hmph, if you don't go looking for trouble, you won't die! Just wait!
She casually flipped through the record books from previous years. Tsk, tsk—she didn't know until she looked, and what she saw gave her a fright.
The wife of the Minister of Revenue hired assassins… to kill Concubine Zhao in the back courtyard.
The third young miss of the Yongning Hou mansion bought Dark Night Poison to give to her legitimate elder sister…
In the inner palace, Imperial Consort Shu spent a million taels of silver to buy the Fourth Prince's life…
The Third Prince spent two million taels to assassinate the Crown Prince…
Qiao Zhen Yu, the second son of the Guogongfu, paid eighty thousand taels to have the Assassin's Pavilion sell the second young miss of the Minister of Revenue to the Spring Pavilion as a top courtesan…
Tsk, tsk, what kind of grudges were these? Is this something she should be seeing…?
Oh! There was even one without a name—this one was a big spender! Five million taels of gold! Gold! To buy Prince Yu's head!
Who was this Prince Yu? She had no impression of him, but this man's head was worth way too much… Someone was willing to spend five million taels of gold just to kill him…
There were too many ledgers and they were too thick; she couldn't keep reading.
Tsk, tsk—what she held in her hands were the Life-Claiming Ledgers of those in the capital who looked glamorous on the surface but committed all sorts of filth behind the scenes.
These ledgers were cold, hard evidence! Using them to threaten those who had hired assassins through the Assassin's Pavilion could earn her a fortune.
Heh heh—she was just thinking about it! However, once she was free, she would definitely flip through these books again to figure out who in the capital was rich… She wouldn't mind fleecing them if she encountered them later.
Tonight's work was definitely not in vain! It could be described as a bountiful harvest!
Yun Li drank some Spiritual Spring Water and ate breakfast. The Space Supermarket had a prepared food section with meat buns, shaomai, bread, sandwiches, grilled sausages, soy milk, coffee, and Milk… everything was still hot. She ate what she liked.
Then, she left the space and lay on her bed to sleep for a while.
When she opened her eyes again, it was already noon. Ying Tao had come in to wake her.
The first thing she did upon getting up was enter the space to see the baby. After spending some time talking with Xiao Bao, she left the space.
After changing her clothes, she took the two young maids, Ying Tao and Blueberry, out of the house.
She arrived at the East City Courtyard, gathered the Night Phantom Twelve Guards, and established the future development direction of the Night Phantom Pavilion.
First, they would handle the missions inherited from the former Assassin's Pavilion. Yun Li crossed out all the missions she wouldn't do. For those that could be done, they would collect intelligence first. After the information was summarized and brought to her, she would decide whether to proceed.
She intended to develop the Night Phantom Pavilion into an organization that collected and sold intelligence, with assassination missions serving only as a secondary function.
She also gave the twelve men a unique contact signal. This was because she had not shown her true face. Although she had changed into male attire in the carriage and was wearing the same mask she used as the assassin yesterday, she would not use that mask again after today. Therefore, it was best to recognize the signal rather than the person.
Privately, she also gave Ye Yi a double-layered signal that only she and Ye Yi knew.