Outside the Mountain God Temple, the sound of rain continued to drip. Xue Ling looked at Fang Bie, who was calmly disposing of the corpse before them, and couldn't help but ask, "What is this?"
"Corpse Dissolving Powder," Fang Bie said concisely.
"Corpse Dissolving Powder?" Xue Ling repeated in disbelief. "Does this thing really exist?"
"I originally thought it didn't exist either, but if things like martial arts can exist, then it's not unacceptable for Corpse Dissolving Powder to exist as well," Fang Bie replied calmly and matter-of-factly. "However, looking at the principle, it should be using a violent oxidation-reduction reaction with flesh and blood, equivalent to a low-intensity combustion. But its formula is indeed quite interesting; it's convenient to carry, just a bit dangerous."
The youth's subsequent words sounded somewhat like he was talking to himself.
Ning Huaiyuan's corpse was still bubbling on the ground. Aside from the smell being a bit unpleasant, his remains were truly vanishing bit by bit.
Xue Ling let out an "mm," and before she could say anything else, Fang Bie handed her an iron box with a wrist strap. "Here, this is your spoils of war."
"Mine?" Xue Ling was stunned. She looked at the iron box; it had a silver-gleaming metal wrist strap that could be easily fastened to a wrist. However, the iron box was completely sealed, and for a moment, Xue Ling couldn't figure out what it was.
"What is this?"
"If you're happy, you can call it a Rolex," Fang Bie said with a smile. "But this is the soft sword that Ning Huaiyuan used. When not in use, the sword edge is hidden inside this iron box, which can be worn on the wrist for close carry."
"And when you need to launch a sneak attack, you just need to flick it with a specific technique to pop it out, catching the enemy off guard. Furthermore, the soft sword's edge is both sharp and flexible; it is a very rare type of exotic weapon, and it is even more effective when carried by a woman."
Listening to Fang Bie's flowery description, Xue Ling felt a genuine flutter of excitement. After all, she hadn't played much of a role in this assassination, yet she had obtained such a precious weapon—Xue Ling was knowledgeable, and she had never heard of or seen such a weapon before, yet it was extremely exquisite and possessed astonishing power.
"How could Ning Huaiyuan have something like this?" Xue Ling couldn't help but ask.
Was this Ning Huaiyuan really just a Huashan Disciple?
"Probably," Fang Bie looked at Ning Huaiyuan's gradually disappearing corpse and sighed softly. "Probably, he was an ambitious man."
"Although his sword technique used Huashan Swordplay, it had a sense of blending a hundred schools of thought. The Luo Cult's Cold Soul Silver Needle, the Demonic Sect's Blood Burning Technique... who knows how many places he went to learn such a mess of martial arts..."
But he was so powerful, yet he died at your hands? Xue Ling looked at the youth before her with his calm expression. Fang Bie didn't have the slightest intention of gilding his own lily; even his description was indifferent.
"If this Ning Huaiyuan hadn't met us, would he have become a very powerful character?" Xue Ling asked tentatively.
"Who knows?" Fang Bie said. "After all, who can be clear about the distant future?"
"But once a person is dead, all possibilities vanish into thin air. All dreams, all futures, will become nothing."
When Fang Bie said this, it carried an inexplicable sense of emotion. "Just like how Ning Huaiyuan never expected that I would bring a steel wire net to kill him, I also don't know where I will eventually die in this world."
"However," Fang Bie turned back, looked at Xue Ling's face, and said earnestly, "If we can avoid dying, it is better for us to try not to die."
"Because being alive is a truly wonderful thing."
Xue Ling nodded, half-understanding. Before her was clearly an assassin who specialized in taking lives, yet he cherished life so much. This feeling made Xue Ling feel a bit strange.
"By the way," Xue Ling looked at Yue Pingshan, who was still unconscious by her feet. His Junior Brother, with whom he had a love-hate relationship, had now turned into wisps of green smoke and ascended to the sky. So, how should this Senior Brother be handled?
Although deep down Xue Ling didn't want to kill him, everything still depended on Fang Bie's intentions.
After the previous battle, Xue Ling had no choice but to trust this assassin who often felt like he had something wrong with him—because crazy or not, he was truly powerful.
"How should this one be handled?" As she said this, Xue Ling looked at Fang Bie's hands with some guilt; his fair, small hands were empty.
But Xue Ling clearly remembered that the way Fang Bie sprinkled the Corpse Dissolving Powder was very cool.
Although he looked quite embarrassed by the stench of the Corpse Dissolving Powder.
"How else should he be handled?" Fang Bie smiled, his smile clean and warm.
He seemed to always be such a person, making people feel they couldn't see through him, just like when Xue Ling followed him into that clean room that smelled of mint, only for him to turn around and hold a dagger against her against the wall.
"We only kill mission targets, and only cut off human heads that have value."
"He is not within our scope of assassination."
"But," Xue Ling bit her lips, "didn't he see you?"
"Did he?" Fang Bie smiled. "What he clearly saw was just a beggar named Dog Scum."
"Does that have anything to do with me, Fang Bie?"
……
……
When Yue Pingshan woke up the next day, he felt his head was dizzy and aching.
Sunlight spilled in through the cracks in the building, shining on the blue brick floor.
Outside the temple, there was the chirping of insects.
He opened his eyes and saw the beams and vaulted ceiling of the Mountain God Temple, which had been blackened by smoke, as well as the lonely swallow's nest on the beam.
Have the swallows not returned yet?
He tilted his head; on the blue brick floor, there was only the embers of a bonfire.
Where is this? Who am I? What am I going to do?
The three philosophical questions instantly flooded Yue Pingshan's mind.
He sat up from the ground with difficulty and saw his Yinghuo Sword lying on the ground, the ruby on the sword hilt shining brightly.
Seeing this sword, countless memories flooded back in an instant.
Last night, the Senior and Junior Brothers drinking and eating meat by the bonfire, the sudden turn to swords drawn against each other, Ning Huaiyuan's bright and eerie soft sword, the Luo Cult's Cold Soul Silver Needle, the Demonic Sect's Blood Burning Technique—when all these trump cards he had never seen before were revealed by that Junior Brother who usually didn't seem to have anything unusual about him, Yue Pingshan felt a chill down his spine.
Why am I still alive?
He thought this, and then the little beggar who rushed into the Mountain God Temple couldn't help but appear in his mind.
Was it him?
Yue Pingshan thought of how the other party had easily dodged Ning Huaiyuan's three fatal sword strikes with incredible movements, forcing Ning Huaiyuan to sue for peace with him.
After that? He couldn't remember the things that happened after that at all.
But there was no doubt that he had been saved by this hidden Beggar Hero.
What was that hero's name again?
Gou Zazhong?
Right!
Gou Zazhong.
He looked at the Mountain God statue in the temple with one arm broken, and for a moment, his thoughts flew, unable to control himself.
After a long time, he knelt on both knees and bowed respectfully to the ground.
"Huashan's Yue Pingshan, kneels to thank the Great Hero Gou Zazhong for saving my life."
The blue bricks shattered under his head, making a crisp sound.
A black swallow flew in from the opening of the Mountain God Temple and landed in the swallow's nest on the beam.
It chirped.
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