On a rainy night, Fang Bie and Xue Ling walked along the slippery rooftop ridge, light and fast, like two black cats moving through the rain.
There was no further talk along the way.
This assassination was smooth, extremely smooth.
Whether it was the sudden appearance of Yue Pingshan or the fact that Ning Huaiyuan’s strength far exceeded Xue Ling’s expectations—if they had fought head-on, Ning Huaiyuan would have been equivalent to a Third Rank Martial Arts Master, capable of the External Release of True Qi to kill from a distance. Furthermore, his Sword Technique was exquisite, making him a very troublesome opponent. On top of that, he was skilled in the arts of several schools and possessed a cautious and sinister personality; he was truly a terrifying opponent.
However, from beginning to end, Fang Bie controlled the rhythm of the assassination, the timing of his appearance, and the grasp of his own role. Most importantly, from start to finish, Ning Huaiyuan never realized that Fang Bie was the assassin who had come to kill him.
What a terrifying assassination ability this was. Perhaps Fang Bie’s greatest strength lay in the fact that he never wore the words "I am an assassin" on his forehead.
Moreover, he had a firm grasp on the relationship between Yue Pingshan and Ning Huaiyuan, appearing at the perfect moment while they were fighting each other, and even managing to save Yue Pingshan without anyone noticing—though, of course, this was mainly due to Yue Pingshan’s own strong desire to survive, which allowed him to escape in an emergency from Ning Huaiyuan’s hands.
Otherwise, if Ning Huaiyuan had truly killed Yue Pingshan, Fang Bie certainly would not have stepped in to save him.
His intervention was limited solely to opening the door to disrupt Ning Huaiyuan’s rhythm.
And thinking about it carefully, could it be that Yue Pingshan finding this Mountain God Temple was actually Fang Bie’s doing?
After all, when Yue Pingshan entered, he had already said that someone else had told him the location.
Then, in fact, when Ning Huaiyuan himself arrived in Luocheng, Fang Bie might have already known, but he kept it quiet and even took the initiative to lure Yue Pingshan over.
If Yue Pingshan was capable enough to kill Ning Huaiyuan himself, then Fang Bie would have been using someone else’s blade to kill, which would still count as completing the mission.
But if Yue Pingshan could not defeat Ning Huaiyuan, then at least he would have been able to test Ning Huaiyuan’s hidden cards, lowering the difficulty for Fang Bie’s assassination.
Xue Ling walked along the road, recalling the process of this assassination.
In terms of results, this assassination went smoothly, without a single ripple. Ning Huaiyuan was highly skilled in Martial Arts and meticulous in his thinking, yet in the end, his life was easily taken by a steel wire, and his body was completely dissolved by Fang Bie using Corpse Dissolving Powder. It was truly a miserable death with no place left for his remains.
It seemed so simple, but how much preparation had Fang Bie made behind the scenes?
What kind of intelligence network did he possess in Luocheng to easily know the whereabouts of Ning Huaiyuan, who was traveling in disguise?
He had also set the stage in advance. Since he intended to carry out the assassination at the Mountain God Temple, he arranged the temple as his home turf. What if Ning Huaiyuan hadn’t come to the Mountain God Temple?
Wouldn’t everything have been a waste of effort?
And then there was the strategy of using Yue Pingshan to drive the tiger and the wolf.
In that moment, Xue Ling even felt that she, as Bee Wing, was completely redundant.
After all, Fang Bie could completely dominate the entire assassination process by himself, while she only helped him with chores and planned the routes—was that all her work amounted to?
But then, upon second thought, wasn’t this work exactly what Bee Wing was supposed to do?
Xue Ling gently bit her lips.
……
……
When they reached the outer wall of the Soul-Shattering Inn, they could clearly see the lamp on the second floor and the silhouette of a woman cast on the window paper.
"Is that Sister Ping?" Xue Ling couldn't help but ask.
The time was already approaching the fourth watch, deep in the middle of the night, yet He Ping was still waiting there, which made Xue Ling feel a warmth in her heart.
Fang Bie turned back and made a gesture for her to be quiet; Xue Ling could only nod.
The two jumped into the courtyard of the Soul-Shattering Inn like two cats, making no sound. Fang Bie in front and Xue Ling behind, they walked to the second floor of the inn. Outside the room door, Fang Bie spoke respectfully: "Sister Ping, I have returned."
Fang Bie’s voice was soft, calm, polite, and filled with respect.
"Come in," He Ping said from inside the room.
Fang Bie walked in, and Xue Ling thought for a moment before following behind.
Inside the room, He Ping was sitting at the table. Under the oil lamp, the Innkeeper, who was not yet thirty, had her hair in a cloud-like bun with a silver hairpin inserted at an angle, and she was pouring two cups of wine on the table.
"Drink this first," He Ping said, looking up after she finished pouring.
Fang Bie stepped forward, drank the cup in one gulp, and showed the bottom of the cup. Xue Ling stepped forward behind Fang Bie and also drank it in one gulp.
The wine was very spicy and strong, completely different from the Fenjiu they had drunk that night.
But Xue Ling did not show any expression or reaction.
"How was the mission?" He Ping continued.
Fang Bie was just about to speak, but He Ping looked at him and shook a finger: "Bee Wing, answer."
In the Beehive, Bee Sting is the executor of assassination missions, but likewise, Bee Wing is the assistant and monitor, or rather, the bystander and watcher.
Bee Wing rarely intervenes in direct assassinations, so when reporting on a mission, it is the Bee Wing who observes from the shadows that has the ability to report on the overall situation.
Although—although Xue Ling felt that Fang Bie could completely handle the work of both Bee Wing and Bee Sting after experiencing this assassination mission.
However, for now, Xue Ling answered seriously: "Mission accomplished. We have successfully assassinated Ning Huaiyuan. Ning Huaiyuan’s body was disposed of with Corpse Dissolving Powder, but we have obtained his personal token as proof of the successful assassination."
As she said this, Xue Ling untied the soft sword from her wrist, which Fang Bie called by the strange name of Rolex, and placed it on the table.
At the same time, Xue Ling took off the package on her back, which contained other items Fang Bie had scavenged from Ning Huaiyuan. As mentioned before, this included a bag of Silver Shards and Copper Coins, a stack of Silver Notes, two bottles of pills, a secret manual, and a box of Hidden Weapon silver needles.
It had to be said that Ning Huaiyuan had truly armed himself to the teeth, and as a Huashan Disciple, he had abandoned his sword to use a soft sword like a Rolex for self-defense, which made one feel even more chilled.
"This is the total harvest from this assassination. We seized Yue Pingshan’s sword, the Yinghuo Sword, but Fang Bie believed it was not advisable to make an enemy of the Mount Hua Sect, so we did not kill Yue Pingshan and left the sword with him."
He Ping nodded: "Very good. The Beehive is currently being investigated by the Imperial Court, so it is not advisable to make too many enemies in the Jianghu."
Xue Ling was stunned for a moment: "Sister Ping, aren't you going to ask about the process of our assassination?"
There were really many points to comment on regarding the process of this assassination, but since it ended so smoothly and beautifully, not telling He Ping about it felt like wearing fine clothes in the dark.
After all, Fang Bie was truly a disciple taught by He Ping herself.
However—when He Ping was an assassin herself, was her style also this incredibly steady?
But He Ping shook her head: "In this world, the most boring thing is the process of killing someone."
"I have no interest in knowing."
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