A gentle breeze stirred, but the bloody scent lingered. Fan Xian watched the figure in the bamboo hat at the corner of the alley, vaguely guessing he was a sorcerer, considered a chicken-rib by martial arts experts. He hadn't expected he would nearly die at the hands of the giant brute because of this person.

The figure courteously bowed to Fan Xian, then prepared to leave.

The two were a good four *zhang* apart, and this sorcerer specialized in wind magic. He was confident that if he fled, no one in the world could catch him except perhaps one of the Four Grandmasters, let alone a heavily injured Fan Xian. The plan had failed, so it was only natural to turn and leave with panache.

Fan Xian watched the fellow still maintaining his composure, dropped his slender dagger, raised his left arm, and gently squeezed the trigger. At the alley entrance, the figure clutched his throat, collapsing to the ground, screaming in agony before dying instantly. Stuck between his fingers was a delicate Soul-Snatching Crossbow Bolt.

"Idiot."

...

...

After feeding Teng Zijing a pill, the arrow poison was finally somewhat neutralized. He had woken up, but the remaining poison would need further treatment at the manor. Fan Xian's handsome face was pale, stained with the blood splattered by the giant brute, making him look especially terrifying. He looked at the awakened Teng Zijing and said, "Pinch here."

He pointed to a spot at the base of Teng Zijing's thigh, where the femoral artery was.

Teng Zijing's thigh was broken, his face pale with pain, sweat pouring down like soybeans. Trembling, he pressed his hand onto the base of his thigh, touching the wound, and couldn't help but cry out. But Teng Zijing was indeed a tough man. Watching Fan Xian tear cloth to stop the bleeding and pour some powder onto the wound that made him burn, he didn't utter another sound.

The most crucial time for this kind of injury was within the first quarter of an hour. Fan Xian had a saying in his past life: the platinum fifteen minutes. After anxiously finishing the treatment, Fan Xian confirmed that it shouldn't lead to Teng Zijing's death and finally breathed a sigh of relief, nearly collapsing to the ground.

Teng Zijing said with great difficulty, "Young Master, your injury..."

Only then did Fan Xian think of his own wound, finding his right shoulder incredibly painful. He groaned, circulated his true energy to that spot, and found that the meridians weren't damaged. There shouldn't be any terrible consequences, he said, "Lie still and wait a moment."

He still had a "what if" thought in his mind. He walked along the broken wall created by the terrifying brute and saw nothing but corpses behind the wall. Most were archers killed by the three brave guards. Then he saw the three bodies, curled up in a ball, their heads shattered.

Curling up was a symptom of arrow poisoning. The heads must have been smashed by the terrifying brute.

Confirming the deaths of these three guards, Fan Xian silently retreated, sat down beside Teng Zijing, silently re-bandaged his wound, and silently waited for the arrival of some friend or foe.

———————————————————————————

The Ox Lane (Niu Lan Jie) assassination attempt on Fan Xian undoubtedly became the most shocking news in Kyoto this month. The Qing Kingdom had enjoyed a long period of peace, and Kyoto, as the capital, was heavily guarded. Even ordinary murder cases were rare, let alone the broad daylight assassination of the eldest son of Vice Minister Fan Jian of the Ministry of Revenue.

Although this eldest son hadn't been entered into the family genealogy yet, this matter was different from previous brawls. The assassins clearly came to kill, and they even used archers. In the heart of Kyoto, someone was able to use archers to kill people, which had already touched the bottom line of the imperial court's rule.

So the massive Qing Kingdom machinery began to operate. It didn't take long to find out the "truth" of this assassination attempt. Thanks to Fan Xian, if he hadn't fought back during the assassination, leaving all the corpses of the enemy's main force in Ox Lane, this case might have become another mysterious unsolved case in the history of the Qing Kingdom.

Mainly because the giant brute that Fan Xian had gutted like a pig was too famous, the investigation of this case didn't take much effort. At least, seeing Director Chen of the Supervisory Council and Master Fei not rushing back to Kyoto showed that things weren't very serious.

That brute was called Cheng Jushu, a well-known fierce man from the Northern Qi Kingdom. He possessed the Iron Shirt skill, making him impervious to swords and spears. Most importantly, he was incredibly strong, with powerful true energy. He was one of the top eight-ranked experts in the world. The beauty-snake assassin, whose throat Fan Xian had cut, was a killer from a small principality. The Supervisory Council secretly knew that this pair of assassin sisters had always been under the control of the Northern Qi Kingdom.

So the case seemed completely clear. The mastermind behind this assassination was the Northern Qi Kingdom, just not knowing if it was the young Emperor or the highly respected State Preceptor Ku He.

The people of Kyoto talked incessantly, constantly guessing why the Northern Qi Kingdom, although now a sick tiger, still had remaining power, would attack the Fan family's son.

Although Fan Xian now had some fame for his poetry, some fame with the ladies, and some notoriety in Kyoto, he was still an insignificant character in the grand scheme of things. Northern Qi paid the price of an eight-ranked expert and two female assassins placed in a principality, just to kill Fan Xian, who had only recently arrived in Kyoto. This was difficult to explain no matter how you looked at it.

But for those who truly held power in the Qing Kingdom and could access secrets, the Northern Qi Kingdom had used a brilliant, ruthless move.

Someone had infiltrated to find out that Fan Xian might take over the management of imperial commerce in the next few years, making him a target in the power struggle between the Crown Prince and the Second Prince. If they could successfully kill Fan Xian and then escape, people would definitely suspect that it was done by the Crown Prince, unwilling to lose his source of money, or that the Second Prince intentionally killed Fan Xian to frame the Crown Prince. Either way, it would bring a political turmoil to the Qing Kingdom with unpredictable consequences.

Fan Xian was just a small person, but his life and death were a big deal. The officials of the Supervisory Council's Second Bureau were very impressed with their counterparts in the Northern Qi Kingdom, that they could come up with such a beautiful plan. A small move could delay the Northern Expedition that the Qing Kingdom had been secretly planning.

The Northern Expedition only existed in the Military Academy's Planning Office, the Supervisory Council's Planning Office, and the Emperor's mind. Whether to fight or not ultimately depended on the Emperor's word. So Northern Qi lived under this shadow, and their choice to strike at this time was a very clever move – provided, of course, that they could successfully kill Fan Xian without leaving any clues.

But the Northern Qi side didn't expect that this seemingly insignificant character would possess such great strength. The four guards around Fan Xian were all of Fifth Rank strength "secretly kept" by Earl Sinan, so they could clean up the archers even when poisoned by arrows. Of course, the most terrifying was that handsome illegitimate son, who was able to kill two female assassins known for their poison skills, and the eight-rank expert Cheng Jushu, under siege!

As for the sorcerer, no one cared. He was just a chicken-rib.

...

...

"The joint memorial from the Supervisory Council and the Ministry of Justice has come out. It has been confirmed that it was done by the Northern Qi. The line behind it has also been pulled out – the Second Prince has arranged to meet you on the Liujing River, thinking you like the Sili Li girl, so he chose Zui Xian Ju, but no one would have guessed that Zui Xian Ju was a hidden stake that the Northern Qi placed in Kyoto."

Earl Sinan Fan Jian sat in the dimly lit bedroom, looking at his son lying on the bed, and said calmly, "I know you're angry, but since you're not seriously hurt and the assassins are dead, let's just let it go."

"Let it go?" Fan Xian felt a chill in his heart, then said, "What about Sili Li?"

"On the way to the north. The Supervisory Council's Fourth Bureau intercepted her, and she's currently being escorted back to Kyoto."

"I hope she doesn't die." Fan Xian's voice was very cold.

Fan Jian smiled, "People under the Supervisory Council's care rarely die."

"Do you think things are really that simple?" Fan Xian suddenly asked his father with a smile.

"What different judgment do you have?"

"How did those archers... get into Kyoto? I've heard that the archers' bodies were cremated the next day. Is someone afraid of finding something on them?" Fan Xian turned his body with some difficulty, saying, "I know you don't want me to know these things, afraid that I won't be able to resist seeking revenge, but I think I have the right to know who wants my life."

Fan Jian looked at him coldly, "You should know that I represent the Emperor and possess a certain amount of secret power. Although this power is far less than the Supervisory Council, it's professional enough, but... we still can't find out who colluded with the Northern Qi. The suspected targets are not limited to the Crown Prince and the Second Prince, but also include the Prime Minister and even the Eldest Princess."

"Since you can't figure out who the real enemy is... then don't make too much noise and create too many enemies for yourself." Fan Jian continued, "This is my advice to you, I hope you can accept it."

Fan Xian nodded, then aggravated his shoulder wound, frowning. After taking a couple of breaths, he replied, "I will find a way to find out what's going on."

Fan Jian was very satisfied with his son's statement. He comforted him for a few words, then left the bedroom.

After his father left, Fan Xian's eyes suddenly became calm. Looking at a corner in the dimly lit room, he asked with a hint of resentment, "Why didn't you make a move that day?"

Wu Zhu walked out of the darkness, still wearing the black cloth over his eyes. The black cloth had no wrinkles, just like his eternally expressionless face.