Four Disciples

Without saying a word, Han Qingluo wielded her Soft Sword straight. Rain splashed on the Soft Sword.

Cold aura rose from the blade, freezing the five raindrops on it into ice pellets as her secret weapon. She flung the pellets at Zhang Ruochen and the Ninth Commandery Princess.

Four ice pellets flew towards Zhang Ruochen; the last one towards the Ninth Commandery Princess.

"Boom!"

Zhang Ruochen stepped out horizontally, standing in front of the princess. He focused his Genuine Qi onto the palm and unleashed his power. Just three meters away from them, the pellets shattered.

"Clang!"

All of a sudden, the blade clanked next to Zhang Ruochen's ear.

Han Qingluo who had been standing in the middle of the street disappeared. Like a ghost, she materialized behind him and thrust her sword at Ruochen.

The tip of the sword was aimed at Zhang Ruochen's nape.

Zhang Ruochen did not turn around. Instead, he raised his arm and used two fingers to pinch the blade.

"Did you think I'm Liu Chengfeng?" Han Qingluo sneered.

"Whew!"

Her Green Soft Sword was like a spiritual snake, coiling around Zhang Ruochen's arm and pinning it down.

Once Han Qingluo wrapped her Soft Sword around Ruochen's arm, all she needed to do was retrieve it. This way, his arm would be completely mutilated.

Han Qingluo's sword technique was advanced, but Zhang Ruochen's intelligence was even more so.

He freed the tip of the blade that he was pinching, pressing his two fingers at Han Qingluo's wrist through the snake-like Soft Sword.

Genuine Qi was released through his fingertip, leaving a deep wound on Han Qingluo's wrist.

The arm Han Qingluo used to hold her Soft Sword instantly lost strength. With a clang, the Soft Sword fell out of her hand and onto the ground.

"You..."

How was she to foresee that Ruochen not only had deep cultivation but also rich combat experiences?

The assassination failed.

Han Qingluo tiptoed on the ground, made a leap towards the rooftop of an ancient building on the street, and escaped in the cover of the rain.

"You want to escape?"

Carrying his Flash Shining Sword, Zhang Ruochen flew to the top of the building. Stepping on the glazed tiles, he quickly chased after Qingluo.

With all his 36 Meridians running simultaneously, he was even faster than Han Qingluo.

"He's just a Completion warrior at the Yellow Realm. How can he be so fast?"

Seeing that Zhang Ruochen was closing in on her, a secretly worried Qingluo unpinned the nine thin Golden Needles from her hair.

Her Genuine Qi was coming out of her, surrounding the needles. She threw these needles at Zhang Ruochen who was chasing her.

"Whew!"

In the dark and raining evening, it was already difficult enough for a warrior to see his opponent, much less the nine flying Golden Needles. Zhang Ruochen was, however, different. He opened his eye vessel, improving his sight in the rain.

"Ding!"

He wielded his sword, knocking the needles away.

He continued to give chase.

It was bizarre to see that a Black Realm killer running away from a Completion warrior at Yellow Realm.

Han Qingluo noted that his power was stronger than a Mid Stage warrior at the Black Realm and thought that she must relay this to the Queen.

She injected Genuine Qi into her blood immediately.

Her blood ran faster, allowing her to run five times faster than she was previously. She increased the distance between her and Zhang Ruochen.

"Boiling Animal Spirits! That's what a real Black Realm warrior has. It seems that she's at the Initial Stage."

A Yellow Realm warrior mainly practiced his Meridians.

A Black Realm warrior mainly practiced his Spiritual Blood.

Boiling Animal Spirits symbolized warriors that had reached the Initial Stage of the Black Realm. Spiritual Blood was like boiling water coursing through the blood vessels of warriors, allowing them to unleash even stronger power.

Some of the best warriors at the Yellow Board might defeat Initial Stage warriors at the Black Realm. However, they would find it difficult to kill Black Realm warriors.

If an Initial Stage warrior at the Black Realm unleashed his Spiritual Blood to accelerate his speed, a Warrior of the Yellow Board could never chase him down.

Even a genius like Zhang Ruochen was now slower than Han Qingluo.

Zhang Ruochen stopped and stood on the edge of a tall pavilion. A hint of a smile crossed his lips. He took out some silver coins from the Internal Space of the Time and Space Spinel.

"If you can use concealed weapons, so can I!"

Zhang Ruochen ran his 36 Meridians and injected Genuine Qi into these silver coins, then he flung the coins.

"Boom!"

Like silver rain, the coins flew towards the person in front of him.

"Bang, bang!"

Two silver coins hit Qingluo's back, piercing through her shirt into her flesh. It left two bloody wounds on her back.

"Oh!"

Han Qingluo spat a mouthful of blood and crashed onto the street.

With her face down, she was still like a dead woman.

Zhang Ruochen flew there as well and approached Han Qingluo carefully.

"Who's the one wants to kill me?"

Zhang Ruochen turned Han Qingluo around and lifted her chin. He wanted to unveil her and see who she really was.

"Oh no!"

Just as Ruochen was stretching out his hand, Qingluo's eyes opened. With a flash of a dagger, she slashed it on Ruochen's neck.

Zhang Ruochen seemed to anticipate this and used his hand to defend himself.

"Bang!"

The humerus in Han Qingluo's arm was broken, prompting a painful scream. She said while crying, "Ninth Prince, even if you don't die today, there will definitely be others who will kill you in the future."

Zhang Ruochen somberly asked, "Who sent you?"

Han Qingluo's body trembled for a moment, before she became still, no longer moving.

"Tch!"

Before Ruochen could unveil her, her body melted into a pool of poisonous black blood. It ate away at everything, even her clothes. Nothing was left behind.

The Ninth Commandery Princess showed up, having finally caught up. She asked, "Where's the assassin?"

Zhang Ruochen pointed at the blood pool on the ground and answered, "She had a poisonous pill in her mouth. If she fails, she would crunch it and wipe herself out. Who exactly is the perpetrator to have such a loyal assassin?"

The princess was stunned. She handed Ruochen the Soft Sword the assassin and said, "This is hers!"

"Oh!"

Zhang Ruochen took the Soft Sword and injected his Genuine Qi into it. It began emitting a cold aura.

"It's a Level Three Genuine Martial Arm with nine inscriptions."

Zhang Ruochen inspected the Soft Sword again and shook his head. He could not find any clue.

The princess asked, "Who wants to kill you?"

"If we want to know, there's actually still a way to find out," said Ruochen.

The princess was confused, "The assassin's dead, so the clues all are gone. Can we still find the person pulling the strings?"

Zhang Ruochen smiled. "Only we know she's dead now, but the perpetrator doesn't. If we want to know who that person is, we just need to set up a trap. Sister, I need you to put on a show for me this time!"

The princess was not sure what he meant. However, she was willing to play along.

...

Two hours later.

Inside the Queen's chamber, a servant was down on her knees. Panicking, she reported to the Queen, "My Queen, bad news. Han Qingluo failed her mission."

The Queen sat calmly on her chair and said, seemingly indifferently, "She failed even with her level of cultivation. Huh, this Ninth Prince seems hard to deal with!"

That servant continued, "It's said that Ninth Prince was injured as well and is now unconscious. But before he fainted, he saw Qingluo's face."

"What?"

There was a slight shift in the Queen's expression as she asked, "Where's she?"

That servant replied, "The Ninth Commandery Princess said Miss Han was caught by one of the Ten Royal Guard Generals, Luo Tong. She was sent to the Celestial Prison. Your Majesty is now aware of this and he's very angry. He asked Luo Tong to find the perpetrator behind Miss Han."

Zhao Lin, the Queen's first disciple in her 30s, appeared behind the Queen. She said, "My Queen, Luo Tong is a boor and has never seen Qingluo. Even if he caught her, he can never tell who she is. But if His Majesty arrives and recognizes her... That'll be horrible!"

The Queen's expression worsened. She said, "Zhao Lin, you've been with me for 30 years! Among my four disciples, your cultivation is the highest and you have also reached the Initial Stage of the Earth Realm."

Zhao Lin asked, "My Queen, what would you like me to do?"

The Queen ordered, "The Celestial Prison is dangerous. With your cultivation, only you can get in. I want you to rescue Qingluo before Your Majesty sees her, at any expense. If you can't, then kill her and destroy all evidence."

"I understand."

Zhao Lin paused before continuing. "The Ninth Prince has seen Qingluo's face, so he definitely knows that she's your servant. If he wakes up later..."

The Queen stood up and scoffed. She said, "I'll send your two juniors to kill him. He'll never wake up again. Whoever who wants to go against me will never end up well."

"That puts my mind at ease!"

Zhao Lin knelt down in front of the Queen and bowed. She then changed into an outfit for the night and rushed to the Celestial Prison.

Afterwards, the Queen sent her second and third disciple, Yao Su and Zhao Wuxia, to kill Ruochen before he woke up.

Yao Su was a Completion warrior at the Black Realm.

Zhao Wuxia was a Medium State warrior at the Black Realm.

These four disciples acted as the Queen's four sharp swords. Besides Han Qingluo, the other three had already been with the Queen for more than 20 years. All of them were top warriors. They had exterminated nearly all the Queen's enemies for her.

As long as the Queen had her four disciples, nobody could sway her status in Yunwu City.

The Queen was confident in their abilities.

The Queen waited in her chamber for six hours, but she never saw any of them return. Finally, she felt a bad gut feeling that something went wrong.

She finally received some news early next morning.

All three of her disciples were ambushed, trapped by a large group of royal guards.

In order not to expose the Queen, they all crunched their poisonous pills and killed themselves.

Four disciples died in one night.

After hearing the news, the Queen almost fell from her seat. She closed her eyes and said, a tremor in her voice, "Hurry… hurry up and send word to the Seventh Prince… ask him to come back..."