"Knock knock knock..."

Suddenly, there was a rapid knocking at the door of Fuxi Courtyard. Feng Jin paused for a moment, then ran to open the door without thinking. A mysterious person dressed in black quickly slipped into the room.

Feng Jin's sharp eyes swept over the man in black, then she turned back to her seat, threw a thick stack of silver notes in front of the mysterious man, and said coldly, "I need to buy a few lives from you now. Do it tonight, without fail!"

"Who?" The mysterious person was covered from head to toe in black clothing and wore a mask of the same color on their face, with only a finger-width slit visible between their eyes, making their appearance unclear.

"I want you to go and kill the Minister of War, Zhao Tingxuan, and his entire family right now!" Feng Jin hesitated slightly, then a bloodthirsty killing intent surged in her clear eyes: "Except for Zhao Tingxuan, leave no one in the Zhao family alive!"

The mysterious man's eyes narrowed sharply, and he hurriedly asked, "May I ask what deep-seated hatred Lord Zhao has for you that would lead you to want to wipe out his entire family?"

"Enough nonsense! Will you do this deal... or not?" Feng Jin glared at the mysterious man, her gaze instantly sharp and decisive, like the clash of blades. Her fist, clenched tightly beneath her sleeve, seemed to want to crush someone to death!

"Alright, I'll take this deal!" With that, the mysterious man quickly picked up the silver note, spun around, and burst through the door.

Feng Jin's eyes followed the mysterious figure, a strange smile unconsciously creeping onto her face; "Brother Xuan, you'll soon receive my greeting gift..."

At this moment, the gates of the Zhao residence were still tightly closed. In the courtyard, the light shining through the window directly in front of them flickered, casting shadows of two figures gradually approaching.

In the darkness, a tall, slender figure leaped across the high wall with a "whoosh," passing by like a shooting star streaking across the sky.

"Bang bang bang..." A series of rough knocks forced Zhao Tingxuan and Yue Lingwei to immediately push the door open and run out. However, before they could speak, a long sword gleaming with cold light was already blocking Zhao Tingxuan's way.

"So you are Zhao Tingxuan?" The man in black's voice was sharper than the blade of a sword.

Zhao Tingxuan stared intently at the man in black, his pale, chapped lips trembling slightly as he asked, "Who...who are you?"

"Naturally, I'm the one who'll take your life!" As the man in black finished speaking, he brought the blade closer to Zhao Tingxuan's neck. With just a little more force, the other man would surely die.

Zhao Tingxuan was immediately terrified, his face turning deathly pale. He pleaded urgently, "Brother... no, sir, could you please put down your sword? We can discuss whether you want money or valuables!"

"Hmph! You should go ask this sword!" As soon as he finished speaking, the man in black swung his arm, and the sword in his hand flew out immediately. Blood splattered everywhere, and miserable screams echoed in the air.

Zhao Tingxuan thought he had been stabbed to death, and he was so frightened that he fell to the ground and lay there motionless. After a while, he realized that he was not injured at all.

Just as he was about to get up, clinging to a sliver of hope, he saw Yue Lingwei lying pale-faced beside him, accompanied by a chilling smell of blood. He immediately noticed a deep gash on Yue Lingwei's neck, and bright red liquid was still flowing from her slit throat.

Zhao Tingxuan knelt down with a thud, exclaiming in shock, "Ling Wei!"

Zhao Tingxuan crawled to his knees in front of the man in black, about to plead for himself, but before he could even utter a word, Xiao Mohan rushed over in a flurry of activity.

Suddenly, the man in black ripped off his mask, revealing his exceptionally handsome face in an instant—it was none other than Mu Beichen!

While wiping the blood from the sword blade, Mu Beichen asked without changing his expression, "Have you dealt with everyone else in the manor?"

Xiao Mohan held a bloodstained knife upside down in his hand and knelt on one knee as he replied, "Yes, on the way here with Your Highness, I have killed every single person in the Zhao family."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Tingxuan felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He suddenly realized and pointed at Mu Beichen, saying, "Prince Jing?"

"That's right, it is indeed me!" Mu Beichen smiled coldly, now only waiting for Zhao Tingxuan to surrender.

“Prince Jing, we have no prior dealings, yet I do not know where I have offended you.”

Mu Beichen moved directly to the opposite side of Zhao Tingxuan, glancing at him sideways: "Do you know? The reason I haven't made a move against you yet is because someone specifically instructed me to exterminate the entire Zhao family, leaving only your dog's life."

Zhao Tingxuan's eyes darted around quickly, and he suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "It's Yu Qianqian! Did she send you to kill me?"

Mu Beichen sneered, "Think what you want! The only thing I can do now is take you away. As for the rest, you can ask your enemies!"

"Prince Jing...Prince Jing...I beg you to have mercy and spare my life!" Zhao Tingxuan knelt before Mu Beichen, kowtowing repeatedly and pleading for mercy: "As long as...as long as Your Highness is willing to let me go today, from this day forward, I, Zhao, am willing to obey your every command, even if it means going through fire and water..."

Mu Beichen snorted coldly, suddenly interrupting Zhao Tingxuan's incessant chatter. "Hmph! Zhao Tingxuan, you are truly shameless, lacking even the slightest self-awareness! I would never deign to employ a treacherous villain like you who betrays his principles for personal gain!"

That night, the moon was dark and the wind was high. Under the cover of dark clouds, even the last trace of moonlight in the night sky was quickly swallowed up without a trace.

Zhao Tingxuan lay deep in the mountains outside the city, his whole body bound like a rice dumpling, curled up in a ball. The sound of a sharp blade slicing through the ground grew clearer and clearer. He suddenly looked up and saw Feng Jin holding a cold sword that gleamed with a cold light in her hand, sparks flying everywhere as the blade sliced ​​through the ground.

In the darkness, she danced gracefully in her white dress, her snow-white face peeking out from beneath her long hair. An eerie atmosphere gradually spread in the dim light, chilling one to the bone.

Zhao Tingxuan felt a chill run down his spine, as if his heart was about to leap out of his throat. He looked at Feng Jin warily, then shrank back, asking in a trembling voice, "Princess Jing... no, Yu Qianqian... are you a human or a ghost?"

Feng Jin suddenly laughed, a laugh that was both cold and shrill: "Brother Xuan, it's been a long time!"

Zhao Tingxuan shuddered violently, and he almost reflexively shouted, "Why...why is it you?"