Chapter 93 The Serpent of Fate (Part 1)

“Ni Luo, Ni Xiao.”

Chai Hu Nan looked at the two women and casually called out their names. She didn't intend to explain anything about the name Ni Sang, but simply turned her head and spoke to Lin Cheng Ye.

"Be careful, it's someone from the Masked River. The 'Dead Umbrella' Ni Xiao from the Book of Astounding Clouds, the young master of the Masked River, and..."

She lowered her voice. With a flick of her wrist, a cold glint of metal flashed, and her signature butterfly blade appeared in her hand. Although she was completely concealed by her black robe, the prominent veins on the back of her hand showed that she was as alert as a ferocious beast.

"Yun Ya Yi Tian Pu, currently ranked third in the martial arts world, Wan Gu Ku Ni Luo, the current leader of the Masked River Sect."

Masked River, a notorious assassin organization in the martial arts world, is extremely skilled in disguise and tracking, killing without a trace. Lin Chengye's heart sank.

Chai Hu Nan's past is very likely related to the Masked River, and she has never been able to figure out where this person is.

It's likely that Ni Luo and Ni Xiao are the most elite assassins in this sect.

This time, the odds are really against Lin Chengye. She and Ni Xiao are similar in strength, but how much blood has that man spilled? His experience is far beyond her reach. Furthermore, the top three on the Yunya Yitian Ranking have all reached the ninth level of internal energy, while Chai Hu Nan, although ranked fourth, only has the eighth level.

The net that had enveloped the entire city of Linsu finally closed in, revealing itself before her. Only then did Lin Chengye realize that she, too, had long been captivated by the mirage created by the "Princess."

But when she suddenly realized the truth, she found herself with a cliff behind her and two hungry pythons in front of her.

Wuma Yi had already arranged her and Bian Yi's death date.

"they?"

Ni Xiao laughed, surprised.

"Senior Sister Ni Sang, do you really think you can sever ties with us?"

"..."

Chai Hu Nan remained silent. After thinking for a moment, she realized there was nothing to refute, except for one thing. She spoke softly.

"My name is Chai Hu Nan."

Upon hearing this, Ni Luo, who had been watching the commotion from the sidelines, burst out laughing.

"If you hadn't been lucky enough to end up in Jiangjin Alliance territory and been protected by that alliance leader, you would have died ten thousand times over!"

Ni Xiao narrowed her long eyes, but her words were filled with deep resentment.

"Besides... how many people have you killed? And you think you can just walk away?"

"Senior sister, stop dreaming."

The word "senior sister" sounded grating to Lin Chengye, and he frowned. Ni Xiao insisted on calling him that, practically squeezing it out from between her teeth, as if she wanted to show everyone their relationship. What was originally an intimate term had become her only way to control Chai Hu Nan.

"You go first. They're not targeting you, and they won't touch you."

Lin Chengye placed her hands on the two swords at her waist, and instantly drew them. Her killing intent overwhelmed the cold air as she spoke to the people behind her.

"Third Prince, return to Mo Mengze. Forget everything that happened tonight, don't mention it, don't think about it."

The eldest princess may not necessarily want to kill Wei Jingchen along with her; she simply wants to gradually strip him of his power and ambition, confining him to a small corner of the world.

Between you and me... let's keep our separate ways.

Wei Jingchen didn't speak. She pursed her lips, straightened her back, and walked out from behind Lin Chengye. When she passed Ni Luo and Ni Xiao, she paused, glanced back briefly, and then quickly looked away.

The next moment, the hum of clashing weapons suddenly rang out behind her!

...

Leader, it's not that I don't want to forget the past.

Chai Hu Nan took a deep breath, her tone unusually rising, carrying a hint of other emotions.

"Young Alliance Leader, you have to explain to the Alliance Leader for me. I really do want to forget about it."

However, fate relentlessly pursued me and refused to let me go.

He is like a snake, head to tail, coming from the past and returning to the past. He has spread out beneath our feet, binding me, us, and everyone else.

...

"...If anyone rebels or flees, he or she shall be executed no matter how far away he or she is, without any mercy."

"...If anyone rebels or flees, he or she shall be executed no matter how far away he or she is, without any mercy."

A few monotonous words rolled over and over, from one side of the teeth to the other. The person stood in the cold, damp underground cave, his back to the candlelight behind him, his face blurred, only his white teeth gleaming as his mouth opened and closed.

The big mouth spoke again.

"Got it? Repeat it."

Then, countless little mouths opened and closed.

“All my disciples should be willing to die for me. If any of them betray me or flee, they will be killed no matter how far away they are, without any mercy.”

Exactly the same word.

Big Mouth wasn't very satisfied, and she clicked her tongue. She casually extended a finger and pointed to Small Mouth, the second from the left in the third row.

"You, come out."

Then, she snapped her fingers. Suddenly, two people dressed in black emerged from the depths of the underground cave, dragging a disheveled person from either side. The person seemed to be insane, repeatedly muttering the same few words.

"I will never... kill again..."

"I don't want to..."

"Let me go..."

The madwoman was covered in wounds, new wounds upon old ones, the bright red flesh turned outwards, her legs worn raw, revealing her kneecaps. Her white undergarment was stained crimson with blood. When the two men dragging her let go, she collapsed like a pile of rotten flesh.

"Give me a quick death... I won't do it again..."

"This is the defector."

The person with the big mouth pointed at the person and said to the person with the small mouth.

What are you going to do?

"Though...though they are far away, they will be killed without mercy..." the little mouth said in a daze.

"Very good, go do it." Big Mouth bent down, patted Little Mouth's shoulder, and handed her a dagger.

The little mouth walked up to the man, raised her arm high, and through her blood-stained hair she saw that the man's desperate black eyes were still trembling, but suddenly she felt a little afraid, and the hand holding the dagger hesitated and refused to fall.

Suddenly, the pupils of the little mouth contracted, and it let out a faint wail like a kitten before collapsing to the ground with a thud, lifeless.

"waste."

Big Mouth pulled the blade from Little Mouth's body, glanced at it disdainfully, and then pointed to another Little Mouth in the group, saying...

"Come here."

This cycle was long and drawn out; one by one, the little mouths were pulled out of the line, but none of them returned. They collapsed haphazardly in front of the dying madman, not understanding who was the one about to die.

The strong stench of blood permeated the cave, making it hard to breathe.

"Come here."

There weren't many people left. Big Mouth frowned and impatiently ordered another one.

The girl who was called on stiffened instantly, swallowed nervously, and her fingers involuntarily twitched haphazardly, accidentally catching the hem of the person next to her. Suddenly, the person beside her, who had been as silent as a wooden statue, turned his eyes and glanced at the girl.

"I'll do it."

Suddenly, the wooden man raised his hand, stepped out of the crowd, and snatched the still bloodless dagger from Big Mouth's hand.

The man holding the knife slowly crouched down, his gaze lingering on the madwoman's bloodshot eyes through her disheveled hair. The madwoman suddenly trembled violently; she couldn't see anything that could be called emotion in the girl's eyes.

She had a strong premonition that this time it wouldn't be this piece of wood that died, but herself. The madman struggled to speak, begging for mercy.

"No, don't..."

The dagger parted the disheveled hair, found the soft neck, and with a light stroke, the wooden figure gushed out blood, splattering it all over her. The madman kicked his leg, his eyes bulging, staring fixedly ahead, and finally, like the countless small mouths on the ground, became one of the scattered corpses.

"Good! Good! From now on, you have a name! You will be called..."

Big Mouth nodded in satisfaction. She squatted down and lifted the clothes of the dead madman. There was a brown scar below his left shoulder with the character "Sang" etched on it.

"Your name will be Ni Sang."

So the man with the big mouth used the dagger he had just used to kill someone to carve the same words on the same piece of wood in the same spot.

As expected of a blockhead, he gritted his teeth and remained silent, though his body trembled uncontrollably.

“This one is qualified. Take her to Elder Ni Luo.”

Big Mouth beckoned to the two people dressed in black. They stood on either side of Ni Sang, grabbed her thin arms, and led her toward a deep cave ahead.

"Of the rest of you... only one can live!"

A loud voice came from behind, and Ni Sang turned around to look.

There was envy, fear, and despair... pairs of eyes hovered over their small mouths. But Ni Sang still felt their faces were blurry, as if each one looked the same.

And then… Ni Sang suddenly stopped. She noticed that the girl who had just bumped into her had a different look in her eyes than the others, with complex and intense emotions that she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

So Ni Sang took another look at those eyes.

...

The Masked River organization is located in the northernmost part of the Lai Kingdom, in an extremely cold and harsh land where snow falls more frequently than sunshine. No one knows how this organization came to be, nor where it is located.

However, some say that it must have been a place where criminals were exiled many years ago, who survived by chance and formed this place over a long period of time in order to survive.

There is an unwritten rule in the martial arts world: if anyone wants to ask this sect for a favor, they should go to the north and find a stream called the Bei Ni River, carve the name of the person they want to kill on a stone, throw it into the stream, and then wait there for a day. A person dressed in black will come to find them and tell them the amount of silver required.

But this organization was cold and ruthless than anyone imagined. Its main body was located in a cold, underground cave, where there was no sunlight and no distinction between day and night. They adopted many abandoned children from the north, and when they turned ten, they made them go through an entrance selection process, where they either killed or killed each other.

The surviving children were given names and joined the Masked River to learn martial arts, but this was hardly a blessing.

Because what followed was an even more brutal training. Naked, bathed in snow, their bodies soaked in crimson. Until slaughtering people was as easy as cutting grass, leaving no trace of life, no lingering in their hearts. And she, Ni Sang, was the most talented in martial arts among her generation, and the one who excelled the best.

"Ni Sang, new mission."

A woman's ethereal voice drifted in, echoing through the cave. Ni Sang's ears twitched, waking her from her meditative state. She responded and walked to the woman named Ni Luo, asking a question.

"Who to kill?"

This is her master, the strongest person in the Masked River, even stronger than the current sect leader.

"This mission isn't difficult. You can take your new junior sister with you."

Ni Luo smiled, beckoned, and soon a small figure stepped out from behind her.

"Her useless master died in the last mission, but her talent is second only to yours. I took a liking to her and took her as my apprentice."

Ni Sang stared at the girl for a while, then suddenly spoke.

"...It's you."

This is the girl standing next to her during the initial selection process; it turns out she also passed the selection.

"You still remember me?"

The girl smiled, staring straight at Ni Sang, her eyes crinkling.

"I have a name now, my name is Ni Xiao."

Ni Sang nodded.

Actually, she had long forgotten what the girl beside her looked like. But the moment Ni Xiao met her gaze, she remembered her.

The reason was that Ni Xiao's gaze towards her was exactly the same as it had been back then. In fact, even after several years, the emotions in her eyes had only grown stronger.

She had seen that look in the eyes of her mission targets countless times. Once, after a mission, Ni Sang wiped the blood from her face and turned to ask Ni Luo beside her.

"Master, why does he look at me like that?"

Ni Luo bent her withered fingers and wiped away the bloodshot from Ni Sang's eyes, then tenderly stroked her cheek.

"Silly child, it's because of hatred."

Author's Note: Extra chapter this weekend!