Chapter 1 First Assassination

The muddy dirt road winds its way from the bustling capital, the sound of galloping hooves growing louder as they approach, splashing mud onto the wild grasses and flowers along the roadside, bending the flowers under their weight.

The leader lowered his upper body, raised his whip, and continued to increase his speed.

The group soon arrived at an unnamed village. The village plaque was old, and the wind and sand had worn the embossed characters on it so badly that they were almost illegible. Only the character "wheat" could be vaguely seen.

Whatever it is, it will cease to exist after today.

The village entrance was silent and deserted, with no sign of a person except for the sounds of wind and rain.

The leader sensed something was amiss, so he leaped off his horse and whispered, "You two, flank us from behind. You stay here."

The only one left behind was a young woman. She was worried about the person going in and whispered, "Lord Lu, it's too dangerous. I'll go in with you!"

The sound was even clearer in the rain. Lu Huantang turned around, gave her a cold glance, and left.

The moment Lu Huantang swept over them, the other three broke out in a cold sweat, completely unaware that he had already entered the village like a ghost.

Lu Huantang gripped the sword hilt tightly and walked along the wall. Suddenly, he vaguely heard a faint sound ahead.

Following the sound, he arrived at a solemn ancestral hall. The stone walls of the hall were very high, and he couldn't see what was happening inside. He lightly leaped onto the back wall of the hall and observed the interior from his vantage point.

The stench of blood assaulted his nostrils, and the mutilated limbs and organs scattered everywhere were almost unbearable for someone as accustomed to carnage as Lu Huantang. Suppressing his nausea, Lu Huantang cautiously jumped down.

The warm, soft, and sticky sensation under his feet sent waves of nausea through him. The severed limbs in the blood were cut cleanly, as if they had been cleaved in two with a large knife. The speed was so fast that even the floating faces had calm expressions.

Suddenly, several screams and wails came from the inner room.

Lu Huantang burst through the door, ready to kill everyone inside. He saw a young girl with her back to him, pointing a dagger at a burly man wielding a broadsword. The man's face was ferocious, and he was covered in blood, clearly having killed many people.

No matter who they are, as long as there are no survivors, there will always be people he wants to kill among them.

Thinking that his Crimson Earth Sword would leave a unique scar, Lu Huantang swung his sword, striking the man squarely between the eyebrows, pinning him to the wall. Due to his own weight, the man's skull cracked, and he slumped to the ground, exhausted.

The girl was startled by this sudden turn of events. In the instant she turned her head, Lu Huantang had already kicked up a sword from the ground and was about to strike the girl.

Unexpectedly, the girl's legs buckled, and the sword sliced ​​through half of her neck before piercing the corpse's heart.

Just as Lu Huantang was about to deliver a finishing blow, there was a sound outside the door.

The girl, clutching her bleeding neck, cried out with all her might, "Chen, I'm here!"

The next moment, a masked man burst through the window. He was so fast that Lu Huantang didn't even hear his footsteps. Chen instantly drew his sword to protect the girl, looking at Lu Huantang with a wary expression.

Even if they fought head-on, Lu Huantang wasn't entirely confident he could kill both of them, as they were Jiang Linzhi's most powerful bodyguard—Chen.

This girl must be Jiang Linzhi. So Lu Huantang pretended to have made a mistake and stepped forward to help her up, saying, "I failed to help you properly, please punish me, Miss."

The girl in Chen's arms turned her head upon hearing this, and the moment Lu Huantang saw her face, he was still stunned by Jiang Linzhi's beauty. He considered himself a woman who had been through countless beauties and didn't care much about looks. But the person before him had bright eyes and white teeth, red lips and dark hair, beautiful but not seductive, elegant but aloof. However, her complexion was not good, and her deep features had a dazzling and ethereal quality, like the rosy clouds in the mountains, giving her an unreal, dreamlike quality.

Jiang Linzhi's eyes were filled with fear. She snuggled slightly into Chen's arms, avoiding Lu Huantang's support.

Lu Huantang knew she must harbor resentment towards him, but since her back was to him, she probably didn't know he wanted to kill her.

and--

Lu Huantang glanced at her hand covering her wound. Her shout must have aggravated the wound, causing the bleeding to worsen, as if a full glass of water had been spilled all over the floor.

He probably cut off half of her neck; she probably won't survive.

They had obviously noticed it too, so Chen ignored Lu Huantang and quickly left with the girl.

After everyone left, Lu Huantang carefully wiped the blood off his sword and jumped onto the wall. Several gray-clad subordinates immediately gathered and reported, "Not a single one survived."

Lu Huantang nodded and said to the girl beside him, "Miss Fu, clean it up properly."

Fu Qianji took out a bottle of medicinal powder that he had prepared beforehand and scattered it into the wind. The powder mixed with the rainwater and fell into the mountain of corpses on the ground. Before long, it turned into a sea of ​​blood and flowed into the drainage ditch next to it with the rainwater.

By the time the Dali Temple arrived to investigate, there was nothing left.

Before leaving, Lu Huantang glanced at the sacrificial altar in the middle of the ancestral hall. A vigorous vine, such an ancient sacrificial totem, seemed familiar to him.

He couldn't recall it at the moment, so he stopped thinking about it. The Great Wilderness originally had dozens of kingdoms and tribes, but now only three remain. This totem might be the symbol of one of those tribes.

That night, the doctors who went to the Jiang family to see patients came out one after another shaking their heads.

Wu Meng, the head of the Wu family, bowed and poured a cup of water for Lu Huantang, his eyes filled with undisguised joy. He said respectfully, "Lord Lu is indeed worthy of the Prince's favor. In the past twenty years, no one has been able to kill that brat. With your intervention, those pretty faces kept by the Jiang family are simply no match for her."

The Wu family was originally the richest merchant family in the Sui Kingdom, but decades ago the Jiang family made a kind of snuff bottle that was highly sought after by the people of the Yan Kingdom. The Jiang family immediately squeezed out the Wu family to become the richest family in the Sui Kingdom, and even got in touch with the palace to become imperial merchants.

However, the Wu family was not stupid either. They supported the regent when he was still young and had the power to rival the Jiang family.

However, Lu Huantang looked down on these petty tricks of merchants who pursued profit. He was there on the orders of the Regent and only cared about the Regent's opinion of him. He disliked listening to the flattery of these useless merchants. He lowered his eyes, drank a cup of tea, and said, "Helping Boss Wu get rid of his biggest worry is a sign of His Highness's high regard for you. Boss Wu should just remember His Highness's kindness."

"Of course, of course." Boss Wu nodded and bowed. "I've prepared a superior room for you. Please rest for the night before you go back."

"No need to be so polite. I have to go back and report, so I won't bother Mr. Wu any longer." After saying these polite words, Lu Huantang turned to leave. As he mounted his horse, he noticed that the hoofprints were deeper—the baggage had changed. He glanced at Mr. Wu's fawning smile, said nothing, nodded in acknowledgment, and spurred his horse away.

After traveling for a while, Lu Huantang stopped his horse to check the bundle. Sure enough, it was stuffed full of loose gold, enough to spend without attracting attention, and the amount was substantial.

"Boss Wu is quite the shrewd one," Lu Huantang thought to himself, his contempt for merchants remaining undiminished. Successful merchants throughout history were nothing more than a bunch of opportunists, adept at reading the winds and catering to different people. They only cared about their own little corner of the world; no matter how much wealth they possessed, a single order from their superiors could leave them with nothing.

Thinking this, the bag of gold seemed much lighter. He gently spurred his horse and headed towards the Prince's mansion.

That night, he had a dream in which he indulged in extreme debauchery, but the girl beneath him had thick bandages wrapped around her neck, her eyes expressionless, quietly watching him.

Lu Huantang suddenly woke up with a start, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. This seemed to be the first time he had ever dreamed of the souls that had perished under his sword.

Guilt? Regret?

He couldn't say for sure, and raised his hand to slap himself hard. He wanted to climb up, to stand at the highest point. What was this person? Besides, she was the culprit who made snuff bottles. Snuff bottles had ruined countless families. He was doing a service to the people.

Thinking this way, the few emotions I had left vanished instantly.

The Regent Prince quickly invited Lu Huantang over.

After passing through three gates and winding corridors, he finally arrived at a courtyard. The tall guards at the gate searched him to make sure he wasn't carrying any weapons before opening the door for him.

There was another door ahead. No matter how highly regarded Lu Huantang was, he was still checked three times like this, crossing three doors before finally arriving at a magnificent room.

The Regent was behind the screen, and Lu Huantang was not qualified to approach. He knelt on one knee outside the screen and said, "Your Highness, Jiang Linzhi is probably not going to make it."

"Come forward and give your reply."

Don't underestimate these few steps; they represent immense trust. The Regent's family suffered hardship in his childhood, and he rose through the ranks on the border like any other commoner, relying on military merit to climb the ranks. He was accustomed to being cautious and suspicious.

Lu Huantang suppressed his joy and took a few steps forward, where he saw the silver-haired man. Although his upper body was still covered by the curtain, the man was tall and robust. Just sitting there, he was like a tiger descending the mountain, exuding a powerful aura. The gold cloud pattern embroidered on his black robe further highlighted his status.

"Dead?" The Regent leaned forward slightly, his voice tinged with a thrilling excitement.

Lu Huantang dared not give a false report: "I cut Jiang Linzhi's neck, but I still don't know for sure whether he is dead or not. Please punish me, Your Highness."

The usually composed regent suddenly stood up, pacing back and forth: "Good! Very good! Your swordsmanship is precise; you cut it when you said you would. That witch is finally dead, finally dead..."

Perhaps because he was too excited, the Regent forgot that there was someone else there. When he remembered, he said, "Get up. From now on, you will follow Cui Jiu and do things for me. You don't need to live with the others anymore."

Cui Jiu was the Regent's personal bodyguard, and Lu Huantang felt he deserved such a promotion. He couldn't help but ask, "Your Highness, what should we do with these Crimson Flowers?"

Before the joy on his face could even fade, the regent immediately turned serious and said coldly, "This is none of your business. Get out of here."

The regent was at odds with the royal family. He denounced the Jiang family under the banner of inhumanity. Now that the Jiang family, the royal family's purse, had fallen, he couldn't possibly just throw away this ready-made money.

Lu Huantang bowed and left. His already meager expectations vanished instantly. Most people don't hate others for making ill-gotten gains, but rather hate that they themselves weren't the ones making those ill-gotten gains.

Lu Huantang concealed the ruthlessness in his eyes. As soon as he stepped out the door, he ran into several colleagues who came to flatter him. He smiled and exchanged a few polite words, then looked at Fu Qianji, who was unwilling to come over, and waved to her.

The colleagues immediately understood and smiled, leaving them some space.

Seeing the awkward Fu Qianji, Lu Huantang walked over and said, "Are you still angry?"

"No, I'm a professional."

Lu Huantang nodded and smiled, "That's good. I always keep public and private matters separate. If I ever upset you, please be understanding."

A small brocade pouch appeared in front of him. Fu Qianji held out his hand fiercely and said, "I wasn't professional enough before. We won't see each other often in the future, so this is for your self-defense."

Inside were four small bottles: three containing poison and two containing antidotes. One of the small white pills did not contain an antidote. Fu Qianji was the granddaughter of the Poison King; such a poison without an antidote was extremely precious.

Lu Huantang felt a mix of emotions, but he still said, "Miss Fu, I am not a good person, much less a good match."

A smart person would understand the second half of the sentence, but Fu Qianji, with the straightforwardness of a southerner, said, "It's my business if I give it to you, and it's your business whether you're a good person or not."

Suddenly, a servant ran in from outside and delivered an urgent letter.

Lu Huantang spoke a few more words to Fu Qianji, thanked her, and then left.

As soon as he turned around, he encountered a tea-serving maid. Both of them were skilled in martial arts, and the tea ended up spilling all over them.

The maid hurriedly knelt down and said, "Lord Lu, let me take you to change your clothes."

Lu Huantang initially wanted to refuse, but he really wanted to see what this maid was up to, so he followed her.

Lu Huantang changed into a noble young man's silk robe, but the rest of his clothes were ordinary. He opened the door and suddenly a fragrance wafted to his nose. Before he could even hold his breath and circulate his qi, the fragrance sealed off his meridians.

The last thing he saw before falling into a coma was the maid's calm, numb eyes, and a guard in black boots whispering, "There's an incompetent fool."

They were immediately plunged into darkness.