Chapter 37: The End of the Road
In the underground chamber, the smell of blood and damp earth mingled, thick and indissoluble. The oil lamp in the corner burned to its last flame, its wick crackling and emitting a small spark. The flickering light and shadow stretched Wang Sen, who knelt on the ground, like a hopeless prisoner.
His right shoulder blade was pierced by the longsword, his dantian shattered by the sword's energy, and all his strength and dignity flowed away along with the warm blood. The dagger that had killed countless people, "Momenta," now rested coldly and steadily against his throat. The chill from the blade's edge made even swallowing a torture.
Chen Ye stood quietly in front of him like an emotionless stone sculpture, his calm eyes reflecting no emotion.
The other bloody sword was held by Su Qinghan, with the tip of the sword pointing back at Wang Sen's eyebrows.
"Tell me, who is behind this? Who wants to kill me?"
Su Qinghan's voice was even colder than Chen Ye's sword. She took a step forward, and the tip of her sword advanced another inch, almost touching Wang Sen's skin. The sharp sword intent caused beads of cold sweat to break out on Wang Sen's forehead.
Wang Sen gasped for breath, a rumbling sound like a broken bellows coming from his throat. He raised his head, his cloudy eyes filled with resentment, fear, and unwillingness.
"Heh... heh... want to know?" He grinned, revealing a mouthful of bloodstained teeth. His smile was uglier than crying. "Feiyue, no, Su Qinghan... you win. But don't think that you can rest easy just by killing me. This pool of water... is bottomless. You and I are just rotten leaves floating on the surface!"
He tried to use pretentiously profound words to buy time and buy himself a glimmer of hope. As a desperate criminal who had lived on the edge of a knife for decades, he knew that begging for mercy was the most useless option. Only by showing his own value could he survive.
"I'm not interested in hearing your nonsense." Su Qinghan's patience was rapidly wearing thin. She had carried a deep blood feud for far too long, and as she neared the truth, every moment of waiting was torture. "You simply need to answer my questions. Otherwise, his sword will slit your throat, and mine will pierce your head. You won't be able to die completely."
Her voice was calm, but every word was filled with unquestionable determination.
Wang Sen's body trembled imperceptibly. He could tell this woman wasn't joking. Her clear eyes burned with a flame of hatred that could consume everything.
He turned his gaze to Chen Ye, trying to find a way out of this silent man. "This friend... must be from the Tianji Pavilion, right?" He forced a flattering smile. "We, 'Youquan', and the Tianji Pavilion have always kept our distance. Your actions today must have been commissioned by someone. We're all paid for our work, so why kill everyone? If you'll spare my life, I'll offer you all the wealth that 'Youquan' has accumulated over the years!"
Shen Ye's eyes didn't change at all, as if he hadn't heard what he said. He just stood there quietly, restraining all his breath, but gave Wang Sen a pressure heavier than Mount Tai.
Su Qinghan sneered: "It seems that you have chosen a more painful path to death."
With that, she flicked her wrist, and the tip of the sword instantly pierced the skin between Wang Sen's eyebrows. A trickle of blood slowly flowed down his nose. The piercing pain and the shadow of death began to crack Wang Sen's psychological defenses.
"Don't...don't do it!" he cried in horror. "I'll tell you! But you have to promise that after I tell you, you'll kill me!"
"You are not qualified to negotiate terms." Su Qinghan interrupted him coldly.
At this moment, Shen Ye finally took action. Without saying a word, he gently and slowly pushed the dagger against Wang Sen's throat a little further inward.
The cold touch of the metal, along with the slight sting of his skin being cut, instantly shattered all of Wang Sen's hope. He could clearly feel that his life depended on the other party's thoughts.
"It's... it's Prince Ning! It's Prince Ning's Mansion!" Wang Sen finally broke down. He roared out everything he knew like pouring out beans. "The siege in the valley was planned by people from Prince Ning's Mansion! They've long been aware that you... you were investigating the case from that year, so they wanted to use us to get rid of you! I... I was just following orders!"
"Prince Ning?" Su Qinghan's heart sank suddenly.
Prince Ning, the younger brother of the current emperor, wields considerable military power and influence. Though outwardly gentle and courteous, rumors of his deep ambitions have long swirled throughout the court.
If it was really him, then everything would make sense. Only someone of his stature would have the ability and motivation to assassinate a minister who dared to stand in his way.
My father...as expected, died in the political strife in the court.
A huge sadness surged in my heart, but it was immediately replaced by deeper anger.
"Evidence." Su Qinghan's voice trembled slightly with excitement. "What evidence do you have to prove it's Prince Ning?"
"The evidence... the evidence is all in Prince Ning's Mansion. How could I have it?" Wang Sen argued anxiously. "But the person who contacted me was Zhang Cheng, the chief aide of Prince Ning's Mansion! He always carried the Prince Ning's Mansion badge during every transaction! Also, the deposit they paid us was official-minted snowflake silver, and the bottom of each ingot has a secret mark that only the Ministry of Revenue has! These... these will be revealed once the Six Gates investigate!"
This information is completely consistent with the previous inferences of Su Qinghan and his adoptive father Tie Wuqing.
The clues are finally connected!
Su Qinghan gripped the hilt tightly, her knuckles turning white from the exertion. She suppressed her excitement and continued to ask, "If Prince Ning wanted to kill me, why didn't you die in the valley?"
Mentioning this, a flicker of pride and resentment flashed across Wang Sen's face. "Because I had a trick up my sleeve! I've long known that those nobles change their minds faster than turning the pages of a book. Once we're no longer useful, we'll be discarded like trash! So, I hid some of the...shady accounts and correspondence that the Ning Palace handled through our 'Youquan' in a place only I knew. I deliberately pretended my martial arts were crippled and had that idiot Zhao Si imprison me, just so the people in the Ning Palace would think I was a cripple and let their guard down! As long as I'm alive, those things are my lifeline!"
I see.
Su Qinghan understood, yet also felt a wave of fear. This Wang Sen was indeed a ruthless hero, scheming deeply. If it weren't for his alliance with Shen Ye, he would have been doomed today.
She glanced at Chen Ye, but found that his eyes were a little strange.
From the moment Wang Sen mentioned "Prince Ning," Chen Ye's eyes, as quiet as an ancient well, began to ripple slightly. When he heard about the deal between Prince Ning's Mansion and "Youquan," his grip on the hilt of his sword seemed to tighten a bit.
Su Qinghan was completely focused on revenge at the moment, and he just thought that he was touched by hearing the name of the mastermind behind the scenes, and did not think too much about it.
But she didn't know what kind of storm was brewing in Shen Ye's heart.
Prince Ning...
Chen Ye was no stranger to this name. He was one of the most prominent clients of the Tianji Pavilion. Over the years, the Tianji Pavilion had handled numerous "troubles" for him, from spying on intelligence to eliminating political enemies. Each one was a major case that would have shaken the world.
And at this moment, the person he cares about most is actually the target that this "big client" wants to eliminate.
An unprecedented sense of absurdity and crisis rose within Shen Ye. He felt as if he were standing at the center of a vast spider web, and every node of this web was inextricably linked to him. From the moment they met, he and Su Qinghan were perhaps destined to be entangled in this web, unable to break free.
He suppressed the confusion in his heart and maintained the calmness of an assassin. He knew that the most important thing now was to get Su Qinghan all the information she needed from Wang Sen.
Su Qinghan took a deep breath and asked the last and most crucial question.
"Was it Prince Ning who sent you to kill my father, Su Zhenting?"
This question, like a heavy hammer, hit the hearts of the three people in the secret room.
Wang Sen's face flickered with confusion, then fear. He shook his head desperately, "No... not us! We at Youquan wouldn't have the guts to confront a figure like Minister Su! We... we're just a second-rate assassin organization, doing dirty work that's not worthy of public display! Assassinating a second-rank official in the imperial court... we don't have the skills, much less the courage!"
His reaction didn't seem fake.
Su Qinghan's heart sank again.
If it wasn't Youquan, then who could it be? Since Prince Ning could hire Youquan to kill her, he could naturally hire another organization to kill her father.
A name, a name that she had deliberately avoided thinking about before, now appeared clearly in her mind.
Tianji Pavilion.
She turned her head suddenly and looked at Chen Ye beside her.
As for Shen Ye, the moment he heard the name "Su Zhenting", he froze in place as if struck by lightning.
This name...
This is the "letter of allegiance" of his assassin career!
That was the first "big order" he completed in order to prove his worth, to stand out from countless candidates and become an official assassin!
He remembered every detail of that mission. A full-moon night, a bamboo forest outside the city, an unarmed middle-aged civil servant. That sword strike, a clean, sharp one, without a moment's hesitation. To him, it was just a name, a codename, a stepping stone towards the position of "Zhuying."
At that time, he never imagined that behind that cold code name, there would be a family and a tenacious daughter who avenged her father.
At that time, he never thought that this daughter was Su Qinghan, whom he wanted to protect with his life!
It turned out that the light he longed for was extinguished by his own hands.
It turns out that the person he wants to protect, and his biggest enemy, is himself.
The cruelty and irony of fate were fully revealed at this moment. He felt as if his heart was being gripped by an invisible hand, barely able to breathe. The emotions suppressed by the "Lightless Heart Sutra" for years erupted like a volcano at this moment, and overwhelming guilt, pain, and despair instantly engulfed him.
He looked at Su Qinghan's eyes, which were full of inquiry and dependence. For the first time, he didn't dare to meet her gaze. He slowly lowered his head.
This subtle movement chilled Su Qinghan's heart. She read a possibility from Chen Ye's reaction that she least wanted to see.
"I...I'll tell you! I'll tell you!"
At this moment, Wang Sen, kneeling on the ground, seemed to have grasped at his last straw. Feeling the sword edge on his throat trembling slightly due to Shen Ye's agitation, he thought his chance had come, and his psychological defenses completely collapsed. He knew that if he didn't speak up, he would have no chance.
"Killing me is useless! I'm just a pawn!" Wang Sen shouted hysterically to save his life, "You asked me to set up a trap to kill Feiyue in the valley... No, the order to kill you all came from Prince Ning's Mansion! Everything I said is true!"
He repeated himself incoherently, fearing that the two would not believe him.
"I know! I know even more!" He saw that Su Qinghan and Shen Ye's attention was drawn to him, and he shouted even harder, "Prince Ning...Prince Ning has immense power! He can command more than just us, 'Youquan'!"
In order to survive, he revealed all the secrets he knew about that big shot.
"They can even...even invite the Tianji Pavilion!"
As soon as these words came out, the air in the secret room froze instantly.
Su Qinghan's pupils suddenly contracted, and she stared at Wang Sen intently, as if she wanted to see through him.
Wang Sen felt the murderous intent and desire in her eyes. He knew that he had made the right bet, and screamed even more hysterically, trying to throw out his last and most important chip.
"Back then...back then, the one who killed Minister Su was...from the Tianji Pavilion..."
The words are not finished~~
"call out!"
A sharp sound of breaking through the air came whistling from the dark depths of the tunnel behind the three people!
That's an arrow!
A cold arrow that was soaked in poison and was completely black!
It came so suddenly, so quickly, and its target was extremely precise, pointing directly at Wang Sen who was speaking!
"careful!"
Chen Ye's reaction was incredibly fast. He instinctively gave up his grip on Wang Sen and grabbed Su Qinghan, shielding her behind him. This was his instinct as an assassin, and the only thought left in his mind at that moment: protecting her.
However, the target of this arrow was not them from the beginning to the end.
"puff!"
A muffled sound.
The poisonous arrow pierced Wang Sen's chest accurately from behind.
Wang Sen's shouting stopped abruptly.
The expression on his face was frozen in that moment of ecstasy and ferocity. He lowered his head, staring in disbelief at the black, blood-stained arrowhead that emerged from his chest.
He opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but all that came out was mouthfuls of blood and broken organs.
"Well……"
He stretched out his hand, as if trying to grab something, but it eventually dropped weakly, and his whole body fell heavily forward to the ground, stirring up a cloud of dust.
His eyes, still wide open, were filled with fear of death and endless regret for not telling the secret.
The secret room returned to silence.
Su Qinghan was protected by Chen Ye behind him, staring blankly at Wang Sen lying in a pool of blood, and at the arrow that was stuck in his back with its tail feathers still trembling slightly.
The clue was cut off just like that.
Just before she was about to touch the ultimate truth, she was ruthlessly strangled by a hand from the darkness.
She slowly turned around and looked at the bottomless dark tunnel behind her.
There, it seemed as if there were a pair of cold eyes, watching them quietly.
That arrow was not only meant to silence the witness, but also a warning.
A bloody warning from Prince Ning, from the Tianji Pavilion, and from the huge force hidden in the deepest part of the capital.
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