Chapter 45: Returning to Tingyu Tower, the only thing I care about is your life or death...
"I still prefer you to call me Chu Lin."
He said this calmly, without any embarrassment of having his undercover identity discovered.
But Chu Lin is indeed such a person. He is always calm and composed. He disguises himself too well. Because of this, Luo Wan in the previous life never doubted his identity.
Until now, Luo Wan still couldn't believe it.
If they had not intercepted Shen Zhiyan's carriage, she might have been kept in the dark until her death in this life, just like in her previous life.
Luo Wan said, "If you admit it so readily, why did you miss the palace banquet and the wild hunt?"
Chu Lin said, "I originally didn't want to involve you, so I avoided you. Later, I found out that you and the teacher had some connections, and I'm afraid my identity can no longer be concealed."
The teacher he was referring to was naturally Liu Zong, who had informed Luo Wan of the Ninth Prince's life experience. It seemed a bit far-fetched to say that she received his care just because she was somewhat similar to his student, but if this person was Chu Lin, everything became more reasonable.
Luo Wan said, "With your identity, even if you were exposed, Tingyu Tower wouldn't be able to do anything to you. Besides, you're not a child anymore. You have the ability to protect yourself. Isn't it good to be a high and mighty prince?"
She said this with a clearly sarcastic tone, but he ignored her and smiled, "As I said before, I still prefer you to call me Chu Lin."
So he chose to rescue her at the poetry and martial arts conference, appeared at Shen Zhiyan's wedding banquet to look at her, and chose to reveal his identity in front of her.
Luo Wan was disgusted by his smile and turned away.
Chu Lin chased after her and followed her to an inn. The waiter noticed the subtle atmosphere between them, and with a knife and sword in hand, he asked cautiously if they wanted to stay in the hotel.
The two rooms were connected. The inn was in the suburbs and was not as luxurious as the restaurants and inns in the city, so the sound insulation was relatively poor. Basically, if there was any movement next door, one could hear it by listening quietly here.
Luo Wan sat by the window, looking at the public wall, and heard Chu Lin enter the door, close the door, and then go out.
Sure enough, there was a knock on her door.
It was like this in the past. When they were on a mission and had disagreements on actions, Luo Wan was not a person who liked to explain or change other people's opinions. She would often just put the problem aside and leave. But every time, she would wait for Chu Lin to come to her with a solution and communicate with her in a nice tone.
That's why she trusted him so much in her previous life.
Chu Lin came to her side, followed her line of sight to the bright moon hanging in the sky, then retracted his gaze to her face and said, "If you have anything you want to know, you can ask me."
Luo Wan didn't look at him: "I don't want to know."
Chu Lin, the ninth prince, Beiye Si, the son of Concubine Lan, the emperor's favorite prince, Liu Zong's most respected student, an undercover agent forced to live in Tingyu Tower, didn't she already know all this?
Chu Lin said: "But there is something I want to know."
Luo Wan then looked at him.
Chu Lin continued, "You killed Tan Yin's shadow. You are at the same level as Tan Yin, so logically you can't kill her shadow. What are you going to do after you return to Tingyu Tower?"
Luo Wan asked in return: "Are you aware of everything I said and did in the capital?"
"Not really," he said honestly. "I did send someone to follow you, but it was only to protect your safety. I'm under constant scrutiny in the capital, which is inconvenient. I can't see anyone outside the palace very often, so they won't report every detail of your actions to me. Otherwise, it would be easy for others to follow the clues and suspect your identity."
Luo Wan asked, "Then why didn't your people show up on the day Shen Zhiyan was assassinated?"
He said he would send someone to protect her, but when Tan Yin and her shadow appeared, his people did not show up. If his people had shown up, Shen Zhiyan would not have been injured.
Chu Lin looked at her and said seriously, "The only thing I care about is your life or death."
Shen Zhiyan's life or death was not within his consideration at all, so after Luo Wan hid Shen Zhiyan in the Temple of the God of War, the group of people naturally followed Luo Wan and left the Temple of the God of War.
Hearing this, Luo Wan was slightly stunned, and then he felt that people like Chu Lin were really hateful. He was sweet-mouthed but had a sharp tongue, and the person he protected and killed could actually be the same person.
Chu Lin said, "Those people were my secret guards. They didn't know your identity and didn't understand the rules of Tingyu Tower. When they saw you release Tan Yin, they didn't pursue you. If Tan Yin had died that day, we wouldn't be in this predicament now."
Luo Wan said: "Go back to the building and challenge Hui Xue, take his place, and the dilemma will naturally be solved."
He seemed to have not expected her to say that. After all, Luo Wan had only been a second-level master for less than three years, while Hui Xue had been a third-level master for more than ten years. He had also been at the forefront of the martial arts world, constantly hunting down traitors. One could imagine how good his martial arts skills were.
Chu Lin didn't ask any more questions, just nodded and said, "Okay."
When he left, he paused at the door and looked at Luo Wan's back by the window.
"Good night," he whispered.
Luo Wan woke up early the next morning. She went out and didn't see Chu Lin. She asked the waiter in the lobby downstairs, but he also said that he didn't see the young man come out.
The waiter wiped the table, threw the towel over his shoulder, and said, "Maybe he hasn't woken up yet."
Luo Wan frowned, thinking this was unusual. Chu Lin was never a sleepyhead, and he rarely woke up later than her.
She went to push Chu Lin's door, but when she saw the figure sleeping at the desk, she unconsciously slowed down her steps.
The oil lamp had long since burned out, leaving only a wisp of smoke. The scattered papers on the desk shone slightly yellow in the morning light, the ink still wet, the result of a sleepless night.
Luo Wan's eyes swept across the papers that were half-hidden by Chu Lin's sleeves, and finally fell on a piece of paper that was not pressed down.
His handwriting was still the same as always. Luo Wan only realized at this moment that their handwriting was so similar.
When Luo Wan saw clearly what was written on the paper, he exerted force with his fingers slightly, his fingertips turned white, and the paper was wrinkled.
The above lists Huixue's martial arts style and his usual moves, and each move is thoroughly analyzed.
The other papers were filled with different contents, including what moves Hui Xue had used to kill people over the years and who had injured him. These two items were listed a lot and analyzed a lot.
There were also several pieces of paper that specifically recorded how to deal with Huixue's moves, followed by what moves Ah Wan could use to break them.
In addition, the remaining three third-level assassins were also more or less dismantled, because Tingyu Tower has an unwritten rule that third-level assassins can deal with lower-level assassins under special circumstances.
This unwritten rule is basically only used by Commander Liu Feng, because casualties are inevitable when training death squads.
The early morning sunlight shines through the window lattice, casting mottled light and shadow on Chu Lin's handsome profile, making him look as gentle as white jade.
She was increasingly confused as to why people always changed, and why Chu Lin also changed.
If only he could stay seventeen forever.
Thinking of this, she curled the corners of her mouth in self-mockery.
Who doesn't change? From seven to seventeen, she wasn't the same person.
Just as she turned to leave, a warm hand suddenly grabbed her wrist.
Chu Lin looked at her sleepily, the morning light flickering in his eyes.
"Are you blaming me?" The hoarse voice was wrapped in the scent of morning dew. Under Chu Lin's messy hair, the eyes were exactly the same as in his memory.
Taking advantage of his confusion, he finally asked the question that had been bothering him for so long.
Luo Wan broke free from his hand: "What am I blaming you for?"
Chu Lin shook his head and stopped talking.
Tingyu Tower is hidden deep in the mountains, shrouded in mist and clouds, with only birds passing through. After passing through the deep canyon and climbing a thousand stone steps, a huge bronze gate suddenly appeared before us, its ancient patterns mottled on it.
As soon as he reached the door, two black-clad warriors emerged silently from the shadows. One of them whispered, "The host has been waiting for you for a long time. Please go directly to the main hall."
The hall stood eerily tall, its black stone floor paved with candlelight, casting a dim shadow on either side, casting ghostly shadows. As Luo Wan entered the hall, the assassins on either side glanced at him sideways, their gazes sharp as knives.
On the high seat of the palace, a woman in a crimson gown blazing as blood, reclined on the dark iron throne, her fingertips tapping the armrests with a dull thud. She didn't even raise her eyes, but the sight sent a chill down one's spine.
That is the twelfth owner of Tingyu Tower, Sha Yan.
An existence whose name alone can send chills down the spines of the warriors.
When Luo Wan was young, he woke up from nightmares countless times, just because he caught a glimpse of a scarlet figure appearing on the training ground during the day. That meant that blood would be shed today.
Sha Yan never shows up easily, but once she appears, it means someone is going to die.
The assassins would fight like crazy, their moves so brutal they bordered on self-harm. No one dared to slack off, no one dared to hide their weaknesses, because Sha Yan's eyes were too sharp. Even if a move wasn't executed beautifully, or if they couldn't block the opponent's killing move, as long as she saw it, that person would be doomed.
The outcome depends entirely on Shayan's mood that day.
If she was in a good mood, she might just be starved for three days and then whipped; if she was in a bad mood, at the very least she would be thrown into the gantry to be used as a medicine man, and her life or death would be at the mercy of fate; at the worst, she would be thrown directly into the snake cave in the back mountain and would not survive the night.
Rumor has it that the eleventh master of Tingyu Tower was a man, and that Shayan was extremely young when he seized the throne. The details of that battle are unknown, though some can be glimpsed from the body that was carried out. Its tendons were shattered, and one leg was missing, its death a gruesome sight.
In Tingyu Tower, the dispute over who is the owner of the tower will not end until one side wins or the other loses.
The moment one reaches a high position, they are destined to become a stepping stone for those who come after them, and every previous landlord has a bad ending. But even so, there are still people who continue to challenge, including Luo Wan.
She still remembers that battle, for which she prepared for a whole year.
From Sha Yan's martial arts techniques to her attack habits, even down to the subtle curl of her pinky finger when she gripped the sword, she knew it by heart. She observed every move Sha Yan made and recorded every duel she fought.
That day, the sky was very overcast.
Sha Yan was still dressed in red, lazily leaning on her seat. She didn't even look at Luo Wan, but just said lightly, "Are you sure you want to fight?"
Luo Wan didn't say anything, but slowly drew out his sword.
At that time, Luo Wan was already tired of the life of a assassin. In Tingyu Tower, only by becoming the owner of the tower could he be truly free.
No one expected that the 20-year-old Luo Wan would win. Before that, everyone laughed at her for being too impatient.
When Sha Yan collapsed to the ground, all the assassins knelt in fear and said, "Welcome the new owner."
"You're finally here." Sha Yan spoke in a low and cold voice.
Luo Wan raised her eyes and met those eyes that seemed to be smiling but not smiling. They were sharp, arrogant, but also carried a bit of nonchalant murderous intent.
Sha Yan asked, "Where are the things?"
A assassin stepped forward, took the thing from Luo Wan's hand, and held it in front of Sha Yan. She just flipped it over twice casually and waved her hand to let the man go.
Sha Yan said, "I heard from Tan Yin that you killed her shadow."
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The author has something to say: A new volume is here~
Thanks to all the cute people who have read this far (＾ν＾)
Also: Thanks to min little angel for the thunder~
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