Chapter 71
Chapter 71
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: Chapter Fifteen: Frame-Up (1)
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"These guys are really enjoying themselves. What's the deal with not even laying a hand on them?"
"Either they're not worth the effort, or there's nothing to gain even if you try."
"So which one are we?"
"Both."
"Both, huh. No value, nothing to gain."
"Honestly, what do we even know? Nothing at all. We don't even know who gave us the orders. Vanguard might know a little more, but even he’s probably in the dark—just one step up the ladder. Right?"
"Heh heh! Spot on."
"We can't forget that Zhuge Soso is the 'Southern Small' of the North Great, South Small proverb. That woman knows far more about us than we realize."
"Shut your traps! Quiet down!"
The guards outside bellowed.
The mission had already failed.
The assassination warning was set for midnight, but the night had long passed, and dawn was breaking.
They hadn't killed the head of the Zhuge family.
In truth, the order had been impossible from the start. Assassinating the Zhuge patriarch required detailed intel, but they'd been given nothing—just a blunt command to kill him. It was no different from saying, "Sneak in and die."
Vanguard had three official Supreme Guards under him.
They were publicly acknowledged elites, even within the Heavenly Annihilation Division—true masters.
And yet, they'd been discarded like this.
Now, the failed assassins had to choose their place to die.
Their continued survival wouldn't be tolerated. They might live, but the binding curse that held them in check would activate. Whatever that curse demanded, it would come to pass.
The only way to stop it was for them to die.
"Did things go as planned?"
Vanguard asked the empty air. Or rather, he asked Four Thousand Four.
"They did not."
Four Thousand Four answered.
"I know it didn't go as planned since you failed to kill the patriarch. But what I want to know is... what were you thinking when you let yourself get captured?"
"It went exactly as planned."
For a moment, a heavy silence fell over the Thunder Prison.
Four Thousand Four had been led out by the guards. Then he returned. He left and came back looking exactly the same.
Why had they needed Four Thousand Four in the first place?
It had to be connected to that bizarre pose he'd struck. No, that's why they'd summoned him.
They were wondering: Where did he get that idea? How did he know they'd be interested in such a display? Who fed him the information?
He must have known something, which was why he'd done it.
Jaja asked.
"Where did it go wrong?"
"The patriarch isn't here right now."
"What?!"
"If the patriarch had been here, he would have shown himself. But someone else appeared instead. That's where it fell apart."
Four Thousand Four spoke with utter conviction.
Zhuge Soso was a master of strategy, with brilliant intellect. But the final authority in the Zhuge family rested with the patriarch. She didn't make the decisions—he did. No matter how trivial, every choice required his approval.
What if the patriarch had heard about the Soul Bewitching Heart Technique?
Zhuge Soso might have tried to dissuade him... but the one who appeared wouldn't have been a fake. Would the real patriarch hide from mere assassins?
The fact that a fake had shown up meant Zhuge Soso held the real power.
Of course, she might not be the sole decision-maker. Someone else—by rank or position—could hold sway. But they weren't as enthusiastic about the Soul Bewitching Heart Technique as the patriarch would be.
They could take it or leave it. So they deferred to Zhuge Soso.
Vanguard said.
"Did you need any help from us?"
No. They had no role to play. But he couldn't say that outright. He knew why they'd been taken alive.
"Help me from now on."
"From now on? There's more left?"
"Who knows."
Four Thousand Four replied vaguely.
Their help had never been necessary from the beginning. Asking for it now would raise suspicions. Creating some contrived task would tip them off immediately.
Better to invent something for the future. What it would be, even he didn't know yet.
The Binding Curse, the blood pact.
The blood pact had been placed by the Heavenly Annihilation Division, binding him directly to Vanguard's command.
The Blood Meridian Seal was Zhuge Soso's doing.
He still didn't know what the Blood Meridian Seal did. His body moved freely, his qi flowed normally. He'd been stabbed with needles at key meridians, yet nothing seemed amiss.
But it was Zhuge Soso's acupuncture. It couldn't be harmless.
Sooner or later, these two bindings would clash. Obey the blood pact or the seal... serve the Heavenly Annihilation Division or heed Zhuge Soso.
That's why she'd applied the seal.
Of course, Four Thousand Four's choice was already set. The Heavenly Annihilation Division... He couldn't defy the blood pact.
The seal only bound his own body, but the pact...
Zhuge Soso's efforts were in vain.
Still, he remembered her touch. The paths her fingers had traced. The spots where the needles pierced. He connected those memories in a line.
He replayed the entire Blood Meridian Seal process in his mind.
Clunk!
The door swung open. Familiar footsteps echoed... Zhuge Soso was approaching. A stranger's heavy tread accompanied her—a man's steps so imposing they sent chills down his spine just from the sound.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
They advanced, and with each step, light flooded the Thunder Prison.
They were lighting the wall torches as they came.
Four Thousand Four looked at Zhuge Soso. She delicately lifted her jade-like hand to ignite a torch.
Her arm gleamed smooth and luminous, like fine white jade.
A stern-faced man stood beside Zhuge Soso. A faint, murderous glint emanated from his eyes... a gaze that numbed the legs. A cruel, terrifying figure.
'He doesn't belong here!'
Four Thousand Four scrutinized the man.
He didn't fit the Zhuge family mold. Zhuge clansmen embodied inner steel, outer silk—fiercely strong yet appearing gentle as lambs.
This man was outer steel. No, an outer blade. Like a honed sword ready to strike.
"Hand them over."
Zhuge Soso said with a nod of her chin.
The attendants who'd followed tossed weapons into the Thunder Prison from their arms.
Into Vanguard's cell, Jaja's cell...
Clang!
Weapons rained into the prison.
Vanguard's sword. Hanbi's and Jaja's gear. Even the three-foot longsword Four Thousand Four had worn at his waist.
Vanguard hesitated to grab his sword and asked.
"What does this mean?"
Zhuge Soso swept back a loose strand of hair and replied.
"I'm letting you go."
"Letting us go?"
"I need to know your name, don't I? What's your name?"
Ignoring Vanguard's question, Zhuge Soso turned to Four Thousand Four.
"Four Thousand Four."
"Four Thousand Four? What does that mean?"
"No meaning... Four Lords, Four Shadows. I added an extra 'Four' from Four Shadows to make Four Lords Four Shadows."
"I meant your real name."
"I don't think I'll escape the fate of Four Thousand Four. So remember me as that."
"You're awfully polite for an assassin, you know that?"
"..."
"Unable to escape the fate of Four Thousand Four... Sounds like a warning to me."
"..."
"Fine. I'll take it to heart. More importantly... How did it feel to kill my father yesterday?"
"...!"
"Why play dumb? You killed him last night. Slipped up behind like a ghost and snapped his neck, right?"
The prisoners imagined Four Thousand Four's movements.
It wasn't hard to picture how he'd moved and struck.
A ghostly approach... movement straight out of the Nineteen Hells.
Snapping necks was his specialty. Probably the fastest killer in the world.
Had Four Thousand Four killed someone last night?
He hadn't said so himself, and no rumors had reached them from outside.
Yes. He'd said it went as planned. Someone had appeared before him, and he'd struck. But since the patriarch wasn't there, it had gone awry... meaning he'd killed someone else.
Four Thousand Four had done something, after all.
Zhuge Soso approached Four Thousand Four's cell and said.
"You... killed the Zhuge patriarch."
"What are you talking about?"
Four Thousand Four didn't flinch. He remained utterly calm from start to finish. No words seemed capable of shaking him.
"The man you killed last night. That was my father."
"..."
"Ga. We caught one more besides these guys. Take him too."
"You're really letting us go?"
"I know there's one more up in the mountains. But that one... the guy who killed Golden-Eyed Black Bear with Fire Lin, right? Impressive. We know he's in the mountains, but we can't find a trace."
"Why let us go?"
"The moment you meet the Fox of Bireung Mountain, the chase begins. Get caught, and you're dead. Oh, right—I haven't introduced him yet. This is the one who'll hunt you down. In the martial world, they call him the Beautiful Face Laughing Killer."
"W-what?!"
"B-Beau... Beautiful..."
Hanbi and Jaja cried out in shock almost simultaneously. Vanguard twitched and eyed the man.
The Beautiful Face Laughing Killer was the grim reaper of the Heavenly Annihilation Division's assassin squad.
He knew their every move inside out and possessed the skills to kill any of them.
Was the Beautiful Face Laughing Killer one of the Zhuges?
The Beautiful Face Laughing Killer grinned and said.
"I'll open the door. If you want to fight... it's simple. You know how."
He treated anyone pointing a weapon at him as an enemy. Joke or not, righteous or demonic, senior or junior—he didn't care. Point a blade, and he'd unleash a killing blow.
Want to fight him? Just make a move.
"Open it."
At his word, the attendants flung open the cell doors.
"Follow me. I won't guide you all the way to the mountain—can't have us spotted and embarrass the Zhuges. If you stray from my path, I'll take it as a challenge."
The Beautiful Face Laughing Killer declared arrogantly.
Yet even stranger... despite his words, Vanguard, Hanbi, and Jaja fell deathly silent. No objections.
'This guy's a monster!'
Four Thousand Four found no opening in the Beautiful Face Laughing Killer.
Instinctively—cursed as his nature was—when meeting people, he first considered how to kill them.
How to kill this one?
The moment he saw Zhuge Soso, his body had frozen. He hadn't even thought of killing her.
Everyone else was a potential target.
Meeting Vanguard, Jaja, Wild Boar... he'd instantly pondered the quickest ways to end them. Not just killing, but the fastest method.
The fastest...
His idea of "fastest" was far from the martial world's notion of swift strikes.
It was the distance and time from death's onset to life's end. Ideally, without them even sensing death.
That was "fastest."
The Beautiful Face Laughing Killer couldn't be killed. No gap whatsoever.
For the first time in his life, Four Thousand Four had met someone he couldn't slay.