Outside the door,
Knocking sounds were heard.
The discussion among the Blood Rain Pavilion’s people came to a halt.
Because the person knocking at the door at this time could only be the two people invited by the Vice Master for tonight.
Before opening the door, the woman in red exchanged a glance with the man in black.
The meaning of that glance was clear.
The Prince Yan is not a good person, and if you stay here, it may cause trouble.
The man in black understood.
He immediately got up, took his sword, and concealed himself behind a screen.
The others did not move, as if they were all waiting for someone to open the door first.
Seeing this scene, the proposer tried to make amends for his mistake.
So he put on a blood-red mask, stood up first, and bowed to the woman in red, saying, “I will go and open the door.”
The others also put on their masks.
Although they were only half masks, barely enough to cover the upper half of their faces, the patterns on the masks were complicated and eerie enough to hide their true identities.
The woman in red put on the blood-red butterfly mask at hand.
She put down her teacup and smiled, “Go ahead, but be sure to welcome our distinguished guests carefully, don’t neglect them.”
The proposer was overjoyed and went to open the door.
However, when he pulled open the carved door and saw the person sitting in a wheelchair, there was a moment of doubt on his face.
This was the Prince Yan, who was known for her suspicion, eccentricity, and ferocity?
He didn’t quite look like it.
But when the proposer saw Chu Shao standing next to Xiao Jin, he could tell who they were at a glance.
After all, Chu Shao’s appearance was truly worthy of the title of the most beautiful woman in Yao country.
The proposer was originally from Qi country. When he saw the current prince, he instinctively tried to put on a respectful smile.
However, his smile only made it halfway before he remembered that he was now a spy for Blood Rain Pavilion and a subordinate of Shen Yuan. Due to these two reasons, he had to suppress his smile and respectfully bow to Xiao Jin before leading her to the vacant seat at the banquet.
However, he was surprised that before taking his seat, the young prince of Qi country, who was notorious for his ferocity, lifted her head and stared at a plain landscape screen for quite some time.
The expression of the prince of Yan was very calm, and her eyes were also very calm. Despite having a delicate, feminine face, she still had some kind of intimidating presence.
Some people were just like that, even when sitting pale-faced in a wheelchair, they always made the people of Blood Rain Pavilion inexplicably nervous and even a little frightened.
Of course, this did not include the woman in red or the man with a folding fan. It wasn’t until Xiao Jin withdrew her gaze and picked up the porcelain cup beside her that everyone cleared their throats and looked away.
Xiao Jin and Chu Shao sat on the right side of the table. Xiao Jin calmly drank her tea without saying much, while Chu Shao just smiled and didn’t even bother to look at the people at the table. For a moment, the room was strangely quiet.
No one spoke, and no one dared to speak out of turn in such a situation.
It was a long time before the woman in red finished scrutinizing Chu Shao and Xiao Jin.
She then suddenly laughed a few times and stood up gracefully.
Raising the empty cup in her hand, she said to Xiao Jin, “I’ve heard of the great name of the Prince of Yan in Qi country for a long time, and now I finally have the pleasure of meeting you in person.”
Xiao Jin did not raise her cup, nor did she respond.
She just looked calmly at the blood-red mask on the woman in red’s face.
Her gaze seemed to say:
If you have long admired my name, why do you not dare to show your true face?
After a while, the woman in red’s hand still hung in the air.
Xiao Jin had no intention of responding, and she had no intention of retracting her hand.
Someone in the room couldn’t stand it anymore.
He couldn’t help but sneer, “Your Highness the Prince of Yan, since you came here to meet us, you are also a guest invited by our deputy leader.”
“The host has already raised his cup, but the guest remains indifferent. The Qi royal family’s arrogance is really great!”
Some people felt he was making sense.
So, they also slammed the table and boldly echoed, “That’s right, this is the territory of our Blood Rain Pavilion! Whether you are an emperor or a prince, if you enter our place, you must abide by our rules.”
Their words were quite unpleasant.
However, the woman in red’s entire face was hidden behind the mask, and she continued to hold the tea cup calmly, showing no signs of stopping them.
Xiao Jin saw everything, but remained indifferent.
Until the tea in the cup was empty.
After quenching her thirst, she slowly put down the porcelain cup and said, “Actually, you all think too much.”
Hearing this, Chu Shao felt that Xiao Jin was probably going to say something unexpected again, and couldn’t help but smile.
The people at the Blood Rain Pavilion did not understand Xiao Jin.
They just couldn’t figure it out.
What does it mean… they were overthinking?
In the next moment, Xiao Jin answered their question: “I said you were overthinking. There are actually three main reasons, although I know your time is valuable and these reasons may sound a bit tedious, but I still have to say them.”
She then smiled slightly and added, “After all, this is important.”
The people at the Blood Rain Pavilion looked at the young face.
Xiao Jin’s expression was calm.
But for some reason, they always felt like they were being tricked by her.
Xiao Jin’s features were naturally cold.
She usually wore black or dark-colored clothes, giving off a somewhat oppressive feeling.
At this moment, she seemed to have curved a smile, but it was better not to smile.
Because her smile was cold and thin, giving off a feeling of insincerity.
If you observe carefully, there is also a hidden…intent to kill.
Of course, the reason why the people at the Blood Rain Pavilion had this illusion was actually due to a reason.
Because the system had told Xiao Jin before releasing the mission, “The system has detected that the difficulty of this mission is too high for the host alone, so the system will add an additional layer of prestige enhancement for free.”
In short, she might not be able to handle it alone, so she needed an extra buff layer.
Xiao Jin: “……”
“What does ‘increased coolness’ mean?”
The system kindly explains: “During this period, everything you do will appear very profound and meaningful.”
Xiao Jin is speechless: “What does ‘appear very profound and meaningful’ mean?”
The system says, “Because this buff will make you radiate an impressive aura from within, no matter what you do, and achieve a psychological impact on your opponents.”
…
Using pretentiousness to intimidate opponents.
This may be the most useless buff in history.
Xiao Jin experiences this buff firsthand and realizes its effect is simple. It means that even if she can’t overpower her opponent with strength, she can still dominate them with her aura.
Feeling confident, Xiao Jin opens with, “First of all, I need to clarify that I am not here as a guest.”
The people at the table all wear half masks. Xiao Jin cannot see their expressions, and they cannot see each other’s expressions either.
However, the corners of their mouths revealed through the masks show no trace of a smile.
Xiao Jin is not concerned about what the people at the Blood Rain Pavilion think. In regards to this negotiation, she only wants to achieve her ultimate goal. Therefore, she needs to identify the person with the most authority at the table.
So Xiao Jin turns her head and looks at the woman in the red dress sitting at the head of the table.
She knew that person was the Vice Master of the Pavilion mentioned by the head of the shop.
Looking at the person with the highest status at the table, Xiao Jin did not feel any fear, only calmly stated a fact: “Some time ago, the people from the Blood Rain Pavilion broke into the mansion where I was temporarily staying… I believe that it was intentional by your organization, rather than your people accidentally getting lost, right?”
Xiao Jin’s question was very sharp.
And it was a knowingly asked question.
As long as the people from the Blood Rain Pavilion were not idiots, they would not have gone to the wrong place.
The people from the Blood Rain Pavilion understood that once this statement was made, if they were to offer any further explanations and claim that it was all a misunderstanding, they would only confirm their status as fools.
Sitting on the territory of the Blood Rain Pavilion, without a single soldier by his side, yet daring to be so brazen.
The people at the table were getting uneasy.
However, the woman in red remained calm.
She even put down the empty cup, poured herself another cup of tea, and smiled: “Your Highness Yan, those people who mistakenly entered your mansion were indeed assassins from our Blood Rain Pavilion.”
“Just that your words are inaccurate. People in our line of work are not doing things intentionally, they are just taking people’s money and helping them get rid of disasters.”
“Moreover, the Blood Rain Pavilion has no intention of making enemies with Your Highness Yan. It’s just that trivial matters like accepting bounty missions are handled by the people from the Third Court.”
It seems like she’s shifting the blame aggressively.
Realizing this, Xiao Jin did not pay attention to the other party’s explanation and asked again: “So where are the people from the Third Court now?”
The woman in red just smiled without saying a word.
The woman in red smiled but remained silent. After a moment, she pointed lightly at the ground and said, “The head of the Third Court has already died.”
Xiao Jin furrowed her brows slightly.
The woman in red continued, “The owner of Blood Rain Pavilion found out that the head of the Third Court had a questionable identity. She believed that he was a spy from another faction that had infiltrated Blood Rain Pavilion, so she executed him on the spot.”
Xiao Jin keenly noticed that whenever the owner of Blood Rain Pavilion was mentioned, the people of Blood Rain Pavilion seemed somewhat unnatural in their behavior and expressions. They seemed to be afraid of the person who had never shown up since the woman in red arrived.
Although the owner of Blood Rain Pavilion had never appeared in person, there was always a shadow of that person behind everything since the woman in red arrived.
Xiao Jin furrowed her brows and said, “So the deputy leader owner’s intention is that Blood Rain Pavilion is not the one who wants to harm me.”
“You just chose the wrong head, accepted the wrong reward, believed in the wrong information, and incidentally robbed people for their money to eliminate disasters?”
This series of words perfectly analyzed the implicit meaning of the deputy leader owner’s words. She wanted Xiao Jin to see the good and let go, to settle everything peacefully.
The woman in red was a bit surprised. She had only mentioned that Blood Rain Pavilion had been infiltrated by other factions and hadn’t revealed too much information. But Xiao Jin’s guess was extremely accurate.
It was because Blood Rain Pavilion had indeed received the wrong information that they had accepted the wrong reward. The information stated that the Yan Prince and Princess were not in their Mansion that night and had gone to the Qingzhou County Governor’s mansion with the Crown Prince to discuss disaster relief. So the two Shen Masters heads had accepted the reward and brought assassins to solve the three people on the wanted list.
When they saw the Crown Prince and Prince Yan in the courtyard, they had already realized that something was wrong.
But Blood Rain Pavilion has always kept their promises. Once they accept a bounty, they must eliminate the target and there is no turning back.
So the two Shen Masters decided to split up and attack from both sides. This decision could have completed the mission. But they didn’t expect a peerless expert to appear and hinder their actions.
Recalling all of this, the woman in red thought of what Xiao Jin said earlier: they chose the wrong master, took the wrong bounty, believed in the wrong intelligence, and took people’s money to eliminate their problems.
Although the first three things sound like shifting the blame, they are indeed true. As for the fourth thing, it is Blood Rain Pavilion’s style.
So the woman in red nodded and admitted this fact honestly: “Yes.”
To her surprise, Xiao Jin smiled and said, “So that’s how it is.”
Seeing the other party smile sincerely, the woman in red felt that this was probably a signal for reconciliation with the Yan Mansion.
It seemed that Xiao Jin was a rare person who could see the bigger picture. The woman in red was very satisfied.
However, Chu Shao sitting aside, sipping tea, thought that everything was not so simple. She raised her teacup and smiled lightly. Moreover, I’m afraid it has just begun.
Sure enough, the next moment, Xiao Jin’s smile disappeared. She immediately changed the subject and said expressionlessly, “So it turns out that I am not a guest here tonight.”
The woman in red was taken aback.
Xiao Jin continued slowly, “The Vice Master has admitted just now that no matter what the reasons are, the people in your building killed the person I wanted to protect. Once a person is dead, they cannot be brought back to life. Therefore, I have a big grudge against Blood Rain Pavilion.”
There was a moment of silence at the table.
After a moment, a man in white stood up, clapping his fan and smiling as he spoke to Xiao Jin, “That’s a huge grudge!”
Xiao Jin frowned at the man.
The woman in red did not understand where this man came from.
The man in white noticed Xiao Jin’s expression and introduced himself with a smile, “I am the fourth master of Blood Rain Pavilion, with the surname Shangguan and the single name Xun.”
Shangguan Xun.
The name sounded childish, and the man himself seemed immature.
Seems quite inferior.
Xiao Jin nodded calmly.
As a member of the Blood Rain Pavilion who dares to use his real name, Shangguan Xun is not from Qi, and is not afraid of being threatened by Xiao Jin.
So he spoke quite casually.
He even began to talk about something else on his own: “To be honest, I really like the poetry you wrote, Your Highness Yan. The sun shines on thousands of households, and always replaces the old symbol with a new peach… It’s so full of artistic conception, and the wording is so good!”
Xiao Jin: “…”
“I didn’t write that poem.”
Shangguan Xun nodded, meaningfully saying, “Oh, I know, Your Highness, you keep a low profile and don’t show off your talents.”
Seeing Shangguan Xun’s “I understand” expression, Xiao Jin realized that the other party seemed to not understand human speech.
So she simply gave up explaining and treated the person in front of her as a fan of Wang.
Shangguan Xun didn’t care at all about Xiao Jin’s silence.
He smiled and continued, “I thought that someone like Your Highness Yan, who hides her talents and treasures, must have some unspoken grand ambition, but now…”
“Now that the Blood Rain Pavilion has only solved a little girl’s problem, and you still have two other witnesses available, why do you claim to have a deep-seated hatred with the Blood Rain Pavilion?”
The woman in red smiled.
After drinking her tea, she casually reprimanded Shangguan Xun, “Master Shangguan, you got it wrong. Her Highness Yan just wants an explanation. She thinks that one chief of the Three Pavilions dying is not enough, and that another chief should also pay the price.”
Shangguan Xun sighed and said sadly, “Vice Master, I understand all of this.”
“But the chief of the Three Pavilions is already dead, and the two Shen Masters are also in a bad situation. One had his power greatly reduced by the Pavilion Master, and the other is still in the hands of Her Highness Yan.”
The woman in red also sighed, “Yes, although those two masters are very pitiful, they also did something wrong.”
“If Her Highness Yan wants the life of the Shen Masters, I can ask the Pavilion Master for permission, but…the Shen Masters was ultimately used as a tool by someone else, and the mistake lies only in foolishness, not cruelty.”
The two echoed each other.
One sang red, the other sang white, and they cooperated very well.
Xiao Jin was extremely impressed.
Their performance was so smooth and natural that she didn’t even know if they had rehearsed beforehand.
However, Xiao Jin was not buying it at all. “You are all correct, but I am surnamed Xiao. I don’t need or want to hear your explanations, nor do I want those two masters from the Shen family to pay the price.”
“Because the person I wanted to protect is already dead. Even if they were crippled, tortured to death, Qin Xueyi wouldn’t come back. So I don’t need them to pay any price.”
The Blood Rain Pavilion fell silent.
If they didn’t need to pay a price, then what did they need?
“I came here not to exchange Qin Xueyi’s death for anything. She was just a little girl. Don’t impose such dirty things on her.”
Xiao Jin smiled and said, “So please make it clear that I am the one who caught your master. I want to use this worthless person to make the behind-the-scenes murderer pay an equal price.”
At this point, Xiao Jin’s tone became more serious.
“In other words, it was you who invited me here to negotiate, and now I am the one making the demands. You can do everything possible to minimize your losses, but you can’t tell me what to do. Of course, even if you tell me what to do, I won’t listen to you.”
It seemed a bit funny.
Xiao Jin laughed, “It’s funny, I’m the Prince Yan of Qi Country, who do I need to listen to?”
Silence.
After a moment, someone at the table stood up and cursed, “Xiao Jin, don’t push your luck…even if you are a prince, if you anger the Blood Rain Pavilion, we can kill you right here and no one would know!”
Xiao Jin understood that even the most terrifying and bloody organizations would always have one or two less intelligent people.
She smiled instead of getting angry, “Outside this little building is the most elite guard of the Yan Prince’s Mansion. If you are not afraid, you are welcome to try.”
After hearing this, the expression under the red-clothed woman’s mask changed slightly.
She knew about the Yan Prince’s Mansion’s guards.
Although the Garrison Army was only Xiao Jin’s private soldiers, in terms of numbers, they were naturally incomparable to the Qi Country’s Shenji Camp.
But the year before the expedition against Yao, the leader under the Yan Prince’s command, Jue Ge, led this team and assassinated Feng Zijin, the most famous general of Yao.
To be honest, she didn’t want to fight against this team at all.
The person who slammed the table also didn’t look very good at this moment.
However, he suddenly seemed to remember something and said confidently: “So what? As the saying goes, capture the ringleader first, as long as we catch you, do you think your guards will still dare to attack us?”
The other person at the table seemed to have also realized something and echoed: “Exactly, stop being so arrogant here. You are just a disabled person sitting in a wheelchair now, what power do you have to resist?”
Xiao Jin just looked at him quietly and smiled without saying a word.
As expected by Xiao Jin.
In the next moment, a dagger was placed on the man’s neck.
At some point, the elegant figure had come to the man’s side.
Her posture was very graceful, and her lips curved into a gentle smile: “Why not say something else?”
“Go ahead, who’s the disabled one?”
The feeling of having a dagger held to his neck was not pleasant.
The man trembled his lips, frightened and pale.
The imposing manner from earlier had already dissipated by more than half, and he couldn’t even say a word.
At this point, everyone from the Blood Rain Pavilion was looking at Chu Shao.
Because Xiao Jin had drawn too much attention earlier, they had almost forgotten that there was still a Yan Princess sitting here.
But when everyone remembered, it was already too late.
They had all made a fatal mistake.
They had ignored another piece of intelligence from Master Shen: there was a master hidden in the Yan Prince’s Mansion.
A master who was at his prime and could match him in strength.
Although it was unclear for what reason, Master Shen had concealed the identity of that master, but now it seemed that the identity of the other party was about to be revealed.
At this point, the man’s arrogance had been reduced, but it was already too late.
Chu Shao spoke softly, “Since you don’t want to say anything else, it’s a pity.”
“In that case, your last sentence will be your final words.”
As soon as she finished speaking, a large spray of blood spattered from the man’s neck.
Before he could even use his weapon to save his life, the slender dagger flashed with a silver light and instantly pierced through his throat.
But Chu Shao couldn’t be bothered to use a sword on such a person. She only needed a knife. After the knife struck, blood splattered onto the dishes on the table. This was Chu Shao’s greeting gift to the Blood Rain Pavilion.
Silence.
A long and profound silence.
The man who had just slammed the table had already retreated in fear. His face was filled with terror as he ran towards the woman in the red dress, his voice trembling, “deputy… Deputy leader, she’s crazy! Save me…”
But before he could get close to the woman in the red dress, a flying knife accurately stabbed him in the chest. He lowered his head, looking at the blood-red mark on the handle of the knife.
Then, with disbelief, he raised his head and looked towards the person standing in the distance who had made the move. The woman in the red dress held the flying knife, and the blood butterfly on her mask seemed to be dancing.
She smiled sweetly. After a snap of her fingers and a flick of her wrist, she threw the second flying knife towards the man’s throat. Another beautiful spray of blood burst forth.
But this time, it was the deputy leader who personally made the move and killed her own subordinate. At this point, whether those who knew the woman in the red dress or those who did not, all fell silent.
Those who knew her well knew that after Chu Shao had demonstrated her astonishing strength, those two people were already dead.
Shen Lang, the yard master of the Blood Rain Pavilion and the second-ranked expert, had said that during her prime, Chu Shao could even fight him to a draw.
This strength was too terrifying. Although Shen Lang was currently at the Sun Shining Pavilion, he had been injured by an arrow and was silently hiding behind a screen.
Outside, the garrison army was lurking in the shadows. If they didn’t die, then the other members of the Blood Rain Pavilion would be in danger.If they didn’t die, how could they quell the anger of the Yan Prince and Princess those who did not know the woman in the red dress were now well aware.
The tower master and the deputy leader had intended to lure their enemy into a trap, but instead, the Blood Rain Pavilion had become the ones being threatened.
Turning to Xiao Jin sitting in the wheelchair, they could see that her delicate and pretty face no longer allowed anyone to treat her as a terminally ill and useless person.
After all, this person who couldn’t even stand had calculated everything in the setup, and such a person was very frightening.
Because she not only knows how to hide, but also knows how to pretend.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author’s note: Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or provided nutrient solution from 23:35:28 on April 01, 2022, to 23:59:34 on April 03, 2022.”
TO BE CONTINUE…
Comment