Years later, Wang Xi, the thirteenth disciple of Jian Lu, standing before that troop of cavalry, would surely recall that bright afternoon when Miss Sang Wen took him to select a girl, the same helplessness, the same headache.

At that time, Bao Yue Lou was already the top pleasure house in the world. The courtyards were scattered along both banks of the slender lake behind the building, like villas in the mansions of princes. There was thin ice on the lake, scattered snow on the ice, and countless scarlet petals in the snow, blown by the wind from the plum blossoms branches by the lake.

Yes, like blood and snow, icy yet incredibly fiery, just like the thoughts of that young nobleman who wrote the notice. But it was more like a bowl of noodle soup, the tender noodles floating in the beautiful broth, with a dozen or so chili peppers cut open with scissors, their bright red color stimulating the diner's eyes, heart, nose, and mouth.

Wang Xi took a deep breath, rubbed his nose, shook his head sadly, tapped his chopsticks on the table a couple of times, pierced the broth, picked up a chopstick of noodles, and ate them delicately and elegantly. He ate very refinedly, but the speed was extremely fast. In no time, only the white broth remained in the bowl.

He wasn't finished yet, he picked up the bowl and drank it all in one gulp.

Miss Sang Wen, who had returned to the capital from Suzhou with Deng Ziyue to report on her mission, looked at this fortune-teller with a gentle expression. Although she didn't know why the master had made such an arrangement, she was sure this fortune-teller was no ordinary person.

Indeed, he was extraordinary, very good-looking, with thin lips, sword-like eyebrows, and warm, intelligent eyes, possessing an air of serenity. Even now, as he drank the noodle soup, he looked so attractive.

Sang Wen had been observing the world of pleasure in the capital for a long time and naturally knew that eating noodle soup was the kind of thing that could make people look uncouth. Of course, she didn't think there was anything to despise about those rude men slurping noodles. However, watching this young fortune-teller turn eating noodles into an elegant act of reciting poetry, she felt some strange emotions in her heart.

Wang Xi put the noodle bowl on the table, frowned, and sighed. His eyebrows and breath were full of self-deprecation and helplessness. He turned to Sang Wen, looked at this woman with a slightly wide jaw but a particularly gentle appearance, and said softly, "Where is the girl you picked for me?"

……

……

"The girl and the noodle soup, you can only choose one." For some reason, Sang Wen found this young man very cute and said with a gentle smile, "Since you picked the noodles in the soup, let's forget about the girl."

Wang Xi said with a bitter face, "Even if I'm working, I should get some pay."

Sang Wen said quietly, "You're not here to work for the master."

Wang Xi suddenly fell silent, and after a long while, he said softly, "I've already drunk the noodle soup, but I don't understand why Miss Sang would personally make me a bowl of noodle soup, given your status."

Sang Wen was slightly taken aback, then smiled and said, "Director Chen likes the noodle soup I make."

Wang Xi was startled when he heard that person's name and said with emotion, "Then I am truly blessed."

Sang Wen bowed gently and said finally, "Just please remember one thing, sir, although noodle soup is too hot to drink in a hurry… but if you wait for the soup to cool down, it won't taste good anymore."

The girl didn't know what this sentence meant, she was just saying it as Fan Xian had instructed. But Wang Xi knew very well what it meant. The original agreement was that he had to bring Little Arrow's head to Fan Xian before entering the capital, but now Fan Xian had been recuperating in the capital for a long time, and he had made no move… not to mention the assassination in the valley.

The handsome young fortune-teller sighed again, looking indescribably sad and despondent. He picked up the green banner from the table and murmured, "But I… really don't like killing people."

Sang Wen didn't say anything more. She didn't know the details of this matter at all. Her meeting with this fortune-teller who claimed to be Iron Aspect today was purely for Fan Xian to use her experienced eyes to see what the other person's character and qualities were like.

Very genuine, very pure, that's all Sang Wen saw in the other person's eyes.

Wang Xi shook his head and sighed, walking out of the courtyard like a little old man. When he reached the courtyard gate, he suddenly tilted his head and asked in confusion, "You're not afraid that people will suspect you afterwards for calling me here?"

"Sir is intelligent, so you will come to me." Sang Wen said quietly, "Because sir is intelligent, you naturally know how to avoid other people's eyes and ears."

Wang Xi shook his head again and left Bao Yue Lou.

Sang Wen returned to her room, sat quietly for a long time, then the courtyard door was pushed open and a man came in with a frown, asking, "Wen'er, you just came back yesterday, why are you back in this broken building again?"

This man was none other than the flower protector whom Fan Xian had sent flying with a palm when he explored Bao Yue Lou at night. This man in Jianghu was infatuated with Sang Wen, so he had always felt disgusted with Bao Yue Lou.

Sang Wen looked up at him, smiled slightly. Although she was touched by this person's infatuation, she still couldn't allow this person to know any details about the Tisi, she smiled and said, "I am now the manager of Bao Yue Lou, if I don't come here, where can I go?"

The man looked at the large bowl on the table, smelled the faint fragrance coming from it, and couldn't help but relax his brows. He said with a chuckle, "Make me a bowl too, I haven't had it in a long time."

Sang Wen glared at him and said, "I don't have that free time now."

The man said sadly, "You made it for someone else."

Sang Wen said unhappily, "Do you think this bowl of noodles is that delicious? If you really eat it, I'm afraid you'll be very sad."

……

……

Wang Xi was very sad at this time, he was sitting in that shop at the city gate, staring blankly at the bowl of noodles in front of him, his incomparably gentle eyes wide open. No matter how delicious the noodles were, eating them three times a day would always make you want to vomit.

So he didn't touch the bowl of noodles, but just drank the tea next to it, cup after cup, as if he was extremely thirsty.

The tea server next to him looked at the fortune-teller with cold disdain, thinking that this young man could do anything but had to play the swindler, looking so poor that he could only use tea to eat with noodles.

After drinking a belly full of tea, the twilight of the capital, where the wind and snow had stopped, finally fell. Wang Xi picked up the green banner, coughed lightly, and passed through the city gate before it closed, becoming the last person to leave the city today.

Seven miles north of the city, he stopped on a mountain top, sat down on a large rock, looked up at the snow branches in the forest, lowered his head, picked up a large handful of snowflakes, put them in his mouth and chewed them, then placed the green banner in the snow and stared blankly at the military camp on the other side of the mountain.

The Yuantai Barracks of the Kyoto Garrison.

Wang Xi suddenly tilted his head, opened his mouth, and vomited with a "wah" sound. This vomiting was continuous, vomiting out all the noodles and soup he had eaten today, and the belly full of tea he had drunk later.

A messy and ugly gruel was vomited onto the clean snow, looking extremely disgusting, especially the faint fishy smell hidden in it, which made you want to retch.

But Wang Xi didn't vomit anymore, he just ate another ball of snow, then stared at the mess on the ground and examined it carefully. After a long while, he sighed, "What a powerful drug, it can actually increase the true energy in the body to such an overbearing level in one day."

He shook his head in admiration. This medicine was naturally given by Fan Xian through Sang Wen, in the noodle soup. Presumably, Fan Xian wanted him to take action, but didn't want him to have problems.

This medicine was exactly the yellow pill that Fan Xian had taken when he fought against two ninth-rank masters, Lang Tao and He Daoren, in the Northern Qi territory. Besides being a little exhausted afterward, there were no major side effects.

Wang Xi had of course noticed this, but still said with a bitter smile, "The king's honey is my poison. This medicine is poison to me, it almost killed me."

However, Fan Xian would definitely not be so kind as to help Wang Xi increase the success rate, as for what his plan was, Wang Xi didn't quite understand.

……

……

As night gradually fell, Wang Xi stood up, without looking at the green banner beside him, he went towards the Yuantai Barracks of the Kyoto Garrison under the cover of darkness. The target he wanted to kill had been hiding in that camp, using only the identity of a junior officer, and the defense around him was not very tight.

It's just that Wang Xi really didn't like killing people. Since leaving home, he had never stained his hands with blood. He cherished the people of the world and respected all life. Even under Fan Xian's strong pressure, he had tried countless times, but had no way to really assassinate someone who had no feud with him.

That's why the oath of fealty had been extended to this day.

In fact, the seasoning Fan Xian added to the noodle soup was a stimulant. He wanted Wang Shisanlang to be more courageous and more violent, but he didn't expect that this seasoning was of no use to Shisanlang, but was actually somewhat harmful to him.

So Wang Shisanlang was still calm at this time… and compassionate. But since he hadn't become crazy, and knew that the most powerful thing about an archer was his eyesight, and that archery was easiest to perform in the dark, why did he still choose this time to strike?

——————————————————————

In a corner of the Yuantai Barracks, Yan Xiao Yi's biological son, Yan Shen Du, was carefully repairing an arrow with a feather knife. His hands were incredibly steady, trimming the long feathers attached to the arrow tail extremely smoothly. "If you want to do a good job, you must first sharpen your tools." He had a pair of hands that a sharpshooter should have, so he could trim his arrows to be the fastest and most accurate.

Commander Yan had always believed in a principle: only children who are far away from their parents can have true success. Just as he had lost both his parents at a young age and lived by hunting in the mountains, he had cultivated such a cruel and resolute heart, and had been spotted by the young Princess Royal while she was playing in the mountains, taken out of the mountains, joined the army, and achieved countless military exploits with his skills, attaining such a lofty position.

So when Yan Shen Du was only twelve years old, Yan Xiao Yi drove him out of the house and entrusted him to the Princess Royal. The Princess Royal also knew the thoughts of her top general, and although she was gentle with Yan Xiao Yi, she never skimped on training. After he had mastered his skills, she secretly sent him to the Kyoto Garrison.

The Kyoto Garrison, which was now controlled by the Qin family.

Except for a few senior generals and the Princess Royal's confidants, no one knew that the son of the Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Expedition, Yan Shen Du, was working as an inconspicuous junior officer in the Kyoto Garrison.

Yan Shen Du lived up to his name, he didn't like to communicate with people, he only liked to communicate with arrows. So he had no partners in the army, only a group of subordinates he had personally trained, a group of subordinates who were loyal to the Princess Royal.

That day, when he ambushed the Second High Priest of the Shrine, Master San Shi, on the outskirts of Kyoto, it was Yan Shen Du's first operation. He thought the operation was very successful, because he didn't know what had happened later, so the confidence that had been suppressed deep in his heart emerged. He believed that except for his father, no one could withstand his long-range attacks.

Even a ninth-rank master couldn't. The effective range of a weapon determines life and death on the battlefield. This was a supreme principle that Yan Xiao Yi had never forgotten to teach his son.

Because of confidence, he was arrogant, so he was arrogant. When he heard that his father and Fan Xian, the Imperial Envoy of Jiangnan Road, had been recalled to Kyoto at the same time, and that the two sides might have a duel in the martial arts conference that had been suspended for many years, Yan Shen Du couldn't sit still.

He admired his father, but he also had a hint of admiration and jealousy in his heart for the dazzling Little Fan.

Young people all over the world were like this, Yan Shen Du couldn't be an exception. So he wanted to test what kind of great power that Little Fan had. On the one hand, he wanted to test the other party's depth for his father, and on the other hand, he couldn't resist the temptation, the temptation to shoot Fan Xian, who was famous all over the world, under his arrow. Whether for his father or for Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal, Fan Xian's death was undoubtedly an irresistible candy.

But he didn't dare to act rashly, because he was a soldier, he wouldn't take actions that disrupted the overall situation. He had to wait for the orders of his elders.

The elders gave orders, but what was strange was… the one who gave him orders was actually the veteran figure in the army who knew his background well, and who he respected.

Yan Shen Du had great doubts and great confusion, but he had no time to inform the Princess Royal, so he had to set off alone, shooting an arrow in the snowy night but it was blocked by the green banner.

Several nights later, he reluctantly discovered that Fan Xian's protection was watertight. He watched secretly in the snow forest, but couldn't find the slightest opportunity to take advantage of. Especially those deadly Black Knights had been patrolling near the Supervision Council's team, and could plow the entire mountain top at any time.

Only then did he realize that he had underestimated Fan Xian, underestimated the Supervision Council, and didn't dare to act rashly. So he kept retreating, after firing a useless arrow, he retreated all the way, from the valley back to Kyoto, and returned to the Qin Mansion to report on his mission, but he wasn't blamed.

Back in his camp, he fell into deep thought. The elders in the army secretly took care of each other. His entry into the Kyoto Garrison was originally approved by Master Qin, and not many people knew about it. Master Qin… why did he let himself do this thing that seemed a bit absurd?

Then news of the valley assassination came.

He was a soldier, and his sense of smell in politics was not that keen, but he was clear that his father seemed to have been dragged into the water by Master Qin. In other words, Master Qin had also been dragged into the water by the Princess Royal.

The elders had finally formed a group, and he was like a hostage that the elders had implicitly revealed their intentions to each other.

Yan Shen Du shook his head, not very disgusted with this role-playing, just thinking that under such great pressure, that Little Fan wouldn't be able to live for many days.

He put the small knife in his right hand on the table, stroked the arrow shaft with his steady hands, squinted and measured it, then nodded in satisfaction, took out the longbow next to him, placed the slender and beautiful feather arrow on the string, pulled the bow slightly, and aimed at the open space in the camp.

His forearm moved slightly to the right, the arrowhead pointed at the thick cotton curtain at the main entrance of the camp.

Yan Shen Du said calmly, "Come out."

……

……

The cotton curtain was slowly lifted, and Wang Xi walked in with a apologetic look. Under the threat of the longbow, he didn't dare to take another step, just stood at the door and sighed, "I'm sorry."

Yan Shen Du's pupils shrank slightly, looking at this person who was about the same age as him. His eyesight was amazing, and he had already recognized that this person was the Green Banner guest who had blocked his Soul-Stealing Arrow in front of the Xue Clan school that snowy night.

He knew that although his identity in the Garrison was confidential and he didn't have many guards protecting him, in such a late hour, the other party was able to bypass the layers of security in the Yuantai Barracks and approach his camp silently. This skill was exceptionally outstanding.

If it had been Yan Shen Du's habit in the past, he would have already shot this arrow from his bow. Yan Shen Du would let anyone who tried to sneak attack him lose their life.

But strangely, facing this strange person, Yan Shen Du didn't loosen the string, but said coldly, "Who are you?"

Wang Xi lowered his head slowly and said apologetically, "My name is Wang Shisanlang, I was ordered to come and kill you. It's not my wish, but it's truly reluctant."

Yan Shen Du aimed the arrowhead at the other person's brow, his hands were steady, and the bow was unified without a trace of tremor, as if he could pull it for ten thousand years without a trace of fatigue.

The killing intent carried by the arrowhead was already reflected in the other person's mind. He didn't believe that anyone in the world could escape his arrow. So when he heard the other party admit that he was here to kill him, Yan Shen Du was not flustered at all, but instead had a trace of coldness: "Fan Xian?"

Wang Xi bowed and said helplessly, "Besides him, who else in this world can force me to kill people?"

The snow outside the camp had already stopped, but after nightfall, the wind rose again, howling like the desperate wails of wild beasts in the mountains, passing through the thick cotton curtain and striking people's eardrums. Yan Shen Du looked at this person with an apologetic look, a chill rose in his heart. Why couldn't he see a trace of tension and murderous intent on this Shisanlang's face, but only endless grief and guilt.

What did an assassin need to feel guilty about?

Guilty about killing himself?

Yan Shen Du's mind was not disturbed, but it turned cold. If the other party wasn't deliberately mystifying, then he must have the ability to kill him. Just like hunting beasts in the mountains, facing a child's arrows, a bear with thick skin would still scratch the tree bark comfortably, because the bear knew that the arrow wouldn't kill it.

Could his arrow kill the Shisanlang in front of him?

For the first time in his life, Yan Shen Du doubted the arrow in his hand, because on that snowy night, the green banner had moved.

"Can we talk?" Wang Xi sighed, licked his unusually dry lips, and said, "I don't necessarily have to kill you. If you are willing to come with me, and from now on you don't participate in the affairs of this world, abandon your martial arts, cut off contact with the world, and let the world think you are dead… Fan Xian will get rid of this anger, his goal will be achieved, and I won't have to kill you."

Yan Shen Du didn't laugh, he just found it absurd.

So he let go.

The arrow was like a black line, swiftly gone. A moment ago, it seemed to be still on Yan Shen Du's bowstring, the next moment it was already in front of Wang Xi!

Then Yan Shen Du saw a scene that shocked him. He saw Wang Xi move his feet slightly, taking three steps in a row. After three steps, the whole person returned to where he had stood before.

What about that arrow?

The feathered arrow that carried endless sharp wind brushed past Wang Xi's cheek, passed through the thick cotton curtain, and shot into the endless darkness with a "swoosh" sound, merging with the howling wind everywhere, and could no longer be heard.

The three seemingly simple steps, but Yan Shen Du's pupils had already tightened, seeing the mystery inside. In such a short distance, being able to avoid his fast arrow required not only terrifying reaction speed, but also the extremely high true energy control that went with it!

Who exactly was the other party? Where did such a master come from? How could he work for Fan Xian?

Three doubts welled up in Yan Xiao Yi's heart, but his hands didn't slow down at all. He had already shot three feathered arrows, turning into three electric lights, shooting at Wang Xi's upper, middle, and lower three paths. But he turned his body and fled to the dark. This series of actions and three arrows fired in succession had taken too much energy from him. He had no energy to call for help, and knew that even if the soldiers in the camp rushed over, they wouldn't be able to save him in front of this mysterious fortune-teller.

……

……

Behind the camp, Yan Shen Du was still holding the bow and condensing the arrow, but didn't shoot it, looking at Wang Xi like looking at a ghost. He didn't know how the other party had dodged those three arrows, and how he had managed to block his retreat before him.

Fortunately, Yan Shen Du had sharp eyes and saw the blood dripping down Wang Xi's sleeves. The other party was injured. This fact made Yan Shen Du's spirit invigorate. The seemingly mysterious footwork couldn't completely dodge the Yan Clan's divine arrows!

The sky hadn't snowed, the wind howled past, swirling up the residual snow on the ground, no different from falling snow.

Wang Xi looked down at the blood-soaked sleeve, shook his head, and said, "I really don't want to kill people."

"Then why did you come?" Yan Shen Du narrowed his eyes and asked coldly.

"Because…" Wang Xi looked at the night sky above his head with some confusion, "Because I must help Fan Xian, for the peace of this world, for the balance of the entire continent, for my hometown, or for what? I must help him."

"The peace of the world is entrusted to one person? Fan Xian is not His Majesty…" Yan Shen Du retreated to the left and leaned back slightly, just touching his quiver, while speaking, while secretly preparing.

"I have no one left in my family." Wang Xi sighed and said, "To make the world peaceful, I must help him, so I have to apologize to you… In any great era, the sacrifices of small people are always needed."

Small person? Yan Shen Du had never seen himself that way. He was the son of the Commander-in-Chief, the successor of the Yan Clan's archery, the prominent figure of the future world. Right now, he had only killed the Second High Priest of the Shrine, and his brilliance hadn't been fully released yet, so how could he die?

Wang Xi looked up at the sky again, as if he wanted to see the starry sky through the thick clouds, and said faintly, "I hope I haven't helped the wrong person."

Looking up at the sky, how could he let such a good opportunity pass?

Yan Shen Du stood up suddenly, pulled the bowstring and shot, firing seven arrows in a row, then touched the quiver with one hand, pulled out the last arrow… strung the bow, nocked the string, and shot!

Seven arrows were in front, but the arrow with the strongest killing intent was hidden at the end.

Yan Shen Du had never been so satisfied with his cultivation as he was today. Being able to shoot out such a seven-one number was the peak he could reach in his life, even stronger than his father in his youth. With such a terrifying arrow attack, he believed that even if Fan Xian was standing opposite him, Fan Xian wouldn't be able to dodge it.

But he forgot one thing, everyone's fighting style is different. If Fan Xian wanted to kill him personally, he would definitely use poison and more poison in a sinister way, and stab him up close again and again, not giving him any chance to fire an arrow at all.

If Fan Xian came to kill him, Yan Shen Du would definitely not be able to keep his whole body, he would die very uselessly and ugly.

But this Wang Shisanlang, who seemed gentle and thoughtful, chose a fighting style that was completely different from his appearance: brave and terrifying.

Yes, very terrifying.

Wang Xi directly pounced over, like a big bird flying up in the dark night, his wings spread out, and a strong wind surged. Ignoring the seven feathered arrows that were piercing his body, his pupils shone with keen light, and his right hand reached out to directly catch the terrifying arrow at the very end!

With a series of "puff puff" sounds, those arrows pierced Wang Xi's body, but his body was swimming in the air, without injuring any vital parts, only passing through his shoulders and arms.

With a "chi" sound, the last arrow slid from Wang Xi's right hand, just like a wheel carrying heavy gravity crushing on a rough road, carrying an extremely harsh friction sound.

A faint scorched smell seemed to rise in the night sky. Wang Xi's right hand was blurred by the speed of that lightning arrow. What kind of high speed did this high temperature mean?

However, that arrow finally stopped before it was about to pierce Wang Xi's eye socket, only one inch away. He just held this arrow with a bloody hand!

His person had already rushed in front of Yan Shen Du like a flying bird, only a foot away.

Wang Xi groaned, turned his wrist, and inserted the arrowhead into Yan Shen Du's heart, striking like lightning, impossible to avoid.

Yan Shen Du staggered and fell, looking at the blood and arrows in his chest, looking at this bloody assassin, he opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything, just sat propped up in front of his camp, his body convulsing weakly a few times.

He forgot what his father had taught him: as an archer, the effective range of a weapon determines life and death, he was still too close to the person in front of him.

Wang Xi stood in front of him panting, looking at the archer whose breath was gradually weakening, and said, "Little Arrow, go in peace."

Yan Shen Du didn't understand until this moment when death was approaching, that he was really just a small person in this great era. But a skilled archer, dying under his own arrow, wasn't it a good ending? It's just… unwilling… He vainly used all the strength in his body to stretch forward, wanting to grab this assassin, wanting to kill the other party, wanting to kill the coming death.

His fingertip touched Wang Xi's belt, a piece of cold bloodiness at the touch, hooking on something. Little Arrow, Yan Shen Du, finally ran out of strength, a gurgling sound in his throat, his head tilted, and he died.

Wang Xi straightened up, let go of his right hand, looked at the terrifying burn mark in his palm, lowered his head and looked at the seven feathered arrows stuck in his body, looking at the blood all over his body, he couldn't help but feel the pain, and trembled as he said to himself, "It hurts so much…"

He endured the pain, used the night snow and night wind to escape from the Yuantai Barracks, returned to the mountain top, picked up the green banner, and disappeared into the darkness again.

Several months later, Fan Xian learned of the course of this assassination, remained silent for a moment, and shook his head and sighed, "Shisanlang, a brave man, a fool."

……

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