"Don't Fucking Touch It with Your Hands!"

The man said nothing more. Resigned to his fate, he swallowed the pill Shao Qiu tossed down to him, then dropped from the rock face to the bottom of the canyon. He stood where he landed, staring down at the ground. In this line of work, being discovered meant death. He had never expected to survive. Yet just as that man had said, at least he could have a quick end. "They're all here." Leaning on his emerald cane, Chen Fan stepped slowly down from the Nine-Five Dragon Carriage. He looked at the group lying in pools of blood on the ground and the brown-robed man standing before them. Shao Qiu stepped forward to report. "No other assassins remain hidden." "Mm." Chen Fan glanced around before speaking softly. "Shao Qiu, what did you think of this assassination attempt? Give it a score." "Out of ten, I'd give it a six." Shao Qiu tilted his head and pondered for a moment. "The overall execution was quite a spectacle. If you hadn't sensed the danger in advance, Domain Lord, it really might have posed a risk." "Could the Dark Pavilion pull off something like this?" "Not yet. They still need more training." Standing beside Shao Qiu, the man looked up at him, a flicker of emotion in his eyes. He had not expected Shao Qiu to rate his operation so highly—a six out of ten. That was by no means low. Especially coming from someone who had slipped behind him without making the slightest sound. It was, in a sense, recognition of his skill. Chen Fan pressed no further on the matter of the Dark Pavilion. Instead, he looked at the brown-robed man standing beside Shao Qiu and said softly, "The questions I'm about to ask you have already been put to your accomplice in the carriage. "If a single detail doesn't match... "I won't ask you a second time. Someone else will personally attend to you. "What faction are you from, where is your headquarters, who planned this assassination, and what was your objective?" The brown-robed man answered without the slightest hesitation. He had already accepted his fate; ever since entering this trade, he had known this day would come. He asked for nothing more than to suffer a little less before dying. "We come from the Wind and Rain Tower. "A faction purely of assassins. Our main source of income is accepting bounties posted by other factions. In every city, the Wind and Rain Tower maintains shops to accept and issue assignments. "Our members are scattered far and wide. Many Wind and Rain Tower assassins infiltrate other factions, using secret codes to verify each other's identities so they can coordinate from within and without, or resort to methods like poisoning. "Beyond that— "The Wind and Rain Tower also has a core roster, and all of us belong to it. Core members are required to undergo regular training every year on a deserted island. As for where exactly it is, I don't know; every time, we are blindfolded when boarding the ship and blindfolded when getting off. "That island is the Wind and Rain Tower's headquarters. "The one who planned this assassination was the Young Tower Master, and I was tasked with leading the team to carry it out. "The target was you. As for what comes after the assassination, I don't know, but to my knowledge, this was no bounty mission—it was a direct order from the Tower Master. "Furthermore, there are more Wind and Rain Tower operatives stationed near Fan Domain. One of them consumed a Flesh Ghost Mother-Child Fruit to send me the message that you had left Fan City." The very next instant! A mouthful of black blood abruptly spurted from the man's mouth. Black lines surfaced across his chest and spread rapidly in all directions. He tried to say something more, but his body had already stiffened completely, and he collapsed heavily backward. A few breaths later, he melted into a puddle of foul-smelling, putrid blood. Around him, the other assassins who had not yet died perished simultaneously, liquefying into identical black slush. "Heart-Devouring Gu." Shao Qiu looked upon the scene with a calm gaze. "An exceedingly vicious Gu planted near the chambers of the heart. Once the mother Gu is activated, the child Gu wakes from its slumber, darts into the heart, and detonates. The venom it releases can dissolve a person from the inside out within breaths. "Such Gu are already very hard to find. "As far as I know, one must cultivate the child Gu by growing Gu Mulberry Leaves in Level 5 farmland, and the mother Gu is a rare exotic beast of the insect class. Whoever is behind this has begun cleaning house. "Domain Lord, leave this to me. "I'll handle this matter. The Dark Pavilion needs a mission soaked in blood before it can truly come into its own." Chen Fan remained silent with a placid expression for a moment before replying in a low voice, "The Dark Pavilion isn't strong enough right now. Handing this to you might get people killed." "Domain Lord, a ship is only safest when anchored in port, but that's not why ships are built. The Dark Pavilion needs a baptism of blood to grow rapidly. Spending every day cultivating in the Spirit Accumulation Pavilion—no matter how fast their progress—is meaningless without real combat experience." "What?!" A loud cry of disbelief suddenly rang out beside them. Qi Yue, who had always maintained an impassive expression, looked as though he had seen a ghost, his eyes wide with shock. A moment later, he caught himself and lowered his head, murmuring, "That explains it... That explains it! No wonder Zhou Mo cultivates so fast!" Only then did Shao Qiu realize he had let something slip. Filled with guilt and vexation, he dropped to one knee. "I beg the Domain Lord's punishment!" "*Sigh.*" Chen Fan sighed softly and waved his hand. "Never mind. Qi Yue isn't an outsider. I originally planned to give it to him as a surprise, but look at you—spoiling my moment. "I'll leave this matter to the Dark Pavilion. "Set out at once. "First, uproot the shops the Wind and Rain Tower has planted in other cities. See how they react, and find the location of their island if you can." "Understood!" Shao Qiu nodded heavily, then took a few paces back and vanished swiftly into the shadows. "Qi Yue, get in the carriage and come with me. I've prepared a gift for you." *** Inside the main cave of the Fan Domain camp. Chen Fan led Qi Yue into the Spirit Accumulation Pavilion without any pretense. The moment Qi Yue saw the Spirit Accumulation Pavilion before his eyes—especially when he stepped inside and sensed the dense spiritual energy—his breath hitched involuntarily. The Spirit Accumulation Pavilion was something he had only ever heard of in legends. Supposedly, it was far superior to a Training Chamber. If only... If only he had possessed a Spirit Accumulation Pavilion back then, he would never have fallen into the demonic path. Before long, Chen Fan brought Qi Yue deep into the pavilion and stopped before a wall. He looked toward a bamboo slip suspended in midair by hemp rope. The surface of the slip was carved with chaotic sword qi into the words "Diary." At first glance, it appeared completely ordinary, but looking again revealed the fierce sword qi contained within the strokes. He said softly: "I know there are people you must kill. "I won't stop you. "Over this past month, you've been putting Zhou Mo and the others through extra training every day, and they've improved by leaps and bounds. "You're a swordsman, and this is my gift to you. You don't need to—" "Don't fucking touch it with your hands!" His warning came too late. The instant Qi Yue saw the bamboo slip, he fell into a trance, as if bewitched, and involuntarily reached out a hand toward it. The next moment, Qi Yue flew violently backward. In the blink of an eye, he shot out of the Spirit Accumulation Pavilion, leaving behind a shower of blood mist and shattered flesh before crashing directly into the altar outside. Expressionless, Chen Fan stared at the long smear of blood trailing across the floor of the Spirit Accumulation Pavilion, then strode outside. *He can't be dead, can he?* *The man actually dared touch it with his bare hands.* Chen Fan's emerald cane granted him the defense of a Level 3 wall, and even that hadn't fully blocked the force back when he tried it. *Did you really think your body was tougher than a Level 3 wall?* Inside the altar, Qi Yue had already lapsed into unconsciousness. Chen Fan pinched Qi Yue's arm and gave it a shake; the texture was remarkable. The bones were entirely shattered, and the skin was torn open from end to end. Shaking it felt just like handling a boneless chicken claw. He had never shaken an arm that felt quite like that. "S-Stop... stop shaking... shaking it..." Lying in the altar, Qi Yue struggled to open his eyes, his trembling voice steeped in agonizing pain and helplessness. "Your luck is unbelievable." Chen Fan lowered the arm and looked down at the mangled mess of flesh lying in the altar, sighing in marvel. "You've dyed my whole damn altar red. Didn't I tell you not to touch it? If you had landed even an inch off and missed the altar, I wouldn't have been able to save you in time." "I... I want to... join... Fan Domain." Under the nourishment of the holy water, Qi Yue's injuries were rapidly knitting together. The recovery process was excruciatingly painful; these were utter comminuted fractures, every bone in his body splintered into fragments that were currently piecing themselves back together. "Oh?" Chen Fan raised an eyebrow. He had always wanted Qi Yue to join Fan Domain; having such a high-level cultivator around would make many things far easier. But Qi Yue had harbored an unresolved knot in his heart, so Chen Fan had refrained from pressing the matter, intending to invite him only after he had killed his enemies. He had not expected Qi Yue to bring it up on his own. "Well, I'll have to consider it." "Then... can I still... comprehend... that bamboo slip...?" "Members of Fan Domain have unlimited attempts at comprehension. Outsiders only get one chance, and you've already used yours." By now, Qi Yue's injuries had mostly healed. He struggled to his knees inside the altar and said in a hoarse voice, "Domain Lord, I truly wish to join Fan Domain. Just now, I faintly comprehended a sliver of it. I want to break through to Martial King, sever my past life, and start anew." "Get up, get up quickly." Chen Fan hurried forward, helped Qi Yue to his feet, and chuckled. "I've considered it. You're in. "Rest and recover first. "Once you're healed, take your time comprehending it." *** One hundred ghost stones. Two hundred ghost stones. Three hundred ghost stones. Chen Fan stood inside the Spirit Accumulation Pavilion, staring expressionlessly at the scene before him. An hour had passed since Qi Yue joined Fan Domain. He was glad Fan Domain had recruited such an expert, but... Wasn't this guy burning through ghost stones a little too fast? In Qi Yue's own words: *Comprehension is fastest when the sword qi is running rampant and tearing through the body.* And so Qi Yue had transformed into a complete masochist. Sitting inside the altar, he repeatedly touched the bamboo slip, let his tendons and bones shatter to pieces, collapsed into a bloody pulp within the altar to heal, and then touched it again the moment he recovered. Chen Fan had built a brand-new altar right inside the Spirit Accumulation Pavilion for him. With the pavilion's bonus effect enhancing comprehension, the speed was even greater. Chen Fan didn't know how fast Qi Yue's comprehension was progressing. He only knew it cost an awful lot of ghost stones. Qi Yue was a Level 9 cultivator; repairing his injuries naturally consumed far more holy water than anyone else, especially when suffering such grotesque damage. Only someone like Qi Yue could comprehend it this way. Anyone else attempting such a method would drop dead on the spot, without ever getting the chance to be healed. "No, really, brother," Chen Fan stood beside the altar and said with deep emotion, "how big of a grudge are you holding that it's worth putting yourself through this? Doesn't it hurt?" "It hurts." Having shattered his bones once again, Qi Yue collapsed into the altar, murmuring in a daze, "Yet it's worth it. "In this lifetime, no one has ever helped me. You are the first. "Once this matter is concluded, I will spend the rest of my life repaying your kindness, and then marry Gongyang Yue." "Don't, please." Chen Fan clicked his tongue. "The last person who said 'once I finish doing such-and-such, I'll marry so-and-so' met a rather gruesome end. That phrasing carries bad luck. Why are you all so fond of treating marriage as some grand milestone that has to happen only after finishing some task?" "Uh..." Lying in the altar, Qi Yue didn't quite understand what that meant, but said nothing more. He climbed to his feet again, touched the bamboo slip, and once more collapsed into a bloody, broken heap inside the altar! "Take your time comprehending it. I'm heading out." "Wait, Domain Lord—look at this move of mine!" Qi Yue clambered out of the altar once more, his eyes alight with excitement. "I've already comprehended a sword technique—one of my own creation! Take a look, Domain Lord!" "So fast?" *** At the Fan Domain sinkhole. Qi Yue stood before a cliff face, holding a three-foot azure blade. Without taking any opening stance, he simply closed his eyes, his breathing growing faint and prolonged, as though melding into the rock itself. The next instant— The azure blade thrust out. It carried no ostentatious edge, resembling more a trembling writing brush. The blade met stone. No shards burst forth. With his spiritual energy tightly contained, the sword produced a faint *sizzle*, cutting into the cliff face like a hot knife through butter. A smooth groove about half an inch deep appeared in the rock. Watching from the side, Chen Fan felt that Qi Yue no longer resembled Old Demon Jiangbei, but rather a scholar wielding a brush. Immediately after, Qi Yue's wrist vibrated at a frequency imperceptible to the naked eye. The azure blade jabbed swiftly against the cliff face, each strike leaving behind a tiny, deep dot. Then the blade shifted abruptly from swift to slow. As though bearing a weight of thousands of jin, it dragged sluggishly across the stone. For the final stroke, his wrist hovered for a long while. The blade never touched the cliff face, tracing only empty air. Yet it left the heaviest stroke upon the two characters carved into the stone. "Chen Fan." Chen Fan stared expressionlessly at the two characters Qi Yue had carved into the cliff. After a long silence, he said hoarsely, "To be honest, I don't think carving my name into a rock face is very auspicious. Why didn't you carve your own?" Even so, he could distinctly sense the sheer power within the sword technique. When testing the durability of this cliff face earlier, he had fired upon it with a Level 5 cannon tower, and even sustained bombardment had barely chipped out a small crater. In other words, this sword technique already matched the destructive power of a Level 5 cannon tower. It was truly a force to be reckoned with. And truth be told, the two characters were carved quite handsomely, exuding a sharp, unyielding brilliance at first glance. Only then did Qi Yue open his eyes to look at the characters before him. Trembling with excitement, he looked down at the blade in his hands. "This is the first sword stance I've comprehended. Its power surpasses any martial technique I've ever practiced. "Domain Lord. "Where did you find that bamboo slip?"