Chapter 19: Chapter Nineteen – Knives in the Dark.

Xiulan was woken up by the sound of a struggle and an attempted warning. She looked up just in time to see one of the guards that had been placed at the door have his throat slit. His heightened senses had given him just enough of a head start to throw open the bedroom door and start to raise a cry before the black clad assassin could kill him.

Xiulan rolled over Yen Wen’s naked form waking her lover in the process. Xiulan also shouted to wake up Zheng Ling and Fu Jinjing who had been sleeping on her other side. Xiulan grabbed Yen Wen’s bow and handed it to the huntress.

Before Yen Wen could take a shot though the assassins where on them. There were six of the black clad figures and each wielded a long knife. Xiulan appraised them:

Black Cloth Sect assassin – sixth level of qi condensation, level four forced spiritual roots. Worth 500 Gold coins. Double to eliminate.

All six had similar information. Hiring this many high cultivation assassins was expensive. Whoever wanted them dead wanted to make sure that the task was accomplished.

Xiulan needed to stack the odds more evenly she and Yen Wen were still only at the fifth level and six against four was more than they could handle. Xiulan chose the closest assassin and clicked her fingers as an outward symbol of intent before choosing to eliminate him.

The bag of coins she had under the bed emptied itself of the last thousand gold that she had left from her scam. The assassin blew up even more violently that the first man she had used the system to eliminate had.

The explosion of blood and viscera was enough of a shock to the assassins that they made the mistake of pausing. Yen Wen had been the only other person there to see this strange technique and so she did not hesitate.

A qi infused arrow took another assassin in the neck passing clean through and severing the man’s spine. His body fell to the ground like a puppet that had has its strings cut.

The remaining four decided that killing Xiulan quickly was the best way to ensure that she did not do whatever she had done again, and they descended on her. One went to hold off Yen Wen and another went for the only match for their cultivation Zheng Ling.

Fu Jinjing was not a fighter, or at least not a proficient one and they seemed to know that. Two came at Xiulan who was most likely their primary target. The assassins used a brutal stabbing technique which coated their blades in Qi to extended there reach and effectiveness.

They stabbed out at Xiulan, working together to try and prevent her from dodging. The assassins training to work as a unit was impressive and Xiulan had to use every bit of her heaven grade combat style to mostly avoid the blades.

The difference in grade between the techniques she had handed out to her lover was the only thing keeping them alive as well. Xiulan was sporting narrow cuts all over her upper body and could not find an opening to retaliate.

Similarly, Zheng Ling and Yen Wen were struggling against their opponents. Fu Jinjing attempted to throw a kick to help Zheng Ling but at her lower cultivation it was too slow for the high-speed battle. The assassin she threw the kick at simply stabbed her outstretched leg through the calf muscle.

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Fu Jinjing cried out in pain and fell back to the floor. Her leg was bleeding profusely from the deep wound. Just as it seemed like they would be worn down slowly by their opponents Xiulan observed a shadow slip in behind the black clad figure attacking Yen Wen.

Long Yanlin faded in to view and slipped his own stiletto style dagger into the ear of the assassin. The assassin spasmed before dying, inadvertently hitting backwards against Long Yanlin with an elbow.

Xiulan heard one of Yanlin’s ribs crack as the superior cultivator’s dying strength overpowered his bones. Yanlin was out of the fight but this was enough to turn the tides of the battle.

Yen Wen quickly put her bow to use once she was freed up. She confidently shot Zheng Ling’s opponent through the heart. Others might be reticent to shoot an arrow so close to an ally, but Yen Wen was confident in her own abilities and her heaven grade technique.

They worked together to whittle down the last two assassins who unable to escape and wanting to avoid capture bit down on poison capsules that they kept in their teeth. It was very unlikely that it would be possible to find out who sent them.

Xiulan had not heard of the Black Cloth Sect, but they were most likely hired by some local power to have her killed and probably the others with her. The Kang Clan might be the obvious assumption, but Xiulan doubted Kang Cai could bear to part with the gold needed to send these sect members here.

Xiulan suddenly had an idea. She used the system to look for any product named after the Black Cloth Sect. She found several entries such as Black Cloth Sect robes, Black Cloth Sect inner disciple pin. The associated prices were on display, but Xiulan was more interested to note that the system gave a location in the capital as the only place that the items could be purchased.

If they came from the capital, then one of the ruling wealthy families of Temple Gorge was the most likely culprit. They had influence and connections in the capital that the Kangs did not.

Of the available choices the Bai Clan was the only force that Xulan had seriously offended even though she had yet to actually meet anybody from the Bai Clan.

Xiulan mentally added another enemy to her list as she started to assist Zheng Ling in treating the wounds.

When Xiulan helped Zheng Ling apply medicine to Long Yanlin’s broken rib she clasped him by the shoulder and said solemnly, “I am giving you a raise.”

Knowing how Xiulan hoarded coins the seriousness of the statement cut through the tension and they all broke into laughter.

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