Very unbearable.

The blade against his skin was so cold that it penetrated to the bone. 

It felt as if even his blood had stopped circulating. 

Wei Lian lowered his eyes, suddenly turned and kicked Ji Yue’s wrist. Ji Yue reacted quickly as he twisted his wrist, giving Wei Lian time to get out of the shackles and meet Ji Yue’s sword with his own. 

The two men exchanged attacks completely in the air.

Flashes from the blades were followed by sparks as they collided. After more than a hundred exchanges in an instant, one could not escape and one would not retreat. Ji Yue looked more and more stern. 

He had met countless assassins, but this was the first time he had met such a strong opponent. 

During his earlier chase, he could tell the other’s light movement skill was excellent. Now it appeared that the same could be said for the other’s martial arts, able to stand on equal ground with him. 

He was not exaggerating when he said that he could count the number of people on equal ground with him with one hand. 

Then who came here for his life? So willing to sacrifice their own?

Could it be…Tu Mi?

The seven lands have a wanted list ordered by reward amount, naturally there would be a list for assassinations. The list, known as the assassination list, had the top ten most hatred people on it, it was a death notice…

Ji Yue was always at the top of the list. His head was worth ten thousand gold. Everyone wanted his life and his popularity remained at the top. But no one could kill him, that was why his name could never be erased from the list.

The other nine would change from time to time. The unfortunate ones on the list would be targeted and killed by the top ten assassins on their own respective list. 

This assassin rank list contained the ten most powerful killers in the world. It would take quite a hefty reward for them to act. 

They all had excellent martial arts and unique skills. What they saw was not the identity of their target, but how heavy the reward was. Luo Cha羅剎 Not his real name. It means demon in Buddhism.
, who ranked second, had the highest attendance rate. He ran around the seven lands daily to kill one target after another with a success rate as high as ninety-nine percent. A very professional assassin.

Why not one hundred percent?

Because that one percent lay in Ji Yue’s hands. 

Due to the difficulty, anyone who was able to kill Ji Yue would receive the supreme honour in the assassin world, thus, killing Ji Yue was their ultimate goal. A steady stream of assassins rushed to the Qin Emperor palace to prove their worth. Some would end their final days as assassins by attempting to kill the Qin Emperor, this was how they viewed it as perfecting their line of work. 

What a sad and helpless life Ji Yue had, which made him very angry.

So he could only make those assassins have a sadder and more helpless life. 

All the assassins who came never returned. They either die under Ji Yue’s blade or died in A’Meng’s stomach. The less experienced assassins were shot dead by the imperial guards before they could get close to Ji Yue.

Luo Cha was the only one who escaped from Ji Yue alive. The price that he paid was sustaining heavy injuries and making a narrow escape. When the assassin returned, he entered seclusion to heal for more than half a year and did not accept any more missions. 

Ji Yue had indirectly saved countless people’s lives, which was a great achievement.

It could be seen that Luo Cha was at least very powerful to be able to come out alive.

But the most powerful one on the list was not Luo Cha, but Tu Mi.

Only thing that could be compared with Luo Cha’s countless kills, would be Tu Mi’s laziness. Since his debut, he had killed only seven people, each of whom was a powerful, famous and authoritative figure. 

The first person Tu Mi killed was the Wulian Alliance Leader of that time, which shocked the whole Jianghu. 

The second person was the Yan Empire’s Court lapdog, which caused an uproar throughout the country.

The third person was the former ruler of the Lu Empire, who was very well-known throughout the world.

All the top ten assassins used codenames. No one knew their surnames, age, appearance, their current and birth places. Tu Mi was even more mysterious among mysteries. The only known thing was every time he killed a person, he would leave behind a roseleaf raspberry, thus giving him the codename of Tu Mi. 

This flower implied the beauty of the end of the road. This person really regarded death as a beautiful end and sent people to die peacefully.

But this famous assassin never accepted the task of assassinating the Qin Emperor. 

It was rumoured that the genius killer could see the big picture and did not want to come to assassinate the Qin Emperor in order to keep his one hundred percent success rate, keeping his reputation. Others said that he was afraid of the Qin Emperor and did not dare to provoke him. 

Tu Mi let other people voice their different opinions, as he remained unmoved even under criticism. 

Beside Tu Mi, Ji Yue could not think of another assassin who could draw with him.

After all, Luo Cha in the second rank had proved that his strength was much inferior to him.

During the time of his analysis, the two exchanged for another hundred rounds. No matter who this person was, Ji Yue had a murderous intent and would not keep future trouble alive. Each of his attacks was more ruthless and merciless than the prior ones. Yet, Wei Lian did not want to hurt the other. Having his hands tied, even if they were equal, he was bound to lose.

In no time at all, Wei Lian sustained an injury on his right shoulder. When he was about to withdraw from the fight, Ji Yue blocked his way. As the metre long sword swept towards him, Wei Lian found the hit was meant to remove his scarf. 

His pupils dilated. 

His face could not be seen by Ji Yue…

Without the time to think, Wei Lian blocked his face with his left arm. The blade made a deep cut as the blood oozed out, drenching his dark clothes. Ji Yue followed up on the moment of weakness and took advantage of the situation to break the other’s wrist, forcing the assassin to drop their weapon. 

Having suffered a great pain, Wei Lian clenched his teeth to suppress any noise, so that Ji Yue would not hear the familiar voice. The short sword fell on the tile roof with a crisp clang.

The victor had been decided the moment the weapon was gone. 

Wei Lian dropped to the roof tiles in a sitting position. Ji Yue stood in front of him. From the higher ground, he aimed the tip of his sword at him. 

Wei Lian raised his head. His eyes were calm, but he could not hide his pain as well as…

The small trace of grievance. 

Ji Yue’s hand holding the sword suddenly trembled slightly. 

Why did this assassin…

Looked so familiar.

However, the night was too dark so he could not see the person’s eyes clearly. Then the person suddenly raised their arm to send out several silver needles from their right hand. When Ji Yue stepped back to dodge, the person in black had disappeared from his field of vision. 

Ji Yue remained at the same spot and surveyed around. He could not figure out which direction the assassin escaped in.

He bent over and picked up the short sword dropped by the assassin. It looked ordinary, one that was very common to see outside, and made it impossible to identify the holder. 

The other party was very cautious. 

When Ji Yue put away the weapon, he suddenly remembered Wei Lian.

He wondered if Wei Lian was all right…

He rushed to Zhongling Palace immediately.

* * *

Wei Lian hurried back to Zhongling Palace as fast as possible. Without entering through the main door, he slipped into his chamber through the window. 

He had sealed several of his acupoints on the road back to temporarily stop the bleeding, leaving no blood trail back to him, but the injuries on his body were still real.

As soon as he entered the room, he used his right hand to set back his broken left wrist. During this period, he aggravated the injury on his right shoulder as a few drops of fine sweat fell from his forehead.

Wei Lian endured it, not letting out a single sound.

Without time to delay, he quickly removed his night clothes and as he was about to put on his regular clothes, he heard voices from the palace workers outside. “Greeting to your Majesty.”

“Where is Gongzi?”

“Gongzi has already turned in for the day.”

Wei Lian frowned. 

How did Ji Yue get here so fast?!

He quickly hid under his quilt, covered himself, the injuries on his shoulder and arm tightly.

He blew out the candle and pretended to be asleep.

“We will go in and check on him.”

The footsteps were getting closer and closer.

Wei Lian tried to keep his breathing steady.

If Ji Yue found out the injuries on his body, the game would be over immediately.

After a while, a shadow came in front of his bed.

Ji Yue entered and was really relieved to see Wei Lian lying in bed.

He was afraid that the assassin had ill intentions towards Wei Lian.

“Why are you sleeping so early today?” Ji Yue sat by the headboard and asked, “Are you asleep?”

Wei Lian stayed silent. 

After gazing at the sleeping man for a while, Ji Yue got up to light the candle. 

Wei Lian was on alert.

If the candle was lit, the probability of Ji Yue noticing his strange state would greatly increase. 

“Don’t light the candle…” Wei Lian immediately pretended to be sleepy and said as if he was still not fully awake, “My eyes are not adjusted…”

Ji Yue stopped what he was doing and sat back down. “Yes, yes. No lighting the candle.”

“It’s late…why are you here?” Wei Lian whispered, “You can go back.”

You are not welcome here right now. Please leave, like right now!!!

Ji Yue said, “We came to see you.”

I was worried about you.

You don’t know this, but I just had a fight with someone who was very strong, so strong that I am also afraid. 

What I am afraid of was not him. I am afraid that if I don’t find him, something will happen to you.

I am not in a proper state because before I fixed my appearances, I came here right after to check on you. 

Seeing you safe and sound reassured my worries.

Ji Yue thought Wei Lian was asleep so he wanted to light the candle to see him.

Since Wei Lian was not asleep yet, he would not blind the younger man with sudden light. 

He also did not want Wei Lian to see him right now. The assassin did not really hurt him, but he was still in a pretty dreadful state. Many visible holes were on his clothes, as if he just came back from the battlefield.

He could not let Wei Lian see this appearance of his, it would damage his image. 

“I have nothing special for you to see…you see me every day.” Wei Lain desperately wanted Ji Yue to leave as soon as possible. “I am going to sleep, you should do the same as well.”

The escaped assassin was still on Ji Yue’s mind. The person’s martial arts and strength were beyond his control.

And he dared not gamble with his beloved. 

He did not care about the safety of others in the palace, but nothing must happen to Wei Lian.

He urged, “It hasn't been peaceful in the palace these days. Just stay in Zhongling Palace and don't go out for nothing, especially at night.”

“All right, I have been here all night.” Wei Lian's voice became quieter and quieter as he spoke. 

“That’s good, also…” Ji Yue wanted to talk about the antidote, but he heard the young man breath evenly. 

Did he fall asleep?

Ji Yue chuckled and sighed, “You…We will put the antidote on the table. Remember to take it in the morning.”

He got up and walked to the table. The moonlight outside shone upon the dust on the ground.

Ji Yue froze when he saw something, his face turned cold in an instant.

Those are…the debris from roof tiles.

Scattered from the window all the way to the bed.

The assassin is hiding in the house now?

Impossible, Ji Yue was sure that there was no other breathing sound in the room except for him and Wei Lian.

Did the assassin pass here?

Just now?

Ji Yue stopped at the table and suddenly remembered that when his sword was pointing at the assassin, the assassin raised his eyes in a hurry, which was so familiar that he could not bear to strike again. 

There was only one person in the world who would make him hesitate…

And the man did not make a single sound from beginning to end. Even after he pierced the other’s flesh and broke his wrist, Ji Yue did not hear a sound of pain.

The conjecture was so frightening that it made his whole scalp feel numb.

It could not be. He should not doubt Wei Xiao Lian.

Ji Yue, you could not trust him so little.

But on the other hand, his strong sense and deduction told him that his feelings were correct. 

Wei Lian somewhat held back on him.

Ji Yue turned back to Wei Lian sleeping on the bed. He did not dare to verify his conjecture in the end.

Or he just did not want to disturb the other’s sleep.

He nearly left the place like he was escaping. 

Wei Lian was unaware of Ji Yue’s complicated mental process. He only saw Ji Yue standing at the table for a moment and leaving once he placed the medicine bottle on the table.

He waited for a long time. Seeing that Ji Yue did not turn back, he lit the light to check his injury.

His right shoulder was fine, it was just a light scratch. A layer of medicine should do the trick.

The problematic one was the wound on his left arm, which almost pierced through his arm, not to mention his broken wrist. 

But it was not a problem for Wei Lian. How could a martial artist be afraid of suffering? He had always had excellent endurance and suffered countless types of injuries. Why would these injuries phase him?

He was used to staying tough, no matter what pain he had to endure.

There was nothing he could not endure, and nothing he could not get through.

His face turned slightly pale as he went to get the medical box. He endured the pain as he applied medicine, bandaged and treated his wounds.

Blood stained bandages, one layer after another. 

He lowered his head and wrapped himself tightly, bit his lips and calmed his face. 

The beautiful long eyelashes were wet with sweat, which blurred his vision slightly. He raised his eyes and saw the small white jade porcelain bottle that Ji Yue left on the table. 

On the wall opposite the table was the rabbit lantern from the Lantern Festival.

He looked back down at the blood on his wrist and suddenly found that the pain was very unbearable.