Midsummer night, outside Pengcheng.
Fu Mingzheng leaned on his sword, one foot stepping on the corpse beneath him. His thin lips curved into a disdainful, mocking smile as he addressed the surrounding black-clothed, masked individuals, “Heaven offers a path, yet you refuse to take it. H*ll has no gate, yet you insist on entering! But this Fourth Master offers you a chance for mercy. This is your last opportunity. Will you take it or not?”
The assassins looked nervously at the scattered bodies of their comrades, deeply hesitant. The leader, with a subdued voice, replied, “I’ve never heard of a path that allows for turning back. Today, it’s either his death or ours! Don’t be deceived by him. He’s already at the end of his road. Brothers, let’s attack together and turn him into minced meat!”
The assassins surged forward, and Fu Mingzheng sighed, lifting his sword with a sudden shout. The assassins recoiled a step in fear, but instead of attacking, he smiled and turned to the few remaining companions, “Have you rested enough?” After receiving affirmative responses, he laughed heartily, “Then let’s go! Each to their own fate! Those who survive must spread the word and seek revenge for everyone!”
He charged into the crowd with a knife in hand, where blood and flesh flew in his wake. Completely unafraid of death or pain, the assassins were forced back by the gap they created, which quickly closed again… The sky grew darker and darker, with even the crescent moon, faint as an eyebrow, disappearing into the clouds. All that could be heard in the world were the silent slashes of swords, while groans, cries, and pleas for mercy were drowned out.
After an unknown amount of time, the sound of horse hooves came from a distance, and someone shouted, “There’s movement over there, quick, let’s go see!” A group of people holding torches cautiously rode over, led by a delicate young man who sternly shouted, “Who goes there? How dare you gather and fight, killing people recklessly! Do you not fear the law? Stop immediately!”
Fu Mingzheng took a moment to glance at this slender, righteous young man and then at the more than ten strong men with knives behind him. He immediately shouted, “Sir, save me! These bandits are robbing and killing on the road, for money and lives!”
The leader of the assassins also shouted defiantly, “They are the river bandits! Don’t meddle in our affairs!”
The young man pointed at the assassins sternly, shouting, “I see you all hiding your heads and revealing your tails. You must not be good people. Listen to my command and immediately drop your swords, or don’t blame me for being ruthless!”
Fu Mingzheng smiled, signaling to his companion, who understood and stealthily went to stab the young man’s horse. The young man was thrown off, causing chaos. With the help of his companion, the young man angrily got up, his face red with shame, and said, “Attack for me!”
Fu Mingzheng smiled satisfactorily. This was truly a rebirth.
At dawn, exhausted Fu Mingzheng finally managed to evade everyone and hide in a crevice between rocks, spreading out his limbs to catch his breath. He pressed the document bag in his arms heavily, knowing that the lives of more than ten colleagues were saved because of it. So, even if he had to crawl on his knees, he would return to the capital and hand it over.
A slender snake, only as thick as a finger, silently crawled along the rock wall, leaping like lightning toward him, aiming for a bite. The sudden pain made Fu Mingzheng sit up abruptly, and with a swift motion, he cut off the snake’s head.
“Fourth Master Fu has good skills.” Someone lightly applauded, appearing from behind the rocks like a ghost, dressed in black with a mask. His voice was deep, and he pointed his long knife at Fu Mingzheng, a hint of a smile in his tone, unable to hide his amusement. “I have the antidote. Give me the item, and perhaps I can spare your life.”
The area around the wound was already numb, and the snake venom would soon spread throughout his body via the bloodstream, taking everything away. Today was supposed to be his day to die, in this place, due to snake venom, not on a bustling street, not in the dark of night, not by decapitation… Fu Mingzheng heard his heart pounding heavily, feeling his whole body trembling with each beat. Such things as snake venom usually acted faster with more movement, and the more you moved, the quicker you died. Smiling, he beckoned to the leader of the assassins, calmly saying, “Do you think I would carry such an important thing on me? Come here, I’ll tell you where it is, and you give me the antidote.”
The leader of the assassins hesitated, but dared not approach Fu Mingzheng. Who didn’t know that Fu Mingzheng was cunning, crafty, and ruthless? So many people had failed to kill him, showing his true cunningness. Perhaps approaching him would lead to some strange and bizarre death. It was better to maintain a suitable distance and wait for him to die from the poison.
Fu Mingzheng sighed when he realized the leader wasn’t falling for it, saying with bitterness, “How much did they pay you to take my life?”
The leader of the assassins was considering deceiving him to extract the whereabouts of the secret letter, so he replied, “Not much, just five thousand taels of silver.”
Fu Mingzheng sneered, “So this Fourth Master’s life is only worth five thousand taels of silver. My heartless uncle and aunt are truly vicious. As the legitimate eldest’s grandson, I am diligent and hardworking. It is only right for my grandfather to pass the family business to me. If they wanted it, they could have just asked me. I might have been willing to give it to them. But instead, they chose to kill me using such underhanded methods. It’s truly too cruel.”
The leader of the assassins was perplexed. Fu Mingzheng had come to the capital on official business to investigate a case. He was ordered by the Min family not to let him handle it, which was a struggle over politics and court affairs. How did it get tangled up in disputes over inheritance between uncles and nephews? But no matter what, today was Fu Mingzheng’s day to die, so he didn’t bother explaining, only saying, “Every debt has its debtor. Since Fourth Master Fu knows who wants your life, go find them after you die.”
Seeing that the sky was already showing signs of light, he became anxious and uneasy, sneering, “Where is the item? If you don’t tell me, I’ll chop off your left foot, then your right foot, cutting them off like slicing lotus roots, to see if the snake venom acts faster or if bleeding out is quicker.”
Fu Mingzheng smiled silently. The assassin became furious and raised his knife to strike at Fu Mingzheng, but before he could, something heavy came flying toward him. He hadn’t figured out what the hidden weapon was when he heard a whoosh behind him, and the cold air of the blade pierced into his pores. The intense killing intent made all the hairs on his body stand on end. He wanted to turn his head, and he did, but as he saw the attacker clearly, he fell heavily to the ground.
In the faint light of dawn, a slender young man in a blue robe held a long blade in his hand. There was no trace of blood on his face, but his teeth were clenched. His hands were steady, and his eyes were determined. He kicked the assassin viciously, saying softly, “D*mn thief!”
The rising sun illuminated the fine fuzz on the young man’s face, and his hand holding the blade was equally white and beautiful. Fu Mingzheng squinted at him for a while, showing a weak smile, “Thank you for saving me young master.”
