Ning Chen was just about to introduce Xie Siyu to Zisu and Yudie when a shrill scream went up behind him.
Ning Chen looked back, and saw that at some point another group of people had appeared on the battlefield.
They wore close-fitting black, with devil-face masks over their faces.
There were not many of them, only seven… but their skill was of the highest order and their methods were savage.
Their weapon was a curved blade, and every stroke they made was a killing stroke.
In the space of a few breaths, every one of those assassins was dead.
Feng Qizheng and the others watched these uninvited guests on their guard.
“Who are you people?”
Feng Qizheng asked.
But the men in the devil-face masks did not answer. They turned, rushed into the woods and vanished.
Ning Chen looked at Xie Siyu. “Your men?”
Xie Siyu shook his head. “No.”
Ning Chen was startled, and frowned. “Strange. Then who are they?”
“Eldest Brother, can you tell what school their martial arts come from?”
Xie Siyu thought for a while, then said, “No.”
Ning Chen’s eyes narrowed slightly. Could Silence have sent them?
“Never mind. They’re friends and not enemies. We’ll meet them again sooner or later.”
Feng Qizheng and the others came running over, all of them looking Xie Siyu over with open curiosity.
“Let me introduce you. This is Xie Siyu, Eldest Brother of the Ghost-Shadow Sect.”
Feng Qizheng knew Ning Chen had some connection with the Ghost-Shadow Sect.
Gu Yichun and the rest were openly astonished.
The Ghost-Shadow Sect was the greatest assassins’ organization in the jianghu.
Just then a groan went up.
Ning Chen looked back, and saw that the assassin brought down earlier by the white powder Yudie had thrown was still alive.
So the white powder must have been some kind of knockout drug.
“Old Feng, he’s yours… Get the man behind them out of him.”
Feng Qizheng nodded, walked over and swung the rebar up without ceremony, smashing both the assassin’s arms to pieces.
“Ahh…”
The assassin let out a ghastly scream that no longer sounded like a human voice.
Feng Qizheng took the chance to grip the man’s cheeks and look him over, then put his fingers into his mouth and wrenched a tooth bodily out.
Ning Chen’s eyes contracted slightly. Men sworn to die again.
“Old Feng, take him further off to question him.”
Feng Qizheng made a sound of assent and dragged the assassin away.
Ning Chen introduced Yudie, Zisu, Gu Yichun and the others to Xie Siyu.
Xie Siyu’s face was cold, and he gave a slight nod.
“Eldest Brother, did you come alone?”
Xie Siyu made a sound of assent. “One of me is enough to keep you safe.”
The corner of Ning Chen’s mouth twitched slightly.
“Come back to the Ghost-Shadow Sect with me?”
Ning Chen thought it over and said, “I have business in Xiuzhou first.”
Xie Siyu made a sound of assent. “Fine.”
Xie Siyu was not much of a conversationalist. This one was the same breed as Silence, a man of very few words.
Ning Chen looked at Yudie. “You weren’t scared, were you?”
Yudie shook her head.
“What was that white powder you threw?”
“Sister Zisu gave it to me.”
Ning Chen looked at Zisu.
Zisu said with a quiet laugh, “It’s only a knockout drug. I gave it to Yudie to protect herself with.”
Ning Chen gave a slight nod. “Get me a few bottles of it later.”
Zisu made a small sound of assent.
“Ning, dear, you two talk. Sister Zisu and I will get into the carriage.”
Ning Chen nodded.
He and Xie Siyu talked on and off.
After a while Feng Qizheng came back.
Ning Chen said, “Let’s go. Back on the road.”
Xie Siyu turned and left.
Ning Chen asked, curious, “Eldest Brother, aren’t you traveling with us?”
“I’ll be right around you.”
Ning Chen made a sound of understanding.
The party went on with the journey.
This time Feng Qizheng took a turn driving.
Feng Qizheng drove with one hand and gnawed at the chicken tail with the other.
Ning Chen lifted the curtain and put his head out. “What did you get out of him?”
Feng Qizheng said thickly, “They’re men of the Dark Moon Tower.”
“The Dark Moon Tower? That sounds like a power of the jianghu.”
Feng Qizheng nodded.
Ning Chen asked, “What else did you get out of him?”
“Nothing.”
Ning Chen: “???”
“You were gone half the day, and that’s all you got?”
Feng Qizheng said, “He was a small hanger-on following orders. He didn’t know anything.”
Ning Chen rolled his eyes and looked at Gu Yichun, who was riding alongside the carriage. “Gu Yichun, have you ever heard of the Dark Moon Tower?”
Gu Yichun thought a moment, then shook his head.
Ning Chen was speechless.
He climbed out of the carriage and shouted, “Eldest Brother, I want you for something.”
There was no answer.
Ning Chen shouted again.
Still no answer.
Ning Chen made a face. “And this is the Eldest Brother of the Ghost-Shadow Sect? Those ears of his might as well not be there.”
“What is it?”
Xie Siyu’s voice came suddenly from the roof of the carriage.
Ning Chen and the rest of them all jumped out of their skins.
Gu Yichun’s face changed color. He was riding right beside the carriage, and he had no idea at all when Xie Siyu had gotten up onto the roof.
“Holy shit… are you some kind of ghost? When did you get up on the roof?”
Xie Siyu’s face was cold. “Only light-body technique. If you want to learn it, I’ll teach you when we get back to the sect.”
Ning Chen nodded, and nodded again.
A trick like that, coming and going like a ghost — only a fool wouldn’t want to learn it.
Ning Chen changed the subject. “Eldest Brother, do you know the Dark Moon Tower?”
Xie Siyu made a sound of assent.
Ning Chen waited a long while, and Xie Siyu did not open his mouth again. “Well, say something.”
Xie Siyu said, “Well, ask something.”
Ning Chen: “???”
“Tell me about the Dark Moon Tower.”
Xie Siyu was silent for a moment, and only then spoke. “The Dark Moon Tower is the same as the Ghost-Shadow Sect.”
Ning Chen looked at him, left utterly speechless.
“Did you leave your vocal cords at home? Keep going.”
Xie Siyu went on. “The Dark Moon Tower is an assassins’ organization too. It has only risen these last few years.”
Ning Chen asked, “How strong is it?”
Xie Siyu said, “Not bad.”
Ning Chen looked at Feng Qizheng. “It stands to reason an assassins’ organization like that should be inside the Inspectorate’s field of watch, doesn’t it?”
Feng Qizheng nodded. “It stands to reason, yes, that is exactly how it should be. But I never heard of the Dark Moon Tower at the Inspectorate, and I never saw any file on it either.”
Ning Chen’s eyes glittered, and he said in a low voice, “Eldest Brother says the Dark Moon Tower’s strength is not bad, and that alone is proof this Dark Moon Tower is no small thing. It stands to reason it ought to be on the Inspectorate’s lists.”
“And yet the Inspectorate has not one word about the Dark Moon Tower… It seems the Inspectorate still isn’t clean. Chen Lezhang wasn’t the only ghost in it.”
Feng Qizheng asked, curious, “Meaning what?”
Ning Chen frowned. “Somebody has deliberately wiped the Dark Moon Tower out of the record… Every thread of intelligence is gathered and sorted by the seventh department and then submitted to Geng the Purple Coat. Have I remembered that right?”
Feng Qizheng nodded. “That’s how it is.”
Ning Chen laughed coldly to himself. So you want to play. Then I’ll play with you, and play properly.
He looked up at Xie Siyu. “Eldest Brother, I count as a man of the Ghost-Shadow Sect, don’t I?”
Xie Siyu nodded.
“If a power of the jianghu were hunting me, what would the Ghost-Shadow Sect do?”
Xie Siyu said, “Kill them.”
“Eldest Brother, those assassins just now were all men of the Dark Moon Tower… Our Ghost-Shadow Sect is the greatest assassins’ organization in the jianghu, I am a man of the Ghost-Shadow Sect, and they came to murder me anyway. That is a naked challenge.”
“For myself I don’t mind in the least. I take my own honor and disgrace very lightly. But what I cannot stand for is somebody challenging the Ghost-Shadow Sect. It shows far too little regard for the greatest assassins’ organization in the jianghu… If I could stand for that, I could eat shit.”
(End of Chapter 385)