Ning Chen took three of the men in black the same way, and was about to take the fourth when he was seen.

“He’s here.”

As the fourth man in black warned the others, the blade in his hand came down at Ning Chen with a cold gleam on it.

Ning Chen rolled backward, and as he came clear of the stroke he picked a blade up off the ground.

He did not run. This was an alley, too narrow for the killers to come at him all at once.

If he ran out of the alley they would surround him.

The killer had missed once and came at him again like lightning, a stroke straight at Ning Chen’s head, and there was nothing but murder in it.

Ning Chen swung the blade in his right hand.

Clang!!!

The scream of metal on metal, sparks flying. He knocked the man’s blade wide, and his left hand came up and threw the dagger in it, and the dagger went into the man’s throat to the hilt.

He closed with a step and pulled the dagger out of the throat, and kicked at the same time, and the body went flying back.

But the killer behind was good. He put a foot against the wall, went past the body, took his blade in both hands and came down out of the air at Ning Chen with everything he had.

Ning Chen went backward like lightning, out from under that murderous stroke, then drove off his feet and came into the man’s chest quick as a hunting cat.

The killer felt a run of stabbing pain in his chest, and looked down, and there were bloody holes in it.

He went down unwilling to the last.

Ning Chen stood with the long blade in his right hand and the dagger in his left, watching the killers in front of him coldly.

For a moment none of them cared to come on.

And just then one of the killers put a foot against the wall, swung himself left and right, and then flipped clean over Ning Chen’s head and came down behind him.

Ning Chen understood. They meant to have him front and back.

Before the man had his feet under him Ning Chen went straight at him, the long blade coming down at his head with a cold gleam on it.

The killer was very quick. He gave half a step and Ning Chen’s stroke found nothing.

Ning Chen’s left hand came up and the dagger went out as a streak of cold light.

Clang!!!

The killer swung, and struck the flying dagger out of the air, precise as anything.

Ning Chen’s eyes tightened. This one was plainly better with his hands than the rest.

He put his back to the wall and watched the killers on both sides of him calmly.

“Kill!”

One of the killers said it in an icy voice.

The killers in front and behind came at Ning Chen together.

“Ning Chen, down!”

A voice went up at the mouth of the alley.

Ning Chen did not hesitate for an instant and threw himself flat.

Whip! Whip! Whip!!!

In the sharp sound of split air, arrow after arrow came in hard from the mouth of the alley.

The killer who had flipped over Ning Chen’s head to close off his retreat was shot full of holes like a sieve on the spot, and stopped most of them with his body.

The rest of the arrows went into the killer at the front, and he was shot dead where he stood.

When the arrows stopped, there was the sound of running feet.

Ning Chen turned his head and saw Feng Qizheng coming at a run like a bear on two legs.

“Ning Chen, are you all right?”

“I’m fine!”

Feng Qizheng pulled Ning Chen up. “Get back out of it. Leave these bastards to me.”

The words were hardly out and he was already past, the long blade in his hand coming down at one of the killers with a cold gleam on it.

The man got his blade up to block.

But he had underestimated Feng Qizheng’s strength, and he could not hold it.

Clang!!!

Feng Qizheng struck the man’s blade down out of the way and the edge went into his neck at a slant, and very nearly took the head off him.

The long blade came out hard and the blood sprayed and turned the wall red.

The killer behind took his chance and cut at Feng Qizheng.

Feng Qizheng brought his blade up one-handed and stopped the stroke without any trouble.

Then he kicked the man in the belly, and the killer brought up a great mouthful of blood on the spot — his organs had probably burst with it — and went flying back and knocked the killer behind him off his feet.

Feng Qizheng went after them and killed the two on the ground, one stroke each.

Ning Chen watched it with envy all over his face. This animal Feng Qizheng did not even look particularly big, and his strength was past belief.

By his own account he had been stronger than other boys from childhood, something like a man born with a god’s strength, which was why he had gone off to learn to fight.

Ning Chen’s great weakness at present was that his strength was on the low side, so he could only win on skill.

Still, he was only fifteen. There was room to grow.

And just then the screaming of killers came from the other end of the alley.

It was Pan Yucheng.

A moment ago the killers had been taking Ning Chen front and back… Now it was Pan Yucheng and Feng Qizheng taking them front and back.

Before long the pack of killers, caught between the two of them, had been cut down like chopping melons and slicing greens until two were left.

“Take them alive!”

Ning Chen shouted.

But as he said it, the two killers went limp and dropped.

The corner of Ning Chen’s mouth twitched.

He went over and pulled the black cloth off their faces, and there were black stains of blood at the corners of their mouths.

Poison teeth again.

Pan Yucheng said, “These are men sworn to die. When the work fails there is nothing for them but to die.”

Ning Chen sighed, and went over the killers’ bodies all the same, unwilling to let it go, trying to turn up something to go on… but these men were cleaner than his own face.

“Don’t waste the effort. These men never carry anything at all.”

“Men sworn to die are trained from childhood as a rule. You cannot even find out who they were.”

Pan Yucheng said it.

Ning Chen stood up and asked, curious, “How did the two of you come to be here?”

Feng Qizheng said, “It was Diaochan. She came charging into the Inspectorate, neighing and neighing… We understood something had happened to you, and we followed Diaochan and that was how we found you.”

Holy shit!!!

Ning Chen was a little stunned. Diaochan has turned into a spirit.

He was starting to wonder whether Diaochan might turn into a great beauty one day.

Never mind. Either way you ride.

Feng Qizheng looked at the bodies on the ground and said, “It’s lucky we were working the Four Quarters gambling house case and hadn’t left the Inspectorate yet… Or you’d have gone down tonight, boy.”

“Tch…” Ning Chen gave him a flat look. “Who are you looking down on? Didn’t you see me take several of them on my own? Give me a little longer and every one of them would have died on my blade.”

“All right, you’re a badass. Can you guess who wants you dead?”

Ning Chen made a face. “And what if I can? I can hardly haul in a pack of men sworn to die whose names nobody can even find out, and use them to accuse somebody.”

Feng Qizheng said, “So you have somebody in mind already.”

Ning Chen nodded.

“Who?”

Ning Chen looked him straight in the eye. “You.”

Feng Qizheng’s expression froze. “Piss off! Why would I want to kill you?”

“Because you’re jealous that I’m accomplished in letters and arms both and better-looking than you on top of it… Jealousy is the most frightening thing in this world. So you mean to kill me.”

Feng Qizheng had exactly nothing to say to that. “You talk as if killing you would let me take your place. If it would, I’d have found somewhere quiet and put a blade in you long ago.”

“I pray for you every day now. I ask heaven to let you live to be a hundred.”

“I’m serious. My pay isn’t low, but it was never enough… And since I met you, what do you think? I have money. If I want the courtesans’ quarter I go to the courtesans’ quarter, if I want the pleasure houses I go to the pleasure houses. I can’t spend it. There’s no spending it.”

Ning Chen looked at Feng Qizheng, taken aback. “Old Feng, I’ve realized you have great wisdom. The greatest wisdom looks like folly.”

Feng Qizheng began preening at once. “Isn’t it so? I’ve always said I was clever.”

Ning Chen gave him a flat look and said, laughing, “From now on I’m going to call you Feng the Great Brain.”

The preening was all over Feng Qizheng’s face, and he was plainly very satisfied with the name.

Pan Yucheng said, “Come on. Back first, and talk after.”

The three of them came out of the alley.

The whole first department had come, and a good many red coats with them.

Pan Yucheng gave the red coats orders to see to the bodies… and everyone else back to the Inspectorate.

Ning Chen went over to Diaochan, and Diaochan rubbed her big head against him affectionately.

Ning Chen patted the big head and said, laughing, “Good Diaochan. Extra feed for you when we get back… And I’ll find you a fine handsome stallion later on, and let you find out what there is in a horse’s life.”

On the way back Ning Chen asked Pan Yucheng, “Has Feng Cheng been questioned?”

Pan Yucheng nodded. “He has. He doesn’t know much, though.”

“Where did his immortal powder come from?”

Pan Yucheng said, “By his account, a mysterious merchant supplied it to him.”

“A mysterious merchant?”

Pan Yucheng nodded. “I’ve had a likeness drawn and there’s a search out for him across the city.”

Ning Chen’s brows drew in. “I’m afraid Feng Cheng hasn’t told the truth… He’s a nobody. He would never have the nerve to control that many ministers with immortal powder.”

Pan Yucheng said, “There you’re wrong. The people Feng Cheng was controlling with immortal powder were all young gentlemen of the great houses… The immortal powder those ministers were smoking did not come from Feng Cheng.”

“All Feng Cheng wanted was money. Those young gentlemen of the great houses are free with it, and there is no small power behind them… Control them with immortal powder and they bring him money and see to it that nothing goes wrong at the gambling house.”

Ning Chen’s brows drew in and he said heavily, “By that account there are other places selling immortal powder besides the Four Quarters gambling house.”

“Have the ministers who were smoking it been questioned?”

Pan Yucheng said, “Geng the Purple Coat is questioning them now.”

Ning Chen and the rest got back to the Inspectorate and went straight to the cells.

The moment they were inside they could hear the whole of the cells howling like souls in torment.

The ministers shut up in there were in the grip of the craving, roaring and shouting… Some begged to be let out, and some beat their heads on the doors of the cells, thud after thud, until their heads were split open and bleeding.

Feng Qizheng said, appalled, “This immortal powder is a frightening thing. To think it can put a man through this.”

Ning Chen said heavily, “Once a man touches the stuff he is not a man any more.”

As they said it they came to the torture room.

An official was tied to the frame, snot and tears all over him, struggling with everything in him and setting the chains rattling.

“Geng Jing, fuck you, let me out of here, let me out of here…”

“Lord Geng, I beg you, let me out… Let me have one pull at it, only one…”

Geng Jing’s brows were drawn together and his face was full of irritation. He had been in the middle of questioning the man when the craving took him… one moment begging and begging, the next cursing at the top of his voice.

Ning Chen stepped up and said, “Tell me who supplied you with immortal powder. Tell me the truth and I will let you go.”

“I’ve told you eight hundred times, it was the steward of my own household… I beg you, let me go. Let me have one pull, just one, I beg you all…”

Geng Jing stood up and said, “I have questioned most of the officials. Every one of them got his immortal powder from somebody close about him… I have already sent men out to take them.”

“Ning Chen, what is this immortal powder, exactly, that it can turn a man into a thing that is neither man nor ghost?”

Ning Chen said, “It is refined out of the sap of a plant… His Majesty has given the order. This must be run to the bottom and the root of it cleared out.”

Geng Jing nodded.

Ning Chen said, “Have him taken down… And bring Feng Cheng. I want to question him myself.”

The official in the grip of the craving was taken out by force, still sending his compliments to Geng Jing’s mother.

Ning Chen glanced at Geng Jing, and seeing how thoroughly ugly his face was, could hardly keep from laughing.

“Lord Geng, once the craving takes hold a man is not a man. There is nothing human in them, so there’s no call to be gentle with these poison-eaten creatures.”

Geng Jing inclined his head slightly and gave orders for Feng Cheng to be brought over.

After a little while Feng Cheng was brought in.

Ning Chen looked at him with his eyes narrowed and smiling. “Keeper Feng, what a coincidence. Fancy running into you here. It must be fate.”

Fate my ass. You’re the one who dragged me back here. Feng Cheng said it inwardly.

But there was nothing left now of the swagger he had had at the gambling house, because he had been put to the question already. He was covered with blood, his face was a dreadful white, and his eyes were full of terror.

“Keeper Feng, don’t be frightened… I only have a few questions for you. Answer them well and I’ll send you back to your cell. If you hold anything back, I’ll let you try this, and I promise you’ll remember it as long as you live.”

The blood went cold in Feng Cheng and he shook all over, because the thing Ning Chen was pointing at was the wooden donkey.

Pan Yucheng and the others: →_→

Ning Chen seemed to have a special fondness for the thing. He had used it to frighten Ning Gan once before.

(End of Chapter 205)