Why do I have so many masters?

The sound of the qin gradually ceased.

Wang Anfeng tilted his head to listen. The breathing inside the wooden hut had become faint and steady, clearly indicating that the occupant had fallen deep into sleep. His right pinky pulled the last string of the qin, sending out a lingering note that spread across the night, deepening its silence.

The young man stood up and returned the wooden qin to its case beside him. Although it was already late, he did not return to his room to rest. Instead, with a light tap of his toes on the ground, he leaped up and flew, his clothes flapping, and landed atop the roof.

The moonlight was like water, and Wang Anfeng sat cross-legged, his breathing gradually steadying.

The wooden sword rested horizontally on his knees.

His eyes were as deep as lakes.

The bright moon, the stars,

The night as dark as ink, the snow white as bone,

The wind through the sparse forest was like the sound of a qin.

The youth in simple clothes gradually blended into the surrounding environment, his breathing growing more and more tranquil.

Below him in the wooden hut, Tan Yurou nestled in the corner of the bed. Although Wang Anfeng assumed that the young girl had fallen into a deep sleep, she still opened her eyes, took out a small jade vase from her bosom, quietly poured out a blood-red elixir, and swallowed it.

Her beautiful brows furrowed slightly, but her expression remained unchanged as she took the elixir.

Her spirit and breath gradually calmed and quieted, slowly sinking into a dreamless sleep.

--------------------------------------------

It was already the fifth watch of the night.

Peng Qisui moved silently through the streets of the city, his footsteps making no sound. With each light tap on the ground, he darted forward several meters like a shadow, fast yet leaving no trace.

The defenses of Xi Dingzhou were certainly no match for those of Fufeng County City. The martial artists and constables patrolling at night, whether in terms of vigilance, mindset, or martial arts cultivation, were far inferior to the patrol officers in the county city.

Thus, despite their numbers, not a single one detected his presence.

He hurried along, crossing the main road.

He passed Rongde Road, which could accommodate two carriages side by side, and swept past Scholar Street, which had produced thirteen scholars...

This chapter is updat𝙚d by freeweɓnovel.cøm.

After traveling several more yards, Peng Qisui abruptly stopped.

The dark garments fell around him.

Looking up, the night was still, and under the moonlight, the flag of Tiger Roar Martial Arts School, listlessly hung. It was the fifth ranked martial arts school in Xi Dingzhou City, and its innkeeper was a robust man skilled in the Tiger Roar Fist Saber, both remarkable techniques.

The head was worth three thousand pieces of silver.

However, his gaze did not linger on the Tiger Roar Martial Arts School. Instead, it fell on a quiet courtyard next to it. The gates of the courtyard appeared well-crafted from fine wood, marred only by a few cracks where something had struck them. Any carpenter would lament and cry it a pity.

Who knows how much it was worth in silver.

Peng Qisui exhaled, suppressing the devaluing thoughts in his mind, and reached his right hand to his back, touching the cold, harsh blade.

He was an assassin.

Today’s mission was to test the martial artists here. He wasn’t required to take any lives; just infiltrating and exchanging blows would earn him fifty pieces of patterned silver. If his weapon could be stained with the blood of a martial artist from the courtyard, he could earn three hundred pieces of patterned silver.

Today, the courtyard was filled with cubic meter-sized wooden boxes. When opened, they revealed fully laden, brightly shining silver that dazzled the eyes. If not for knowing the organization had special methods, he would have been tempted to stab himself a few times and trade the wounds for some silver.

Steadying his mind, Peng Qisui did not go directly over. Instead, he used the Gecko Wall-Climbing Skill, silently scaling the adjacent Tiger Roar Martial Arts School and gently landing atop the Tiger Roar Cang Mountain plaque. With an Emei Water Splitting Spike in each hand, he cautiously observed the inside. Stay updated with novelbuddy

What he saw in the courtyard was rather elegant. There was a stone round table with a qin case on it, and just as he was preparing to descend, he noticed a short, stocky figure crouching in a concealed corner. His gaze sharpened slightly, and his previously moving body also came to a halt.

He recognized this person.

As long as there are people, there will be Jianghu. Heroes have their own Jianghu with grudges and disputes, and naturally, assassins have their own Jianghu too, where they kill for wealth. In this line of work, if you have survived the first three years by sheer luck, there must have been numerous fights and conflicts with colleagues.

Peng Qisui had a fierce, penetrating wound on his back, which was left by this child-sized assassin.

He barely made it through.

Peng Qisui pursed his lips, realizing that this lucrative deal probably wasn’t only known to his own boss. He quietly concealed himself in the shadow of the signboard and carefully observed the surroundings of the courtyard, his expression growing increasingly wrong.

In the tree within the courtyard, a woman stood quietly, dressed in black, her complexion excessively pale.

She was standing on the delicate branches, yet there wasn’t the slightest tremor.

She carried on her back two thin swords, each about a finger’s width.

Assassins in this trade preferred weapons that are easy to conceal, such as flying daggers, short daggers, or like Peng Qisui, who shamelessly used a weapon favored by heroines of Jianghu, the Emei Water Splitting Spike, which could stab and strike, serving both as a sword and a spear, and most importantly, was easy to hide.

And if an assassin can manage to live well while wielding thin swords, which are inclined towards Qimen weaponry,

then that assassin must be very terrifying.

Peng Qisui swallowed hard, his gaze falling on a man half-crouching under another side of the brick wall, his hands unusually slender.

On each of his wrists, he wore a wrist guard, which sprang out cold gleams like wolf claws, lightly touching the ground. No one would doubt their power, as a slight effort would be sufficient to slice anyone’s face into fragments. Even from such a distance, it made Peng Qisui’s spine chill.

Apart from these three, each more ruthless and formidable than the last, he spotted at least six other colleagues, none of whom were novices.

Each had taken at least seventeen or eighteen lives.

This lucrative deal, indeed, seemed too hot to handle.

Peng Qisui grinned slightly, like a fat cat inching his body more carefully into the shadows, already filled with much regret.

The main reason he had survived up to this point was his self-awareness.

Looking at this situation and considering this sum of silver, he knew, even without deep thought, that they were being used as disposable pawns for testing. Since the person behind the scene was willing to pay so much silver, the martial artist involved must be exceedingly tough.

Enough to crush a mouthful of steel teeth.

Moreover, from what he had seen just now, among these assassins were experts in various martial arts, special kills, sneak attacks, poisoning, hidden weapons—all manner of murderous methods were included.

With this thought, Peng Qisui felt a great desire to retreat, yet he couldn’t bear to give up the easily attainable silver. While he hesitated, suddenly, a cold sensation surged in his heart. He swiftly turned around; the Emei Watershed Spike in his hand brought up a streak of cold light as he stabbed it backward.

This move was his life’s ultimate skill, fierce and abrupt like a river flowing backwards. Those who saw this move for the first time seldom could counter it. Yet, just as the river of killing intent began to flow, his wrist was firmly grasped, the pulse restrained, instantly rendering him unable to exert even a third of his strength, almost causing him to cry out.

Struggling to turn his head, he saw a young man in plain clothes, carrying a wooden sword, with a rather unfamiliar face. Peng Qisui bared his teeth and assumed it was a newcomer. Seeing that the young man hadn’t killed him right away, he inwardly breathed a sigh of relief, and pleaded,

"Young brother, let go, let go..."

"I don’t want to continue this job anymore, brother; I am not competing for the silver with you."

The young man behind seemed surprised, yet his hand did not loosen, merely following Peng Qisui’s lead, he said,

"A job?"

Although the force from the hand didn’t increase, Peng Qisui felt an unbearable pain and could hardly think rationally. Hearing the question, he almost instinctively answered,

"Yes, the job, the mission."

"Look how many people there are in the courtyard; it’s not just you and me who have taken on this job. It’s not a secret..."

PS: Second update