Chapter 306: The Gathering
The armored soldiers' protectee, General Shen, clearly had not understood what the young man meant, and simply continued stepping slowly backward, putting distance between himself and the newcomer.
On the second floor of the entertainment house, the blue-robed man in the bamboo hat looked down at the young man, a flash of contempt crossing his eyes, and said, "Your martial cultivation is not weak, I can see that. But as an assassin, rather than striking from the shadows and finishing in a single blow, you just walked in here and showed yourself openly. Do you think you are me?"
With that, the blue-robed man in the bamboo hat burst into a loud, unrestrained laugh, clearly not thinking anything of the young Hidden Kill Pavilion assassin below.
The young man looked up at him, and the corner of his mouth curved into a smile, though whether it was a smile of mockery or bitterness was impossible to tell.
The next moment, the blue-robed man's laughter cut off abruptly.
"Please, cut this scoundrel down," General Shen called out from the main hall, not yet sensing anything wrong. Hearing the blue-robed man's confidence, he clasped his hands in pleased relief. As long as the young assassin before him was dealt with, he could make it safely back to the capital.
But when he raised his eyes toward the blue-robed man in the bamboo hat, he found the man standing completely motionless, eyes wide, face filled with horror, not saying a single word.
A flash of alarm and suspicion crossed General Shen's eyes. He looked again, and found that a second figure had appeared at the blue-robed man's side at some unknown moment.
His heart lurched. The figure had clearly been standing right there beside the blue-robed man, yet when he had looked the first time, his eyes had passed right over them as though they simply were not there. It was as though the figure had no presence at all, and even though they were in his field of vision, he had unconsciously looked straight through them.