Wuxia: Starting Off With 60 Years of Inner Strength

The moment he saw the bladeswoman, the black-clad archer’s mind buzzed.

Only two questions remained.

’Who is this person?’

’Where did she come from?’

He immediately tapped his foot, about to leap away.

Tang Huayi smiled faintly.

"I’ve already found you, and you still think you can leave? Stay and have a chat."

The black-clad archer was already dead set on leaving. While his Cloud Chasing Moon Chasing Arrow was powerful, it was designed for a single, fatal strike from a thousand li away.

It wasn’t that he had no means of close-quarters combat.

But it was far from his specialty.

Someone had managed to sneak up on him without him noticing a thing. ’If this person had just struck with her blade, wouldn’t I have met an untimely end?’

’How could I, using my weakness, possibly be a match for such an expert?’

But as his foot landed and her voice entered his ears, a strange thought inexplicably surfaced.

He just felt that what she said made a lot of sense.

’Why not stay and chat?’

’What’s the harm in a little chat?’

He paused, turned back to look at the bladeswoman, and fell silent for a moment.

"What do you want to talk about?"

Tang Huayi’s smile was predatory.

"Let’s talk about who you were trying to kill just now."

"I..."

The black-clad archer paused in silence before speaking.

"A major contract was issued within the Death Building. Someone offered a thousand taels of gold for the head of an Assassin."

"That person is inside the tavern right now. A moment ago, I took advantage of his distraction to shoot a killing arrow."

"But I never expected it would fail to penetrate his protective divine art..."

"Ever since I began cultivating the Cloud Chasing Moon Chasing Arrow, this is the first time I’ve returned empty-handed."

"The Death Building?"

Tang Huayi’s brows furrowed slightly, then her lips curled into a cold sneer.

"The Death Building has some nerve, daring to kill him..."

"He’s... just a small, unknown Assassin. Why can’t he be killed?"

The black-clad archer frowned, not quite understanding.

But what confused him even more was why he was still standing here.

Why wasn’t he leaving?

It felt as if every instinct in his body was screaming at him to run... yet he also felt that he should stay and have a proper talk with this person.

"That’s because your Death Building lacks foresight. You don’t know how formidable he is."

Tang Huayi sighed. "Otherwise, you will all definitely regret provoking him."

"So, you’re saying this entire town is now filled with people from your Death Building?"

"What happened to the town’s original residents?"

"This place has suffered from banditry for years. The Government Office was powerless to catch them, so the common people fled long ago to seek refuge."

"Those who remained were killed by the mountain bandits."

"We occupied this empty town precisely to wait for the Assassin to arrive..."

"Why am I telling you all this?"

The black-clad archer’s brows knitted tightly.

Tang Huayi smiled. "Just making small talk. To be honest, I also share a deep, irreconcilable hatred for this Assassin! I’ll be thrilled if you manage to kill him today."

"But he’s extremely formidable. Killing him won’t be easy."

"You’ve certainly made a big scene this time."

"I wonder, what other experts do you have hiding nearby?"

"So you’re his enemy too."

The black-clad archer came to a sudden realization, then continued.

"Here... two of the Five Poisons have come to assist."

"This Assassin’s martial arts are not weak, so we laid out a devious plan."

"We have different countermeasures for different situations. When they entered the tavern, the first phase was the poison plot."

"Once inside the tavern, they were bound to ask for food and drink."

"Given the town’s complicated environment, they certainly wouldn’t actually eat it."

"At that point, the assassin disguised as a waiter would make his move. He’d either be killed by them outright or... more than likely, be used to test for poison."

"In truth, there was no poison in the food."

"The real poison was on the ’antidote’ packet that the waiter would produce."

"Hence, the poison plot!"

"However, the target was cautious, so the poison plot failed. The second phase was the life plot!"

"It used the tavern cook’s life as bait."

"He would reveal himself and attack. If he could kill the target, great. If not, he was meant to die."

"Once he died, the other people hidden in town would show themselves."

"A whole assortment of vagrants would appear, giving the impression that we were at our wit’s end."

"Then, by using the lives of these numerous assassins, we would lull the target into a false sense of security, making him think this was all we were capable of."

"Finally, Lord Greed Poison, hidden amongst the crowd, would launch a sudden sneak attack... a calculated strike against an unprepared opponent."

"The target would face certain death!"

"Moreover, even if Lord Greed Poison’s sneak attack failed,"

"Lord Slow Poison is also on his way here and could arrive at any moment."

"With these two present, the Assassin must die today."

Tang Huayi’s brows furrowed.

She knew of the Death Building, but she didn’t know much about its top experts.

’Who is this Greed Poison?’

’And who is this Slow Poison?’

’Dealing with Jiang Ran... and he isn’t striking preemptively, but taking his sweet time? Such arrogance?’

As she thought of this, she looked up. In the time they had been talking, a battle had already erupted in front of the tavern.

Luo Qingyi’s fists were a whirlwind, her Elephant Divine Fist striking with immense power as she furiously battled opponents from all sides.

She drove a group of assassins into a desperate struggle between life and death.

Gentle Water Sword’s longsword was entangled with a pair of flowing cloud sleeves. They clashed relentlessly, and the actor was steadily being forced back.

Scholar Jingtan’s divine palms were engaged with a battle-axe and a flamboyantly dressed woman.

The axe looked unremarkable, yet every strike made the surroundings tremble.

As for the woman, she fought with a playful smile, her five fingers as sharp as blades and her techniques exquisitely refined.

With these three holding the line in front of the tavern, the remaining people were unable to break through for the moment.