Chapter 54: Assassination

“Master Qingsong, please have mercy and save my adoptive father!”

Hearing Qingsong’s voice, Xiao Yu immediately let out a “desperate filial daughter’s wail.”

“Master Qingsong—”

Guan Zhong also wanted to join in with a “desperate loyal servant’s cry,” but Qingsong raised a hand to stop him. “Ah, no need to say more. I’ve completed my duties in the Western States and am returning to Da Qin. I came here now to fulfill my promise to General Guan.”

Qingsong swiftly pulled out a small white porcelain vial and handed it to Xiao Yu. “Here—it’s the Nine-Turn Bone-Transformation Pill. Back at the Hengsha Pass Prefect’s mansion, General Guan himself told me that if anything happened to him, the pill should be entrusted to Miss Yu for safekeeping.”

He turned and walked away.

After two steps, he remembered the Shadow God Diagram and the poem he’d just seen, and a flicker of pity arose. He stopped, turned back to Xiao Yu, and said with deep meaning: “Even for nobles of Da Qin, the Nine-Turn Bone-Transformation Pill is a rare treasure. You may not understand it, but many people do—and they crave it.”

“Now everyone knows the pill is in your hands, and General Guan is...”

——Everyone knows the pill is in my hands because of YOU?!

Even without Qingsong’s warning, Xiao Yu understood the danger of possessing the Nine-Turn Bone-Transformation Pill.

After all, in her past life she’d read countless novels—murder for treasure was an inevitable plot.

“Master, can you now feed the pill to my adoptive father to bring him back?” Xiao Yu hurriedly asked.

“Heh, you think his corpse is too intact and want him to explode? Go ahead, try feeding it to him.”

“Master~~~~”

“Mind your own business!” Qingsong turned and walked away without a second glance.

“Zhong Shu, your master trusted you most.” Xiao Yu immediately shoved the small vial into Guan Zhong’s arms. Before he could refuse, she added: “All I want now is to find a divine physician or divine medicine to save my father—I have neither time nor stomach for this useless trinket!”

Her tone carried clear resentment and disdain.

As if, unless she could save Huichen right now, even a true immortal pill was just a useless trinket.

“Miss...” Guan Zhong gripped the vial tightly, his expression and emotions deeply complex.

“Zhong Shu, don’t stand there frozen. Go find more renowned physicians. And Song Fujiang, gather every Iron Cavalry brother you can, bring the Divine Sustenance Pills, and let’s set out together.”

“Even if we don’t sleep or rest, we must find someone who can save my father.”

Her swift, seasoned demeanor made anyone who saw it doubt she had ulterior motives toward the Nine-Turn Bone-Transformation Pill.

——Next, Guan Zhong would inevitably have to care for Huichen alongside her. Whether the pill was on him or on her made no real difference.

Even if it were on her, she dared not swallow it directly—Huichen was dead, but the Guan family still lived!

Now, if anyone tried to kill for the pill, they’d target Guan Zhong, the one carrying it.

Guan Zhong bore the greatest risk.

If Guan Zhong was killed for the pill, she might play the yellow bird—strike in the chaos, kill the thief, quietly take the pill, swallow it in secret, let the thief bear the blame, let Guan Zhong bear the risk, and she’d reap the reward.

If her secret strike failed to kill the thief, then clearly the pill was never meant for her—keeping it on her would be a one-episode death ending.

“Miss, someone in the Fire Crow Army likely seeks to seize the Lord’s Nine-Turn Bone-Transformation Pill. When Qingluan delivered the medicine to the commander’s tent, others must have seen.”

Guan Zhong was truly deceived by Xiao Yu’s performance, believing her loyalty to Huichen and the Guan family matched his own.

While Wei Wu wrapped Huichen’s “corpse,” he pulled her aside and whispered: “Since Master Qingsong warned us to guard against murder for treasure, it means he has no ill intent—he even leans slightly toward us.”

He has no ill intent, yet he openly gave us the pill, making everyone aware—this means that before he even came to us, those who coveted the Bone-Transformation Pill had already revealed themselves.”

“He openly handed over the pill and warned us to be careful—perhaps he’s protecting us.”

“Some things, once done and suspected, are destined to bring bad reputation.”

Xiao Yu glanced at Guan Zhong with surprise: Is this old man truly loyal to Huichen—or is he performing just like her? If he truly cared, wouldn’t he be in chaos, his reason lost?

She’d only just realized this small detail herself—she simply hadn’t spoken it aloud.

“Zhong Shu, my mind is in turmoil—I can only think of where to find a physician to save him... Alas, as for the pill, you decide.”

Seeing her frantic, disordered state, Guan Zhong felt both helpless and reassured.

To act decisively in saving her adoptive father, yet be utterly clueless about the pill—this was the true behavior of a filial daughter!

Yet though he was trusted by Huichen, he had almost no strength to protect the divine pill—what should he do?

Guan Zhong too began to feel his mind in turmoil.

“The First Emperor Ying Zheng is dead~~~~”

A piercing, sky-splitting cry suddenly rang outside the room.

The voice was loud, high-pitched, filled with joy and excitement—clearly audible in the inn’s main hall.

In an instant, everyone—including Xiao Yu and Guan Zhong—froze, expressions blank, silent.

“Hahaha! The First Emperor Ying Zheng tortured the people—finally, heaven’s retribution! Heaven has eyes! Hahaha, Hahahaha~~~”

“The Son of Heaven has passed... But who dares laugh so boldly in public—no, there’s an assassin! Someone is trying to assassinate the Flame Sun Marquis!”

Xiao Yu was the first to react, her face turning pale. She shouted urgently: “Fujiang Song, and all of General Guan’s friends—take my father and leave through the back door immediately!”

“Boom~~~ Boom~~~”

The next moment, the ground shook violently, flames erupted into the sky.

In the inn’s main hall, tables and chairs overturned, cups and plates shattered, beams groaned and tilted, roof tiles rained down.

As if the end of the world had arrived.

“Quick, hurry out the back door—the building’s collapsing!” Song Changqing shouted urgently.

The knights and inn staff snapped out of their stunned daze and rushed toward the back door.

“Clang~~” Xiao Yu drew her Dragon Kiss short sword, stepped forward swiftly, and blocked the path of the armored knights. She barked: “Don’t run! Come back and carry General Guan before you leave!”

The first knight, named Hou Sanbao, twisted his face and reached for Xiao Yu’s cheek. “I’ve had enough of you, little barbarian—”

“Pthhh~~~” A flash of silver light—a head the size of a bucket flew upward; blood gushed like a fountain, spouting over ten feet high from the severed neck.

The knights froze in horror, staring blankly at the slowly toppling headless body, unable to process it.

Xiao Yu coldly demanded: “Who else wants to rebel against General Guan?”

“Take General Guan with you,” Wei Wu and Song Changqing whispered.

The group quickly turned back, each grabbing a corner of the Fire Rat Robe, lifting Huichen out of the main hall.

Xiao Yu truly didn’t want to burden them.

But Huichen’s body was twisted and deformed, his armor still fully on, and his original massive frame weighed four or five hundred jin—Guan Zhong couldn’t carry him alone.

Even if Mianqiang he could lift him, Huichen’s current injuries made it impossible.

A truly filial daughter would consider this—and she was the filial daughter now.

As for beheading the armored knight with one sword...

First, the man never expected her to strike so violently—he was unprepared. Even before she trained in martial arts, she’d killed ten men.

Now, she’d nearly completed her martial cultivation, lacking only internal energy; she’d taken the Divine Enlightenment Pill, awakening her Sword Bones, greatly strengthening her physique, and sharpening her sword techniques. Hou Sanbao died as he deserved!

“BOOM!!”

The moment they left the main hall and reached the back courtyard, another fierce explosion erupted.

This time, Xiao Yu saw clearly.

It was a thunderstorm.

As if countless violet-red lightning bolts had been compressed into a space bomb, and now a “Dao Art: Thunder—Space Bomb” had been hurled above the Fire Crow Army camp.

Endless lightning exploded, instantly filling the entire visible sky.

It had been a clear, cloudless day—now the sky was pitch black.

Without the violet-red flashes of lightning, it would be utterly pitch dark.

“Boom, boom, boom~~~” Beneath the thunderstorm, the earth shook like a magnitude-seven earthquake.

The buildings had already collapsed half their structure under the shockwave, leaning away from the blast.

Actually, the thunderstorm had been blocked—it hadn’t struck the ground directly.

From within the Fire Crow Army camp, a hazy red mist rose, like countless threads of fiery down, rising into the air and coalescing into a golden-red fire shield.

The shield covered the entire camp, vast beyond measure, its design ancient and crude.

Xiao Yu looked up—and her Sword Bones inside her body gave a faint response, allowing her to sense a desolate, primeval aura.

As the thunderstorm struck, the fire shield rippled like a lake’s surface, and crimson blood-evil energy seeped outward.

“Huh? Why are you all glowing with fire?” Xiao Yu, still stunned, suddenly noticed Song Changqing and the other black-armored knights had stopped moving, their faces twisted in pain, their bodies slowly revealing thin, elongated strands of fiery down.

It resembled the flame-like chakra cloak that Naruto wore when using the Nine-Tails’ chakra—except far fainter, more ethereal.

But Xiao Yu wasn’t imagining it.

“The Flame Sun Marquis has activated the ‘Three Thousand Fire Crows Formation,’” Song Changqing said.

Though their expressions were strained and pained, neither he nor the knights showed shock or confusion.

Even Guan Zhong looked as if he’d seen it before.

“What’s the ‘Three Thousand Fire Crows Formation’? What does it have to do with you?”

Xiao Yu asked curiously, then urged quickly: “Whatever this formation is, let’s get out of here—farther away, the better!”

“They’re bound by it—they can’t leave,” Guan Zhong said, pointing at the inn’s staff. “Song Changqing, put the Lord down. You others, carry him—hurry, retreat to the back mountain!”

“No, we won’t stay behind—take us with you!”

The black-armored knights who had abandoned Huichen moments ago now panicked, clutching the Fire Rat Robe as if it were a lifeline.

Guan Zhong glared. “You are soldiers under the Flame Sun Marquis—you’ve been absorbed into the Three Thousand Fire Crows Formation. How can I and Miss Yu carry you? Step back—don’t drag the Lord and us down with you!”