Chapter Forty-Eight: Probing

Night.

Upon a rooftop, two men dressed in black melted into the darkness. Both lay prone, their eyes fixed intently on a distant courtyard.

Inside the courtyard, a burly man was still practicing a movement technique.

“Damn, that kid’s a martial arts fanatic, isn’t he? It’s already midnight and he’s still training. Doesn’t he need to sleep?” Feng Long muttered quietly.

“Should we test him now?” Ma Ren, beside him, squinted as he spoke.

“No. The city guards won’t patrol this street again for another quarter of an hour. Let’s wait until they’ve passed. We must do this cleanly—if anything goes wrong, we might get caught!” Feng Long whispered.

“Alright.” Ma Ren nodded. Ever since their altar master was surrounded and killed, most of their sect members hiding in Jiangning County City had been uprooted.

Now, they must act with extreme caution.

For some time, their remaining followers had stayed hidden. Yet today, the two of them had been sent by the incense master to probe the true strength of a deputy captain from the constabulary.

It was rumored the deputy captain was only at the third stage. They had no idea why the incense master wanted them to test this man’s abilities.

Time slipped by; nearly half an hour passed in silence.

The city guards had already patrolled and were long gone from this street.

“Damn, is this kid ever going to stop?” Ma Ren felt his head pounding as he saw the young man still training in the courtyard.

Had they not feared being discovered before even approaching, they would have acted sooner!

“Let’s do it. The city guards are far off; even if we’re spotted near the courtyard, it’ll take time for the guards to arrive. Enough time to test him. Tonight, I’ll kill that kid!” Feng Long said in a low voice.

With that, the two men quietly descended from the rooftop and moved toward the courtyard.

Their footsteps were nearly silent.

They moved in perfect unison, scaling the wall one after the other. For two men of the fourth stage, the two-meter-high wall was nothing.

“Hmm, where is he?” Feng Long was the first over the wall. Landing, he looked to see the man who had been training in the middle of the courtyard—gone.

“What?” Ma Ren, just landing, asked in confusion.

Suddenly—

A sharp pain struck the back of Ma Ren’s neck; his vision went black and he lost consciousness instantly.

The sound of slicing air rang out.

Feng Long’s senses screamed danger. He tried to turn and strike, but Qin Yi was faster—a hand chop landed on the back of Feng Long’s neck, and he too passed out.

Inside a house diagonally across the street.

The style was similar to the one Qin Yi had rented, but no one had yet bought or leased it. Conveniently, Qin Yi dragged the two men here for questioning, not wanting to disturb Old Qin by causing a commotion at home.

At this moment, Qin Yi had torn off the black masks of both men, revealing two men in their thirties.

He stuffed their mouths full of cotton, then drew his boning knife.

A series of swift movements followed.

The next second, Feng Long was jolted awake by pain!

Seeing the burly young man working on his legs, slicing flesh from them, nearly brought him to tears.

“Mmm...mmm…” Feng Long broke out in cold sweat, nearly fainting again from agony. But his mouth was stuffed full of cotton—he couldn’t utter a single word!

“Speak—who are you? Why did you try to attack me?” Qin Yi asked quietly.

“If you don’t talk, I’ll strip you to the bone. I doubt you want to die from pain like that.”

“Oh, and before I turn you into a skeleton, I plan to castrate you. So, if you tell me the truth, I’ll let you go!”

At once, Ma Long nodded frantically like a pecking chick. They had only been sent by the incense master to test the strength of this man, supposedly at the third stage. How had they been knocked out so easily, without a sound? The strength of the man before them was terrifying!

“Don’t even think of yelling—I’ll end you with one stroke,” Qin Yi said, pressing the knife to Ma Long’s throat.

He removed the cotton from Ma Long’s mouth.

“Sir, we’re just assassins from Shadow Stream Pavilion. We only take jobs for money. Please, spare us—we can pay you for our lives!” Feng Long blubbered, sobbing.

“Shadow Stream Pavilion?” Qin Yi had heard of the name—a famed assassin organization in Dayong, notorious for taking paid contracts.

“Who wants me dead?” Qin Yi believed he’d offended no one in Jiangning County.

“Sir, our Pavilion keeps client information strictly confidential. Only our higher-ups know. We assassins just carry out assignments; we don’t know who the employer is,” Feng Long said earnestly.

“Mmm…mmm…”

Qin Yi stuffed the cotton back into his mouth.

“So you won’t tell the truth? Then I’ll castrate you first, then slowly strip your flesh...”

A cruel smile spread across Qin Yi’s face.

Ten minutes later.

Feng Long, faint from pain, awoke once more.

“Ready to tell the truth?” Qin Yi asked calmly.

Feng Long, pale and terrified, nodded.

“Good.” Qin Yi removed the cotton.

“I’ll talk, I’ll talk—please stop torturing me.”

“My name is Feng Long. We’re disciples of the Red Sect. Today, we acted on the incense master’s orders to test your strength!” Feng Long said.

“Red Sect?” Qin Yi’s brow furrowed.

He hadn’t expected Red Sect agents to be lurking within Jiangning County City.

“Why test me?” Qin Yi asked.

“I—I don’t know. The incense master ordered us, so we came. I really don’t know. I’m telling the truth,” Feng Long said, tears streaming down his face for fear Qin Yi wouldn’t believe him.

“Did you know my strength before you came?”

“Yes, the intel said you were only at the third stage. We never imagined you were so powerful, that you’d subdue us fourth-stage fighters in an instant!” Feng Long managed a pained smile.

His words left Qin Yi silent.

He’d never had any contact with Red Sect members in the city—so why had they targeted him?

He began to guess the reason. Perhaps, after what happened in Li Family Town, he’d been listed as a suspect, and now they’d sent men to test and eliminate possibilities.

“Tell me—where is your incense master now? How many Red Sect strongholds remain in the city?” Qin Yi asked coldly.

“If I answer, will you spare my life?”

“Yes.”

“Swear it, or I won’t believe you.”

“I, Qin Feng, swear—if I kill you, may the heavens strike me down!”

“Alright. I—I’m at the same stronghold as the incense master. As for other strongholds in the city, I really don’t know! After the altar master was surrounded and killed, most of our strongholds were destroyed. The incense master’s stronghold is at Yongle Gambling House on Chang’an Street.”