Slash!
Hou Lin had started to move. Differentiating Nan Hua from the others was very easy since she was small and nimble. Not to mention, her barely present presence was quite unique in a way.
In other words, he himself could barely detect where the girl was.
'The adjutant is quite sharp.'
Retreating to the back, Hou Lin paid close attention to the group before him. Nan Hua had killed several of the soldiers with her needles while he killed several of them with his dagger and some needles. He had more confidence in his dagger skill rather than needles since he mostly used knives.
But he had used his knives in the previous fight and when eliminating some tails that followed Old Master Nan.
"Come out, you despicable assassin!" the adjutant yelled in annoyance.
But Nan Hua didn't respond.
Lurking at one side, Nan Hua didn't move at all. With her current martial arts, her erasing presence skill would not work as well when she was moving around. As long as she was staying still as if she was nothing more than a rock, she wouldn't be found out.
"Adjutant, shall we make report?"
"Let's retreat…"
Clang! Jleb!
"Akh!"
The adjutant felt that his patience was tested over and over. Looking at the pitch black darkness before him, it would be a lie if he said that he was not afraid. He didn't know what was waiting for him and seeing his men dying one by one all of the sudden caused him to be afraid.
Who…?
Just who was the one killing them with ease like that?
"Adjutant?"
"Open the door and enter the main hall, we…"
Slash!
Hou Lin swiftly moved. He knew that if they opened the door, light would come and their advantage would disappear. Assassin specialized in killing people swiftly using the cover of darkness. As long as they had this advantage, they would not usually lose.
"Open…"
Stab!
Clang!
The dull sound coming from the main hall startled everyone within the secret passage. They came to realize that there was another group that was coming from the other secret passage.
Then… why were there two groups?
Does His Majesty really have that much help?
A needle landed on the adjutant leg, preventing him from moving. Dread spread from the bottom of the adjutant's heart. Just now… he couldn't sense the needle coming at all. He had already experienced countless assassination attack before, but why was this one so different?
How come someone trained to this extent?
His hand swiftly moved to slash forward, hoping to stop anything that come towards his vital point. However, there was nothing.
Just as the adjutant wanted to move again, he felt pain in his arm. To his horror, it hit his accupoint, which prevented him from moving his hand. The next moment, he felt dull pain in his head and his other legs gave away.
"Despicable…"
Thud!
Nan Hua stood ten feet away from the adjutant, silently at one side. She heard the adjutant's words and her eyes flickered. "I'm an assassin, would it matter what method I use?"
Unlike knights in the story who would uphold their honor and fought openly, assassins were the complete opposite. They would use all kind of despicable methods they could in order to finish the battle earlier.
After all, assassins often didn't have as much strength as powerful soldiers but they could kill by using the other party's weakness.
Slash! Thud!
Hou Lin listened to what Nan Hua said and smiled bitterly. He walked closer and crouched down before Nan Hua. Even though it was dark and one wouldn't be able to see each other, he could imagine Nan Hua was looking at him indifferently.
"You're the best, Young Miss. Don't let others say otherwise."
Nan Hua looked at Hou Lin and tilted her head. She was not bothered in the slightest bit as everyone whom she met in the past had said the same thing. Even when she had trained her strength to be so powerful, they would still say the same thing. She no longer cared what other people said anymore.
"Push the body to the door."
"Let me do it. You should rest."
"En."
Listening to her soft words, Hou Lin felt that it was really difficult to associate this sweet voice of a little girl with the valiant assassin who killed everyone who blocked this secret passageway just now.
He worked fast and piled the body in front of the door, effectively blocking the path. Most ministers wouldn't be able to handle this sight, so it was pretty good for them to put it in this place.
Besides, the entrance was also that thing and he could arrange some people to wait near there.
"Young Miss, what do you want to do next?"
"I'll return. You deal with this." Nan Hua could hear some scuffle from the main hall and knew that if she stayed here any longer, she would have to meet with them. Rather than letting all of them knew about her real ability, it would be better to let as fewer people as possible.
"Miss, should I…"
"I can go back on my own."
Swish!
As Nan Hua departed into the distance, Hou Lin said nothing else. He sighed lightly and continued to do his work.
…
The main hall, before the break in.
The second prince, Prince Yang Lu, sat on the throne with several ministers around him. His youthful face betrayed his age, but his sharp eyebrows and expression could easily remind one of his father. The stubbornness that stemmed from the bottom of his heart could be seen from his posture.
The ministers were all sitting uncomfortably. Those were the people that he managed to pull to his side by relying on his mother's influence.
They were all waiting for morning to come in order to complete their plan.. As long as they could pull more people to Prince Yang Lu's side, they would be able to overthrow the low born Emperor Yang Zhou.