Chapter 158: Shadow Assassin Yang Xuyan

Chapter 158: The Shadow Assassin, Yang Xuyan (Seeking Subscriptions)

Inside the inn, Zheng Jian didn't even need to guess to know that the stunning woman before him was undoubtedly the "Resourceful Strategist" Shen Luoyan of the Wagang Army.

He pondered for a moment and said, "To show up uninvited is the act of a burglar; of course I mind!"

Shen Luoyan's pretty face instantly froze.

Resentment points from Shen Luoyan +200.

Shen Luoyan thought to herself, "This man is truly as the rumors say—he has a venomous tongue!"

At the same time, Zheng Jian was also complaining inwardly, "Hmm? Only 200 resentment points? This Shen Luoyan doesn't seem like a broad-minded person either... though her chest certainly is broad. It looks like she came fully prepared!"

During the brief moment their eyes met, both were deep in thought.

As for Shan Wanjing, she was secretly suppressing a giggle, thinking, "Big Brother Zheng really is still Big Brother Zheng! The kind who wants to piss people off to death the moment he opens his mouth..."

Shen Luoyan suddenly gave a charming smile, casually pulled over a chair from the side, and called out, "Wench, bring wine!"

Seeing this, Zheng Jian mused, "The world-famous Strategist Shen must be terribly busy with official duties on ordinary days. There's no need to beat around the bush with me here. Speak, what is Strategist Shen's purpose in coming today?"

Once the waiter brought the wine, Shen Luoyan tilted back her fair neck and chugged it down: "Glug, glug, glug, glug, glug..."

Finished, she wiped her red lips before saying, "As the saying goes, hearing a hundred times is worse than seeing once. I have long heard of the great hero Zheng's reputation. Meeting you today, you truly are a man of prompt and direct speech. Luoyan is impressed."

Zheng Jian replied, "Yet I've also heard another saying: meeting someone is worse than hearing their reputation, so it's best not to meet at all."

Shen Luoyan froze once more; all her soaring heroism was disrupted...

Resentment points from Shen Luoyan +666.

Zheng Jian felt instantly gratified inside. *Heh, so what if you came prepared? I can still harvest you like a crop.*

Shen Luoyan cast a complex look at Zheng Jian. "They all say the great hero Zheng's skill with his tongue surpasses his skill with his hands. Now it seems that's entirely true! Luoyan is quite curious, why is the great hero Zheng so harsh with his words toward me? Could it be that Luoyan truly is an unwelcome guest?"

Zheng Jian smiled. "Strategist Shen is indeed as bright as ice and snow, with plenty of self-awareness..."

Resentment points from Shen Luoyan +666.

Shen Luoyan suddenly tightened her grip on the wine glass in her hand. But remembering the purpose of her visit, she forcibly suppressed her anger and said, "Fine, then Luoyan won't beat around the bush anymore. I wonder if the great hero Zheng knows of Lord Mi?"

Zheng Jian nodded. "Uh-huh~~"

Shen Luoyan: "..."

Shan Wanjing: "..."

Shen Luoyan felt she was reaching the limit of her patience. She truly could not understand why Lord Mi had taken a fancy to such a frivolous person!

Yet, she had always strictly carried out Li Mi's orders, so she immediately forced down her impatience and said, "A tyrant is in power, and the people of the world are suffering. Our Wagang Army, acting in accordance with Heaven and responding to the people, rose in revolt against the Sui, and now we are sweeping forward like bamboo being split. Lord Mi has the world in his heart, possesses grand strategies, and an ambition that swallows ten thousand miles. Hearing that the great hero Zheng has graced Xingyang, Lord Mi is overjoyed and has immediately ordered Luoyan to invite the great hero Zheng for a chat. I hope the great hero Zheng will not reject Lord Mi's sincere intentions."

Zheng Jian looked at Shen Luoyan with a half-smile, staring until she felt somewhat uneasy, before he finally spoke, "Thank you for Lord Mi's high regard, but I, Zheng, am accustomed to acting wildly and unrestrainedly. It is better that we do not meet, lest I displease Lord Mi! When that happens, it might be inevitable for Lord Mi to throw his cup as a signal, and five hundred axe-wielding guards outside the door would rush in all at once... *Cough, cough*, so let's skip it."

Shen Luoyan's pretty face immediately turned icy. "What five hundred axe-wielding guards? Could the great hero Zheng think Lord Mi is setting up a Feast at Hongmen?"

In Shen Luoyan's eyes, you could provoke her and she could endure it, but you absolutely could not speak ill of Li Mi!

Zheng Jian's expression remained calm and breezy. "Look at that, I have this foul mouth and I can't even control it myself! Therefore, if I were to meet your Wagang leader and accidentally slip up, wouldn't it be a one-way trip with no return? I won't go, I won't go!"

"Great hero Zheng, please watch your words! Lord Mi is merely the second leader; the grand leader is Lord Zhai." Shen Luoyan's expression changed drastically. These words were far too sensitive!

"Doesn't matter, I'm not going anyway! Strategist Shen, please return," Zheng Jian said nonchalantly. Li Mi could indeed be considered a man of grand strategy, but what did that have to do with him?

If he wanted to cling to a powerful backer, Zheng Jian would have gone to latch onto the Li Clan long ago; did he need to wait until now?

Shen Luoyan bit her lower lip in secret, yet she was helpless. She could not afford to fall out directly with Zheng Jian over this; otherwise, how would the people of the world view their Wagang Army?

Thus, Shen Luoyan came full of high spirits and returned in disappointment...

After the disturbance caused by Shen Luoyan, Zheng Jian no longer had the leisure to sit around. "Wanjing, let's go."

...

It wasn't until they were out of the city that Shan Wanjing finally couldn't help asking, "Big Brother Zheng, why didn't you give Shen Luoyan any face at all?"

Zheng Jian curled his lip and said, "Why should I give her face? Our aspirations and paths are different... Besides, wasn't her intention obvious enough? She merely wanted to recruit me. Oh, and you as well. If she had the support of you and your mother, their Wagang would be like a tiger given wings..."

As dusk fell, while passing through a dense forest, Zheng Jian suddenly felt something in his heart and came to a halt. "What's the point of hiding? You think you're a Fizz, still lurking in the shadows waiting to regenerate health?"

Zheng Jian's voice wasn't loud, yet it echoed through the entire dense forest.

Shan Wanjing immediately grew alert, holding her sword and calmly scanning her surroundings.

Within the dense forest, an eerie silence remained, with murderous intent faintly concealed within.

Zheng Jian's spiritual awareness abruptly soared. As the Immortality Seal technique operated, the true Qi within his body rapidly accelerated its circulation, and the Tear Stain Sword was already grasped in his hand.

In that instant, Zheng Jian's state of mind seemed to climb to an infinitely high vantage point, looking down at his surroundings. The chirping of insects and calls of birds all fell into his perception. "There is a concealed murderous intent... in the tree behind... the aura has a deceptive familiarity. Wait, no, there's another one directly ahead, the Qi is icy cold to the extreme... The newcomer's strength is not weak."

Guided by this interlocking Qi, Zheng Jian instantly sensed the faint intent to kill, and immediately transmitted his voice directly to Shan Wanjing. He wasn't worried about himself, but he feared Shan Wanjing might fall into danger.

Right at that moment, a dark figure swept down from a tree behind them. Its movement was extremely fast, appearing almost like a faint, hazy phantom in the dim forest.

Its target was undoubtedly Zheng Jian.

Zheng Jian had anticipated this. Under the shroud of the *Heaven-Changing and Earth-Splitting Mental Technique*, his state of mind was as vast as an endless ocean. In a split second, the Tear Stain Sword erupted with a blue radiance and slashed fiercely backward!

Simultaneously, a faint sword gleam appeared in Zheng Jian's eyes, rapidly expanding and closing in. Particularly the footwork as it approached was like a phantom, as if three or four dark figures were attacking simultaneously from different directions.

"This is... the Demonic Illusion Incantation! This swordsmanship, this aura—could it be the Shadow Assassin, Yang Xuyan?" Zheng Jian finally understood where that deceptive familiarity came from...

*Immortality Seal Technique* plus *Demonic Illusion Incantation*—unless the Evil King himself had arrived, there was only one possibility: the Shadow Assassin, Yang Xuyan!

...

(The second chapter is delivered. Continuing to seek subscriptions, monthly tickets, and recommendation votes. More to come later.)

(End of Chapter)