At 100 years old, he joined the army in place of his granddaughter, and became a national war god.

late at night.

The east wing of the government office was completely silent.

The patrolling soldiers walked along the corridor carrying lanterns, just like any other day.

Su Mu's room was also extremely quiet.

He lay on the bed with his eyes closed and his breathing steady, as if he were fast asleep, without even turning over.

Most of the lights inside the government office had been extinguished.

……

After midnight, several dark figures appeared on the east side of the courtyard wall.

They moved close to the wall, their steps light, like ghostly figures in the dead of night.

Five people, three steps apart.

They stopped at the base of the wall, nodded to each other, and then used their ghostly lightness skills to fly over the high courtyard wall in the blink of an eye.

The patrolling soldiers in the east wing had just reached the end of the corridor, with their backs to the courtyard wall.

Taking advantage of this gap, the five people moved forward, hugging the shadows of the corner of the wall.

Soon, they stopped under the window of Su Mu's room.

The masked leader listened intently for a moment, and finding that the breathing inside the room was even and slow, with no signs of being awakened, he took out a thin bamboo tube from his waist, inserted one end into the window crack, and gently blew a breath.

A wisp of extremely thin white smoke drifted silently into the room and spread in the darkness.

He waited quietly by the window for a moment, and after confirming that there was no unusual reaction inside the room, he made a gesture behind him.

The door was pushed open silently, and four dark figures flashed in one after another.

The room was dark, but their eyes had already adjusted to the light.

The outline of the bed is clearly visible; a person is lying quietly, with the blanket slightly raised.

The two assassins stepped forward simultaneously, their movements swift and silent as they pulled back the covers, their short daggers stabbing down at the same time.

Just as the blade was about to fall, Su Mu's eyes snapped open, and he grabbed the wrists of the two men tightly with both hands.

"I have been waiting for you for a long time."

Ghost Face's pupils suddenly contracted, utterly astonished.

Before they could fully react, a palm strike had already been unleashed.

The two closest assassins had no time to react and were sent flying as if they had been hit by a hammer.

He knocked over a table and chair in the corner of the room, and when he landed, he was already spitting blood and had lost the ability to move.

The third assassin instinctively turned to run away, but before he could take even half a step, he was struck in the back by a palm strike coming from behind. He crashed into the door frame, groaned, and slid to the ground.

Only Ghost Face managed to dodge to the side just before the palm strike touched him.

His reaction was a fraction faster than his companion's, but that fraction wasn't enough to get him out unscathed. The edge of the palm strike still grazed his left shoulder, causing him to stagger two steps to the side.

After regaining his balance, he shouted, "We've fallen into a trap! Retreat!"

Two less seriously injured assassins struggled to their feet and followed him, stumbling and tumbling out the window.

Just as they climbed out of the room and were about to retreat along the way they came, torches suddenly lit up all around, illuminating the open space outside the courtyard wall as if it were daytime.

You Zhongyi stood at the forefront of the torchlight, holding his spear horizontally, the tip of which gleamed coldly in the firelight, his voice icy.

"Once you're here, don't expect to leave alive."

Behind him, dozens of archers had formed a semicircle, arrows nocked, aiming at the direction where the three were.

Xiao Jingyu, Xiao Yunchuan, Wang Ben, Han You, Zhou Wenjin, and others emerged from the corridor one after another, their faces illuminated by the torchlight, reflecting their anger.

Looking at the three people surrounded in the courtyard, Wang Ben said in surprise, "So this is what Old Su meant by 'lively'."

Seeing this, Ghost Face placed his right hand on the hilt of the short blade at his waist, ready to strike at any moment.

He quickly calculated in his mind how to escape.

He took a signal flare from his sleeve, lit it, and threw it into the air.

The signal flare exploded in the night sky, briefly illuminating the entire courtyard.

You Zhongyi glanced at the signal flare in the sky, but didn't turn around. He simply turned his head slightly and said to the person behind him, "Bring it up."

Footsteps came from the shadows, and Gu Changfeng led several soldiers, escorting four men in black, to the front of the crowd.

The four men, their hands and feet bound with ropes, their robes covered in dust and signs of struggle, were pushed to kneel in a row.

Ghost Face's gaze lingered on the four people.

He hadn't expected that the other party was fully aware of their actions.

Now, their retreat support has also been cut off.

Su Mu slowly walked out from the courtyard gate.

Her white hair was gently stirred by the night breeze, her coat was draped over her shoulders, and she walked with a composed gait.

He stopped in the corridor, his gaze falling on the three people surrounded in the courtyard: "Is that all you've got? You dare to try assassination?"

He glanced at Ghost Face, then at the four members of the Eastern Privy Council being held captive on the ground.

"Don't bother, the people you were waiting for outside got in before you did."

Ghost Face couldn't help but ask, "How did you know about our assassination attempt beforehand?"

Su Mu did not answer, but instead ordered, "Zhongyi, do it."

Then, You Zhongyi flicked his spear and charged forward.

His marksmanship was more composed than it had been a few months ago, with a controlled rhythm of thrusting, parrying, and sweeping.

The three assassins joined forces to fight back, but they couldn't withstand more than a few rounds of his gunfire.

In a matter of moments, the two assassins had fallen to the ground.

Only Ghost Face remained standing, his short blade held horizontally in front of him, his breathing heavier than before, his back pressed against a pillar, with nowhere left to retreat.

Standing at the back of the crowd, Han You watched You Zhongyi holster his gun and retreat, and couldn't help but praise, "The soldiers around General Su are all incredibly skilled in martial arts."

"In the past, this would have been enough to make one a great general."

Xiao Jingyu didn't turn his head: "General Han, you'll get used to it in a few days."

Just then, the masked figure moved.

His figure suddenly became blurry, like a shadow scattered by the wind, showing two overlapping outlines in the torchlight.

This is a ghostly illusion technique he has practiced for many years. He uses the afterimages of his body during rapid movement to create the illusion of a "clone," making it difficult for his opponents to judge his true location and next move.

Several soldiers aimed their arrows at one of the silhouettes, and You Zhongyi's vision was also deceived by the ghostly figure.

The true form of the ghost mask had already moved several steps towards the courtyard wall under the cover of its afterimages, its body low to the ground, as if preparing to make a final escape before everyone's attention was drawn to the illusory image.

Just as his toes were about to touch the cracks in the courtyard wall, Su Mu had already raised his hand.

The palm strikes, like two intersecting streams, precisely locked onto the location of the Ghost Face's true form.

Then he unleashed a strike called "Double Dragons Take Water".

Two golden dragons shot out, wrapped around the ghost-faced man's body, and quickly pulled him back.

Ghost Face staggered back a few steps uncontrollably, his back slamming into the stone pillar of the pavilion with a dull thud.

Su Mu lightly flicked the short dagger that had fallen to the ground with his foot, causing the tip of the blade to spring upwards and trace a short arc in mid-air.

He didn't reach out to take it, but instead looked in the direction of the dagger and gently pushed the hilt of the blade with his palm.

The dagger flew towards the ghost mask with a sharp whoosh, like a bolt of lightning.

In an instant, the dagger pierced the edge of the sleeve below the Ghost Face's right arm, pinning him to the pillar.

When the masked man's arm was pinned down, his body trembled slightly, he let out a scream, and blood flowed freely.

Yu Zhongyi's spear followed closely behind...

"Loyalty and righteousness, hold back."

"This person is useful to keep around."

You Zhongyi withdrew his gun and stepped back, moving the tip of the gun away from Guimian's chest.

Gu Changfeng stepped forward, deftly removed the weapon from Ghost Face's right hand, then tied his hands behind his back and forced him down.

Then, Gu Changfeng turned to Su Mu and asked, "Elder Su, what should we do with these people?"

Su Mu shifted his gaze from Ghost Face to the four assassins from the Eastern Shu Prefecture who were now kneeling on the ground.

"Leave only the leader alive, kill the rest."

Gu Changfeng didn't ask any more questions. He turned around, walked up to the four men, and swung his knife.

The four corpses fell to the ground one after another, cleanly and neatly.

Su Mu said, "Changfeng, take this leader to the dungeon and keep him under strict guard."

"It's late, everyone should go back to sleep. We have a lot to do tomorrow."

Afterwards, everyone dispersed.

The ghost-faced man stared at Su Mu with a terrified expression. He never expected that this centenarian's martial arts skills would be so terrifying.

They lost this assassination attempt completely.