After being poisoned by mushrooms, all the strange creatures became fascinated by me.

The exquisite porcelain vase collided in mid-air with a crisp sound, falling with a warm arc of light.

The heavy pallets, however, fell even faster.

But nothing could land, nothing could shatter on the blue stone slab, nothing could break the porcelain into hard petals, nothing could make the elixir roll down like a child's drooling candy ball.

Tang Li sighed regretfully.

In a flash, a blur appeared before his eyes, and when he came to his senses again, the tray was already in Han Zhou's hands, with all the porcelain bottles on it standing firmly, as if nothing had ever happened.

Tang Li lowered her arms, finally relieved of the muscle spasms that had been aching, but they were still throbbing.

The smile on Han Zhou's lips vanished, and his gaze towards Tang Li was filled with a chilling sense of offense, his eyes sharp as knives, as if he wanted to kill her.

No one could ignore his piercing gaze. Before a martial artist actually takes action, that gaze, like a dragonfly skimming the water, habitually sweeps over your vital points, making you tremble involuntarily, plunging you from springtime into the depths of winter.

However, Tang Li was also suppressing her anger, so that little bit of coldness was nothing.

She has a quirk: when something frightens her, anger always precedes fear. All her panic is masked by anger, making her seem all the more sincere and self-righteous.

Even if what was told before was only three-tenths of a lie, it became seven-tenths true after being set ablaze by this anger.

"Why are you angry?" Tang Li asked. The child's voice was already tinged with annoyance, turning into a blatant interrogation. "Because I overturned the tray? Because I couldn't bear to part with your precious bottle?"

"—Or is it because, until now, you haven't seen what you're looking for in me?"

When King Zhou heard the last half of the sentence, he was slightly taken aback.

"Ever since we met, you've been testing me relentlessly, acting all suspicious. What exactly are you suspecting?" Tang Li stepped forward, her eyes blazing with anger. "I'm only five years old. Sure, I'm a bit precocious, and I'm certainly clever, but why did you have to make such a fuss?"

"I did have a moment of kindness during the entrance test, and I only passed by chance because I saw through Senior Brother Cai's weakness; I really didn't want to be an assassin, I'd rather be a handyman than kill; when I first joined the sect, I certainly couldn't be called loyal, but staying here was a million times better than wandering around; and even now, I'm angry at you and hate you for bullying and mocking me this morning, but I've never thought of seeking any justice from you!"

Tang Li's voice grew louder and louder, her eyes shining with an astonishing brightness. How could you doubt the truth of what she said when you looked into those eyes?

"These—listen carefully—these are all the things I've kept from you!"

At this moment, Tang Li was truly a little girl who had been wronged to the point of unbearable frustration, finally pouring out all her grievances. "I can't see through your scheme, I don't know what you take me for, and I don't know—"

Enraged, she gripped one of the porcelain bottles and held it high, shouting, "I don't know! What's in these damn bottles?!"

"There are elixirs."

Han Zhou suddenly spoke, and although his gaze toward Tang Li was cold, it was no longer as murderous as before.

"It's the elixir you kept asking me about yesterday, the one that can increase your internal energy by ten years with just one pill."

We finally got it going.

This is the flaw she inadvertently left yesterday due to the information asymmetry.

Tang Li was certain in her heart.

The little girl raised her eyebrows: "So such a pill really exists, but you're just unwilling to let me eat it?"

"I was just asking casually, I wasn't going to steal anything, is that why you keep testing me?"

The five-year-old girl stomped her feet in anger. "In your eyes, what am I? Would any other sect send an undercover agent like me? Or do you think I, at only five years old, am already a terrible villain who, upon entering the sect, would kill everyone just for these pills?"

Han Zhou's gaze lingered on the bottle of pills in her hand, and after a long while, he suddenly smiled softly.

"Your home is in Tangjiakou, right south of the Liujiang River. Have you heard of the Jiangyin massacre?"

Tang Li was slightly taken aback.

"The Liu, Nan, and Ji families, young and old, were all killed. Thousands of people died overnight, their bodies torn apart, their heads piled up in several rooms."

A vague premonition tugged at her thoughts, and Tang Li's voice tightened: "Who is the murderer?"

Han Zhou stared at her for a moment, his voice soft and cold: "It comes from the sect right beneath your feet."

"Jie Bailing's top assassin."

Tang Li's heart sank heavily.

"Since...when did it start?" Han Zhou didn't continue talking about the "top assassin," but instead changed the subject.

"I don't know if the sect has suffered a calamity or stumbled into a lucky hole, but every now and then, batches of people like this appear."

"When they entered, they were all of average talent, but after just one night, it was as if they had undergone a complete transformation, and each of them became a martial arts prodigy."

He scoffed, "This group naturally gained the favor of the sect's upper echelons, won over the sect's internal and external martial arts techniques, and received preferential treatment in resources, thus soaring to great heights."

"If things were as they are, it wouldn't be so bad," Han Zhou said with a smile, his murderous intent barely concealed. "But guess what? They're all ungrateful dogs, each one of them harboring disloyalty towards the sect."

"However, even as they were just beginning to learn martial arts, these 'geniuses' started fighting amongst themselves. Their ruthless and vicious methods were so extreme that even I was amazed. Before they could even grow up, a number of them had already died."

"Those who have grown up pack up all kinds of cultivation techniques and rare treasures of the sect before they graduate. After they graduate, they usually disappear without a trace after only a few missions."

Tang Li felt the chill in her body growing stronger with each passing wave.

She could, of course, discern the true origins of the "martial arts prodigy" he spoke of:

The sudden surge in talent was due to exchanging for elixirs in the shop; the mutual attacks stemmed from the fact that there could only be one top assassin position in a sect; the acquisition of cultivation techniques before graduation was intended as loot for dungeons; and their complete disappearance after graduation was because they had completely detached themselves from the dungeons and left the world—

Isn't he referring to the players who came to this instance before?

She never imagined that, in the eyes of the natives, the players would be so despicable, greedy, and cold-blooded.

"Of course, there are also those who stay in the sect after completing their apprenticeship," Han Zhou said casually.

"Like that top assassin I mentioned earlier. Oh, you still don't have a concept of that."

The young woman's red lips still held a hint of sarcasm. "The more missions you take on, the more people you kill, the higher your ranking as an assassin. The one with the most kills is the top assassin."

"This one, perhaps in a hurry, made a big show of it, wiping out three clans and killing thousands of people overnight."

"From then on, he became a world-renowned top assassin. As a result, his sect also became universally hated and infamous. The sect's disciples were besieged by the 'righteous sects,' resulting in countless deaths and injuries, and most of its businesses were burned to the ground."

"By the time the sect sent people to clean house, this person had already vanished without a trace."

Tang Li remained silent for a long time.

Han Zhou bent down and looked into her eyes.

"Jie Bailing, Jie Bailing."

"Don't you think the sect's name is strange? It doesn't sound like a typical sect; it sounds more like a person's name."

"—The name of that top assassin is Jie Bailing."

"After the Jiangyin massacre, the sect was renamed this."

"This hatred and resentment will last day and night. It will not cease until this person is found."