Nine Nights Owl Song

Being a top assassin meant higher-level missions, more dangerous targets, and higher rewards. But Ah Jiu didn't expect her first top-tier mission to come so soon.

On her third day as a top assassin, new files were delivered to her stone house.

The person who delivered the case files was a devilish hand.

He stood at the door of the stone house, holding the thick file in his hand, his face bearing an expression that Ajiu had never seen before—a mixture of anticipation and worry.

"Are you sure you want to take this?" Ghost Hand asked. "You just became a gold medalist; according to the rules, you can take a month off."

"No need." Ajiu took the file. "Who?"

"Warlords of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun in the Northern Border".

Ajiu paused for a moment as she opened the file.

Zhao Tianhu, the northern warlord she assassinated not long ago? No, that's not right. The name on the file is Zhao Tianhu, but the portrait is not of the same person. The person in this portrait is younger, about thirty years old, with a rugged face, fierce eyes, and a scar on the corner of his mouth that extends from the left corner of his mouth to his chin, like a centipede crawling on his face.

"Zhao Tianhu's younger brother, Zhao Tianbao," Ghost Hand said. "After Zhao Tianhu's death, the Yan Yun Iron Cavalry was leaderless. Zhao Tianbao used ruthless methods to purge all those who opposed him and took over the three prefectures of Yan Yun. He is more ruthless, more brutal, and more difficult to deal with than his brother. He has announced that anyone who can find out who killed his brother will be rewarded with 100,000 taels of silver. The Dark Pavilion's informants have reported that he has already sent three groups of people south to investigate the identity of 'Night Owl.'"

Ajiu didn't say anything and continued to look through the files.

Zhao Tianbao, thirty-two years old, is at the mid-stage of the Transformation Realm, one level lower than Zhao Tianhu, but he has extremely rich combat experience. He followed his brother to fight on the battlefield when he was twelve years old, and in his twenty years of military career, he killed countless people.

His perception range was not as wide as Zhao Tianhu's, but his vigilance was extremely high. He never slept in the same bed twice, and his eating and sleeping habits were completely irregular. His command tent was set up in the center of the military camp, surrounded by three thousand personal guards who protected it day and night. Not even a fly could get in.

"The Dark Pavilion's intention is for you to lay low for the time being," Ghost Hand said. "Zhao Tianbao is frantically searching for his brother's killer. If you go to Yanzhou now, it's like walking into a trap."

"What does the Dark Pavilion mean?" A-Jiu raised her head and looked at Ghost Hand.

Ghost Hand was silent for a moment, then said, "It was my intention."

Ajiu glanced at him, then lowered her head and continued flipping through the files.

Ghost Hand stood at the door, looking at the child he had personally brought into the Dark Pavilion.

Eight years ago, when he took her away from the abandoned residential area of ​​Los Angeles, she was as thin as a kitten, and her eyes were full of vigilance and defensiveness.

Now she's grown up, and she's become a killer that no one dares to look directly at.

He didn't know how those nine years in the secret service had changed this child, but he knew she had changed. She was no longer like a fifteen-year-old girl, but more like a heartless knife.

"I killed my brother Zhao Tianhu," Ajiu suddenly said.

Ghost Hand's pupils suddenly contracted.

"So I have to kill Zhao Tianbao." Ajiu closed the file, raised her head, and her bright black eyes were completely calm. "If you don't nip it in the bud, there will be endless trouble later."

Ghost Hand opened his mouth as if to say something, but ultimately said nothing. He turned around and left.

Ajiu watched his figure disappear into the mist of Cangwu Mountain, then lowered her head and reopened the file.

She knew Ghost Hand was worried about her. But worry is the most useless thing. The old drunkard worried about her and died. Ah Yao worried about her and died too. She didn't need anyone's worry; she only needed to complete her mission.

The city of Yanzhou was even more heavily guarded than when Ajiu last came.

The checks at the city gates were three times stricter than before. Everyone entering or leaving the city was searched, and even the vegetable farmers' baskets were turned upside down.

The number of sentries on the city walls was doubled, with a soldier standing guard every five steps, day and night. Patrol teams of ten men were everywhere in the city, moving back and forth in the streets, checking every suspicious person.

Ajiu did not enter the city through the city gate. She used the same route as last time—the drainage ditch in the north of the city.

The sewage in July was even more foul-smelling than in September. Mosquitoes swarmed on the surface of the water, and all sorts of indescribable things floated in the waist-deep sewage.

Ah Jiu held his breath and crawled forward nearly a hundred feet through the sewage before emerging from the abandoned livestock shed.

She found an inn far from the Prince of Yan's mansion and stayed there. This time, she didn't use a fake identity but disappeared directly into the gray areas of Yanzhou City—the underground world that doesn't require identity or registration and is hidden in urban villages and shantytowns.

She spent seven days gathering intelligence.

Zhao Tianbao's military camp was located at the foot of a mountain twenty miles north of Yanzhou City, in the same place as Zhao Tianhu's military camp.

The camp covered several hundred acres and was surrounded by three moats, the bottom of which was filled with sharpened wooden stakes.

Behind the trench were a fortified barricades and chevaux-de-frise, and behind the chevaux-de-frise was a ten-foot-high wooden wall with watchtowers and arrow towers, which were guarded by soldiers day and night.

In the center of the camp was Zhao Tianbao's command tent.

The commander's tent was made of cowhide, thick and tough, impervious to knife cuts and arrow pierces.

Within a radius of thirty feet around the commander's tent, there was no cover whatsoever; it was a flat, open area where anyone who approached would be discovered.

The open space was surrounded by the tents of three thousand personal guards, layer upon layer, with the general's tent in the middle, like layers of onion skin.

To enter the commander's tent, one must pass through three layers of moats, one layer of abatis, one wooden wall, the camp of three thousand personal guards, and a thirty-zhang-wide open space.

Ajiu squatted in the inn's room, a layout map of Zhao Tianbao's military camp spread out in front of her, slowly moving a finger across the map, tracing it over and over again.

Infiltrating from the front was impossible. There were no openings on the sides either. In the air—she couldn't fly. Underground—she had tried digging tunnels, but the military camp was located on a rocky foundation, impossible to dig through.

She can use the resources of the Dark Pavilion.

Ajiu sent a request through the Dark Pavilion's secret liaison point in Yanzhou City.

What she needs is not manpower, but intelligence.

Did Zhao Tianbao's military camp have a water source? Where was the water source located? Where did the water come from? Did the irrigation canal pass outside the military camp?

Three days later, the informant from the Dark Pavilion delivered all the intelligence she needed.

The military camp's water source came from a spring in the mountains to the north. The spring water was introduced into the camp through a stone-lined underground channel and then distributed to various water storage pools within the camp.

The culvert passes under the wooden wall on the north side of the military camp. The entrance is about fifty feet north of the camp, blocked by an iron fence with a lock.

Ah Jiu found the entrance.

It was a stone structure, about three feet square, hidden in the bushes, covered with dead branches and fallen leaves. It would have been impossible to find without knowing there was an underground drain nearby. The lock on the iron fence was rusted and broke easily with the back of a knife.

Ajiu crawled into the culvert.

The culvert was pitch black; you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

The waterway was narrow, allowing only one person to pass at a time. The rocks overhead were low, forcing her to bend over and hunch her back, moving slowly through the water like a shrimp.

The water was very cold, bone-chillingly cold, flowing from a mountain spring, carrying a mineral scent.

Her feet trod on the slippery stone floor, and she had to be careful with every step, afraid of making a sound.

She walked in the culvert for nearly half an hour.

The culvert passed under the wooden wall on the north side of the military camp, and Ajiu could hear footsteps and voices coming from above.

She stopped, held her breath, and waited for the sounds to fade away before continuing.

The underground canal branched into three branches within the military camp, each leading to one of the three water storage pools. Ajiu chose the branch closest to the commander's tent. At the end of the branch, she stopped and pressed her ear against the stone wall.

There was no sound outside.

She drew her straight knife and gently pried open the stone slab covering the outlet of the branch canal with the tip of the knife.

Moonlight filtered in through the cracks.

Ah Jiu pushed the stone slab open a crack and looked outside.

She was in a water storage pool. The pool was about ten feet square, and the water was waist-deep. It was surrounded by stone blocks, and a simple shed was built on top, with a roof made of wooden planks and tarpaulin.

Outside the water reservoir was an open space, and at the other end of the open space, about thirty feet away, was Zhao Tianbao's command tent.

The commander's tent was lit, and the dim yellow light shone through the gaps in the cowhide tent, making it possible to vaguely see figures moving inside.

Ah Jiu silently crawled out of the water tank, squatted in the shadow of the shed, and observed the surrounding environment.

Soldiers patrolled around the commander's tent, in groups of twelve. Each group patrolled for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn before the next group took over.

During the handover period between the two groups, there is a brief period of about a dozen breaths, during which a no-man's-land will appear around the command tent.

A dozen or so breaths are enough for her to do a lot of things.

Ah Jiu is waiting.

She waited for the patrol team to hand over duties, for Zhao Tianbao's movements in the command tent, for the wind, for the moon's movement, and for any conditions that could be used by her.

She waited for nearly two hours.

Just past midnight, the patrol shift had changed. The soldiers around the commander's tent had just left, and the next group hadn't arrived yet. The light inside the tent was still on; Zhao Tianbao hadn't gone to sleep.

Ajiu moved.

She emerged from behind the shed of the water storage tank and silently crossed the thirty-foot-wide open space.

Her speed was astonishing; her footsteps were so precise that every inch was inch away, and she landed silently, without even disturbing a single grain of sand.

Her body was almost touching the ground, like a snake, like a cat, like a ghost gliding in the dark.

A dozen or so breaths were enough for her to cross the thirty-zhang-wide open space and press herself against the side of the commander's tent.

She pressed her ear against the cowhide tent to listen to the sounds inside.

Zhao Tianbao was talking. He hadn't gone to sleep yet and was talking to someone.

Ajiu couldn't hear what they were saying, but she could recognize Zhao Tianbao's voice—rough, deep, and filled with anger. The other person's voice was softer, as if they were reporting something.

Ajiu drew his straight knife from his waist and pressed the tip against the cowhide tent.

The cowhide was thick, but the gold-medal killer's specially made straight knife was sharp enough to cut through sheet metal.

The knife tip pierced the cowhide silently, and Ajiu slowly widened the cut until it was big enough for her to squeeze in sideways.

As she crawled inside, she caught a glimpse of Zhao Tianbao's profile.

He sat on a cot, wearing only a light undergarment and no armor. A man knelt before him, reporting something. Beside Zhao Tianbao lay a knife, scabbard facing outwards, hilt inwards, within easy reach.

The moment Ajiu landed, Zhao Tianbao turned his head sharply.

His gaze was like a knife, piercing straight towards where Ajiu was—

But all he saw was a dark shadow.

Ajiu gave him no time to react. Her body shot out from the cut in the command tent like a bullet, the straight knife in her hand turning into a cold light, aimed straight at Zhao Tianbao's throat.

Zhao Tianbao reacted extremely quickly. His right hand had already gripped the hilt of the knife, and he leaned back, trying to avoid the blow. But Ajiu was faster than him; the tip of the knife sliced ​​across his throat, slicing off a layer of flesh, and blood splattered.

Zhao Tianbao let out a low growl and drew his knife.

His sword was a heavy horse-slaying saber, with a wide blade and a thick back, capable of cleaving through iron armor with a single strike. He swung the saber at Ajiu, the wind whistling through the air, causing the lamps in the general's tent to flicker.

Ajiu didn't take the hit head-on.

She ducked under the blade of the horse-slaying saber, reversed her grip on the straight sword, and thrust it towards Zhao Tianbao's side. Zhao Tianbao dodged to the side, his saber sweeping horizontally, forcing Ajiu to take two steps back.

The two exchanged more than a dozen blows in the command tent, so fast that even the reporter kneeling on the ground couldn't see their movements clearly.

The items in the commander's tent were swept away by the wind from the blades, the lights went out, and the tent was plunged into darkness.

In the darkness, Ajiu's eyes shone brighter than Zhao Tianbao's.

She trained in night combat at the Dark Pavilion's training camp; in the darkness, she was queen.

Zhao Tianbao was more skilled in martial arts and stronger than her, but his reaction speed and judgment would decrease in the dark. Ajiu, on the other hand, was faster, more accurate, and more ruthless in the dark.

Zhao Tianbao's third strike missed.

Ah Jiu slid down his blade, slipped inside his center, and the tip of the straight blade pierced his abdomen from below.

Zhao Tianbao grunted and swung his saber back sharply. Ajiu drew her straight sword, flipped backward, and Zhao Tianbao's blade grazed the top of her head, shaving off a few strands of hair.

"Assassins are here—protect the prince!"

The reporter suddenly came to his senses and shouted.

The patrol heard the noise and realized something was wrong; they were rushing towards the commander's tent. Ajiu knew she didn't have time.

Zhao Tianbao clutched his abdomen, blood gushing out, but his eyes remained fierce, and his hand holding the saber remained steady.

He stared at Ajiu, the scar at the corner of his mouth twisting like a wriggling centipede.

"You are Night Owl," he said, his voice hoarse, "the Night Owl who killed my brother."

Ajiu did not answer.

She rushed forward.

This time, she didn't use any tricks or fancy moves. She just charged straight at Zhao Tianbao, like an arrow released from a bow, so fast that it was impossible to see her.

Zhao Tianbao swung his knife and slashed.

Ajiu did not dodge.

The saber struck her left shoulder, the blade embedding itself in her scapula, and blood gushed out.

Ajiu gritted her teeth, making no sound. Her right hand gripped the straight sword, and at the same instant the saber struck her shoulder, she plunged the sword into Zhao Tianbao's heart.

The straight knife pierced between the ribs, precisely through the heart, and the tip emerged from the back.

Zhao Tianbao's eyes widened suddenly, his pupils contracting sharply. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but blood welled up in his throat, silencing him. He released his grip on the saber, and his body slowly, like a collapsing mountain, fell towards Ajiu.

Ajiu dodged to the side, and Zhao Tianbao's body crashed to the ground, raising a cloud of dust.

She did not stop.

Ajiu drew his straight sword, casually severed Zhao Tianbao's head, wrapped it in his robe, and then crawled out through the opening behind the commander's tent.

Chaos had broken out outside the command tent. Soldiers poured in from all directions, and torches illuminated the entire camp.

Ajiu carried Zhao Tianbao's head on her back, pulled out a steel wire from her waist, and swung it at the nearest warhorse. The wire caught the horse's neck, and with a sharp pull, the horse neighed and galloped towards her.

Ajiu mounted her horse, spurred it on with her legs, and the warhorse charged toward the wooden wall of the military camp.

"Stop her—stop her—"

Arrows rained down on her. Ah Jiu lay prone on the horse's back, shrinking her body to its smallest size. Arrows whistled past her head and sides, and several struck the horse, which neighed in pain and ran even faster.

The wooden wall is right in front of us.

Ajiu stood up on her horse, pushed off with both legs, and launched herself off, vaulting over the wooden wall. She tumbled twice in the air, landing with her knees bent to cushion the impact, rolling several times on the muddy ground before coming to a stop. Zhao Tianbao's head slid off her back, rolling a long way.

Ah Jiu got up, picked up the head, and ran into the darkness.

The shouts of pursuers and the neighing of horses came from behind, growing fainter and fainter.

Ajiu ran into the mountains and forests.

She ran through the mountains and forests all night, crossing two mountains and fording three rivers, until dawn broke, when she finally stopped in a secluded valley. Leaning against a rock wall, she gasped for breath and looked down at the wound on her left shoulder. The blade of her halberd was embedded in her shoulder blade, still in place, and the blood had congealed, sticking the blade to her clothes.

Ah Jiu gritted her teeth, gripped the blade, and pulled it out sharply.

The sound of the blade being pulled from bone was sickening, and blood gushed out again. She tore off a piece of her clothing, wrapped it haphazardly around her neck a few times, and tied a tight knot. Then she leaned against the stone wall, closed her eyes, and gasped for breath.

Her left shoulder was so painful she could barely feel it, and blood was still seeping out, staining half of her body red. But her right hand remained clutching the head's hair, refusing to let go.

She rested in the valley for less than half an hour before continuing her journey.

She returned to Cangwu Mountain on July 29th. From departure to return, it had taken her a full month. The mission deadline was thirty days, and she arrived on the very last day.

The main hall of the main altar.

Ajiu stood in front of the long table and placed Zhao Tianbao's head on it.

The head was already rotting, emitting a nauseating stench, and the expression on the face was frozen in the moment of death—eyes wide open, mouth agape, scars twisted, as if terrified out of its wits by something.

Hades stared at the head and remained silent for a long time.

"To take the head of a general amidst ten thousand troops." He finally spoke, his voice old and slow. "Since the founding of the Dark Pavilion, including you, no more than five people have been able to do this."

Ajiu didn't say anything.

"How are your injuries?" Hades asked.

"It's alright."

Hades looked at the blood-soaked clothes on her left shoulder, at her pale face and chapped lips, and at her still cold eyes.

"Go and rest," said Hades. "Your next mission will be issued in a month."

Ah Jiu turned around and walked towards the door.

She took a few steps, then suddenly stopped and asked, "Who is the youngest silver-ranked assassin since the Dark Pavilion was founded?"

Hades looked at her: "You."

"And who is the youngest gold medal killer?"

Hades remained silent for a moment.

"It's you too."

Ajiu nodded, pushed open the door, and went out.

The sunlight was blinding, and she squinted. She stood on the steps of the main altar for a while, then walked toward her stone hut. She walked slowly, the injury to her left shoulder causing her to grit her teeth with every step, but she did not stop, ask for help, or make a sound.

From this day forward, the name "Night Owl of Death" will no longer be the only one circulating in the martial world. A new legend begins to spread in every corner of Daliang—an assassin, amidst the heavy guard of three thousand personal soldiers, infiltrated the commander's tent, severed the head of Prince Yan, Zhao Tianbao, and then escaped unscathed.

They only knew one code name.

Night owl.

The Night Owl, who takes the head of a general amidst a vast army.

Ah Jiu returned to the stone house, closed the door, took the gold medal out of her bosom, and placed it on the table.

The gold medal was stained with blood, some of Zhao Tianbao's, some of her own, it was impossible to tell.

She stared at the gold medal for a long time, then tucked it back into her bosom, closed her eyes, leaned against the wall, and slowly slid down to the ground.

She is tired.

It's not physical exhaustion, it's mental exhaustion.

But she wouldn't allow herself to rest for too long. The revenge was not yet complete, the Dark Pavilion was not yet destroyed, and the old drunkard's debts were not yet repaid.

She leaned against the wall, her eyes closed, the sounds of wind and birdsong from Cangwu Mountain filling her ears, and the stench of blood and damp mold filling her nostrils.

The old drunkard gave her a second life, and she will use this life to collect his debts.

The wind blew across Cangwu Mountain, into the stone house, and stirred the stray hairs that fell across her forehead.