Nine Nights Owl Song

September of the sixteenth year of Yong'an.

The news of Ajiu's breakthrough to the Transformation Realm spread like wildfire within the Dark Pavilion. No one knew how the news got out, but in a place like the Dark Pavilion, no secret could be kept.

Within three days, everyone from the headquarters to the outskirts learned one thing—the fifteen-year-old girl codenamed Night Owl had become the youngest Transformation Realm martial artist in the history of the Dark Pavilion.

Some were amazed, some were envious, some were uneasy, and some were eager to try.

Ah Jiu didn't care.

She still gets up before dawn every day to practice her swordsmanship, studies mission files during the day, and practices internal energy cultivation at night. The injury on her left shoulder has almost healed, and the new skin is tender, red, and itchy. She resists the urge to scratch, letting the itch spread from her shoulder to her fingertips, like countless ants crawling under her skin.

September 12th, evening.

When Ajiu returned from practicing martial arts on the mountain, she found a note at the entrance of the stone house.

The note was pinned to the ground by a stone. Only one line of text was written on the white Xuan paper: "Looking at Moonlit Cliff on the back mountain, I have something to discuss. You'll regret it if you don't come."

No signature.

Ah Jiu looked at the note over and over twice, then crumpled it into a ball and stuffed it into her sleeve.

She knew who it was.

Chen Xiaotian is the son of Chen Beixuan, the deputy head of the Dark Pavilion.

Chen Xiaotian is 23 years old this year. He is a top assassin in the Dark Pavilion, codenamed "Bloody Hand".

His martial arts skills weren't top-notch, barely reaching the early stage of the Transformation Realm, but his identity was special—he was the only son of the Vice Pavilion Master, and he ran rampant in the Dark Pavilion, with no one daring to offend him. He had a group of loyal followers, all assassins he had personally trained from the training camp, who obeyed his every command.

Ah Jiu's impression of Chen Xiaotian can be summed up in two words—disgusting.

The way he looked at her disgusted her, the tone of his voice disgusted her, and the affected nonchalance he displayed every time he "bumped into" her disgusted her.

He has said in public more than once, "Night Owl will be my woman sooner or later," and he would laugh heartily every time he said it, as if it were a foregone conclusion.

Ajiu ignored him.

She thought that if she ignored him, he would give up.

She was wrong.

Wangyue Cliff is located on the back of Cangwu Mountain. It is a huge rock protruding from the mountain, with a bottomless abyss below. The top of the cliff is flat and can accommodate more than a dozen people standing.

On the night of the full moon, some people would go to the Dark Pavilion to admire the moon and drink wine, which was one of the few pastimes in this bloody hell.

When Ajiu arrived, it was already completely dark.

The moon had not yet risen, and the Moon Gazing Cliff was pitch black, with only a few lanterns stuck in the cracks of the rocks at the edge of the cliff. Their dim yellow light swayed in the night wind, illuminating the top of the cliff in a half-light and half-dark manner.

Chen Xiaotian stood in the center of the cliff top, with six people standing behind him.

All six were silver-ranked assassins from the Dark Pavilion, dressed in matching black short-sleeved khakis, with swords hanging at their waists, standing there expressionless like six black pillars.

Their gazes fell on Ajiu, some indifferent, some curious, and some with a hint of schadenfreude.

Chen Xiaotian was dressed in a dark red brocade robe with a gold ribbon tied around his waist. His hair was tied up with a jade crown, and he held a wine cup in his hand. His whole being exuded an aura of "I am different from you".

He was quite handsome, with striking eyebrows, bright eyes, a high nose, and thin, rosy lips. He could be considered a dashing young man even on the streets of the capital.

But something was wrong with his eyes—too much white in them, too small pupils, making it look like he was weighing something to determine its value when he looked at people.

"Night Owl is here." Chen Xiaotian smiled, revealing a set of white teeth. "I knew you'd come."

Ajiu stood on the edge of the cliff, about two zhang away from Chen Xiaotian. She neither moved forward nor spoke.

"Don't be nervous." Chen Xiaotian swirled the wine in his glass. "I called you here today because there's something I want to discuss with you."

Ajiu looked at him.

Chen Xiaotian put down his wine glass, took out a piece of paper from his sleeve, unfolded it, and found it covered with dense writing.

"This is a cooperation agreement," he said.

"You and I will become partners. From now on, I'll help you with your missions, and you'll help me with mine. We'll split the rewards fifty-fifty. With my father's connections in the Dark Pavilion, they can get you any resources you need. The high-level missions that top assassins wanted before, which you couldn't even dream of, you can do now."

Ajiu glanced at the paper but didn't say anything.

Seeing that she didn't speak, Chen Xiaotian assumed she was hesitating, and his smile deepened.

I know you're used to being alone.

He said, "But in a place like the Dark Pavilion, one person can't go far. You have the strength, I have the background, if we join forces, the Dark Pavilion will be ours sooner or later. Think about it, how many of the top assassins in the entire Dark Pavilion don't have a backer? Ghost Hand has Hades backing him, Butcher has his own faction, and what about you? You have nothing."

He took a step forward, lowering his voice, which he considered captivatingly magnetic: "I don't just want a partner, Night Owl. You should know how I feel about you. The entire Dark Chamber knows. If you come with me, I won't treat you unfairly."

Ah Jiu finally spoke.

"Are you done talking?" she asked.

Chen Xiaotian's smile froze for a moment.

"Get out of here after you've said that," Ajiu said. "I'm not interested in your thoughts, I'm not interested in cooperating with you, and I'm not interested in you as a person. If you come looking for me again, I'll make sure you don't even have the strength to leave."

She turned and walked down the cliff.

Chen Xiaotian's laughter came from behind.

A confident, threatening smile.

"Night Owl," his voice came slowly from behind, "You think you can leave today?"

Ah Jiu stopped in her tracks.

She didn't turn around, but her right hand had already silently rested on the hilt of the knife.

"Look at your hands," Chen Xiaotian said.

Ah Jiu looked down at her hands.

Her fingers were trembling slightly—she was poisoned.

Her fingertips were bluish, and tiny black dots the size of pinheads appeared under her nails, as if ink had seeped into her skin.

When was she poisoned?

Ajiu quickly recalled. All day today, she had only drunk water in the stone house; while practicing her skills on the mountain, she hadn't contacted anyone, eaten anything, nothing—

That note.

She crumpled the paper into a ball and stuffed it into her sleeve. The ink on the paper wasn't completely dry yet, and it touched her skin through her sleeve.

The ink is poisonous.

"Don't worry, it's not highly poisonous." Chen Xiaotian's voice was tinged with laughter.

"It's just a kind of 'muscle-relieving powder.' After inhalation or skin contact, it will gradually weaken your limbs. With your internal strength, it will probably take effect in about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. At that time, you won't even be able to hold a knife properly."

Ajiu turned around and looked at him.

Chen Xiaotian stood in the glow of the lanterns, a confident smile on his face.

The six people behind him had already spread out, forming a fan shape to surround Ajiu, blocking all her possible escape routes.

"I don't want to hurt you," Chen Xiaotian said.

"I just want you to know that in the Dark Pavilion, one cannot survive alone. You need me. If you don't think so now, that's okay, we can take it slow."

He held out his hand to Ah Jiu: "Give me the knife. Come with me tonight, and everything will be the same tomorrow. I promise, no one will know what happened tonight."

Ajiu looked at that hand.

That hand was fair and slender, with neatly trimmed nails, and a jade ring on its middle finger. It was a hand that had never been involved in dirty work, a hand that had been overly protected by its deputy pavilion master father.

She gripped the knife handle tightly.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Chen Xiaotian raised an eyebrow.

"You're poisoned now. I have six people behind me, and I'm only at the early stage of the Transformation Realm myself. You're all alone; you can't even hold a knife properly. What makes you think you can fight me?"

Ajiu did not answer.

She drew her sword.

The blade flashed in the night, as fast as lightning.

Chen Xiaotian took a step back, but his reaction speed couldn't keep up with Ajiu's speed. He only felt a blur before his eyes, and the blade had already grazed his neck, severing the jade crown that bound his hair, and a few strands of hair floated in the air.

The jade crown shattered and fell to the ground with a crisp sound.

Chen Xiaotian's expression changed.

He hadn't expected that Ah Jiu, who had been poisoned with the "soft bone powder," could still draw his knife so quickly.

"Charge—all of you, charge!" he shouted sternly.

All six people moved at the same time.

They were all silver-ranked assassins, with martial arts skills ranging from the mid to late stages of Dark Force. When the six of them joined forces, even a master at the mid-stage of Transformation Force would have to be wary.

But Ajiu is not at the mid-stage of the Transformation Realm; she is at the early stage, still some distance from the mid-stage. However, she is a Night Owl who crawled out of the Dark Pavilion training camp and is an assassin who has taken the head of a general amidst a vast army.

Her knife never reasoned with anyone.

The first person rushed forward and swung his knife at her head.

Ajiu dodged to the side, the blade slicing across her left shoulder and tearing off a piece of her clothing.

She gripped the knife handle with her right hand, and the end of the handle slammed into the man's temple. The sound of bones breaking was particularly clear in the night wind.

The man groaned, his body went limp, and he lost consciousness before even hitting the ground.

The second man attacked from the left, stabbing her in the side with his knife.

Ajiu didn't dodge; she stretched out her left hand and caught the blade that was thrust at her with her bare hands.

The blade cut her palm, and blood flowed down the blade, but she did not let go.

She twisted the blade hard, turning it in her hand so the tip was pointing towards the man holding it. Then, she grasped his hand and shoved the knife into his thigh.

A scream rang out.

The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth people attacked almost simultaneously. Four knives slashed at Ajiu from four different directions, sealing off all her room to dodge.

Ajiu did not dodge.

She squatted down.

As she crouched down, she spun around, her knife sweeping out horizontally, the blade cutting through a semicircle and grazing the ankles of the four men.

Four screams rang out almost simultaneously. The four men staggered and fell to the ground, blood gushing from their ankles as their Achilles tendons were severed.

From the moment A-Jiu drew her sword to the moment all six men fell, it took only five breaths.

The air on the cliff top was thick with the stench of blood. Six people lay in pools of blood, some unconscious, some screaming in agony, and some writhing on the ground clutching their legs.

Chen Xiaotian stood in the glow of the lantern, his face drained of all color.

He looked at Ajiu, at the blood still dripping from her left hand, at the blood still flowing from the knife in her hand, and at her dark, bright eyes that were devoid of any warmth.

He suddenly realized that he had made a huge mistake.

He thought Ajiu was a woman, a woman who could be swayed by power and money, a woman who would be at the mercy of others if she were poisoned.

He forgot that she was a night owl.

It was the Night Owl who took the head of a general from among the three armies.

"You...you don't come any closer..." Chen Xiaotian took a step back, his heel already touching the loose rocks at the edge of the cliff.

"My father is the deputy sect leader. If you mess with me, he won't let you get away with it..."

Ah Jiu took a step forward.

"Do you know why I hate you?" she said.

Chen Xiaotian's lips trembled, and he couldn't speak.

"It's not because you're disgusting," Ah Jiu said.

"It's because you're weak. Not only are you weak, but you're also stupid. And to make matters worse, you don't even realize how stupid you are."

She walked up to Chen Xiaotian, pressed the tip of the knife against his chest, and gently pushed him.

Chen Xiaotian staggered backward, his foot slipped, and he fell towards the cliff.

He screamed and reached out, grabbing a rock on the cliff edge. He was suspended in mid-air, his fingers gripping the cracks in the rock, his knuckles white. Below was a bottomless abyss, pitch black and nothing could be seen except for the biting wind blowing up from below.

"Pull me up—please—pull me up—" Chen Xiaotian's voice turned into a sob, his face covered in tears and snot. His dark red brocade robe fluttered in the mountain wind, like a tattered rag doll hanging on the edge of a cliff.

Ajiu squatted on the edge of the cliff, looking down at him.

The moonlight finally rose, shining on Ajiu's face and making her features exceptionally clear. Pale, cold, and devoid of any superfluous expression.

"I won't kill you," Ajiu said.

"It's not because I'm afraid, it's because you're not worthy to die by my hand."

She stood up, turned around, and walked down the cliff.

Behind them came Chen Xiaotian's cries and the groans of the six wounded, mingling together and echoing on Wangyue Cliff like an absurd symphony.

Ajiu walked along the mountain path back to the stone house, blood still flowing from the wound on her left hand, dripping onto the stones of the path, looking like a string of dark red beads in the moonlight.

She walked very slowly.

It wasn't because she wanted to slow down, but because the cartilage powder had started to take effect.

My limbs felt as heavy as lead, and every step required all my strength.

Her vision began to blur, her ears were ringing, and she felt as if she were walking in water, each step a struggle against invisible resistance.

She gritted her teeth and walked step by step.

It usually only takes the time it takes to burn an incense stick to walk from Wangyue Cliff to her stone house.

She walked for nearly half an hour tonight, falling three times. The last time she fell into a thicket of thorns, the thorns piercing her palms and knees, making her tremble with pain.

She got up and kept walking.

We finally arrived at the stone house.

She pushed open the door, went inside, closed it, and the latch went down. Then she leaned against the door, slowly slid down to the floor, and gasped for breath.

The wound on her left hand was still bleeding, the thorns were still embedded in her flesh, and the poison from the cartilage powder was still spreading in her body. She was in pain all over, but nowhere hurt as much as her chest.

It's not that I feel sorry for you.

It's anger.

Chen Xiaotian thought he could make her submit with a cooperation agreement, a powerful backer, and the words "I won't treat you badly".

He thought she was someone who could be bought, threatened, and controlled.

He is not the first person to think this way, nor will he be the last.

But he was the first to pay the price for it.

Ah Jiu pulled the crumpled piece of paper from her sleeve, unfolded it, and glanced at the words: "If you don't come, you'll regret it."

She placed the note on the ground and pressed it down with the tip of her knife.

"Regret?" she whispered.

My biggest regret is letting you live.

She closed her eyes and began to circulate her internal energy to expel the poison.

Internal energy circulates through the meridians, gradually forcing the toxins of the cartilage powder towards the fingertips.

Black blood beads seeped from under his fingernails, dripping onto the ground with a soft, ticking sound.

The night wind of Cangwu Mountain blew through the windows of the stone house, making the window frames creak. Faint voices could be heard from the direction of Wangyue Cliff in the distance—Chen Xiaotian had probably been rescued.

Ah Jiu ignored it.

With her eyes closed, her breathing was deep and even, and the internal energy within her body flowed like a great river, washing away, expelling, and eliminating the toxins.

Half an hour later, she opened her eyes.

Most of the toxins had been expelled, and she regained some strength in her limbs. She stood up, walked to the basin, washed the wound on her left hand clean, and wrapped it with a clean strip of cloth.

She picked out the thorns one by one with a needle. When she got to the seventh one, her hand trembled and the thorn broke off, leaving half of it embedded in her flesh. She used the tip of her knife to cut open the flesh slightly and pulled out the broken thorn, all without making a sound.

After her wound was bandaged, she sat down cross-legged again and continued practicing her internal energy.

She knew that tonight's events wouldn't end there.

Chen Xiaotian's father is Chen Beixuan, the deputy head of the Dark Pavilion, who is at the peak of the Transformation Realm and only one step away from the Core Formation Realm.

His son was severely injured and nearly fell to his death while hanging on the edge of a cliff; he could not let this go unpunished.

The rules of the Dark Pavilion state that assassins within the pavilion are not allowed to fight privately, and those who violate this rule will be severely punished.

Tonight, Ajiu injured six people, including a deputy pavilion master's son who was seriously wounded. According to the rules, she should be executed.

But rules are rigid, people are flexible.

The rules of the Dark Pavilion have always been to serve the powerful and influential.

Ajiu opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling of the stone house in the darkness, her gaze as calm as a stagnant pool.

She was not afraid of Chen Beixuan.

She wasn't even afraid of Hades.

What she feared was that she wasn't strong enough.

At the early stage of the Transformation Realm, she was only considered mid-tier among the Dark Pavilion's top assassins. Chen Beixuan was at the peak of the Transformation Realm, and she couldn't even fathom the Underworld King's realm; he was at least at the Core Formation Realm or higher. She was still a long way from achieving her goal of revenge.

But she wasn't in a hurry.

She has already waited eight years, so a few more years won't make a difference.

This knife still needs sharpening. Sharpening it until it's even sharper, colder, and more indestructible.

Ajiu closed her eyes and continued to circulate her internal energy. Her inner strength flowed through her meridians, washing over every acupoint and every meridian again and again.

Her internal energy at the early stage of the Transformation Realm is not yet sufficiently robust; she needs more accumulation, more practical experience, and more missions.

She needs to become stronger.

She was so powerful that no one dared to reach out to her and say, "Give me the knife."

She was so powerful that anyone who wanted to control her began to regret it before even seeing her blade.

Outside the window, the moon rose to its zenith, illuminating Cangwu Mountain as if it were daytime.

Inside the stone house, Ajiu sat cross-legged, breathing heavily and her heartbeat slow, like a piece of steel being forged in a raging fire.

Length of night.

Her journey is longer.