Nine Nights Owl Song

When Su Jiuge returned to the small courtyard in the north of the city, it was already late at night.

Without lighting a lamp, she used the moonlight streaming in through the window to draw her straight sword from its sheath, placed it across her lap, and began disassembling it piece by piece.

The blade, handle, guard, and tsuba—the parts were neatly arranged on the table, like a small, dissected corpse.

She took out a whetstone and began to sharpen the blade.

The sound of the whetstone rubbing against the blade was particularly clear in the quiet night, slow and even, one stroke after another.

She was thinking about tomorrow.

Three late-stage Transformation Realm experts.

Blood Blade follows a fierce and powerful path. Its horse-slaying saber weighs thirty pounds. A single strike can shatter stones and split monuments. It cannot be taken head-on; one can only dodge.

The scorpion is skilled in close combat. Its ten fingers are coated with venom, and anyone whose skin is broken by it will die instantly. You cannot be touched by it, not even an inch.

Ghost Shadow, with the highest level of lightness skill, appears and disappears unpredictably. Her knife is not for killing people—she is responsible for blocking the road.

Of the three, Blood Blade is the hammer, Poison Scorpion is the needle, and Ghost Shadow is the net.

The three worked together seamlessly; this wasn't their first time teaming up.

She alone is at the mid-stage of the Transformation Realm, just one step away from the late stage.

She's not afraid of anyone, even if she's fighting alone.

She's doomed if she's outnumbered three to one.

So she needs a helper.

Because she cannot die.

She hadn't avenged the old drunkard, the Dark Pavilion hadn't been destroyed, and the Zhou family hadn't paid their debts. She couldn't die in a place like this, at the hands of these three people, dying without knowing why, dying without any value.

Su Jiuge's hand paused for a moment.

The whetstone rested in the middle of the blade. She lowered her head, looking at the thin, gleaming edge on the blade, illuminated by the moonlight.

She was thinking about someone.

Su Chengzhi.

The Director of the Department of Military Affairs, a fifth-rank official.

She is introverted, not good at speaking, eager to prove herself, and has a cold relationship with Aunt Zhou.

This is what was written in Bai Yu's file.

She didn't know if Su Chengzhi would agree.

They had only met twice and exchanged no more than ten words. She didn't know what kind of person he was, whether he knew martial arts, how skilled he was, or whether he could pull the trigger of a crossbow at a crucial moment.

But she learned one thing during her eight years in the Dark Chamber: in dire straits, you can only use the cards you have in your hand.

Su Chengzhi was the only card she had.

Su Jiuge started sharpening the knife again.

The sound of the whetstone rubbing against the blade rang out again, like an ancient, comforting melody in the quiet night.

The next morning, Su Jiuge didn't go to the main gate of the Marquis's mansion; instead, she climbed over the wall to get in.

It wasn't that she was afraid of being seen—she was afraid of being asked questions like, "Have you eaten?", "Are you cold?", or "Do you need another layer of clothing?" She didn't know how to answer. It was much harder than killing someone.

Su Chengzhi lived in the third courtyard on the east side of the Hou Mansion. It was a courtyard that was not large but very well-organized. There was a ginkgo tree in the courtyard, and all the leaves had fallen. The golden leaves covered the ground and rustled when you stepped on them.

When Su Jiuge entered the courtyard, Su Chengzhi was practicing his sword under the eaves.

He wore a dark blue short robe, not an official robe, and his hair was casually tied back with a strip of cloth. He held a long sword in his hand, the blade gleaming coldly in the morning light.

His swordsmanship is not just for show.

Su Jiuge knew it at a glance.

The moves are simple, without any unnecessary movements. Every sword strike goes straight for the vital points, the force is crisp and clean, and the sword is sheathed cleanly and decisively.

This is a sword technique that can only be learned in actual combat, not a routine taught in a martial arts school.

His internal strength cultivation was also quite strong, at least at the peak of Dark Force, only one step away from Transformation Force.

Su Chengzhi sheathed his sword, turned around, and saw her standing at the courtyard gate. He paused for a moment.

"Sister Jiuge".

He called her name, his voice still low and short, but with a little more depth than before.

It wasn't a warm greeting, but rather a cautious, tentative intimacy.

"Brother Chengzhi." Su Jiuge entered the courtyard, skipping pleasantries and getting straight to the point.

"I need you to do something for me."

Su Chengzhi looked at her, without asking what it was about, why she was looking for him, or whether there was any reward.

He only said one word: "Okay."

Su Jiuge looked at him and remained silent for a moment.

She had prepared a set of arguments—

Why help him? What does she need him to do? How dangerous is this? Why did she turn to him instead of someone else? Not a single word was used.

"Aren't you going to ask what it is?" she asked.

"You came to me, which means you need me." Su Chengzhi sheathed his sword and hung it on a pillar.

"If you need me, I'll go."

Su Jiuge didn't know how to respond to that sentence.

She spent eight years in the Dark Pavilion, and became accustomed to equal exchange—

You give me money, I'll kill someone.

Give me information, and I'll give you my life.

Give me resources, and I'll work my ass off for you.

No one said to her, "If you need me, I'll come."

No, there was one person—the old drunkard—who said something similar.

Su Jiuge took the map out of her sleeve and spread it out on the stone table under the corridor.

The map marks the terrain of Eagle's Sorrow Gorge.

There is a deep ravine with steep mountain walls on both sides. A stream flows at the bottom of the ravine, and there is a small flat area beside the stream.

She pointed to several locations on the map with her finger and told Su Chengzhi about her plan in detail.

"Blood Blade, Poison Scorpion, and Ghost Shadow, three people. Late stage of Transformation Realm. I can't defeat all three of them by myself. So you need to hide in the shadows and use your crossbow to restrain Ghost Shadow. Ghost Shadow has the best agility of the three, and her task is to block my retreat. As long as she can't move freely, I can take care of Blood Blade and Poison Scorpion within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn."

Su Chengzhi looked at the map, his brows furrowing slightly.

"My archery skills are mediocre; I might not be able to hit her."

"No need to hit the target," Su Jiuge said.

"I just need to keep her from moving at full speed. A top assassin, being watched from the shadows, will have her speed and reaction time reduced. I don't need you to kill her, I just need you to keep her occupied."

Su Chengzhi raised his head and looked at her.

"Are you sure you can take down two late-stage Transformation Realm cultivators within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn?"

Su Jiuge looked into his eyes, which held no doubt, no worry, only a heavy weight, like lead, pressing down on them.

It wasn't nervousness, it was determination.

A person who has lived for twenty-four years and has never been needed by anyone will develop an almost obsessive determination when they are needed for the first time—I cannot let her down.

Su Jiuge looked away.

"I'm sure."

"Okay," Su Chengzhi said.

"I'll go."

Yingchoujian is located 30 li south of Luoyang City and is an abandoned quarry.

The stone walls on both sides have been quarried for over a hundred years, making them steep and sheer, reaching a height of thirty or forty feet at their highest point. At the bottom of the ravine is a dried-up stream, its bed covered with pebbles and sand.

This place is deserted and devoid of birds and beasts; it's a perfect spot for murder and robbery.

When Su Jiuge arrived, it was a quarter to noon.

She did not hide, nor did she do anything unnecessary.

She stood on the flat ground at the bottom of the ravine, with the knife at her waist, arms crossed, waiting.

Sunlight streamed down from the top of the ravine, casting a narrow strip of light and shadow on the bottom.

The wind blew in from the ravine, making her robes flutter and causing a few strands of her tied-up hair to fall loose and drift in the wind.

She closed her eyes, adjusted her breathing, and slowly circulated her internal energy through her meridians, bringing her body to its optimal state.

At noon, footsteps came from the mouth of the stream.

three people.

Blood Blade walked at the front, carrying his horse-slaying sword on his shoulder, swaggering like a butcher strolling through a market.

The scorpion followed five steps behind him, its hands hanging at its sides, its fingernails gleaming black in the sunlight.

Ghostly Shadow walked at the very back, her footsteps so light they were almost silent. Her face was still covered by a black veil, obscuring her expression, but her eyes swept over Su Jiuge like a snake sizing up its prey.

The blood-stained blade stopped, about ten feet away from Su Jiuge.

He took the saber off his shoulder, planted the tip on the ground, gripped the hilt with both hands, and grinned.

"You actually came. Alone. You've got guts."

Su Jiuge did not answer.

Poison Scorpion emerged from behind Blood Blade, tilting its head to look at Su Jiuge like a scorpion studying its prey, its tail raised high, ready to strike at any moment.

"Night Owl, 100,000 taels of silver, and your head. You're not worth that price, but your head is. We'll take your head and go back to report. Don't blame us if you die; blame yourself for being too expensive."

"Are you done talking?" Su Jiuge's voice wasn't loud, but the echo at the bottom of the ravine carried her voice very far.

Blood Blade's smile vanished.

He sensed something was wrong.

A mid-stage Transformation Realm expert being besieged by three late-stage Transformation Realm experts shouldn't be so calm.

She's either an idiot or she has a backup plan.

Su Jiuge drew her sword.

The blade flashed in the sunlight, as fast as a white lightning bolt.

She didn't rush towards the Blood Blade, but instead rushed towards the Poison Scorpion.

This was her choice—to kill the most dangerous one first.

Blood Blade is a hammer; it looks the scariest, but it's the slowest and poses the least threat.

A scorpion is like a needle; if you get even a tiny scratch from its fingernails, you're done for.

Kill the scorpions first.

The scorpion reacts extremely quickly.

He sprang backward like a real scorpion, his hands crossed in front of his chest, fingers spread like ten poisoned knives, waiting for Su Jiuge to run into him.

Su Jiuge didn't crash into it. She suddenly changed direction three steps away from the scorpion, her body bending like a bamboo stalk in the wind, gliding past the scorpion's right side, the blade slicing upwards towards the scorpion's armpit.

The scorpion dodged to the side, its right fingernail slicing towards Su Jiuge's wrist.

Su Jiuge flipped her wrist, the blade held horizontally in front of her, and the scorpion's claws scraped across the blade, producing a piercing metallic scraping sound.

The two exchanged seven or eight blows in an instant, so fast that it was impossible to see clearly; only the afterimages of blades and fingernails remained in the air.

Blood Blade did not move.

He stood there, gripping his broadsword, his gaze shifting back and forth between Su Jiuge and the Poison Scorpion. He was waiting—waiting for Su Jiuge to reveal a weakness, waiting for the right moment for him to strike.

The ghostly figure stood in the shadows at the mouth of the ravine, like a lifeless wooden stake.

Then she moved.

They weren't heading towards Su Jiuge, but towards the mountainside next to them.

She climbed up the steep rock face like a gecko, moving at an astonishing speed, reaching a height of ten zhang (approximately 33 meters) in just a few breaths.

From that height, she could overlook the entire battlefield and pounce down at any time to attack Su Jiuge from any angle.

An arrow was shot down from the top of the ravine.

The arrow whistled through the air with a sharp, piercing sound, striking precisely at the location of the ghostly figure.

The ghostly figure twisted in mid-air, the arrow grazing her shoulder before striking the stone wall and sending up a spray of rubble.

Her body paused in mid-air for a moment, glancing in the direction from which the arrow had come.

At the top of the ravine, a figure dressed in a dark blue-brown short brown robe flashed by and disappeared behind the rocks.

The ghostly figure did not continue climbing.

She stopped ten zhang high, one hand gripping a protrusion on the rock wall, her body suspended in mid-air, her eyes fixed on the direction of the top of the ravine.

She knew there were people up there with crossbows who could shoot her.

It's not an ordinary crossbow—ordinary crossbows can't shoot more than ten feet high while maintaining accuracy and power.

This crossbow is specially made, with a long range and great power. Even if the person wielding it is not a skilled archer, having this crossbow in hand poses a considerable threat.

She could no longer move at full strength.

The ghostly figure hung on the stone wall like a bat with its wings pinned down, unable to go up or down, only able to dodge within that limited area.

Her speed, her maneuverability, her elusiveness—all were sealed off.

Su Jiuge's lips twitched slightly.

She sought out Su Chengzhi, a man in charge of military equipment at the Ministry of War's Department of Military Affairs, who had access to the best crossbows in the entire Liang Dynasty.

Yesterday afternoon, he "borrowed" an armor-piercing crossbow from the Ministry of War's armory. It has a range of up to 100 zhang (approximately 33 meters) and can penetrate three layers of iron armor.

He had never used this crossbow to kill anyone before, but last night he practiced all night in the back garden of the Marquis's mansion, practicing until his fingers were cut by the bowstring, until his arms were so sore he couldn't lift them, and until dawn he was able to shoot a copper coin from fifty feet away.

Su Jiuge was unaware of these things.

All she knew was that the arrow was shot at the perfect time, at the perfect angle, and with perfect accuracy. So perfect that the ghostly figure dared not move.

enough.

Su Jiuge turned her head and looked at Blood Blade and Poison Scorpion.

At this moment, there was nothing superfluous in her eyes.

Only murderous intent.

A pure, undisguised killing intent that burns like a raging fire.

"Now, it's my turn."