"...Interesting."
The bald man suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood. His chest heaved violently, and his voice became broken. "Someone like you... hiding behind a sword... How interesting... The Tail Society... Have you heard of it?"
Wan Ze didn’t answer.
The bald man didn’t seem to need an answer. He stared at the low ceiling of the dark room, his gaze gradually losing focus as his voice grew fainter.
"...It’s better if you don’t."
"That group of people... they’re relentless. If they suspect you’re involved, they’ll investigate until they get to the bottom of it."
"The item falling into your hands..."
"Whether that’s a blessing or a curse... remains to be seen."
The woman’s hand tightened on her gun at his words.
The bald man didn’t look at them again. By now, his eyelids were too heavy to lift. He just stared into the void, as if muttering to himself.
"...The Tail Society isn’t so easy to fool. You might get away with it this time... but not the next."
He paused for two seconds.
Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth in a thin line. "...There’s no injustice in dying at your hands. Heh. It’s a shame I couldn’t have met you sooner."
Then, the bald man’s eyes closed for good.
His breathing stopped.
The dark room fell silent.
The painting on the wall was still wet, blood splatters glistening red under the light.
Wan Ze retracted his fist and stood for a moment, his arms hanging at his sides.
The woman holstered her gun, her voice laced with irritation. "...The Tail Society... This is definitely going to be a problem."
Wan Ze didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he lowered his head and looked at the corpse on the floor.
To have mastered Horizontal Training to this extent, his flesh and bones were as tough as iron. A head-on fight would have been a vicious battle.
Unfortunately, the bald man had misjudged his opponent.
And chosen the wrong battlefield.
"...I suppose so." Wan Ze averted his gaze, walked over, and pulled his sword from the wall.
"Let’s put that aside for now. I suggest we leave immediately," the woman said gravely, her gaze flicking over the bald man’s corpse and then quickly away.
She hadn’t expected a third party to know Tao Zhixi’s whereabouts.
This was definitely not a good sign.
"Hold on." Wan Ze didn’t move.
Stunned, the woman turned to him, her expression bewildered.
Wan Ze surveyed the entire room.
His gaze swept from the blood-splattered painting on the wall, to the open safe, to the scattered clutter, and finally to the corpses piled in disarray.
He suddenly spoke. "Something happened in Tao Ze’s hometown. The Tail Society will get word of it sooner or later. Do you think they’ll reopen their investigation into the Tao Family?"
The woman froze.
Wan Ze looked at her. "Once they follow this lead, that painting will point them to Miss Ling..."
"Once I become a Qi Refiner, none of this will be a problem..." the woman said confidently.
"Can you become a Qi Refiner overnight? Time is a luxury we don’t have right now." Wan Ze looked at her.
The woman fell silent.
She knew Wan Ze was right.
"So what do we do now?" she asked.
Wan Ze glanced around, his gaze finally settling on the fallen thugs. "Staging the scene shouldn’t be too difficult," he said thoughtfully.
The two of them sprang into action at once.
The woman quickly dragged the bald man’s corpse next to Boss Zheng, shoved his uninjured hand into Boss Zheng’s pocket—which held several crumpled gambling IOUs—to make it look like a dispute over splitting the loot.
Wan Ze knelt by the safe. He relocked it, then pried it open again to create the appearance of a struggle. He scattered a few stacks of cash on the floor, leaving some half-spilling from the safe’s mouth, as if they had been interrupted before they could load it all up.
He stood up and glanced at the painting on the wall.
Without any hesitation, he walked over and took it down.
This thing couldn’t stay here; it would only lead to trouble.
The woman emerged from the back room with two bottles of cheap liquor. She unscrewed the caps, sprinkled a half-circle around a few of the corpses, and then splashed some onto the bald man’s body.
The reek of alcohol filled the air, quickly masking the smell of blood.
Wan Ze took the liquor bottle and carefully wiped down the doorframe, doorknob, and table corners—anywhere they might have left fingerprints.
Once they were done, he went to the doorway and looked back for a final check, replaying everything in his mind.
The room was a wreck, with bodies piled haphazardly and the stench of alcohol mingling with blood.
The painting was gone from the wall.
The safe was ajar, cash strewn about, painting a picture of a frantic getaway, a job left unfinished.
It looked for all the world like a case of gang infighting—a deal gone bad.
Wan Ze retracted his gaze.
They exchanged a look.
"Let’s go."
Wan Ze and the woman hurried through the alley.
The night wind blew against them, carrying away the clinging scents of blood and liquor.
By the time the smell had completely faded, the woman was walking beside Wan Ze, her steps much lighter than before.
"This time... really, thank you," she said, sounding relieved.
"If you really want to thank me, let me see that booklet," Wan Ze said, glancing at her with a sudden grin.
The woman blinked, then let out a laugh. "That’s how you want to be thanked? I was going to show you even if you hadn’t said anything."
Her hand was already reaching into her jacket. She pulled out the thin, thread-bound booklet and tossed it to him.
Wan Ze caught it.
He began flipping through it as they walked, his eyes flying across the pages in the dim light spilling from a streetlamp at the alley’s entrance.
The booklet wasn’t thick, and the handwriting was elegant—identical to the script on the Mountain Ghost Painting. ’It must have been written by Tao Zhixi herself,’ he figured.
He didn’t quite understand the formulas in the first part. He flipped through to the second half, where his gaze suddenly stopped.
Visualization: The moon rises over the eastern mountain...
Contemplation: The moon rises from the sea...
Breathing: The moon surges as the great river flows...
They weren’t coherent sentences.
They were three separate formulas, pieced together and broken into three phrases.
Wan Ze lowered his eyes and recited them silently.
Then he recited them again.
A moment later, a line of text invisible to anyone else flashed at the edge of his vision.
...
[Illustrated Guide: Taiyin Breathing Technique]
[Skill Beginner Level Condition: Absorb a wisp of Moonlight]
...
Wan Ze raised an eyebrow slightly.
’It worked?’
He let out a small sigh of relief.
The Illustrated Guide’s ability was even more powerful than he’d imagined.
But... what was recorded in this booklet wasn’t a Qi Refining Technique.
Tao Zhixi was a Qi Refiner; what she practiced should have been a Qi Refining Technique.
’Why... is it a Breathing Technique?’
Still, this Breathing Technique was worlds apart from the Thunderbolt Breathing Technique taught at the Dragon Eagle Martial Arts Hall.
He couldn’t say he was disappointed.
He hadn’t come here expecting to achieve success overnight.
Besides, in addition to two instances of Stealing Celestial Secret, getting his hands on such a profound Breathing Technique was an unexpected bonus.
He was just about to close the booklet and hand it back.
"Wan Ze..." The voice beside him suddenly changed, becoming very soft.
Wan Ze froze and looked up.
Miss Ling was staring at him, her eyes shining in the night. She asked cautiously, "Did we... did we succeed?"
Wan Ze closed the booklet and slipped it into her open canvas bag.
"We succeeded."
He said with a smile, then added, "We should head back now."
Surprised, Miss Ling nodded blankly and obediently followed him.
She looked down to fasten her bag, her steps now light and quick.
After just a few steps, however, she couldn’t help muttering under her breath, "...So it’s over, just like that."
Wan Ze didn’t look back.
"I thought there’d be something more impressive." Miss Ling’s voice was sullen and a little disappointed. She patted the gun at her side. It was a shame she hadn’t gotten to fire a single shot tonight.
’I worked up so much courage for this mission, too.’
’And it was over in the blink of an eye?’
The night wind gusted in from the mouth of the alley, whipping Miss Ling’s bangs about as they retraced their steps.