Chapter 131: Nighttime Assassination (Part Two)

A series of violent, successive shocks jolted Wu Yueling awake from her sweet slumber. She rolled out of bed and heard the sounds of combat echoing from outside. Quickly throwing on a robe, she stepped out to take a look, only to discover that the Pavilion of Heavenly Grace had caught fire, and the flames were spreading fiercely.

She immediately headed downstairs, where she happened to run into Xiaochun, Xiaomi, and Wan'er rushing up the stairs—it seemed her worry had been for nothing. Touched by the deep concern shown by her three maids, her heart filled with warmth.

"Princess! Hurry away from the Pavilion of Heavenly Grace, it's on fire!" Xiaochun and Xiaomi rushed over frantically, grabbing the princess to pull her away to safety.

"Wait, Wan'er, go fetch someone to put out the fire. I need to go back up to the secret room on the upper floor to retrieve something, or else it's going to explode!"

Faced with such a sudden emergency, Wu Yueling assumed command. Breaking free from Xiaochun and Xiaomi's hold, she ran back toward the upper level of the pavilion, and without leaving any room for argument, ordered the two maids to wait for her right where they were.

However, how could the two of them just stand by and wait? They immediately followed closely on her heels.

Halfway up, Xiaochun suddenly remembered the red Hanfu she had been embroidering for nearly a year in her room. Shouting to Sister Xiaomi, she turned back toward her living quarters, dashed through a side corridor of leaping flames, braved the intense heat to grab the garment, and ran outside gasping for breath. After placing the clothes in a distant open space and making sure the distance was safe, she charged right back into the burning pavilion.

Xiaomi, unable to look after Xiaochun at that moment, had originally intended to pull the princess back. She never expected the princess to be so resolute, insisting on throwing the contents of the normally forbidden room out of the window before she would come out. Inside, she saw numerous jars and bottles filled with various black explosive powders, and she helped toss them downward. To be honest, given the current situation, she was willing to risk jumping from the building to prevent the princess from getting hurt—at the very least, she had to repay this deep kindness.

Outside, the sound of grenade explosions continued to ring out. Wu Yueling tossed all the gunpowder jars down to the ground. Now, she could go and check out the exact situation outside; it was most likely an intrusion with malicious intent. Thinking of this, she arched her brows slightly, a trace of latent anger igniting within her.

Reaching the doorway, she discovered that the left half of the pavilion was completely ablaze, casting a blinding glare all around.

The flames also sealed off the room she had just been staying in, causing her heart to sink slightly. Then, she saw Xiaochun rushing out of the corridor, heedless of the raging fire.

"Princess! Princess! Wahh—!"

Xiaochun lunged forward, hugging the princess tightly as tears streamed down her face. She had been terrified out of her wits; in such a fierce fire, if the princess had suffered even the slightest harm, she wouldn't have wanted to live either.

"It's all right, don't worry!"

Wu Yueling offered a few brief words of comfort, patting Xiaochun's back as her gaze flickered downward. She spotted Chu'er locked in combat with a figure in black, and it appeared that Chu'er was at a disadvantage.

Because the two of them were standing so close, the dark shadow fought desperately to cut down Chu'er, every single strike aiming for a fatal spot as if trying to force a way out of here.

The wood could no longer withstand the ravaging flames, and before long, it began to emit cracking sounds accompanied by the snapping and collapsing of wooden boards. Wu Yueling gazed with a solemn expression into the brilliant fire. As the timber collapsed, the flames shifted constantly; the raging fire suddenly slumped, only to roar up like a demon, whipped by a sudden ground wind into a fluttering banner that shrieked with an expanding roar. It was truly terrifying.

A slight chill struck her heart, and amidst the flames, she caught sight of a small, completely motionless figure lying on the ground. Her mind reeled as fragmented, somewhat unpleasant memories flashed intermittently through her head. Wu Yueling's previously calm temperament suddenly surged with a stern, chilling killing intent.

The approaching Xiaomi acutely sensed the subtle shift in the princess's aura and involuntarily swallowed a lump in her throat. A primal sense of fear welled up within her, and she timidly grabbed the arm of the oblivious Xiaochun for a shred of comfort. She sensed that the princess right now was no longer the gentle person she remembered.

Noticing the probing gaze from behind, Wu Yueling turned her head and locked eyes with Xiaomi. Her icy, piercing gaze recovered a hint of warmth. Exhaling softly, she spoke in an unchallengeable tone, "Hurry down the stairs, it's no safety hazard here anymore!"

"But..."

She retrieved a Barrett heavy sniper rifle from her inventory, resting its barrel against the railing. Lowering her head to press close to the scope, she adjusted the visual range, aimed, and took two deep breaths. Her mood settled, and her entire being grew completely composed. It seemed as though she could no longer hear any surrounding commotion, including the howling of the wind and fire.

Night Wraith was dancing his twin daggers at blinding speed, intending to risk severe injury just to break through his opponent's defenses. At that exact moment, a fierce chill crawled up from the base of his spine and permeated his entire body. His thoughts paused for a split second, and losing his concentration, he took a kick to the chest from Chu'er standing right in front of him. He staggered backward a few steps, regained his footing, and prepared to seize another opportunity to break through. Staying here for even another breath filled his heart with an overwhelming sense of impending crisis.

Up on the balcony, the fire illuminated everything. Xiaomi stared blankly at the scene. Conjuring a strange weapon out of thin air—was this some kind of Manichean magic trick? Yet according to the intelligence reports she possessed, the princess had never had any contact with those peculiar sects or Manicheans.

In that instant, she realized the princess was truly unfathomable. Furthermore, the feeling the princess exuded right now was that of a hunter lying in wait for her prey to take the bait. Perhaps comparing her to a hunter wasn't quite accurate; calling her a fierce tiger hidden in the tall grass, intently eyeing its prey, would be much more fitting.

The fierce tiger had been sleeping all this time... No, it had been feigning sleep. The princess was indeed like a slumbering tiger that had only just awakened.

She had failed to perceive such a distinctive demeanor in any of those high-ranking figures she had previously served. Startled for a moment, her ears suddenly began to ring, pulling her back from her shock. She stared in astonishment at the smoking muzzle of the gun and a scattering of tiny metal fragments, reaching out to catch a cartridge casing that flew spinning from the ejection port. Feeling the scorching heat drill into her palm before it vanished along with the solid sensation, she realized that strange little object was completely gone!

After more than a year of practice, Wu Yueling focused her mind, keeping her crosshairs tracking the movement of the assassin's legs, trying to read the pattern in his motion and seize a fleeting opportunity. Then, her finger rested lightly on the trigger, waiting... waiting. She exhaled and inhaled, maintaining the vital energy in her lower dantian in an exquisite state of balance, mapping out the trajectory of the target's movement in her mind. For this single second, the world stood still, and she fired without a shred of emotion.

The recoil shoved her shoulder back, and the cartridge casing flew violently from the chamber. The weapon's durability had dropped significantly; using this kind of gun now shortened its lifespan with every single shot. She dared not pull out many of her weapons anymore. Once the durability reached zero, her trump cards would slowly dwindle. Regardless, before she could manufacture firearms of her own, she had to rely on game equipment to maintain her baseline sense of security.

Circulating her vital energy through the pathways of the *Pure Heart Scripture*, she discharged the force from her shoulder. The recoil was much smaller than her previous sloppy snap-shots, at least preventing her shoulder from aching for a full day and night this time.

The bullet shattered the assassin's kneecap, making it impossible for him to stand ever again; from now on, he would likely need to rely on a crutch to get around. Keeping him alive meant she could extract intelligence from his mouth, by any means necessary.

Chu'er also smoothly subdued and bound the opponent, then waved up toward the balcony with inward delight—she had defeated the enemy in a single move, truly living up to being her little mistress's capable companion.

The intruder had passed out from the bullet tearing through his kneecap, and Night Wraith had completely lost consciousness.

After giving his knee simple first aid, Chu'er realized that her little mistress's bamboo bullet was truly terrifying—the entire leg was practically blown apart.

Escorting the terrified pair as they headed downstairs, Wu Yueling muttered to herself that this was hardly her fault. Come to think of it, this was probably the first time she had ever displayed this weapon of hers in front of them. She had previously used a bunker shield to protect them, but that had happened in the blink of an eye, and even that slick scoundrel Yu Zhaoxin hadn't seen it clearly, which was why they hadn't reacted much. Still, she hoped she wouldn't have to explain herself this time... probably.

Arriving by Chu'er's side, she found that quite a few servants, upon seeing the massive fire at the Pavilion of Heavenly Grace, had rushed over with basins of water to extinguish the flames, yet the fire showed no sign of abating. It wasn't until the sounds of shouting and chaotic battle echoed from the rear courtyard that Wu Yueling realized the situation was far more serious than she thought. Mounting a horse, she galloped hurriedly toward the back estate.