1. Ganye Temple
Su Jiangchun was burning incense at Ganye Temple.
Three months had passed by then.
—After that victory, Zhu Gonghou was extremely excited. He had finally eliminated the thirty assassins. Although he himself had lost hearing in one ear; the Left Chancellor Yuchi Ba had half his face blown off, making it difficult for him to speak and greatly diminishing his abilities; and the Right Guard's intelligence chief Linghu Yu had also lost an arm, rendering him practically crippled; he felt it was still worth it!
He displayed the corpses of the thirty assassins, but sadly, they were still faceless. Even the faces of the last seventeen who died rotted after their deaths, and it's unknown what kind of poison they took.
But no matter what, Zhu Gonghou still won.
Zhu Gonghou left the Hundred-Zhang Hall laughing that day, and the first place he went was the Pear Blossom Courtyard.
—Pear blossoms in the courtyard, the warm glow of dusk, willow catkins on the pond, a tranquil scene—this is the true grandeur of a noble residence.
Moreover, there was a woman among them whom he could almost praise as an emperor: Su Jiangchun.
He asked Su Jiangchun to boil a large tub of hot water for him, so he could wash away three months of bloodshed, bad luck, and exhaustion.
Su Jiangchun was a meticulous woman; lilac blossoms were still floating on the water.
Lord Zhu washed himself very carefully; he was pleased with himself! He was pleased that he could once again enjoy everything. His wealth and status remained immense, while his bones were only fit to lie scattered in the earth.
Zhu Gonghou clenched his fingers tightly; they were not to make a sound, not to reveal anything, and not to sigh.
That night, Zhu Gonghou celebrated his victory on Su Jiangchun's body. He deserved some reward; he had done an outstanding job in this battle, hadn't he?
Su Jiang responded woodenly to Zhu Gonghou, carefully trying not to let him notice. It took three whole months before she finally had a chance to escape his entanglement. She took leave and went to Ganye Temple to clear her karma. —Zhu Gonghou saw her every night, so gentle and tender; did he know she hadn't slept for three whole months? —She still didn't know, and dared not inquire, whether Xiao Zai was among the last thirty assassins to die.
They all have no faces, but is there anyone whose body shape resembles Xiao Zai?
Does it exist?
At night, she lay awake, listening to the sighs that lingered in the distant, hazy air.
2. Small debts
Incense smoke curls around Ganye Temple.
Su Jiang lowered her lips, brows furrowed, and clasped her hands together.
She sent everyone away.
She was left behind, along with her unresolved worries.
When she heard him say that his whole family had been killed by enemies when he was young, she vaguely knew what kind of person he was.
But she preferred not to know—so, what was his purpose in contacting her? Was it merely for exploitation and revenge?
Did he ever love her, even just a little?
This is very important to her.
But she will never have the chance to ask again.
Su Jiangchun knelt on the prayer mat, tears dripping onto the ground, where she shattered with a "crack".
A shadow beside me was slowly growing longer and longer, but there were no footsteps.
Su Jiangchun straightened up in alarm. This was the family temple; no one should be allowed to come in. She had instructed that no one was allowed to enter.
Then she caught a familiar scent.
Her heart steadied itself. No, this can't be. She shook her head. For a moment, her heart even stopped beating—
—It's him, it can't be, but it is him, it is him!
She turned around, and in the light and dust of the hall, she saw him.
He was dressed in white, as if in a dream. She whispered, "Xiao Zai."
Xiao Zai's face seemed to have gained a few wrinkles, looking bitter and forlorn. Just one glance at him made Su Ruoyan feel as if she had swallowed a large lotus seed, the bitterness reaching right to her heart.
"Xiao Zai," Su Ruoyan called again. In his presence, she was never Su Jiangchun, but Ruoyan—
—Ruoyan.
Ge Xiao didn't say anything more, but just knelt on the ground and bowed to her.
Su Jiangchun was stunned.
Then he asked softly, "Did he enter your room that day?"
Su Jiangchun felt a chill in her heart. Why would he ask this? She said with difficulty, "Yes."
Xiao asked with great difficulty, "Then—has he been very excited for the past three months?"
Su Jiang's mouth tasted bitter—why did he only ask these questions and not about her love, fear, and worry? But she still said, "Yes."
Ge Xiaozhai sighed softly, then suddenly knelt down in front of her and said, "Sister Yan, I... I'm so sorry..."
He said, "But I will take responsibility for my actions. Sister Yan, I beg you, please stay at Ganye Temple for the time being and don't leave. Don't go back to Zhu Gong Mansion for a month, you must not go back."
Then he took out a small bag containing more than thirty pills. He said, "Take one pill a day. Remember, you must take one pill a day."
Su Jiang nodded gently. She would do as he said, but—why?
Ge Xiaozhai had already stood up. He retreated step by step until he reached the doorway. His white clothes somehow evoked a sense of sorrow in Su Jiangchun. She heard him say, "Remember one pill a day. I'll come to pick you up after I've finished this task. From now on, for all eternity, I only ask that we fly wing to wing."
3. Showdown
Fei Yang's fame spread far and wide after that battle.
It was many days later that Su Jiangchun heard: Ge Xiaozhai challenged Zhu Gonghou!
Alone with only a sword and dressed in white, he engaged in a duel with Zhu Gonghou at Zhu Gong's mansion. They started on the roof of the antique shop and fought all the way to the top of Tengwang Pavilion. Ge Xiaozhai was young and sharp, while Zhu Gonghou had recovered from his minor injuries. The people of Nanchang City watched with bated breath.
This battle was different from the previous assassinations; it was said to be for a woman.
The young man said that if he won, he would take a woman from the manor of a duke or marquis.
If he loses, he dies!
The people of Nanchang looked up expectantly as the battle began on the eaves of Zhu Gong's mansion. Ge Xiaozhai was agile and wielded a sharp sword, but he was clearly outmatched. However, he had a strong will and fought from sunrise to sunset. Ge Xiaozhai was wounded in more than ten places, and he fought all the way to the top of Tengwang Pavilion, still struggling relentlessly.
Many people were thinking to themselves: Stop fighting! Stop fighting!
But the battle continues.
The result of the duel was: Ge Xiaozhai lost.
Knowing he was seriously injured, he leaped into the heart of the Yangtze River. And from that moment on—he never floated again.
But this defeat was also honorable, and everyone was speculating about which woman he wanted, and what kind of stunning beauty was worth such a life-or-death battle? Even Zhu Gonghou had his doubts.
Several days later, Zhu Gonghou had no more reason to suspect anything, but one after another, people in his mansion died mysteriously. Anyone Zhu Gonghou had come into contact with, not just women, but also those women came into contact with, including their children and their children's friends, died one after another inexplicably.
Someone murmured: "Retribution!"—as if a curse had descended, swifter than the assassination that had just occurred. It was a plague, inescapable. Yuchi Ba could do nothing; he died three days later. Before he died, he only sighed softly: "They have finally mastered the 'Death-Slaying Assassination'."
Zhu Gonghou survived the longest, but he died suddenly only eleven days after Su Jiangchun entered Ganye Temple.
No one knows the cause of death. Many people say that he died from the last curse uttered by the "Thirty Death Warriors" before their deaths.
—The curse of annihilation.
The Zhu family mansion collapsed just like that. It became desolate very quickly; before long, its prosperity was gone, and the people in the mansion were scattered one by one, some dead and some alive.
4. Residual thorns
When that letter reached Su Jiangchun's hands, it had been exactly one month and three days.
The letter was delivered by an old man, and the envelope was addressed to "Sister Cheng Ruoyan".
Seeing the delicate handwriting, Su Ruoyan's tears flowed. She pulled out the letter; the first sentence on the blank paper read—Sister Yan: I know this battle is mostly hopeless. Perhaps I didn't need to fight, because the 'stabbing' has succeeded. But for you, I must fight, otherwise I cannot face myself…
Tears welled up in Su Ruoyan's eyes, blurring her vision. It took her a long time to read again: "...I am not one of the thirty assassins. I am their young master, their friend, and also their thorn. For nineteen years, I have been with the Tang Clan, learning ninjutsu and cultivating great meditative power. But time is limited, and the years are pressing. In my lifetime, I may never be able to slay Zhu Gonghou. But even so, we cannot let the bones buried beneath the Gonghou's mansion weep forever; they are our ancestors, our sisters, and our brothers. The thirty assassins, none fear death, only seeking to die a worthy death, a death that is worthwhile! We studied the Zhu Gonghou mansion in detail, knowing that with our own strength, whether through poison, stabbing, or feigning death, there was no hope of avenging our great grudge. That's why we came up with that plan—the plan was called 'Assassination'."
In truth, all the other "thorns" are fake, illusory. The real thorn, the real ninjutsu, the real poison are always invisible, elusive, striking before the enemy even realizes it. —I am the real "thorn." The first seven "thorns" were merely to draw the attention and instill fear in the Zhu family. Our eighth thorn, aimed at you, is a meticulously planned scheme. We have thoroughly studied you. We need a woman favored by the Zhu family, we need me to approach her, to enter her heart. The eighth "thorn" dies, even my great-grandfather, Grandpa Ge, dies trying to "save" you by sending me into the manor. Then I enter the manor. I know what the women in the manor need, I know you are lonely, I only need the right moment. We didn't have the opportunity, but we created one, exchanging a life for that "bite of resentment," ensuring the Zhu family would be unable to attend to you for three months. Thus began the series of attacks and upheavals, and in the midst of this turmoil, I approached you.
I used the poison of the Tang Clan, the pursuit of the Seven Ninjas, and the power of Great Meditation to train my "thorn"—you know what I'm talking about. I am a virgin. That night, when my "thorn" pierced your body, the move was already made. This poison would pass through your body to Zhu Gonghou, and to everyone he came into contact with. That is the whole "thorn" plan.
I am ashamed, but that is the truth.
Then we need to arrange that all-out battle, to deplete Zhu Gonghou's inner strength. He will win overwhelmingly, and after his victory, he will inevitably seek you out. You are the vessel for this deadly poison called "Thorn." Once he targets you, he will surely die; this is our only way to kill him. In fact, the night you saw my previous move, which was executed successfully, was the night Zhu Gonghou sought you out—your night of humiliation, and my night of despicable actions.
That night, you forced me to leave, and I knew your true intentions. You wanted me to find thirty assassins so they wouldn't have to launch that suicidal attack that others had already prepared. I knew I had succeeded, and told them there was no need to attack anymore, but they struck my pressure points, saying that Zhu Gonghou's internal energy was profound and his strength wouldn't be severely damaged, and that even a "stab" wouldn't be enough to kill him. They succeeded, severely damaging Zhu Gonghou's internal energy. On the night Zhu Gonghou was overjoyed after his victory, he had actually suffered the most fatal blow of his life.
Ruoyan, is all of this alright—insidious and despicable? I want to take you with me now; after all, my revenge is complete, and I truly want to be with you for life. But if I did that, I truly couldn't face myself. In the beginning, you were just a target I hunted, a woman, Zhu Gonghou's woman, a woman named Su Jiangchun.
But, irresistibly, I fell in love with you, from the very first time we were together. I dared not tell you, not even to myself, that I truly cared about you, because I could not stop this plan that had been in the works for ten years. This plan, devised over ten years, had cost countless lives; it concerned the peace of countless souls in the underworld and the justice of countless people on earth. Yet, I still felt utterly despicable.
From the moment you told me to call you "Ruoyan," I knew that in this lifetime, you were the one I had wronged the most. That night, the night Zhu Gonghou celebrated his victory in your room, I was actually outside. I carved one thorn after another on my arm.
I need words to calm myself down. Personal feelings and family feuds, public anger and solitary resentment—I must separate them. But I can't forget those secret trysts, can't forget how you loved me, and how that hateful body you were with.
Then, all my friends perished. For the past three months, I've been concocting medicine—the one I gave you before—to cure you. By now, you should have finished it, and the Zhu family should be nearly wiped out. But now, before all that happens, I want to find Zhu Gonghou for a true duel—a duel, because this is for the woman I love, not for revenge against a deep-seated grudge. I want to fight him openly and honestly. If I win, I will welcome you out of the Zhu family mansion, and then I will kneel before you and beg for your forgiveness; if I lose, let me sink to the bottom of the river forever.
The family feud is over, but personal feelings remain unresolved; this hatred will last forever...
Tears blurred Su Ruoyan's vision once again, and Xiao Zai floated before her eyes again—the innocent Xiao Zai, the fragile Xiao Zai, the resilient Xiao Zai, the ruthless Xiao Zai. How could this be? She herself did not know whether she felt love or hate in her heart.
Suddenly, she remembered that he lay there, wounded and lying at the bottom of the river. Wasn't he cold? Were his feet bare again, stretched out on the sand at the bottom of the river? Had his shoes fallen off, and sand piled up on his toes? She could no longer put shoes on him, could no longer hold those thin, knife-like ankles—this boy, in his entire life, had he ever experienced a few days of true joy?
Su Ruoyan stroked the sewing scissors, but couldn't sever her own thoughts—she didn't need him to prove anything. Why be so proud? She didn't actually hate him. Whether it was love or hate, as long as it involved him, as long as he was there, that past would be like a thorn, planted in her bones, impossible to leave.
Su Jiang's lips were stained with heartache and confusion; life is a thorn, and every thorn pierces the heart of the one she loves most...