Hidden Shadow – CH 134

Chapter One-Hundred-Thirty-Four: Bad Luck

“The Konghe Army has been having a really bad run of luck lately,” Sui Yuntong muttered.

It was not just bad luck; they were hitting roadblocks at every turn. Almost every mission they undertook was thwarted midway. It was true someone had been deliberately targeting them before, but this time it was truly just bad luck.

“When bad luck strikes, even the heavens will not let you have it,” someone suddenly interjected.

Silence fell.

The group squatted or stood by the edge of the woods, their figures silhouetted against the night like long and short tombstones.

Chu Dingjiang returned after about an hour, his body radiating an unyielding killing intent and the stench of blood, like a black ghost emerging from the underworld.

The result was clear.

The seven remaining assassins from the Piaomiao Mountain mansion’s secret operation were all wiped out, and Wei Yuzhi’s whereabouts were unknown. This confirmed one piece of information about Wei Yuzhi for Chu Dingjiang—his mental power had surpassed the third rank of the Transcendent Realm.

Without anyone controlling it, the formation was essentially lifeless, and the Konghe Army quickly broke free.

In this operation, the Konghe Army sacrificed four Shadow Assassins and killed fourteen enemy soldiers. However, this ratio still enraged the leaders of the Konghe Bureau: with a master of the Transcendent Realm and the Konghe Army’s best assassin in charge, how could there still be casualties?! It was unforgivable!

Therefore, upon returning to the capital, Chu Dingjiang was demoted again; some people could not even tolerate his nominal position as Divine Martial Commander, while Gu Jinghong, due to the Emperor’s trust, was only punished with a year’s salary reduction.

Many people felt indignant on behalf of the two. This was clearly a trial; according to the rules, Chu Dingjiang and Gu Jinghong, as leaders, could not participate. Even in a normal trial, it was unlikely that they would emerge unscathed!

Inside the Konghe Academy.

An Jiu was practicing martial arts in a small training room, her body soaked in sweat, her curves clearly visible.

Chu Dingjiang sat cross-legged against the wall, crackling as he peeled peanuts. Seeing her stop, he chewed on a peanut and asked, “The Mei family clearly has the renowned Plum Blossom Fist; why are you practicing this cat-scratching style?”

An Jiu tightened the bandages on her hand. She glanced at him. “Eating peanuts can easily cause choking, especially with your recent bad luck. You’d better be careful.”

“Intentionally trying to annoy me.” Chu Dingjiang squeezed a peanut into powder with a slight force and stuffed it into his mouth.

“So you will not choke to death.”

An Jiu continued practicing her fist techniques. After returning, she went to the library of the Konghe Academy to look through many martial arts manuals, discovering that almost every one required a strong physique. Therefore, she temporarily set aside those and focused on training her body using her own methods.

“You’ve been practicing for two hours now.” Even Chu Dingjiang could not stand her cruelty towards herself and could not help but remind her.

An Jiu did not answer. Each punch became more powerful than the last, exuding a murderous aura that sent chills down one’s spine.

After a quarter of an hour, she finally stopped.

“Chu Dingjiang.” An Jiu knelt in front of him, her dark eyes fixed on his. “Mei…which army is my mother in now?”

Chu Dingjiang avoided her gaze. “I do not know.”

“You do.” An Jiu clearly sensed his fleeting hesitation. “Is she in the Imperial Guard?”

“No, but it is close.” Chu Dingjiang had been afraid that if he told her the truth, she would also risk her life searching for her mother. But since she was prepared for this, he no longer hid it. “The Dragon Martial Guards have the same duties as the Imperial Guard.”

Finally, he asked worriedly, “You are not going to go in, too, are you?”

An Jiu clenched her fists tightly, veins bulging on the back of her hands. “I want to save people. It is not like I am going to sell my body. Why would I risk my life? Does Gu Jinghong know that my mother was slept with by the Emperor?”

“Cough cough cough!” Chu Dingjiang choked on a peanut, coughing a few times. “You are a woman.”

An Jiu persisted, “Is that not right?”

“He chose her. Do you think he knew?” Chu Dingjiang said.

An Jiu thought of Gu Jinghong’s clear, bright eyes and could not understand how such a person could do such a disgusting thing—mother and daughter sharing a husband? And this Emperor really had no inhibitions, not even sparing widows!

“Then my mother has already been bedded by the Emperor?” An Jiu asked.

“I really do not know.” Chu Dingjiang was not the Emperor’s close attendant; how would he know which woman the Emperor slept with each day?

An Jiu slowly got up, walked to the clothes rack, took out a cloak, and put it on.

Mei Yanran’s gentle and beautiful face appeared before her eyes. Her blood surged, an uncontrollable killing intent rushed to her mind, and the madness that had long disappeared suddenly returned. She grabbed a sword from the weapon rack and smashed the clothes rack in front of her to pieces.

But it was not enough! She wanted to destroy everything!

“Fourteenth!” Chu Dingjiang saw her bloodshot eyes and was slightly alarmed. This mental energy was clearly a sign of demonic possession.

An overwhelming killing intent instantly enveloped the entire Konghe Academy; everyone felt it.

Boom!

A deafening roar followed, and a large section of the Konghe Academy’s training hall collapsed, billowing dust into the sky.

Several instructors rushed over upon hearing the commotion.

“What happened?” the Earth Instructor shrieked in a high-pitched voice.

The immense killing intent vanished, and the others relaxed, beginning to answer in a cacophony of voices.

A figure emerged from the dust, and everyone fell silent, carefully trying to identify who it was.

As the person descended the steps, everyone recognized him as Chu Dingjiang, carrying a woman covered in blood.

“Lord Chu, what happened?” the Heaven Instructor asked.

“The training hall has been in disrepair for years,” Chu Dingjiang said casually, then strode away carrying An Jiu.

Chu Dingjiang could not think of any excuse to hide the truth; this perfunctory explanation was merely his way of avoiding ignoring the Heaven Instructor in public.

That afternoon, Chu Dingjiang was summoned back to the Konghe Bureau because he was suspected of showing signs of demonic possession.

The Konghe Army did not reject demonic cultivation, but demonic cultivators inevitably had extreme personalities in some aspect, so they needed close monitoring to prevent them from losing control during missions.

Immediately, someone in the Divine Martial Team suggested that even someone with exceptional talent like Gu Jinghong had not reached the pinnacle of skill, so Chu Dingjiang’s abilities were highly questionable. To avoid a major disaster, his martial arts should be abolished as soon as possible.

This perfectly illustrated the saying: when bad luck strikes, even the heavens would not let you have it.

Chu Dingjiang did not choke to death on peanuts, but he silently took the blame, not only being demoted but also imprisoned in the Censorate for a month.

An Jiu slept soundly, waking up at dawn.

Her head throbbed with pain as she recalled the events of the past. Anger surged within her again.

The door creaked open and closed twice, and Lou Mingyue slipped in. “Fourteenth Young Lady.”

Perhaps because of shared suffering, she always showed An Jiu a bit more care. “No matter what it is, do not reveal your mental power. Lord Chu said he will handle it; do not let his good intentions go to waste.”

“What happened?” An Jiu propped herself up.

Lou Mingyue sensed someone approaching and said, “We will talk about it later. If anyone asks you later, try to pin the house collapse on Lord Chu. That’s what he asked me to pass on.”

An Jiu’s heart sank. Although she did not know exactly what had happened, her intuition told her that her mental breakdown had caused the trouble, and Chu Dingjiang was covering for her.

Knock! Knock!

“Please come in,” Lou Mingyue answered for An Jiu.

Several black-clad men pushed open the door. The one at the front wore a mask, followed by four instructors and Headmaster Sheng.

“Xuan Ren,” the masked man asked as he sat down. “The martial arts hall collapsed the other day. Only you and Chu Dingjiang were inside. Do you know what happened?”

An Jiu did not want to reveal herself, but she also did not want to pin everything on Chu Dingjiang without knowing the full story. “I do not know.”

The masked man’s gaze fell on her injured hand. “Where did you get this injury?”

An Jiu remained silent.

Lou Mingyue interjected, “Fourteenth Young Lady’s internal energy was destroyed when the Mei family was attacked. Now she’s a pure external cultivator. To avenge herself one day, she has to train even harder. She often does this.”

It was almost a massacre of her entire family; it was understandable that she did not want to talk about it.

The masked man reached out and grabbed An Jiu’s wrist.

The touch was icy cold. An Jiu resisted the urge to pull away.

The man probed for a moment, then nodded, accepting Lou Mingyue’s explanation. Someone without internal energy could not possibly cause such massive damage, so it could only be Chu Dingjiang…

Having obtained a satisfactory result, the masked man did not linger and immediately returned to report.

“Hey, Shorty, your backer’s fallen!” the Earth Instructor chuckled maliciously.

An Jiu silently thought, “Being short, one would eventually grow taller, but a cut-off little ‘birdie’ would never grow back.”

An Jiu was not short for her age, but this group from the Konghe Academy was mostly male, and the only two women were older and slightly taller than her, so she was the shortest in line.

The Xuan Instructor said coldly, “Do you think I am dead?”

Trying to teach his people a lesson right in front of him clearly showed they did not take him seriously!

The Earth Instructor rolled his eyes, swaying as he left, saying, “She’s young and strong. No matter how much you, an old man, try to please her, the young girl will not be with you.”

The Xuan Instructor’s meaning was misinterpreted, and he was so angry his beard trembled. He spat, “Eunuch!”

An Jiu had no time for their bickering. After they left, she immediately asked Lou Mingyue, “What happened to Chu Dingjiang?”

Lou Mingyue recounted the day’s events, ending with a sneer. “Those people from the Konghe Bureau, they are never this efficient when carrying out missions, but they are quite adept at suppressing people!”

An Jiu felt a pang of unease.

She had lost control of her mind again. She did not remember some things clearly, but she knew that Chu Dingjiang had held her tightly, whispering something in her ear, his inner force exploding, destroying the entire room, and she had been knocked unconscious.

He did this to hide her demonic tendencies!

An Jiu pursed her lips, staring down at her hand wrapped in thick white cloth.

Chu Dingjiang would turn back for her. When she was agonizing over killing, he did not curse or fear her like ordinary people, nor did he constantly incite her to continue killing like some others. Instead, he smiled and said, “A good sign. It shows you still have feelings.”

Chu Dingjiang’s protectiveness towards her, for reasons unknown, stirred complex emotions within her.

Seeing her pale face, Lou Mingyue said, “Rest a little longer.”

An Jiu nodded.

She had thought she would not be able to sleep, but after lying down, she unexpectedly fell into a deep sleep again.

Her dreams were chaotic. One moment she was amidst mountains of corpses and pools of blood, the head of the Mei family placing a jade pendant in her hand, saying, “Loyalty and Righteousness Tower”; the next, Mei Yanran smiling and saying, “Do not be afraid, Mother is here”; the next, Mei Jiu crying before her death, “Live well”; finally, billowing dust and deafening sounds filled the air, accompanied by Chu Dingjiang’s deep voice, “Fourteenth, calm down. No matter what, I am still with you.”

Oh, right, Chu Dingjiang said, “I am here with you, am I not?”

“Chu Dingjiang!” An Jiu sat up abruptly, sweat beading on her forehead.

Never before had she felt that improving her strength was such an urgent matter.

An Jiu got up, drank a glass of water, tidied herself up briefly, and went to the library despite her injuries. She did not reject Chu Dingjiang’s protection, but she absolutely refused to become a weak woman who always relied on others for protection! She could not become a burden to Chu Dingjiang.

The library was located in the very center of the Konghe Academy, right where An Jiu had first reported for duty. It housed tens of thousands of books, all managed by Headmaster Sheng.

The books were arranged in different rooms according to their level. Because those practicing basic techniques in the Konghe Academy were all children, and they had specialized teachers who provided targeted instruction, the study containing the basic techniques was rarely used.

An Jiu searched for techniques that interested her in the outer basic training area.

She was engrossed in her search and, assuming it was Headmaster Sheng, did not pay much attention when she noticed someone enter.

“Practice this one.” The voice was as clear and melodious as a spring flowing over rocks among the pines.

An Jiu looked up and saw a slender, fair hand, unlike Chu Dingjiang’s, which was always gloved.

“Gu Jinghong.” An Jiu coldly looked into the shallow eyes behind the mask.

Gu Jinghong noticed her hostility but did not take it to heart. “According to the original rules, I am the master of the Mei family disciples. No matter what, I will not harm you in terms of martial arts.”

“Then you will harm me in other ways,” An Jiu said.

“Perhaps. Over the years, I have done many harmful things.” Gu Jinghong placed the book on the table, gave a cryptic laugh, and turned to leave.

An Jiu glanced at the table; it was a thin manual, its cover tattered and yellowed, with the words “Severing Meridian Palm” written on it.

Opening the cover, the title page read, “Severing meridians means severing a person’s meridians.”

An Jiu quickly skimmed through it, hesitating whether to believe Gu Jinghong.

She put the book in her pocket, looked up, and saw Headmaster Sheng working at his desk in the opposite room. She got up, went out, crossed the courtyard via the veranda, and knocked on the door of the main hall.

“Come in,” Headmaster Sheng said.

An Jiu entered.

He looked her up and down for a few moments. “Xuan Ren, what is it?”

“I have something to ask you,” An Jiu said.

“Please sit.” Headmaster Sheng put down his pen, a smile playing on his lips, his expression one of attentive listening.

“Do you know about the Severing Meridian Palm?” An Jiu asked.

Headmaster Sheng’s expression changed slightly. “Why are you suddenly asking about this?”

“I heard it is an external martial art,” An Jiu said.

Headmaster Sheng nodded. “It’s a rather ruthless external martial art, its power causing many masters with profound internal strength to tremble at the mere mention of it.

However, very few people have actually mastered it to this day, which is one of the reasons why this martial art manual has not been destroyed.”