Chapter 33: Recruiting the Stunning Salamander
[Inorin's Note: This chapter is a crossover with the Chinese animation The Legend of Qin (Qin's Moon). "Jing Ni" (惊鲵), which translates to "Stunning Salamander," is the name of both a top-tier assassin and her sword, which is one of the "Eight Swords of the King of Yue." She serves the "Net" (Luo Wang) assassin organization.]
"So, I have no choice, do I?"
Jing Ni's voice was as cold as the rain lashing her body. Her face, usually an emotionless mask, was now pale and drawn. She stood in the mud, one hand on the hSilt of her sword, the other protectively over her swollen abdomen.
Yet, the ghost-faced assassin, perhaps his mind was broken by the Net's indoctrination, or perhaps he was simply cruel, continued to provoke her, madly courting death.
"This has been destined since the day you were born," he sneered, his own sword pointed at her. "You are a sword of the Net. You have no will of your own. Your life will only end with death, at our command."
"For the goal... until death?" Jing Ni looked up, the rain mixing with the pained moisture in her eyes. She closed them, letting the cold beat down on her delicate, doll-like face, yet she didn't care.
The pain in her womb was sharp, a reminder of the life she was carrying. A life she had doomed by her own past.
At this moment, caught between the absolute, unfeeling dogma of her masters and the new, fierce instinct of a mother, she finally made up her mind.
"Yes!" The ghost-faced assassin sneered, as if certain that Jing Ni, one of the organization's most perfect weapons, would not dare to betray the Net.
Jing Ni did not answer again. The scene suddenly fell silent.
No one spoke. There was only the increasingly booming thunder and the intensifying, freezing rain.
Suddenly, Jing Ni opened her eyes. The desperation was gone, replaced by a killing intent so pure and cold it seemed to freeze the air around her.
"For my child... I will kill you all."
Just as she was about to act, to draw the Jing Ni Sword and expend the last of her life force in a final, hopeless battle, an abrupt, calm voice suddenly rang out from the darkness.
"No. She still has a choice."
"Killing intent!"
Everyone, including Jing Ni, showed shocked expressions.
As assassins of the Net, they were masters of killing intent. They lived and breathed it.
However, they had never felt such a strong, suffocating killing intent before. It was more powerful than even those top-tier Tian-level assassins. It was almost substantial, making one suffocate.
It was an ocean of blood, a mountain of corpses, a pressure that made their own "professional" killing intent feel like a child's tantrum.
Everyone's gaze was instantly drawn to a tall man in a black robe with a deep hood, who emerged from the darkness behind the ghost-faced assassin.
The moment the black-robed man appeared, the entire world seemed to be tinged with a layer of blood. The air became even colder and more biting, and even the rain seemed to hiss, turning into ice shards.
Yet, the man himself exuded a scorching, contradictory aura.
The rain and ice shards turned into steam before they even got close to him, evaporating in a faint, misty shroud, unable to approach the man in the slightest.
"Who are you?" The ghost-faced assassin suddenly turned around, his sword now pointed at the newcomer. He could tell the black-robed man was not to be trifled with.
"The Net is acting! If you know what's good for you, leave this place!"
He was afraid. But his duty was clear. The most important thing right now was to take down the traitor, Jing Ni. It was not advisable to provoke another strong enemy.
The black-robed man did not answer. He simply looked quietly at Jing Ni, as if the other dozen assassins didn't even exist.
5 dazzling, colored spirit rings—yellow, yellow, purple, black, black—rose from beneath the black-robed man's feet.
The fourth spirit ring, the first 10,000-year black ring, suddenly brightened.
A thumb-sized, crimson energy sword appeared out of nowhere in front of him, glowing like a hot coal. He grasped it with his right hand.
Then, he flicked his wrist.
Dozens of crimson beams of light—sharp, sword-like energy—were released from his fingertips. The crimson light instantly, and silently, filled the jungle.
It was not a chaotic explosion. It was a precise, beautiful, and utterly lethal web of light.
At the same time, the screams of all the Net assassins, including the ghost-faced assassin, filled the jungle. "Ah—!"
The red light receded as quickly as it had come.
The Net assassins... were gone.
The rain itself seemed to have been vaporized in the attack's radius. A 100-meter-wide circle of the jungle was scorched black, the ground smoking and sterile, leaving only the heavily pregnant Jing Ni, standing alone in the center of the destruction, looking at the black-robed man with full vigilance.
Qin Xuan looked at everything around him with satisfaction, nodding inwardly. After the fourth spirit ring was raised to 10,000 years, the Changming Thorn Array was clearly much stronger.
Not only did its attack power and range greatly increase, but it could also be cast instantly. It gave the sword array flexibility, allowing it to form a web to trap, or thrusts to kill. It also came with a passive effect that forced a stun on opponents.
It was the perfect anti-assassin technique.
"Why are you helping me?" Jing Ni asked. She was still expressionless, her voice betraying no emotion, but her body was tense.
The Jing Ni Sword in her hand was always held tightly, her thumb on the hilt, lightly pushing the guard to reveal a sliver of the gleaming, deadly blade.
It was as if she would act at the slightest disagreement.
This black-robed man, whose killing intent was ridiculously strong, was very likely a top-tier assassin himself. Perhaps from a rival organization, here to capture her.
A mother is strong for her child. Even if she knew she was no match, she would fight for a glimmer of hope for the child in her belly. She would never allow the child to repeat her mistakes, to become a tool.
"Your body is extremely weak. If you act now, not to mention whether you can kill me... even if you could, once you use your true qi, your body won't be able to bear it. You might have a premature birth."
Qin Xuan answered irrelevantly, his voice indifferent and calm.
Upon hearing this, Jing Ni's dark, bright eyes swept over her own abdomen, and her thumb, which was pressing on the sword guard, slowly loosened. The sliver of blade hummed and returned to its sheath. He was right.
Then Qin Xuan said, "A person is called a person because she has emotions. As a mother, you are able to resist the Net for the child in your belly. That shows that you are an emotional assassin, and I appreciate you very much."
"And as I said before, besides continuing to be an assassin and being hunted by the Net... besides living a life of constant escape until you and your child both die... you have other choices."
"What do I have to pay?" Jing Ni asked in a deep voice. She was no fool. She knew there was no free lunch in the world.
"Be my woman."
Jing Ni's heart was now entirely on the child in her belly. Talking about love with her was simply unrealistic. Rather than doing so, it was better to be direct.
Qin Xuan knew her story. In the original work, for her daughter (Tian Yan), she could even marry that ugly, opportunistic fool, Tian Meng. Let alone him.
Sure enough, Jing Ni's expression didn't even change. This was a transaction, something she understood.
She agreed, but she still put forward her one condition. "Okay. But you cannot harm the child in my belly."
"Don't worry. Although I am not a good person, I am responsible towards my family," Qin Xuan said. He casually threw out the golden Character Recruitment Card that belonged exclusively to Jing Ni.
"What is this?" Jing Ni looked at the golden card, which floated gently into her hand. It clearly showed a perfect, miniature portrait of herself, along with strange, modern simplified Chinese characters she had never seen before. She couldn't help but furrow her beautiful brows.
Qin Xuan said, "You can understand it as a kind of contract. A real one."
"Drip a drop of your blood on it. From now on, the Net will never be able to touch you or the fetus in your womb. I will protect you both. In return, you will become my woman."
"Of course, I won't force you to do anything... untoward. In the future, you just need to fulfill your duties as a wife."
There was one more thing Qin Xuan didn't say: after signing this contract, Jing Ni's life and death would also be in his hands. Once she committed an act of betrayal, she would instantly lose the ability to move, and he could instantly take her life.
It was a contract of absolute loyalty, bought with an offer of absolute protection.
"I understand." Jing Ni took a deep breath. She had no other choice.
Rather than living a life of hiding, constantly facing the Net's pursuit with her child, it was better to take a gamble on this mysterious, powerful man.
Her nail pricked her fingertip, and a single drop of blood dripped onto the card.
At the moment the blood touched the golden card, it flashed with a light that only she and Qin Xuan could see. In the midst of it all, a spiritual connection formed between the two. She could feel it—an unbreakable bond. It seemed that if she ever conceived the idea of harming Qin Xuan, something terrible would happen.
Only then did Qin Xuan lower his guard. He pulled down his hood and walked in front of Jing Ni, revealing his true face.
"Very good. Congratulations, Jing Ni. You have made a correct choice."
"I believe you won't regret it later, either."
"You just got rained on, and your body is very weak now. If this continues, the fetus in your womb will be very dangerous."
He looked at her, soaked and shivering, but still trying to stand tall. "Take this. It can supplement the energy needed by the fetus."
Qin Xuan looked at the remaining 40,000-plus emotion points, gritted his teeth, and spent 10,000 emotion points to buy a top-grade [Miscarriage Prevention Pill].
He handed her the pill, then took off his own outer robe, the Thousand Gold Coat, and draped it over her shoulders.
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