The night was still, the moon bright, the stars few.
Chu Kuangfeng stood poised in the sky above Yunze City, like the stark silhouette of a lonely peak.
The night wind howled, whipping at his slightly tattered robes, yet it could not scatter the deep gravity and hesitation etched upon his brow.
Below, the scattered lights of the City Lord's Mansion sketched an imposing silhouette against the night.
And his target was within.
'Frankly,' he thought, 'I've spent my life repaying kindness with kindness and grudges with vengeance. I despise nothing more than this sordid business of being controlled by others, forced to carry out assassinations and sneak attacks.'
'The fact that those bald donkeys from Golden Spring Temple are so impatient for Chen Sheng's life proves the man is extraordinary. He must have done something that's making that whole gang lose sleep at night.'
'For such a remarkable individual, I even feel a sliver of admiration, though we've never met.'
