Chapter 149: Suspicion

That gleaming flash of the blade was an exquisite, tiny dagger concealed beneath the tray. Small as it was, it was nonetheless fully capable of dealing a fatal blow.

Dark Blade stood right beside Zhang Chi, and naturally, she would not allow the assassin to succeed. The very instant the dagger was about to pierce Zhang Chi's chest, she leaped forward and seized the assassin's wrist.

Though the assassin's wrist was restrained and the dagger remained less than an inch from Zhang Chi's chest, it could go no further. She tried to pull back to strike again, but the blade remained completely motionless despite her forceful tug.

Although the assassin had been intercepted by Dark Blade, it did not necessarily mean Dark Blade's martial arts far surpassed her own. Rather, the assassin was kneeling on the ground, making it difficult to leverage her strength or twist her body to evade. Yet, her martial arts were evidently formidable, and she possessed a deep mastery of adapting to circumstances.

Seeing that her right hand could no longer advance, the assassin suddenly released her grip, raising her left hand in a fraction of a second. In the blink of an eye, the dagger was transferred from her right hand to her left.

Without losing momentum, her left hand slashed upward toward Zhang Chi's throat.

All of this happened in a flash of lightning. Zhang Chi had no time to react before the lethal threat was upon him again. However, thinking quickly in the crisis, he grabbed the edges of the desk in front of him and flipped it upward with a mighty heave. Just as the assassin's left-hand blade thrust upward, it buried itself straight into the wooden table.

Thick as the desk was, the assassin's blade still pierced all the way through to the other side.

Taking advantage of this opening, Dark Blade closed in and delivered a palm strike toward the assassin's temple.

Dark Blade's combat skills were purely designed for killing. If that palm connected solidly, the assassin would not have survived. But the assassin was not one to wait passively for death. She tilted her head to the side, yanked the dagger free from the table with her left hand, and slashed directly at Dark Blade's wrist.

Lacking a weapon of her own, Dark Blade was forced to let go. Yet she could not afford to retreat. She retracted the hand aimed at the assassin's temple, and using the hand that had previously restrained the assassin's wrist, she slipped past the blade and suddenly extended two fingers to strike directly at the assassin's eyes.

Realizing the gravity of the situation, the assassin knew that unless she stood up, not only would she fail to kill Zhang Chi, but escaping would also be exceedingly difficult. She hastily leaned backward, using the strength of her waist and abdomen to press her hands against the floor, and vaulted backward into the air, executing a graceful flip before landing in the center of the hall.

Although the assassin was dressed as a maid, her movements were exceptionally graceful, resembling a dance.

Brief as the moment was, the bloodshed in the great hall had already alerted the guards stationed outside. A crowd of soldiers brandishing swords and spears surged into the hall. The Prince of Chengdu roared at the top of his lungs, "Capture the assassin!"

At this cry, the assassin unexpectedly lunged straight toward him. The high-ranking officials in the hall had already panicked into complete disarray; who among them dared to step forward to rescue him? Only Luo An remained fiercely loyal, throwing himself in front of the Prince of Chengdu to block the way.

"You're courting death!" the assassin snapped with a cold, piercing cry. Yet she dared not waste a single moment. This was the truest test of the saying "time is life"—fractions of a second would decide between life and death. If she delayed to kill Luo An, she would inevitably fall into the net closing around her. Therefore, she chose to wheel past him with a sideways tumble, as if tracing a circle in the air with her core as the center and her body as the radius.

With her legs parted, the long skirt of her maid's attire billowed out to its maximum expanse like a paper fan. As she spun sideways, she looked precisely like a folding fan spinning and fluttering through the air, her movements indescribably exquisite.

The next moment, she had bypassed Luo An, materialized directly before the Prince of Chengdu, and without a moment's hesitation, swung the dagger toward his throat.

The Prince of Chengdu had understood what was happening the moment Luo An stepped in front of him and had already bolted, which spared his throat from the blade, though it sliced deeply across his shoulder. Even so, the sheer agony overwhelmed him, and he pitched forward onto the floor.

Fortunately, the Prince of Chengdu was clever; the moment he hit the ground, he started rolling. Coincidentally, a flight of steps lay right beside him, and he tumbled head over heels down the staircase.

***

The assassin made to pursue him, but by this time, the guards had already swarmed inward. No matter how formidable her martial arts might be, a volley of random arrows would be more than enough to shoot her dead. Knowing this all too well, the assassin did not hesitate the moment she saw the soldiers drawing their bows, and she instead darted like a bolt toward the opposite side of the hall.

Panic had seized the officials when the assassin first appeared, and in their haste, they had all crowded toward that same side. Now that the assassin had plunged into their midst, she was like a fierce tiger breaking into a pack of wolves.

Her intention was not to slaughter the officials, but rather to use the dense crowd of dignitaries as a shield, knowing the soldiers would not dare loose their arrows.

And she was right. Bound by the fear of hitting the wrong target amidst the scattering officials, the soldiers truly lacked the nerve to fire. Killing the assassin was a merit, but if they missed and killed an official instead, none of their entire families would be spared.

The assassin's plan was crystal clear: to use the chaos of the fleeing officials as a cover to fight her way out of the hall. Anyone who blocked her path amidst the confusion was effortlessly cut down. After slaying several officials in rapid succession, she raised her blade once more, only to freeze in her tracks.

Standing directly in front of her was the Imperial Censor of Liangzhou.

By this time, the Imperial Censor of Liangzhou had been frightened out of his wits, rooted to the spot and utterly unable to move.

Unexpectedly, the assassin lowered the dagger she had raised, abruptly changed direction, bounded a few times toward the exit, and leaped lightly onto the rooftop.

"Catch the assassin! Quickly, catch the assassin!" Only then did the Imperial Censor of Liangzhou regain his wits enough to shriek at the top of his lungs.

Zhang Chi looked at Dark Blade standing beside him. Ever since she had intervened to save him, she had not moved again, merely gazing coldly at the unfolding chaos in the hall. "Why didn't you finish her off?" Zhang Chi asked.

"What do the lives and deaths of these scoundrel officials have to do with me?" Dark Blade replied coldly.

This suited Dark Blade's temperament entirely, and Zhang Chi could not help but smile.

The residence of the Prince of Chengdu boasted numerous pavilions, and once the assassin took to the rooftops, catching her would be no easy feat. By now, Luo An had helped the Prince of Chengdu to his feet. Although wounded, the injury had missed any vital organs. Furious, the Prince of Chengdu shouted, "All guards, go after the assassin! Capture her at all costs—I want to see her alive, or her corpse if she's dead!"

The guards acknowledged the order, but before they could withdraw from the hall, Zhang Chi suddenly stepped forward and said, "You cannot do that. The assassin must be caught, but the guards stationed in the hall must on no account be redeployed."

"And why is that?" the Prince of Chengdu asked.

"Reporting to Your Highness, every effect has a cause. An assassin implies a mastermind. Since the mastermind has yet to be apprehended, the hall guards must remain in place to guard against any diversionary tactics."

"Ah, the Governor makes sense." The Prince of Chengdu felt a lingering wave of terror. "Then what should we do now?"

Usually, the officials in the hall were fiercely competitive in vying for power and profit, but faced with such a crisis, they were so frightened into silence that not a single one could offer a plan—let alone a sensible suggestion. In the end, it was Zhang Chi who spoke up: "If the assassin escapes, so be it. The crucial point is the mastermind. Otherwise, even if we kill this assassin, a second and a third will follow. Only by finding the mastermind can we permanently eliminate future troubles."

"Yet who could be the mastermind behind today's events?" the Prince of Chengdu asked.

Zhang Chi smiled faintly. "Who the mastermind is, I cannot say for certain, but I did notice a particular detail."

***

"What detail?"

"The assassin first attempted to kill me, then the Prince of Chengdu, and afterward charged into the crowd, cutting down several people with her blade. Yet, midway through, she hesitated for a moment before a certain individual and ultimately chose not to strike, instead changing direction to bypass this person and leap out of the hall. Imperial Censor of Liangzhou, perhaps you can tell us the reason for this?" Zhang Chi asked in a ringing voice.

"What do you mean by that?" The Imperial Censor of Liangzhou burned with inner fury, yet he deliberately kept his tone measured as he replied, "How could I possibly know what the assassin was thinking?"

Zhang Chi sneered. "At the start of today's banquet, I announced that I possessed evidence of your collusion with the Hu tribes and treason. Yet, before the banquet even concluded, an assassin arrived to murder both myself and the Prince of Chengdu. Doesn't Your Honor find this just a bit too coincidental? Such eager haste to silence witnesses only serves to expose your own flaws!"

The Imperial Censor of Liangzhou had all along suspected that Zhang Chi held damaging leverage over him. Though boiling with rage, he did not dare provoke Zhang Chi with harsh words, terrified that Zhang Chi truly possessed proof of his treason with the Hu tribes. If those secrets were exposed right here in the hall, he would have no room left for maneuver at all.

"Governor, please calm your anger. This official truly knew nothing of this assassin," the Imperial Censor of Liangzhou said submissively, left with no other choice.

By now, the Prince of Chengdu also perceived a hint of the truth. Usually arrogant and overbearing, when had the Imperial Censor of Liangzhou ever shown deference to anyone? Yet today, he was exercising endless patience toward Zhang Chi. Could it be that the Imperial Censor really had colluded with the Hu tribes?

Yizhou and Liangzhou were the two largest territories in the Shu region. If either of them defected to the enemy, it was no small matter. Therefore, the Prince of Chengdu could not help asking, "If the Governor has proof, speak without hesitation."

"Reporting to the Prince of Chengdu, when my army was on the northern expedition, I captured a Hu general alive and secured ironclad proof of the Imperial Censor of Liangzhou's treason and betrayal of the country. Out of consideration for our shared service in the imperial court, I could not bear to see him subjected to the execution of a thousand cuts. As long as he showed genuine repentance, I was willing to let bygones be bygones. Thus, both the human witnesses and physical evidence currently remain in Hanzhong and were not brought to Chengdu. Yet today, the Imperial Censor of Liangzhou has attempted to use an assassin to silence me. I ask Your Highness to first place the Imperial Censor under arrest, and I will immediately dispatch men north to Hanzhong to bring the witnesses and evidence here for Your Highness to render judgment."

Cold sweat had already broken out on the Imperial Censor of Liangzhou's forehead, but upon hearing Zhang Chi's words, he realized things might not be as dire as he feared—at the very least, Zhang Chi could produce no concrete evidence at this moment.

The Imperial Censor's attitude shifted dramatically. "You are spouting baseless venom! I am an official of the imperial court. Without any proof, you demand my arrest merely on your say-so—how can that convince anyone? I could equally claim to possess evidence of your treason, except that it happens not to be in Chengdu right now. Should I have you locked up immediately as well?"

He then turned to the Prince of Chengdu and said, "This official is the Censor of a province. When my rank was evaluated, I was placed in the upper-middle grade, having faithfully served my country. As for this Zhang Chi, he lacks both rank and virtue. If Your Highness were to imprison me based solely on his one-sided claims, even if I were willing to submit, how could the officers and soldiers of Liangzhou's commanderies ever be convinced?"

The "upper-middle grade" mentioned by the Imperial Censor referred to the Nine-Rank Zhongzheng system of official recruitment used during the Wei and Jin dynasties, which classified people into nine tiers: upper-upper, upper-middle, upper-lower, middle-upper, middle-middle, middle-lower, lower-upper, lower-middle, and lower-lower. This classification determined a person's social standing and served as an essential basis for promotion. Yet these nine grades were profoundly unjust; those born into aristocratic clans were naturally considered superior beings, while those born of refugees and commoners were condemned to remain inferior forever.

In truth, it would not have been impossible for the Prince of Chengdu to arrest the Imperial Censor of Liangzhou right then and there. However, he was worried about the military forces in Liangzhou. Without definitive proof, such an arrest would indeed be hard to justify, inevitably stirring up unrest among the Liangzhou troops and triggering a counter-attack against Chengdu. After pondering deeply, the Prince of Chengdu finally said, "Since the Governor has ironclad evidence in Hanzhong, it would be better to wait until it is brought to Chengdu before judging the case. Otherwise, wrongfully accusing the Imperial Censor of Liangzhou might chill the hearts of scholars everywhere. However, during this period, since the Imperial Censor is under suspicion, he must not leave the city. We shall make a final decision once everything is settled."