Tang Dynasty Hidden Guards

Xue Wei slowly woke up. He opened his eyes and saw a sky full of stars. The night wind rushed into his neck, making him shiver.

He looked at the arrow wound on his left arm, which was still bleeding, though not much, indicating that he had only been unconscious for a short time.

Xue Wei got up and stumbled back into the house. He turned on the light, slowly took off his outer clothes, and finally saw the arrow wound. Coincidentally, the arrow had hit the face of the man with the rabbit tattoo. He gritted his teeth and pulled out the crossbow bolt. The alluring rabbit face was now a bloody hole, and a large amount of black blood flowed out.

Xue Wei did not rush to stop the bleeding. He waited until the black blood stopped flowing and fresh blood started to flow before applying ordinary hemostatic ointment and bandaging the wound with a strip of cloth.

Xue Wei stared at the short crossbow bolts on the table, a feeling he couldn't quite describe welling up inside him. This was the second time; the last time it was Zhou Yinfeng's poisoned needles, and this time it was poisoned crossbow bolts again.

Why is his body able to resist poison? Is it because the toxicity of arsenic remains in his body, and he fights poison with poison, thus becoming resistant to it?

Xue Wei couldn't figure out the reason, so he got up and looked around. There were three corpses inside the house and two more corpses in the yard.

Having seen so many corpses in the water dungeon, he had become numb and felt nothing for killing or corpses.

The swift and decisive killing of all the assassins also meant there were no more confessions, and not a single clue could be found on them.

Xue Wei had no interest in finding clues. He knew that the lynx-like female assassin was the key, the real assassin, while the other five were just scapegoats.

He collected both the crossbows and the sword. The crossbows were not military crossbows, but short crossbows, and the swords were just ordinary swords.

What to do with the five corpses became a troublesome matter.

After a moment of contemplation, Xue Wei placed the five corpses into the small boat, opened the courtyard gate, pushed the boat out, and the boat silently slid into the Tongji Canal. Xue Wei then rowed the boat out of the city.

Three swords and two crossbows sank into the Tongji Canal, and five corpses were dragged to the other side and thrown into a mass grave, where a group of professional anal exhumation and burial specialists were responsible for disposing of the bodies.

It was almost dawn when he returned to his residence. He drew several buckets of water from the well and washed away the bloodstains as if nothing had happened.

Who sent the assassin?

Although there were no clues, Xue Wei still pointed to Wu Liankun as the suspect. No one else would use such a low-level assassination method.

Shangguan Wan'er would use the Plum Blossom Guards. Wu Sansi had no motive to kill her. If he wanted to, it would be easier to do so in the water dungeon. Wu Chongxun was someone who liked to hide behind the scenes, as he had seen in the restaurant that day.

Wu Liankun, though lacking resources and principles, had money, making hiring a killer his best option.

But this is just speculation; he needs to confirm it.

Xue Wei did not linger in the mansion; he climbed over the wall and entered the West Market next door.

Upon arriving at the wine shop, Manager Liu was awakened by his knocking. Manager Liu and his wife lived in the wine shop.

"Young master, why...why are you here?"

Xue Wei slipped into the courtyard, closed the gate, and stared into Manager Liu's eyes.

"No one knows where I live except you. Who did you tell?"

"No... I didn't tell anyone!"

"Tell the truth!" Xue Wei said coldly, "If you want to live, tell the truth. If you want to be silenced, I don't care."

Manager Liu's expression changed drastically, and he suddenly knelt down: "Young master, I have no choice, they are threatening me with my grandson."

"who are they?"

"It's a group of people. The leader is a middle-aged man, and they call him Manager Liang."

"Manager Liang?"

Xue Wei suddenly remembered the steward he met on the first day, who seemed to be surnamed Liang, and who said he was going to find the biggest pile of dog poop.

"Is there a large black mole on the tip of your nose, with a few hairs on it?"

"Yes! Yes! That's the person."

It has finally been confirmed that the murderer was sent by Wu Liankun.

The shopkeeper and his wife kowtowed repeatedly, pleading, "Young master, please spare us!"

"How much money is left in the account?"

Manager Liu hesitated for a moment, "The money is all deposited in the bank, and there are only about two hundred strings of cash in the shop."

"Consider the two hundred strings of cash your severance pay. Take the money and go back to your hometown immediately. Don't come back. Leave as soon as it's light. If you stay any longer, they'll kill you."

Shopkeeper Liu and his wife were so frightened that they went back to pack their things, and Xue Wei turned around and left the wine shop.

As I stepped out of the liquor store, it was still dark when I heard a clanging sound. Next to the liquor store was an iron shop, where a blacksmith's shop was lit up, and two dark-skinned, muscular blacksmiths were sweating profusely as they forged iron.

Xue Wei looked at it for a moment, then stepped forward. "Brothers, could you please do me a favor?"

"Young man, what's wrong?"

Xue Wei took off his shirt and tore off the strips of cloth and ointment. The ointment was useless, and the bleeding wouldn't stop.

"Young man, are you injured?" The two blacksmiths were taken aback and quickly put down their hammers.

Xue Wei nodded, pointing to the red-hot iron bar in the furnace, "Put it on for me, burn off the rabbit tattoo along with it."

The two blacksmiths looked at each other in bewilderment. Xue Wei then took out another piece of silver and placed it on the table. "Brothers, we can't find a doctor right now, and I'm bleeding out. Please help me!"

For the sake of the money, the foreman nodded, found a wooden stick, and handed it to him. "Bite it down with your teeth!"

Xue Wei bit the wooden stick, and the foremost blacksmith picked up a red-hot rectangular piece of iron from the furnace.

"Brother, it'll only hurt for a moment, just bear with it!"

The blacksmith pressed the red-hot iron sheet onto Xue Wei's wound. With a hiss, a wisp of smoke rose up, and Xue Wei felt a sudden, trembling pain, almost collapsing.

At this moment, the younger blacksmith quickly applied a clump of blue ointment to the wound, and immediately a refreshing coolness came from the wound.

"We often get burned too, and we use this homemade ointment. It scabs over in a day. It's very effective. I'll give you a bottle later."

"Thank you!" Xue Wei felt drenched in sweat, his whole body was soaked.

The old blacksmith was very skilled; the rabbit tattoo completely disappeared, leaving only a shocking brand, which relieved Xue Wei.

Wu Suisui previously said that there was a butterfly on his butt, but when he looked closely in the mirror, he found that it was a birthmark, not a tattoo.

Xue Wei put on his clothes, thanked him, and then left with heavy steps.

.........

Wu Chongxun was waiting for news when his brother Wu Jizhi returned with a gloomy expression. He closed the door and asked, "Didn't it work?"

Wu Jizhi gave a wry smile. "According to the agreement, news should have come immediately if we succeeded, but we waited until dawn without any news, so we guess we failed."

"Is he sure he's looking for a bounty hunter?" Wu Chongxun pressed.

Wu Jizhi nodded. "He found him through a middleman, which ensures the assassin doesn't know who the client is. That's the rule in the business, and the assassin won't leave any identification information."

Wu Chongxun gave a cold snort. "What about the middleman?"

"The broker's name is Zhu Er. If the assassination fails, the broker will leave Luoyang. He should have already left and won't be back for at least a few months."

Wu Chongxun rubbed his temples, looking exhausted, and said, "I just received news that the Emperor may summon Xue Wei and has instructed Wu Liankun to temporarily cease hostilities and await my instructions for the next operation."

"I understand, I'll go and inform him in a bit."

Wu Jizhi left, and Wu Chongxun picked up a short crossbow bolt that gleamed green from the table, a sinister smile appearing on his face.

There are some things you can't even tell your brothers.