A family of loyal martyrs, starting with nine wives to continue the family line.

Fifty miles outside Jianmen Pass, in an abandoned post station, nine top assassins from the Seven Kill Tower gathered.

The leader was Shen He, in his forties, with a scar on his left cheek that ran from the corner of his eye to his chin, known in the martial arts world as "One-Sword Soul Severer".

The wind rattled the broken window with a loud clang. Shen He slammed the knife in his hand onto the table, and the blade sliced ​​through the rotten wood with a muffled thud.

"Wei Zhao's 100,000-strong army has already broken camp and will surely take the official road."

"The vanguard cavalry moves fast, but he carries ballistae and baggage, which inevitably stretches out the central army. The dense forests on both sides of the official road will be where he dies."

Eight men in black stood in the shadows, and no one made a sound.

Nine top assassins from the Seven Kill Tower have gathered. Lu Song's offer this time is too high, high enough to buy half a city.

"The usual." Shen He drew his sword and drew three lines on the broken table in the post station.

"Three will go ahead to keep watch on Wei Zhao, while four will go into the woods to ambush him. Once his central army passes by, we'll cut straight in."

"Left two, cut off their escape route."

He paused for a moment, his gaze sweeping over the crowd.

"Wei Zhao has 100,000 iron cavalry under his command. We are not going to confront the army head-on."

"One strike to kill, then retreat."

The eight people nodded in unison, then turned and disappeared into the night.

Looking at the darkness outside the door, Shen He felt a little uneasy; things had gone too smoothly.

Lu Song's intelligence was very accurate, and he had also figured out Wei Zhao's route, but he always felt that something else was hidden in this dark forest.

Even the chirping of insects had ceased in the dense forests on both sides of the official road.

The assassin, codenamed Lone Wolf, was responsible for looking ahead. He hung upside down from a thick tree branch like a bat, his eyes fixed on the end of the road.

A gust of wind blew by, and the leaves rustled.

Lone Wolf suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck. Just as he was about to turn around, a cold hand covered his mouth.

Immediately afterwards, I felt a cool sensation in my throat.

There was no struggle, no sound. Blood flowed down the tree trunk and seeped into the soil.

Half an incense stick later, deep in the woods.

The second assassin was crouching behind a bush checking his crossbow when a very thin dagger suddenly emerged from the shadows behind him.

The blade pierced his back, precisely cutting through his heart between his ribs, and the tip emerged from his chest without a single drop of blood splattering.

The third assassin sensed something was wrong.

He smelled blood; as a top-tier assassin, he was extremely sensitive to that smell.

He immediately pulled out the short dagger from his waist and rolled to the side.

But it was too late.

A dark shadow swooped down from the treetops overhead.

The dark figure was as light as a falling leaf, yet as fast as lightning, the short knife drawing a cold arc in mid-air.

"Sizzle."

The sound of a throat being cut was extremely jarring in the night.

The third assassin clutched his neck and collapsed, kicking his legs twice before going still.

When Shen He arrived, there were only three corpses on the ground.

He crouched down and touched the third assassin's neck with his fingers.

One had his throat slit, one his chest pierced, and one his throat opened.

It's all the Seven Kill Tower's methods.

He knew them too well, so well that he didn't need to look a second time to know who the person who made the move was.

"Nie Yinniang".

"You actually dared to come back."

Shen He gritted his teeth.

Many years ago, a woman ran past the Seven Kill Tower.

The original poster sent three groups of people to chase after them, two groups died, and they ultimately failed to catch them.

After that, there was no further news of her in the martial arts world.

Some people say she is dead.

Some say she was hidden away by the Wei family's scout commander.

Shen He didn't believe it back then, but he does now.

"Come out, everyone, gather together."

He said coldly.

"Maintain formation, do not act alone!"

The remaining five assassins quickly emerged from the shadows, forming a circle back to back with their blades pointing outwards.

On an ancient tree less than ten feet away from them.

Nie Yinniang crouched among the thick branches, her whole being blending into the shadow of the tree trunk.

There was a long, narrow cut on his left arm, from which blood was seeping out.

That was left behind when the third person was killed, during their final counterattack.

She didn't bandage it; the blood dripped onto the leaves, and she didn't even glance at it.

Nie Yinniang was making plans in her mind.

Three died, leaving six.

Shen He had already realized that with them gathered together, a silent assassination was no longer possible.

They must be disrupted.

She arrived a day earlier than Shen He. During that day, she did not rest, but instead set up seven traps in the forest.

Wei Zhao's army will pass through here tomorrow morning.

As soon as it gets light, and as soon as the vanguard cavalry of the Wei family army arrives, these assassins will have no choice but to flee like rats.

What she had to do was to nail them to this forest, even if it meant giving her own life.

Nie Yinniang gripped the short knife in her hand tightly, her body moving silently among the tree trunks like a nimble cat, and circled around to the side and rear of Shen He and the others.

Shen He led the five people forward cautiously.

"Click."

The assassin on the far left stepped on a dead branch and broke it.

In that instant, the ground beneath his feet suddenly collapsed, and a barbed wire mesh sprang up from the ground, completely covering him.

"There's a trap!"

The assassin cried out in surprise and swung his knife to cut the iron net.

Just as he swung his knife, three sharpened bamboo sticks suddenly shot out from the bushes beside him. Two missed their mark, while one pierced his thigh.

The formation is in disarray.

"Ignore him! Watch out for what's above you!" Shen He roared.

But he called too late.

Nie Yinniang leaped down from the tree like a black panther pouncing on its prey.

Her target wasn't the trapped killer, but another one who was nearby and about to go to his rescue.

The short knife flashed with a cold light in the moonlight.

The assassin reacted extremely quickly, raising his knife to parry. A crisp clang rang out, and sparks flew everywhere.

But he underestimated Nie Yinniang's ruthlessness.

Nie Yinniang didn't sheathe her sword or change her move at all. Using the momentum of her lunge, she grabbed the opponent's blade with her left hand.

Blood gushed out instantly, but she didn't even flinch. With a swift movement, she pressed down on the short knife in her right hand, slicing open the other person's throat.

the fourth.

"court death!"

A nearby assassin roared and slashed at him with his sword.

Nie Yinniang tried to retreat quickly, but she was still half an inch too slow. Her back was slashed open by the blade, the wound so deep that the bone was visible, and a piercing pain shot through her.

Using the force of the knife, she rolled forward, pulled the bamboo from the thigh of the corpse on the ground, and threw it backhand.

The bamboo, rustling in the wind, pierced precisely into the eye socket of the wielding assassin.

the fifth.

"Whoosh—"

A cold arrow shot from the shadows, piercing Nie Yinniang's right shoulder.

She groaned, staggered, and quickly rolled into the bushes beside her.

Shen He rushed over with his knife, only to see two fresh corpses and a shocking pool of blood on the ground.

"Search her! She's badly injured and couldn't have gone far! Follow the trail of blood!"

Shen He's face was completely contorted.

Nie Yinniang leaned against a large rock, panting heavily.

My left arm is useless and I can't use it. My right shoulder was shot with an arrow, and it hurts my lungs whenever I move it.

The knife wound on his back was still bleeding profusely, and his body temperature was rapidly dropping.

There are four left.

She looked down at the blunted dagger in her hand, and the old lady's words flashed through her mind.

"Seventh Brother left us too soon, the Wei family has failed you."

"Of the nine sons of the Wei family, only Zhao'er remains as a male heir."

The old lady looked into her eyes and said, word by word, "If necessary, you will exchange your life for his."

She didn't hesitate or ask why; she simply nodded and uttered a single word.

"it is good."

Nie Yinniang gritted her teeth and reached out to grasp the arrow shaft in her right shoulder. She didn't pull it out because if she did, the blood would spurt out even faster, and she would die sooner.

She simply snapped the exposed arrow shaft in two with a forceful bend.

The excruciating pain made her vision go black, and she almost fainted.

It's almost dawn.

The light in the woods began to turn grayish-white.

Shen He, along with the remaining three assassins, followed the trail of blood on the ground and finally found Nie Yinniang.

The four people spread out, surrounding her in a fan shape.

Nie Yinniang did not dodge; she stood in the middle of the official road leading to Jianmen Pass, blocking their way.

Her black clothes were soaked with blood, dripping down her body. Her left hand hung limply at her side, while her right hand gripped a tightly bound dagger. The wound on her back was gaping open, a horrifying sight.

She was like a lone wolf driven to the brink of despair; though she was covered in wounds, her eyes remained chillingly cold.

"Nie Yinniang, you alone cannot kill us all." Shen He raised the long sword in his hand, pointing the tip at her, and sneered.

Nie Yinniang did not answer.

She was not good with words and couldn't be bothered to waste her breath on a dead person.

She had only one thought in her mind: as long as she was still standing here, these four people would never be able to cross this line and touch Wei Zhao.

"Look at you now, you can't even hold a knife steady, can you?"

Shen He took a step closer, his eyes filled with malice.

Nie Yinniang stood in the middle of the road with her bare hands—and behind her was the direction leading to Jianmen Pass.

Just as Shen He raised his sword to strike down in mid-air...