AYM Chapter 113 (Extra 4)

Extra 4: Where Is He?!

Warning: Graphic violence and gore, as well as interrogational torture. 

“Fortunately, he did not drink much of the poison. On top of that, His Highness’ profound inner power managed to force some of it out. Although the remaining poison will have some side effects, it is not enough to endanger his life.”

Han Zhen lifted a roof tile and peered inside, like a black panther concealed in the depths of the night.

He had just seen the steward drag a physician into King Qing’s residence in a panic and assumed King Qing had fallen ill, not expecting that King Qing had actually been poisoned.

This was a heaven-sent opportunity for Han Zhen.

“Get out, all of you.” A deep voice seemed to cut through all the surrounding noise, striking Han Zhen’s eardrums and making his heart tighten.

Even poisoned, King Qing’s voice still carried an authority that could not be ignored.

Han Zhen held his breath and waited, forcing his presence to become almost imperceptible. Yet a sudden gleam appeared in his eyes.

As someone skilled in martial arts himself, he knew that King Qing now needed to circulate his inner energy and heal himself. During this process, he could not be disturbed in the slightest. Otherwise, his qi and blood would reverse their flow, causing the poison to attack his heart.

The surroundings fell silent as everyone gradually withdrew from the courtyard. Peeking in again, Han Zhen found that King Qing had completely entered a meditative state, his breathing almost impossible to detect.

A faint breeze drifted through. The remaining leaves on the trees trembled, their dry rustling unusually crisp in the deathly quiet courtyard. With the sound, a figure slid from the rooftop like a hawk, landing on the tips of his toes without making a sound.

Han Zhen now held the sword in his hand. Its shape and appearance were ordinary enough, yet even in the pitch-black night, its blade gleamed with a bone-chilling, ghostly light. It was clearly no ordinary weapon.

He had initially worried that this might be a trap. But under normal circumstances, the moment Han Zhen appeared outside the room, King Qing would have sensed something amiss. Yet at this moment, there was not the slightest disturbance in the air inside.

He was still fully focused on circulating his inner energy and healing himself.

Suddenly, the sword filled with a dense killing intent. The blade gave a low hum as it shot straight toward King Qing’s heart.

Yet when it was only a hair’s breadth away, King Qing’s tightly closed eyes suddenly flew open. Han Zhen had staked everything on this single strike, leaving himself completely exposed as well, but King Qing was clearly still wary of disrupting the energy circulating within his body and did not make a counter-attack. He merely twisted aside, narrowly avoiding the fatal blow.

Han Zhen swiftly retreated several paces, unable to suppress the shock in his heart.

Even a master of martial arts should not have such a swift reaction while poisoned and circulating his inner energy. King Qing’s martial arts were far beyond the rumors.

“Who are you…?” King Qing quickly brought his disordered energy back under control. His eyes narrowed slightly as he studied the uninvited guest before him.

Suddenly, he seemed to recall something. The corner of his lips lifted into a mocking smile.

“Looks like Li Xuanming did not place all his bets on one person. The two of you certainly work well together.”

Han Zhen remained impassive. King Qing’s words clearly had no effect on him.

“You… must be Han Zhen.”

Han Zhen’s eyes were deep and unfathomable, his expression still utterly calm, but a trace of doubt inevitably surfaced in his heart.

King Qing had actually figured out his identity in such a short time. That meant the person who had poisoned him earlier must have some connection to himself(HZ).

But whoever that person had been, having failed to poison King Qing, they were undoubtedly already in grave danger. Therefore, who it was no longer mattered.

Without confirming or denying it, Han Zhen suddenly gathered his qi¹Internal energy. The sword became nothing more than a lingering afterimage as it cleaved toward King Qing. He was unarmed at the moment, and even if he managed to block it, he would inevitably be wounded.

Yet just as the strike was about to land, a flash of brilliant white light swept across the room. The crisp clash of metal against metal reverberated through their chests, making both their eyelids twitch.

It turned out that King Qing’s earlier evasion had not been without purpose. Hidden in a gap beside the bed was another sharp sword.

The air around them instantly froze. The two evenly matched swords locked together, and the slightest distraction would allow either one to drive the blade into the other’s body.

“Has Li Xuanming run out of people? To think he would send both you and Ming Zhang here to die.”

Ming Zhang?

Why had King Qing mentioned Ming Zhang?

No matter how composed Han Zhen was, the sudden mention of that name caught him off guard, and his qi instantly fell into disarray.

A cold, triumphant smile flashed through King Qing’s heart. In that brief moment, he had already suppressed the poison a little further. He suddenly gathered his qi, and the direction of his blade changed sharply.

Although Han Zhen recovered his focus in that instant and raised his sword to block, the blade still sliced across his left arm. Yet he did not even glance at the wound streaming with blood. His entire mind had been consumed by that name.

What did he mean by “sent here to die”? Could the person who had poisoned King Qing before him have been Ming Zhang?!

Then where was he now? Was he still alive?!

A chill suddenly ran down King Qing’s back. For some reason, Han Zhen’s presence had changed completely. If the killing intent he had radiated before had been the intent to assassinate him, then what surged toward him now was a viciousness that had risen to terrifying heights in an instant.

Han Zhen suddenly erupted, his sword striking a barrage of strikes with relentless ferocity, one blow following another with barely any pause. At times, he even left himself completely exposed, fighting with a recklessness that showed a total disregard for his own life.

No matter how formidable King Qing was, he was still made of mere flesh and blood. At last, the vicious poison rampaging through his body broke through his precarious defenses. It followed his blood as it reversed and surged through his veins, causing the calm expression he had fought so hard to maintain to suddenly collapse.

Han Zhen did not miss a single shift in his expression. Although he was already covered in wounds himself, his attacks only grew more ruthless. At the instant King Qing’s breathing became disordered, Han Zhen drove his sword into his left chest.

Everything seemed to freeze.

King Qing stared at the sword buried in his chest in disbelief, then his gaze fell upon the sword he had driven into Han Zhen’s side.

Both had suffered grave injuries, but clearly, King Qing was in the more dangerous position.

Blood seeped from the corner of his lips. With nothing left to restrain it, the poison rapidly spread through every corner of his body. Yet the poison was ultimately weak, and he could only gasp for breath as he forced out a hoarse, feeble voice.

“Han Zhen, you had a chance to strike directly at my heart just now… Why did you turn your blade aside?”

Han Zhen acted as though he could not feel the blade lodged in his side. His eyes were filled with a bloodthirsty crimson as he glared fiercely at King Qing, each word seemingly forced out through clenched teeth.

“Where is Ming Zhang?”

“Heh…” King Qing gave a cold laugh, though even that laugh came with difficulty. “With that much blood pouring from you, you’ll die too. Do you still have the time to worry about him?”

Han Zhen said nothing.

All he had to do now was pull out his sword and drive it into King Qing’s heart. Then he could leave safely and fulfill the Emperor’s command.

But instead, he drew a dagger from his waist. It was an unusual weapon, with six sharp edges.

Under King Qing’s suddenly widened eyes, Han Zhen raised the six-edged blade toward one of his eye sockets. His lips trembled slightly, but his voice remained ruthless.

“Where is Ming Zhang?”

“You want to collect his corpse?” Han Zhen was merely a subject, while King Qing was a member of the Li family, a member of the imperial clan. Even if Han Zhen had been ordered to assassinate him, he had no right to torture him.

Han Zhen truly had no time to waste with him. King Qing saw only a flash of cold light before the blade slid into his eye socket. In that instant, he could not even feel the pain. His heart stopped from the shock, leaving him frozen in place, completely motionless.

Then the immense pain came crashing down like a flood. Almost instinctively, just as a scream was about to tear from his throat, Han Zhen stuffed a strip of torn cloth into King Qing’s mouth. The force was so great that it broke several teeth and forced the scream back into King Qing’s violently trembling body.

“Where is he?!”

Thick, crimson blood slowly trickled along the grooves of the six-edged blade, dripping onto King Qing’s remaining eye, still intact yet staring wide with terror.

Everything before him was a sea of red. King Qing instinctively squeezed his eyes shut, but even then, he could still feel the blade pressed against his trembling eyelid.

Han Zhen was not just threatening him.

He truly intended to torture him to death.

“Even if I gouge out both your eyes, you still wouldn’t die for some time.” Han Zhen’s voice no longer held any trace of its former calm. It was deep, as though it had risen from the depths of Avici Hell, sending a shudder through the heart. “But you still have skin, and you still have bones and sinew. We may not have much time, but the night is long enough. I’ll leave you one eye so you can watch how I skin you alive and how I strip the flesh from your bones.”

The tip of the blade traced downward from the eye socket, gentle and light, yet wherever it passed, a thin line of blood immediately appeared, followed by beads of blood slowly rolling out, never quite enough to become a gushing wound.

Even though Han Zhen was covered in wounds himself, he still controlled his strength with perfect precision.

Compared to the agonizing pain in his eye and chest, this new sting was almost nothing. Yet it filled King Qing with a fear unlike anything he had ever known.

He knew Han Zhen would do it.

“What can you change after finding him…” The cloth that had been pulled from his mouth was stained with blood. King Qing’s voice was hoarse to the point of rasping, his words coming in broken fragments. “Where do you think… the rest of the poison went…

“I… poured every last drop… into his mouth…

“What good will finding him do… The wild dogs in the mass graveyard… follow the scent of corpses… He must already have been half eaten by now… There won’t even be a full corpse left—!”

Everything stopped abruptly.

Han Zhen’s sword had already pierced straight into King Qing’s heart.

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