Chapter 453: Sister

Sang Qian was completely bewildered, wondering what the two of them were up to. "If you're not eating, I will," he declared. "I'm genuinely hungry."

Sang Hong shot his son an exasperated look, frustrated by his lack of insight. "Zuan can figure it out, why can't you?" he demanded. "How do you expect to compete with him like this?"

Sang Qian looked utterly confused, and a deep dissatisfaction simmered within him. Lately, his father had been constantly praising Zuan during their conversations, making him sound like the perfect child from another family. This had caused Sang Qian's resentment to reach its peak. "Dad," he retorted, "if you like him so much, why don't you just make him your son?"

Sang Hong was speechless. This foolish son was driving him insane. He could only explain, "Can't you even use your brain? How could a mere chef from a remote town prepare such flavorful and visually appealing dishes? Besides, our food is always inspected by the Embroidered Uniform Guards before it's brought to us. How could a waiter possibly get close?"

"What?" Sang Qian exclaimed, startled. He immediately dropped the bowl he was holding onto the floor.

It was bad enough that the food spilled, but the bowl of soup on the plate created a dense froth of bubbles as it hit the ground, clearly indicating it was highly poisonous.

"Is that carbonated soda...?" Zuan murmured to himself, then poured the soup from his own bowl onto the ground. It also began bubbling furiously. He couldn't help but frown. These assassins were truly dishonorable; they were clearly trying to kill everyone. Were they targeting him, or the Sang father and son?

The other party quickly provided an answer. The waiter sneered, "Since you refuse to die with dignity, allow me to help you."

With that, he pulled a dagger from the food box and lunged directly at Sang Hong and his son.

The thrust was swift and sudden, the killing intent hidden yet firmly locking onto the father and son's vital points.

Sang Qian's face drastically changed. If his cultivation hadn't been restricted, he wouldn't have feared this person. But now, he was weaker than an ordinary person, and his opponent could kill him as easily as butchering a chicken.

Sang Hong, however, remained very calm. After all, he was a distinguished eighth-rank master, and while his cultivation was currently suppressed, his keen eyesight remained.

He promptly flipped the food in front of him, flinging it at the waiter. Then, while the assassin's vision was obstructed by the meal, he snatched up a pair of chopsticks and plunged them directly into the left side of the assassin's neck.

The waiter clutched his neck, but blood continued to spurt out as his carotid artery had been punctured. He looked utterly incredulous, unable to believe he had been counter-killed by this "old geezer." After all, Sang Hong's cultivation was suppressed, making him no different from an ordinary old man.

Zuan watched from the side, swallowing hard. "A tiger, even without its teeth, is still a tiger," he thought. The timing of Sang Hong's move was swift and precise, like a rabbit leaping and a falcon swooping, dispatching an assassin as if it were nothing. He remembered how he had provoked Sang Qian so much on this journey and realized that if Sang Qian had suddenly launched a deadly attack, he likely wouldn't have been able to dodge it.

Sang Hong was also gasping for breath at this point. Clearly, with his cultivation suppressed, that last move had completely exhausted him.

Just then, the window shattered, and several more figures burst in. They were all dressed as inn servants, but each held a sharp blade and lunged at Sang Hong and his son.

Sang Qian, after all, was also a master. After the initial panic, he had now reacted. Although his cultivation was suppressed and he couldn't defeat these assassins directly, by utilizing various objects in the room, he managed to dodge them, albeit somewhat clumsily. For the moment, the assassins couldn't kill him.

Naturally, he had no spare energy to help his father.

Sang Hong had just used up all his strength. Seeing an assassin raise a blade to strike, he could only barely roll on the ground to evade, but another assassin's blade was already descending.

His old strength was gone and new strength had not yet emerged. He could no longer dodge this fatal blow and could only lament silently that he, a hero his whole life, was about to die at the hands of petty villains.

Just then, with a crisp "bang," the assassin's movement faltered. The blade in his hand shifted slightly, and he instinctively clutched his head, looking back.

Zuan raised his hands. "Do you believe me if I say I didn't mean to?"

The assassin was enraged. Just as he was about to swing his blade at Zuan, Sang Hong had recovered. He snatched up a shard of a broken bowl from the ground and swiftly, cleanly slashed it across the assassin's neck.

The assassin clutched the front of his neck, stumbled backward, and finally collapsed heavily onto the ground.

"Thank you!" Sang Hong gasped, nodding gratefully at Zuan.

"It was nothing," Zuan replied, dumbfounded. This man usually seemed like a decrepit old man, yet his movements were so swift and precise, leaving no chance for his opponent to survive. No wonder the thousand-year-old Chu family was nearly annihilated by his combination of attacks.

He chose to save Sang Hong for two reasons. Firstly, Sang Hong had previously blocked Prince Liang, allowing him to escape, so this was repaying a favor. Secondly, regarding the cooperation the other man had just mentioned, Zuan suddenly realized that on his journey to the capital, he would be in an unfamiliar place with no allies and even lacking basic information, making it impossible to carry out many of his plans.

With Sang Hong's assistance, many difficulties would be easily resolved, so he seized the opportunity to do him a favor.

However, he had no time to dwell on these thoughts. The assassins, clearly taken aback by the recent events, had reacted, and their leader shouted, "Finish them quickly!"

Consequently, the assassins' attacks became significantly more vicious. One of them even broke off to attack Zuan, though it was unclear if they genuinely intended to kill him or merely to prevent him from interfering.

Zuan didn't dare to gamble and quickly scattered and dodged around. Although he lacked Sang Hong's keen eyesight, he possessed the wondrous "Sunflower Mirage" footwork. Even with his elemental energy flow restricted, making it hard to achieve its full effect, it was still better than nothing.

Sang Qian, for instance, had already taken a cut. Zuan, meanwhile, had been dodging for quite some time; though each evasion was perilous, he ultimately remained unharmed.

"What's wrong with the guards outside?" Zuan wondered, alarmed. Although the incident hadn't lasted long, such a commotion couldn't have gone unnoticed by those outside. What exactly was happening?

At the same time, he found it odd that while this group of assassins attacked viciously with lethal blows, their cultivation wasn't particularly high. Otherwise, with their own cultivation suppressed, he and the others would likely have been killed long ago.

Everything felt strangely unsettling!

He noticed Sang Hong becoming increasingly disheveled, with several cuts on his body bleeding profusely. He was on the verge of dying at any moment.

A glint flashed in Zuan's eyes. Just as he was hesitating, a slender figure suddenly burst in. With a crisp clang, the soft sword in their hand moved like a silver dragon emerging from the sea, illuminating the entire room with such a dazzling silver light that it was almost impossible to open one's eyes.

Zuan squinted, vaguely seeing the person move with lightning speed, their soft sword continuously sweeping across the assassins' necks. Soon, the silver light dissipated, and the assassins fell heavily to the ground.

Only then did he get a clear look at the person's appearance: similarly dressed as a shop assistant, wearing a tattered leather hat. However, the coarse cloth clothing still couldn't conceal their graceful figure. With curved eyebrows, a small mouth, and fair skin, it was clearly a woman disguised as a man.

Having seen too many such scenes in historical dramas in his previous life, he hadn't expected people in this world to be so unoriginal when disguising themselves as men.

So he casually walked over. "Thank you, hero, for saving my life," he said. "Unfortunately, I have nothing of value on me right now. How about I express my gratitude with a thankful hug instead?"

As Zuan spoke, he casually reached out to place his hand on her shoulder. However, his hand froze midway, as the soft sword in her hand was already pressed against his body. She frowned and said, "Why are you so shameless?"

Her voice was clear and crisp, pleasant even when she was angry.

Sang Qian, seeing her nearby, was overjoyed and immediately shouted, "Sister, kill this fellow!"

Zuan's heart skipped a beat. "Sister?"

The young woman turned to Sang Qian in confusion. "What did he do?"

"This fellow bullied your sister-in-law!" Even though Sang Qian hadn't actually seen anything, the thought of them being together in the same carriage filled him with indignation.

"Then he truly deserves to die!" The young woman's pretty face turned cold, and her sword was poised to strike.