Vice Tower Master Gao Jingyan slowly withdrew his hands, smiling without the slightest hint of embarrassment.
"A corpse refiner general broke the rules and left tonight. I worried he might have broken into the Tower Master's room, so I merely wanted to take a look."
"Is that so?"
Wan Chengming, his expression hidden behind a thick beard, walked over with his hands behind his back. He passed through the cowering tower members and stopped in front of Gao Jingyan.
"The man already fled. Why isn't Vice Tower Master Gao chasing him? Or did you want to help me check for losses?"
"That was my original intention, but since the Tower Master has returned, you have no need of me."
With Wan Chengming standing in the doorway, no one dared to make a move.
A slender figure suddenly leaped in through the broken window.
She held a bloody severed head in her hand—it belonged to Qin You, the man who had just escaped.
Blood splattered and pooled across the floor.
"Reporting to the Tower Master: I have caught the thief. It is Qin You, the corpse refiner general who resided on the fourth floor."
Gao Jingyan looked back and saw it was the rookie who had recently become a corpse refiner general. However, since she had immediately rejected his recruitment attempts, he was not fond of her.
"Oh, Jiang Yue, your skills aren't bad. To think you killed a 3rd Tier veteran so quickly. Why couldn't we see it before? Were you hiding your strength? But why didn't you capture him alive for interrogation? What can we learn from a severed head?"
Every word of this was a trap.
Gao Jingyan had failed to infiltrate Wan Chengming's room during the chaos, and he simply wanted to find someone to vent his frustration on.
But Jiang Yue was not flustered. "Reporting to Vice Tower Master Gao: Qin You was cornered under the siege of the crowd; it was not my effort alone. And precisely because I was fighting a 3rd Tier veteran, I didn't dare be careless. I could only fight with my life on the line, so I lacked the strength to bring him back alive."
She raised her head, her plain face radiating a resolute spirit.
"If Vice Tower Master Gao had chased him personally, you surely would have captured this thief alive. I cannot match even a ten-thousandth of Vice Tower Master Gao's prowess."
Gao Jingyan still wore a smile, but his eyes were incredibly cold.
This Jiang Yue was truly audacious, even daring to turn the tables on him.
Before Gao Jingyan could speak, Wan Chengming—having confirmed his door hadn't been opened—spoke up. "Since the thief has been killed, the rest of you may withdraw. Since Vice Tower Master Gao is so enthusiastic, I'll leave the subsequent investigation to you. I expect to know the truth before dawn."
He was ensuring Gao Jingyan wouldn't get any rest tonight.
As a 5th Tier Spirit Cultivator, Gao Jingyan naturally didn't care about losing a single night of sleep.
But running around and losing sleep over Wan Chengming's affairs left him extremely displeased.
Yet things had already come to this tonight. He had brought a team over; finding an excuse to refuse the investigation now would just be shameless.
Gao Jingyan was an ambitious man. He still needed to maintain his everyday prestige.
He cupped his fists toward Wan Chengming. "Yes, I will definitely give the Tower Master a satisfactory answer!"
With a flick of his sleeve, he turned and left, taking the large crowd behind him away.
Jiang Yue only stood up after Vice Tower Master Gao's people had all left.
"Tower Master, this person trespassed here late at night. Could Vice Tower Master Gao be crying thief to catch a thief?"
Although Jiang Yue was a latecomer, she was wholeheartedly loyal to Wan Chengming, making her highly wary of Gao Jingyan.
"It's possible. However, thanks to you coming to deliver the message, he didn't succeed."
Wan Chengming looked at Jiang Yue, a flash of satisfaction in his eyes.
"I'll give you the promotion quota this time. Go back and tell Zhao Yu to wait a bit longer."
"Ha!" Jiang Yue's face immediately lit up with joy, showing no intention of being modest. "Thank you, Tower Master! I will definitely serve you to the death!"
"Alright, the rest of you may go back as well." Wan Chengming waved his hand, dismissing the crowd, and returned to his room alone.
With no investigation to carry out, the guards resumed their patrols. They also woke up a few slaves to clean the corridor and repair the window.
"General Jiang, what should we do with this head?" a slave asked, trembling as he held Qin You's head.
Jiang Yue glanced at the head, a strange look flashing through her eyes.
She ordered the slave, "Go ask Vice Tower Master Gao if he wants it. If he doesn't, throw it out to feed the dogs!"
While the noise continued outside, Wan Chengming was inspecting the bookshelf in his outer room.
The mechanism on the door was fine, and so was the mechanism on the bookshelf. It seemed no one had entered.
Before returning to the inner chamber, however, Wan Chengming took another glance at the hidden window facing the corridor.
Then, he let out a soft chuckle.
After separating from Cat Girl, Li Ban only returned to the Death Prison as dawn was breaking.
Fighting all night, coupled with the reconstruction of his worldview, had left Li Ban incredibly exhausted.
But now was not the time to rest.
As soon as he returned to the main gate of the Yu Province Death Prison, Li Ban saw Huo Jiang waiting anxiously.
The man immediately rushed up to him. "How did it go? Did you succeed?"
"I got it." Li Ban held up the dull Iron Token for him to see.
Huo Jiang immediately broke into his trademark honest smile and grabbed Li Ban, wanting to drag him to the fourth floor of the Death Prison.
But just as they entered the third floor, he remembered Lord Du's orders, and his feet refused to move any further.
It's just a small matter. Better not disrespect Lord Du, he consoled himself, turning around and leading Li Ban into his own room.
"Quick, tell me about your assessment this time. Also, did anyone step in to help you?"
Li Ban let Huo Jiang pull him into a chair. His expression showed no excitement of success, only exhaustion.
He then recounted what he had experienced, omitting the specific details of the fights. He only said that it was a difficult victory and that he had suffered some minor injuries.
Huo Jiang's initial excitement gradually turned into solemnity. Finally, he looked at Li Ban, a flash of anger in his eyes.
He slammed the table and stood up. "You... you were too reckless!"
"Do you know how many resources Lord Du spent to promote you as quickly as possible? And now, just to save a few worthless, nameless lives, you directly confronted a silver-token assassin? If she had been a bit more narrow-minded, you'd be a dead man right now!"
Huo Jiang wanted to scold him some more, but he suddenly remembered Li Ban's claim of having killed several wood-token assassins in a row, two of whom were at least 2nd Tier Spirit Cultivators. He suddenly felt a bit fearful of Li Ban.
Although he was a 3rd Tier Spirit Cultivator, taking on five people at once would still be troublesome for him.
Even though Li Ban said it was a tough win, he had won nonetheless, and without taking too much damage.
Could it be that Lu Qinghe had taught Li Ban some lethal killing techniques, making him so formidable?
That once foolish little slave was probably almost full of spiritual rhinoceros by now, and the Death Prison definitely wouldn't stop him from advancing.
In other words, Li Ban would soon become a prison official!
A new 3rd Tier cultivator!
He would be on equal footing with Huo Jiang himself.
Even knowing he had backing behind him, Huo Jiang understood clearly that he could no longer order Li Ban around like a subordinate.
Thus, Huo Jiang slowly stood up and swallowed his angry words. "You also saw the Master of the Assassin Hall?"
"Yes." Huo Jiang had backed down, but Li Ban didn't show a hint of arrogance, only nodding calmly. "She even took off her mask."
Huo Jiang's pupils shrank, and his nostrils flared a few times before he spoke. "Wait here. I'm going to report to Lord Du." After saying that, Huo Jiang left the room.
Coincidentally, Lu Qinghe was walking down the third-floor corridor.
"Lu Qinghe!" Huo Jiang strode up to her in two steps. "Just how exactly did you train Li Ban?"
Faced with Huo Jiang's sudden, aggressive questioning, Lu Qinghe didn't panic at all. She just glared back coldly before remembering something.
"Li Ban is with you? Perfect, I've been looking for him."
Without paying Huo Jiang any further mind, Lu Qinghe walked straight into his room.
Huo Jiang stood at the doorway, pointing a finger at her, but ultimately swallowed his anger.
Since he played the role of an honest, simple man every day, he was already used to holding back.
Flicking his sleeve, he hurried up to the fourth floor to find Zhai Liu.
Upon entering the room, Lu Qinghe saw Li Ban adjusting the bandages on his left hand.
Sitting on the table was a familiar Iron Token.
Lu Qinghe felt relieved. "It looks like you didn't win easily this time. Didn't Cat Girl help you?"
"She did," Li Ban replied ambiguously.
It was better to let these people think he had barely won and only obtained the Iron Token because of Cat Girl's protection.
This was for the best.
Recalling Huo Jiang's exasperated look just now, Lu Qinghe knew something else must have happened during Li Ban's selection, so she also asked him to explain how he won.
"What? You—" Hearing that Li Ban had rallied the refugees and directly broken the rules set by the silver-token assassin, Lu Qinghe frowned in surprise.
However, she didn't lose her temper like Huo Jiang had. She merely felt a little disappointed. "Was my training completely useless to you? They were just a few refugees."
"Of course it was useful." Li Ban was still grateful for Lu Qinghe's psychological training.
Otherwise, after everything he'd been through tonight, having stripped away his self-deception and self-hypnosis, he would have broken down for a while instead of remaining this calm.
Lu Qinghe shook her head, not quite approving of Li Ban's answer, but she didn't press the matter.
"You've even killed a county magistrate; are you really afraid of disposing of refugees who won't bring any follow-up trouble? Remember, be more decisive next time. Don't be soft-hearted. You still have a mission on your shoulders!"
Li Ban nodded. "Definitely next time."
Seeing Li Ban's indifferent look, Lu Qinghe felt that this experience of getting injured wasn't so bad after all.
This way, Li Ban probably wouldn't remain so naive in a real battle.
"Let's go. Lord Du wants to see you."
While Li Ban was following Lu Qinghe to see Du An, Huo Jiang was recounting Li Ban's entire experience to Zhai Liu.
Zhai Liu sat cross-legged in the corner, holding a white steamed bun in his hand and tearing off tiny shreds to eat.
"He killed four assassins while outnumbered?"
It turned out that Zhai Liu's focus was entirely different from Huo Jiang's. He didn't care at all that Li Ban had defied a silver-token assassin for a few refugees.
"Yes, my lord. But Li Ban should be almost full of spiritual rhinoceros by now. As a Spirit Cultivator nearing the 3rd Tier who has been trained by you, it's not unusual for him to win against a few wood-token assassins at once. Besides, he also got injured, and it's said to have been a hard-fought victory."
"It's said? Heh." Zhai Liu was noncommittal. "Would Yan Jiu show her face to someone who just squeezed through loopholes for a difficult win?"
"Li Ban's rapid progress is highly unusual. When I first met him, he was clearly just a foolish boy who knew nothing. Could Du An have done something behind the scenes?"
The more Zhai Liu thought about it, the more possible it seemed.
Both of them needed someone to infiltrate the Assassin Hall, and by a stroke of fate, that person could only be Li Ban.
With so many experts pushing him forward, it wouldn't make sense for him not to grow stronger.
Regardless, the situation was still developing according to Zhai Liu's plan. Even if Gu Yueqi hadn't died back then, he might not have been able to achieve what Li Ban just did.
"Go give that thing to him. Tell him to integrate it immediately after he advances to the 3rd Tier."
"Yes," Huo Jiang hurriedly agreed.
After agreeing, he asked with some worry, "With Li Ban being so soft-hearted, won't that make the Assassin Hall suspicious of him?"
"Only with such a soft heart will they not suspect him of having ulterior motives. However, Yan Jiu has indeed noticed him. No matter how much she lowers her guard, she will definitely test him a second time."
Zhai Liu stroked his chin.
Because he was eating a white steamed bun, his chin was uncharacteristically dry and clean.
"Li Ban's next mission might very well be related to the Death Prison."
After all, Li Ban was a slave who had crawled out of the River of Forgetfulness. The only people who could order him to go undercover were those from the Death Prison.
But if Li Ban could cause the Death Prison to suffer a massive loss—even if he only cooperated from the shadows—it would cause the Assassin Hall to lower their guard significantly.
Hearing this, Huo Jiang felt a chill in his heart.
If the Assassin Hall issued a mission related to the Death Prison, would they make Li Ban come back and kill people from the Death Prison?
Lord Zhai wouldn't sacrifice his own life to pave the way for Li Ban, would he?
Zhai Liu lifted his eyelids, immediately knowing what Huo Jiang was thinking. "What are you afraid of? You lot aren't worthy."
After chasing Huo Jiang away, Zhai Liu turned to look at Lin Han in the adjacent cell with the bun dangling from his mouth.
Lin Han, a 5th Tier Spirit Cultivator, was currently sitting and facing the wall.
One moment he would speak softly, the next he would glare in anger, and then he would alternate between crying and laughing.
He had clearly gone mad.
At the same time, Du An had also learned the entire process of Li Ban's selection.
After pondering for a moment, he didn't say anything to blame Li Ban. "You met Yan Jiu before even reaching the copper-token rank. Next, she will arrange a mission for you related to the Death Prison."
Hearing this, Lu Qinghe hurriedly asked, "Lord Du, the Assassin Hall won't set you as their assassination target, will they?"
Du An didn't panic either. "It's possible."
He said to Li Ban, "When they tell you about the mission regarding the Death Prison, you can first show fear and reluctance, but they will definitely force you to agree."
"After that, you will follow their instructions. Do not tell us about any of your actions or details. Keep it a secret from Huo Jiang as well."
"They might not necessarily want a result, but they will definitely observe your conduct. Remember, you can be reluctant, but you must work hard at it."
Du An's tone exuded a calm confidence, seemingly completely unworried that the Assassin Hall's upcoming mission could harm him.
Li Ban understood his meaning and nodded silently but earnestly.
Du An suddenly broke into a smile. "Your personality is very similar to how I used to be. I once thought that many things shouldn't be the way they were. But I quickly stopped thinking like that. You just need a little more experience."
Li Ban couldn't imagine how a younger Du An could be anything like him.
Just as Li Ban was considering whether to tell Du An that Yan Jiu and Zhai Liu looked somewhat similar, his head suddenly spun, and he swayed on his feet.
[Received forced awakening prompt. Do you accept the awakening? If yes, you will enter a sleep state within thirty seconds. If no, you will reject the awakening.]
No!
Was there even a need to ask?
Why would they choose this time to awaken him?
Standing right in front of him were Du An and Lu Qinghe, the peak combat powers of the Death Prison. If he was forcibly awakened right in front of them, how could he not arouse suspicion?
Fortunately, this forced awakening could be rejected.
But he'd probably have to wait another month for the next forced awakening.
His situation regarding going undercover in the Assassin Hall would just have to wait until he went out next time to be reported.
"Go back and rest," Du An said. Seeing Li Ban's discomfort, he raised his chin, signaling Lu Qinghe to escort Li Ban back.
"Thank you, Lord Du. I really am too tired today."
Li Ban cupped his fists. The hastily wrapped bandages on his left hand still bore bright red bloodstains, making his pale face look even more frightening.
But just as Li Ban straightened up from his salute, the voice of the mission assistance system rang out in his mind again.
[Received a second forced awakening prompt. Please note that the second forced awakening cannot be rejected. Please enter a sleep state within three minutes.]
What!!!
Just what was the Director trying to do?
How could a forced awakening that was already rejected come a second time?
Besides, no one had ever told him that a second forced awakening was unrejectable!
Sure enough, this was the reality of the world.
Li Ban hastily left Du An's room, not forgetting to feign discomfort. Listening to the countdown in his mind, he headed toward the front courtyard.
Although he had temporarily moved to the mountains, his room in the front courtyard had been kept for him.
The moment he closed the door, as if someone had pulled his plug, he collapsed limply to the floor.