Li Ban took a step forward. "Is this how you treat the man who saved your life?"
"Just tell me if you made money or not." Cat Girl poured herself a cup of water, but rather than drinking it, she toyed with it in her hands.
Li Ban's face darkened. "Was your invitation to join Assassin Hall a trap from the very beginning?"
Yan Jiu watched them with amusement. "Li Ban, what are you so afraid of? It's not as if we're asking you to assassinate Du An."
Li Ban's voice softened and his imposing manner faded as he faced Yan Jiu, though he still forced himself to ask, "Is there anyone else in the Death Prison besides Lord Du who could even be a target?"
Yan Jiu twirled a lock of hair resting against her chest and nodded in agreement. "Fair point. But you are only a 2nd Tier spirit practitioner; Assassin Hall isn't stupid enough to have you assassinate Du An directly. I merely need you to tamper with something in the Death Prison's Jingyan Hall."
Jingyan Hall?
Tamper with something?
Li Ban immediately thought of the black powder Cat Girl had mentioned earlier.
"Hall Master, when I first joined Assassin Hall, wasn't I told I could refuse any mission I was incapable of completing?"
Li Ban submissively lowered his head.
"Hall Master, it isn't that I want to defy your orders. It's just that while Lord Du's Tier isn't as high as yours, his strength is nothing to scoff at. Furthermore, he manages Jingyan Hall very strictly. If I try to tamper with anything, he will likely find out."
Yan Jiu remained seated, waving a hand dismissively. "Don't worry. When it's time for you to make your move, I guarantee Du An won't have the energy to care about anything else."
Is Assassin Hall planning to send someone else to assassinate Du An?
And am I supposed to use the opportunity to plant something in Jingyan Hall?
Seeing Li Ban still hesitating, Yan Jiu suddenly appeared right in front of him.
She raised a hand and gripped Li Ban's jaw, forcing him to look at her. With her other hand, she lifted her mask again. "Be a good boy. Obey."
The moment Li Ban saw Yan Jiu's face, another wave of pain pierced his head.
It hurt worse than before.
But it was still bearable.
"Understood." Offering no further resistance, Li Ban nodded and accepted the mission.
Yan Jiu smiled.
Her eyes did not smile, but the corners of her mouth curved upward.
"Before the sun rises on the sixteenth of the third month, I will have someone leave the item in the small grove outside the Death Prison sinkhole. Down at the bottom of the pit where Cat Girl and Xue Di used to hide. You know the place, right?"
Staring into Yan Jiu's eyes, Li Ban nodded involuntarily. "I know it."
"Good. Once you have the item, find an opportunity to sneak it into the morgue." Yan Jiu released Li Ban's face, pulled her mask back down, and returned to her seat.
Li Ban snapped back to reality. Rubbing his jaw, he shot a glance at Cat Girl.
Cat Girl set her empty teacup back on the table. "You've accepted the mission, so leave. You'll thank me later."
The reluctance on Li Ban's face finally melted into a sigh, and he turned to leave.
Once Li Ban had led his horse out of the courtyard, Yan Jiu spoke in a lazy drawl. "Aside from his decent cultivation talent, your chosen candidate is entirely unremarkable. Plus, he's softhearted. We might as well dispose of him once he's outlived his usefulness."
Cat Girl merely tilted her chin up, a smirk playing on her lips as she cast a sidelong glance at Yan Jiu. "You really think he's soft? Believe it or not, the people who look weak are the most ruthless of all when they finally snap."
Yan Jiu's shoulders shook with laughter. "You actually think that highly of him? Don't tell me you've really fallen for him?"
Staring in the direction Li Ban had left, Cat Girl casually admitted it.
"I have. So don't use your face to bewitch him. If you do it too often and he turns into an idiot, I won't like him anymore."
"It's quite fun when they turn into idiots. I can make him stick out his tongue, bark like a dog, and lick your toes all at the same time."
Yan Jiu spoke with practiced ease, as though she had done this countless times before.
Cat Girl shook her head calmly. "Once I'm done with him, you can do whatever you want. But for now, you aren't allowed to touch my man."
"Done with him? How exactly do you plan to use him?" Yan Jiu doubled over with laughter.
Halfway through her laugh, the sound abruptly vanished.
She abruptly straightened up. "Little Cat, if Assassin Hall gave him a suicide mission, would you go against the Hall for him?"
Cat Girl unhurriedly got to her feet. "Stop joking around. He's just a tool. Anyone and anything—nothing will get in the way of my ambition to climb to the top."
She touched her ear, her voice turning icy. "You have beast blood too, so you should understand."
Yan Jiu also reached up to touch a patch of skin behind her ear, concealed by her hair.
There lay a small, slick patch of scales that she carefully kept hidden.
"Of course I understand. This beast blood has cost me too many opportunities. But I will never give up. I will prove to him that I am no worse than anyone else."
Cat Girl lowered her head, her voice barely audible. "Why bother proving anything to anyone else?"
But she knew Yan Jiu's stubbornness wasn't something a few words could sway.
Retrieving her veiled hat from beneath the table, she pulled it onto her head. "Don't take too many risks."
Yan Jiu lowered her hand, her fingertips now bearing a bloody scale. She did not appreciate the sentiment.
"Hah. If I didn't take risks, would I have become a 6th Tier Hall Master? If I didn't take risks, you'd still be busking for change in the Death Prison!"
Cat Girl curled her lip, saying no more.
Blowing the thin scale off her fingertips with a sharp breath, Yan Jiu's cold demeanor returned. "For this mission, you only need to act once, and then you can leave Assassin Hall for good. I've also prepared a 6th Tier identity for you. However, you will have to change your face forever and take this matter to your grave. Otherwise, you'll die a very miserable death."
"I am a Gold Badge assassin, after all."
Cat Girl adjusted her veiled hat, turned around, and left through the front door.
Without having to pick up missions from the pawnshop, Li Ban no longer needed to make the trip to Qingcheng County every half month.
So, he bought a few extra sundries and went to sit at his usual teahouse, hoping to see if he could run into anyone else selling elements.
In truth, there were even more people selling elements on the Black Market.
It was just that the origins of those elements were sketchy, and during such a sensitive period, Li Ban didn't want to bring trouble upon himself.
He already had enough trouble on his hands.
After sitting in the teahouse for half an hour without spotting a suitable seller, Li Ban asked the teahouse owner if anyone on the street was selling elements.
The teahouse owner brought Li Ban a plate of braised meat. "Anyone selling elements privately is in hiding now. A few days ago, Hai Dakui from the Anshun Escort was found dead on the outskirts of town."
Li Ban's hand paused on his chopsticks. "How did he die?"
"He died on the outskirts just outside the city. His family was hiding inside their carriage, so no one saw a thing. Rumor has it, though, that he traded too many elements and angered the Eternal Trading Association."
The owner sighed, shaking his head. "Things have been extremely chaotic lately. There have been quite a few murders, and fewer and fewer spirit practitioners are traveling here for business. I get the feeling a storm is coming."
Li Ban resumed his movements, tapping the tips of his chopsticks against the table to align them before plucking up a piece of braised meat and tossing it into his mouth.
"When is the world ever not in chaos?"
Having gained absolutely nothing, Li Ban mooched a free meal at the teahouse before returning to the Death Prison at dusk.
Per Du An's instructions, he didn't tell a soul about the contents of the mission he had accepted from Yan Jiu.
Huo Jiang didn't knock on his door to ask, either.
Everyone seemed to be operating on some kind of unspoken mutual understanding.
And there was still one month and three days left until the mission's appointed date—the sixteenth of the third month.