The assassin's waist suddenly exploded. Li Ban dodged to the side, only to realize it wasn't a hidden weapon—a Signal Flare concealed on the man's body had ignited.
Because it wasn't deployed properly, the Signal Flare failed to launch into the sky, bursting instead into an inconspicuous orange spark on the grass beside them.
Now the treants relocated to the inner courtyard wouldn't receive their signal to move. He wondered whether they would stay put or launch an attack on their own.
Seeing the man burned pitch-black all over, Li Ban abruptly withdrew all his azure flames.
When he opened his hand, the charred remains of the assassin's lips stuck to his palm.
Since leaving the Death Prison, Li Ban hadn't seen such a gruesome sight in a long time. For a moment, he was actually a little unaccustomed to it.
Suppressing his nausea, he asked in a low voice, "How many accomplices do you have left in the outer courtyard?"
When he unleashed the Blazing Flame Art earlier, Li Ban had primarily burned the assassin's limbs and torso. His head looked terrifying, but the actual temperature there hadn't been that high.
Blinded, the assassin groaned in agony.
"O-one," the assassin mumbled indistinctly.
"Slaves don't count as accomplices, right?"
"Mmh." He couldn't form the word "No."
"Alright. Aside from the treants, how many accomplices are in the inner courtyard? Where are they hiding?"
"Th—three— the big chicken—"
"Three accomplices in the inner courtyard. What's the big chicken?"
Unfortunately, the assassin could no longer answer; he had already passed out from the pain.
"Oh, the big kitchen, right?" Li Ban muttered it to himself a few times before finally deciphering what the man meant.
He lowered his hand and forcefully snapped the assassin's neck, keeping his word and giving the man a quick end.
He wiped his palms on the dirt, stood up, and vaulted over the wall.
He remembered the main kitchen in the inner courtyard. It wasn't far from Lady Kui's medicine garden, right on the way to Lady Rui's painted boat.
The kitchen buys food every day, he thought. With people constantly going in and out, it's easy to hide something fishy.
The medicine garden was on the right and the main kitchen on the left. The distance between them was short.
Li Ban went to the medicine garden first, only to find it pitch-black inside without a single soul in sight.
Just as he was about to frown, a speck of silver light flew out from the darkness.
"Silver Kingfisher!" Li Ban caught the finger-sized little bird.
"Young Master, we are at the Thousand Trees Hall. There are assassins lying in ambush along the way, so be careful."
Could the three assassins in the main kitchen have already made their move?
Li Ban tucked the Silver Kingfisher away and turned back toward the main kitchen.
The main kitchen was similarly deserted, though bloodstains marked the ground and the place was a complete mess.
Li Ban took a look from the outside, then turned and continued sprinting toward the Thousand Trees Hall.
Fortunately, they had been here before. Otherwise, wandering this inner courtyard, Li Ban wouldn't have known how long it would take to find the right place.
However, just as Li Ban was about to reach the Thousand Trees Hall, the ground suddenly trembled. He then heard rustling sounds from the woods beside him.
It sounded like something slithering and dragging across the ground.
Li Ban turned his head and saw what looked like pythons gliding across the earth.
But they weren't actual snakes. With numerous branches jutting out around them, they looked more like some unknown species of thick vine.
Those vines also seemed to be moving toward the Thousand Trees Hall.
Feeling that something was wrong, Li Ban quickly picked up his pace and ran toward the hall.
Arriving outside the Thousand Trees Hall, he found a colossal object blocking his path.
The exterior of the Thousand Trees Hall had somehow been completely enclosed by massive tree roots.
It looked exactly like a giant walnut.
Li Ban approached cautiously and immediately heard the sounds of fighting coming from the other side of the "walnut."
Just as he considered melting into the walnut's shadow to go over and watch the battle, he heard someone calling him softly.
"Young Master, Young Master."
It was Cat Girl's voice.
He saw a small crevice, just wide enough to squeeze through sideways, suddenly open up on the "walnut" in front of him.
Cat Girl was waving at him from inside the gap.
Li Ban hurriedly slipped inside as fast as he could.
The moment he entered, the gap sealed shut behind him.
"What's going on?" Li Ban hadn't originally intended to directly join the Hundred Flowers Pavilion's conflict, but it seemed plans couldn't keep up with changes once again.
"When I found Lady Kui, I happened to see someone assassinating her. The situation was critical, so I had to intervene and kill two assassins," Cat Girl explained.
"Two? Did you encounter a third?" Li Ban asked. He then informed her about the assassin he had run into by the inner courtyard wall.
"No. I even searched the courtyard once over, but there were only two assassins. Lady Kui didn't see anyone else either."
Li Ban thought to himself, Could he have been lying? No, if he really wanted to lie, he would have given a smaller number.
He warned Cat Girl, "Be careful. There might be people from the Assassin Hall in here too."
Cat Girl was relaxed. "I know. Whenever the Assassin Hall makes a major move, they always lay out their plans in advance. I wouldn't even be surprised if one of the vice pavilion masters here was an assassin."
She reached up to touch her ears, only to feel her hair buns instead, forcing her to lower her hand.
"If I notice anyone acting suspicious, I'll give you a look."
Li Ban nodded.
The two navigated through the darkness for a short distance before finally seeing light.
After entering, Li Ban realized this seemed to be the back of the Thousand Trees Hall. Just inside the door, he also spotted Lady Kui's silhouette.
Lady Kui rushed forward and looked Li Ban over. "That—"
"Stored away safely." Li Ban gave her a look, signaling her not to worry.
Lady Kui breathed a slight sigh of relief, then led Li Ban and Cat Girl into the main hall.
This hall was a bit smaller than the front reception hall, but judging by the decorations and the arrangement of tables and chairs, it was likely a more private place for internal discussions.
Once here, Li Ban could hear the faint sounds of battle once again.
There were over a dozen people in the hall, most of them women.
Among them, only five (including Lady Kui) were spirit practitioners; the rest were ordinary people with some martial arts training.
Lady Kui led Li Ban and Cat Girl through the crowd, stopping in front of Lady Hua, who was clad in silver robes.
Li Ban saw a pale-faced Lady Rui sitting beside Lady Hua. There was blood on her chest; it seemed she had been injured.
"Lady Hua, this is the Young Master Wen I told you about. Both he and Lady Miaomiao are spirit practitioners."
Lady Hua wielded twin sabers, the blades still dripping with blood, and looked at Li Ban with a stern expression.
"Why has Your Excellency hidden your name and altered your appearance to enter the Hundred Flowers Pavilion?"
"Could it be that you are also a mole sent by the Assassin Hall?"
As soon as Lady Hua's words rang out, everyone in the hall tensed up.
A few people even drew their weapons in alarm.
Lady Kui hurriedly intervened.
"Lady Hua, although Young Master Wen concealed his identity, judging from my interactions with him over the past two days, he really isn't an assassin from the Assassin Hall."
Naturally, Lady Kui believed Li Ban.
After all, no assassin would carry something as important as the Cyan Silk Algae Seed—a crucial reserve element—on their person while carrying out an infiltration mission.
"Behavior can be deliberately faked. Furthermore, you've only met them two or three times. Someone like Mama Wu, who worked in the Hundred Flowers Pavilion for twenty years, turned out to be an assassin from the Assassin Hall. How can you expect me to trust a stranger?"
Lady Hua pushed Lady Kui aside. Her blades weren't completely leveled at Li Ban and Cat Girl just yet, but she asked sternly, "If the two of you cannot reveal your true identities and prove that you genuinely have no connection to the Assassin Hall—then this Lady Hua can only apologize for what comes next."
Li Ban looked at Cat Girl, his eyes clearly saying, Did you consider that things would turn out like this before we came in?
Cat Girl winked at Li Ban, reassuring him.
"No need to apologize, Lady Hua." Cat Girl stood shoulder to shoulder with Li Ban. "Before coming in, I already figured it was time to lay our cards on the table. After all, the upcoming transaction would be hard to negotiate without clearing up our identities."
Lady Hua furrowed her brow, her face as cold as frost. "Lady Miaomiao, the Hundred Flowers Pavilion is currently beset by internal strife and external enemies. We have no time to discuss a transaction with you."
Cat Girl gave a careless smile. "The Pavilion's internal strife consists of the fires and the moles. But the root of that internal strife actually lies in your external enemies. As long as you completely eliminate the external threat, the internal problems will naturally resolve themselves."
This time, Lady Hua didn't interrupt Cat Girl. Instead, she stared at her with burning intensity.
Cat Girl continued, "Based on what I just learned from Lady Kui, the candidates who can inherit the position of Pavilion Master are the vice pavilion masters and the City Lord of Hundred Flowers City. And in the past, when the Hundred Flowers Pavilion was still at the peak of its power, the position of City Lord was originally held by a vice pavilion master."
"I imagine you all know perfectly well that the mastermind behind this attack is the City Lord, right?"
"That's right," the injured Lady Rui said, clutching her chest. "We just didn't expect that Wang Yong would be so deranged as to ally with the Assassin Hall just to seize the Pavilion Master's seat."
Lady Hua kept her eyes fixed on Li Ban. "He's very cunning. Once the dust settles and he steps in to clean up the mess, he will definitely do it under the guise of purging the assassins who infiltrated the Pavilion. When it's all over, we might all find ourselves branded as Assassin Hall assassins by him."
Li Ban thought, So this is why the City Lord of Hundred Flowers City paid such a high-profile visit to the Pavilion and unreasonably forced them to drive away all their guests. It was all laying the groundwork for tonight's operation!
Cat Girl nodded; she was clearly on the same wavelength as Li Ban.
"Therefore, as long as the City Lord dies, the root of this conspiracy will be eradicated. All you need to do is hold out against the Assassin Hall's attack without worrying about them getting reinforcements. Their shady tactics of burning, killing, and looting will naturally grind to a halt."
The hall fell silent for a moment.
To catch the bandits, first catch the ringleader.
But how could the ringleader be so easily caught?
Hearing Cat Girl's words, Lady Hua's brow only furrowed tighter.
"Do you think I don't want to kill him? Wang Yong never goes anywhere without three 4th Tier experts by his side, and he himself is a ruthless character at the 4th Tier with full spiritual rhinoceros. Furthermore, to avoid suspicion, he is definitely still in the City Lord's Estate right now, surrounded by a horde of witnesses. Only when news of the Pavilion's incident reaches him will he righteously rush over to offer support. And by then, he'll definitely bring along people from other factions, maybe even the County Magistrate."
"How—are you supposed to assassinate him?"
A few members of the Pavilion had originally thought Cat Girl's suggestion was a good idea, but after hearing Lady Hua's explanation, they let out long sighs and repeatedly shook their heads.
If they could have killed Wang Yong, they would have done it long ago.
"Others can't, but I can," Cat Girl said, tilting her chin up slightly as a haughty, contemptuous air surfaced once again.
"Swish!"
Several spirit practitioners present instantly took up defensive stances in unison, dropping into combat-ready positions.
Even the usually composed Lady Hua was no exception.
"Who exactly are you?"
Cat Girl raised a hand, her fingernails elongating as she directly tore out the hair buns on either side of her head.
"Former Gold Badge assassin of the Assassin Hall, Cat Girl. Ever heard of me?"