There were a total of seven assassins.
Lai Yiteng simply thought that was overkill!
It was true that he murdered the Clan Elder Gojun, but that was only because he was an amoral, disgusting person, same as the rest of the Lushang Sect. He deserved death. No, Lai Yiteng even fully believed that he deserved to be dismembered bit by bit. It was a good thing that man had been prevented from doing more evils in the future.
But what did his personal morals matter at this moment? He needed to escape!
A short arrow lodged into the stair railing next to him. The wood immediately discolored into a blackish hue and fizzled, making it clear that the arrows had a deadly poison coated onto them.
The men in black were approaching towards the stairway in a utilitarian fashion, not even glancing at the civilians surrounding them.
Lai Yiteng lifted the hem of his dress and turned to run but felt a shove from behind.
With a murderous expression he slashed his knife in the direction of it....he couldn't believe that he would have allowed an assassin to slip past his sight.
His nimble feet jumped up the four stairs in one leap. Turning to see what opponent he had to face, Lai Yiteng was astonished for a moment.
The one who got close to him was the boorish man, not an assassin! He had been running towards the front door, but now appeared right at the bottom on the stairway in the blink of an eye.
It had happened so quickly that even the nearby assassins were startled for a second.
The boorish man had sharp features, tanned skin, and had gotten a scratch on the cheek from a knife. He sprinted along at the same pace as Lai Yiteng up the stairway, deflecting a few arrows as he went with flawless movements.
"Careful!" he hollered in response to Lai Yiteng's knife slash towards him. "Sheesh, you almost killed me! What did I ever do to you, huh?!"
Lai Yiteng like the situation left him too busy to answer such a dumb statement, but was so annoyed he ended up answering anyway.
"You shoved me."
"I 'shoved' you?! It's not like I intended to do so. This is a life or death situation! It's just a little shove—"
Lai Yiteng slashed at him again, then swung open his room door and went inside.
The assassins made it to the top of the stairway. The boorish man 'tched' loudly and followed behind Lai Yiteng before the door was slammed shut.
Lai Yiteng did not own much to his person.
Besides the clothes on his back there was one cloth bundle, one erhu, a knife, and a money pouch with that was just topped off with funds. It was unfortunate he had to give up the rest of tonight's payment. He picked it all up and spun around to kick out the window shutters. He always planned ahead of time, and so the drop down to the next rooftop below wasn't far.
That was his escape route.
He just ignored that boorish man. Probably too drunk and insane to know he was putting himself in peril! Lai Yiteng leaned out the window and somersaulted onto the roof below, knife kept firm in his hand.
The sky was pitch black, stars dotting overhead.
One assassin, barely visible due to his dark clothing, was on lookout nearby, but seemed surprised at the sudden appearance Lai Yiteng who was like a ghost in white. He didn't react in time, and by the time he did, Lai Yiteng had already run three rooftops over with fleet-footedness.
Strangely, Lai Yiteng who was running along and minding his own business heard a thump and patter of footsteps behind him.
He held up his knife and glanced behind himself only to see that boorish idiot again.
"..…?!"
Lai Yiteng grimaced with disgust and anger at the man next to him and said, "You! Why are you following me? Don't you know I'm being targeted? Quickly get away from me."
That man was equally dumbfounded.
"You're being followed too? By assassins? That's odd, because so am I!"
On second thought, Lai Yiteng realized that if this man could keep up with him, he was also of the martial arts. Moreover, if he was also being targeted, that was an annoying and troublesome thing he wanted no part of.
Lai Yiteng spun around and tried to kick him off the roof, but avoided it like a weasel.
"Are you trying to kill me?!" the boorish man cried, as though he were some kind of abused dog, incapable of defending himself.
Lai Yiteng kicked at him again.
"Goodness! You're cruel!"
The two of them were still running across rooftops wildly as dark clothed men pursued from behind. If Lai Yiteng or the man were to split off from one another, that would only allow their pursuers to catch up with them, so they really had no choice but to run alongside like two jackrabbits fleeing foxes.
Lai Yiteng could only ask angrily, "What's your goal?!"
The man replied, "Look, I wasn't gonna say anything, but you've done it several times. I'm clearly your elder but you keep disrespecting me every sentence. Can't we converse more politely, and you could call me by name as is proper?"
Lai Yiteng was infuriated.
'Proper'?! This man had not acted with grace since the moment he'd entered Lai Yiteng's field of vision and the moment his obnoxious voice had entered his ears. What's this nonsense about politeness now?!
Seething, he snapped out, "Then what's your damn name?"
The man seemed pleased despite Lai Yiteng's harsh tone.
"Just call me Xian Wu. And these assassins are clearly after me. Brother, I don't know what you've done, but I think the only thing you'd be in trouble for tonight is punching the governor's son."
This was, in fact, a big crime.
Just another rumor of notoriety to add to Lai Yiteng's name, perhaps.
Lai Yiteng could care less about what he'd done to the governor's son. He was more frustrated that he assumed these assassins were after himself, and now he got dragged into this mess of Xian Wu's! Now Lushang Sect might really now his whereabouts after today…
But there was no use crying over spilled rice.
A few more arrows whizzed over, one cut by Lai Yiteng's dagger. Commoner in town were also starting to get restless, opening shutters and lights flickering on. He needed a way out.
Lai Yiteng surveyed the buildings and streets below, then jumped down. He saw an unoccupied store, broke the lock and went inside.
The entire place was black with darkness, but as his eyes adjusted to see faint outlines he found that the space was filled with large urns and pottery. It was a place for selling storage vessels. For pickling and keeping grain and the like.
Lai Yiteng's fingers twitched as he heard that familiar set of footsteps behind him.
"Xian Wu, since they're after you, can I kindly ask you to fuck off?"
"Well…" Xian Wu scratched his head haplessly, "we're both already running, and you're a fellow Daoist, can't you help me out?"
Xian Wu was tall and robust. He appeared perfectly capable of fending off assassins by himself. No, not just appeared to be, but he WAS perfectly capable. Lai Yiteng had seen that for himself already!
Lai Yiteng, who'd already lost his patience one-hundred times over, was absolutely furious with this man who spoke nonsense.
Without a word of warning he rushed at Xian Wu with a palm raised. His breathing stilled to the methodical pace of Lotus Seven Breath martial arts form. His figure appeared to sway and blur, the white veil on his hat flowing like the wings of a fairy. It was a kind of martial arts as graceful and elegant as a misty pond shrouded by moonlight.
The force of his attacks weren't in his legs nor knife, but palm strikes at vital nerve centers on the body. If it so much as nicked Xian Wu the man would be sent flying—organs ruptured, body paralyzed.
Perhaps even crippled for life.
Naturally, Xian Wu couldn't allow himself to be turned into a waste so easily. He defended himself in turn, and his purple and red carp brocade cloths were quite the spectacle when they contrasted against an opponent dressed like a ghostly fairy in white. To say, it was a battle between gaudy and pristine fashion styles!
After a bit Xian Wu grumbled. "Hey, do we really have to fight? I don't-"
Lai Yiteng forced a palm at him again.