Chapter 10: 第七章 命运齿轮

Teng Jian strode forward, and the air instantly became oppressive, making one's heart leap into one's throat. Although Zhen Yue was not as terrified as before, nervousness was inevitable; after all, she had just walked through the line between life and death.

"Unfazed in the face of danger, you have some courage. Feng Ying, take the goods back." Teng Jian glanced at Zhen Yue and Chou Sheng before turning to depart.

Feng Ying tossed a heavy black brocade bag to the kneeling Boss Yuan, his voice booming, "If it weren't for these two little ones, your useless San Ya Ju would have been razed long ago. You two, follow me!"

Boss Yuan caught the money bag steadily and gripped it tightly. Wiping away sweat, he watched the three departing figures until the sound of horse hooves rang out; only then did he dare to scramble up with trembling limbs. With a *thud*, his legs gave way from the fright, and he snapped, "You useless things, aren't you going to help me up? You grow flesh but no brains—I've wasted my time raising you!" The burly men outside swarmed in.

Zhen Yue and Chou Sheng were once again tossed into an iron cage covered with a black cloth. The only difference was that this carriage was made of high-grade black nanmu wood, exquisitely carved; the wealthy elite truly were different.

In the pitch-black, cramped space, a pair of small, grayish-white hands gently fiddled with the lock. With a *clink*, the lock and the iron bars emitted a crisp sound. Zhen Yue was secretly startled when—*crack!*—a sharp whip arrived instantly, striking the small grayish-white hands heavily through the black cloth.

"Behave!" A stern voice drifted into the cage through the sound of galloping hooves.

*Ugh...* Zhen Yue clutched her swelling small hands and immediately shrank into a corner, thinking in shock, *Such keen ears, such high alertness.*

"Who exactly are you?" Chou Sheng's questioning voice came from beside her.

Zhen Yue froze slightly, not understanding why he, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly blurted this out. "Didn't I tell you? I'm just an ordinary commoner, with a bit of money at home."

"You are a ten-year-old child, yet you hide half a volume of the *Lu Gong Secret Records*. On the surface, you look harmless and innocent, but in reality, you are meticulous. You possess no martial arts, yet you are unfazed by danger. I cannot see through you at all; you don't act like a ten-year-old child in the slightest."

*Slap!* A crisp palm strike landed heavily on the boy's head, the darkness concealing his wide-eyed, gaping expression.

"Are you ever going to stop? Seriously, enough! Do you think this is *Empresses in the Palace*? Playing mind games with me every day. I'm telling you, you're just a tiny brat—what on earth goes on in that head of yours? Ancient people really do have highly developed brain cells," Zhen Yue said, rolling her eyes while blowing on her aching small hands.

No matter how cold a child might be, being bullied by a tiny little thing made it hard to hide his anger. Chou Sheng gritted his teeth and said, "You're a lunatic. Don't think I won't break your hands!"

"Ouch, my dear brother! We've supported each other all the way to get this far. If you hadn't been so intent on being a slave, I wouldn't have been caught in the crossfire. You have the nerve to talk about breaking my hands?"

*Supported!* Chou Sheng felt as if his head was about to explode. This inexplicable brat had clearly been a drag on him the whole time; when had he ever supported him!

Seeing him fall suddenly silent, Zhen Yue moved closer and whispered, "Hey, these people don't look simple. Do you know where we're going?"

The boy's breathing gradually grew heavy. After an unknown amount of time, he spoke slowly, "I know you want to find a chance to escape, but I advise you to give up. The fates of the two of us have already been rewritten. There is no hope for life or death. I'm sorry."

"What do you mean!" To make Chou Sheng speak such resolute words, she had to admit she was afraid.

"There is a pitch-black waist token tied to their belts, and the dark patterns turn blood-red under the light. There is only one place in the world where such a token can be worn: Qilin Pavilion!"

"Qilin Pavilion! What kind of place is it?" Recalling Boss Yuan's terrified expression, she naturally deduced that this Qilin Pavilion must possess immense power.

Chou Sheng was speechless. He sighed and said, "No one in the world does not know Qilin Pavilion. I'm truly impressed by you; you're not even as smart as a three-year-old. Stay away from me!"

Being rejected again, she pouted and said, "Fine, I'm not as smart as a three-year-old." Internally, she grumbled, *Do you know about rockets? Do you know about Earth? Even a three-year-old knows that. You brat definitely doesn't, yet you dare look down on me.*

Seeing her cooperative attitude, Chou Sheng nodded, his gaze as piercing as a bloodthirsty beast in the dark, making her shiver involuntarily.

"Qilin Pavilion. Once the Yueya List is released, a single sword strike seals the throat, and even the King of Hell cannot grant life past the fifth watch. It is an assassination organization known to everyone in the world, striking terror into hearts, yet no nation dares to touch it even slightly. Its subordinate concentration camp is the annual training camp for assassins; one is fought for out of two hundred, a single chosen assassin selected from a pile of bones."

An overwhelming sense of dread seemed poised to swallow her. Facing the endless darkness, she felt as if the flickering light of life was fading toward extinction. The rumbling of the carriage signaled a fate from which there was no escape.

"You want to be an assassin?" she asked, her shoulders drooping heavily. She could not understand how a thirteen-year-old child could remain so calm and composed in the face of such a dark destiny.

"Yes," he replied, cuttingly decisive.

"Is this what you call 'living'?"

"Yes, but it is not *your* kind of living."

She trembled violently upon hearing this. Only through bloody and violent combat could one win a one-percent chance of hope. For a ten-year-old child disguised as a boy, it was nothing short of wishful thinking. Even though she had died once, she still harbored a longing for life; this was a rebirth granted by heaven, and even if she had to hack through thorns and brambles, she would live.

She spoke slowly, "I will live."

"Fine. We will live together."

As the carriage rolled forward, the land of Huaxia had already begun a new chapter along the tracks of fate. The extravagant State of Shu, the fierce Northern Ying, and the chaotic State of Tan could not have predicted that as this carriage approached the strict and mysterious Qilin Pavilion, the fates of everyone would be rewritten. Like a single thread pulling at the foundation of Huaxia, no one could have imagined that the emperor who would later unify the southern regions had already begun his secret map of revenge, nor could anyone have imagined that a petite child would become the world-renowned female military genius of the future.

Three months later.

Even the high walls could not hide the towering majesty of Mount Yulong. Even the sacred snowflakes in the biting wind could not cover the dripping blood. *Crack!* A long whip struck, and fresh blood surged from the previous wounds; the metallic taste of iron in her mouth grew stronger.

"Move faster! Do you want to end up like them!" The brutal instructor pointed coldly toward a corpse pit.

Zhen Yue endured the whip wounds on her back, desperately straightening her bent knees; otherwise, the next strike would arrive in an instant. Having been in the concentration camp for three months, with training lasting eighteen hours every day, her body was already broken and battered. The pungent smell of blood was no less intense than during the chaos of Di Capital. One by one, overburdened children collapsed and were immediately dragged to the corpse pits of the sand kilns. Even if they still had a breath left, the high-and-mighty Qilin Pavilion would not provide medical aid; once you fell, it meant death.

Another child who had lost their life attempting to escape was dragged past them, leaving a heavy trail of blood. This was to tell them that escape had only one end.

*Crack!* "Keep up!" Blood splattered as the instructor swung his whip, glaring fiercely at Zhen Yue, who was at the very end.

Stained blood instantly surged from the corner of her pale mouth. She tightened the iron lock on her shoulder and kept up with the training line. She could not endure any more whip strikes, or the white bandages beneath her cotton clothes would be exposed, and her end would be more painful than death. She gritted her teeth and moved forward step by step.

In the middle of the line, Chou Sheng glanced at her briefly, furrowed his blood-stained brows, and continued forward. He watched that familiar figure, catching up step by step.

*Clang!* A crisp, grand bell chime pierced through the blood-stained concentration camp. All the trainee slaves stopped their movements and entered the grey-blue secret chamber in the northwest corner; this was their only mealtime.