Ye Anping disguised himself with the gray cloak and the mask. Carefully observing the attacker's body shape and height, he saw that this person was slightly taller and stronger than him, so he tore off a piece of cloth from the bedsheet and stuffed it into his clothes.
Finally---
*Swish---*
He cut open a wound on his left arm with the sword, then hacked the man's face to make it impossible to recognize.
After doing all this, Ye Anping, remaining vigilant of any movement outside the house, walked back to the wardrobe and grabbed Huang Quan's wrist, who was barely breathing inside. He confirmed that her injuries were not fatal, then took out a small bottle of pills and a warm cloak from the wardrobe, saying, "Miss Huang Quan, take one of these pills every hour and use the cloak to protect yourself from the cold. Hide in this closet tonight and come out at dawn. Remember what I said..."Huang Quan turned pale, and she anxiously grabbed his sleeve. "...Master... What about you?"
"Don't worry about me. Rest well."
"Okay." Huang Quan suppressed a cough and hesitated before letting go of his hand. "Take care, master..."
"I will."
*Creak---*
Ye Anping held both sides of the wardrobe door and closed it gently. He let out a sigh of relief and then turned to look at the man lying on the ground with no head. He walked over and reached out to remove his storage bag, using his spiritual sense to sort through its contents.
"Spirit stones, pills... What is this?"Muttering, he gestured with his finger, and a round pendant flew out from the storage bag.
Ye Anping took the pendant and carefully examined it. He saw two names written on the tassel bamboo plaque below -- "Ye An" and "Yu Shuiting", instantly feeling certain in his heart.
"Ye An?" He glanced at the dead person's head beside him mockingly, saying, "Huh, carrying personal belongings on an assassination mission. You've been a great help, Brother Ye."
Ye Anping put the jade pendant into his storage bag and hung it around his waist. Then, he picked up the blood-stained sword before walking out of the room.
...
Above the eaves of the porch, the wind and snow swept through the sky, and goose-feathered-like snowflakes fluttered in the air.
Two men wearing masks and gray cloaks half-crouched on the roof tiles, their eyes fixed on the open door of Ye Anping's bedroom. The sound of howling wind filled their ears.
*Hoo hoo---*
One of them was a little puzzled. He counted to sixty in his mind but still didn't see their comrade coming out of the house. He said doubtfully, "Why hasn't he come out yet?"
"Wait a little longer. Maybe he's scouting the house. Brother Ye is usually stingy and likes to appropriate other people's things. And this Ye Anping is a Young Master who definitely has some valuable possessions. He must be on a roll now."
"But it's taking too long..."
"Get your sword ready. If there really is a problem, then Ye Anping will most likely be seriously injured. It won't be difficult for the two of us to kill him."
"You're right."
While they were talking, a person finally walked out the front door of the bedroom.
The two men on the roof squinted, trying to examine closely. Because of the wind and snow, they couldn't see the person's face clearly from where they were, but they could still make out that gray cloak on his body.
...
Ye Anping walked out of the room and paused. He felt that the remaining two people should be staring at him, and if he went in the wrong direction now, he would expose himself. However, the wind and snow were so heavy that he couldn't locate them with his eyes, and if he used his spiritual sense to find the location of those two people, it would alert them if there was someone with deep spiritual attainments among them.
After pondering for a while, he simply dropped to one knee and stuck his sword into the ground, pretending to be injured in order to lure those two people.
Sure enough, shortly after he knelt on one knee, two figures jumped down from the nearby roof, and in a flash, they appeared before him.
"What's wrong? Are you injured?"
The gruff and arrogant voice came as expected, with a local dialect accent from the **Southern Region**. It seemed to be mocking him for being weak, but from the tone and the way of speaking, Ye Anping inferred that this person should have a carefree personality.
As for the other tall and thin man, his eyes were fixed on Ye Anping, with some suspicion. After hesitating for a while, he suddenly asked, "Brother Zhou? That guy was poisoned severely, how could he still hurt you?"
Brother Zhou?... Ye Anping frowned. The jade pendant clearly had "Ye An" and "Yu Shuiting" written on it. The latter name obviously belonged to a woman. Even if that person really went by the name "Yu Shuiting," still, there was no Brother Zhou...
But there was also the possibility that the jade pendant didn't belong to that man...
A little uncertain, Ye Anping gripped tighter the sword in his hand. Among these two people, one was in the middle stage of the *Foundation Building*, and the other was in the early stage of the *Foundation Building*. If he could first kill the person at the mid-stage with a sneak attack, then there would be no threat from the remaining person.
After a pause, he contracted his throat and replied in a hoarse voice and the dialect of the **Southern Region**. "Brother Zhou? What Brother Zhou?"
"Yes, Brother Liu." It was only then that the man with a rough voice suddenly reacted and turned to ask the man next to him, "Are you confused? This is Brother Ye, my old friend."
"Oh... Sorry, I remembered wrong."
The lanky man shrugged, then turned his head to look in the direction of Yun Yiyi's bedroom and said, "They're probably done over there. Let's go quickly."
However, Ye Anping had already made up his mind right now not to let these two people live.
---Although one man had a careless personality, he was "Ye An's" old friend.
---The other man was rather suspicious. If kept alive, the risk of exposure was too high.
He gripped his sword tightly and waited for the moment when the man with the gruff voice turned around and was about to jump onto the roof. He applied slight force on both legs and stepped forward.
The sword blade stuck into the ground bounced off the snow-covered ground with a clang.
*Snap---*
The thin sword carried a deep, cold aura, cutting through the air and scattering snowflakes. Under Ye Anping's control, it drew a silver line accurately toward the position of the heart on his exposed back.
The white blade pierced his back and went out bloodied from his chest.
Ye Anping sensed through the sword in his hand that he had pierced through the heart, left lung, and two ribs, but it did not harm his meridians fundamentally. Immediately, he turned the sword half a circle inside the heart cavity and slashed horizontally.
*Swish---*
The chest was cut off, and hot blood splashed out.
Without pause, he reversed the grip on the sword and parried at his back.
*Ding---*
Because he sidestepped the lanky man to kill the one in the *Foundation Building* mid-stage, Ye Anping now had his back turned to the other man. Even so, the sword he used to block at his back, accurately intercepted the sword coming toward the side of his neck.
The lanky man's eyes were filled with astonishment. Seeing Ye Anping glance at him sideways, he felt the danger and immediately tried to distance himself and escape.
But how could Ye Anping give him a chance to escape?
With the tip of his right foot on the ground, Ye Anping twisted his body and performed the move "*Looking Back at the Moon*".
The thin blade drew a half-moon arc that passed over the man's neck.
*Swish---*
Then, he forcefully flicked away the blood off the sword and sheathed it in one move.
"Hoo--"
Ye Anping took a deep breath with his eyes closed as he placed the sword back into his storage bag. The next moment, the two people fell to the ground, one in front and one behind him.
Glancing at the two individuals, he ignored the decapitated lanky man and went to the mid-stage *Foundation Building* cultivator. He raised his sword and stabbed several vital acupoints to ensure his death before crouching down to rummage through his storage bag.
After inferring the names of the two people from their belongings, Ye Anping stood up, used the spirit sword to add two more wounds on his waist and left arm, and dipped his hands in blood, wiping it on his forehead and nose. After that, he jumped onto a roof ledge to start searching for the whereabouts of those people's accomplices.
