Ye Qichi listened, his expression growing somewhat grim.
"The remaining seven people." Xiang Qin continued, "Among you, Xiaowu has the best martial arts skills, followed by Yuan Wenkang. Xiaowu’s skills should be on par with mine. He will struggle to protect the Prince while fighting against the assassins; at most, 2 to 3 assassins could take him down. The same applies to Yuan Wenkang. Thus, for the seven people to assassinate the Prince and you, it will be a piece of cake."
Ye Qichi pursed his lips.
If it weren’t for the fact that Xiang Qin has long been his person.
Their odds this time would indeed be grim.
She asked, "How is your physical condition?"
"Are you asking if I took the medicine you gave me?" Xiang Qin confirmed.
"This time when the poison acted up, naturally, I also took the antidote you gave me. My body is unharmed, just as if I had taken the Ten Extremes Sect’s antidote," Xiang Qin replied.
"We need to move up our plan." Ye Qichi made a decisive decision.
Xiang Qin looked at him.
"The assassins from the Ten Extremes Sect are all orphans. Saying they are orphans, they were kidnapped when they were young and then taken to the Ten Extremes Sect for brutal training. Some were very young when they went to the Ten Extremes Sect and can’t remember how they got there. Some were a bit older, like you, Xiang Qin, with some memories, but that’s not the most important. After arriving at the Ten Extremes Sect, they train you without treating you as human beings but as cold-blooded killing machines, and many fail to meet the assassin’s requirements due to lack of aptitude and are executed on the spot! It’s such a cruel place, I believe that if the Ten Extremes Sect weren’t controlling their lifelines, very few would be willing to become tools for murder."
"Yes," Xiang Qin agreed with Ye Qichi’s viewpoint, "If not for the Ten Extremes Sect’s poison, no one would be willing to serve. And the agony of the poison’s recurrence, with severed meridians, bleeding from every orifice, and total bodily decay, is a hundred times more cruel than ordinary death. There is no assassin who is not afraid."
"Originally, I planned to use the antidote to cleanse the poison within the assassins’ bodies, and then use the Ten Extremes Sect’s own assassins to eradicate the sect. However, due to delays on the trip to Yuzhou, the antidote that completely cures the poison inside you has not been fully developed. But now, in this emergency, Xiang Qin, I can only rely on you!"
Xiang Qin looked at Ye Qichi.
"Rely on you to win over a portion of the assassins to our side. To put it bluntly, out of the 32 assassins from the Ten Extremes Sect, according to our combat power ratings, we need at least ten more on our side, aside from you, to ensure our safety," Ye Qichi explained.
Xiang Qin was clearly troubled.
At this moment, she could only ensure that she would not kill them.
The others, she was not familiar with.
"Xiang Qin, I know this is dangerous for you, and if it fails, you may be hunted by the Ten Extremes Sect for exposing yourself. But now, I can’t think of anyone else but you who could accomplish this task," Ye Qichi stated plainly.
"I’m not afraid of being hunted by the Ten Extremes Sect. When I came out on the mission to assassinate the Prince and you, I had already made up my mind, or else I wouldn’t have come to notify you in advance. My only worry is that if I make a mistake, it could endanger you and the Prince," Xiang Qin said earnestly.
The antidote Ye Qichi gave her has already made her wholeheartedly with her.
She never thought she would live on indefinitely.
With every mission, there are assassins who die.
She has long been accustomed to it.
She just doesn’t want to bring harm to others because of her own actions.
"There’s no need to worry," Ye Qichi said clearly, "Whether you succeed or fail, we are all in great danger. Rather than playing it safe, taking the risk may give us a chance."
Xiang Qin fell silent for a few seconds, then nodded, "Okay, I’ll try."
"When is the action planned?" Ye Qichi asked.
"Tonight, at midnight," Xiang Qin said.
"Will they use poison?"
"They won’t," Xiang Qin said, "They fear alarming the enemy prematurely, and the higher-ups didn’t order us to use poison. Moreover, based on the Ten Extremes Sect’s past achievements, thirty-two people are more than enough to assassinate the Prince without need for such preliminaries."
"So, if this time we manage to kill or sway the Ten Extremes Sect’s assassins to our side, doesn’t that mean the sect is essentially annihilated?"
"That’s one way to put it," Xiang Qin, upon hearing Ye Qichi’s words, felt a surge of excitement, "The Ten Extremes Sect do not have many assassins to begin with. Not many qualified assassins are cultivated each year, and the death rate among assassins is high; almost every mission results in casualties. The Ten Extremes Sect has less than sixty usable assassins. Now, these thirty-two including the top ten ranked assassins, if they perish or betray, the Ten Extremes Sect will struggle to recover. Plus the many enemies the Ten Extremes Sect has made in the martial world, should the sect suffer heavy losses, others will naturally take the opportunity to seek revenge, and the Ten Extremes Sect will soon vanish from the martial world."