Jiang Zirou’s heart skipped a beat.

She truly couldn’t guess what hidden meaning the Third Prince’s words held.

The Hao’er he mentioned was naturally his only son, the Seventh Imperial Grandson—whom Jiang Zirou had rescued from the assassins half a month ago.

‘Did my memory-erasing technique fail? Did the Seventh Imperial Grandson tell the Third Prince everything that happened that night? Or perhaps the Third Prince discovered that I’m actually a princess of imperial blood…

Well, that isn’t exactly a secret. Even though the matter was covered up, quite a few palace maids and concubines still know. It’s like water carving out a channel—once the water dries, the marks still remain forever…’

Jiang Zirou pondered quietly.

Her nature was indifferent.

She had little desire for worldly power or status.

In this new life, her only wish was to see what the ultimate peak of martial arts truly looked like.

Thus, she had always acted with extreme low-key restraint.

Never showing her face publicly.

And in a deep palace like this, where even brothers who live together daily may betray one another for power, someone like Jiang Zirou, a child of a palace maid, would be even more vulnerable.

After thinking it through, Jiang Zirou considered many possibilities.

But in the end, she understood.

Although her strength had not yet reached the peak of this world, the Central Plains were vast. With her cultivation at the Martial Grandmaster realm, as long as she avoided a few infamous forbidden lands, she could go anywhere.

…Worst case, she could simply walk away.

Her expression unchanged as always, she simply answered lightly.

“The Seventh Imperial Grandson overpraised me. It’s merely an empty reputation.”

“An empty reputation, hmm?”

The Third Prince shook his head and let out a small laugh.

He picked up an exquisitely packaged box of pastries from the table and placed it in Jiang Zirou’s hands.

“These are ham-and-bamboo-shoot jelly cakes made by the palace’s master chef. The ham uses only the Fire-Eye section approved by the Haitian Feast standard, the fresh meat must come from pork belly hunted the same day in the Cloud River region of Shu Road and the bamboo shoots must be spring shoots from the southern ranges—tight, tender and fresh. Then they are slowly simmered over low heat with utmost care…

However, I don’t particularly like sweets myself, so giving them to you seems more fitting…”

Jiang Zirou had been about to decline.

But after hearing his words, she couldn’t help swallowing.

She accepted the pastries.

…So this world does have delicious food. I’ve just never had access to it before.

“Thank you, Third Prince!”

* * *

A few days later.

The news of two assassin corpses discovered outside the city gradually spread.

However, because this was near the imperial capital, the Court of Judicial Review responded quickly.

Thus, aside from a few attentive people who noticed something unusual—such as the rumor that another mysterious martial grandmaster had appeared—most people simply continued their monotonous daily lives.

* * *

In the south.

Deep within a swamp thick with poisonous miasma, eerie blue ghost-flames drifted.

Buildings resembling haunted towers stood above the bog.

This was Dead Man Lake, the most mysterious and most powerful assassin organization in the Great Xia Dynasty.

One of the six martial holy lands that possessed Martial Grandmaster experts.

At this moment, inside a secret chamber, several people gathered around a slowly burning candle.

“Youming and Xuemó have both been confirmed dead.”

A skeletal old man spoke coldly.

“How could they die so easily… With the strength of Youming and Xuemó, they may not rank in the top ten of our Dead Man Lake, but they are not far off! Unless the attacker was a Grandmaster, they absolutely could not have died so easily.”

The others were shocked.

“It was a Grandmaster. The corpses were in near-perfect condition. According to the spies from the Court of Judicial Review, both were killed by a single dead leaf—Youming’s throat was cut, Xuemó’s heart was pierced!”

“Heh… just like squeezing two little chicks to death.”

The skeletal old man sneered.

The candlelight flickered as a mountain wind blew past, producing a wailing sound like ghostly crying.

“Who could it be? Does the Great Xia Dynasty still have a martial grandmaster guarding it? Or has that Old Prince not died after all?”

“The Great Xia Dynasty has existed for a thousand years. Having a grandmaster isn’t strange. What matters is the Old Prince—did he successfully break through to the Great Grandmaster realm?”

“Damn it! If that’s true, then how many more years must we wait?”

The group murmured anxiously.

It was clear they greatly feared the Old Prince known as the War God of the Central Plains.

“No… We can’t keep waiting. If we miss the timing, we may never get another chance… I’ll go to the imperial capital myself and see whether that old man is dead or alive.”

Finally, a hoarse voice came from the corner.

It belonged to a pale-skinned man, with long and powerful fingers and blood-red pupils like a demonic spirit.

No one dared meet his eyes.

The room fell silent in awe.

In Dead Man Lake, his codename was Tiansha—Heaven’s Calamity.

A title given only to assassins of the Martial Grandmaster realm.

Every grandmaster was a living legend.

And a top assassin like him was even more terrifying. Even within the assassin sanctuary known as Dead Man Lake, merely speaking his name made others instinctively shudder.

“Very well… Be careful.”

The skeletal elder nodded, then extinguished the candle.

Instantly, Dead Man Lake was swallowed again by darkness.