Martial King's Retired Life

“How enjoyable is life? How painful is death?”

“Easy for you to say!” A-Lan tripped on her first stride forward.

Once the hunky leader closed in without A-Lan even seeing his feet movement, she drew a dagger out and charged the man down, determined to take down one of them if that was all she could achieve before she had to die because she knew she couldn’t defeat a single one of them fair and square. It wasn’t just about her pride or rage; it was about proving to the world that Evil Spirits’ reputation was all a fairy tale.

The leader caught the blade aimed at his chest between two fingers. “You are tired, Miss,” he claimed as he snatched A-Lan’s dagger from her. She didn’t underestimate them; they were just beyond her expectations.

Is he an assassin from League of Assassins? He’s clearly a professional assassin from his hunting strategy, tiring me out before swooping in to finish me. Is he…

“How enjoyable is life? How painful is death?” he repeated as if he could see what was on A-Lan’s mind.

“Hahaha.” A-Lan’s laugh was all bitterness.

From him to Luo Ming and then to assassins from the kingdoms in Nanjiang. All these years of running, only to discover I never escaped the claws of fate. How laughable. All I did was take detours to my inexorable end.

“Why?! Why do all of you want me to die? Why must you kill me, my people, my friends, my lover, everyone I care about?! Hahaha, kill me! Come on! Hahahaha.”

“I beg your pardon.” The man jabbed his qi through to A-Lan.

A-Lan knew she would faint when her stomach gave out. It felt close to her innards being replaced by some kind of black hole. Then nausea crept from her abdomen to her head, and the world went black.

Is this it for me? It hurts less than I expected.

“Thanks, Ol’ Ku. You know what to report, yeah?”

“If it is your command, your subject shall oblige, my lord.”

Don’t I know this voice? Who is this lord?

***

What happened? Where am I? I’ve never rode a horse that could gallop so smoothly. This compares to… when Abels took me on a tour of the mountains in Beijiang using his qingong. Did his soul come to pick me up?

After a blank window, A-Lan felt uncomfortably hot - too hot for it to be winter. She figured she wasn’t dead at that point since dead bodies are cold. She opened her eyes a tad and, to her bewilderment, she saw an elder.