With a low moan escaping his lips, the heat that had been pent up in his chest suddenly shattered, merging into his blood vessels throughout his body. Samuel Wright's heart wavered, his body weak and limp, and he gritted his teeth and said in a low voice, "It was an ambush. How are you two?"

The two subordinates felt no discomfort at all. Secretly circulating their inner energy, they found it worked without issue. They looked at each other in confusion and shook their heads. At this moment, on the other side, Brian Carter and Little Constable's 'illness' worsened, and they began to vomit loudly, their stomach acid as red as tears, shocking to behold.

Brian Carter's face was twisted in pain, his body trembling uncontrollably. Little Constable, stubborn by nature, clenched her teeth tightly, swaying as she stood up, pointing at Samuel Wright and hoarsely shouting in anger, "Traitor, you poisoned us!" Little Constable Reed knew she had been poisoned. Up to now, she had only eaten Samuel Wright's flower-shaped steamed bun, and Brian Carter had also broken off a piece to taste, ending up the same as her. If it wasn't the one surnamed Rong who poisoned them, then who?

Muttering curses, Little Constable Reed staggered toward the three Yan State warriors. Brian Carter also struggled to his feet, limbs twitching, following behind her.

Normally, the one surnamed Rong could have easily cleared himself of suspicion with a single sentence: "You asked me for the steamed buns—how could I have known in advance and prepared poisoned buns just for you?" But now, his insides were in chaos, and he had no energy to deal with others. He used all his strength to maintain a sliver of clarity in his mind and reminded his two subordinates, "There is a powerful poison user lying in ambush—be on guard and protect the master!" With that, he sat down, trying to suppress the effects of the poison with his inner breath.

The two constables and the three assassins were not far apart. As Samuel Wright sat down, Little Constable was already staggering forward, gritting her teeth, ready to fight them to the death. One of Rong's subordinates shouted, "Courting death!" and reached behind to shatter a long package, drawing a sword that gleamed cold as water, thrusting it forward.

But this sword strike was far below his usual standard when practicing or facing an enemy... He was on high alert for the hidden poison user, carefully protecting the 'boss', and also worried that he himself might have been poisoned. His mind was split in several directions, making it impossible to focus on his swordplay. Besides, Little Constable was already gravely poisoned—just making it over was a struggle—so there was no need to be too careful. Any random sword strike would be enough to take her head.

Little Constable thought to herself that she was deeply poisoned and doomed, so when the opponent struck, she didn't even try to dodge, only hoping to take the enemy down with her. At that moment, a pair of hands suddenly reached out from the side, gripping the opponent's sword blade tightly... black hands. At some point, Brian Carter had put on the scaly gloves used for corpse assembly, and the sharp sword could not cut through the scales. Without thinking, Little Constable formed her right hand into a chisel and struck out fiercely.

Even she hadn't expected that, in this all-out attack, her inner energy would flow smoothly, completely unaffected by the 'deadly poison'—fast, steady, and powerful, landing squarely on the opponent's chest acupoint. The swordsman let out a roar; though heavily struck, he was still fiercely brave. Before collapsing, he whipped his head forward, delivering a headbutt. Little Constable Reed was caught off guard and took the blow directly. Fortunately, the enemy's vital point had been hit first and the headbutt came after, so the force wasn't too strong. Little Constable Reed's head spun, her eyes blurred with tears and snot, but she was otherwise unharmed.

After the headbutt, the first swordsman could hold on no longer and collapsed in a heap, unconscious. The second swordsman was carefully protecting Samuel Wright, but unexpectedly, the two constables who should have been on death's door suddenly became full of life and ambushed his companion, seriously injuring him. Shocked, he didn't say a word and turned his sword on them.

Little Constable's martial arts were decent, on par with the second swordsman, but she usually made a lot of noise and had little real combat experience. Now that her body had returned to normal, her desperation faded, replaced by confusion. The fight became a muddle for her; the swordsman, having learned from his companion's fate, now fought with all his might.

With this shift in momentum, plus the lingering effects of the headbutt, Little Constable was completely suppressed by the flashing sword, flustered and unable even to draw her own blade. Just as she was about to be struck down, a pair of black hands suddenly reached out again... Because the first swordsman had had his back to his companion earlier, the other hadn't seen what happened during the scuffle, so he was completely unprepared. His sword was caught by Brian Carter using the same trick as before.

Both swordsmen had been caught off guard and had their weapons seized, but the first was distracted, while the current one was fully focused on the fight. Though shocked, he reacted quickly, twisting his wrist to snap the sword, then lunged forward with the broken blade, stabbing at Brian Carter's chest.

What had been a disadvantage was now turned into a killing move. The broken sword flashed like lightning. Brian Carter was terrified, twisting his body with all his might to barely avoid a fatal wound, but the broken sword plunged deep into his right shoulder. In agony, Brian Carter swung his left hand fiercely!

In Brian Carter's left hand was the other half of the broken sword...

The assassin had already anticipated that Brian Carter would counterattack when he broke his own sword, so he was on guard. As soon as Brian Carter's right shoulder moved, he immediately dodged away—except... he had anticipated the move, but not the speed.

Even with preparation, he couldn't avoid it.

A flash of cold light, blood splattering—Brian Carter's half of the broken sword struck the second assassin right in the heart.

The two of them tumbled to the ground, locked together.

Chapter Twelve: Gritting Teeth

Back in the carriage fleeing Great Yan years ago, Physician Sullivan's muttered words—"Someday I'll give you an extraordinary body"—were not empty talk.