Knowing oneself and one's opponent is always the most important lesson for a steady assassin. For knowing oneself, Zhang San was very clear about his own strengths and weaknesses.
Zhang San knew that in martial arts, he was actually not inferior to Hei Shanke.
With Iron Vest in the lower stage of the Earth Realm, and White Crane Flies in the lower stage of the Heaven Realm, although he didn't have inner force at the Heaven Realm level as a foundation, which meant his Heaven Realm qinggong could not be utilized 100%, in terms of actual martial arts cultivation, Zhang San was still slightly better than Hei Shanke and Xiu Wangchou.
But Zhang San also clearly understood that he had two huge weaknesses.
Because he was cautious...or you could say, afraid of death, the Iron Vest and White Crane Flies he practiced were very powerful, but the problem was, these two martial arts were only good for self-protection, not for killing enemies. When Zhang San went on missions and killed with his own hands, he almost always relied on poisoning, and the black iron dagger in his hand to assassinate by surprise, or if the opponent was too weak, kill them with inner force vibration.
But the problem was, now he didn't need to escape from Hei Shanke, he needed to kill him!
Facing a top expert at the peak of Earth Realm like Hei Shanke, could he really just smash him to death with Iron Vest? Or stab him to death with a dagger?
The second point, even more serious than the first, was the decisive difference between Zhang San and masters like Hei Shanke and Xiu Wangchou.
That was, Zhang San...had no combat experience!
That's right. With majestic inner force, peerless qinggong, and mastery of stealth, poisoning, assassinating and other professional skills, Zhang San actually had no combat experience.
Almost only using poisoning, sneak attacks, traps and extremely steady tactics on missions, Zhang San who had only done tasks at the Earth Realm level, actually didn't have experience truly fighting against martial artists at the same level, and rarely even fought against Earth Realm martial artists in his life.
Zhang San who thoroughly implemented the three routine tricks of the underworld, was actually a "fake master" when it came to head-on confrontation.
However, now the one he had to kill was Hei Shanke, the number two assassin on the Earth Realm ranking, with countless battles under his belt.
Relying solely on the underworld's three tricks was clearly unrealistic.
...
...
In the secret room, Zhang San had been busy at the medicine table for a long time, leaving Wang Xiaoer watching in admiration.
Wang Xiaoer originally knew that his master was not only a master of medicine, but also knew that his master used poison. But he didn't expect that his master's methods of concocting poison could be so incredibly skillful!
Wang Xiaoer looked at the transparent crystals on the table, and quickly realized that those must be the colorless and odorless poisons often written about in martial arts novels!
"Master, this poison must be some incredible colorless and odorless toxin!" Wang Xiaoer excitedly asked.
Zhang San fixed his eyes on the small medicine stove on the table, and answered while he worked, "It can be considered a poison, and it really is colorless and odorless."
Wang Xiaoer said, "I understand Master, you made this colorless and odorless poison, then you'll secretly slip it into their food and drink, and that way you can poison them to death, right!?"
Upon hearing this, Zhang San sighed first, a nine year old child's mind really does work strangely.
Zhang San frowned and scolded, "What are you thinking? I told you to read less of those fanciful martial arts novels, but you just don't listen! Those are fictional stories, this is the real jianghu, understand?"
Wang Xiaoer rubbed his little head, still not understanding as he looked at the transparent crystals on the table, so he asked, "Master, so you're saying the poison you're making now won't kill people?"
Zhang San explained, "Wang Xiaoer, you need to understand one thing. Poisons in this world that are colorless, odorless, and can't even be detected do exist, and poisons in this world that can kill masters at the Earth Realm level also certainly exist, but a poison that can kill Earth Realm masters yet is undetectable and colorless and odorless, absolutely does not exist in this world!"
Come on, hoping for the poison to be so deadly it could overcome even Earth Realm inner force, yet also be colorless and odorless and easy to slip into food and drink, and best of all, completely undetectable by any method?
Zhang San said, this is the real jianghu, not some fantasy story written by scholars, how could there be such wonderful things?
One must go through so much bitter cultivation to raise their martial arts to the Earth Realm, but then this 'magical' poison comes along and easily kills you just like that. What would be the point of cultivating martial arts then? Everyone should just become master poisoners instead.
And more importantly, as the representation of the highest level of martial arts below the Heaven Realm, masters like Xiu Wangchou and Hei Shanke, including Zhang San himself, ordinary poisons wanting to kill them would be no different than a fantasy.
Although something like the Blood Poison Powder from Poison Valley could take effect, don't forget, when Xiu Wangchou was poisoned by Blood Poison Powder, there were prerequisites in place.
At the time, the Twin Poisons had set a trap, filling the room where the girl was with the miasma of Blood Poison Powder, and the smell of the miasma was very obvious. That's why they came up with the scheme of setting fire to the building to cover up the poisonous smell, which allowed Xiu Wangchou to be caught off guard.
And even with Blood Poison Powder, it could not immediately take Xiu Wangchou's life. If the Twin Poisons hadn't hindered Xiu Wangchou and prevented him from operating his inner force to force out the poison, allowing the toxicity to seep deep into his meridians, otherwise even with such heavy injuries Xiu Wangchou may not have been so heavily injured.
After being reprimanded by his master, Wang Xiaoer was clearly somewhat dissatisfied.
Wang Xiaoer retorted, "Then Master, what are you making this for?"
Zhang San calmly said, "The assassins from Dark Building are much more vigilant than Xiu Wangchou. It's nearly impossible to poison them to death, but why would I need to poison them to death anyway? I only need an opportunity."
"What opportunity?" asked Wang Xiaoer.
"An opportunity to fight Hei Shanke one-on-one." Zhang San said frankly.
From his observations outside the county government building that morning, Zhang San understood that Hei Shanke's eight men were all at the lower stage of Earth Realm, experts with bows and arrows. Although Xiu Wangchou had crippled the eyes of three of them, for masters, hearing could make up for lack of sight, and they could still shoot accurately.
With Hei Shanke's Dark Building assassin blade techniques, one in front and eight behind, to tell the truth, Zhang San believed that even without injury yesterday, it would still be difficult for even Xiu Wangchou alone to win against Hei Shanke plus his eight archers, and if Dark Building's men were utterly shameless like Zhang San himself, ganging up nine against one from the start, Xiu Wangchou probably wouldn't have just lost, but died for sure.
"Master..." Wang Xiaoer was very hesitant, clearly not believing in Zhang San's martial arts.
Zhang San lowered his head to look at Wang Xiaoer and asked, "As long as we fight one-on-one, I do have a chance of winning."
Wang Xiaoer looked at the transparent crystals on the table, realizing that the key to his master's opportunity must be those things, but immediately thought of a serious problem and asked, "Then Master, you said those assassins from Dark Building are so formidable, how are you going to poison them?"
The vigilance of assassins at that level in the underworld was definitely extraordinary. Not to mention slipping them poison, they'd likely be on alert from just one step into the county government building.
Zhang San gave a faint smile and said, "Do you still remember, early yesterday morning, when the county magistrate went out, the two of us were drinking tea in the teahouse?"
"Of course I remember."
"That waiter said something very interesting, didn't he?" Zhang San revealed a smile to Wang Xiaoer.
Wang Xiaoer suddenly understood, but still asked, "Master, could it really just rely on a well...?"
Zhang San said, "Of course it won't work relying solely on well water, we still need a 'Heaven's help'."