Chapter 48: Assassination

After nearly two months of expansion and renovation, Ironwood Fortress had taken on a completely new look.

The perimeter wall had been doubled in thickness.

Pounded earth was packed tight with a core of gravel, and the outer layer was studded with sharp wooden stakes to prevent enemy scaling.

The defensive trenches were widened and deepened once more.

Their bottoms were bristling with sharpened wooden stakes, and their surfaces were camouflaged with withered branches and weeds.

Arrow towers stood proudly at the four corners of the garrison fortress, about three zhang high, built entirely of wood and coated with wet mud for fire resistance.

Each arrow tower could accommodate five archers, commanding a height advantage whose range covered the entire perimeter.

The watchtower, meanwhile, was constructed directly above the main gate of the garrison fortress, towering even higher than the arrow towers with an exceptional field of vision.

Two auxiliary soldiers took turns on duty atop the tower day and night, equipped with a bronze gong and warning whistles; the moment any enemy movement was detected, an alarm would be sounded immediately.

The interior of the fortress had undergone an even more drastic transformation.

The western side was designated as the living quarters, where three new rows of barracks had been built, each capable of housing eight men.

The eastern side was a production zone, where five iron furnaces burned day and night, and the rhythmic, deafening clang of the blacksmith's forge echoed ceaselessly.

Blacksmith Zhao and his apprentices followed Lin Chuan’s "assembly-line" method, dividing the forging of arrowheads into three distinct processes: hammering, quenching, and grinding. This increased efficiency by more than threefold compared to traditional methods.

Further inward lay the warehouses and the stables.

The previous ambush on the Tatar centurion unit had resulted in the death or injury of seventy or eighty warhorses.

Even so, twenty remained—quite enough to form an elite cavalry unit.

It was just that the daily consumption of forage and grain made one's heart ache.

Outside the main gate, a figure slowly approached.

The auxiliary soldier on guard duty narrowed his eyes, looking the visitor up and down.

It was a woman dressed in black, in her early twenties, with a slender figure.

A thin sword wrapped in hemp cloth hung at her waist, and the brim of her black gauze bamboo hat was still stained with dust.

"Who goes there?"

"A refugee," the woman replied, her voice cool and detached. "I heard you provide meals here."

The auxiliary soldier was taken aback. "Little lady, our garrison doesn't take in idlers. Can you do laundry and cook?"

The black gauze lifted slightly, revealing a flash of a chin as white as jade.

"I can forge swords."

On the drill ground, Lin Chuan was trying out his newly modified battle armor.

The newly forged breastplate was a bit tight, pressing against his chest and leaving him breathless.

"Commander!" The auxiliary soldier approached with the woman in tow. "This young lady wants to be a blacksmith..."

Lin Chuan turned his head, locking eyes with a pair of pupils like cold stars.

The woman in black was already standing three zhang away.

"Be a blacksmith?"

Hu Dayong spoke up first. "Since when do women become blacksmiths? Can you even swing a hammer?"

"You are Battalion Commander Lin?"

The woman stepped past Hu Dayong without hesitation and walked straight toward Lin Chuan.

Lin Chuan’s right hand instinctively moved toward the hilt of his saber.

For some reason, looking into her eyes felt bone-chillingly cold.

"I am."

Almost the exact moment the final syllable fell, the black robes blossomed outward like a sudden gust of wind in the morning sun.

The woman’s figure was like a phantom as she delivered a palm strike straight to his chest.

"Bang!"

Lin Chuan felt a tremendous force crash against his chest, and his entire body was sent flying backward.

In that instant, the entire drill ground seemed to freeze for a fraction of a second.

Everyone was left rooted to the spot.

That streak of black shadow swept past like a ghost, the edge of her blade cutting through the air with a sharp, piercing hiss.

Lin Chuan’s pupils suddenly constricted.

He instinctively tried to draw his saber, but only managed to pull out half the blade.

"Clang!"

Amidst a harsh, ear-splitting screech of clashing metal, sparks flew in all directions.

The edge of the sword grazed past his wrist.

The woman’s momentum did not stop; her black skirt flared like the wings of a night raven as she delivered a fierce roundhouse kick.

Lin Chuan hastily sidestepped, and the heavy kick slammed into the weapon rack.

"Boom!" The entire wooden rack shattered instantly, and a dozen sabers and spears clattered noisily to the ground.

"Assassins—!"

Hu Dayong’s roar finally echoed.

He had barely taken two steps forward when the woman whirled around, her palm already striking toward his chest.

"Bang!"

Amidst a dull, heavy impact, the burly man weighing nearly two hundred catties was sent flying like a kite with a snapped string.

He crashed heavily against the earthen stove where medicine was being brewed.

"Crash—!"

The clay pot shattered into pieces, and scalding medicinal broth mixed with burning charcoal splashed everywhere.

Amidst the chaos, Zhang Xiaoni was the first to snap back to his senses.

He nocked an arrow and drew his bow in one fluid motion. With a crisp "thwip," the arrow flew straight toward the woman’s back.

A spine-chilling sight unfolded before them—

The woman in black did not even look back as her right hand shot backward like a slithering snake, catching the flying arrow with pinpoint precision!

The feathers at the tail of the arrow were still vibrating between her fingers, emitting a faint buzzing sound.

Lin Chuan saw it clearly and couldn't help letting out a curse.

Wasn't this precisely the legendary "catching arrows barehanded" he had always dreamed of?

Witnessing it with his own eyes now, only a single thought remained in his mind: Incredible!

"Ah—!"

One-eyed Long let out a fierce roar, snatched up a basket filled with damp earth, and hurled it at the woman with all his might.

The woman countered with a backhand strike, shattering the basket mid-air, and the mud cascaded down like a torrential rainstorm.

Her expression remained unchanged as her long sword trembled slightly, a flash of cold light blooming like snow in an instant.

Lin Chuan felt the sword light dazzle his eyes, and a "clink, clink" of impacts sounded against his chest, forcing him to stumble backward.

Two distinct cracks had actually been gouged into his breastplate.

"Oh?"

The woman in black let out a soft exclamation of surprise, clearly not expecting his armor to be so tough.

Taking advantage of the momentum, Lin Chuan turned and fled, sprinting straight toward the edge of the drill ground.

Over there, Yun Niang was holding a tray of freshly steamed buns, the rising steam blurring her vision.

Hearing a sudden commotion, she raised her head in a daze.

She saw Lin Chuan tumbling across the ground in a panic, with the woman in black clinging to him like a shadow.

Several combat soldiers rushed toward the woman.

With a series of dull thuds, they were sent flying backward one after another, crashing down in a dizzying heap.

"Clatter!"

Lin Chuan knocked over a water vat and suddenly grabbed a handful of wet mud, flinging it outward.

The woman raised her sword to parry, but the mud splattered with a loud slap right in mid-air, coating her entire face.

"Ugh!" The woman instinctively closed her eyes.

In that fleeting fraction of a second, Lin Chuan lunged forward fiercely.

He wrapped his arms around the woman's waist.

Entangled together, the two of them crashed directly into the fodder shed.

The dry hay erupted into a cloud, drifting down in a chaotic flurry.

Yun Niang’s eyes widened in shock. "W-what's going on?"

"Quick! Go save the commander!"

The crowd swarmed forward, but stopped abruptly right in front of the fodder shed.

Two figures were rolling and grappling amidst the falling straw.

The black robes and the battle armor were already hopelessly entangled.

Lin Chuan could even clearly smell the faint fragrance of the person's body mixed with sweat.

This was the first time in his life he had ever encountered an assassination attempt.

Even more absurdly, the assassin was a young woman.

"What the hell..."

His temples throbbed violently.

During the lightning-fast exchange just moments ago, he hadn't even been able to track the path of her sword.

The palm strike he had taken to the chest was still throbbing with dull pain.

His opponent was unequivocally a martial arts expert!

He had no experience fighting against masters.

Therefore, at this moment, he knew only the clumsiest method.

That was to close in tight and deny her any space to maneuver.

This decision couldn't be called a tactic, nor could it be considered a measured combat reaction.

It was purely a desperate final struggle in the face of death.

Who knew if the opponent possessed some devastating secret art capable of shattering his internal organs with a single blow?

So his only option was to lunge, grapple, lock her up, let her break free, lunge again, grapple...

Meanwhile, the woman in black was driven to the verge of madness.

The target she had been hired to assassinate today looked decent enough and even wore a full suit of armor.

Only once they started fighting did she realize he was nothing more than a weakling.

According to the plan, she wouldn't need to expend much effort to kill her target, sever his head, and make a leisurely escape.

After all, they were just a bunch of brute-strength soldiers; under her sword, none of them should have lasted a single round.

It was just that she wasn't bloodthirsty.

Having accepted the contract to kill Lin Chuan, she would only kill Lin Chuan; the others weren't worth the effort.

Yet plans never quite kept up with changes...

Who would have thought this Lin Chuan would truly be as cunning and unscrupulous as the people of Squire Zhang had claimed?

She had practiced martial arts since childhood; regardless of who her opponent was, none had ever survived past three moves against her.

Yet the fellow before her fought like a common street ruffian!

Amidst the flying hay, Lin Chuan gripped the woman's wrists tightly, the veins on the back of his hands bulging.

The woman delivered a vicious knee strike, causing Lin Chuan to grunt softly, but he used the momentum to throw his entire body weight downward, pinning her into the pile of hay.

"Let go!"

The woman’s body suddenly stiffened, her voice laced with a hint of panic.