Things are different now. Before, they didn't dare make a move against the Assassin Alliance—partly because they lacked manpower, and partly because too many people were watching them. If they really went after the Assassin Alliance, they'd expose their own strength.
But now, things have changed. The Four Kingdoms and Nine Cities are all busy with their own chaos, Prince Nolan is missing, and no one is watching him—or has time to care about these Jianghu vendettas.
As for manpower, they've gained a huge advantage now: Sean Xuan led the charge to wipe out the Demon Sect, and his status in Jianghu is unmatched. If Sean calls, plenty of people will follow him to destroy the Assassin Alliance.
And as for where the Assassin Alliance is located, that's not a problem either.
Serena looked at Doudou with a half-smile and asked, "Are you so sure we can't find out where the Assassin Alliance is? Don't forget, before Prince Nolan went after the Demon Sect, nobody knew where the Demon Sect was either."
She was telling Doudou that if they really wanted to, tracking down the Assassin Alliance's headquarters wasn't impossible. Once they found the place, taking action would just be a matter of time.
If we can't do it openly, we'll do it in secret.
Doudou's smile froze for a moment, then he regained his confidence. "Very few people know about the Assassin Alliance. We're even more secretive than the Demon Sect."
He was so sure because no assassin truly belongs to the Assassin Alliance, and no one knows the location of its headquarters except the six Old Monsters and their direct disciples.
All of those people can be trusted—except Doudou forgot one person: Left Shore!
"Doudou, with Left Shore on our side, finding out where the Assassin Alliance is will be easy." Left Shore isn't exactly a gentleman, but he’s not a shameless villain either.
"Left Shore—ah, how could I forget him." Doudou scratched his head and pitifully asked Serena, "Would Left Shore really betray the Assassin Alliance’s location?"
"You can try. As long as he’s alive, Prince Nolan can make anyone talk—including you." Serena made a killing gesture.
Doudou shivered, glanced at Prince Nolan, and quietly retreated to a corner, secretly wondering if he should warn his master to reconsider the order about Serena.
Is it really worth risking everything for the Assassin Alliance’s reputation, just to kill Serena?
The consequences could be serious—just look at what happened to the Demon Sect.
Prince Nolan didn't give Doudou much time to think. Once he confirmed that Prince Rowan and Prince Damien would send troops, he stopped tracking them.
"Let’s go—to the Miasma Forest." Entering now would let them avoid running into Terrence Valen.
"Now? The Miasma Forest is empty." Doudou’s mind was still tangled up with the Assassin Alliance and whether or not to kill Serena.
He and his master hadn’t tried to kill Serena, but that didn’t mean the other five would agree. If they insisted on killing Serena to protect the Assassin Alliance’s reputation, neither he nor his master could stop them.
"Why would you want people in there? Are you hoping to fight Westlyn’s 300,000 troops head-on? Sure, we’re highly skilled, but that doesn’t mean we never get tired. Neither Doudou nor I can just charge into an army of 300,000 like it’s nothing."
"If no one's inside, why go in at all? The Miasma Forest is dangerous—full of poison and swamps. One wrong turn and you're dead." Doudou saw Prince Nolan and Serena heading off, and though he wasn’t thrilled, he obediently got up to follow.
Wuwuwu, he really was pitiful. He’d come to kill Serena, so why had he ended up as her bodyguard? Did he have some kind of masochistic streak?
"Prince Nolan, maybe you should reconsider. Terrence Valen will probably come out soon. If you want to kill him, just wait until the three sides are fighting and then jump in. Why rush into the Miasma Forest now? If you want to die, this isn’t the way…" Doudou chattered nonstop. Prince Nolan was patient, but Serena had no such tolerance.
Serena turned and glared at Doudou. "You can choose to shut up, or you can choose not to go in."
"I’m just worried, is that so wrong?" Doudou sulked, poking his fingers and giving Serena a wounded look that said, You’re bullying me!
Serena snapped, "Fine, keep whining. But let me remind you—we can’t guarantee the Miasma Forest is safe. If you regret coming, there’s still time to turn back."
Serena wasn’t just trying to scare Doudou. Even if Prince Nolan knew the terrain, the Miasma Forest was huge and full of dangers. He couldn’t promise they’d all get out safely.
Everything carries risk—even staying home isn’t truly safe.
"No regrets. Why would I regret it? I’m a man, not made of tofu—I won’t break at the first touch. Serena’s not scared, so why should I be?"
"If you’re not regretting it, then keep quiet and don’t let the Westlyn troops spot us. Don’t forget—Prince Nolan and I are still officially missing; we can’t be seen in public."
"Oh... so that’s why you’re going into the Miasma Forest. But what’s the point if no one’s there?" Doudou still didn’t get it.
Even if you don’t want anyone to know you killed Terrence Valen, is it really worth the risk?
"It’s simple. Terrence Valen is doomed to lose this battle. He won’t be able to break out and will end up retreating into the Miasma Forest—then it’ll be easy to kill him."
"You’re sure?" If Prince Nolan could predict this, he could set up a fortune-telling stand.
"I’m ninety percent sure—unless he wants to die out there." Even with high morale, Westlyn’s 300,000 troops can’t break through a fifty-thousand-man defense in a day or two.
After a couple days, Westlyn’s soldiers will run out of food, and morale will collapse. Prince Rowan and Prince Damien aren’t fools—they’ll see Terrence Valen’s predicament.
At that point, they could just starve Terrence out. When he’s desperate, he’ll have no choice but to retreat into the Miasma Forest again.
Once he’s in the Miasma Forest, neither Eastlyn nor Southlyn can pursue him, so he’ll be safe for a while.
Westlyn might be short on rations, but Terrence Valen won’t be the first to go hungry.
Doudou wanted to ask more, but Prince Nolan cut him off: "Take your anti-poison pill. We're going in."
"Anti-poison pill? You guys actually brought something like that?" It looked like they’d planned to go into the Miasma Forest all along.
"Going into the Miasma Forest without even this much preparation? Did you think we weren’t afraid of dying?" Serena poured out two pills. Doudou eyed them nervously, worried she hadn’t brought one for him, but she handed him one right away.
Doudou swallowed his pill immediately, nearly choking in the process—he coughed and jumped around, but finally got it down. When Serena didn’t pull out a third pill, he felt a little guilty. "Is that all? Prince Nolan hasn’t taken his yet."
This kid really was kind at heart.
"I don’t need one," Prince Nolan said, his tone a bit gentler. Doudou was flattered, but it didn’t last—when they entered the Miasma Forest, Prince Nolan warned him to stick close and behave, and not to expect any rescue if something went wrong...
Prince Nolan, you’re so heartless!