Protector
Ming Feizhen whipped the broadsword again. While it wasn’t uncommon for a blade user to make their blade appear transparent, it was incredibly rare to find someone who could perform it as smoothly as Ming Feizhen. The leader, who watched everything unfold, still found it all surreal.
After ensuring every Hanlin Academician was unconscious, the leader of the assassins questioned, “Is… he dead?”
“No.”
The speed at which Ming Feizhen replied gave the impression that he was always watching him, so the leader juddered.
Ming Feizhen went up the leader and looked down at him. “He gave me something I want, so I gave him back a little. He cut my junior brother, though, so he has to pay with blood and pain close to death. I erased his martial arts to give him a taste of his own medicine.”
The leader would’ve doubted Vivianite was still alive when he saw the cut marks on Vivianite’s exposed back bones. After witnessing it all in real time, nevertheless, he couldn’t doubt it; in fact, he wasn’t sure who was scarier between the one who pulled off the feat or the one who survived the damage.
“Enough wasting time. I know you heard my conversation with Vivianite. You know I won’t kill if I get something out of you.”
The leader forced himself to smile. “Thought so… You wanted me to hear that.”
“I spared your three remaining allies. Tell me: who are you people?”
“Will you really spare us if I tell you?”
“On my honour.”
“Can you let the two of them go first?”
Ming Feizhen spun around and chopped the archer on the ground.
“What are you doing?!”
“How am I supposed to let him go conscious? Oi, come in!”
A middle-aged man outside the door shakily entered.
“Pick him up, and get out of here.”
The doctor stole a quick glance at the leader, then picked up the archer and speedily left. Firstly, he didn’t want to waste the leader’s decision. Secondly, he knew the archer needed treatment – fast.
Once he ensured the doctor had escaped, the leader heaved a breath. “… Can you tell me where we went wrong? How were you alone able to corner us?”
“… Slow. You’re slow and drag your feet. Furthermore, you lack experience in assassination. It’s true that my options are limited at the exam venue. At the same time, however, that applies to you, too. Accordingly, you were forced to come after me one at a time, so I only had to fight one at a time. You’d have had better chances if you were like Yan Liren. Unfortunately for you, all of you personally jumped into the arena. That’s a terrible risk for an assassin. There’s no room for error against an opponent stronger than you. What gave you the idea that I wasn’t a threat as long as you assembled a team while I’m weaker than you? You should’ve pulled out after the first failure. Instead, you chose to assemble. I’ve yet to see a stupider decision.”
“How did you… know we’d assemble?”
“I may be alone, but all of you are my eyes and ears.” Ming Feizhen smiled. “I can hear you as soon as you speak.”
“… So that’s it.”
Ming Feizhen riveted for a moment, then smiled again. “So you had another member hiding underground.”
Just then, Ming Feizhen heard unusual sounds underground, presumably that of an assassin fleeing.
“Did you ask me all those questions to gather data so that you could make another attempt on my life?”
“As long as you’re still human… we’ll have another opportunity.”
“Break a leg. A chance certainly will come. I just let another off. You should answer my question now, right? Who exactly are you people?”
“Who are we? Who are we?” The leader felt as though he was looking at the same dispassionate Ming Feizhen from that day, that battle, in the past, killing people without batting an eye. Ming Feizhen hadn’t changed.
Innumerable heroes were soaked in their own blood in death that day. The world believed that the culprit was Sky Realm Palace’s leader, but the leader of the assassins knew who the true culprit was.
The leader used to be called Mao Dalong, Brocade Jade, because he also carried around his iron case on him, which housed his signature weapon – a jade belt. Almighty Escort Service’s owner thought most highly of Mao Dalong among the young generation for his skill with the soft weapon.
Almighty Escort Service used to be one of the top four escort companies in the martial world. If they saw Almighty Escort Service’s flags, no bandit would dare to raid their escort.
That fateful day, the weather was perfect; even the water was clear. Yet, it became a day where many lost their most important people and many became obsessed with revenge. Ever since that day, they had to wander from place to place with nowhere to call home. Whilst training to exact their vengeance, they left no stones unturned to find the sparse information they could on the culprit. Sometimes, their searches were fruitless, but they didn’t give up. When they heard people after Ming Feizhen’s life were assembling in the capital, they immediately joined. There was no way they were going to let Ming Feizhen find out where they were hiding, or their revenge would be dashed.
Mao Dalong laughed hysterically and then turned his head to bite a red ball by the side of his neck. Ming Feizhen reacted faster than the naked eye could follow, slicing the half of the ball still exposed from Mao Dalong’s mouth. The part still in Mao Dalong’s mouth exploded inside his mouth.
You demon… We… we… we will eventually kill you… I will not let you know where our base is… Brothers, hide yourselves well. Hide your blades. Wait for the moment under our new banner. Wait… until… we can personally take his…
“Hahaha, hahaha, Long live… Yizhen Alliance!”
Thud!
Mao Dalong went out with a bang – literally.
Wang Zhenyun hurried outside to assure the imperial guards that nothing requiring their attention had taken place.
Ming Feizhen stood in place for a long, long time. “Yizhen Alliance… What the hell is that?”
