Wu An walked into his courtyard with his men.
“Here, boy. Come here.” Wu An signaled toward a corner. Before long, two vicious dogs rushed out.
Bark! The black dog, covered in thick muscle, let out a low growl, baring its fangs.
“Eat up, Blackie,” Wu An said with a smile. The man behind him then threw out the two severed heads, which the two vicious dogs promptly caught in their jaws.
If Zhang Wuji were here, he would have recognized these two heads as the two people he had told to retreat first from the inn that night.
Wu An silently watched the flesh being torn from the skulls. The sound of the black dogs chewing made one's skin crawl.
But after watching for only a moment, he knit his brows.
“What is going on outside? Why is it so noisy?”
The man behind him went out to check, and after a brief moment, he returned with a strange expression on his face.
“Young Master Wu, it is our own people arguing outside.” He hesitated before speaking truthfully. “It seems... everyone sent to kill Zhang Wuji died horrible deaths in the inn.”
“The relatives of those brothers went to collect their bereavement pay, and an argument broke out.”
What? Wu An's face turned grim. He got up and kicked the black dog hard. It let out a whimper and ran off with its tail between its legs.
“What do you mean they all died horrible deaths in the inn? What about Shen Liang?” Wu An asked coldly.
Shen Liang was the man with the cut brow.
“He is dead too. His head was sliced clean off,” the man said in fear, not daring to look Wu An in the eye.
“Bastards!”
Wu An cursed. What a pack of useless fools! They couldn't even handle a simple task like this.
He kicked the door open and stormed toward the rowdy crowd.
At this moment, the crowd was in utter chaos. They had all heard of their relatives' or brothers' deaths, and had come to collect the bereavement pay or help the families do so.
But to be told they couldn't receive it—how could they not be furious!
“There are rules in the Martial Alliance! Fallen brothers are entitled to a bereavement payout! This is what they earned!”
“What right do you have to withhold it? I want to see the Alliance Leader and demand an explanation!”
A few of them grew highly agitated, even shouting at the top of their lungs.
However, they were only met with sneers. The hall's supervisor looked at them coldly.
“Then go find the Alliance Leader and ask him. As for bereavement pay, don't even dream about it!” he said disdainfully.
“What is all this shouting about?!”
Just then, Wu An walked up from behind the crowd, his face dark as he glared at everyone.
“You want bereavement pay? A bunch of useless trash who can't even get a single job done doesn't deserve bereavement pay,” he sneered.
The crowd's expressions turned incredibly dark upon hearing this. They glared deathly at Wu An, their eyes bloodshot with intense fury.
Wu An was already in a terrible mood, and seeing this made him lose what little patience he had left.
“Get the hell back to where you came from, or get the hell out of the Martial Alliance today!”
Several cold laughs echoed from the crowd. Why stay in a place like this any longer?
With a crisp clatter, a wooden plaque engraved with the character “Wu” was tossed onto the ground in front of Wu An.
Clatter. Clatter. Clatter...
Wooden plaques were continuously thrown down. Wu An's face grew uglier and uglier with every crisp sound. Finally, everyone in the crowd had thrown down their plaques.
They only gave Wu An a cold, lingering glare, saying nothing more as they turned and walked away.
“A bunch of useless trash!” Wu An muttered a curse.
The supervisor saw Wu An's livid expression. He didn't offer any words of comfort, but simply stood quietly to the side, waiting for him to leave.
Only after Wu An had vented his anger by kicking the wooden plaques on the ground did he stomp back to his courtyard. The supervisor glanced at his retreating back, then left through another door in the main hall.
He walked down a long corridor and deep into a backyard filled with lush green plants, where someone had already been waiting for a long time.
That person was none other than one of the most agitated protesters from earlier.
“How did it go?” the supervisor asked.
The man nodded. “They are furious. Everyone has a fire burning in their hearts. A little guidance is all it will take.”
The supervisor nodded with satisfaction. Seeing that the man had no intention of leaving, he asked in confusion, “Is there something else?”
The man first scanned the surroundings secretly. After confirming there was no one around, he slowly retrieved a letter from the innermost pocket of his robes and handed it to the supervisor with both hands.
The supervisor took it curiously. There was no signature on the letter. He opened the envelope and pulled out the paper. At the very top, there was only a single line of characters, but it caused his expression to instantly change.
By His Majesty's Personal Command!
The supervisor hurriedly knelt down, holding the paper high with both hands. Written upon it in plain black ink was:
“Accelerate the formation of the Tianxia Association. I want to see the Martial Alliance replaced within a week. If you miss the opportunity, your entire clan will be executed!”
After reading this letter, the supervisor's legs went weak, and he slumped directly to the ground. Replacing the Martial Alliance with the Tianxia Association within a week?
Was this some kind of joke...
Although they had been sowing discord and provoking internal conflicts over the past year, it was still far from enough to actually replace the Martial Alliance. Not to mention Wu Changfeng sitting at the helm, there were also so many martial arts experts stationed there.
The handful of people they had managed to instigate was simply not enough to mount a challenge!
The man slowly took a step forward and whispered, “Do not worry. Although things indeed look very difficult right now, it is not entirely without a turning point.”
The supervisor looked at him in despair. A turning point... What kind of turning point could possibly bring down the number one martial arts power in the entire Tianwu Kingdom?
“His Majesty has invited the Inner Palace's Number One Enshrined Master, and has also sent his left and right-hand assistants to serve as guardians.”
The supervisor listened in a daze. Who did he invite? He invited Elder Li?!
“Please, you must convey my words to His Majesty! Seven days from now, he will definitely see a brand-new Martial Alliance!”
“Very good. His Majesty thinks highly of you.”
After a few more instructions, the supervisor left the backyard filled with confidence.
Once the supervisor had completely departed, the man pulled up his hood. As he did so, the sleeve that had covered his arm slipped down, revealing a very bizarre arm...
...
“Young Master, who on earth are you?!” Ning Qingzhu demanded, clutching his sleeve.
The others lowered their heads to eat, desperately pretending to be blind. This green vegetable was so chewy, this meat was so tasty to drink, and this soup was delicious.
“I, uh... Before I retired from the jianghu, I was a famous assassin,” Jiang Moran said with a solemn and serious face, looking every bit the part.
An assassin! Ning Qingzhu's heart skipped a beat. No wonder the movement technique her Young Master taught her was so formidable.
“Yes, I was once Earth-Rank Assassin Number Seventeen of the Liang Kingdom's Assassin Hall.”
Jiang Moran added, “The Assassin Hall is the largest assassin organization in the Kingdom of Liang, divided into three ranks: Heaven, Earth, and Mortal. There are a hundred in the Mortal Rank, thirty-five in the Earth Rank, and seven in the Heaven Rank.”
The largest assassin organization... Ning Qingzhu was utterly shocked. No wonder her Young Master was so incredibly powerful; not only did he come from an assassin background, but he was also one of the Earth-Rank assassins of a top organization!
Phoo. Fengqingzi spat out a bone fragment. He had an expression of one hundred and twenty percent agreement on his face, but his eyes held a hundred percent disbelief.
The senior was clearly just teasing Ning Qingzhu. If an Earth-Rank assassin could slaughter a Prince's Residence, wouldn't a Heaven-Rank assassin be able to assassinate the Emperor whenever they pleased?
If there were seven Heaven-Rank assassins in the Assassin Hall, why would the organization still be lying low in the Kingdom of Liang? If they actually had that kind of power, the Emperor of Liang would have driven them out long ago.
Besides, wasn't Earth-Rank Assassin Number Seventeen already dead?
But Jiang Moran could not care less. Having successfully fooled Ning Qingzhu, he quickly made up an excuse to slip away, heading to the inn's entrance to get some fresh air.
He leaned against a door pillar, listening to the sounds of playful bickering coming from inside the inn, a faint smile gracing the corners of his lips.
From this meeting, he could feel that the young girl had grown a lot. Her mind was more mature, and she was at least ruthless enough in her actions.
Taking a sip of wine, Jiang Moran gazed at the moon in the sky, enjoying this moment of tranquility.
Hoot, hoot—
Suddenly, the cry of a bird echoed from overhead. Jiang Moran's hand holding the wine gourd paused. He was all too familiar with this cry...
He hummed a strange tune from his mouth, and the bird circling in the sky immediately dived down, landing on Jiang Moran's outstretched arm.
This kind of bird was called a messenger crow, specifically trained to deliver messages by learning a specific tone.
The tune Jiang Moran hummed was a secret signal between him and one of his few old friends.
He retrieved the letter tube from the messenger crow's leg and opened it. The lazy expression that usually remained unchanged no matter what finally shifted, giving way to an indescribable look.
The moonlight illuminated the paper, on which only a single sentence was written.
“Obituary: My father Lin Yuanzu has passed away. He has specially left a jar of fine wine at home. It was my father's dying wish that you taste it!”
Rate on N.U.
