Chapter 34: The "Blood-Colored" Kill Order
The annual Sword Marquis Token competition had come to an end.
At the competition, the peerless genius Jian Meng'er, whom everyone had placed their hopes on, had indeed displayed astonishing talent. However, what no one had expected was that her brilliance would be completely overshadowed by another person.
Jian Wushuang—two months ago, he had been nothing more than an ordinary person without a single trace of spiritual energy. Yet just two months later, at the competition, he rose to fame in a single stroke, not only defeating Jian Meng'er face to face, but even defeating her senior brother Ye Mo, who had already reached the Peak of the Sea Formation stage.
A true monster!
A monster far more monstrous than Jian Meng'er.
For a time, Jian Wushuang became the topic of conversation everywhere in the Sword Marquis Mansion, and even throughout the entirety of Bashui Prefecture, with everyone discussing him with great relish.
Within the prefectural city of Bashui Prefecture, an old man in a gray robe with silvery-white hair, Old Hong, walked alone through the streets and alleys before finally arriving at a neglected, little-visited lane. In this lane stood a shabby wine shop. The shop had been in the city for quite some years, but on ordinary days, hardly anyone came here to buy wine. The entire shop had only its proprietress.
Old Hong entered the shop, glanced at the proprietress behind the counter, and without a word, walked straight into the inner room to wait.
Before long, the proprietress of the wine shop—a middle-aged woman who still carried herself with a trace of dignified grace—walked in.
"Old blind man, how long has it been since you last came to see me in person? Two years, I'd say?" the middle-aged woman said with a smile.
"I've come today because there is something very important," Old Hong said, his expression grave.
"So you can't visit me without a reason? How heartless and ungrateful you are." The middle-aged woman smiled faintly, then asked, "Go on, what is it?"
Old Hong took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "He—the Young Master—has awakened his Sword Soul!"
"What?" The middle-aged woman, who had been utterly composed a moment ago, immediately had her expression turn solemn.
And if Jian Wushuang had been present to hear Old Hong's form of address for him, he would certainly have been greatly surprised.
One must understand that, from his childhood until now, Old Hong had always addressed him as Young Pavilion Master, but now it had become Young Master.
"The Sword Soul! The Soul of the Sword Ancestor!" the middle-aged woman said, her voice solemn. "To think that after the Master awakened his Sword Soul, the Young Master has now awakened his own as well. Father and son awakening their Sword Souls at the same time—this is simply unbelievable!"
"It is unbelievable, but it has happened," Old Hong said. "Although awakening the Sword Soul brings tremendous benefits to the Young Master himself, calamity comes hand in hand with it. If I'm not mistaken, the moment the Young Master's Sword Soul awakened, the people of that place must have sensed it immediately. Their people will soon move against the Young Master."
"Move against the Young Master? Just like what they did to the Master back then?" A trace of killing intent flickered in the middle-aged woman's eyes.
"Exactly. So we must act immediately." Old Hong's voice was grave. He then took out a letter from his robes. "Set out at once and deliver this letter to that person in the Golden Dragon Hall. Have her rush over as fast as possible."
"Understood." The middle-aged woman nodded solemnly. Taking the letter, she set out without the slightest delay.
At the same time, in Qingdong Prefecture of the Tianyan Province, inside a somewhat dim secret chamber.
By candlelight, a purple-robed man with a solemn expression was rapidly perusing the stack of letters laid out before his desk.
Abruptly, the chamber door was pushed open, and a black-robed figure rushed in quickly.
"Hall Master, urgent orders!" The black-robed figure respectfully handed a letter to the purple-robed man.
The purple-robed man tore the letter open, and the first thing he saw was a token entirely blood-red in color, with a clearly carved blood-red character for "Kill" on its front.
"The Blood-Colored Kill Order!" The purple-robed man was greatly shocked.
The organization to which this purple-robed man belonged possessed an immensely vast power, one that struck fear into the hearts of all who heard its name across the entire Tianzong Dynasty. The orders issued by the uppermost echelons of their organization came in many varieties—such as the Bronze Kill Order, the Silver Kill Order, and the Gold Kill Order—but the Blood-Colored Kill Order was the supreme command of their organization, one that only their organization's mysterious leader had the authority to issue.
Blood-Colored Kill meant that any price could be paid, so long as the target was slain. Even if every expert sent to carry out the assassination perished in the attempt, it would be worth it.
And since the founding of their organization so long ago, this Blood-Colored Kill Order had only been issued a handful of times.
"Pass down the order. All assassins of 'Silver Mask' rank and above are to return immediately. No matter what they are currently doing—even those who have accepted missions—they are to abandon or postpone them at once. In short, anyone who fails to return within three days of receiving this order will be executed without exception!" the purple-robed man said coldly.
"Yes." The black-robed figure nodded respectfully.
The purple-robed man continued to read the letter.
"Bashui Prefecture, Sword Marquis Mansion, Jian Wushuang..."
"From this day forward, monitor the target's every move. Before we make our move, he must on no account slip from our sight!"
……
Sword Marquis Mansion. Five days had already passed since the end of the competition.
During these five days, two major events had taken place within the Sword Marquis Mansion.
The first was that the Mansion Master, Jian Xinhong, personally appointed Jian Wushuang as the new Pavilion Master of the Sword Pavilion.
Regarding this matter, no one in the Sword Marquis Mansion found it strange. After all, two months earlier, Jian Xinhong had appointed Jian Meng'er as Pavilion Master of the Sword Pavilion, planning to hold the succession ceremony after the competition. But at the competition, Jian Meng'er had been directly defeated by Jian Wushuang in front of so many people. Moreover, Jian Wushuang himself was a member of the Sword Pavilion, and his swordsmanship was unrivaled in the world. His succession as Pavilion Master of the Sword Pavilion was clearly far more convincing than Jian Meng'er's.
As for the second matter, it was that Jian Lan, the Grand Elder of the Blood Martial Hall, had resigned from his position as Grand Elder right after the competition ended, left the Sword Marquis Mansion, and gone wandering the world.
This matter did cause quite a stir within the Sword Marquis Mansion, but it was understandable.
After the events at the competition, no one said anything against Jian Meng'er on account of her talent—besides, she had already left with her master to cultivate at the Heavenly Yuan Sword Sect. But Jian Lan had become a joke within the Sword Marquis Mansion, and in private, there was no shortage of gossip and mockery directed at him. Jian Lan knew his own limitations, so resigning from his position as Grand Elder and leaving the Sword Marquis Mansion was, in the end, a good choice.
In a courtyard, Jian Wushuang practiced his swordsmanship alone.
Sword light flickered, dazzling and elusive.
After a long while, Jian Wushuang sheathed his sword and stood.
"It's already been five days, yet my body still hasn't fully recovered," Jian Wushuang murmured with quiet emotion.
The Spirit-Seizing Secret Art did too much damage to the body. After using it, his body had remained in a state of extreme weakness, and even now, after five days, he had still not returned to his peak condition.
"Hm?" Jian Wushuang suddenly raised his head and looked toward the courtyard gate, where four aged figures had already walked in. They were none other than the Four Great Elders of the Sword Pavilion, led by Old Hong.
"Old Hong, Old Yuan, Old Qing, Old Li." Jian Wushuang called out at once, with due humility.