Hong Zhao waited in the direction he knew the cultivator would come from. His senses had stretched out a mile away, with eagle vision activated, it was almost like he had a bird's eye view from his location. As he waited, he could see the lower ranked fierce beasts within the area, which knew if they came close enough to the village, it was likely they would meet a villager's plate. Other than that, everything else was dark. He knew he wouldn't be able to sense the qi of his own men, thanks to Lan's qi blocking uniforms, but he should be able to pick up the location of their mystery cultivator. He silently admonished himself for having sent Shadow after Li Wuhan, right when he might need the added muscle.
The report from Song Bao put the strength of the cultivator at only a ninth star student rank. The cultivator was more than likely a shadow of the previous cultivators, staying behind the others just in case of an ambush, that way he or she would be overlooked and be able to follow the others back, or at least trek forward to find the location of their base. He silently thanked whatever god was watching over them that the cultivator didn't just high tail it back to Yuan City to inform the City Lord of the attack. If the cultivator was smarter, they would have already been waiting for the execution party.
Hong Zhao had the home party a mile between each other within a perimeter of their base. Each eagle vision lapped the other, that way they'd be able to sense when one of them went down. Hong Zhao concentrated on the link with the others, his own eagle vision had them all within his sights. If one went down, they would converge on that location. Even though this cultivator was only a ninth star student rank, he or she had taken down a first star disciple ranked cultivator, and by the description of the weapon, he had a pretty good idea of who was on her way.
"All personnel, if this cultivator is spotted, send coordinates directly to me. Do not engage the target unless you are first attacked. I believe I know who this person is." He said into his voice transmission pearl.
"How nice, you care that much." A honeyed voice replied from a few paces away.
Hong Zhao looked up within the tree to his three o'clock. "Hello, Ren Cai." He smiled as he jumped up to the tree next to hers. "You know, you don't have to kill one of my men to get my attention. You could have just sent flowers."
"It's funny. You have that silly uniform on, yet I know it's you 'Hong Zhao'." She said his name with air quotes.
Hong Zhao took off his cultivation blocking mask. His dark hair fell to his face as he smiled at the young girl. "I know who you are as well. Your needles gave you away during your match." He raised an eyebrow. "I have many questions for you. Firstly," Hong Zhao's smile turned stern. "Why did you kill one of my men?"
"It's not my fault that your little trooper didn't have enough discipline to keep his senses sharpened. I did you a favor." She brushed a strand of her dark hair from her eye and peered at him with her hazel eyes. "Now the others of your ragtag team might learn to keep their guard up, especially when everything seems to be in the clear."
"That's just like you." Hong Zhao shook his head. He knew this woman from his previous life. On more than one occasion, he was partnered up with her on assassination missions. Her previous beauty was both captivating and just as deadly as the needles she used. He had never had the pleasure of knowing her name, such is the life of an assassin. The less your partner knows about you, the less likely you would wake up to a knife at your throat.
This particular black widow was an assassin for hire. If someone were to employ her, the likeliness of a successful mission was a ninety nine percent. The issue was, after the mission was complete, she would likely kill the employer without a second thought if they ended up being her next target. She had no perception of comradery. She had no loved ones that he had ever learned about. No connections whatsoever.
The woman that this girl had once been used the same weapons that Ren Cai did. She had an intimate knowledge of chakra points within the human body. She knew exactly which spot she needed to place a needle to leave a man without the use of his legs for an hour, or permanently, depending on what the mission parameters were. She could just as easily kill with a needle to the jugular. It wasn't the effectiveness of her trade that inspired awe, but the gracefulness of how it was done. Hong Zhao had been on missions where she paralyzed foreign diplomats during dances. He had also been in back ally brawls which led to a massacre, all with needles in their necks.
From all the deaths by needle that had happened, it was hard for the world to ignore. No matter the location, if one would find a needle in a jugular, it would be a calling card for the most notorious killer he had ever had the pleasure of working with, and against. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit, Zheng Chi?"