About a week ago…
Jian Shen was pacing up and down in his room, glancing impatiently at the door. His steward, who stood nearby, remained tense, a shudder rippling through his body when his young master turned to glare at him.
"You did contact the assassins of Dark Shadow Guild, didn't you?"
"Yes, young master…though it seems that you've gotten their name wrong. Apparently they go by the name Night Raid, not Dark Shadow Guild."
"Who cares what their name is?!" Jian Shen snapped. The butler bristled, but didn't say anything. Inwardly, he cursed the impulsive young master. He had gone to inquire about the Dark Shadow Guild, but no one knew or heard anything about them. It was only when he consulted a few friends and used a few connections that someone finally said, "Oh, don't you mean Night Raid?"
If it wasn't for that friend, he would still be running around and engaging in a wild goose's chase, unable to find the Night Raid. So yes, their names mattered. A lot. The Dark Shadow Guild did not exist. Night Raid did not answer to such a name.
"In any event, please do not address them as Dark Shadow Guild, but Night Raid. Otherwise we'll both be in trouble."
"Fine, fine," Jian Shen said irritably, not caring that his lack of research almost costed him. "But you contacted them, right? Where are they?"
"On their way." The steward cleared his throat. "You know how they are. They are assassins, they come and go as they please. They don't care about your reputation or your wealth."
"They should. We're paying them."
And if the amount was right, they would accept the mission to kill you, the butler thought darkly, but didn't voice that out loud. Instead, he tilted his head and then hurried toward the door.
"They are here."
Nobody was outside the door, though. The butler frowned, checking outside and shaking his head. He could have sworn…
"What the…you're just imagining things." Jian Shen was complaining. "If these guys can't even keep their word and show up for an arranged appointment, then how can we trust them to kill the target?"
"Oh, you can trust us. We of Night Raid have never failed a mission before."
The steward froze for a moment before slowly turning around. A hooded figure, dressed entirely in black and having his lower face concealed by a mask, was lying on a couch right next to the young master, polishing his blade. When did he…?
"You?!" Jian Shen yelped, jolting from his seat and scampering away in fright. "How did you…?"
"Through the window," the assassin replied calmly before putting his blade back in his sheath. "You really ought to fortify the windows, young master of the Jian family."
Jian Shen swallowed and then forced himself to calm down. Making himself look dignified again, he took his seat back in the couch next to the assassin and leaned forward.
"We'll pay you five hundred thousand spirit stones to kill that bastard, Hei Ye. Will you accept this task?"
"Who is this Hei Ye? To think that the young master of the Jian family will offer so much for his life." The assassin raised an eyebrow curiously.
"He's a nobody. He's just trash."
"You're paying an awful lot of money for Night Raid to assassinate trash. You might as well hire thugs or pay bandits to take his life then."
"He's too strong for normal thugs or bandits!" Jian Shen protested. "I hired thugs to beat him up, but he crushed them all instead! And the thugs got so angry that they tried to vent their anger on me! I had to run away before they could touch me. Apparently he can survive expeditions to the Crimson Forest and is capable of defeating a Blood Blade from the White Herb Sect! I haven't seen him do those myself, but I'm taking no chances."
The assassin stared at Jian Shen for a moment, absorbing what he was hearing.
"So he's not trash."
"Yes, he is! Except him beating up all the thugs in front of my eyes, I bet all those other rumors are false! He's lying! So I want him to die for his fraudulent deception of Lan Bei Er and everyone else! I want you to expose the trash that he is…"
"Again, if that's what you want, you might as well hire thugs. Because the assassins of Night Raid don't kill trash. Also…" The assassin rubbed his hooded head, his brow wrinkled in a frown. "Let me get this straight. You want this so-called trash dead simply because you think he was lying about his achievements?"
"Yes! And for stealing my woman from me!"
"Ah…Lan Bei Er. I did hear about that. But she was never your woman to begin with."
"Yes, she is!" the deluded young master stormed. "She was to be my fiancée originally! But that guy showed up and ruined everything!"
The assassin didn't point out that Lan Bei Er was already openly rejecting the marriage even before this Hei Ye appeared. Instead, he shook his head.
"…so you're paying a great sum of money to hire a professional assassin to kill a so-called trash you don't think is a threat to your family simply because you're…jealous of him? This has got to be one of the pettiest requests I've ever received."
"Who says I'm jealous of him!? He's just trash!"
"Trash that thugs can't beat, and strong enough to the point where you need to hire our services. If he's trash, what are you then? What are the thugs who can't beat him, and everyone else? What about the supposedly renowned Blood Blades? Are all of you worse than trash?"
"Shut up!" Jian Shen shrieked and slammed a fist against the table. "So are you going to accept the task or not?"
"As long as you pay two hundred and fifty thousand spirit stones up front as a deposit, and then the rest after the mission is completed, then I'll kill whoever you want. Even if it's a pig." The assassin sounded amused. "I'm just researching who my target is. Knowledge is power. I don't want to be caught off guard when I assassinate him."
"Don't worry, he's just a fraud. You should have no problem killing him. Besides, I know of the reputation of Dark Shadow Guild…"
"Who's Dark Shadow Guild?"
"I mean Night Raid," Jian Shen quickly corrected himself. "You have never failed an assassination before. And you guys are capable of killing even Innate Realm cultivators. So there's nothing for you to be afraid of."
"You're right." The assassin rose from his seat and glanced at the butler. The old man nodded and hurried forward to transfer the 250,000 spirit stones from his spatial pouch to the assassin's.
"So when will you begin?" Jian Shen asked eagerly.
"Right away," the assassin replied.
"Awesome!" Jian Shen rubbed his hands eagerly. He turned to his butler. "Send the marriage proposal to the Lan family immediately after we receive confirmation of Hei Ye's death!"
"Yes, young master."
"Also, if you could bring his head back…" Jian Shen turned back to the assassin, only to trail off when he saw that the hooded figure was gone.
The only trace that he had ever been there was an open window, with the breeze slowly drifting in from the outside.
*
Back in the present, I was busily engaging a pack of hell wolves. Bristling with black and crimson fur, these wolves breathed fire while sporting lethal fangs and claws. Fangs burst into flames, the hell wolves using their signature fire fang attack to rip the throats out of their prey.
I fended one off before hacking its head off with Abyssal Edge. Black qi rippled along the blade and I sent another Shadow Sword Strike to force a second hell wolf to veer off course when it pounced on me.
Beside me, Hong Yao Yao retreated behind a swarm of pink butterflies, which detonated when they flew into the wolves' midst. The hell wolves were agile, though, spreading out and evading the deadly explosions with incredible speed. A few of them exhaled torrents of hellfire that incinerated the pink butterflies before they could get close.
"Teacher Hong! Be careful!"
Lan Bei Er was casting her healing techniques to remove the burns on Hong Yao Yao's arm when she drew back with a pained hiss. One of the hell wolves had managed to brush her with its flamethrower attacks. Her skin had reddened from the intense heat despite the protective pink aura that shrouded her body.
"Thanks, Bei Er!"
A howl from the other side of the tomb-like ruin drew my attention and I caught sight of He Shan Jie's earth golem lumbering forward. It was too slow and clumsy to land an attack, its blocky fists pulverizing ancient walls and carving craters in the floor, but failing to hit any of the hell wolves. Nonetheless, it fulfilled its role as a tank, drawing agro from the hell wolves and withstanding their barrage of flames, fire fangs and claws.
"I didn't think there would be hell wolves in here," Chi Yan snarled as he kept them at bay with his own flames. A wall of crimson fire rose to meet a pack of pouncing hell wolves, discouraging them from drawing near him. "I guess any creature is allowed inside the ruin now."
"Hell wolves are powerful spirit beasts," Hong Yao Yao warned. "Don't underestimate them. They must have been drawn here because of the rich spiritual qi emanated by the treasures."
"They are known for their speed and ferocity," I muttered. I glanced at the bald earth cultivator, who was controlling his golem effortlessly. "He Shan Jie, can you keep them in place for a moment? Or restrict their movements?"
"I'll try."
Shielded by his golem, He Shan Jie placed both of his hands against the ground. Jagged edges and rock spikes erupted from the floor, attempting to impale the hell wolves. A few of them were caught and torn apart by the merciless barrage, but the rest managed to evade, jumping on one slab rock to another, or weaving through the protruding stone spikes.
But while they were evading, I launched an attack of my own. Raising my hand, I conjured a Shadow Sword Storm and sent them raining on the hell wolves.
Already distracted by the stone spikes and earth traps, the hell wolves didn't see the shadow swords coming from above. They howled as the black blades pierced through their bodies and limbs. A few expired instantly when the blades ran through their skulls, pulping their brains and sending them into writhing spasms.
A few of them escaped the massacre, but they ran into swarms of pink butterflies summoned by a vengeful Hong Yao Yao.
"Did you think you can get away?" She asked before blowing them up.
"Hmph." Chi Yan snorted as he struck a few of the fleeing hell wolves with his brilliant crimson flames, incinerating them despite their resistance to heat and fire. "As long as they're deprived of their peed and space to run, they can't even withstand a single blow."
"Their attack, speed and special attack stats are high, but their defense and special defense stats are very low," I explained. Everyone stared at me.
"Stats?" Lan Bei Er asked, confused. She shook her head and continued to treat everyone, making sure that we were uninjured. Hong Yao Yao's skin no longer showed any sort of burns or blemish, and even Chi Yan and He Shan Jie's few wounds were healed. I was pleased that Lan Bei Er checked on me first, taking care of the scrapes and cuts I had suffered when engaging in close combat with the hell wolves.
Of course she would worry about her husband the most.
"You aren't treating this as a game, are you?" Hong Yao Yao asked dryly. Was she really not from another world like I was?
"No, never mind. I meant that the hell wolves have low durability in exchange for having high speed and powerful attacks."
"Ah, that makes sense," Lan Bei Er said, nodding. Chi Yan scowled.
"Isn't that essentially what I just said? Just in a needlessly complex manner?"
"Never mind," I muttered, only to look up when I heard an outraged howl. This wasn't from any simple hell wolf. I could hear the thunderous footsteps and sense the potent aura as it approached at incredible speed. "Looks like their boss is here."
The hell wolf king emerged from a tunnel from deep within the ruin, howling ferociously as it surveyed its pack members. Glaring at us with intense hatred, its maw opened wide to unleash a tremendous torrent of hellfire in our direction.