At this moment, the Vice Pavilion Master was completely in despair. He truly felt that he might well become the last Pavilion Master of the Heavenly Killing Pavilion. Just as the Pavilion Master had once warned everyone, “We’re all just trying to make a living.
Don’t throw your own life away for it,” the Heavenly Killing Pavilion had its own written doctrine, and it hung right in the most eye-catching place in the main hall. Small business, honest dealings—no killing of those in the Tribulation Transcendence Stage. Who in the world had posted this mission?
Blind?
We don’t even take contracts to kill those in the Tribulation Transcendence Stage—how the hell are we supposed to kill the Great Emperor Jiang, who’s in the Mahayana Stage? The Vice Pavilion Master stormed down the stairs, fury boiling within his chest, murderous aura surging all around him.
He was determined to see for himself which brainless idiot had dared to post such a suicidal mission! At this time, Jiang Li—disguised—was in the middle of pouring out a flood of grievances.
“Let me tell you,” he began solemnly, “that Great Emperor Jiang person—he’s utterly vile, does every evil deed imaginable, slaughters people like weeds, and delights in humiliating other men’s wives and daughters in public! I have a friend whose wife and daughter were both mistreated by him like that!”
“To kill Great Emperor Jiang, name your price. However many spirit stones you want, I can pay!”
Jiang Li appeared to be a man tormented by hatred, pretending to be someone who would not rest until Jiang the Emperor was dead. He kept taking out Supreme-grade Spirit Stones from his ring, one after another, dazzling the eyes of all the assembled assassins and making their mouths water. This was a fat sheep indeed!
The Heavenly Killing Pavilion had never handled a contract worth this many spirit stones before. If they could actually kill him…
“Silence!”
The Vice Pavilion Master froze on the stairway the moment he heard such rebellious words. His soul almost left his body in fright.
“How dare you slander Great Emperor Jiang!”
“Truly not accepting the mission?”
Jiang Li squinted slightly, then took out yet more spirit stones.
“As long as you make an attempt on Great Emperor Jiang’s life, succeed or fail—it doesn’t matter—all of this is yours.”
Even the Vice Pavilion Master felt shaken by the man’s extravagance. Where had such a filthy rich fellow crawled out from? Did his family own a Supreme-grade Spirit Stone mine?
“Not taking it! Get out!” the Vice Pavilion Master barked after a moment of hesitation.
He immediately remembered the Immortal Artifact Appreciation Assembly, where Emperor Jiang had fought unmatched across the four directions, his might shaking the heavens while even immortal artifacts fled in terror. At the thought, he involuntarily shuddered. Assassinate Great Emperor Jiang?
The Heavenly Killing Pavilion was not a Suicide Pavilion! Jiang Li sighed. Slowly, deliberately, he picked up the Supreme-grade Spirit Stones one by one and placed them back into his Storage Ring.
His movements were unhurried, almost as if he were deliberately putting on a show for all the assassins watching. After Jiang Li departed, a Gold-ranked assassin leaned over and whispered to the Vice Pavilion Master, “Should we… take the job anyway?” The Vice Pavilion Master smacked him on the back of the head.
“Idiot! If we laid a hand on a client, the Heavenly Mystery Tower would spread that news everywhere for free by tomorrow!”
Just mentioning the Heavenly Mystery Tower made the Vice Pavilion Master’s blood pressure rise. What kind of damned luck had those people gotten? They had somehow managed to invite Great Emperor Jiang himself to come and ‘inspect’ their establishment.
Why didn’t their Heavenly Killing Pavilion ever get luck like that! After Jiang Li left the Heavenly Killing Pavilion, he purposely chose shadowy, narrow alleyways to walk through. Yet, after wandering for half the day, not a single assassin jumped out to rob or kill him.
“Assassins these days actually have professional ethics?”
He already knew that getting the Heavenly Killing Pavilion to try and assassinate him wouldn’t be easy.
“That’s why I say the system’s task is never simple.”
Revealing his true face, Jiang Li returned to the Heavenly Killing Pavilion. The moment he appeared, the Vice Pavilion Master fell to his knees in terror. He thought Great Emperor Jiang had discovered that someone had posted an assassination request against him—and now suspected that they had accepted it.
“Your Majesty, Heaven and Earth can bear witness—our Heavenly Killing Pavilion wouldn’t dare take a mission to assassinate you! If you don’t believe me, you can ask that rascal from earlier—we didn’t even accept a single spirit stone!”
Seeing the Vice Pavilion Master on the verge of tearing his heart open to prove his innocence, Jiang Li grew impatient.
“That person just now was me,” he said coldly.
“I merely wanted to experience what an assassination attempt feels like. Quickly—come kill me.”
At those words, the Vice Pavilion Master trembled even harder, like a frail leaf in a storm. Who in their right mind would dare? He had never heard of anyone wanting to experience assassination before.
The Great Emperor was clearly making up an excuse to destroy their Heavenly Killing Pavilion!
“Kill me! Now!”
Jiang Li commanded, his voice like a thunderclap. His blood energy exploded outward like a surging ocean, overwhelming and boundless. The Vice Pavilion Master, a cultivator at the Late Integration Stage, suddenly felt like a small boat in that raging sea, tossed about with the constant threat of capsizing.
He finally understood Jiang Li’s meaning: if he didn’t attack, he would be the one to die! Left with no choice, he forced himself to act. Melting into the shadows, silent and invisible, he disappeared completely.
The watching Gold-ranked assassins saw him sink into the darkness—and then completely vanish. All of them were secretly astounded. So this was a stealth assassination performed by an Integration Stage expert.
Terrifying.
Like a shark in the deep, the Vice Pavilion Master glided through Jiang Li’s shadow, searching for an opening. Suddenly, he noticed Jiang Li’s mind waver ever so slightly. Seizing his chance, he burst forth from the darkness, driving a dagger woven from shadow straight for Jiang Li’s throat!
Crack— The dagger snapped cleanly in two. Jiang Li did not even have a scratch. The Vice Pavilion Master missed his strike.
According to the Assassin’s Code, he immediately retreated far away and did not attack again. Yet still, no notification sound came from the system. Jiang Li frowned, looked over the mission parameters again, and realized that what the system wanted might have something to do with actually evading an authentic assassination attempt.
He said flatly, “Do it again. Kill me one more time.” The Vice Pavilion Master felt as if that single attempt had drained every ounce of his courage for this lifetime.
To kill the Human Emperor—no, the strongest Great Emperor Jiang—was something one could boast about for a lifetime… provided one survived long enough to boast. No, better not think about it.
Now hearing Jiang Li’s command again, the Vice Pavilion Master had no choice but to squeeze out what little courage might remain in his next life and make another attempt. This time Jiang Li dodged—but still, no system notification appeared. Jiang Li thought for a moment, his mood turning sour.
“You’re not honestly trying to kill me, are you?” he asked.
With a sycophantic grin, the Vice Pavilion Master quickly said, “Your Majesty, how could you say such a thing? I killed you with my whole heart!” The moment the words left his lips, he wanted to slap himself twice.
He had only meant to flatter and hadn’t thought before speaking—was that something you casually said to Emperor Jiang? What if he thought it was serious? Jiang Li cast him a sideways look.
Of course, he could tell the Vice Pavilion Master held no true killing intent. It seemed the system’s requirement was stricter: the assassin had to genuinely harbor intent to kill him. Going through the motions didn’t count.
This, now, was troublesome. Plan A—spending money to have himself killed—failed. Plan B—using wealth as bait to tempt an assassin—failed.
Plan C—forcing an assassin to attempt a kill—also failed. That left only Plan D. He pretended to leave, but in truth went invisible and began rummaging through the Heavenly Killing Pavilion’s recent assassination records. His gaze fell upon a few familiar names.
“Assassinate Qin Luan (Remarks: Early Golden Core Stage). Assassinate Yuan Wuxing (Remarks: Early Nascent Soul Stage). Location: Dragon Chant City, Heavenly Origin Dynasty. Recommended rank: Second-Class Assassins.”
“Read.”
As for who requested which assassination and for what purpose, the Heavenly Killing Pavilion never concerned itself with such details. Jiang Li, naturally, would not learn that here either.
“Let’s go find Yuan Wuxing. Maybe those assassins will kill me along the way. Doesn’t the Heavenly Killing Pavilion love to take a few extra lives when convenient?”
Jiang Li muttered to himself and finally left the pavilion for real this time. ...
“We must loudly spread today’s news!” the Vice Pavilion Master declared.
“Spread what—how you tried to assassinate Great Emperor Jiang?” asked the same Gold-ranked assassin who had been smacked earlier—only to receive another solid smack for his trouble.
“Idiot! I mean we should proclaim that Great Emperor Jiang personally inspected the Heavenly Killing Pavilion today, gave us valuable guidance, and even kindly instructed us in the art of assassination!”
The Vice Pavilion Master thought for another moment, then added, “That’s not enough. The Heavenly Mystery Tower has paintings—so we’ll need one of those too.” Thanks to reader This Spring is a Little Sweet for the reward.
(End of Chapter)