Chapter 9

The two formed "The Duo Who Generally Don't Laugh," but since they had not gone through any proper training, they burst out laughing after saying only two lines, making Liu Yunying fume with rage.

Suppressing the urge to summon the Crimson Flame Overlord Spear, Liu Yunying stamped her foot and impatiently handed over two invitations.

"My father heard that we were forming a team and specially arranged a banquet. He would like to invite my two teammates to the estate for a talk."

Dai Weisi took the invitation and looked it over.

The Liu Family of Xianzhen crest was printed on it, but it lacked a gold border. It was merely a second-tier invitation. Ordinarily, an invitation like this should not have been sent to the First Prince's Estate.

Looking again at the names on the invitation, the invitees were—"Liu Yunying's two teammates, Dai Weisi and Li Yang," rather than the First Prince.

Dai Weisi immediately understood.

Liu Qingfeng truly deserved to be a general who had risen to the highest ranks of the Star Luo Empire's military. He handled matters without a single flaw.

By not using the Liu family's highest-level invitation, Liu Qingfeng showed that he valued the two of them while refusing to flatter the prince.

And by inviting Dai Weisi in the name of his daughter's teammates without mentioning his identity as the First Prince, he was leaving Marquis Zhenjun's Mansion some room to maneuver.

Close ties between military higher-ups and princes had never been good news.

This banquet might be Liu Qingfeng's assessment of Dai Weisi—the First Prince and his daughter's team captain. Its outcome might determine whether Liu Yunying joining the team would receive the Marquis's Mansion's support.

So Dai Weisi had to go.

After he and Li Yang changed into formal attire for the banquet, arranged for six Soul Emperors to guard them openly and two Soul Sages to follow and protect them in secret, the group set off for the Marquis's Mansion.

Inside a private residence in Star Luo City.

Luo Jin, a dignified Soul King expert retired from the Flying Feather Army, had no idea how many soul masters he had sniped in the Star Luo Empire's foreign wars. Yet at this moment, he was being trampled under someone's foot in utter misery.

"Luo Jin, have you made up your mind?"

A man in black slightly lifted the foot pressing on Luo Jin's head and looked down at him.

"The First Prince has already left. We don't have time to waste on you."

"You might not die if you act, but if you don't, you'll die right now—and drag your wife and daughter down with you."

"Your wife can't hold on much longer."

"Such an adorable daughter... can you really bear to let her die for a First Prince she has never even met?"

Looking at his wife lying in a pool of blood, then at his unconscious daughter being held in the black-clad man's hand...

Then looking at the three masked Soul Emperor experts before him, this iron-blooded soldier who had survived countless brushes with death on the battlefield finally had no choice but to lower his unyielding head and yield to the masked leader.

"I'll do it, but you have to let my daughter go!"

The leader agreed without concern, casually tossing the little girl onto the floor before handing Luo Jin an address.

"Get here within ten minutes and assassinate First Prince Dai Weisi!"

"If you succeed, we'll save your wife and release your daughter."

"If you fail, you know the consequences."

Luo Jin glanced at the address and left at top speed without a word.

Two Soul Emperors followed close behind him, leaving only the leader behind to watch over Luo Jin's family.

Soul Kings and Soul Emperors were astonishingly fast at full speed. In just about three minutes, they arrived at their destination—

Drinking Star Pavilion.

The largest restaurant in eastern Star Luo City. Though it was not the tallest building, it still ranked among the top ten in height, and it stood directly along the route Dai Weisi's group had to take.

Luo Jin entered the private room on the top floor that the men in black had reserved in advance. Without exchanging a word with the two black-clad men, he silently summoned his martial soul—

The Silver Wing Heavy Crossbow.

It was a heavy crossbow with terrifying explosive power at mid-range. As a Soul King, Luo Jin had repeatedly shot down unsuspecting Soul Emperors.

But its flaws were just as fatal.

Its firing rate was extremely low, and once he summoned his martial soul, his movement speed dropped sharply.

These drawbacks meant Luo Jin could only be an outstanding formation-type soul master, able to display his greatest value only under the protection of an army.

But the target these men in black wanted him to assassinate was merely a one-ring soul master.

As long as Luo Jin went all out, even with a Soul Sage protecting the target in secret, he still had at least a fifty percent chance of killing him in one strike.

Ten minutes later, Dai Weisi's group passed beneath Drinking Star Pavilion.

Silver light glimmered across the black heavy crossbow in Luo Jin's hands on the top floor. Four of his five soul rings lit up in succession.

First soul skill: Charged Arrow!

Second soul skill: Eagle's Eye!

Third soul skill: Hunting Light!

Fourth soul skill: Armor-Piercing Arrow!

Seeing him act, the two black-clad men, who had been worried that Luo Jin might refuse to cooperate, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Before choosing Luo Jin for the assassination, they had investigated him in detail, including all five of his soul skills.

Other than his fifth soul skill, which he used for desperate close-range counterattacks, he had poured all four of his remaining soul skills into this arrow. That raised the odds of a successful assassination by another twenty percent.

Assassinating the First Prince of the Star Luo Empire—having a seventy percent chance of success in something like this was already a blessing from the heavens.