Conditions

"Is that all?"

Li Musheng frowned, lowered his head to glance at the woman in red whose head was embedded in the shattered stone ground, then shifted his gaze to the masked man.

The masked man had no idea what Li Musheng meant. At this moment, he was utterly shaken by Li Musheng's earlier move.

Even when facing the woman in red, he had to be exceedingly cautious and wary. Yet Li Musheng had nearly beaten her to death with a casual slap. Such strength was truly terrifying beyond measure!

Seeing the masked man standing there in stunned silence, Li Musheng shook his head.

To avoid further complications, he immediately grabbed the man along with the half-dead woman in red from the ground, leaped onto a nearby roof, and vanished in the blink of an eye.

Before long, Li Musheng silently returned to Cang Yinyue's small courtyard and tossed the two people he was carrying onto the ground.

Hearing the commotion, Cang Yinyue, who had been inspecting the unconscious old man on the ground with a bewildered expression, suddenly turned around.

She glanced at Li Musheng, who had appeared like a ghost, then her gaze fell upon the two people he had brought back.

"Eh? Is this the Red Rakshasa Woman?"

Cang Yinyue stared at the woman in red on the ground and cried out in surprise.

Though the other woman's face had long since become a heap of mangled flesh, making her true appearance impossible to discern, Cang Yinyue recognized the poisoned black curved blade in her hand.

Hearing this, Li Musheng asked with little interest,

"Who is she?"

"A demonic enchantress of the martial world who cultivates through seducing men. Countless men have died at her hands. She especially enjoys luring married men from respectable families, then killing them for pleasure after bedding them."

After explaining, Cang Yinyue reached out and tore the face covering from the masked man.

"Lame Grass-Skimmer!"

Cang Yinyue had clearly recognized him as well. Then she swept her gaze over the unconscious old man on the ground and said,

"If I'm not mistaken, this one should be the Dead-Face Elder!"

As she spoke, Cang Yinyue turned back to Li Musheng, her voice full of astonishment.

"These three are notorious villains in the martial world, steeped in evil and burdened with countless murder cases. They're all on the Imperial Secret Police's wanted list. It's only been a short while—where did you catch them?"

Earlier, Cang Yinyue had been interrogating the armored soldier in the secret chamber inside her room. When she heard a heavy crash from the courtyard, she hurried out to investigate.

Yet she saw no trace of Li Musheng. Instead, she found the unconscious old man in the courtyard. Before she could figure out what had happened, Li Musheng returned with two more people, all of them wanted by the authorities.

"Nearby. They came knocking on my door themselves. It seemed they were fighting over something."

Li Musheng shrugged, then tossed the copper-rusted token in his hand to Cang Yinyue.

"They should have been after this. Take a look—do you recognize it?"

Cang Yinyue caught the token and examined it carefully beneath the moonlight.

Very soon, she sharply sucked in a breath and could not help crying out,

"This is actually a Hidden Kill Order!"

Li Musheng glanced at her and raised a brow.

"Could it really be some treasure? It doesn't look like much."

Cang Yinyue turned the token over and over in her hand for quite some time, then shook her head.

"I'm not certain whether this thing is genuine. If it is, then the martial world of Great Li will likely soon be swept up in another storm of blood and slaughter."

Then, without waiting for Li Musheng to ask, she took the initiative to explain.

"This Hidden Kill Order comes from an extraordinarily mysterious assassin organization in the martial world, the Hidden Kill Pavilion. It is the seal carried by the pavilion master. It is said that whoever obtains the Hidden Kill Order can command every assassin of the Hidden Kill Pavilion."

Hearing this, Li Musheng could not help chuckling.

"Isn't that rumor a little too childish? A single token lets you command an assassin organization? The more I hear it, the less reliable it sounds. Surely no one actually believes that?"

Cang Yinyue sighed softly.

"You know one thing but not the other. The Hidden Kill Pavilion's influence spans the five kingdoms. From princes, nobles, ministers, and generals above, to peddlers and common laborers below, there is no one they dare not kill."

"And obtaining the Hidden Kill Order is only the first step to commanding the entire Hidden Kill Pavilion. If one can fulfill another condition as well, then it truly is highly possible to control the whole Hidden Kill Pavilion."

"What condition?" Li Musheng was now somewhat intrigued.

Cang Yinyue cast him a glance and slowly said,

"The Hidden Kill Order reappears in the martial world every few decades, generally when the previous pavilion master is nearing death, so that a new pavilion master may be chosen."

"As for the other condition, it is also the Hidden Kill Pavilion's test for its new pavilion master. So long as the bearer of the Hidden Kill Order can survive three assassination attempts by assassins from the Hidden Kill Pavilion, that person may inherit the position of pavilion master and command all of the Hidden Kill Pavilion's assassins."

Hearing that, Li Musheng glanced at the brass token and nodded slightly.

"That sounds more or less plausible."

Just then, however, he saw Cang Yinyue hurriedly stuff the Hidden Kill Order back into his hand.

"What are you doing?" Li Musheng looked suspicious.

Cang Yinyue's delicate brows were tightly furrowed.

"This thing is a hot potato. I wouldn't dare hold it. Otherwise, I might not even know how I died. I advise you to throw it back wherever you got it from."

Li Musheng held up the rust-speckled token and studied it for a while, a contemplative look appearing on his face.

Cang Yinyue was visibly startled at the sight.

"You're not planning to keep that thing on you, are you?"

Li Musheng stroked his chin.

"Why not?"

As he spoke, he tucked the Hidden Kill Order back into his robe and gently patted it.

Cang Yinyue's autumn-water eyes widened. She stood there blankly for a moment, then began to regard Li Musheng as though he were a venomous snake or savage beast, wishing she could throw him out of her little courtyard.

"Miss Cang, stop standing there. Hurry and help me interrogate that man about the whereabouts of the Heavenly Revelation Secret Treasury Key."

Li Musheng spoke casually. Then he swept his gaze across the three people in the courtyard and said,

"Since they're all wanted criminals guilty of countless evils, I'll leave them to Miss Cang. Consider it the payment for your work tonight. Perhaps before long, you'll be promoted and get a raise in the Imperial Secret Police."

Hearing this, Cang Yinyue gradually calmed herself and gave Li Musheng a deep look.

The Imperial Secret Police naturally had its own system of promotion. Capturing important wanted criminals and earning merit was indeed one of its key paths.

The three people before her were steeped in evil and possessed profound martial cultivation. Based on the Imperial Secret Police's assessment of their abilities, they should all have strength approaching that of a Half-Step Martial Grandmaster.

Normally, she would only detour and hide whenever she saw these three. How could she dare capture them? Now that all three had fallen into her hands, this was indeed an enormous merit.

Cang Yinyue's eyes flickered as she pondered for a moment, then said,

"They have seen your face. Handing them over to the Imperial Secret Police will definitely expose your identity."

As she spoke, a sharp glint flashed through her eyes. In the next instant, blade light burst forth beneath her hand.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Three flashes of blade light swept across the necks of the three people on the ground. In a single instant, all three were killed by one stroke.

Only then did Cang Yinyue's cold voice ring out.

"Only the dead never leak anything."