Black Night, Assassin

The busty woman raised her tear-streaked face and shook her head. "We can kill him, but we don't have the strength to bear the retaliation of the forces behind him. Unlike me, who is alone, most of my sisters have children, even parents. Once Iron Frenzy dies, his family will definitely seek revenge. If they find us, we'll all be forced to ride wooden donkeys through the streets for public humiliation, then be hacked to pieces and die in unimaginable agony. Our parents and children will be killed too... We don't dare take revenge ourselves. We can only hope for some great hero unafraid of power... Young master, if you aren't strong enough to stand against the Tie Family, if you can't withstand the revenge of the Tie Family and the White Stone City Lord, then leave quickly. I'll go back and untie him. When Iron Frenzy wakes up, I'll continue indulging him wildly so he won't suspect a thing!"

"How long have you been pursuing Iron Frenzy for revenge through the Assassin Guild?" Yue Yang asked his final question.

"Three years, without interruption!" The busty woman's gaze was firm. "Though we have no money, no matter how tightly we have to live, we will never give up on revenge!"

Yue Yang nodded slightly.

As lowly prostitutes, ridden by thousands and trampled beyond all dignity, they had still never forgotten revenge. All the money they earned usually had to be handed over to those controlling them from behind the scenes. They could only secretly hide away a little, yet every half year, they still managed to scrape together as much as fifteen gold to maintain the revenge hunt for their enemy. Such determination for revenge was worthy of respect.

As for whether the Tie Family would pursue revenge against him after Iron Frenzy's death, Yue Yang did not care in the slightest.

Because he could exploit a loophole in the knowledge transmitted by the Bronze Codex.

First, if Iron Frenzy had not used a Revenge Scroll to record his appearance, then his name would not appear on the Assassin Guild's Revenge Bounty Board. Even if the Revenge Scroll had recorded him by accident, the name displayed on the bounty board would only be the previously registered "Titan," not his real name.

If the Tie Family wanted to avenge Iron Frenzy and launch a revenge hunt against Yue Yang—

That would be impossible.

The loophole Yue Yang had exploited was that he had not personally killed his opponent. At most, he was an accomplice.

On the Revenge Hunt list, at most, only the Thorn Flower that had devoured Iron Frenzy would appear. Yue Yang had not even given the Thorn Flower a name, so a strange anonymous person would appear on the revenge bounty board. Moreover, when Yue Yang had not summoned the Thorn Flower from the Bronze Codex, its red dot would not appear on the Blood Flower Map.

Precisely because there was such a loophole, Yue Yang felt that not only Iron Frenzy—even someone with a greater background and more formidable strength could be made into flower fertilizer...

Before pushing open the door and entering, he turned back and gave the busty woman a calm smile.

"From now on, there's no need to give money to the Assassin Guild. Paying them would be a waste, because not every assassin likes making money. If you're willing, you can come find me. I'm an assassin who kills for money. It doesn't matter who you want dead, as long as you can afford the price!"

Behind him, the busty woman's shoulders trembled violently.

She made no sound, but her face was a complete mess of tears.

Less than ten minutes later, Yue Yang emerged.

He carried a rather large leather bag in one hand and tossed it at the busty woman's feet. "The copper coins inside are for you. I need you to do something. There are some gold and silver accessories in the bag. Find a suitable black-market dealer and pawn them for gold coins. I need them... If that black-market bastard dares to get any crooked ideas, remember him first. I'll kill him too. I won't tolerate anyone plotting against me... Do you have any other targets for revenge? Tell me now. If you handle the pawning for me, I don't work for free, but I can consider letting you owe me for now and collect the interest slowly!"

The busty woman trembled all over and repeatedly kowtowed, her voice even stammering. "There are two more. One is called 'Longblade,' and the other is called 'Evil Fire.' We don't know their actual names, but Iron Frenzy was very respectful whenever he spoke to them. Evil Fire comes to White Stone City every so often. Judging by the dates, he may arrive in a few days! As for Longblade, we don't know much. We only know that his blade is very fast. Once, while sitting and drinking, without moving his body, he waved a hand and killed more than ten people in a row. He rarely comes to White Stone City and appears and disappears unpredictably. But Longblade has one obvious trait: the right hand that holds his blade is much larger than his left. It's probably at least twice as big!"

Yue Yang smiled after hearing this, then turned away, leaving behind a voice as light as the breeze. "Handle the pawning for me. The next time you see them, they'll be dead!"

The busty woman heavily struck her head against the ground, giving thanks.

When she raised her tearful eyes again, the figure before her had long since vanished with the wind.

At dawn, Yue Yang transformed from a killer who murdered without blinking back into the third son cherished by the beautiful woman. If she knew that, in the middle of the night, the third son she loved so dearly had climbed over the wall and used a Thorn Flower to devour two people alive, who knew what she would think.

If Yue Bing in black were still in this little courtyard, practicing summoning arts alongside Yue Yang, she would surely have noticed something: the Thorn Flower Yue Yang summoned was no longer the same.

The current Saliva-Spitting Thorn Flower was still Level One, but its rank had changed from ordinary to bronze.

Its species had changed as well, becoming a Blood-Tongued Saliva-Spitting Thorn Flower.

The Thorn Flower now stood a full two meters tall. Its stalk was as thick as a human arm, and dense thorns covered its entire body. Its petals, like the enormous mouth of a monster, had grown larger, while the sharp teeth inside had become even more lethal. Most notably, it had gained a long blood-red tongue that dangled from its mouth, constantly extending and retracting like a serpent's tongue. The beautiful woman did not notice this anomaly at all. Holding the little girl in her arms, she sat in the morning sunlight and happily read the letter her daughter had sent home.

"Third Son, Bing'er sent you her greetings in this letter too!" The beautiful woman felt that everything in the household was moving in a better direction.

Her formerly quiet daughter had grown much closer to her third son.

In the past, she would never greet her third brother in her letters, yet now she had mentioned him several times and even seemed to be reporting her academic results to him. That proved the little girl still hoped to have a powerful older brother!

"Did Bing'er's exam go well?" Yue Yang put away the Blood-Tongued Saliva-Spitting Thorn Flower. He discovered that after advancing to bronze rank, the Thorn Flower had become more than ten times stronger, yet it had not leveled up. This proved that the secret he had grasped was correct. The Thorn Flower's path of mutation was absolutely right; at the very least, the first step had succeeded! If it continued mutating, the Thorn Flower would surely advance in turn to silver rank and gold rank. Then, from gold rank, it would undergo another rank-change mutation, becoming a bronze-rank humanoid Thorn Flower Demon... It would then continue mutating and advancing, rising from bronze to silver, gold, platinum, and all the way to diamond rank. Finally, after its third transformation, it would become a bronze-rank intelligent humanoid Thorn Flower Queen, then continue rising until it reached the legendary humanoid divine-beast rank—the Golden-Crowned Thorn Flower Queen!

The Golden-Crowned Thorn Flower Queen's path of growth required three rank transformations, and the process would be extremely long.

But now, it had already taken the correct first step.

As long as the Thorn Flower continued devouring living humans as flower fertilizer, it would grow faster than beast-type or bird-type creatures that devoured magic crystals. It would mutate endlessly and advance by leaps and bounds. In the future, it would surely become the Golden-Crowned Thorn Flower Queen, the nightmare of every living thing on the battlefield.

The Golden-Crowned Thorn Flower Queen from three thousand years ago would no longer be a legend—it would truly become reality!

"Bing'er's exam went very well. Next year, she can enter the advanced fifth-year class. She also enrolled you in the second year. Since the academy rules don't allow enrollment directly into the third year or above, Third Son, you can only start in the second year for now. Bing'er said in her letter that after studying for a few months, if your grades are exceptional, you can skip ahead to the third year." The little girl in the beautiful woman's arms began clamoring that she wanted to go to school too. Unable to keep her still in her arms, the beautiful woman could only let her go running into Yue Yang's embrace to act spoiled. When the beautiful woman reached the end of the letter, her expression became slightly worried. She sighed to Yue Yang. "Bing'er says she won't be coming home for the next three months. She's going to the Heaven-Piercing Tower to take part in a trial..."

"The Heaven-Piercing Tower? A trial?" Yue Yang frowned upon hearing that.