Life Association

Bai Luo had a rule.

Every weekend, the clinic closed.

One day was essential weekly leisure and relaxation.

The other day,

was reserved for things entirely different from what Bai Luo usually did.

After bidding Huo Yun'er farewell,

Bai Luo arrived at a tavern in Shrek City.

He had changed his usual attire.

He wore a loose black hood.

An ornate vine-patterned mask concealed the upper half of his face, leaving only his thin, cicada-wing-like lips exposed.

Bai Luo made his way to the counter with practiced ease.

Seeing the familiar outfit, the bartender hurriedly stopped what he was doing and bowed respectfully.

"Boss."

With practiced familiarity, he led Bai Luo into a room within the tavern that was not open to the public.

He poured him a glass of mixed liquor.

Under the lights, the drink shimmered with dazzling colors in the glass.

Bai Luo gently swirled the glass.

The ice clinked against the glass, producing crisp sounds.

Like a peculiar melody.

The bartender skillfully took out a file from a hidden compartment in the table.

He respectfully placed it on the table before Bai Luo.

"Boss, these are all the commissions from this week."

Bai Luo took a small sip of the drink. The alcohol, mixed with the chill of the ice, slid into his throat.

He set the glass down on the table.

Bai Luo picked up the file, opened it, and reviewed the documents one by one.

Every file bore a dark golden wheat-ear emblem against a black background.

Any knowledgeable soul master would recognize this symbol at once.

In recent years,

an underground organization known as the Life Association had suddenly emerged.

With unstoppable momentum, it had made a name for itself throughout the underworld.

What this association did was simple.

Take money. Kill people.

It sounded no different from an ordinary assassin organization.

But this organization had one rule unlike that of any other assassin organization.

Before killing someone, they had to clearly understand why the employer wanted the target dead.

Only after passing their review would they accept the assignment and carry out the assassination.

They were absolute outliers among assassin organizations.

Before this, there had been a common understanding in the soul master world.

Assassin organizations were simply groups that worked once they were paid.

They did not ask about right or wrong, nor did they ask for reasons. They only completed their missions.

But the Life Association was an exception.

Its rules completely shattered the conventions of assassin organizations.

So long as the reason was sufficient, these people would even assassinate a prominent figure for the reward of a single copper soul coin.

They sought neither wealth nor profit.

No one knew what they were doing it for.

Nor would anyone know

that the top assassination organization, famed throughout the underworld for killing countless experts and powerful nobles, was led by a young divine physician renowned for healing the sick and saving lives.

That was right.

The underground assassin organization known as the Life Association had been founded by Bai Luo alone.

As for why he had founded it,

the reason was simple.

The feedback from the Aeon of Life did not come solely from healing the sick and saving the dying.

It also came from fulfilling wishes.

The Medicine King's benevolence answered every plea.

Although Bai Luo was not like that original Aeon, answering every request unconditionally,

fulfilling wishes was indeed a path to growing stronger.

There were many wishes in this world.

Some stemmed from greed, some from pure sincerity, and some from hatred...

Bai Luo had always understood one truth.

Healing the sick and saving the dying could not solve every problem.

Many times, injuries and illnesses were merely problems of the body.

The more serious problems lay in the darkness lurking in every corner of the world.

That was unavoidable.

Where there was light, there would inevitably be darkness.

This was not merely human nature.

It was an unavoidable result born from every intelligent life-form.

Even lofty gods had darkness hidden in unknown corners.

Such darkness could not be healed by medicine.

It required copious blood as a sharp scalpel, cutting away those "tumors" one by one.

That was Bai Luo's original intention in creating the Life Association.

It was also why the Life Association, despite being an assassin organization, had rules entirely different from those of other assassin organizations.

Because the Life Association had never been a mere assassin organization that worked for money.

It was more like an organization that walked through dark places, using bloody means to fight violence with violence.

They had their own standards of good and evil.

Only when an employer's commission aligned with their judgment of good and evil

would they accept the mission.

That was why outsiders had never been able to understand their purpose.

Why would a group of assassins neither seek fame nor profit?

Because they had never been mere assassins.

The assassins within the Life Association were more like idealists.

They raised the banner of Abundance high and carried out the ideals Bai Luo had given them.

They walked through the darkness beneath the light, using the simplest methods to deal with what they considered evil.

Many of them had once been Bai Luo's patients.

They had hovered on the brink between life and death because of unjust evils.

Yet Bai Luo had pulled them back.

And in the process of passing between death and life, they experienced a sublimation of the soul.

Thus, they embarked upon an idealistic path they might never reach the end of in their entire lives.

Like fireflies.

Within that boundless darkness, they were inconspicuous.

Yet they still did their utmost to give off their own light.

Many times, Bai Luo felt that he might not deserve the position of leader.

Because within the Life Association, some of the idealists were purer than he was.

That was also what Bai Luo set aside one day every week to do:

personally handle an assassination commission.

It was also the main source of his combat experience.

Practical experience gained in the true boundary between life and death was far more effective than any teaching.

Thus, even though Bai Luo had no teacher and had never entered any soul master academy to learn practical combat techniques,

his combat experience was beyond compare with that of peers who had undergone systematic training.

Bai Luo stopped flipping through the files.

His gaze fell upon one commission.

"This one."

He set down the file in his hand.

"Leave the rest for the others in the organization."

"Yes, Boss."

The bartender took the file and turned to leave.

Bai Luo slowly rose from the sofa.

A sharp, icy glint flashed beneath the emerald vine-patterned mask covering his eyes.

A phantom holding a wheat ear and wearing a hood flickered in and out behind him.

Her eyes remained slightly closed.

Yet she no longer possessed her usual holiness and gentleness.

The eyes growing from her arms were bewitching, carrying a chilling killing intent.

Bai Luo had never been a pure healing-type soul master.

Nor did Abundance represent only healing the sick and saving lives.

He saved people, and he killed people!