Yang Xiu Had the Makings of an Assassin

"Hey, beautiful. Eating alone? Want some company?" Zhu Zhuyun had been eating alone for nearly ten minutes when Yang Xiu appeared at her table.

Without waiting for her answer, he sat down opposite her and started eating.

"Mm, this dish is good."

"Handsome, did you know some things can kill you if you eat them?" Zhu Zhuyun said with a bright smile.

"I watched you eat so much, and you're fine. Why would anyone poison it?" Yang Xiu looked at her as though she were trying to fool him.

"But since you brought up dying, let me tell you something. Some things really can get you killed if you do them."

Zhu Zhuyun's composure vanished, and her face darkened. She soon recovered, though.

"What do you mean, handsome? I don't understand."

"Heh. Nothing in particular. You'll find out one day."

"The food really is good. I'll treat you next time. Assuming you still get the chance."

Yang Xiu smiled mysteriously, then got up and left.

Zhu Zhuyun watched him walk away, her expression shifting for a long while. In the end, she did nothing and left.

Inside a secret room.

Zhu Zhuyun and Dai Weisi sat across from each other and began plotting again.

"Have you found the assassins, Dai Weisi?"

"I told Zhu Zhuqing about Dai Mubai today. Knowing her, she'll go to the Heaven Dou Empire."

"I've found them. But the Zhu Family's eldest daughter won't even spare her own sister."

"What do you think your parents would do if they found out?" Dai Weisi asked with a teasing look.

"That's none of your concern. We made a deal to help each other, remember? I'm sure you wouldn't betray me." Zhu Zhuyun spoke with a seductive smile.

"You said she'll go to the Heaven Dou Empire. Are you planning to strike on the road?"

"She and your brother may not be close, but the two of us are their common enemy. They'll join forces."

"I see! I'll tell the assassins to act quickly. Let me know as soon as Zhu Zhuqing leaves."

"Oh, right. I met a strange man a few days ago. Look into him for me. Just thinking about him makes me uneasy, as if he might ruin our plans." Zhu Zhuyun suddenly thought of Yang Xiu. He had seemed mysterious to her, and his eyes, which seemed to see through everything, had even frightened her a little.

"What kind of man could scare you? Now I'm curious too."

"I'll look into him for you."

Zhu Zhuyun and Dai Weisi talked a little longer before going their separate ways.

Neither noticed the two figures who followed them out after they left.

A few days later.

"Sect Master, we found the Assassin Organization's lair. You might be surprised: it's in the Happy Spring Courtyard right across the street. The ones taking jobs are only a few men at level twenty and one at level thirty. Their strongest members are just two Soul Saints and six Soul Emperors. They have a little over a hundred people in all."

"Should I wipe them out?"

"Don't startle the snake yet. Once the Zhu Family's second daughter leaves the city, follow her. Leave the assassins to me. Whoever dares reach out, I'll chop off their claws."

"Sect Master, you can't! What if you run into danger alone? Why don't—"

Yang Xiu cut Hua Xiong off and said with some resignation,

"All right, all right. You follow her alone, and Zhang Liao will follow me. But he isn't to act without my permission. Will that do?"

"Well... all right, Sect Master."

One night, Zhu Zhuqing slung her packed luggage over her shoulder. She took one last look at the room she had lived in, then slowly left.

From a hidden spot, Yang Xiu watched Zhu Zhuqing depart.

He signaled to Hua Xiong beside him. After waiting about ten minutes, Yang Xiu headed for the Zhu Family's eldest daughter's room. Stealthed, he slipped into Zhu Zhuyun's room without the slightest effort. Looking at her so close before him, he murmured too softly for anyone else to hear,

"I'll collect a little interest first. I'll leave you alive so Zhu Zhuqing can settle things with you herself."

Yang Xiu took a dagger from his system space and coated it in Void Force. He swiftly slashed Zhu Zhuyun's face twice, then severed the tendons in her left wrist before she could react. Her beauty did not make him hesitate. Though Yang Xiu liked girls of her type, he was utterly devoted. In both his previous life and this one, once he chose someone, even if she was not the most beautiful girl, his love for her would not diminish in the slightest.

Intense pain jolted Zhu Zhuyun out of her cultivation. She saw Yang Xiu and was about to scream when a dagger came to rest against her throat.

She had no choice but to endure the pain. She did not want to die. After a long moment, she managed to control herself and asked fearfully,

"Who are you? I've never offended you. Why are you doing this to me?"

"I believe I told you: some things can get you killed if you do them."

"Could you tell me plainly, so at least I know why I'm dying? What did I do?" Zhu Zhuyun asked anxiously.

"What did you do? Think about it. If you can't figure it out, never mind."

"I don't intend to kill you yet. Someone else will settle things with you one day."

Even Zhu Zhuyun could work it out now.

"Zhu Zhuqing sent you? What did she offer you? I'll give you double."

"What she gave me is something you never could."

Yang Xiu looked at Zhu Zhuyun's face as the Void Force ate away at it and smiled eerily.

Even if the wounds caused by the Void Force were healed, they would leave pits behind.

"Well, I have other things to do. Sleep for a while." Before Zhu Zhuyun could react, Yang Xiu knocked her unconscious. He struck especially hard; she might not wake even by dawn.

Yang Xiu gave Zhu Zhuyun one last look and muttered to himself,

"Damn it. Why couldn't your heart be as big as your chest? You made me lay a ruthless hand on a flower."

Yang Xiu slipped away in stealth and soon returned to the hotel.

"How is it? Have they made their move?"

Yang Xiu asked Zhang Liao, who was watching the building across the street.

"Mm. Fifteen went out. Two Soul Elders, and the rest Soul Grandmasters."

"Wait by the entrance. If any fish slip through the net, throw them back in. Don't let a single one escape."

Yang Xiu soon slipped into the Happy Spring Courtyard in stealth. At a small door in a secluded spot, he drew his dagger and slashed the two assassins standing guard. Then he swept through the door like a gust of wind. Beyond it stretched a long, gloomy passage sloping underground. Nearly a hundred meters in, another door appeared before him, guarded by two Soul Ancestors.

Yang Xiu did not hesitate. He ended their lives with his dagger. They never sensed pain or danger, even as they died.

Yang Xiu entered the basement. It was spacious, like a small castle; after all, it had to house more than a hundred people.

None of them noticed Yang Xiu in stealth. At that moment, he seemed more like an assassin than any of them as he began his bloody slaughter. Killing did not unsettle him. After more than three years on Douluo Continent, he had grown used to this world where the strong ruled. He had killed few people, but he felt no aversion to it.

And so Yang Xiu began slaughtering his way through the outer rooms, one by one.

He spared no one: men and women, young and old. They had chosen to become assassins. They should have been prepared to be killed.

By the time only a dozen or so remained, the thick smell of blood had alerted them. They were people who lived on the edge of death, after all. At the two Soul Saints' orders, the bodies were soon discovered, and everyone quickly gathered together.

"Summon your Martial Souls! Back to back!" one Soul Saint shouted. He immediately activated his Martial Soul Avatar.

Yang Xiu gave it little thought. He had known this would happen sooner or later.

Then one of the two Soul Saints spoke, holding back his anger.

"Please show yourself. If we've offended you, we can make amends."

Someone had killed so many of them without being detected. In the Soul Saint's eyes, that meant the attacker could threaten his life without him noticing, too.

As an assassin, he knew he might one day offend someone he could not afford to provoke. He also wanted to draw Yang Xiu into the open. An enemy he could not see was the most dangerous kind.

Yang Xiu considered his options. Assassinating every last one of them individually was impossible. He wondered if he could take out one of the Soul Saints first.

Shadow Clone Technique. Yang Xiu sent two clones into stealth near them, then unleashed the Claw of Fate at one Soul Saint. A sense of immense danger made the man uneasy, though he could not tell where it came from. Only when the Claw of Fate struck him did he see one of the two figures. Faced with death, he unleashed his fifth Soul Skill at it. But fate favored Yang Xiu: the Claw of Fate landed a critical hit. Its devastating force broke through the Soul Saint's Martial Soul Avatar and tore across his throat. Until he died, he could not understand why the figure he had just hit had vanished like a bubble.

At the same time, a barrage of Soul Skills destroyed the other clone. Yang Xiu seized the opening, appeared beside two Soul Emperors, slit their throats, and vanished again.

The surviving Soul Saint stared at where Yang Xiu had disappeared, then at the two dead Soul Emperors. Fear gripped him. He did not want to die.

"Please, show yourself. Whatever you want, we can give it to you."

Yang Xiu did not answer. The silence turned terrifying. They could hear their own heartbeats and feel their fear.

Two of them could bear it no longer and ran madly for the exit. Once they were twenty or thirty meters away, Yang Xiu appeared before them like a ghost, killed them, and vanished again. The surviving Soul Saint reacted, unleashing an attack at the place where Yang Xiu had disappeared. It left a deep crater in the ground, but because it was a single-target Soul Skill, it did not touch Yang Xiu.

Silence fell again.