A big, dimwitted fellow, a mumbling old man, a Little Madman, and finally, a complete idiot.
Could a group like this really be relied upon?
Li Dao shook his head, opened the Registration Booklet in his hand, and looked through the remaining three men's information.
Name: Little Madman Sex: male Age: 17 Crime: injuring an Embroidered Uniform Guard, resisting arrest Cultivation: none Details: fast, agile, Steel Tendons and Iron Bones, sharp fingernails
Name: Old Ghost Sex: male Age: 101 Crime: selling counterfeit medicine, concealing deadly poisons, practicing medicine without a license Cultivation: Houtian First Grade Details: skilled in medicine, poison arts, and longevity practices
Name: Xu Hu Sex: male Age: 12 Crime: resisting arrest, murder Cultivation: Ninth Grade of the Houtian Realm Details: born with superhuman strength
Besides this information, the Registration Booklet contained special notes on each of the three.
According to the notes, Little Madman had originally been an ordinary child. An Otherworlder had captured him when he was young and refined him into a Gu Child, permanently fixing his body in its current form. Even his mind had suffered damage because the refinement process was so depraved.
He had ended up imprisoned here because, when the Otherworlder who harmed him was arrested, he had released Little Madman to fight the Great Qian Embroidered Uniform Guard. The guards had killed the Otherworlder on the spot, and with no one left to control him, Little Madman had been captured and brought here.
Li Dao was even more taken aback when he read Old Ghost's notes.
Old Ghost had initially been an ordinary disciple of Medicine King Valley. After saving someone's life on one occasion, he had become obsessed with difficult and unusual ailments of the human body, eventually descending into something close to madness.
The notes also explained Old Ghost's cultivation at the Houtian First Grade.
Old Ghost practiced a Medicine King Valley cultivation technique that was easy to learn but difficult to master.
The technique did not grant powerful strength. Its main purpose was to strengthen the body and prolong life.
Thus, despite reaching the Houtian First Grade, he had little actual fighting ability. His only means of dealing with others was poison, and Old Ghost had another bad habit: he never used poison to kill.
Precisely because Old Ghost went his own way and had such an eccentric temperament, the authorities feared he might someday cause a catastrophe with his poisons. Added to that, he had offended an important figure while treating someone, which was how he had ended up here.
As for the last one, Xu Hu...
Li Dao carefully checked the name field, then looked at the towering Xu Hu beside him.
He was fucking twelve?
Whose twelve-year-old kid stood two and a half meters tall?
But the Embroidered Uniform Guard had gathered this information. They should not have made such a basic mistake.
With a physique like that, Heaven had practically put food straight into his mouth.
According to the notes, Xu Hu had grown up an orphan. His enormous size at birth had killed his mother, and his father had abandoned him in the wilderness in a fit of anger.
Yet Xu Hu had not died in the wilderness. Instead, a tigress had carried him away and raised him.
Because his father's surname was Xu, he had been named Xu Hu.
Perhaps drinking tiger's milk from infancy, combined with his extraordinary natural gifts, had given him his current physique at just twelve years old.
He had been arrested because his adoptive mother-the tigress-had been killed by a group of hunters while roaming the mountain forests.
In his fury, Xu Hu had killed every hunter to avenge her.
When the Embroidered Uniform Guard learned of it, they had arrested him.
As for his cultivation, the Embroidered Uniform Guard had detected a small amount of true qi inside Xu Hu, so they had classified him as a Houtian Martial Artist.
No one knew how he had cultivated that true qi.
After reading through the Registration Booklet, Li Dao felt that, aside from Shen San, the others were three problem children.
Still, problem children or not, all three were talented.
Although Little Madman had been refined into a Gu Child and was mentally unstable.
He had been lucky enough to retain some intelligence, as his fear of Li Dao demonstrated.
Moreover, being a Gu Child had given him exceptional sinews and bones, Steel Tendons and Iron Bones, and incredible speed. Even without any cultivation, he was someone Shen San, who specialized in lightness arts and possessed cultivation at the Sixth Grade of the Houtian Realm, could not easily shake off.
If he also had good cultivation aptitude, his future achievements would certainly be impressive.
Old Ghost needed no further explanation.
Having lived for over a hundred years, he would have been considered a venerable centenarian even in Li Dao's previous life.
As the saying went, the older one grew, the more uncanny one became. Though he mumbled strange things, he was undoubtedly the most knowledgeable person present.
And Xu Hu needed even less explanation.
Heaven had practically put food straight into his mouth. His only disadvantage was his background.
If Xu Hu had come from the same background as Li Dao, that physique at twelve would have made him the perfect battlefield general.
With even a little talent for cultivation, he would be a proper battlefield meat grinder.
And then there was Li Dao himself, with his cheat.
For a moment, Li Dao rather admired Wei Yun. How had he managed to put together a group like this?
Qiegewala Cheng had not lied to him. This prison was full of talented people.
As for the last one, Shen San.
Li Dao glanced at the complete idiot, who was still questioning his entire existence, and shook his head. No matter how he looked at him, the fellow seemed like a mascot.
No, there was nothing auspicious about having him around.
At best, he could count as a dangling ornament.
"Enough, fatty. Stop dwelling on why you got arrested. Instead of worrying about that, you should be thinking about how to leave the Death Row Camp."
Even Old Ghost could not bear to watch anymore and offered a reminder from the side.
Shen San came back to his senses and gave Wei Yun a resentful look. Inwardly, he could only blame his rotten luck.
Li Dao put down the Registration Booklet and looked up. "Are there any missions right now?"
Wei Yun paused. "The five of you have only just come together. Are you sure you don't want some time to get used to working together?"
Li Dao glanced at Shen San and the other three. After a moment's hesitation, he shook his head. "No need. Rather than hurriedly sharpening our blades here, we might as well head straight out."
"All right, then."
Wei Yun nodded. "As it happens, I have an urgent matter that needs your help."
"What is it?"
"Assassinate the Third Prince of the Falling Cloud Tribe."
"Hm?"
A little later, after Wei Yun's explanation, Li Dao and the others understood their mission.
Although the Northern Barbarians were nominally a dynasty, its internal factions were tangled and complex. It was more like a dynasty formed from an alliance of large and small tribes.
Relations between those tribes varied from friendly to hostile.
At present, one large tribe within the Northern Barbarians Dynasty was primarily responsible for targeting Great Qian.
The Tamu Tribe.
One reason they were targeting Great Qian was that winter was approaching, and the Tamu Tribe wanted to plunder resources from the Great Qian Dynasty.
The other was that the Tamu Tribe shared a border with the Great Qian Dynasty. Clashes large and small occurred every day, leaving deep-rooted resentment.
The reason for assassinating the Falling Cloud Tribe's Third Prince was that the Great Qian Dynasty had received intelligence that the Tamu Tribe intended to enlist the Falling Cloud Tribe in a joint campaign against Great Qian.
The Falling Cloud Tribe's Third Prince was the negotiator for this collaboration.
Because the situation had arisen so suddenly, Great Qian had no time to mobilize personnel from its interior.
They could only select people from the frontier military camps.
At the same time, they could not let the Falling Cloud Tribe or the Tamu Tribe discover that Great Qian had sent assassins after the Third Prince of Falling Cloud, so regular military personnel could not act.
That made the unusual condemned prisoners in the Death Row Camp potential candidates for the mission.
Changgu Town was close to the route the Third Prince of Falling Cloud would take, so Wei Yun had received the assignment.
"Falling Cloud, Wei Yun."
Shen San snickered. "Commander Wei, that tribe's name was born to bring you down."
Wei Yun ignored him and looked at Li Dao. "Well? Will you take the mission?"
"What happens if we don't?"
"Nothing. This mission came up so suddenly that my superiors can't blame me even if I do nothing. If I get it done, though, I might earn some credit."
Wei Yun spoke with an air of casual indifference.
"Have you found out who's escorting the Third Prince of Falling Cloud?"
Li Dao asked casually.
"Yes."
Wei Yun nodded and explained, "Since the Falling Cloud Tribe People also decided on these negotiations at the last minute, he probably won't have any experts with him. Even if he does, they shouldn't be particularly powerful. There should be plenty of ordinary soldiers, though. From what I've found out, the Third Prince of Falling Cloud has an entourage of at least three hundred."
Not many experts?
An entourage of at least three hundred?
Li Dao froze. Was this a mission delivered straight to his doorstep?
For him, killing a group of ordinary soldiers was easier than killing experts, and it also offered the greatest returns.
If all this was true, then this mission really could not have suited him better.
"Too difficult? Well, that makes sense. Taking on three hundred people with only five really is too much."
Seeing Li Dao fall silent, Wei Yun assumed he was considering giving up.
"Wait. We'll take the mission."
Li Dao suddenly spoke.
"Hm? You're taking it?"
"Yes."
"That's three hundred people, possibly with hidden experts among them. There are only five of you."
Wei Yun looked puzzled.
He wanted the five of them to work for him, not throw their lives away. Besides, he had already said he would not send them on certain-death missions.
In his view, if five people attacked a force of three hundred, even if they successfully assassinated the Third Prince of Falling Cloud, they would probably fail to escape afterward, or suffer several casualties.
Hearing this, Li Dao smiled faintly. "We ought to let you recoup your investment, shouldn't we?"
Wei Yun: "..."
He wanted to say this was hardly the way to recoup an investment, but they had agreed so readily. What else could he say?
In any case, whether they succeeded or failed would not affect him.
The same reasoning still applied: they were all from the Death Row Camp. Even if some possessed special abilities, they were condemned prisoners in the end. Their purpose was to create additional value for the Great Qian Dynasty. Failing to create that value would affect nothing else.
"All right. But shouldn't you ask the others what they think?"
Wei Yun looked at the other four. He had indeed appointed Li Dao as their leader, but if the remaining four refused to follow orders, there was nothing he could do.
"Do I need to?"
Rather than answering, Li Dao turned to look at the four.
Xu Hu said in a low rumble, "I'll follow you. You decide."
Little Madman was already traumatized by Li Dao, so naturally, he would not object.
Old Ghost chuckled. "Young people do love running wild, but I like it. A mere three hundred? I've had more medicine-testing boys than that. This time, I'll just play along with you."
That left only Shen San.
"I... I..."
Shen San was about to say something when he suddenly noticed everyone looking at him. He could only mutter, "If all four of you have no objections, what can I say by myself?"
Li Dao turned back to Wei Yun. "Everyone agrees."
Wei Yun raised a thumb and could not help saying, "The five of you really do belong together."
"Since you've all agreed, I'll leave this mission to you. If you need anything, ask now."
An incense stick's worth of time later.
Shen San beamed as he looked over the equipment that had previously been confiscated from him.
Old Ghost hugged a heap of bottles and jars, muttering strange things to himself.
Little Madman and Xu Hu were surprisingly in sync. They huddled over a mountain of food, eating and drinking voraciously. It seemed they had been starved in the Death Prison.
"And what do you want?"
Wei Yun asked Li Dao, the last one remaining.
"What do I want?"
Li Dao thought for a moment, then said, "If you really want to give me something, give me a saber that won't lose its edge after hacking three hundred people to death."
Wei Yun raised an eyebrow. "You're planning to do the whole job yourself?"
Li Dao shrugged. "That's the idea, but I don't know whether I can pull it off."
"You're quite a talent yourself."
Wei Yun removed the saber at his waist and set it before Li Dao. "Forged from centennial darksteel. I'll lend it to you for now."
Li Dao raised an eyebrow. "So generous? Aren't you afraid I'll fail and let the Falling Cloud Tribe People capture it?"
Wei Yun smiled. "At first, I thought you'd gone mad. But on reflection, someone as clever as you shouldn't do something without confidence. So I'm betting you'll come back."
"If I lose, all I lose is a saber. If you lose, you lose your life."
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