The masked man's voice faltered.
The Blood Abyss God-Slaying Halberd had clearly only just been completed. Even the major powers in the Divine Capital had caught no hint of it beforehand, so how had he learned of it?
The masked man fell silent for a moment, then suddenly sneered. "It is only one more half-spirit treasure. You, the king of assassins who claims he dares kill even the top five on the Heavenly Gang Ranking, a descendant of the former Great Liang royal family-have you lost your nerve over a single battle halberd? The man you are killing this time is a high-ranking favorite of Great Jin."
"Whether I dare and whether it is worth it are two different matters." The icy voice betrayed no fluctuation.
"Qing Chen was already tenth on the Heavenly Gang Ranking. Now he has a top-tier half-spirit treasure as well. The original price bought only that one sword strike of mine."
"Under the alliance's rules, since this failure was largely due to errors and omissions in the employer's intelligence, the payment would normally not be refunded. But in consideration of our prior contract, I will give you two choices."
"Terminate the contract now, and the Bloodslaughter Alliance will refund one quarter of the original payment. Or add another low-grade spirit crystal, and I will strike once more."
The masked man froze, then flew into a rage.
"Another low-grade spirit crystal? Have you gone mad?"
"Two low-grade spirit crystals, plus ten supreme-grade spirit stones-that is almost enough to buy two half-spirit treasures! Have you gone mad for spirit crystals?"
The voice in the darkness answered with only five words. "He is worth that price."
The masked man's chest rose and fell slightly. Silence settled over the great hall again as he weighed his options for several