Chapter 13 Killing Two Birds with One Stone

Xu Jingming looked at the corpse of Swordplay King on the ground, thinking, "The Red Lotus Sect, wholeheartedly rebelling, has high-level figures who are all wanted criminals. Offering up the corpse of Swordplay King, I can at least be promoted to a Centurion of the Blood Rain Guard, and perhaps receive other rewards! It's a pity, offering up the corpse of Swordplay King will make the empire suspect that I am the murderer who killed Cheng Yanran."

Suddenly, Xu Jingming had a flash of inspiration.

"Such a powerful figure as Swordplay King should have a bounty on him at Seven Kill Tower," Xu Jingming thought. Immediately, he took off Swordplay King's coat, wrapped Swordplay King's head, and wrapped it layer by layer.

"Take away their incomplete corpses," Xu Jingming pointed to the incomplete corpses of Swordplay King and Cheng Yanran on the ground. "Dispose of them according to plan."

"Yes."

A team immediately took action.

The original plan was to dispose of Cheng Yanran's corpse, so that the Blood Rain Guard would discover Cheng Yanran's death as late as possible, so that receiving the reward would be less troublesome. Now, however, it was to dispose of the incomplete corpses of Cheng Yanran and Swordplay King.

"The Blood Rain Guard is coming," Xu Jingming glanced into the distance. "Withdraw!"

Xu Jingming immediately led everyone, each transforming into an afterimage, quickly withdrawing in the dark night!

The first few Blood Rain Guards who arrived, looking at the dense figures of thieves, did not dare to approach at all, allowing the thieves to leave.

Daring to attack Yan Manor, they were definitely not ordinary thieves. Looking at the number of thieves... these Blood Rain Guards were very clear, just with them? Rushing up would be courting death.

"They're gone."

"That group of thieves has gone."

Only then did the few Blood Rain Guards tentatively approach, carefully observing the corpses on the ground.

Among the dead were some second-rate experts responsible for intercepting, as well as the many subordinates of Swordplay King and Cheng Yanran.

"Who are these people?" The Blood Rain Guards looked at the many corpses, unable to identify their identities. "What was released earlier was Yan Manor's signal arrow, so it should be people from Yan Manor, maybe some are thieves."

"Don't recognize them."

"Don't recognize any of them."

These Blood Rain Guards carefully identified them, but they did not recognize any of the dozens of corpses.

Xun Shengshi, the strongest of them, although a top-tier expert, was too low-key, and these Blood Rain Guards still did not recognize him.

"Go into the mansion."

At a glance, it could be seen that someone had rushed out of the mansion, and the courtyard walls along the way had been blasted open.

These Blood Rain Guards entered the mansion to investigate, and finally saw the twelve guards who died at the entrance of the hall.

"Cheng Yanran, the Yan Manor's heir's twelve guards! I recognize them."

"It's the twelve guards."

Two Blood Rain Guards recognized them.

The reason was that Cheng Yanran was too famous in the Imperial Capital. When he traveled in the Imperial Capital, he was always accompanied by twelve guards! Not many people had seen Cheng Yanran, but many had seen the twelve guards.

"It can be seen that the fighting went all the way from the mansion to the outside. The Yan Manor's twelve guards were killed first, and then outside the mansion, the remaining people were also killed."

"The twelve guards were following Yan Manor's heir, right?"

"Where's Yan Manor's heir?"

"Didn't see him!"

These Blood Rain Guards looked at each other, faintly feeling uneasy.

As time passed, Blood Rain Guards arrived one after another, heavily surrounding the scene, and reconnaissance experts also arrived.

...

After the team led by Xu Jingming withdrew, most of the people went offline directly at some secluded places.

Xu Jingming, however, carried two packages, under the protection of three eighth-order experts, heading straight for the Seven Kill Tower's Imperial Capital headquarters. One of his packages was the spoils he had plundered, and the other was the head of Swordplay King.

"Hopefully, there won't be any problems when receiving the reward," Xu Jingming thought.

"Master, after receiving the reward, see if there's a bounty for Swordplay King, and if there is, accept it," Xu Jingming, while running, idled for a few seconds, his consciousness entering the virtual world network to send a notice to his master, then returned to the Blood Rain World and continued to move forward.

******

In the night, Liu Hai, wearing a bamboo hat and carrying a package, had already arrived at the Seven Kill Tower's Imperial Capital headquarters.

"Arrived," Liu Hai looked at the ordinary-looking inn in front of him. From the outside, it was impossible to tell that this was the Seven Kill Tower's headquarters in the Imperial Capital.

This inn had good business, and guests were constantly walking in.

After Liu Hai walked in, he showed his token and was familiarly led by the waiter into a secret corridor. The corridor was more than a hundred meters long, leading to a huge hall.

"This corridor is more than a hundred meters long, with many hidden traps. Even if a large army were to attack, rushing into the corridor would result in heavy casualties," Liu Hai observed, but didn't say anything, and came to the huge hall.

Inside the hall, there were more than a dozen assassins, and there were also many Seven Kill Tower reception staff.

Liu Hai walked to a spot.

"Is there a bounty mission for the Red Lotus Sect's Swordplay King?" Liu Hai asked softly.

The young man from Seven Kill Tower in charge of reception was stunned, then nodded, saying, "Yes." As he said that, he familiarly took out one of the thick books from his side, turned to one of the pages, and handed it to Liu Hai to look at.

Red Lotus Sect, Swordplay King Pang Cheng, bounty amount fifty-nine thousand taels!

Only a minimum of Five Kill-level assassins can receive the mission, the mission period does not exceed one month, and verification is required with the head to receive the reward.

Liu Hai nodded slightly.

"I'm here to hand in a mission," Liu Hai handed his token to the receptionist in front of him.

"Which mission?" the receptionist asked casually.

"The mission to assassinate Cheng Yanran, the heir of Yan Manor," Liu Hai said.

The receptionist was stunned, but after all, he was a staff member of the Imperial Capital headquarters, and what big storms hadn't he seen? There were even assassinations of people more honorable than Cheng Yanran. The receptionist immediately took out one of the books and turned to one of the pages.

"Cheng Yanran..." The receptionist compared the token and confirmed that it was the token for receiving the mission.

"Requires the head or left ear for verification," the receptionist said with some anticipation. Every time there was a mission to bounty a big shot, he was quite excited.

Liu Hai then placed the package over.

"Master," the receptionist called out, and a black-robed old man immediately walked over.

"Cheng Yanran?" The black-robed old man understood, and became much more solemn. He opened the package and looked at the head inside the box, and then looked at the left ear.

The black-robed old man looked at Liu Hai with some surprise and said, "Amazing! It is indeed Cheng Yanran. This sir, please wait a moment, I will get the reward money right away. Also... sir's token can also be upgraded to Five Kill-level."

The mission to kill Cheng Yanran was much more difficult than all the missions Xu Jingming had accepted before. With this one mission, he was immediately promoted to Five Kill-level.

Liu Hai nodded and waited silently.

The hall was huge, and their conversation was very soft. In fact, every assassin who came to hand in a mission was very low-key and would naturally keep a distance, not disturbing each other.

In just a minute or two, the black-robed old man came over with the gold.

"Three hundred and twenty-six taels of gold, please check it!" The black-robed old man handed over a package of gold. Liu Hai checked it and then lifted the package to weigh it. With his precise control of strength, he could confirm that the weight of the gold was correct.

"Five Kill sir, this is your new token," the black-robed old man handed the token to Liu Hai.

Liu Hai, carrying the package and holding the new token, said, "I want to accept another mission, the mission to bounty the Red Lotus Sect's Swordplay King."

"The Swordplay King's mission?" The black-robed old man was a little surprised. "I will help you register it right away."

Swordplay King was terrifyingly strong, and had many experts following him.

Most importantly, he was constantly rebelling, so he was naturally elusive! It was very difficult to find his踪迹 (zōngjì, traces).

...

Liu Hai left the inn and suddenly heard a bird's call. He followed the sound and quickly entered an alley, where he saw Xu Jingming and three eighth-order experts.

"What a coincidence, you completed the Cheng Yanran mission, and your token was upgraded to Five Kill-level! You're just qualified to accept the Swordplay King mission," Liu Hai said.

"The Cheng Yanran mission was very difficult. Completing a few similar missions would be enough to upgrade to Six Kill-level," Xu Jingming said, handing a package in his hand to his master. "This is Swordplay King's head, I'll trouble Master to make another trip."

"This is the reward money," Liu Hai handed the package to Xu Jingming.

Carrying the package, Liu Hai went to the inn again.

...

"Hmm?"

The same receptionist looked at Liu Hai in astonishment, and the black-robed old man also walked over.

"I'm here to hand in a mission," Liu Hai said, opening the package and revealing Swordplay King's head.

The black-robed old man also looked at him with some surprise.

"Swordplay King?" The black-robed old man identified the head.

"This Five Kill sir, I admire you, I admire you," the black-robed old man said. He could guess that the assassin in front of him should have killed Swordplay King first, and then accepted the mission. But Seven Kill Tower didn't care too much about these things...

As long as the mission wasn't withdrawn! After receiving the mission, and being able to verify that the mission was completed, the reward money could be received.

Seven Kill Tower valued its reputation very much unless there were special circumstances.

Soon, Liu Hai received the reward money and left.

"Killed Yan Manor's heir and Swordplay King, what's this person's background?" The receptionist murmured in a low voice after Liu Hai left.

"Maybe he's some top-tier expert," the black-robed old man didn't care. The Six Kill-level and Seven Kill-level assassins in Seven Kill Tower were almost all top-tier experts! It was just that these top-tier experts were only part-time, and their identities couldn't be completely determined. Seven Kill Tower couldn't truly control them.

The assassins that Seven Kill Tower cultivated itself were, after all, a minority.

It was precisely because of the lax management of assassins that Seven Kill Tower was able to truly become big! It was able to rank in the top three among assassin organizations in the Blood Rain World.

Many Cosmic Citizen players were also willing to work part-time at Seven Kill Tower because it managed loosely and had a good reputation! Other assassin organizations had much stricter management. Some assassin organizations even completely cultivated their own assassins.

******

Liu Hai was responsible for receiving the reward money because he was afraid of accidents.

After all, Xu Jingming's identity was more important, and he couldn't die easily. In the Blood Rain World, Liu Hai could create a new character again if he died once.

"Jingming, be careful," Liu Hai gave the reward money to Xu Jingming.

"Don't worry."

Xu Jingming nodded.

The two rewards totaled nine hundred and sixteen taels of gold. If they were exchanged for gold knife coins, it would be nine thousand one hundred and sixty coins.

According to Seven Kill Tower's rules, rewards exceeding five thousand taels of silver could only be received at the Imperial Capital headquarters within the Imperial Capital! Because other ordinary branches wouldn't have too much gold and silver prepared.

Carrying the reward money and other things, Xu Jingming traveled all the way back to the South City under the protection of three eighth-order experts.

"Hopefully, there won't be any accidents," Xu Jingming was also very nervous. This was the most gold he had ever carried! He was also afraid that the world would target him.

...

Late at night, the Fei Residence.

"Lord, Lord," the silver-haired old man gently knocked on the door outside, waking up Fei Qing, who was already asleep.

"What's wrong?"

Fei Qing put on his clothes, opened the door, and looked at his personal guard, Lu Shao, and a Blood Rain Guard Centurion.

"Centurion Zeng," Fei Qing looked at him.

Centurion Zeng looked solemn and said in a low voice, "Lord Fei, we have just confirmed the news that Cheng Yanran, the Yan Manor's heir, and Swordplay King of the Red Lotus Sect are both dead, and the assassin also went to the Seven Kill Tower headquarters to receive the reward money."

"Cheng Yanran and Swordplay King of the Red Lotus Sect?" Fei Qing was startled. "Are you sure Cheng Yanran, the Yan Manor's heir, is dead?"

"Yes," Centurion Zeng nodded. "Very sure!"

"Does His Majesty know?" Fei Qing asked.

"My elder brother has set off for the palace. When he set off, he sent me over to tell you, Lord," Centurion Zeng said.

Fei Qing nodded.

"Cheng Yanran is dead..." Thoughts flashed through Fei Qing's mind. "Will the Yan King in the Northern Lands take the opportunity to completely rebel?"

(End of this chapter)