The annual Sword Marquis Token Battle was over.
In the battle, the exceptional genius Jian Meng’er, who everyone had been expecting to win, had shown remarkable talent. However, to everyone’s surprise, she had been completely overshadowed by someone else.
Two months prior, Jian Wushuang had been an untalented normal person. But now, only two months later, he had become the victor in the battle. Not only did he defeat Jian Meng’er, but he even defeated Jian Meng’er’s Senior Brother, Ye Mo, who had achieved the Exceptional Spiritual Sea Realm.
“A real genius!”
More than a Monster.
The whole Sword Marquis Mansion and even the whole Bashui Commandery were talking about him with great relish.
In the Bashui Commandery county, an old man in a gray robe with silver-white hair walked alone through the streets. It was Elder Hong. He came to a deserted alley. In this alley, there was a shabby wine shop that had been there for years, but no one came here to buy wine. The whole wine shop had only one person, the proprietress.
Elder Hong walked into the wine shop and looked at the proprietress standing behind the counter. Without saying anything, he walked directly into the inner hall to wait.
After a while, the old woman, the proprietress of the wine shop, came in gracefully.
“How long has it been since you’ve been here, blind old man? Two years?” The middle-aged woman smiled.
“I came here today for something important,” Elder Hong said with dignity.
“Why didn’t you stop by when you were free? You are a little ungrateful,” The woman said this with a weak smile, and then asked, “What’s the matter?”
Elder Hong took a deep breath and said, “The young master has awakened the Sword Soul.”
“What?” A moment ago, the woman had been very calm. Her face immediately became extremely solemn.
Jian Wushuang would have been very surprised if he had heard the term that Elder Hong used.
He had always been known as Young Pavillion Master, but now he’d become the young master.
“Sword Soul! The soul of the sword ancestor!” The woman said solemnly, “I am very surprised that after the master awakened the Sword Soul, the young master also awakened his own Sword Soul. Both father and son awakening Sword Soul simultaneously, that is almost inconceivable!”
“It is incredible, but it happened,” Elder Hong said, “Although awakening Sword Soul has great benefits, it also has evil accompaniments. If I am right, now that young master’s sword soul is awakened, people in that place will certainly be aware of it, and they will soon come to kill the young master.”
“Kill the young master? Just as they dealt with the master that year?” The woman had a trace of killing intent in her eyes.
“Yes, so we must act immediately.” Elder Hong’s voice was solemn, and he immediately drew a letter out from his arm. “Go at once, and send this letter to the one in Golden-dragon Palace. He must be informed as quickly as possible.”
“Yes.” She nodded solemnly and took the letter. She set off without hesitation.
In the meantime, in Tianyan Province Qingdong Commandery, in a slightly secret chamber.
By candlelight, a man with a purple coat sat solemnly reading the sealed letter before him.
Suddenly, the door of the chamber was opened, and a black-robed man ran in quickly.
“Hall Master, there is an urgent order!” The black-robed man respectfully handed him a letter.
He opened the letter. The first thing he saw was a blood-colored token. The token had a word carved in clear scarlet, “KILL.”
“A Scarlet Kill Command!” The man was surprised.
The organization he belonged to was extremely powerful. People were scared to hear the name of the organization everywhere in the Tianzong Dynasty. There were many orders for organizing top-level people, such as the Bronze, Silver, and Golden Killing Commands. But the Scarlet Kill Command was the supreme command of the organization, only the mysterious leader of their organization could release it.
A Scarlet Kill, meant that it had to be done regardless of the price, as long as they could kill the enemy. Even if all the experts who were sent to assassinate the target would die.
The Scarlet Kill Command had been handed down only a few times since the organization’s creation.
“Pass down the order. Make all assassins above ‘silver-masked’ level come back immediately. No matter what they are doing now. Even if they’ve accepted a task, make them give up the task or delay it immediately. If anybody hasn’t returned within three days of receiving this order, he will be killed!” The man sneered.
“Yes.” The black-robed man nodded respectfully.
He continued to look at the letter.
“Bashui Commander, Sword Marquis Mansion, Jian Wushuang…”
“From this day on, we shall keep a close watch over our target’s actions. We must not let him out of our sight before we are ready to make our move!”
…
Sword Marquis Mansion. It had been five days since the battle ended.
During the past five days, two great events had occurred in Sword Marquis Mansion.
The first was that the Mansion Master, Jian Xinhong had appointed Jian Wushuang as the new Sword Pavilion Master.
No one was surprised. After all, two months ago Jian Xinhong had appointed Jian Meng’er as the Sword Pavilion Master. He had been preparing to hold the official ceremony after the Token Battle. But, during that battle, Jian Meng’er had been defeated by Jian Wushuang directly, in front of many people. Plus, Jian Wushuang himself belonged to Sword Pavilion. His swordsmanship was unique, and he took over as Sword Pavilion Master in a more convincing way than Jian Meng’er.
As for the second thing, it was the Great Elder of Red Martial Hall. Jian Lan had resigned from his position after the battle and left Sword Marquis Mansion to travel far and wide.
This caused a great stir in Sword Marquis Mansion, but it was understandable.
After the battle, because of her talent, no one had said anything to Jian Meng’er. She had followed her Great Master to go to the Tianyuan Sword Sect and cultivate. But Jian Lan was a joke in Sword Marquis Mansion, and a lot of people were stealthily sarcastic towards him. Jian Lan had been aware, resolutely resigning his position as Great Elder, leaving Sword Marquis Mansion. It had been a good choice.
In the courtyard, Jian Wushuang was practicing his swordsmanship alone.
Sword light was moving, and it was confusing.
For a long time, Jian Wushuang stood with his sword.
“It’s been five days, but my body still hasn’t really recovered.” Jian Wushuang said secretly.
The Soul-Devouring Secret Skill had done so much damage to his body that it had been in a state of extreme weakness since then. It had not returned to peak condition yet.
“Well.” Jian Wushuang raised his head suddenly and looked at the yard. Four old figures came in, the Four Great Elders of Sword Pavilion, headed by Elder Hong.
“Elder Hong, Senior Yuan, Senior Qing, Senior Li,” Jian Wushuang called out immediately.