Ze Tian Ji

Edited by: Michyrr

A furious and unwilling howl roared out from the shattered wind and sand.

The wind calmed and the sand settled, and the mountain was once more clear and bright.

The demi-human expert of the Proclamation of Liberation had already disappeared, leaving behind only a puddle of blood on the ground.

The blue-clothed man still stood at his original position, still standing in his usual manner: a lowered head and drooped shoulders. However, the right hand extended from his sleeve was shaking somewhat.

There was no sword in his hands, and it almost seemed like the bright and beautiful, yet strange sword glow only existed in the imagination.

In reality, other than in special situations like the one in Xunyang City, very rarely would anyone living see his sword.

The mountain path was deathly quiet. The crowd stared at the blue-clothed man up the mountain path, their minds in utter shock as they all thought, just who is he? A hidden expert sent by the Orthodoxy to protect Chen Changsheng?

The demi-human expert that had lost in one exchange had not recognized the blue-clothed man.

No one recognized the blue-clothed man, no matter how experienced and knowledgeable they were.

Su Li had once very disdainfully evaluated this blue-clothed man, saying that any assassin with a name was not a good assassin.

But in truth, besides him or an important figure like Zhu Luo, who else could know just who this blue-clothed man was?

Chen Changsheng knew who he was.

In the ten thousand–li journey from the snowy plains of the demon lands to the south, this blue-clothed man had always been watching them from the shadows. At the time, he had believed that this blue-clothed man was waiting for the right opportunity to kill them, but later on, he realized that he had been protecting them. Finally, in that storm over Xunyang, the blue-clothed man had taken out his sword at last. With one strike, he had been able to reverse the entire situation.

Just like now.

He walked up to the blue-clothed man and said to his back, "Many thanks."

The blue-clothed man turned and emotionlessly replied, "Even without me, he would not dare to kill you."

As he gazed at this ordinary face, Chen Changsheng suddenly realized that this face really was hard to remember. He had actually forgotten whether this face was similar to the one he had seen in Xunyang City.

"Even if he didn’t dare to kill me, humiliating me is also not something I want."

"If this were the past, I would definitely have waited to see just what sort of methods you would use to deal with him."

The blue-clothed man glanced at the sword in Chen Changsheng’s left hand. It was very obvious that he was sure Chen Changsheng was concealing some tricks.

"Why did you come and help me so early today?"

"I can’t have anything happen to you."

"Why?"

The blue-clothed man looked into his eyes and said with great solemnity, "Because you are Big Brother’s disciple."

Chen Changsheng stared back blankly for a few moment before he finally understood who this Big Brother was. Shaking his head, he denied, "I’m not."

"You are Big Brother’s disciple." The blue-clothed man cared nothing of his denial, declaring, "So you are Big Brother’s disciple."

Chen Changsheng felt very helpless. He argued, "Even if Senior Su Li taught me swordplay, there’s no reason for someone with your personality to care about my life and death."

"A dutiful son pays his father’s debts, as does a disciple for his teacher."

The blue-clothed man said with all seriousness, "He ran off, so you should pay his debts in his place. I naturally can’t have you die."

Chen Changsheng didn’t understand, asking, "What debt?"

The blue-clothed man explained, "Back then, he brought us into the profession, but then he ran off. Now, he’s run even farther away, so only you can come back and continue leading us."

Chen Changsheng stood in a daze for quite a while before saying, "I remember that there’s also the second-ranked amongst your group?"

The blue-clothed man replied, "He went to chase after Big Brother."

At this time, a voice came from behind the two.

"That should be a woman, no?"

The person speaking was Tang Thirty-Six.

The blue-clothed man’s expression turned somewhat sluggish. It seemed that he had not imagined that the secret of the second-ranked assassin in the world, the leader of the assassins, being a woman, could be found out through a single sentence.

Pleased, Tang Thirty-Six said, "Sir does not need to take care of me, nor does Sir need to praise me. Who am I?"

The blue-clothed man abruptly turned to Chen Changsheng and said, "He’s very similar to another person."

Chen Changsheng had heard this many times. With deep sympathy, he nodded his head.

The blue-clothed man turned to Tang Thirty-Six and said, "I don’t like that person, so you should stay far away from me, or else I’m afraid I won’t be able to hold myself back and will kill you."

Tang Thirty-Six was given a scare, thinking, this guy’s a madman! But when he remembered the elegant manner in which this person had used one strike to wound and force back Xiao De, he still couldn’t suppress his curiosity. He brought his shoulder close to Chen Changsheng and said, "Don’t talk anymore about that nonsense, quickly introduce us."

"Tang Tang, from Wenshui." Then Chen Changsheng introduced, "This is Liu Qing."

The blue-clothed man was naturally the third-ranked assassin of the world, Liu Qing.

Upon hearing this very ordinary name, Tang Thirty-Six froze, finding the name rather familiar.

He suddenly remembered, then gave a shout at Liu Qing. He quickly extended both hands to grab Liu Qing’s hands, repeatedly saying, "My idol, please leave me your contact details!"

What an assassin most feared was having one’s hand in the grip of another’s, and Liu Qing was no different. Moreover, he deeply disliked Tang Thirty-Six, so he naturally did not let him grab his hands.

Chen Changsheng suddenly asked, "Why do you like to droop your shoulders?"

Back in Xunyang City, Liu Qing could be said to be normal to the extreme, his temperament and figure both incredibly commonplace. However, he had never intentionally drooped his shoulders.

It must be known that to be deliberately and easily remembered by others was a quality assassins should shun the most.

Liu Qing replied, "I learned it from Wang Po. I realized that I could pull out a sword faster this way."

Chen Changsheng thought of that sword glow that had flashed through the sandy wind and realized that Liu Qing’s sword truly was faster than back in Xunyang City by at least thirty percent.

A upper level Star Condensation assassin was already one of the world’s most frightening existences. If his sword was faster by thirty percent, how much more frightening would he be?

No wonder the fifth-ranked demi-human expert of the Proclamation of Liberation was still no match for Liu Qing, despite the fact that he was not being ambushed.

The storm in Xunyang City had brought him, Wang Po, Liu Qing, and even Su Li many changes. Naturally, they had been good changes.

"Remember the words I gave you. He ran off, so you better not think about running away," Liu Qing gravely warned Chen Changsheng.

Tang Thirty-Six had been listening for quite some time, but now he could no longer hold back. He asked, "To have the future Pope go and be the leader of an organization of assassins...are you sober?"

Liu Qing froze. He really had never thought of this problem. Only now, when Tang Thirty-Six asked if he was sober, did he finally wake up.

Yes, who would put down the position of ancestor of the Mount Li Sword Sect and go and be the head of the assassins?

And who would put down the position of Pope and go to be a chief of killers?

This was truly a fantastical way of thinking.

It turned out that in these past few years, he had been living such a fantasy.

Liu Qing’s face seemed to darken. Then he lowered his head, turned, and headed up the mountain path.

He did not say a single word more to Chen Changsheng.

For some reason, his back seemed bleak and lonely as he made his way up the path, giving off an aura of sorrow.

"What’s up with him?"

Tang Thirty-Six watched the figure of Liu Qing walking farther away and yelled, "I say...you still haven’t left me your contact details, idol!"

Chen Changsheng asked, "Tell me...why did he appear on Mount Han?"

Tang Thirty-Six somewhat reluctantly tore his gaze away and turned to him, chiding, "You idiot, if he’s coming to Mount Han at this time, he’s naturally here to attend the Boiling Stone Summit."

Presently on this world, it was roughly only him and the Black Dragon that would use the word ’idiot’ to describe Chen Changsheng.

"You’re the idiot here," Zhexiu’s voice came from the side. "An assassin participating in the Boiling Stone Summit is seeking his own death."

......