Chapter 90
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: Normalization Before Farming (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
For genuine communication between people, you need some seasoning.
Of course, those born as natural socialites—friends with an E-type MBTI—can whip up flavorful conversations without any extra flavoring.
But that's impossible for an introverted everyman like me.
Not easy at all.
Tak— tak—
"──!"
Fortunately, I wasn't lonely.
The assassin scum were much the same.
To put it bluntly, despite knowing jack shit, they love yelling "Kuh, kill her!" like some obsessed knight with a captured damsel, or just going full silent brooding type.
"From now on, we'll get along just fine."
"──!"
First off, to stop any pointless struggling, I sealed his meridian and mute points, turning the man into a human log.
Also.
For true heartfelt tales, you need the drug.
Carefully ensuring the friend I'd spared wouldn't choke to death or have his tongue curl back into his throat.
Not Veritaserum... but truth serum, crammed straight down his gullet.
A little time passed.
The fake chef's eyes started to lose focus.
Even after I infused some internal energy to release the pressure points, there was no reaction. The drug must've kicked in proper.
"What happened to the original chef and the staff?"
"D-Dead......"
"Where'd you bury the bodies?"
"B-Behind... the veggie patch......"
I'd half-expected it.
Still, it left a bitter taste in my mouth.
Suppressing the rising killing intent, I grilled him for more info.
For starters.
They hadn't tracked my movements to set up here. They'd just spread out across Shaanxi, forming a loose net like a makeshift heavenly web.
In the process, they'd clashed hard with some shadowy faction, so more forces should've been waiting at the inn originally. But that wasn't my problem.
"Your superior?"
"Number... Thirty... Seven......"
"Who's that?"
"The... busboy......"
Poor bastard must've been low-rank, faking it as head chef just to fill the slot.
No wonder the dongpo pork tasted like shit.
I rifled through the assassin's dazed, drugged pockets—still swaying dreamily—and looted the essentials: a few daggers, signal flares, the usual assassin must-haves.
"Then die."
I granted him a death light as a feather compared to his crimes.
Shaking the blood from the dagger.
I stepped out of the inn and fired off the assembly signal flare.
Not sure if this counted as consoling the innocent souls.
But they'd died because of me all the same.
Revenge had to be thorough.
The mastermind behind the rabbit hunt was Five Kills.
The client's latest intel said the target was heading south of Xi'an for sure.
So the plan was to infiltrate the most likely inn in Dajuk and casually set the trap while waiting.
However.
"Hoo, those damn dogs......"
Five Kills sighed as he plunged his dagger into the throat of the bastard who'd been hounding his life moments ago.
A force had started interfering with them recently.
Judging by the martial arts origins, it was probably Ghost Kill Squad, one of the three great assassin groups.
No idea what sparked the feud between organizations, but these fellow pros were grinding their teeth to disrupt them.
Sticking together in one spot to stalk prey in that situation was asking for trouble.
Too obvious a setup would just tip off the target to their presence.
Before long, the hunt took a backseat, leaving only endless, grueling shadow fights of kill or be killed.
Screeeeech—!
The moment his razor-sharp hearing caught the signal flare's pop, Five Kills looked up.
A faint yellow light streaked briefly across the sky from the inn they were using as a rally point.
Exactly four seconds later, another.
Red this time.
The signal was clear.
- Target spotted.
Time to end this dragged-out mess.
Of course.
"Scram!"
Shaking off the pursuers clinging again came first.
Right after Five Kills shook the tail and reached the inn.
"Hmmm......"
His instincts screamed something was wrong.
They'd picked only first-rate experts, factoring in the target's Peak Realm level.
So why the hell did it reek of blood this bad?
He'd been delayed getting here, sure, but had they all gotten wiped already?
If so, one of the underlings must've panicked during a Ghost Kill Squad raid and sent the wrong signal.
Didn't matter either way.
Even without assassin arts, he was mid-Peak Realm.
Anyone but that freak monster from Ghost Kill Squad was fair game.
And even against the freak, he was confident he could escape with his life.
No presence even with senses spread wide.
No signs even maxing out his ground-listening technique.
So Five Kills melted into the shadows and cautiously stepped into the inn.
"......"
There.
Lay his squad, butchered near-total massacre style.
Most from a single stroke.
Traces of ambush on defenseless foes.
Five Kills clicked his tongue inwardly.
He'd suspected as much—Ghost Kill Squad's handiwork, right on cue.
Bodies still warm; killed recently.
His gaze from the back door swept the kitchen, past the likely-lured-in corpses of countless squadmates, and lingered on one unmasked face.
Number Thirty-Seven.
One he'd personally raised, on the cusp of Peak from first-rate.
Judging by the corpse's state.
No resistance; neck twisted, instant death.
That meant at least Peak Realm.
Five Kills was certain.
"That freak monster's doing."
"Who's that?"
"......!"
The reply tacked onto his mutter hit, and Five Kills whipped into sideways evasion.
Blood soaked into the remaining black garb rolling through the pool, but he ignored it.
He'd be dead otherwise.
"Tch. Should've just stabbed straight."
Staring at the figure emerging as the distortion faded, Five Kills' eyes bulged.
"You bastard......!"
Familiar face.
Third young master of Ten Thousand Gold Treasury Fortress.
The target.
Geum Sihyeon.
Why the hell was he here?
And not just that—he'd slaughtered the whole squad, then hidden, fooling even Five Kills' senses?
Chaos flooded Five Kills' mind.
But his hand, already in play, prepped the next move.
"That was easy?"
Easy? No way.
Assassin arts differed from others.
Erasing presence, blending into darkness—high-level skills beyond mere willpower.
Even in the underworld, they kidnapped orphans en masse, culled them, and raised the talented few.
Five Kills reached a logical conclusion.
"......You're Ghost Kill Squad. Damn near fooled me with that flawless disguise. What's your grudge against our group?"
Spilling his grievance.
His hand subtly loosed ultra-thin needles.
'Gotcha......!'
One of his trump aces.
Inspired by Tang Family's Soul-Severing Sand poison art: poison-coated needles so fine you'd miss them unless staring, launched at speed.
Soul-Severing Needle sank into Geum Sihyeon's forearm.
"Hm?"
The moment Geum Sihyeon glanced down at the foreign prick.
Claaaang—!
Five Kills slashed like lightning, but it was effortlessly blocked.
Didn't matter.
"Kuhuhu, you're poisoned already!"
"By the Tang clan's cuteness......? Wait, why's this dialogue so familiar."
Geum Sihyeon casually parried the assault.
But in one minute, he'd crumple begging for painless death.
Five Kills had no doubt.
About thirty exchanges followed.
Fierce trading, but all the nicks and scratches went to Five Kills.
Geum Sihyeon's clothes not even specked with blood, pristine.
No sign of poison; as relaxed as ever.
Like Geum Sihyeon was toying with him.
"No, why—why are you fine?!"
Five Kills bellowed.
"Don't use such strong words....... You look weak."
Geum Sihyeon just smirked and swung.
One exchange.
Another.
"Hm. About this much."
Geum Sihyeon murmured low, aura surging.
Staring at the sword's path.
Five Kills couldn't believe his eyes.
Unlike the formless, casual swings before, this strike had perfect form.
One Kill Sword.
Gatekeeper One Kill's unique assassin art—eerily like what Five Kills wielded—slipped silently into his chest.
"Guhk......"
The blade piercing his heart drained his strength.
In disbelief, he slowly looked up at Geum Sihyeon gazing down.
In those eyes.
Five Kills glimpsed a bottomless abyss sucking everything in.
Only after butchering them all and ensuring no last words escaped did calm finally return.
Then I could objectively assess my state.
A kind of heart demon.
Separate from the demonic energy giggling in my dantian, rage had flooded my marrow.
Past life memories played a part, sure.
But to take me down, they'd wrecked not just this place but countless lives.
Seemed too easy a death compared to their sins.
Eh.
Dwelling on it would just eat me alive—lesson learned from my previous life.
So.
I'll keep living my way.
Of course, luxuriously and gorgeously.
First, spoils check.
"Hm, useful......"
Scoring a decent-looking sword art as payment for the show was solid gain.
Especially the effects.
Blazing Shadow Sword Art: swing with form, flames flicker.
Blood Wolf Sword Method: swing with form, wolf-claw sword qi slashes out.
Too flashy.
This nameless one rippled with dark, shadowy blackness.
Awakened my long-dormant chuunibyou soul.
Kuhuhu.
Black flame dragon dwells in my blade......
Name it something like Shadow Kill Sword Method.
Smiling contentedly, I shook the blood from my sword, sheathed it.
Grabbed oil from the kitchen, doused the inn evenly.
Couldn't haul out every corpse one by one.
And leaving it would cause bigger issues.
"Kyauung......"
"Yeah, yeah."
Sensing my unease, or hating the oil smell.
I petted the wolf pup rubbing my leg, took a mental breather.
Slipped out, set it ablaze.
"Amitabha, Primordial Heavenly Venerable, Allahu Akbar, rest in peace, whatever—attain enlightenment."
Praying for the souls who'd met unlucky ends amid the flammable trash.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
"Hoo, hooo, bold for a righteous sect pup. Bold, impressive."
Applause and an unfamiliar voice rang out.
From over-absorbing Master Tteul's energy learning Mixed Moon Divine Eyes? Or Luri's curse?
No hostility.
Very familiar aura—must be Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
Ready to sell out Master Tteul or Luri if needed, I turned casually.
A bald, grim-faced thug who screamed cult appeared, shedding his invisibility jutsu.
"Kyau?!"
The pup flinched at the visuals—Peak Realm at least, judging by his power.
Probably the freak monster that lowlife assassin muttered about.
He started relaxed.
But.
"You're that Geum Sihyeon the Ghost Order's after...... Hahhh! Greetings, my lord husband!"
"?"
Eyes met, he freaked, then prostrated flat.
What the fuck.
Why you doing this to me.