Chapter 39: Conditions
"That's it?"
Li Musheng furrowed his brow, lowered his head to glance at the woman in red whose head was embedded in the shattered ground, then his gaze fell on the masked man.
The masked man didn't know what Li Musheng meant. At this moment, he was completely frightened by Li Musheng's earlier attack, his mind and spirit trembling.
Even when he faced the woman in red, he had to be extremely careful and wary, but the other party had casually slapped her nearly to death. This strength was truly too terrifying and horrifying!
Seeing the masked man standing there speechless, Li Musheng shook his head.
To avoid causing more trouble, he immediately picked up the other party as well as the half-dead woman in red on the ground, leaped onto a nearby eave, and disappeared in a flash.
Soon, Li Musheng silently returned to Cang Yinyue's small courtyard and tossed the two people he was carrying onto the ground.
Hearing the sound, Cang Yinyue, who was examining the unconscious old man on the ground with a shocked and suspicious expression, suddenly turned around.
After glancing at Li Musheng who appeared as if he were a ghost, her gaze then fell on the two people he had brought back.
"Eh? This is the Red Silk Demoness?" Cang Yinyue stared at the woman in red on the ground and exclaimed in surprise.
Although the other party's face had long become a pile of mangled flesh and her true appearance couldn't be seen clearly, she recognized the poisoned black curved blade in her hand.
Hearing this, Li Musheng asked with somewhat lacking interest, "What's her background?"
"A demonic witch from the jianghu who practices her skills by enchanting men. Countless men have died at her hands. She especially enjoys seducing married men, then killing them for pleasure after having her way with them."
Cang Yinyue explained, then reached out to tear off the mask from the masked man's face.
"Cripple-Legged Grass Flyer!"
Cang Yinyue clearly recognized him as well. Then her gaze swept over the unconscious old man on the ground and she said, "If I'm not mistaken, this should be the Dead-Faced Old Man!"
Saying this, Cang Yinyue turned back to look at Li Musheng and said with no small amount of surprise, "These three are all famously heinous villains in the jianghu with many murders on their hands. They're all on Six Doors' wanted list. It's only been a short while, where did you capture them from?"
Earlier, Cang Yinyue had been interrogating the armored soldier in the secret room inside when she heard a heavy sound from the courtyard and hurriedly came out to check the situation.
As a result, Li Musheng was nowhere to be seen, but she found the unconscious old man in the courtyard. Before she could figure out what had happened, Li Musheng had immediately brought back two more people, and they were all court fugitives at that.
"Just nearby. They came to me themselves, seems they were fighting over something."
Li Musheng shrugged his shoulders, then tossed the copper-rusted token in his hand to Cang Yinyue and said, "They should have been after this thing. Take a look and see if you recognize it."
Seeing this, Cang Yinyue caught the token and carefully examined it under the moonlight.
Soon, she suddenly took a deep breath and couldn't help but exclaim, "This is actually a Hidden Kill Order!"
Li Musheng glanced at her and raised an eyebrow, saying, "So it really is a treasure? But it doesn't look much like one."
Cang Yinyue turned the token in her hand over and over, examining it for quite a while, then shook her head, "I'm not certain whether this thing is real or fake. If it's real, then the Great Li jianghu will probably see another storm of blood and violence."
Then, without waiting for Li Musheng to ask, she proactively explained, "This Hidden Kill Order comes from an extremely mysterious assassin organization in the jianghu called the 'Hidden Kill Pavilion.' It's the seal worn by the pavilion master. It's said that obtaining the Hidden Kill Order allows one to command all the assassins of the Hidden Kill Pavilion."
Hearing this, Li Musheng couldn't help but laugh, "Isn't this rumor too absurd? Taking a token and being able to command an assassin organization? It sounds unreliable no matter how you hear it. There can't really be people who believe this, right?"
Cang Yinyue sighed lightly and said, "You only know one thing but not the other. The Hidden Kill Pavilion's influence spreads across five nations. From princes and high officials above to peddlers and common folk below, there's no one they don't dare to kill."
"And to command the entire Hidden Kill Pavilion, obtaining the Hidden Kill Order is only the first step. If one can meet another condition, it's indeed quite possible to control the entire Hidden Kill Pavilion."
"What condition?" Li Musheng's curiosity was now somewhat piqued.
Cang Yinyue glanced at him and slowly said, "The Hidden Kill Order reappears in the jianghu every few decades, usually when the previous pavilion master is about to pass away, in order to select a new pavilion master."
"And this other condition is also the Hidden Kill Pavilion's test for the new pavilion master. As long as the person carrying the Hidden Kill Order can survive three assassination attempts from assassins within the Hidden Kill Pavilion without dying, they can succeed to the position of pavilion master and command all the assassins of the Hidden Kill Pavilion."
Hearing this, Li Musheng glanced at the bronze token and nodded slightly, "That sounds somewhat reasonable then."
Just then, he saw Cang Yinyue suddenly shove the Hidden Kill Order hastily back into his hand.
"What are you doing?" Li Musheng's face showed suspicion.
Cang Yinyue furrowed her delicate brows and said, "This thing is a hot potato. I don't dare hold it, or I won't even know how I died. I advise you to throw it back wherever you got it from."
Li Musheng picked up the copper-rusted token and looked at it for a while, his face showing a thoughtful expression.
Seeing this, Cang Yinyue was obviously startled and said, "You can't be thinking of keeping this thing in your hands, can you?"
Li Musheng stroked his chin and said, "Why not?"
With that, he stuffed the Hidden Kill Order back into his bosom and even patted it lightly with his hand.
Cang Yinyue's eyes, clear as autumn water, widened. Her whole person froze for a moment, then she had the feeling of avoiding Li Musheng like a snake or scorpion, wishing she could drive him out of her small courtyard.
"Miss Cang, don't just stand there. Hurry up and help me interrogate them about the whereabouts of the Tianqi Secret Treasury key."
Li Musheng spoke casually. Then his gaze swept over the three people in the courtyard and he said, "Since they're all wanted criminals who've committed many evils, I'll leave them to Miss Cang to handle. Consider it my payment for your work tonight. Perhaps before long you'll be able to get a promotion and raise at Six Doors."
Hearing this, Cang Yinyue gradually calmed her emotions and looked deeply at Li Musheng.
Six Doors naturally had its own promotion system, and capturing important fugitives and establishing merit was indeed one of the important routes.
These three people before her were thoroughly evil with profound martial Dao cultivation. According to Six Doors' assessment of their strength, they should all have strength approaching half-step Grand Master level.
Normally, when she encountered these three, she could only take a detour and hide. How would she dare try to capture them? Now that the three had fallen into her hands, it was indeed a tremendous achievement.
Cang Yinyue's eyes flickered as she pondered for a moment, then said, "They've seen your face. Handing them over to Six Doors will definitely expose your identity."
With that, a sharp gleam flashed in her eyes. The next moment, blade light suddenly appeared in her hand.
Swish swish swish!
Three flashes of blade light swept across the necks of the three people on the ground. In just an instant, all three were killed with one fatal strike.
Only then did Cang Yinyue's cold voice sound, "Only the dead won't reveal anything."