The Reticent Blade

"Is that why the four of you have Ghostbane Tokens that are different from the rest?"

Inside the cave, Rao Shuang sat on the table, swinging her legs idly.

Tang Jinnian sat cross-legged on the ground with a furnace before him. The firelight washed his face a fiery red as he said, "At first, there were more than just the four of us. There were many who refused to change their tokens. Most of them are dead now."

Rao Shuang's eyes widened. "The Ghostbane Association conducted an internal purge?"

"No," Tang Jinnian shook his head. "There was no need for the Ghostbane Association to act. Those who had already changed their tokens wouldn’t let us go. Some were dissatisfied, others felt that their path to being promoted was blocked. There would always be someone who wanted to take our lives."

"What about you?" Rao Shuang asked curiously. "Didn’t anyone come looking for trouble with you?"

Tang Jinnian let out a cold laugh. "Of course... but they are all dead now."

"All of them?"

Tang Jinnian tossed a few pieces of charcoal into the furnace. "There were more than ten Heaven-ranker assassins who died by my hand alone. As for the Earth and Profound-rankers, they were too many to keep track of. Once enough of them died, the rest were too scared to come."

Rao Shuang’s eyebrows twitched visibly. Looking at Tang Jinnian’s back, she whispered,"Did they try to force a new title upon you too?"

"Of course." Tang Jinnian’s face held a mocking smile. "At the time, I was told that the Ghostbane Association was reassessing their rankings and that they had added some new poetic titles above heaven-ranker. They said that Forsaken Phoenix would no longer belong to me."

"You killed them?" Rao Shuang blinked.