Chapter 311

청 couldn’t believe that a notorious assassin group could still be running around. Not just any group, but a famous one at that!

In reality, it’s pretty common for an unofficial government agency to operate an assassination squad in a nation. Ancient Middle Eastern assassins came to mind. Not far from Qing’s hometown, there once was a chilly face-off between state-sponsored murderers during the Cold War, and that might just be an ongoing conspiracy theory down there.

And now, we have a private assassin group, no less! A group so well-known it even pops up in those ancient rankings of great assassins like the Four Great Assassins and Five Great Assassins!

Qing thought to herself, “How the heck do they handle all that hatred?” I can’t imagine there isn’t a connection to some super badass martial artist among the assassination targets here. There’s that saying that says you can find all the kids of the world just six people away — what if they catch a wrong vibe and get wiped out?

Still, how do these famous assassins manage to stay in business?

If anyone were to hear Qing’s question, the answer would likely be:

No way.

How do they handle the grudges?

They can’t handle it.

Is there no way not to mess with the buddies of these ultimate masters?

If there were, please enlighten me. Messing with one person could lead to a total bloodbath!

Human emotions are unpredictable — there are bonds even between the noble and the lowly. So, if you start killing for cash, trouble is bound to follow.

It’s been a trend where countless assassination groups have vanished, and the current situation is just another case for the assassination bureau to grapple with.

The Heavenly Demon Sect’s elite members are former assassins, and they can’t even show their faces in front of Qing. They simply haven’t lived good enough lives.

According to the teachings of the sect, those who were once demons have now fallen into acts of destruction and hatred following their original sins.

Yet, with the arrival of their new master, the Supreme Heavenly Demon, who embodies light and is glorious like the sun itself — Ahura Mazda has commanded them to conquer the world with goodness!

Oh, and the heavenly sect’s doctrine warriors have dedicated their lives to cleverly aligning with these ideas.

So, for their past misdeeds against the old generation’s laws, they’re punished by having to longingly gaze at their master from afar, wishing they could serve him directly instead.

By the way, real ones strive hard to lead righteous lives.

Today, I cleaned up some trash off the street.

Who am I? A follower of the Supreme Heavenly Demon!

Nowadays, even if the old folks groan, I help them along instead of just spitting at them, and when I see a weak person getting bullied, I step in, listen to their story, and try to resolve it. I help parentless kids, widows, elderly folks living alone, the disabled, and stop any ruckus on the streets while trying to uphold goodness and all that jazz.

So, when Qing looks over at the employees of the Seolga Merchant Association, who she sees as defectors from the northern Heavenly Demon City, those folks seem to be more like moderate agents for espionage than cold-blooded assassins.

Plus, now is the perfect chance for these real ones to showcase their skills.

The revered Supreme Heavenly Demon has commanded them to sweep away the trash of those assassin scumbags!

After all, the ecology of assassins understands assassins better than anyone.

They even managed to obtain the layout of the assassination bureau’s lower ranks and coding.

So, the rice dealer who used to scoop from the grain shop is suddenly dragged away, and the carpenter named Wang gets surrounded and taken off too, while some strange folks show up at a shop, opening a secret underground door that the owner didn’t even know existed.

Thus, the assassination bureau’s assassins are barely managing to cling to life, locked in a basement (a terrible place with no sunlight), while all the random assassins causing chaos in the world have been deemed as mere trash awaiting execution by the Supreme Heavenly Demon’s decree.

Among them, Qing is like a kid in a candy store, slowly savoring the good karma shared by the ultimate commander.

Unbeknownst to herself, the city’s filth is disappearing, and for the residents of Xi’an, it’s an ample treat. For the world as a whole, it’s a net benefit.

“As of now, we are shutting down the branch. Only take the special ledger and records; burn everything else. Damn it, who touched whom?”

The head of the Sicarius Bureau in Xi’an, Heuksal, ground his teeth in frustration.

The history of the Sicarius Bureau is one of massacre.

While they provide training to staff, they also cover the rich history of the central plains, but once collapsed, the next assassins would just swallow the name and carry on.

So, to be precise, the current Sicarius Bureau, which falls under the Heaven’s Kill organization, only has a little over thirty years of history.

Although the history isn’t long, their attempts to avoid complete destruction stretch back ages.

From vertical organizational structures, to a code that divides them into upper and lower ranks, to meticulously separating high-class from ordinary assignments… they also pick recruits that are capable of deep-seated hatred and infuse them with strict loyalty teachings.

Yet still, explosions happen!

Just a few years back, losing dozens of precious assassins in Hubei, they thought they were finally catching a break when another disaster struck.

They knew exactly who’d betrayed them.

What they didn’t know was why it blew up.

But should they thank their lucky stars?

It was a dude around the waist — precisely at the solar plexus level — who had betrayed them, so the most precious forces of the Sicarius Bureau weren’t out in the open.

However, after the Hubei incident and now this, it was like losing limbs and keeping only the head, so this time, the Supreme Heavenly Demon would have to focus solely on restoring the bureau and pass the torch to the next generation.

Regardless, the situation was crystal clear.

The Sicarius Bureau would have to close its doors for at least ten years and nurture new blood.

The post station uncle, the high-ranking doctrine warrior, Cho Pyodu, fell to his knees heavily.

He then pulled out a blade, holding it upside down in a dramatic fashion.

That was precisely the posture required to slit his own belly.

“I have no face left. I offer my humble life as an apology.”

“No, just put the blade down. But where did you find such a nice sword?”

“How could such mercy be shown? You shine with a blinding compassion that makes it seem as though I am blind to your grace…”

“Cut that out. So, you still couldn’t find anything, huh?”

“Yes. I captured twenty-eight Sicarius members to extract information, but those fools didn’t know anything about the higher-ups…”

The disappointment, like a dam bursting, rolled down Cho Pyodu’s cheeks.

Qing, astonished, asked, “Why are you crying?”

“I’m ashamed of myself. I couldn’t even pull the roots out of these insignificant wannabe assassins, and I had to show such disgrace in front of the young lady.”

Cho Pyodu muttered after, vowing vengeance on those Sicarius bastards.

He swore they’d never coexist under the same heaven again. His words dripped with an unsettling hatred.

Hmm. Was it really such a disgrace to fail in finding the assassins of the master carpenters?

Yet, it seems central plain folk have their quirks.

Some even hold face and life in equal value.

Qing shrugged and moved on.

With nearly thirty assassins taken out in just four days, you could say that it’s commendable and a hatred rooted in the goodness of the world.

“I’m truly sorry for not being able to further your great undertaking. I apologize, and I can hardly put into words the pain of my insides rotting away,” Cho Pyodu dared to express.

“Hey! Don’t say that! I had fun too.”

Qing’s eyes sparkled, clear and bright.

Along with Grandpa and his merry gang, Qing had swept the underground a couple of times daily. They missed the witnesses targeted in the Zhangxing Company but cleaned out the trash sufficiently.

“However, the grand undertaking you’re pursuing to expose the vile and wicked crimes of that lady from the Zhangxing Company has hit a snag because of these incompetent folks, hasn’t it? Gah, indeed, my life should pay for my failures…”

Just then, as Cho Pyodu drew yet another sword, Qing interrupted him flat out.

“Enough with that! What snag?”

“Ah, of course! Wise one! I mean, this truly is your far-sightedness shining through, yes, you’ve still got that insight! A mere nobody like me can’t even measure your boundless capabilities!”

“What’s in it for you if you flatter me like that?”

This dude is really laying it on thick!

Well, whatever.

“Is there any secret in this world? Is it called the ‘four knower’?”

Heaven knows, Earth knows, you know, I know. Since four of us know, it’s called the four-knower.

This phrase originates from a time when a manager named Yang Jin rejected bribes during the chaotic era of the latter Han Dynasty.

He was seen as a model even amongst the central plain but still as a fallen citizen or non-national.

Anyway, the gist of the four-knower is that there are no secrets in this world.

“To sum it up quickly, a thousand people died when Gang Eon fell down. What caused it? The lady from Zhangxing Company embezzled supplies. How do we punish her? The chief carpenters set to testify have already been assassinated, so we need to find that person to testify in their place. That’s the long and short of it.”

“Yes, I’m open to your insights.”

“Regardless of who did what, the whole world knows. Just spare a couple of assassins and let the lady from Zhangxing Company testify that we killed the master carpenters. Isn’t it that simple?”

“But then we’d have false testimony, wouldn’t we?”

“Well, everybody knows it was the Sicarius Bureau’s doing anyway. Heaven knows, Earth knows, why do we need the direct parties involved? Let’s have the carpenters do their roles too. We all know that lady from Zhangxing Company is behind it; do we really need a legit witness?”

So in other words, they were talking about fabricating evidence.

Hearing that wicked idea, Cho Pyodu couldn’t help but shout.

“Oh! Indeed! It’s clearly the will of heaven!”

Thus, in the heart of Jang An right on Jang An Street, strange people stood in spectacle.

Just so you know, the Jang An Street exists in Beijing too.

The term Jang An is often used to refer to the most dynamic neighborhood in the world, so the street that crosses in front of Beijing’s imperial gate is also called Jang An Street.

Moreover, the imperial gate of Beijing is called Tian’anmen, signifying the grace of the Emperor who brings peace to the world. So, Qing’s hometown witnessed a historical moment where no events had happened previously at all.

Anyway, aside from Beijing, the original Jang An Street might be a tad behind the times, but it was once regarded as the center of the world, filled with an overwhelming number of heads — half air, half people.

In the middle of it all, a stage was set up, revealing odd-dressed individuals.

Their tops were bare, showcasing their skin entirely, with some even missing a finger or two, and others bound in cloth with their forearms completely bare.

Naturally, whenever there’s a scene to gawk at, people gather around. Yet this time, the unofficial Most Beautiful Sword was standing among them.

Of course, even those who didn’t know about the Most Beautiful Sword would find it blinding, as if another sun had appeared on the earth beneath the shining sky. Anyone with eyes would naturally be drawn in.

As heads began to flock around, Qing inhaled deeply.

First thing’s first: get the audience on your side.

“Ladies and gentlemen, here we are in the very heart of the world, right on Jang An Street, the center of the central plains, yes?”

“Indeed!”

“That’s right! The heart of the central plains!”

Qing’s eloquence started to sway the populace, the Grand Elder of the Tang Family praising her, “This truly is the essence of life itself that is fueled by pure eloquence.”

The center of the world has been shifting more eastward, once to Luoyang in the earlier times, and now even further to Beijing.

As Qing highlighted the central location, the locals responded enthusiastically, cheering her words.

She continued extolling the wonders of Jang An.

“People say Jang An is a millennium-old capital. But what a foolish notion, right? The history of Jang An extends well over two thousand years! Reducing it to just one thousand is plain ignorant!”

“Indeed!”

“That’s right! It truly is the heart of the world!”

Jang An’s local pride surged like fire, spurring a serious heat wave as the sweltering heat of August rolled in, and Qing finally got to the main topic.

“Thus, I, the young lady, Seomun Qing, want to expose the horrendous crime of that vile lady from the Zhangxing Company that only makes one feel sickened!”