Volume 2 Chapter 1
League of Assassins
"Assassins Association?"
"What's gauze?"*
Su Xiao and I stupidly repeated what our boss said out of confusion.
Shen Yiren eloquently sat in my room, and folded her long legs, one over the other, forming a most beautiful scene.
"Not gauze, but Assassins Association." Boss Shen stared at the two of us and continued: "It's the largest assassination association in the martial world, which is simply referred to as the League of Assassins."
"Ooohh, the League of Assassins."
I took a bite of my snow pear and asked out of puzzlement: "What about them?"
"Su Han has little experience in the world, so forget him, but do you really not know?" Shen Yiren narrowed her eyes as she looked at me and sceptically asked: "Don't you love those bullshit books? Didn't they talk about them in there?"
The Black and White Reflection is an official and popular magazine in the martial world! What do you mean it's bullshit?! I want to prove its greatness!
Honestly speaking, I do know the League of Assassins, I just don't want to mention them. That's because other than the time my shifu was teaching at Mount Daluo, they're the trashiest and most bullshit organisation in the pugilistic world.
It's said that the League of Assassins didn't originally start off as an organisation. As a matter of fact, it's said that they couldn't even compare to a small sect. They say that it was originally an inn and was a legitimate inn that didn't provide anything other than food, water and horses.
But because it was operated at the North and South Junction, there were many people coming by because they headed in those directions.
The owner of the inn was a normal person. But he was different to others in that he had a great memory, so great it was like he had a photographic memory. He also had a tendency to be nosy so customers heading North or South would often leave him with news in the martial world, all of which he'd remember. After more than a decade of people sharing things, his knowledge grew like the snowball effect.
It was originally something not well known. But later on, someone from the martial world went there to investigate a case but couldn't find his target when he arrived there. However, with the inn owner's knowledge, he successfully located the target not long after, allowing him to successfully capture his target. That led to the inn becoming instantly famous. The owner was very passionate, wanted customers and was very willing to share. As a result, that became a place warriors of the martial world loved to go to for information.
But then things went in a direction nobody would've predicted.
The more information a place holds, the more it naturally attracts those who require it. Lots of people slowly started becoming information brokers which made the owner realise just how valuable the information he had was. After that, he went and sold information to the generous League of Assassins. And to have more information, he trained subordinates to gather information for him
In the end, the owner started dabbling in purchases with the underground world. He made bids on behalf of people and had the assassins take the jobs. As a middle-man, he only got a single part of the profits. But then he started earning more and more. Consequently, his influence grew more and more, eventually controlling the entire assassination profession, because all the assassins and information brokers were under his control.
The owner eventually became determined and made the inn the central hub, thus creating a weird information broker organisation. He and his aides were only responsible for the handling of information while assassins needed to join his organisation in order to receive missions and reward money. In other words, his organisation is the middle-man which takes orders and provides jobs.
The organisation originally looked small, but then slowly started looking off. All those who offended the owner magically died within three days. It was only until even an elder of the Demon Sect died to the hands of the organisation did the martial world come to the decision that the organisation was not to be underestimated.
Back then, nobody imagined that everything the owner did was to gather all the scattered assassins together, all while promising a high degree of freedom while maintaining an organised group that could act within certain set parameters. Nobody at that time thought that the organisation would become so massive.
After operating for a century, it became the League of Assassins we know today.
The scale of the current League of Assassins leaves the one back then in the dust. The association's main function is still to accept jobs and pass them on, but the entire organisation is now basically under the control of the Assassin's Association. Every assassin receives missions through the Assassin's Association, which gave the League of Assassins unprecedented growth, turning it into an organisation comparable to the Demon Sect and one of the four largest evil sects of the martial world.
But even so, my impression of them is just a group of nobodies.
I remember looking for their members with my shifu to have a discussion. I remember we arrived at a big street and then my shifu shouted a phrase which was a secret code: You neighbour is here to plant a tree!
And someone selling candied gourd suddenly came running over and said: The Ru Family is washing a bowl of miscellaneous fish!
"I am from Mount Daluo. I am here to see the leader of the League of Assassins."
"It's a pleasure to meet you!"
Back then I felt like the person from the Assassin's Association was a good-for-nothing pervert like my shifu.
But the worst part was that they wrote a vertical written couplet placed along the side of the doorway of their headquarters that was just appalling.
I remember it went…
"In front of their headquarters, they hang a vertical written couple which says: 'It is better to travel ten thousand miles than to read ten thousand books. But travelling ten thousand miles cannot compare to - killing countless people.'"
Boss Shen read it out loud and revealed a worried look: "Whenever the members of the Assassins Association take action, there are bound to be fatalities and wounded people. They've killed countless people over the last century, and they're comprised of seventy ranked groups of assassins. Their strength is comparable to the Demon Sect back then. In fact, they do an even better job concealing themselves. A few cases have happened recently in the capital where skilled warriors from the Qilin Guards and the Emperor's Entourage have been killed. I'm worried that our members will be targeted."
I took another bite of my snow pear. It filled my mouth with its sweet flavour that came from its juice. I opened my mouth to take a breath and the juice came to life in my mouth. Not a drip was wasted. Snow pears in autumn taste delicious. The capital truly is an awesome place.
Boss Shen, in an annoyed tone asked: "Ming Feizhen, how dare you eat while I'm speaking?"
I waved my hand and replied: "No, no, I'm very worried too. But what's the point of being worried? Don't assassins do their thing at night? I'll worry about getting scared when night falls."
"You aren't nervous in the least, you punk." Boss Shen placed her hand on her head as if she had a headache. As soon as she raised her arm, all her voluptuous curves revealed themselves in a way that emphasised them as if they hadn't appeared in ages and were emphasising their existence. I was awestruck.
"What are you looking at again?!" Boss Shen got a bit angry and daggered me, so I immediately lowered my head and quietly ate my apple.
"We'll be careful." Su Xiao smoothed things over saying: "If we run into assassins… I… I'll call for Tang Ye to help right away."
Yeah, that's right, look for Tang ye. I don't think many of those in the Assassins Association can beat him.
"Not only that, but seven warriors of the imperial court have died in seven days. The case will soon be handed to us, so other than reminding you all to be careful of their assassins; I'm also notifying you that you may have to investigate the case."
"Eh? Didn't you say you were worried that we'd be in danger?"
Boss Shen innocently waved her hand and said: "There isn't enough manpower at Liu Shan Men at the moment." I stared at her intently. She continued: "Moreover, you're going to represent Liu Shan Men at the imperial martial arts tournament. It's good to raise your rankings on Liu Shan's Elite Rankings a bit. It'll benefit all of you. If you can solve the case, you'll definitely join the official rankings."
What Boss Shen meant was for us to get a grasp on the case and get involved. If our names get included in the report, the emperor's impression of us will probably be better. As if a case of this scale would ever be handed to us.
Su Xiao however, happily leaned over towards me and said: "Ooohh, I see. Big Brother Ming, the Vice-captain has a lot of faith in us."
Su Xiao truly is a master of being at being stupid…
Boss Shen laughed as she squint her eyes and looked at Su Xiao: "The captain has gone to see his majesty. He should probably be back with news soon."
Glossary
*Same pronunciation different characters as Assassins Association
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