Unwarranted

"The first-ranked** assassin Ghost Blade is here!"

Ye Mo did not feel as surprised as he thought he would be.

The moment he accepted that Little Yin would be staying with his family, he had long expected something like this to happen.

Her appearance had just shattered a who-knows-how-long belief that cultivation starts at the age of ten

Even without that, with the way she deals with people, she was way too high profile.

Her existence basically could not be ignored!

However, what Ye Mo did not expect was that people would be too efficient in their reactions. To think that they did not even send a cannon fodder, but one of the local tyrants instead!

Good demonic cultivators! Good Ghost Blade! What fuckin' good blade you are!

A big shot like you, did you really have too much time on your hands?

Ye Mo could feel the eyes of the Second Elder on him. As the one in charge of defense and security, all responsibilities were for him to take.

"Tenth Elder!" Li Yun Tian shouted. "What is the meaning of this?"

Ye Mo wanted to cry but there were no tears to be shed.

'Second Elder, you make it sound like I planned all these?'

Pretending he did not hear the question, Ye Mo pulled out and inserted qi to activate his own Command Seal. This Seal would immediately summon all elite disciples training in the sect's Battle Court.

Battle Court was the same as the Alchemy Hall and Commerce Hall, only it was a division that focused on combat and battle techniques.

Compared to the Sanctuary of Learning which teaches concepts and theories of cultivation, the Battle Court focuses on actual battle experience and missions outside of the sect.

Under his supervision, a team of powerful sword cultivators had emerged from the current younger generation, Ye Hua and Wu Xuan'er being part of them.

Back when he found Little Yin, he was also leading some these elite disciples to clean up the situation in the forest bordering the Leaf City and Sunroot City.

Ghost Blade!

Not taking into account that ominous and eerie-sounding name that just screams 'Demonic cultivation!', just hearing his nephew's urgent voice from the communication talisman had already rung multiple alarm bells inside Ye Mo's head.

Fourth Young Master Ye Hua, the gentleman of the century, was flustered?

That would only mean one thing.

Big trouble!

One had to know that Ye Hua was akin to a disaster-measuring device in human form.

With his mind like a broad, endless lake, even if you throw rocks or boulders at him, he'd treat those as pebbles that could only cause small ripples in his heart.

Nothing could faze his nephew unless the problem involved something that could spell life or death for a person—and this was the minimum standard.

In a blink of an eye, Ye Mo turned into a bumbling junior that squirmed under the much older and spicier Second Elder's gaze into an unsheathed sword filled with battle intent.

Fight!

Even after ordering the Battle Court elites to enter a battle formation, Ye Mo's expression did not change.

"Ye Mo excuses himself to do damage control. A demonic cultivator has entered the sect premises. He is currently fighting the Qing delegates' men."

While he was saying this, Ye Mo had already taken a leap out of the door and raced as fast as he could towards his manor.

He did not even bother to hear whatever the Patriarch or the other elders were going to say.

He was the Tenth Elder. He ought to take sole responsibility for it and be punished for negligence.

Even if the enemy managed to infiltrate the sect because of her high cultivation, it would still fall under his jurisdiction as the Battle Court elder and the one in-charge of the sect's defense.

"Poor Little Mo, he looked like he had not even slept for some days…" the First Elder sighed.

Patriarch Ye Wuqing glanced at the old man, but he simply smiled back and rubbed his long beard. Who knew what sort of agreement they've had.

Li Yun Tian was about to follow Ye Mo, but Patriarch Ye Wuqing signaled for everyone to be seated.

"Let us continue the meeting."

The elder in charge of collecting intelligence spoke up, He too had a communication talisman in his hand. "Patriarch, it's the Ghost Blade–"

"Let the Tenth Elder do his job on his own," Ye Wuqing answered without even letting the other finish. "Let us continue."

"But that's the Ghost Blade…"

"The Qing delegates will deal with her. Tenth is only there to clean up the mess they caused."

The rest of the elders looked pale, but they obediently sat down, trusting the Patriarch's judgment to be accurate.

Only Li Yun Tian and those from his clan looked like they wanted to say something. However, they also followed the Patriarch's instruction lest they be punished by sect laws.

Then, as if the demonic aura outside was nothing to be concerned about, Ye Wuqing calmly continued the interrupted meeting.

"First Elder, what are the disadvantages of having the competition within the city?"

As the elders continued talking about the pros and cons of Ye Mo's idea, the Second Elder Li Yun Tian could not help but silently muse in his heart.

"What is Ye Wuqing scheming?"

--

**Ghost Blade's assassin ranking is changed from "S-ranked" to "first-ranked". It bothered me 'coz someone pointed it out, but I decided to stick to, as much as possible, conventional wuxia/xianxia wordings. I value consistency very much. If ever something like this happens again, I'm glad to accept opinions, suggestions, and criticisms.