Soul-splitting Blades

After Xin Long and the Seductress had departed, Zhen Yi leapt down from the tree and used his light body skills to pursue them.

Shortly afterward, about the time it would take to cook two pots of rice, the leader of the Golden Tiger Fortress, Sangguan Jin Hu, along with a few of his assassins, arrived on horseback at the edge of the forest where Zhen Yi had been hiding.

Sangguan Jin Hu surveyed the eerily silent forest with unease, his gaze sweeping around warily. Beside him stood a middle-aged man, around forty years old, dressed in a tight-fitting blue outfit. His face was angular, with a distinct square shape. Without a word, Sangguan Jin Hu gave him a slight nod.

The whistle of Tie Yi's signal filled the air, its sound reverberating through the forest. This caused a few wild animals to scatter in fear, but the forest remained largely quiet. Observing this, Sangguan Jin Hu gave his orders to the assassins.

"Split up and check both sides of the road."

At the command, the assassins dismounted from their horses and scattered into the forest in different directions. Their movements were careful, their whistling signaling each other as they ventured deeper into the woods.

The quiet, eerie sound of their movements mixed with the rustling of trees, alerting any nearby animals. Some animals fled, while others made their presence known by rustling through the underbrush.

"Ha," said one of the assassins, a man named Ah Chan, as he swung his blade and noticed something strange. His sharp eyes, almost unnaturally large, took in the gruesome sight of dead bodies lying nearby.

Ah Chan was one of the most trusted assassins of Sangguan Jin Hu, known for his keen observation. With his unusually sharp eyes, he carefully examined the corpses. His gaze lingered on the scene, surprised by the unexpected discovery, as it was only moments after Xin Long and the Seductress had left.

Ah Chan, unable to believe what he was seeing, muttered out loud in disbelief.

"Master, these are the bodies of the assassins from the Golden Tiger Fortress."

A voice from another assassin echoed from the opposite side, also reporting the discovery of the bodies.

At this, one of the sect leaders, Sangguan Jin Hu, dismounted his horse in anger and ordered in a furious tone.

"Bring all the bodies to me immediately."

The young assassins, who had hastily gathered the bodies, spread them out in front of Sangguan Jin Hu. His anger was evident in his clenched fists as he watched in disbelief while the bodies were laid before him. In such a short amount of time, the assassins he had sent out had all perished and were now dead, their bodies piled up in the same place.

Sangguan Jin Hu, unable to grasp what had just occurred, sat down to inspect the bodies closely.

"Hmm… are these the injuries caused by the Soul-splitting Blade of the Shadowmoon Reaper Sect? Could he… could he be one of their assassins?..."

While inspecting the blade wounds, Sangguan Jin Hu recognized the familiar marks and came to the realization.

It was true. The assassins from the Golden Tiger Fortress had been slaughtered by the same Soul-splitting Blades used by the Shadowmoon Reaper Sect. The Soul-splitting Blade was unique and one practiced by every member of the Shadowmoon Reaper Sect, including their leader, Murong Jing.

It consisted of over a hundred variations, with mastery divided into levels—twenty moves, thirty moves, forty moves, and so on. The only difference between practitioners lay in how many techniques they had mastered. Additionally, the effectiveness of each move depended on one's internal strength and combat experience.

Xin Long had only learned up to twenty moves of this technique. In contrast, Zhen Yi had mastered more than sixty, and with his superior internal strength and battle experience, he was able to easily cut down the martial artists of the Golden Tiger Fortress.

This sword art was designed for mutual destruction—each strike carried the intent to kill at the cost of one's own life. Since its sole purpose was to eliminate the opponent, the moment Jian Yi executed a single move, an enemy martial artist would immediately fall dead.

Sangguan Jin Hu snapped out of his thoughts and swept his gaze over the young men awaiting his orders, as well as the ever-watchful Tie Yi and Ah Chan.

"Ah Chan, Tie Yi, you two go to Lotus Pavilion in the city and bring Gu Gu… After that, follow that damn dog Xin Long and get rid of him for good…"

At the end of his words, he glanced at Tie Yi and Ah Chan, who nodded in acknowledgment. Then, as if to emphasize his point, he added coldly:

"One more thing—don't return to the fortress until Xin Long is dead."

His voice was laced with suppressed rage, his tone so firm that Tie Yi, who had been staring at him in confusion, couldn't help but furrow his brows. Tie Yi had no idea what kind of grudge his master held against Xin Long, but it was clear that it ran deep.

However, such matters were not for him to question. Without a word, he mounted his horse alongside Ah Chan and galloped toward the city, disappearing into the distance.

Watching them leave, Sangguan Jin Hu's mind drifted back to a memory from over a decade ago—one that had long been buried yet never truly forgotten.

Thirteen years ago, under his master's orders, he and his comrades had made a grave mistake. Back then, Xin Long had been nothing more than a thirteen-year-old boy. The command had been clear: kill the child on the spot. But when the others hesitated, unwilling to go through with it, they had no choice but to abandon the mission and leave.

Unsettled, Sangguan Jin Hu had returned alone later that night, determined to finish what had been left undone. Yet, when he arrived, Xin Long was gone.

Someone had taken him away.

For years, that night haunted him. Over and over, he saw Xin Long's eyes—those sharp, unwavering eyes that had watched them in silence. Even now, there were nights when those eyes returned to him in his dreams, refusing to fade.

When Xin Long and his companions finally reunited, he knew he would have to face the consequences of his master's misjudgment and rejection. He had always kept a careful distance, fearing this exact moment. However, in the city outskirts, he had long planned to have those lower-level assassins wait in the forest, as he had failed to carry out a decisive strike before. He had delegated the task of eliminating these assassins to those capable of handling it, knowing it would eventually lead to his own confrontation with Xin Long.

The presence of Xin Long's sister, who had accompanied him, had only reinforced his assumptions. He had underestimated them, which led him to use only the lower-ranked assassins. If the situation failed, he would need to understand Xin Long's hidden abilities and compete directly with him and his assassins in a showdown.

However, things did not unfold as he had planned. The deeper his involvement with these assassins became, the more he realized that Xin Long was not the same child he once knew.

Sangguan Jin Hu viewed the task as nothing more than the execution of a mere dog—someone who had once been a helpless lamb but had now become a dangerous wolf. Xin Long's transformation from a vulnerable youth to a ruthless threat could not be ignored. With that in mind, he gave the order to eliminate him, determined to put any remaining grudge to rest once and for all.

In this line of thinking, he found himself giving one last command to the remaining young assassins.

"Dispose of the bodies. Bury them in the earth."

His voice was firm, knowing the fate that awaited the young men in his command. It was the price of being involved with the notorious assassin faction—the Shadowmoon reaper sect.

End – 13