Bronze Mask
“Tomorrow! As long as you can provide me with a definitive answer, I will tell you everything you want to know.”
I requested the token from His Majesty precisely so that I could get an answer from him at any moment. Finding out what the White Princes were up to tomorrow was on schedule for me. Hence, I held up my hand in front of me. “It’s a promise. Give me a five!”
Zuo Suniang, stupefied, stared blankly at my hand, looked down to her hand and then hesitantly gave me a five.
“Brilliant!”
Zuo Suniang jerked when she realised she had fallen into my rhythm, and, as she expected, I didn’t leave right away. Why would I walk away when she had just started making compromises?
I had Zuo Suniang write three agreements. First, Northern Wondrous Warrior Manor was not to pick a bone with me once they returned to their former glory. Second, they had to supply me with authentic information. Third, they had to spare no effort in working with me during this period, which included letting me use their manor and hiding spots. In short, there were unreasonable terms that were genuinely very unreasonable that they couldn’t object to.
You could say, it was a joyous alliance. As soon as I set one foot out the door, I heard Mr. Wen yelling in a muffled voice, “Stop! Stop! Put your spear away! If you kill him now, everything will fall apart!” It was reassuring to know someone so reasonable was holding down their fort. He raised Wen Clan’s standing in my mind; I felt Hong Jiu’s marriage was a good one. We would’ve made great in-laws. After that, I needed to set up Third, Fourth and Six. Our livelihood was in good hands as long as I had juniors to marry off.
I changed back to Liu Shan Men’s Ming Feizhen, also known as Duke Ming, once I exited the abode. I had a legitimate, pre-made excuse to be wandering the streets at night as Liu Shan Men – working. On the other hand, it’d be difficult to prove I was Fuma Jingan and explain what I was doing; I might’ve even been dragged back to His Majesty. Even so, I had no intention of returning to Liu Shan Men or Eight Deities.
It was late into the night by the time I returned to the streets, so only commanders instructing their troops were still on the streets. There were very few clouds in the sky tonight, so only the most daring – and the most amateur – assassins would attempt to assassinate me tonight.
It took around fifteen minutes for me to get as far away from the patrols as possible and then turn the corner. Fifteen minutes was an abundant amount of time to try something. I leaned onto a wooden cart that had a tyre missing and stretched out my arms overhead.
Shadows rushed out from the two adjacent buildings to catch me in a pincer attack. The group was the one worth paying attention to. Not only did they come from various backgrounds that weren’t obvious, but they were also stronger than the others. As they drew their weapons and sneered, I shut my eyes.
Choosing to bare their fangs on the long street, even for people of their calibre, showed that they were far from comparing to professional assassins.
Two rows of heads ascended vertically without their attached body parts, accompanied only by the blood stored within both ends. Their violent gazes and sneers remained on their faces even once their heads rolled onto the ground. There was no sign of puzzlement on their faces.
A man dressed in black silently appeared beside me and, in a deep voice, reported, “They have been eliminated, My Lord.”
“Dark Wind Branch is as clean as ever with their work.”
It should’ve been obvious that Wawa wasn’t my only bodyguard. If I was going to ask for bodyguards, I needed professionals.
I had no interest in checking out the heads after opening my eyes. Compared to the headless group, Dark Wind Branch were a group of true assassins. Nobody discovered their presence despite them accompanying me the entire time, and they only showed themselves to behead the assassins silently and accurately. Even the sound of the heads landing was synchronised. I was reminded of hoes; maybe they honed their teamwork in the fields?
I didn’t have the slightest apprehension about the assassin industry. I only cared about one thing.
“Do you know who they are yet?”
Leader of Dark Wind Hall and one of the Great Guardians of Lawless, Long Cheng, waited for his subordinates to report to him before turning to me and answering, “The majority of their backgrounds remain unknown. Some of them are established names in the pugilistic world, but they do not have a long profile; it is highly probable that their profiles are forged. Judging from their modus operandi, they resemble the newly trained members of Fiends’ Genesis in the last two decades.”
“You can tell?”
“Your subject was under orders to investigate Fiends’ Genesis back then, which led to physical confrontations with them. They all share a common denominator, and that is that the roots of their martial arts are hard to identify, but they have all trained to a decent degree. They could be anyone or no one.”
I agreed with Long Cheng’s evaluation based on my faith in their abilities and my own theories. Based on the collection of martial arts manuals in the underground palace, there was no doubt in my mind that Gongsun Chu could’ve trained a few hundreds of assassins of the level I witnessed, especially since he had twenty years. It was practically impossible to determine how many of his people blended into the citizenry of the capital.
I used myself as bait to lure them into the open. The lack of coordination when they attacked me was a sign that they didn’t train and live together. In addition, it was possible that some of the assassins in the group were vagabonds they hired to help them hide their own identities. Accordingly, I had no means of telling apart who was with Fiends’ Genesis and who wasn’t.
While the results of my test weren’t ideal, at least it confirmed for me that Gongsun Chu’s people wouldn’t carelessly reveal themselves. Put another way, they were unlikely to join the plans to assassinate me.
“I guess we achieved our goal.”
In a low voice, Long Cheng said, “But you said there is still one more…”
I nodded. “I’ve spent an entire day waiting, but they just won’t make a move. They won’t have another chance if not now.”
I got up and used my hands as a speakerphone to yell across to the building up ahead. “Buddy up there, you must be bored of waiting. How about you come down for some fun? We have plenty of burly men for you.”
As awkward reactions permeated around me, a bronze mask slowly came into view on the rooftop across from us.
Glossary
Bronze mask – It’s basically a bronze mask with green tints, like this: https://inews.gtimg.com/newsapp_bt/0/14938959277/1000
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