Chapter 18: The Dark Robe and the Azure Brocade

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Deep in the night, within the dense forest, the shrill cries of night owls painted the air with a sense of impending slaughter.

A young nobleman dressed in obsidian robes wielded his sword relentlessly, cutting down wave after wave of black-clad assassins that hurled themselves at him. Centered on this dark-robed youth, a small field of carnage moved swiftly—from the forest to the mountain stream, and from the stream to the mountain ridge. The night wind was bitterly cold, and one after another, bloodied bodies tumbled down the ridge.

With not a trace of hesitation, a cold gleam flashed as he slashed through the last killer’s throat, severing the man’s life as disbelief filled his dying eyes.

“You… you’re not just at the Qi Refinement stage… you’ve reached Foundation Establishment…”

The collapsing body crashed heavily to the ground, then slowly slid off the mountain ridge.

“How could I possibly be at Foundation Establishment? Still, this demonic secret art is truly perverse—it can forcefully raise my cultivation by an entire realm. The cost is simply too great.” The youth in black gazed at the last Soulcore Jade of the Primordial Whirlpool, now shattered in his palm.

When he first acquired the secret art, he had also obtained three of these Soulcore Jades, treasures of the eighth rank. By using them in place of his own essence to fuel the technique, he could employ it three times. In the future, if he wished to use it again, it would be his own soul and lifespan that the art devoured.

The youth’s lips curled into a faint, bitter smile. Puzzled, he asked himself, “Who could it be? Who commands the secret army of the Divine Court, driving them to hunt me relentlessly?”

Heaving a silent sigh at his misfortune and suspecting he’d been swept into the murky intrigues of the Divine Court, the youth in black drifted away with the night wind.

At dawn, on the second floor of the only tavern in Meishan County’s town, the young man stood quietly by the large window of his private room, waiting for the person he expected.

Before long, the door opened and a handsome young man in long robes entered, carrying a heavy and ancient medicine chest on his back.

“Qingjin, is this how you invite someone? We’re at a tavern, and you haven’t even ordered a table of good dishes for me? I don’t ask for much—just ten plates of the inn’s signature ferocious beast dishes and I’d be content.”

The youth in black twitched the corners of his mouth speechlessly, then simply rolled his eyes. His ethereal, peerless face, almost otherworldly in its beauty, was nearly ruined by this expression.

“Zhou Ji, I was hunted half the night yesterday and rushed here the rest of the way just to keep our appointment. You want me to treat you to a meal, after all that? I’m broke.”

“You miserly iron rooster,” Zhou Ji, the young man with the medicine chest, retorted ungraciously. “You make at least ten thousand red gold coins a year. Saying you can’t afford a good meal for me—aren’t you ashamed?”

“I’m not,” the youth responded in the most down-to-earth manner.

“You…” Zhou Ji was so exasperated he rolled his eyes.

At that moment, the door opened again, admitting a third young man dressed as a wandering cultivator, sword at his side, bow and arrows slung across his back. His hair was tied loosely, letting it cascade freely behind him.

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He looked both unruly and defiant.

Unlike the youth in black, whose hair was adorned with a jade crownpin, or Zhou Ji, who wore a jetwood hairpin, this new arrival wore nothing at all in his hair.

His complexion was swarthy and plain, and his attire unremarkable. On the street, he would be indistinguishable from the many itinerant cultivators eking out a living on the margins.

“Qingjin, I heard you got hunted again last night?”

“That’s right, Xiao Qi. I nearly died this time, even after exhausting all my trump cards. I still can’t figure out how I was exposed, or which job gave us away.” Qingjin frowned, perplexed.

“What? One of our jobs went wrong?” Zhou Ji was taken aback.

“That’s just it—I don’t know, and it’s driving me mad,” Qingjin replied.

“Do you know who’s after you?” the wandering cultivator asked warily.

“Xiao Qi, you might not believe it, but as soon as they saw me, they struck without hesitation—every move aimed to kill. And they fought without fear, wave after wave. Their style reminded me of the secret army the Divine Court supposedly trains to handle traitors and spies.” Qingjin’s expression was troubled.

“Pfft!” The wanderer, Ning Qi, nearly spat out a mouthful of hot tea in shock.

“What? The secret army? Are you sure?” Ning Qi was nearly gaping.

“Not entirely. But the style is similar,” Qingjin replied.

“But that can’t be—sure, we’ve bent the rules, but nothing major enough for the Divine Court to send the secret army after us,” Zhou Ji said anxiously.

“My worry is that it’s not the Divine Court as a whole, but someone within it who wants us dead,” Qingjin replied. “Have we offended someone important in one of our recent jobs?”

“It’s hard to say. Every time I take on a job with you, I make sure to investigate it thoroughly. But I’m only one man—I can’t tie off every loose end. Accidents happen,” Zhou Ji said with a frown.

“I’m not planning to take any more jobs for a while. I don’t want to run into the secret army again,” Qingjin said helplessly.

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“Don’t!” Zhou Ji immediately grabbed his arm. “We can’t do half these jobs without you and your strength.”

Qingjin shook his head with a sigh. “I don’t have a choice. My sister got herself into trouble and was punished by being sent to the Eastern Wastes as a pioneer lord. My father’s beside himself with worry, so I’ve been sent as her bodyguard.”

Ning Qi nearly spat out his tea again in shock—fortunately, Zhou Ji dodged, or he’d have taken the full spray to the face.

“Ning Xiao Qi, are you trying to be disgusting?”

“Zhou Ji, did you hear that? Qingjin’s family managed to get a piece of land to open up? That’s incredible—how did the Shen family pull that off?” Ning Qi asked in disbelief.

“It wasn’t our Shen family. It was our main branch’s in-laws, the Ren family, who made it happen. To be honest, my sister’s just mischievous. She somehow got her hands on some rare fish fry and raised a whole pond of ninth-rank vicious fish in the lotus pond at home.

My cousin’s fiancé from the main branch was visiting and accidentally fell into the pond. He was nearly stripped to the bone by those fish. It caused a huge scene—everyone in Yinzheng County heard about it. The Ren family wasn’t about to let it go, but they couldn’t exactly kill their in-law’s child either. So, they chose this roundabout method to get revenge.”

Ning Qi and Zhou Ji stared, dumbfounded.

“What kind of miraculous sister do you have, raising a whole pond of ninth-rank vicious fish at home?” Zhou Ji asked incredulously.

“I told you, she’s just mischievous.” Qingjin’s demeanor darkened at Zhou Ji’s implied criticism of his sister.

“You do realize the baleful aura of vicious beasts is harmful to ordinary folk?” Zhou Ji replied, exasperated.

“My sister is a cultivator.”

“Even so, keeping vicious beasts at home isn’t wise. At least pick somewhere remote,” Zhou Ji said helplessly.

“It’s not your house, is it?”