Supreme Sword Exalt

Yang Wei’s head instantly separated from his body, and the corpse fell to the ground.

Yang Ying took off Yang Wei’s storage ring, murmuring to himself, “When my sister was three, she played at the mine. She slipped and fell into the mine shaft. Not only did he not rescue her, he wanted to seal the mine shaft. If my mother hadn’t risked her life to stop him, my sister would have lost her life.”

Gu Han sighed and patted his shoulder. “He is dead. Do you feel better?”

Yang Ying shook his head. “It’s not enough!”

Killing Yang Wei had ignited the flame of vengeance in his heart to its peak. This was merely the beginning of his vengeance.

“Next, Yang Yu!”

***

Inside a rather lavishly decorated shop, a female cultivator of considerable beauty was fuming, glaring hatefully at Yang Yu. “You are talking nonsense! I never took anything from you!”

Yang Yu leered at her lecherously. “That’s not for you to decide!”

The female cultivator was furious, throwing her storage pouch at him. “You can check it yourself!”

Yang Yu gave her a few glances. “Check? Some things aren’t necessarily hidden inside a storage pouch!”

“I—! What do you mean?!”

Yang Yu grabbed her arm. “Come with me! I will personally check you over. If there’s nothing, then I will let you leave.”

“Y-you shameless man!”

Yang Yu laughed heartily, releasing his aura to subdue her. Without another word, he dragged her upstairs.

The onlookers sighed inwardly. Yang Yu’s nasty reputation was known far and wide. It seemed this female cultivator was new here, daring to come to this shop to buy things.

As soon as Yang Yu activated the formation on the second floor, he was stunned. Two black-robed, masked figures were already inside the room, watching him quietly.

Yang Yu asked, “Who are you two?”

Gu Han glanced at Yang Ying. “What’s the story?”

Yang Ying took a deep breath. “That year, he was the one who falsely accused me of stealing pills from the family. I was almost beaten to death.”

Yang Yu’s pupils constricted. “Y-you are—”

After a flash of sword light appeared, a distinct bloody mark appeared between his eyebrows, and the light in his eyes rapidly faded. The moment he fell, the storage ring on his hand had already disappeared. Gu Han and the other left immediately, along with the terrified female cultivator.

“Next, Yang Hong!”

***

In the main hall of the black market, maintaining silence seemed to have become an unwritten rule. People came and went, their words few and measured. Even when there was occasional conversation, the voices were kept very low, making this fairly crowded hall seem bleak and heavy.

Suddenly, a surprised exclamation broke the long-standing silence. “Huh?”

Everyone paused and looked toward the person who had spoken. This person must be new here, right? Don’t they know the rules here?

That person completely ignored everyone’s gazes, pointing excitedly at the jade token in their hand. “Look quickly! The Yang family’s bounty missions have disappeared!”

No one spoke. Disappeared? Isn’t that normal?

After all, within the Northern Domain, few dared to risk the heavens by assassinating members of the Yang family. It wasn’t uncommon for clients to withdraw bounties either. Why made such a fuss over something so minor?

That person seemed unaware, still pointing at the jade token excitedly. “No! That’s not it! I remember clearly, half a day ago, there were still a few dozen of them! But now half are gone!”

What?!

The crowd was shocked and could no longer spare the effort to mock him. One or two disappearing could still be explained as impatient clients withdrawing the bounties. However, several dozen employers all at once? Impossible! The employers shouldn’t have known each other! Even if they did, they wouldn’t do something so pointless. The only possibility was that someone had completed those bounties.

Everyone checked their mission jade tokens right away. Who was it?!

“Look! Another one disappeared!”

“The one that disappeared is Yang Hua, second stage of Spirit Profound cultivation, with a bounty of seven hundred thousand essence crystals!”

“Heavens, someone really is completing these bounties!”

“Who on earth is so fierce?!”

For a moment, the discussion became lively and heated. As for that default rule of not speaking much, they had long tossed it out.

One person seemed to think of something. “Could it be those gold-ranked assassins who haven’t shown themselves for a long time?”

Another asserted firmly. “It must be! Besides them, who else has the ability to do this? Still, this is somewhat unwise. If the Yang family discovers it, the consequences would be terrible!”

Beside him, someone shook their head repeatedly. “No! That’s not right! These bounty missions have been hanging here for years. If they wanted to take them, they would have long ago. Why wait until today? Moreover, judging by the speed these bounties are being completed, they intend to fight the Yang family to the death. I don’t believe they would have such guts.”

The person from earlier asked him, “Then who do you say it is? In the black market, besides those few, who else has this capability—”

Suddenly, another exclamation interrupted his words. “Look quickly! The assassin leaderboard!”

Everyone instinctively glanced at it, their hearts shaking violently. The assassin leaderboard was compiled by the Black Market of the Northern Domain. It was based on the difficulty and rank of missions each assassin completed, granting certain points to establish a ranking. Nothing reflected an assassin’s strength more clearly.

A change was occurring on rankings that had remained the same for years. From the very bottom, one code name was occasionally skipping a few places, quickly reaching the middle of the pack.

Fu Fatty! It’s him! The crowd instantly confirmed. The Yang family’s bounty missions kept disappearing, while this person’s ranking kept rising. If it isn’t him, then who else?!

Someone said in a shaky voice, “Did you notice this person’s assassin points? He didn’t seem to have completed any bounties at all before. His points are all piled up from those Yang family bounties!”

The crowd collectively drew in a sharp breath. Looking again at that somewhat comical code name, their hearts were like a turbulent, towering wave, unable to calm down for a long time.

Fu Fatty was fierce. He was simply a top-tier fierce monster. In fact, it wasn’t just them. At the end of the side passage, the person in charge of assassin registration was not so calm anymore. After all, he knew most clearly that Fu Fatty had been an assassin for less than a day.

He murmured to himself, “Fu Fatty, just what kind of monster are you?”

***

Naturally, Gu Han was oblivious to the huge commotion he had caused in the Black Market. They were outside of the Yang family estate, concealing their auras. Quietly hiding on top an ancient tree with lush branches and leaves, they silently wait for their target to arrive.

In the past half-day plus, their actions had been clean and swift. Each time, they ensured a one-hit kill, without dragging things out. They had shifted locations over nearly a thousand li, successfully assassinating over twenty people. During this time, apart from that female cultivator at Yang Yu’s store, not a single person had actually seen them.

Of course, the two wouldn’t harm her. They simply hid her in a safe place, left some essence crystals, and then left. By the time she came out again, everything would have already concluded.

Gu Han lowered his voice. “Brother Yang, are you sure he will pass through here?”

Yang Ying answered calmly, “Absolutely! This is his usual path!”

They were about to dispatch their twenty-sixth target, Yang Ji. He was a Yang family elder, cousin of family head Yang Xiong, Yang Ying’s uncle.

At the same time, he was also one of the strongest among this batch of assassination targets, with cultivation level reaching the sixth stage of Divine Connection. This man was precisely the one who had reported Yang Ying’s mother for secretly hoarding essence crystals back then, nearly causing her death.

Gu Han said nothing more and sighed inwardly. With each person killed, Yang Ying would recount a piece of his past, as if venting. Gradually, Gu Han gained a relatively comprehensive understanding of him. Some of his experiences sent a chill down Gu Han’s spine just hearing about them. His killing intent gradually rose. Indeed, they all deserved to die.

Above all, the reason today’s assassinations could proceed so smoothly—aside from their formidable strength—was due to Yang Ying’s planning and strategizing.

Yang Ying knew these people too well. He even grasped their manner of speech, attitudes, quirks, and habits. Perhaps, in some quiet corner of his mind, he had fantasized killing them. Hence why he had subconsciously memorized their various behavioral habits and simulated several foolproof assassination plans.

Yang Ying suddenly said, seemingly somewhat agitated, “Yang Ji is the one I want dead more than anyone. My mother’s unhealed, hidden injuries are his doing!”

Gu Han sighed. “I see, so that’s the reason you treat wealth as your life?”

Since Yang Ying didn’t think being greedy for wealth was anything bad, he openly admitted, “It’s a shame. Although my mother’s hidden injuries haven’t worsened over the past few years, curing them completely is nearly impossible.”

Gu Han rarely offered him comfort, but he did this time. “There will be a way. Once I find the Ghost Physician, everything will have a solution.”

Yang Ying’s spirits lifted. “Ghost Physician? If we can find him, my mother will be saved!”

Gu Han thought for a moment. “Actually, our experiences are somewhat similar— hmm?”

Before he could finish, his expression shifted. “Someone’s coming!”

Yang Ying lowered his voice. “It’s him! The time has come.”

With that, both fell silent. Yang Ji had cultivated divine sense, and even the slightest disturbance could alert him. The two suppressed their aura fluctuations to the absolute minimum. Like two rocks, they waited for Yang Ji to approach and end him in one fell swoop.

Faintly, the two could already hear the sound of extremely steady footsteps. Just then, a tremor started in Yang Ying’s arm and quickly spread through his body. Gu Han’s heart dropped as he glanced at Yang Ying. Yang Ying seemed to be suffering some immense pain. In just a few breaths, Yang Ying was completely drenched in sweat.

Gu Han gave him a questioning look. What’s wrong?

Yang Ying shook his head with difficulty. It’s nothing!

Gu Han rolled his eyes. Nothing my foot!

He gave Yang Ying another look. Let’s retreat first!

Gu Han couldn’t possibly kill Yang Ji by himself. Moreover, there was also a risk of alerting the Yang family and exposing their identities.

Who would’ve expected Yang Ying to be extremely stubborn? Even though waves of unbearable, bone-gnawing, marrow-sucking agony kept coming, he still refused to leave. This man had harmed his mother. If they withdrew now, the Yang family could uncover their actions and grow vigilant long before the next opportunity appeared.

At that point, all they could do was pray for Yang Ji’s death. Yang Ying had finally overcome his dilemma to pull this off with Gu Han. How could he give up such a godsent opportunity? What if this was the only chance?!

Gu Han sighed as he could understand Yang Ying’s thoughts. As with his revenge for Gu Tian, it had to be carried out, regardless of who stood before him.

We’ll risk it! Thinking this, he didn’t try to dissuade him further. Silently, Gu Han adjusted his condition, striving to make his first sword strike his strongest one. Right at this moment, the sound of footsteps became clearer. Yang Ji also entered their line of sight.

Hmm? When Yang Ji was still a hundred zhang away from that ancient tree, he abruptly stopped in his tracks. Although Yang Ying only made a tiny commotion, to a cultivator with a divine sense, it was no different from a fire in the darkness—impossible to miss.

Yang Ji stared fixedly at that ancient tree. “Come out! Hiding your heads and obscuring your tails, what kind of rats are you?!”

As his words fell, two incredibly powerful auras suddenly surged up from the ancient tree.