Chapter 223: Beating the Grass to Startle the Snake

"What do you mean by that? Are you threatening me?"

At this moment, the old man's aura had changed drastically; the sleepy-eyed state was completely gone, and those originally hazy eyes had become cold and bloodthirsty.

A heavy, murderous aura, though not yet fully unleashed, already made the air feel grim, and the bone-chilling cold caused frost to spread across the ground in an instant.

Su He felt as if he were being stared at by the most brutal and ferocious beast; the slightest movement could result in him losing his life in the beast's jaws.

By observing a leopard through a tube, one could glimpse the true stature of the World's Number One Assassin.

"Good, this is the stature that you, Mu Qingkuang, should have!" The more powerful Mu Qingkuang was, the more excited Su He became; this proved that their choice was not wrong.

For the World's Number One Assassin, his greatest strength was not his raw power, but his unpredictable and impossible-to-defend killing techniques.

Only a person like this could have a sliver of a chance at success when facing Shen Yu.

"Mu Qingkuang, don't get agitated. We never had any intention of harming your family; we just want to make a deal with you!"

"A deal?" With a cold snort, Mu Qingkuang's eyes were filled with bloodthirsty, violent colors, as if he would tear them into shreds the very next moment.

"What if I don't want to? Do you truly dare to harm my family? Aren't you afraid that I will fight you to the death?"

That cold gaze, which seemed to contain not a shred of emotion, made Su He's heart race with fear; at this moment, Mu Qingkuang was extremely dangerous.

Having cooperated with Mu Qingkuang several times, Su He knew even better how terrifying the other party was. Although he seemed to be just coldly staring at him without moving, that did not mean he hadn't already struck.

Perhaps the other party had already struck, and he simply hadn't noticed yet; by the time he did notice, it might already be too late.

Of course, it was also possible that he would never notice at all before he was already gone.

"Leader Mu has misunderstood. How could we possibly move against your family? After all, even if the deal doesn't go through, there is still goodwill; we aren't the type of unreasonable people!"

"But just because we don't do it doesn't mean others won't. With so many people talking, your family's location might just be exposed."

"Good, it's been many years since anyone spoke to me like that!" If the murderous intent just now was only barely revealed, then the killing intent on Mu Qingkuang now was as obvious as it could possibly be.

"Do you know that I hate it most when others threaten me!"

"I know, but I believe Leader Mu won't do anything." Although the Mu Qingkuang before him was terrifying, Su He understood that since the other party had opened his mouth, it proved he didn't dare to turn hostile.

A Mu Qingkuang who had concerns and attachments was no longer the former World's Number One Assassin.

And the other party's weakness was held firmly in his own hands.

"Besides, Leader Mu has wronged us. How would we dare to threaten you? We are just stating a fact to you."

"Leader Mu, think about it yourself. Why did you decide to abandon the vast enterprise of the Muyan Flower and use the Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell? Wasn't it just for the sake of this word 'peace'?"

"You should be clear that the number of people who have died directly or indirectly at your hands over these years is countless, and those who hate you to the bone are everywhere. In the pugilistic world, there are as many people who want to kill you and your family as there are stars in the sky!"

"If news of your family were to be known by outsiders, I'm afraid..."

"What kind of deal do you want to make?"

"Good, worthy of being Mu Qingkuang, straightforward enough!" A smile flickered at the corner of his mouth as Su He nodded at him and said, "We want to ask you to kill someone."

"As long as you can kill him, we will erase all traces of your existence, and no one will ever be able to find you and your family again!"

"You want to kill Shen Yu, right?" In fact, before the other party had even spoken, Mu Qingkuang had already guessed what they wanted him to do.

To make them willing to offend him just to force him to act, their target could only be a troublesome expert like Shen Yu.

"Correct, it is indeed Shen Yu!"

"Impossible!" Shaking his head, Mu Qingkuang said with a mix of composure and helplessness, "It's not that I don't want to do it, but that I can't!"

"The Muyan Flower was wiped out by him with a single sword strike. Although I haven't seen that sword strike, I know exactly how many experts were gathered within the Muyan Flower."

"To be able to slaughter everyone in a single sword strike, such an expert is far beyond my capabilities. Therefore, I am powerless!"

"But I believe you can think of a way; after all, you are the World's Number One Assassin."

"The leader said, he will only give you half a month. After half a month, if your family's identity is exposed, don't blame it on us."

"You!" A terrifying murderous aura flashed and vanished, but Mu Qingkuang immediately restrained it, then continued, "Fine, but I also have one condition: regardless of victory or defeat, you must guarantee the safety of my family."

"Good, I agree; this is our promise!"

"That is excellent!" Nodding, Mu Qingkuang then asked one more question.

"I am very curious, how did you find my family? Aside from me, it is impossible for anyone to find them!"

"Yes, aside from you, no one would ever find them!"

"You... I understand!" His eyes trembled violently. In that instant, Mu Qingkuang knew the result. The one who led them to his family was none other than himself.

After the Muyan Flower was destroyed, he, who thought he had successfully deceived the world, finally couldn't help but go to see his son—the son he had never met even once.

And it was precisely because of this that his family was exposed. In the end, it was because he was too arrogant, thinking he was foolproof, yet ultimately failing due to one oversight.

"Leader Mu, our force is far more terrifying than you imagine. Our reach extends across the world; as long as we want to, there is nothing we do not know."

"Of course, there are exceptions, such as your family, Mu Qingkuang."

Speaking of this, Su He couldn't help but sigh softly. There were few in the entire world who could be as ruthless as Mu Qingkuang. And it was precisely because of this that Mu Qingkuang's family had never been exposed.

As for Mu Ping'an, who was placed in the open, hah, did he think he could fool many people?

"Even we only knew that the son in the open, Mu Ping'an, was not your biological son, but we did not know where you, Mu Qingkuang, had actually hidden your family."

"You are also a ruthless person. After that one night of passion back then, you never asked about that girl again. For a girl to be pregnant out of wedlock was bad enough, but she was even driven out of her home."

"For so many years, she raised the child all alone, and one can only imagine how much hardship she endured. Yet you, Mu Qingkuang, never once asked about it; you didn't even dare to go see your family once."

"Of course, it is precisely because of this that you didn't leave a single flaw!"

"However, you were too impatient. It would have been fine if you had just used the Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell to escape, but you shouldn't have been unable to resist going to see your son just once. With just that one look, your family was exposed!"

"Yes, just that one look, and you knew!"

"That is because our force exceeds your imagination; it is a high mountain you cannot conceive of. Your Muyan Flower is the World's Number One Assassin organization, then our force is the World's Number One Force!"

Mentioning the organization he belonged to, even when facing Mu Qingkuang, Su He couldn't help but feel proud.

Mu Qingkuang could tell that the moment the organization was mentioned, the confidence of the person opposite him seemed to appear naturally; just how badly must this person have been brainwashed?

"Still 'World's Number One'?" Truly arrogant beyond measure; even the imperial court wouldn't dare to claim they were the World's Number One.

There are countless experts in the world; who knows from which obscure corner a super-powerful force might pop out? For you lot to hide your heads and show your tails and still dare to call yourselves the World's Number One, that is truly shameless.

"You claim to be the World's Number One Force, so since your influence is so vast and you have so many experts, why don't you do it yourselves?"

"Because we can't beat him, and also because we don't dare to fight!"

To speak of being unable to win with such righteous confidence—this was the first time he had seen someone admit to being a coward so naturally and so solemnly.

Seeming to see the meaning in Mu Qingkuang's eyes, Su He did not have the slightest bit of anger, even though he himself was somewhat frustrated by their lack of resolve.

That a force as large as theirs would not dare to make a move when facing Shen Yu was truly unacceptable.

But unfortunately, he was just an errand runner, not a true member of the upper echelon; he could not make the decisions.

"It is normal to be unable to beat someone like Shen Yu, just like Mu Zishan back in the day; we couldn't beat him either."

"You even made a move against Mu Zishan?" How crazy must you be to even dare to target Mu Zishan? That was an existence he would take a detour to avoid just hearing the name of.

"Before Mu Zishan was the number one in the world, we had already made a move."

"It is shameful to say, but after that battle, more than half of our experts were lost, and from then on, the courage of those at the top was beaten out of them. And after that battle, the world gained a Mu Zishan who suppressed everything."

"Sigh!" Letting out a sigh, Su He's face was filled with desolation. Encountering such a freak, no matter who ran into him, it was all in vain; it was a pity for all those experts who threw their lives away.

"There are always some people in this world who cannot be measured by common logic; even if we seem to have all the advantages of timing, location, and human support, the final outcome of the battle is still a crushing defeat."

"So after a Shen Yu appeared in this world, they have never dared to act lightly. But now, they have no choice but to act; if things continue like this, Shen Yu will truly become impossible to kill."