Chapter 14: Shadow Blade

Lei En slowed his steps, arrived at the riverbank, and stopped ten paces away from La Mu Qi.

He looked around and realized this riverbank was exactly where he had crawled out of the river half a month ago; now returning, his situation was completely reversed—truly dramatic.

La Mu Qi knelt there, hands raised above his head, daring not to move a bit.

He had personally witnessed the power of the gun in Lei En's hand, and since Lei En could chase him, he must have already killed Ai Si Bo Ge.

Only a transcendent can kill another transcendent; this one must be a powerful "gunman"!

He lacked night vision and could only see a dark silhouette approaching.

The gunman stood there silent, exuding terrifying pressure. His back was wounded, and the twin grind of pain and fear made cold sweat bead on his forehead; the river wind blew, and his whole body trembled uncontrollably.

"What secret do you know?" Lei En asked aloud.

La Mu Qi felt a slight relief, a glimmer of hope to survive, and suddenly the gunman's voice seemed very familiar; instinctively he shouted, "Lei En?"

He could not have misheard; it was Lei En's voice.

He had been a classmate at the Transcendent Academy for three years; they had gotten along well, and later he died at his own hands. He would never forget Lei En, the Lei En who was adored by many female classmates yet envied by the males at the academy.

The reason La Mu Qi introduced Lei En to the Sword Hall as an assistant was partly out of secret jealousy toward Lei En, pulling him into trouble as revenge.

In the darkness, the gunman's figure grew increasingly familiar, further convincing La Mu Qi that this person was Lei En.

"Are you Lei En?" La Mu Qi asked in stunned disbelief.

Boom!

The answer to La Mu Qi was a gunshot; a flash of fire burst before his eyes, then excruciating pain shot through his hand. Turning his head, he saw his right palm gone, only a half forearm remaining, blood gushing out.

"Ah…" La Mu Qi let out a gut-wrenching scream.

He pressed his left hand against the severed forearm, trying to stem the bleeding, but to little effect; he quickly bit off a strip of cloth from his clothing, wrapped it tightly around the wound, easing the pain slightly.

Lei En did not fire again; he merely pulled the guard back and reloaded.

Compared with everything La Mu Qi had done to him half a month ago—hours of beating, then murder and corpse disposal—snipping off his hand now was merely collecting a bit of interest.

"Can you speak now?" Lei En said calmly.

La Mu Qi's face turned pale as he looked at Lei En, daring not to ask why Lei En hadn't died and had become a transcendent. Near despair, he knew Lei En would not spare him, yet he was unwilling to die so easily, his mind racing to find a way to survive.

In Lei En's eyes, La Mu Qi's soul color shifted between red, black, gray, and blue, mingled with fear, despair, anger, and the strongest hatred!

"My time is short, and my patience is limited." Lei En's barrel twitched.

"No, don't fire!"

La Mu Qi hurriedly raised his intact left hand, pleading, "I beg."

"Ai Si Bo Ge is a member of Shadow Blade, a Shadow Blade assassin. His real name isn't Ai Si Bo Ge but Te Li Fu, listed on the Empire's wanted list; only last year did he assume the Ai Si Bo Ge identity to come to Longshande, apparently to carry out a secret mission."

Lei En frowned, feeling somewhat surprised.

He had previously suspected a force behind Ai Si Bo Ge, but hadn't expected it to be Shadow Blade.

He had heard of Shadow Blade's great name; it is the Empire's most infamous assassin organization, notorious for centuries, having committed countless major crimes. Every Shadow Blade assassin is a transcendent, yet not limited to shadow warriors; many transcendent professions can be Shadow Blade assassins, lurking among the people.

The Empire and the three great churches have long tried to eradicate this assassin organization,

but Shadow Blade assassins are like weeds, one batch dies and another sprouts, never fully rooted out.

Rumor has it that Shadow Blade is so hard to eliminate because a dark god backs the organization; its members worship that deity, forming an underground cult.

"What secret mission?" Lei En asked.

"I don't know."

La Mu Qi shook his head, seeing the gun move in the darkness, frightened, he quickly explained, "Don't fire, I truly don't know. Ai Si Bo Ge came to Longshande on a mission, I just guessed it unintentionally."

"He approached me early this year, promised money to let me perform a Soul Transformation ceremony, and later help me obtain a magical soul, but he demanded I stay at the academy, gather information about the academy, and watch the movements of certain important figures."

"Besides me, Ai Si Bo Ge has placed other informants within the academy."

"I once encountered him secretly meeting someone, they discussed at length; that person is likely also a Shadow Blade assassin, with a rank higher than Ai Si Bo Ge. I dared not approach; I only heard a few words, seemingly linked to Silver Star Academy, so that Shadow Blade assassin must be lurking inside Silver Star Academy."

Lei En felt a chill upon hearing this.

Longshandecheng has three Transcendent Academies, yet their backgrounds and faculty strengths differ greatly.

The academy he and La Mu Qi attend, Ke Lai Deng Academy, has the most students but the weakest strength; its students are mainly commoners, anyone who pays can enroll, and the chance of becoming a transcendent is the lowest.

Yet Ke Lai Deng Academy's large student base means, despite the low probability, it produces the most transcendents each year, accounting for over 60% of Longshande's total.

In fact, Ke Lai Deng Academy is a public Imperial academy; besides training transcendents, it offers a dozen specialized courses—grammar, arts, languages, law, history, architecture, alchemy, mechanics, etc. Master any one, pass the exam, and you receive the academy's diploma.

Next is Si Tu Huo Er Academy, founded by Longshande's aristocracy and great merchants, focusing on elite education; it's a noble academy, tuition exceeding one hundred Gold Shields per year, with student numbers only a tenth of Ke Lai Deng Academy, yet each student's family is either wealthy or noble.

However, Longshande's best academy is Silver Star Academy.

Because Silver Star Academy was founded by the Duke himself, who also serves as its headmaster.

Silver Star Academy admits only the most gifted students; tuition is free, all expenses waived, and each month it grants a stipend to all students equivalent to three months' wages for an ordinary worker. Such generous terms attract tens of thousands of applicants annually, yet only a scant hundred or so lucky ones gain admission.

Lei En had applied to Silver Star Academy years ago, and like most, was quickly eliminated.

The Silver Star Duke, being one of the Empire's twelve Holy Soul Wizards, naturally makes the academy focus on training wizards, so people also call Silver Star Academy the Wizard Academy.

Graduates of Silver Star Academy are eligible to enter Wu Shi Ta for further study, or join the Duke's Secret Fire Guard.

In other words, Silver Star Academy is essentially the Duke's wizard training camp.

If La Mu Qi's words are true, it means Shadow Blade has designs on Silver Star Academy, perhaps even targeting the Silver Star Duke himself!

This could be an event that shakes the entire Oriense Empire.

The Silver Star Duke's status is extraordinary; he is not only one of the Empire's twelve Holy Soul Wizards, but also a member of the Empire's supreme governing body, the Kemi Tisi Supreme Council.

The Empire calls itself an empire, yet since the New Era year 1355, over a thousand years have passed without an emperor; only the Supreme Council selects a "Consul" every ten years as the nominal leader, exercising governance over the Empire.

Although every Holy Soul Wizard sits on the Supreme Council, the Silver Star Duke also holds a more important role: he is the Divine Chosen of the God of Magic!

In an empire ruled by wizards and devoted to the God of Magic, few are more prestigious than the Silver Star Duke.

Lei En shook his head slightly; such a lofty figure is far beyond his reach, not his concern to intervene.

He certainly doesn't want to "live on XX oil, steer the heart of XX sea".

Even if the Silver Star Duke was assassinated, you have a copper coins connection with me?

Whether it's a Holy Soul Wizard whose professional level exceeds Level 20, or a Shadow Blade who secretly serves an evil god, the clash between the two, even with slight spillover, can easily grind you into flying ash.

This is indeed a big secret, but it has nothing to do with me.

Lei En didn't want to keep probing about the academy, and said lightly, "Do you have any last words?"

Lam Qi's face changed dramatically, trembling in fear, and shouted, "Lei En, don't kill me! Please!"

"All along, we were the best of friends. When you fell out with your family and had no tuition, I introduced you to the Swordsmanship Hall as an assistant to Ai Si Bo Ge, truly just to help you."

"If you hadn't gone to the Justice Church at that time, how could I have possibly acted against you?"

"I didn't want to kill you either; it was all forced upon me by Ai Si Bo Ge!"

"Lei En, I'm sorry. In the name of our years as classmates, spare my life! I was also forced—my mother has been gravely ill for many years, my father incurred huge gambling debts, so I followed Ai Si Bo Ge and did many bad deeds, but that wasn't my intention…"

Lam Qi's tearful confession was utterly miserable; his only intact left hand scooped a handful of mud from the riverbank, his knees crawled on the ground, trying to inch closer while Lei En wasn't looking.

Lei En saw these small movements clearly.

So he pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Bang— the gunshot rang by the river, Lam Qi's pleas for mercy abruptly stopped, his head exploded like a watermelon, turning into a headless corpse.

A soul flew out, and Lei En absorbed it.

Lei En felt the thrill of rising energy, looked toward the river surface, the night breeze brushed his face, he inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, a strange emotion resonated in his chest.

That emotion was called comfort and exhilaration; his soul seemed to have been elevated!

He finally understood the saying: "The taste of revenge is as sweet as honey."