Chapter 449: Intelligent Moves- 449
After a few minutes, Zhu Yi had made many possible plans, but it all hinged on what the homeless cultivator wanted to gain by acting homeless.
Zhu Yi could not think of anything that wasn't evil, and had no issue with killing the man. Zhu Yi observed the man for a few more hours before finally noticing something.
The target, who had been curled up on the ground and dirty, slowly moved towards another homeless man who was sleeping. It was gradual and slow. So slow that Zhu Yi only noticed it after he was halfway there.
When the target reached the homeless man, he spoke. Zhu Yi could not hear the words, but the target spoke for a while before returning back to his previous position.
Zhu Yi waited for another hour before the homeless man that was spoken to got up and walked somewhere else.
Zhu Yi wanted to follow, but needed to keep his eyes on the target.
"What could it be?" He mumbled to himself.
On his shoulder, Zhou Fan spoke. "Perhaps they work with some sort of intelligence gathering organization."
Zhu Yi's eyes lit up. It made sense. Zhu Yi kept watching the man, but even as night fell, he did not move again.
Zhu Yi eventually returned to his inn and slept. The next day, he returned to the alley, but the man was not there.
Zhu Yi was confused until Zhou Fan spoke. "How much information can be gathered in one location? Perhaps he moved somewhere else."
Zhu Yi felt that it made sense.
As Zhu Yi thought, he had an idea. "If the target is a member of an information organization, then perhaps the person who made the mission is from a rival organization. There's a chance that they're tracking him."
Zhu Yi returned to the assassination guild and checked the mission information. As he had guessed, the information on the target's whereabouts had changed.
"So is our guess basically confirmed?" Zhu Yi asked.
Zhou Fan shook his head. "Nothing is ever 100% confirmed, but there is a very high chance of it being the case."
"So, in order to lure him out, he needs to hear about information on the edge of the city. Then, perhaps, we can take him by surprise and knock him out of the city boundaries?"
Zhou Fan shook his head again. "I highly doubt that will work, but we can try. If it doesn't work, then we should probably give up on the mission."
Although giving up on a mission did give penalties, as long as one had a reasonable excuse, it would be very minor.
Not being able to get the target out of White Palace City was a great excuse.
Zhu Yi found his target and watched him for a while before coming up with a plan.
As a person walked past the alley, Zhu Yi walked up from behind and put his arm around the person's shoulder.
He whispered. "Bear with me for a second. I'll compensate you."
The person slightly nodded, surprisingly calm.
Zhu Yi spoke loudly. "What's up brother! Did you hear about that possible hidden group at the north-eastern edge of White Palace City. It's just a rumor, but I heard they had an underground base right near the city lines. Don't tell too many people about this. I heard that they had very valuable information hidden somewhere around them. In a few days, me and my pals are going to search and see what we can find."
When Zhu Yi finished talking, they had already walked through the alleyway and arrived at the other side.
Much to the random person's surprise, Zhu Yi slipped in a gold coin and patted him on the back. The person quietly thanked him and went on his way.
Zhu Yi circled around and spied on the target once again. Surprisingly, his plan worked. The target soon got up and walked to a person. After speaking for a bit, he began to walk away.
He was heading to the north-eastern part of the city.
"Yes!"
"That actually worked." Zhou Fan was surprised.
Zhu Yi was very excited. He had not expected it to work either. "Of course it did! I am Zhu Yi. My plots span thousands of years! My record is unblemished!"
"Like when you had no plan to escape that lizard?" Zhou Fan asked.
Zhu Yi quieted down and began following the target from afar.
The target got on the express path and cleaned up his appearance slightly. This was Zhu Yi's first time seeing his target's true features.
He seemed like a slightly young middle aged man. He gave off a feeling of indifference.
"He may have been raised from young to serve the organization." Zhou Fan said.
It was rare for a person to grow up and become indifferent without being raised that way.
"A meaningless life. Maybe killing him is a favor." Zhu Yi sighed.
He continued to follow the target as he arrived at the north-eastern most area in the city. He did not stop and soon arrived near the city lines. This was where the city officially stopped.
The target looked around for a while before moving closer to the city line. He seemed to be investigating the surrounding area.
After nearly an hour, he was only 20 feet away from the city line.
"He doesn't seem to plan to get any closer." Zhu Yi commented quietly.
Zhou Fan nodded and Zhu Yi charged. He moved quietly and quickly, but the target had been alert from the start.
He turned around, but by the time he saw Zhu Yi, Zhu Yi rammed his shoulder into the target.
With his superior strength as a 5th level Qi gathering realm cultivator, the man was barely pushed out of the city.
Zhu Yi did not stop moving and jumped in the air, unsheathing his sword. As the sword descended, the target blankly stared at Zhu Yi's figure.
Pierce.
Blood fell as Zhu Yi's sword pierced his target's forehead. He was dead, and only a few feet from city lines.
Zhu Yi pulled his sword out, and slashed, severing the head and quickly putting it in a bag.
Chapter 450: Sword Intent - 450
There were not many people in the surrounding area and Zhu Yi was able to safely move the headless body behind a bush. The assassination guilds cleanup crew would take care of it.
Zhu Yi returned to the assassination guild. This time, he did not meet the guild master, but instead walked up to a front counter and declared his mission completed.
The lady at the front counter was not like the girls at the rogue cultivator guild. She was middle aged, seemed grumpy, and had scars on her face.
As she took the bag and looked at the head, Zhu Yi spoke.
"Why does everyone here have scars? Is it a fashion choice?"
The lady barely glanced up at him before responding while examining the head. "You're new here. We don't get too many newbies. Killing people is not a safe business practice. Humans are unpredictable. Consider yourself lucky to not have been injured so far. You'll understand in the future."
Zhu Yi just nodded.
Although higher level cultivators often got injured, they could almost always perfectly heal themselves. Only the weaker cultivators would retain scars from normal injuries.
Before long, the woman approved the mission completion and Zhu Yi returned to the crystal pad.
Upon logging in, he found that the mission was completed. As the mission paid three times more, he would already get his reward.
The screen told him to come back tomorrow.
Zhu Yi spoke as he walked out of the assassination guild. "I guess we get to relax until tomorrow."
There wasn't enough time to take a rogue cultivator guild mission or an assassination guild mission before his reward would be given out.
Zhou Fan shook his head. "Why do you think you have the right to relax?"
Zhu Yi looked at him confused.
"Your work is to kill people. No matter how smart you are, they can also kill you. You need to train and cultivate. This is the path that you have chosen. There is no more relaxation."
Zhu Yi silently looked at him.
"Don't look at me. Relax once you are the strongest. Until then, get to work."
Zhu Yi sighed and nodded. He returned to the inn and packed his stuff, which did not amount to much. He made a stop at the rogue cultivator guild and turned his crystal pad money into real money.
With plentiful gold, he bought a house on the outer reaches of the city. It had a courtyard, one which could be used to train.
Zhu Yi held a sword as Zhou Fan spoke.
"Although I cannot do much right now, this is something simple. Hold your sword out straight."
When Zhou Fan had asked Zhu Yi what weapon he would like to use, Zhu Yi chose the sword.
Zhou Fan still had all of his memories, even if his mind was now extremely slow. It was simple to teach Zhu Yi some low-level swordplay.
Although it was low-level to Zhou Fan, to almost anyone in Zhu Yi's world, it was beyond comprehension.
Luckily, with Zhou Fan's guidance, Zhu Yi's proficiency with the sword soared. It was only a single day of practice. A single day of practice with a student of average comprehension and talent.
Yet, the next, when Zhu Yi walked into the assassination guild to get his reward, everyone in the building looked at him.
They could feel a vast change in him. It was as if a sword was being held to their necks.
Most of the people in the assassination guild simply felt it, but it did not affect them. Only those below the 5th level of Qi gathering actually felt a real feeling of danger.
"Sheath your sword intent." A voice said.
This voice seemed to calm down Zhu Yi's surroundings and the feeling disappeared. His sword intent, a sort of aura similar to killing intent that one gained with a certain mastery of the sword, was suppressed.
Both Zhu Yi and Zhou Fan looked up.
On the second floor of the pub-like assassination guild, a young man, seemingly no older than 18, was looking at them.
"Apologies. I've been trying to stop it from pouring out, but I've struggled to do so." Zhu Yi said.
The young man spoke. "You must have gained some sort of enlightenment. Lucky you, but if you can't control your sword intent, then you should stay at home until you can."
Zhu Yi nodded. "Thank you for the advice."
The young man turned away and focused on whatever he was doing again. Although Zhu Yi still could not control his sword intent, it was temporarily suppressed and would not show again for a while, similar in nature to a beaten beast.
"We'll practice sheathing it in the room." Zhou Fan said.
Zhu Yi nodded and walked up to the front desk.
After some brief talking, he was led to a room with a similar beast to the last one inside. This time, nobody was outside and Zhu Yi could spend an entire day inside the room before leaving.
Zhu Yi unsheathed his sword and walked forward. His suppressed sword intent came out once again with the unsheathing of his sword. Even the beast felt it, but it was not a threat to the beast.
Zhu Yi moved forward and slashed with his sword. He had become much more familiar with the weapon.
His first cut, despite using the same strength and same sword as the last time, on a beast with similar body strength as the last one, cut three inches deep, three times as deep as last time.
Zhu Yi moved around the cage as if he was dancing, cutting the beast through the gaps in the bars.
The beast could only helplessly back into a corner as Zhu Yi attacked it.
"This is good training I suppose." Zhou Fan said.
He began to give Zhu Yi guidance as he slashed, and after 10 minutes, the beast was dead.
Zhu Yi unlocked the cage and grabbed the beast core. Zhou Fan absorbed it.
"Almost. I can feel that the next one may do it." Zhou Fan said.
Zhu Yi nodded with excitement. He was very interested in the change it would bring and how it would affect him.
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
42 Power
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