The Heavenly Wandering Sword
Chapter 15
Lady Bai stared at the black scars on her sisters stomach and stifled a gasp, holding her mouth to cover her mouth in shock at the sight. “Sister, how did you already become so affected?” Princess Jing covered up her stomach and sighed. “I had always thought that I would be able to defeat the Curse as long as I can successfully learn the Golden Dragon Sword. It seems though, I have failed.” Her brother waved himself with his fan a few times thoughtfully. “The curse came from mother, who was struck down by that sword master. All those who share her blood will be cursed by the Golden Curse, to die if they tried to learn swordsmanship. It was all because of Father’s oppression of the previous Sword Emperor.”
One hundred years ago when her father had come into power, Huxia had a rebel called the Sword Emperor who had descended from a long line of Sword Masters. In the conflict, Lady Bai’s mother who was a swordswoman and a fierce general had come into battle with the Sword Emperor. She had been grievously injured by his sword, and their father had flown into a rage and struck down the Sword Emperor. In a moment of total hatred as the Sword Emperor saw their father as nothing more than a greedy oppressor, he cursed their mother with his sword force. It had become known as the Golden Curse. Anyone related by blood to their mother would be struck down slowly by their meridians being cut apart as if by internal swords.
“Sister, I don’t know what I can do to help you?” Jing Wu Die looked at his younger sister sadly before looking at Lady Bai. “Sister Bai, the tomb of the first Sword Emperor has been found. Father has refused to even consider it but we think there might be something in there that can cure the family of the Golden Curse.” Li Jian had arrived just in time to hear the last bits of it, floating outside the window. He was surprised to see that Yin Chu had asked for his help with this affair but it seems that it could not be helped for him to be tied in some way to the Imperial Family. As long as of course, he considered Lady Bai a friend.
“Whoever told you that, Prince Jing, was probably right.” Li Jian said as he stepped through the window casually. Lady Bai looked at him and smiled, blushing a little. “Brother Li, you are looking well.” Jing Hong and Jing Wu Die both looked at Li Jian and bowed. “Benefactor, we did not expect to see you here.” Lady Bai looked from Li Jian to her siblings. “Benefactor?” Jing Hong walked up to Li Jian and bowed again. “Thank you for your teachings benefactor and for saving our lives.” Jing Wu Die nodded. “This benefactor is the master that saved us from the assassins.”
Lady Bai looked at Li Jian and bowed again. “I have to thank you again brother Li, but what did you teach my younger sister?” Jing Hong poured a cup of tea for Li Jian and handed it to him with a bow. “You are too kind Lady Bai. How can I let the sibling of my friend be killed by assassins on the road just like that? Princess Jing exaggerates, it was nothing too much, just corrected the way she swung her sword that’s all.” Jing Hong could sense that Li Jian did not wish for his understanding of swords to be revealed to her sister. She glanced over at her brother who caught her look as if to confirm what she said earlier. “He is not so simple.”
Lady Bai nodded and looked at Li Jian. “My siblings and I wish to go to the Tomb of the First Sword Emperor. Brother Li, you are an incomprehensible Master. Can I trouble you to accompany us?” Li Jian thought about it for a moment, while Jing Wu Die stared at him. He had never seen his sister pour tea for anyone, Jing Hong having always been obsessively studying sword arts and emotionless to anyone including her own family.
Li Jian glanced at Jing Wu Die a bit nervously. “Prince Jing, I know I am quite handsome but please, don’t tell me your tastes are a bit bent?” Jing Wu Die waved a hand furiously. “No please senior master, please don’t misunderstand. I am just eagerly awaiting to hear your answer.” Lady Bai giggled slightly, which only made Prince Jing blanch again. “Does his sword arts including lady slaying?” He thought to himself. He did notice out of the corner of his eye that both his sisters snuck looks at him from time to time.
Li Jian sipped at his tea and pondered it. “I will agree on one condition. I am in need of information. I need to know where the headquarters of the assassins guild is.” Lady Bai chewed on her bottom lip softly before nodding. “Brother Li, I do not know if it is their headquarters but I know that just outside of Baiyang City, there is a tavern that one can go to seek out their services. Will that suffice?” Li Jian nodded in agreement. “Then please wait for me for a while. I have unfinished business with the assassins guild.” The purple dressed woman wrote down the name of a town and some quick directions. He stood up and set the teacup down after picking up the piece of paper. “I will come here after I’ve settled my business.” He took a leap out the window, thinking about the reward money for some partially honest work.
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“How did the Assassins guild offend him?” Jing Wu Die asked, snapping both his sisters out the state they were in, both of them staring out the window. “Oh. It’s hard to say. Do you think he is targeting them because someone tried to target him?” Lady Bai asked while Jing Hong simply sat down and glanced out towards the window again. “I think Master Li will destroy them.”
Considering how this might turn out, Li Jian placed the mask on his face again in mid-flight. The last thing he needed was someone seeing his persona taking on an entire guild of at least Golden Core realm assassins. He figured he might make up an uncle to explain this to the sect elders when he came back. The requisite was to come back with the head of the Assassin guild leadership, said to be a man called Hei Yun. The reason no one had taken the job was because Hei Yun was supposed to be in the seventh level of Spiritual realm and that was just too high a realm for most sects to deal with. Perhaps the Thousand Swords sect may have experts capable but no one from their seemed to have taken the job either.
The tavern was outside of Baiyang City, at least a day’s horse ride away at a small town called Hei Dao town, a smaller almost village but the village was not so simple. For all intents and purposes, the village was the residence of outlaws. Bandits and various sellswords resided there, without any concern for the law or governance. Strength ruled, that was it. For Li Jian, this was a simple place in many ways. The day’s horse ride would have been too slow, so he flew for a good half an hour, collecting a few blue feathered ducks and red winged geese along the way for his plan.
Landing near the forest in the place, he would wait for a bit to see if anyone noticed him before walking into the village holding the six freshly killed birds. A few people glanced up at him but most of them didn’t pay him any attention. He found the tavern he was looking for and walked in, unsure of what to expect from a tavern run by assassins. He walked into the tavern called the “Dagger and Silver Inn”, and sat down at a table.
Within a few moments, a host dressed in all black stopped at his table. “Senior Master, please let this junior take your order. Please note that we only accept spirit stones, not common currency or anything higher like spiritual coins.” Li Jian noted that this was a common practice when lives were being sold. Spiritual coins would raise questions and common currency was not always useful. Spirit stones however, everyone accepted spirit stones as currency. “I have these freshly hunted spirit beasts and I am wondering if you can cook two of them for me.” The host bowed quickly. “We would be honoured to. What would you like to do with the other spirit beasts?” Li Jian thought about it for a few moments. “Consider it a request to speak to someone about a job.”
The host nodded, a bit more serious than before. “This junior understands. I will send out wine quickly.” Apparently, it was still a fully functioning inn which for Li Jian was a bit delightful. He could sense that a lot of eyes were on him at this point. He supposed it made sense, considering why he was here. A few moments later, another host came by and set a clay bottle of wine down along with a cup and bowed. “Please peruse our menu honoured master.” He set down a slip of paper on the table, and Li Jian quickly glanced at it. On it were a list of Realms and a number beside it. The first thought he had was that he could just blow up the village and pick through corpses but that would be a bit too high profile.
He glanced at the menu, noting that the list stopped at Spiritual Realm. “What if I was looking for something more expensive?” He asked the host who paused for a moment. “Honoured Master, it is possible but it is up to our leader to decide and to make sure that the price is acceptable to us.” So they had someone above spiritual realm which did make things more interesting. He thought about it for a moment before nodding. “Then who should I speak to about one above what’s on the menu?” The host took the menu and lit it on the candle that was on the table before flicking the burning paper out the window. In seconds, it was turned completely into ash. A security measure, he supposed to prevent the menu from ever being taken out of the tavern.
“Honoured Master, please take this as humble advice. If the honoured master does not carry enough spirit stones or something of high enough value, the cost for meeting one of our leaders can seem deadly to some customers.” Li Jian nodded, fully understanding what he meant. Waste their time, and lose your life. He took out from his storage ring a Heavenly Realm spirit pill and held it out to the host. “Please take this to the person I should speak to and let them judge.” The host bowed and disappeared. If the person he was meeting was truly powerful, then they should understand the value of that pill.
After a short while, the two spirit ducks were served to him, having been finely cut apart with precise clean cuts through even the bone. One was braised with a rich sweet sauce while the other was cooked with exotic chilies. He examined the meat as well, it was the clear mark of an expert cook as well as a master assassin. He might let the cook live if he was willing to work for him. He did sense the shadow that floated towards him, but he didn’t react to feign ignorance of what was going on. “Maybe on a normal customer that would work.” He thought to himself.
A woman appeared beside him and bowed shortly. She had a lithe figure, dressed in a cloak as black as the night with a face that looked out of place for the business she was in. She placed the heaven pill in front of him and sat down across from him. “It is my honour to greet you, senior. The token you sent is acceptable to us to discuss something off menu.” Li Jian pretended to be shocked, and leaned in close to look at her. “You are not who I was expecting.” The woman smiled, a cold smile that seemed as sharp as a razor. “Please do not think that this junior is not sufficient. This junior answers directly to the guild leader on all matters and can speak on his behalf. I am the Angel of Death of the Assassins guild Ling Xin.”