Chapter 29: Chapter 29
The Green Robe Tower?
Li Suifeng’s guard went up instantly.
Nanzhou’s premier assassin guild.
Legend had it that no target the Green Robe Tower marked for death had ever escaped.
That was certainly an exaggeration.
Rumor also held that Righteous Manor’s Lord, Yan Wudao, had survived a Green Robe Tower assassination attempt. And he was very much still alive.
But Yan Wudao was a Grandmaster. Li Suifeng was not.
“Why me?”
His voice was soft.
“Because you’re strong enough.” Crow’s smile was radiant. “Your talent doesn’t quite measure up to the names on the Human Rankings, but it’s respectable. Twenty-three years old, mid seventh-rank cultivation, and that palm technique of yours is practically flawless.”
【Ding!】
【Task issued: A Third Identity. Join the Green Robe Tower. Rise to Gold-Tier Assassin.】
【Reward: Thirteen Fatal Swords (maxed).】
Li Suifeng felt a jolt of excitement.
System — does the maxed Thirteen Fatal Swords include the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Swords?
He asked silently.
【Ding!】
【The maxed Thirteen Fatal Swords encompasses all of Yan Shisan’s insights into the art, including the Fourteenth Sword and the Fifteenth Sword.】
Done.
He’d already experienced the terrifying power of the Divine Blade Slash firsthand. Even in this high-powered martial world, it was a formidable art — certainly among the strongest techniques in all of Nanzhou.
The Fifteenth Fatal Sword would be no weaker.
It was worth joining the Green Robe Tower for this alone.
And his system-granted Breath Concealment Technique appeared to have fooled Crow. The man hadn’t seen through to Li Suifeng’s true cultivation — he was treating him as a solid but unremarkable seventh-rank fighter.
“What would I owe?” Li Suifeng asked.
Nothing in this world came free.
The Green Robe Tower wasn’t a charity. If the benefits were enormous and the cost was nil, nine out of ten masters in the world would have signed up already.
Crow grinned.
“We’re an assassin guild. Naturally — we need you to kill for us.”
“Kill who?”
“No idea.” Crow tossed a bronze medallion to Li Suifeng.
“Green Robe Tower assassins are ranked in five tiers — Common, Iron, Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Above Gold sits only the Tower Lord.”
“My authority maxes out at Bronze. If you accept that medallion, you’re a Bronze-Tier assassin. If you don’t want it, I won’t come after you — nobody’s put a bounty on your head, and we never do work at a loss.”
“A Bronze-Tier assassin completes three kills per year for the Tower. If you’re efficient, you can knock all three out in a single month. The remaining eleven months are yours.”
“Every completed contract pays silver. The Tower takes a forty-percent cut — tracking down targets, providing intelligence — none of that’s cheap.”
“As one of ours, you get free intelligence on any fighter sixth-rank or below, provided we have it on file.”
“If you need something more sensitive, you can buy it. Members get half price, of course. And if anyone ever purchases intelligence on you, we’ll tip you off.”
Li Suifeng nodded. Three people per year wasn’t unreasonable. And access to the Green Robe Tower’s intelligence network was an enormous advantage.
“How do I reach Gold Tier?” he asked.
Crow looked mildly surprised but answered readily:
“I’m currently Silver Tier myself. To reach Gold, you must kill one fourth-rank Grandmaster, or five fifth-rank fighters.”
“Doesn’t sound too hard.” Li Suifeng turned the bronze medallion over in his hands, murmuring almost to himself.
Opening the Ancestral Aperture, absorbing heaven-and-earth vitality, and refining true qi into gang qi — that was fifth-rank.
At his current level, a weaker fifth-rank fighter was within his reach.
“Not hard?” Crow’s expression turned strange.
This kid was only seventh-rank. His external hardening and palm techniques made him tough enough that a sixth-rank fighter would struggle to kill him, sure.
But between fifth-rank and sixth lay an uncrossable chasm.
Once all seven apertures were opened, a martial artist’s five senses underwent a radical transformation. Speed, reflexes, perception — everything multiplied.
Within a thousand meters, not so much as a rustling leaf could escape a fifth-rank fighter’s awareness.
Killing a single fifth-rank master was ten times — a hundred times — harder than killing a sixth-rank one.
Ignorance breeds courage, Crow mused.
But he didn’t dwell on it. Instead, he smiled:
“The Green Robe Tower has fewer rules than most assassin guilds. Take me — I’m fairly idle. Only two contracts a year.”
“Hah.”
Li Suifeng sighed.
When he’d first transmigrated, his dream had been fine robes and fast horses — wandering the jianghu with a blade at his hip.
Now, on top of the Canal Gang, he’d accumulated two more identities — former Embroidered Uniform Guard undercover agent, and now assassin. Neither had anything to do with wandering free.
“My dream of the jianghu grows ever more distant.”
Crow ignored the melodrama and continued:
“Nanyang Prefecture is too small for a Green Robe Tower outpost. Once I’ve registered your status with the organization, I’ll reach out again — and bring your first contracts.”
“You get one refusal per year. After three completed jobs, I won’t bother you again until the following year.”
“If you want extra work for extra pay, find me at the blacksmith shop at the mouth of Luoshi Alley. I’ll line up more targets.”
“Any other questions, kid?”
“One.” Li Suifeng spoke up.
“Senior — is our Canal Gang leader really finished?”
He’d been hearing this from every direction lately — Ye Qingmei, Jin Buhuan, everyone hinted at it. Curiosity was eating at him.
“That piece of intelligence is worth serious money.” Crow glanced at him. “Probably nobody in all of Nanzhou knows the specifics. But I can confirm this much — Yue Changlong has not been at the Canal Gang for the past several years. Where exactly he is, I have no idea.”
Li Suifeng nodded. One more question:
“Senior — does the Green Robe Tower recruit all its assassins like this?”
Crow shook his head.
“Most are cultivated from childhood. External recruits like us are different.”
“The world is vast, and assassination is high-risk work. You never know when you’ll die on the job. So beyond our own trainees, we also bring in capable fighters who need the money.”
“External recruits generally don’t touch the Tower’s inner circle. Unless you make Gold Tier.”
Li Suifeng and Crow talked a while longer, confirming every detail before the older man finally took his leave.
Only after Crow’s figure had completely vanished did Li Suifeng let out a slow breath.
“Fifth-rank, at the very least.”
Li Suifeng muttered to himself.
He’d kept his composure throughout the conversation, but internally, he’d been strung tight the entire time.
Now, at last, he could relax.