Firmament Sword

A notorious assassin had managed to infiltrate the grand Celestial Brilliance headquarters! And what's more... within the vast, boundless territory of Celestial Brilliance, he had located the residence of the Senior Brother of the Medicine Garden with incredible precision and successfully carried out the assassination!

If Luo Tian's life hadn't been so resilient and his strength so formidable, he would have certainly died at the assassin's hands!

To say there wasn't a mole... who would believe it?

"The assassin was Wind!"

It was a simple and ordinary-sounding name, yet it sent a chill through the hearts of everyone present.

Wind... that elusive, bold, and arrogant assassin. It was said he could even assassinate a Supreme!

Hearing that the assassin was actually Wind, everyone present was both shocked and furious.

But at the same time... they also grew intensely curious about the cause of Wind's death!

Wind, a top-tier assassin who even dared to kill Supremes, had died at the hands of Luo Tian, the Senior Brother of the Medicine Garden who was merely at the Saint Realm?

Was that even possible?

"Several years ago, a Senior Deacon from our Celestial Brilliance was ambushed and killed while on a mission. That assassin was Wind." Jiang Botao looked at Yuwen Ji, Xiahou Kaiyuan, and the others, a playful yet pointed look in his eyes. "And now... this same assassin has managed to get inside Celestial Brilliance. Heh, it seems our Senior Deacon from back then... didn't die at the hands of an outsider after all."

Xiahou Kaiyuan took a deep breath and looked at Yuwen Ji. "Regarding this matter, I will certainly give the Medicine Garden and everyone in Celestial Brilliance a full accounting!"

"First, we focus on saving Luo Tian, no matter the cost! Doesn't he... doesn't he have a Heaven-Defying Life-Seizing Creation Pill? If we have to, use it!"

"In short... he must live. Everything else can be dealt with later!"

A terrifying aura erupted from Xiahou Kaiyuan. The Sect Leader of the Supreme Great Sect was truly enraged.

At that very moment, in a quiet valley somewhere within Celestial Brilliance, a few buildings were nestled among the trees. The light in one of the rooms was still on.

A handsome youth paced back and forth in the room with his hands clasped behind his back, his expression uneasy. A hint of apprehension flickered in his eyes as he muttered, "He will definitely succeed. He must. He's a true top-tier assassin who's even killed a Supreme!"

"Who does Luo Tian think he is? Just Peak of Saint Realm cultivation... It would be child's play for Wind to kill him!"

"But... why do I still have this uneasy feeling?"

"I can't shake the feeling... that something bad is about to happen."

The youth took a deep breath and reassured himself, 'It's fine... As long as Wind follows the map I gave him and leaves immediately after the kill, this whole thing will be an unsolvable case! No one will ever suspect that I'm the one behind it!'

'I have great things to do in the future. I must help my brother build his legacy! So... what's a small matter like this? It's nothing!'

The youth was continuously reassuring himself when suddenly, a burst of hurried footsteps from outside made him jump.

BANG BANG!

The footsteps quickly reached his door, and an urgent knock followed.

The youth said coldly, "Come in."

"Young Master... it's bad!" The person who entered was one of the youth's trusted subordinates. With a panicked look on his face, he whispered, "Wind is dead!"

"So he's dead, what's that got to do with..." The youth curled his lip, but then his expression changed drastically. He grabbed the subordinate by the collar and roared, "What did you say? Who's dead?"

"Wind... it was the assassin, Wind... he's dead!" The subordinate's face was a mask of despair. "And they... they found the map on his body..."

"Th-that's impossible! How could that be?" The youth was furious. He slapped his subordinate across the face and snarled, "Wind can kill even a Supreme! How could he fail to kill someone who isn't even in the Great Saint Realm?"

"Young Master... I saw it with my own eyes! Wind's head was separated from his body! He was beheaded!" The subordinate looked at the youth in terror. "Young Master... will we be exposed? That map... I drew it myself. If... if they find out, you have to protect me, Young Master!"

"Relax... they won't trace it back to us!" the handsome youth said. "There are so many people in Celestial Brilliance. And with the assassin dead, there's no proof. Who's going to confess?"

"So many Elders went, and even the Sect Leader... he went personally!" the subordinate said. "I never imagined... that Luo Tian had so much influence."

"If he didn't have so much influence, I wouldn't have bothered killing him," the youth said, though a flicker of panic flashed in his eyes.

'This incident has even alarmed the Sect Leader. It's easy to imagine that Celestial Brilliance is about to be hit by a massive earthquake!'

'A very violent one at that!'

'Anyone caught in the fallout will suffer an unimaginable blow!'

The more the youth thought about it, the more terrified he became. He knew the methods of Celestial Brilliance all too well. If the Sect Leader was enraged, those madmen from the Precepts Hall would investigate with their full power. And once the Precepts Hall got serious... there was nothing in Celestial Brilliance they couldn't find out!

The youth's eyes flickered with a crazed killing intent. 'This whole affair, including that Senior Deacon years ago, was all my doing!' he thought fiercely. 'I did it for my brother!'

'That damned Senior Deacon back then dared to mock my brother to his face, calling him incompetent. He even said he wouldn't support my brother as the heir. A person like that... is a liability. Why keep him around? It was better to just kill him!'

'Let me think... who was responsible for contacting Wind back then? I think... it was him!'

The youth glanced at the subordinate before him, his eyes narrowing slightly. 'It was him this time, too!' he thought. 'As my most trusted confidant, he knows all my secrets! If he cracks under pressure and exposes me, I'm finished.'

As he thought of this, a cold smile crept onto the youth's lips.

"Young Master..." The subordinate looked at his master uneasily. Sensing that something was wrong, he couldn't help but take two steps back.

The youth smiled faintly and said, "Don't worry, I'll arrange for you to leave right away! Relax. You've been with me for so many years, always loyal and devoted. I won't mistreat you!"

As he spoke, the youth walked forward and patted the man's shoulder.

The subordinate finally breathed a sigh of relief. His eyes, as he looked at the youth, were filled with gratitude. He felt incredibly lucky to have met such a good master; he would have died for him without a second thought!

"You can go in peace now..."

In the youth's other hand was a short sword about a foot long, shimmering with a faint blue light. By now... only its hilt was visible, as the rest of the blade was buried deep within the subordinate's body.

"Y-Young... Master," the subordinate managed to say, struggling to lift his head. He opened his mouth, which was full of blood. A tragic smile touched his lips as he tried to speak, but he only coughed up more blood before his breathing stopped and he died.

The youth took out a small vial and sprinkled some powder onto the corpse. The subordinate's body slowly dissolved into thin air, leaving only a pool of blood on the floor.

Finally, even the pool of blood... vanished completely!

It was as if the man had never been there at all.

The youth let out a sigh of relief and muttered, 'I'm exhausted. Nothing... happened today. Tomorrow morning... will be another fine day!'

...

...

When Xu Luo opened his eyes, three days had already passed.

He found himself lying on a large, soft bed. The room was spacious and tidy, with a bouquet of fresh flowers in a vase on the bedside table.

Through the crystal-paned window, he could see that the sun was shining brightly amidst the singing birds and fragrant flowers. The clear, melodious chirping of birds drifted in, crisp and pleasant to the ear.

'I'm still alive?' A wry smile touched Xu Luo's lips. He tried to circulate his cultivation technique, only to find his Dantian completely empty, unable to summon even a sliver of strength.

"I'm this badly injured..." Xu Luo couldn't help but mutter, before beginning to circulate the Shadow Shaking Heart Method.

This was the cultivation technique that had been with him since the beginning of his rise to power. Even at his current realm of cultivation, it had not become obsolete.

Xu Luo had gone through many of Celestial Brilliance's texts, which included a number of top-grade techniques, but all of them paled in comparison to the Shadow Shaking Heart Method.

Xu Luo's injuries had been severe; the only reason he woke up so quickly was because he was in the Celestial Brilliance Medicine Garden, home to the greatest physicians and Pharmacists in all of Xi Hezhou!

Anywhere else, even if he had survived, he likely wouldn't have woken up for half a month!

In the end, Yuwen Ji hadn't used the Heaven-Defying Life-Seizing Creation Pill on Xu Luo. For one, they didn't know where Xu Luo kept the elixir, and forcefully cracking open his spatial magical artifact would have been incredibly difficult. For another, his condition hadn't become quite that desperate.

Besides, using it would only have made them look incompetent.

If they let Xu Luo die from his injuries right in front of a group of the Medicine Garden's Grand Elders, they could all just pack it in.

To avoid suspicion, Su Qianqian was quickly led away by Zuo Mingyu. The poor girl could only weep in secret and pray for her Brother Xu Luo to recover quickly.

Xie Yurou stayed to care for Xu Luo for a night, leaving only after he had passed the most critical stage.

Xie Yurou was also enraged. She resolved to use every power at her disposal to find the true culprit behind the attack.

Everyone knew that Wind was just an assassin. Without being hired, he would never kill someone with whom he had no enmity!

And this was the Celestial Brilliance headquarters, no less!

Without an inside mole, an outsider could never have gotten in!

Much less find their way directly to Xu Luo's residence!

Qi Yue, however, had not left. As a Medicine Garden Disciple, she had a legitimate reason to be there, and so long as she chose to stay, no one would chase her away.

Therefore, she was the first to notice when Xu Luo awoke, and a look of delighted surprise immediately graced her face.

By this point, Xu Luo had already circulated the Shadow Shaking Heart Method for one full cycle. A sliver of power now existed in his once-empty Dantian, though he was still incredibly weak.

He looked at Qi Yue and asked softly, "Junior Sister Qi Yue... my... my attendants... are they... really all dead? And Xiaohong?"

"Young Master..." Sun Xiaohong came running in from outside, her face streaked with tears. She rushed to Xu Luo's bedside and knelt, sobbing, "It's enough that you're awake, Young Master! I'm sure the spirits of Wei Dong and Han Shuang in the heavens can now rest in peace!"

"They're... really... dead?" Two beams of divine light suddenly erupted from Xu Luo's eyes. PFFT! They shot through the roof of the room and into the sky, threatening to pierce the very void!

"No matter who you are," Xu Luo's voice was utterly frigid, "I will... kill you with my own two hands!"

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