The black-faced man shook his head and sighed: âSo thatâs what it was. Unfortunately, you picked the wrong promotional missionâ
Gu Qing Shan replied: âItâs not wrongâ
âNot wrong?â the black-faced man asked.
Gu Qing Shan replied: âDual Talons Eagle, Torturous Band of Five, Poison Wolf, and Peeling Heart Demon Thorn. All of you are my mission targets, but I didnât know where to find you, nor how to understand your abilities, so I posted a bounty at the Hunter Guild and made a trip here myselfâ
The sword was clear as a river in autumn, giving off a cold gleam in this dimly lit area.
The black-faced manâs expression slowly changed and questioned in a heavy tone:
âWait a minute, arenât you a Hunter?â
âAh, of course not, Iâm a Hitmanâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
It was now that the black-faced man finally understood.
This Hitman is in the middle of his promotional mission.
He wants to kill me.
The black-faced man gazed at the sword in the other partyâs hand and slowly said: âThen, there was no such thing as treasure in this world in the first place. You posted that bounty at the Hunter Guild just to gather all of us hereâ
âVery sharpâ Gu Qing Shan praised, âAre you done preparing? You can die nowâ
âWait a minute! Wait!â the black-faced man abruptly shouted: âDonât kill me, we can reach an agreement, Iâll give you all of my wealth, as long as you spare meâ
âThatâs wonât doâ Gu Qing Shan sighed, âAs long as you can form a contract with another person, not only would you be immune to being killed by them, you could even one-sidedly violate the contract without issuesâ
The black-faced manâs pupils contracted.
He drew two sharp thorns and rushed straight at Gu Qing Shan.
Gu Qing Shan simply stood still.
At the very next moment, just as the black-faced man tried to step forward, his figure was stuck in the void of space, unable to move forward.
Gu Qing Shan movedâââ
His sword-wielding hand seemed to vanish for a split second, but he didnât do anything other than that.
A gust of wind suddenly came by.
The howling storm wind went straight towards the black-faced man and curtly blew him away.
The wind whisked the thick inky blood out of the structure, painting a spot in the sky above a deep shade of red.
Bright red.
Light red.
Faint white.
Under the faraway greyish sky, everything was scattered away into the wind.
Clack clack!
Two sharp thorns fell to the ground, giving off a chiming noise.
Gu Qing Shan let go of the sword in his hand, allowing it to fade into the void of space behind himself.
He then took out a job description letter and carefully examined it.
âOne, two, three... eight people in total. There, thatâs the promotional mission over withâ
...
At another location.
The Hitman Guild.
Knock knock knock!
âCome inâ
âGuild Master, sir, Fear Fiend Kingâs promotional mission has been completedâ Qin reported.
âOh?â the one-eyed old man felt interested, âSo quickly? How did he do it exactly?â
âHe drew the job issued by the Bounty Hunter Guildâ Qin replied.
The one-eyed old man pondered a bit, then replied: âThatâs part of the Bounty Hunter Guildâs self-cleansing operation, they were determined to eliminate the Grey Hunters who liked to act against their own alliesâ
âYes sir. After Fear Fiend King accepted the job, he was lazy with having to kill so many people, so he went straight to the Bounty Hunter Guild and issued a highly specific treasure hunting bounty, then went straight to the destination to wait for his targetâ Qin explained.
âAhahahaha, what a mischievous little one, using such a low-effort methodâââ so in the end, he killed all eight of them by himself?â
âNo sir, he only killed a single person, the others killed one another offâ
â...Is that so, then it seems he had estimated accurately from the beginning. Nicely done, very nicely done, let him be promotedâ
âYes sirâ
âFrom now on, you may tell him all the benefits and provisional measures provided by the Guildâ
âUnderstoodâ
...
The bar.
In front of the bar counter, Crow and Gu Qing Shan were sitting with each other, drinking while talking.
âLooks like today is going to cost you quite a bitâ Crow commented.
âItâs ok, I still have to thank you for taking me during the large-scale joint missionâ Gu Qing Shan raised his glass.
âAhaha, donât mention it, Iâm never taking you with me on one of those againâ Crow chuckled.
âWhy not?â
âWhen you enter God mode, the others wonât even have scraps left to pick up, so forget about itâ he teased.
Gu Qing Shan shook his head helplessly.
The two of them cheered.
The bar was considerably crowded, various monsters of all shapes and sizes had taken human form to enjoy themselves here.
âWhy did you decide to become a Hitman?â Crow casually asked.
âPenniless, I needed some quick cash, how about you?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
âI only know how to do thisâ Crow shrugged and replied.
He pondered a bit, then continued: âIâm not trying to investigate your abilities, but I suspect that power capable of wiping out the entire enemy force isnât something you can easily unleashâ
âIndeed, it isnâtâ Gu Qing Shan admitted.
âThen I think this much needs to be said: Void City is a place of many organizations and countless Combatants, innumerable kinds of unexpected abilities need to be expected everywhere, even if youâve been promoted to an Unsolvable rank Hitman, I hope you wonât grow complacentâ Crow said.
Gu Qing Shan seriously listened and raised his glass: âThatâs exactly what Iâve been thinking. In truth, I feel like Iâve been constantly walking on thin ice, afraid of running into some sort of unique abilities and falling, never to stand up againâ
âOh? You seem to be particularly emotionalâ Crow said, a bit surprised.
âI am. Today, I ran into a Hunter, his combat strength was nothing much, but his abilities made it very easy to ambush peopleâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
Still a bit fearful of it, he explained Peeling Heart Demon Thornâs ability.
Crow also trembled a bit from imagining it.
While the two of them continued to drink, their surroundings suddenly turned silent.
Most of the people around them took out their own information receivers to take in the newest intel.
Crow and Gu Qing Shanâs medals also gave off a signal asking for a telepathic connection.
The two of them exchanged glances, then turned their respective medals on.
A piece of information quickly appeared in his mind:
[Breaking news:]
[Dependants of the Eternal Abyss are falling in battle at great numbers, the Wraith realm is currently marching deeper into the Eternal Abyss]
[Through our investigations, the Eternal Abyss has been found to still remain in slumber]
Everyone began loudly discussing among themselves.
Crow also frowned: âI really canât imagine what those humans at the Wraith realm are thinkingâ
Gu Qing Shan asked: âWhy exactly are they trying to invade the Eternal Abyss?â
âWho knows, Eternal Abyss is the strongest known monster in the space vortex. Never mind the Eternal Abyss, even some of its stronger dependants would not fall short compared to anyone elseâ
Crow took a sip, then muttered: âEveryone just feels like the Wraith realm is going madâ
âNot a single person knows about their true intentions?â Gu Qing Shan asked again.
âNone. Theyâre too closed-off, each and every last one of their members are under the restraints of talisman hexes and their masks, itâs impossible to obtain any information from them at allâ Crow replied.
Gu Qing Shan fell silent.
What exactly is the Wraith realm trying to do?
After using the seven sacrificial sword strikes, I once entered a brief âSpirit Wandererâ state and saw visions of the future.
In that future, the Wraith realm humans have taken over the 900 million World Layers, plundering, killing, and collecting the Samsara fragments from all over the place. In the end, they were even aiming for my homeworld.
Gu Qing Shan clenched his fist.
How could I let such a future occur?
âCrowâ
âHm?â
âHow did you become a Titled Hitman?â
âThat huh? In truth, the highest you can reach through completing Hitman jobs is the rank of Unlivableâ Crow thought a bit, then continued: âTo become a Titled Hitman, your codename must first be renowned to living beings and recognized by the infinite worlds, at which point it would become reinforced by the Laws of reality and become a Titleââ- a Title contains unique power that can help you improve your strengthâ
âIn other words, my âFear Fiend Kingâ codename needs to evolve into a Title?â
âThatâs rightâ Crow affirmed.
Gu Qing Shan thought for a bit, then paused.
Wait a minute.
The codename Fear Fiend King certainly did have the factors to be upgraded into a unique Title.
But those factors had already been absorbed by my left eye, manifesting as the [Fog Realm Descent] World Technique.
ââin other words, the Hitman codename Fear Fiend King has lost its possibility of becoming a Title.
Gu Qing Shanâs heart tightened and asked: âCrow, can we Hitmen change our codenames?â
âOf course we can, what? Do you not like the codename that the old man personally gave you?â Crow asked.
âThereâs a different reason, but in summary, I want to change my codename into a different oneâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
âOh? Then have you thought of one? What do you want to change it to?â Crow asked, intrigued.
Gu Qing Shan paused.
Thatâs true, what codename should I change to?
He fell into thought.
Over 15 minutes later.
âI... really donât knowâ
Gu Qing Shan worriedly replied.