All three Assassins had their faces covered.
The strongest of them was a large, bald man. Of the other two, one was a swordsman in cyan robes on the left, and the other was a lean man on the right.
The Cyan Robed Swordsman and the lean man seemed to know each other.
They were currently ganging up on the large, bald man, trying to make him concede a larger share of the profits.
After all, there was only one head on Li Chang’an’s neck. With three people to divvy up the spoils, a conflict of interest was inevitable.
But now, hearing Li Chang’an’s words, the three men, caught in their dispute, couldn’t help but turn to look at him, their faces masks of disbelief.
’This kid is staring death in the face. Not only does he not even try to run, he actually dares to step forward and provoke us?!’
The strongest of the three, the bald bladesman, gave a savage grin. "Well, kid, you’ve got guts. Since you’re in such a hurry, we’ll just chop off your head first and send you on your Struggle for Passage to the Yellow Springs!"
Seeing Li Chang’an’s indifferent expression, the Cyan Robed Swordsman faintly sensed something was amiss. He restrained his agitated companions and took two steps back, falling silent.
When the bald bladesman saw the other two retreat, he thought they had finally seen sense. His mood lifted, and he roared with laughter. "That’s more like it! Don’t blame me, Hu Hansan, for wanting to take it all for myself. Just wait till I chop off this head—it’s worth ten thousand taels! Once I collect the reward, I’ll give you each two thousand taels!!"
At that, the bald man whistled cheerfully, and then, under the watchful eyes of the Cyan Robed Swordsman and the other wiry man, he charged forward to attack.
And just as quickly, still under their watchful eyes, he was utterly defeated.
Li Chang’an wiped the blood from his Longsword on the bald bladesman’s clothes. His gaze fell upon the two stunned men—the Cyan Robed Swordsman and his companion—a short distance away. "He made his choice," Li Chang’an said calmly. "What about you? Will you leave behind your Cultivation Techniques, or your lives?"
Hearing his dispassionate voice, the hand with which the Cyan Robed Swordsman held his sword trembled slightly.
At that moment, he didn’t know how to describe what he was feeling.
Before becoming an Assassin, the bald bladesman, Hu Hansan, had been a minorly famous master of the blade in the Jianghu. His Blade Technique was as swift as lightning, and his strength had long since reached the Martial Artist Realm.
And yet, this renowned master had been cut down like a common weed before this young man, without even managing to fully draw his blade...
’What did that even mean?’
He was a swordsman, and while blades and swords share a common origin—with many techniques and Realms being interchangeable—he hadn’t even been able to see when Li Chang’an had struck.
All he saw was a blur, and then Hu Hansan’s head went flying.
Fast!
’It was just too fast!’
The Cyan Robed Swordsman wiped away the cold sweat that had beaded on his forehead. After a moment of silence, he spoke, his throat dry, "Sir, you want the Cultivation Techniques we practice?"
He didn’t know how Li Chang’an’s swordsmanship was so exquisite at such a young age, but after witnessing Hu Hansan get decapitated in the blink of an eye, he wisely chose the path of self-preservation.
Li Chang’an nodded.
He had been voraciously reading books lately, using his Heaven-defying Comprehension to analyze all sorts of Cultivation Techniques Secret Manuals. He was attempting to compile a new Cultivation Technique suitable for ordinary people to practice the Martial Dao.
But the Yaoqing Imperial Court was truly a bunch of bastards. In a place as large as Sanhuang County, Li Chang’an had searched high and low, yet he had managed to find fewer than three complete Cultivation Techniques!
And many parts of those three were just crudely fabricated nonsense, designed to mislead cultivators and make them waste their lives for nothing.
If that weren’t the case, Li Chang’an wouldn’t have been reduced to asking a group of Assassins sent to kill him for their Cultivation Techniques.
The Cyan Robed Swordsman and the lean man exchanged a glance, then nodded. "My friend and I are willing to give you the Cultivation Techniques we have learned. Might you be willing to spare our lives, sir?"
Any life, after all, was better than no life at all.
Facing Li Chang’an, neither the Cyan Robed Swordsman nor the lean man had any confidence they could withstand even a single one of his moves.
Thus, even though Li Chang’an looked to be no older than a teenager, the Cyan Robed Swordsman shamelessly addressed him with a respectful "sir."
Li Chang’an wasn’t particularly concerned about whether they lived or died, even if they had come to kill him. "Leave the Cultivation Techniques," he said. "Then you can go."
The Cyan Robed Swordsman nodded, then unbuckled his sword belt. "If I may trouble you, sir, could you prepare writing materials for us? The Cultivation Techniques we learned are stored in our minds; we don’t carry physical copies."
Without a word, Li Chang’an silently produced a brush, ink, and paper.
The Cyan Robed Swordsman and the lean man were surprisingly compliant. They each took the paper and began writing and drawing, and before long, they had handed two Cultivation Techniques to Li Chang’an.
Li Chang’an took the Cultivation Techniques and glanced over them. Seeing no obvious issues, he waved a hand. "You may go."
Hearing this, the Cyan Robed Swordsman didn’t leave. Instead, he boldly asked, "Senior, are you trying to complete a Cultivation Technique?"
Li Chang’an watched them, calling him "Senior" with every other breath as if they hadn’t just accepted a bounty to assassinate him. He couldn’t help but scoff. "Aren’t you afraid I’ll strike you down?"
The Cyan Robed Swordsman’s face paled, but he pressed on bravely. "Senior is benevolent and merciful. If you truly intended to kill, our heads would have been separated from our bodies long ago!"
He paused, and seeing that Li Chang’an neither refuted him nor grew angry, he continued, "We are merely nobodies, and our Cultivation Techniques are nothing special. Senior, your own Cultivation is profound. Logically, you shouldn’t covet techniques like ours. The only reason must be because that son-of-a-bitch Yaoqing Imperial Court has severed the future of our Central Plains Martial Dao..."
Li Chang’an had no idea what sort of fanfiction the Cyan Robed Swordsman was cooking up in his head, but he wasn’t wrong on that last point. So, instead of refuting him, he just asked coolly, "So? What are you trying to tell me?"
At this, the Cyan Robed Swordsman didn’t dare keep him in suspense any longer. "If Senior is looking for Cultivation Techniques, we know of a place that might be of great help to your Cultivation!"
Li Chang’an’s interest was piqued. He gestured for them to explain.
The Cyan Robed Swordsman immediately continued, "Three hundred years ago, when the Yaoqing’s Emperor Yongzheng was purging our Central Plains Martial Dao, it was rumored that the Cyan Cloud Pavilion—a pillar Sect of the Martial Dao—secretly hid a cache of Cultivation Techniques east of Tai Lake!"
"Originally, this was just a rumor on the Jianghu grapevine, nothing to be taken seriously. But a few years ago, my brother and I were lucky enough to find the location of this hidden repository in an ancient text. We even went to investigate the site ourselves!"
"Unfortunately, three hundred years have passed in the blink of an eye. The place where the techniques were hidden has long since been submerged by Tai Lake. My brother and I have limited abilities, so we couldn’t find the surviving Cultivation Techniques. We only managed to narrow it down to a general area..."
Hearing this, Li Chang’an’s heart stirred.
This information wasn’t entirely baseless. He recalled seeing a similar account in an ancient text himself, though he hadn’t taken it seriously at the time.
’But to think these two brothers had actually investigated it and narrowed down the location?’
He pondered this for a moment before voicing the question in his heart. "Even if it’s true, why would you tell me this for no reason?"
...