Chapter 236 - Guests Arriving
Chapter 236: Guests Arriving
Just as the passage collapsed with Xia Fei trapped in the mountain, an Amarrian Tyrant-class cruiser appeared in the orbit of Nameless.
This warship bore the same visual characteristics that all Amarrian warships possessed: a shiny golden exterior and bulky size, with this somber sensation that gave it an imposing aura.
An elderly man was standing with his hands behind his back on the cruiser’s bridge, staring out at the azure planet below.
He had a skinny frame, and his two eyes shone with vigorous spirit. His white goatee hung down to his chest, his eyebrows growing to such length that its ends trailed down to his cheekbones. Dressed in pure-white robes, such a human would have been called a wizened sage if he was on Earth, but it was unfortunate that his hooked nose and shifty beady eyes ruined this image, instead giving off the look of someone very scheming and sinister.
Beside him was a youth seventeen to eighteen years old. Despite his young age, he had plenty of wrinkles on his face, giving him a very aged look.
This youth was thickly built, looking very much like a misshapen soccer ball, one with plenty of wrinkles.
He was currently mimicking the pose of the elderly man, his two hands behind his back while gazing out at Planet Nameless. However, while the elderly man’s eyes withheld the vicissitudes of life, the youth’s eyes were empty and meaningless, merely a superficial imitation of the elderly man.
“Master, should we fire off a message to signal our arrival?” asked the youth.
The elderly man shook his head slowly, replying with his sharp and clear voice, “Message them? Hmph. We’re going to barge directly into the Assassins’ sect; there’s nothing needed to be said to them.”
The youth nodded repeatedly. “Master is right. At this rate, the number-one hitman organization will no longer be the Assassins’ sect, so there’s no need to be courteous against these people.”
Though chubby in size, this youth’s head was empty, and he was best at flattering his master.
The elderly man chuckled as he nodded. “Fangyuan, the Assassins’ sect is well renowned at the end of the day. Though their strength isn’t what it used to be, even a skinny camel is bigger than a horse; you’d best not underestimate them.”
The young man hurriedly saluted in deference. “This is why the master remains the master, able to see things so clearly in everything he does. This young one will remember this, but I won’t be merciful to the enemies this time. After all, master’s prestige matters more than this young one’s life.”
The elderly man chuckled softly. Fangyuan’s words of flattery made him feel good, patting the youth’s round head as he could not help but feel quite delighted.
The Tyrant-class cruiser rapidly made for Nameless,circling in the air several rounds before it landed on the dedicated spaceport the Assassins used as if it was showing off.
The discipleship was well defended, its radar system already reporting each and every move the cruiser made.
Few, if any, outsiders were given entry to Nameless, and even less would brazenly barge in like what they had just done. The ground control and the sect itself were momentarily thrown into chaos, with everyone confused over what these intruders wanted.
*Boom!*
The Tyrant-class cruiser purposely let out a huge burst of flames from its thrusters, sending the nearby smaller ships parked at the tarmac flying before it happily made landing.
The Assassins’ sect usually kept to small missions, so a destroyer was more than enough for the use of these small teams that were sent out. This was why the sect did not care to purchase larger ships like cruisers despite having sufficient funds to do so.
To an organization of hitmen, it was of course better to have a transport that kept to a low profile; a large cruiser would be too obvious a target, and it was less suitable piloting it to a mission; instead, it was more akin to peacocking, making it hardly a smart choice.
The Assassins tasked with defending the spaceport were so angry that they were grinding their teeth. No one had dared to act so presumptuously in their base before, yet they withheld the emotions they were feeling, surrounding the warship with livid expressions.
The automatic escalator of the warship extended out, and that old man and his fat disciple swaggered out, bringing along a troop of similarly triumphantly smiling guards.
‘Like master, like disciple’ as the saying went. The elderly man and his disciples all shared the same expression, looking around with eyes filled with contempt and ridicule.
An older Assassin with blond hair made a gesture to his fellow Assassins, indicating for everyone to hold their ground first.
Walking toward the new arrivals, he courteously greeted the elderly man with a bow. “May I know whom I’m speaking to? Is there an explanation for your visit?”
His tone was neither humble nor overbearing. It was a perfectly diplomatic request, without mention of his sect. Though the electronic signals outside the planet would notify potential trespassers that they were encroaching upon private territory, there were still some blind people who ended up straying into the territory by mistake. Such an incident would happen once every few years, and everything would be settled after they sent such people packing. There was no need to kill anyone, since the Assassins were secretly residing on the mountain. Even if anyone were to come take a look, there was no way they would be able to see anything substantial.
The expression on that elderly man with his white goatee changed, and his chubby disciple brusquely shoved that blond Assassin. “Stay away! Do you think you’re qualified to ask anything of our master? What rank are you? Get your sect master out!”
Fangyuan gave a fairly heavy-handed shove, pushing the Assassin a dozen over meters back with that one move.
The other Assassins around were disgruntled by this. Not only did they brazenly barge into their land like this, these people even injured a fellow Assassin not long after disembarking from their warship. This was the first time they had met such barbaric men. After all, this was the Assassins’ sect, and everyone here was a professional killer, adept at taking lives. It was no exaggeration to say that thousands of them resided on this planet, so there was no way that they could stand such a transgression.
The older, blond Assassin was in charge of this spaceport, so although he was feeling infuriated deep down, he still gave strict orders for his men to remain calm. Though it was evident that these people came prepared, they could not compromise on the rules and reputation of their discipleship just because of the intruders’ arrogance.
“Gentlemen, since you wish to see our sect master, I wonder if you’ve made prior arrangements, or perhaps you’d like to tell us your names so we may report it accordingly.”
The chubby Fangyuan spat on the ground and brutishly barked, “What rank are you? Think you’re worthy of learning our master’s name? Scram!”
With that, the master and disciple led their men strutting toward the mountain.
The man in charge of guarding the spaceport was of course flustered by this. He quickly sped over to intercept, standing in front of the two. “No outsiders are allowed to take a step in our discipleship grounds.”
His fellow Assassins, who were watching this situation unfold, actually preferred for these men to barge in, uninvited, because, at this rate, the matter would no longer be in their hands. Anyone who attempted to force their way into the mountain would soon have the Deathguards of their Assassins’ sect descending upon them, and these men were not about to reason with them. The Deathguards would most certainly give it their all to kill these intruders. The others felt that their blond senior was being far too rigid. Evidently, the intruders were the first to act unreasonable, so there was no reason he should step in and warn them of the consequences.
The chubby youth struck without saying a word.
Despite his portly stature, he moved with such speed that his right fist had already flown out, sweeping right for the man’s heart.
To be the administrator of this spaceport, the blond man was of course no pushover, yet all he felt was a sudden gust of cold wind as his legs flashed in an attempt to dodge the attack.
Alas, the speed at which Fangyuan had sent out his punch was simply too fast. Even some speed ability users in the crowd who prided themselves to be quite skilled in this aspect could not see this punch, let alone stop it.
Several ribs of that blond man broke when the punch landed on his chest.
The man’s body crooked, then he flew out like a kite without its string.
A black figure suddenly appeared from the crowd. This person leaped in the air and caught the man; at the same time, they delivered a pill into his mouth for injury sustained with their left hand.
The entire action happened in the span of a breath, sans a hint of hesitation, a demonstration of his adept combat qualities.
When the disciples of the Assassins’ sect saw the newcomer’s features, all of them greeted the person with a fist and palm salute. This person was not some bystander, but one of the three elders, Darkshadow.
The white goatee elderly man squinted before he stood there, nonchalant. His disciples all did the same.
Seeing Darkshadow arrive at the scene, the disciples of the Assassins’ sect were all invigorated as if they had finally found their backbones.
Who would have thought that Darkshadow would set this junior of his down and respectfully bow to that elderly man, though? “Grandmaster Tongtian, it’s been years… Have you been well?”
The elderly man named Tongtian burst out laughing. “I’m fine; I’m fine. At the very least, I’m doing better than you all. Today, I’ve brought my disciple Fangyuan to visit old man Craneshadow, but who knew that these blind men would seek to stop us? That’s why my disciple taught the man a little lesson. If there’s anything inappropriate about that deed, I’ll speak to Craneshadow about it.”
All the disciples of the Assassins’ sect were dumbfounded. This elderly man by the name of Tongtian had actually not cared to show face to Darkshadow. It must be said that Darkshadow was not only an elder of their sect but also the one in charge of training the Deathguards. Though Craneshadow was their sect master in name, Darkshadow’s strength was nothing to be scoffed at, either. After all, anyone who held dominion over the Deathguards was akin to having a hold of a trump card.
By mentioning that he would speak to Craneshadow directly about anything inappropriate, Tongtian was plainly telling Darkshadow that the latter was not of the same level as him, and that only Craneshadow himself was qualified to voice any dissatisfaction with what he had done.
Darkshadow wrinkled his brows, pulling out one hand in a welcoming gesture, he proceeded to lead Tongtian as well as his more than a dozen men up the mountain. He was silently thinking to himself, ‘Why does he have to show his face here at this time? Looks like we, Assassins, will inevitably be facing some turmoil this time.’
The disciples watching this procession walk away were of course unable to understand the difficult position Darkshadow was in. All they knew was that their elder feared the elderly man that had just barged in, and each of them felt indignant and discontented. It was merely because of their sect’s internal rules that everyone held back their words. After all, they had no idea if what they wished to blurt out could be overheard by the ever-present Deathguards and would cause a serious disaster.
Tongtian strolled up the mountain road while occasionally admiring the scenery around him.
“Fangyuan, do you think planet Nameless, the Nameless Mountain, and Nameless Sea compare to our Snow Mountain Fortress?” Tongtian asked.
Fangyuan mulled over the answer his master would want to hear before expressing, “Snow Mountain Fortress and Nameless Mountain each have their own amazing qualities, but physically weaker people will find the climate up here on this mountain warmer, while a martial artist like master will hardly care for the difference in this.”
Tongtian laughed boisterously. “You’ve really got your way with words, but how could Snow Mountain Fortress compare to the beautiful scenery on this planet? Aside from snow, all we have is ice, and I’m already tired of seeing all that snow my whole life. My protégé, why don’t we move to Nameless and live out the rest of our lives here?”
Darkshadow was slightly stunned to hear this. Tongtian was adopting quite the imperious tone today, almost as if what he wanted was already well in his grasp. Could he really have something that he was relying on?
….
There was actually someone on the mountain while Tongtian and his disciple were climbing up it. The only difference was that he very unfortunately was trapped in a secret chamber, with his situation being anything but optimistic.
Xia Fei sat down in the center of this secret chamber with crossed legs, his entire body relaxed as he took even, deep breaths.
After spending several seconds to recompose himself, he abruptly opened his eyes, alive like electricity was coursing through them, and they seemed to shine with determination as if capable of penetrating through the rock wall.