Chapter 20: Poison
That scene was deeply etched into Linley’s mind.
Facing Hise’s question, Linley nodded. “She is indeed very charming. I’ve already memorized that scene. But I’m afraid the level of stone sculpture I can carve will hardly reach the level of ‘Awakening from a Dream’.”
Creating a masterpiece was extremely difficult.
Back then, Linley had been heartbroken to the extreme, pouring all his emotions into it, forgetting everything, and entering the most mysterious state before finally completing it. Now, carving for the sake of carving, reaching that level was almost impossible.
“As long as it’s carved by you, Master Linley, that’s enough. I don’t ask for it to reach the level of ‘Awakening from a Dream’; just reaching the level of an ordinary master would suffice,” Hise said with a smile.
Linley nodded.
If that was the case, Linley was fully confident.
“Mr. Hise, how about this: the stone sculpture you requested can be picked up in a month, alright?” Linley actually only needed three days, but he wanted to leave himself plenty of free time.
Hise nodded. “Alright, a month is very short. I’m not in a hurry; I have plenty of time. Haha.”
“Master Linley, if you have any requests, just say them. If I can do it, I will certainly help you,” Hise said generously.
Linley couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous inside.
Now that Paderson had been killed by him, Linley’s only remaining goal was Clayde. Killing or capturing Clayde was something Linley couldn’t accomplish with his current strength.
But the King of Killers, Hise, absolutely could!
“Mr. Hise, if I asked you to help me capture a king from the Sacred Alliance, would you agree?” Linley suppressed his impulse and tested the waters first.
Hise was startled, looking at Linley with surprise. “Capture a king?”
“Yes,” Linley said with a heavy nod.
Hise frowned, pondered for a moment, then looked at Linley and said, “Alright, let me ask you this: if I captured this king for you, would you kill him?”
“Probably,” Linley answered honestly.
Deceiving a King of Killers was very unwise. As for killing Clayde, if his mother had truly been killed by him, how could Linley not take revenge?
Linley also had a premonition. His mother had had no news for so many years; chances were she was already dead or trapped somewhere. Either way, he had to avenge her.
“Kill a king?” Hise looked at Linley.
Linley looked back at Hise with hope.
But Hise knew very well that although in terms of status a Red Archbishop was slightly higher than a kingdom’s king, killing a king had far greater repercussions than killing a Red Archbishop.
If a Red Archbishop died, the Church could immediately appoint a replacement.
But if a king died, it would likely trigger a succession war within the kingdom. At the same time, the Church of Light would once again be displeased with him.
“I’m afraid I cannot agree to this request,” Hise said solemnly, looking at Linley. “Linley, killing a king has too much impact. Besides, the Church of Light has treated me quite well. I don’t want to set the Church of Light and my Saber organization against each other over a stone sculpture.”
The King of Killers, Hise, was naturally the leader of Saber, one of the four major assassin organizations.
Hise knew where to draw the line.
A stone sculpture wasn’t worth creating a rift in his friendly relationship with the Church of Light. Over the years, the Church of Light had treated him with courtesy, and Hise was well aware of that. He wasn’t an ungrateful person. If he attacked a king of the Sacred Alliance after they had treated him so well, that would be unacceptable.
“Choose another request,” Hise said apologetically.
Linley felt a surge of powerlessness. Clayde’s strength might not be anything to Hise, but Clayde’s identity made Hise unwilling to act.
Linley tried to calm himself.
“Mr. Hise, I’d like to ask if there’s any way for a rank 7 magus to kill a rank 9 expert,” Linley inquired.
Hise glanced at Linley, pondered for a moment, and said, “In terms of killing methods, I have many. But making a rank 7 magus kill a rank 9 expert… that’s a bit difficult.” As he spoke, Hise’s mind was racing. This King of Killers, who hadn’t killed anyone in a long time, rapidly sifted through various killing methods in his head.
Linley didn’t dare disturb Hise’s thoughts and waited quietly by the side.
Suddenly, Hise turned to Linley and asked, “Is this rank 9 expert a magus or a warrior? If it’s a magus, I have a method.”
“A warrior,” Linley immediately replied.
Dealing with a warrior versus a magus required completely different assassination techniques. Hearing that it was a rank 9 warrior, Hise found it troublesome.
Linley could only wait anxiously by the side.
“Ah, I thought of one,” Hise suddenly said, his eyes lighting up as he looked at Linley. “Haha, I only remembered this method by chance back then. I didn’t expect to still recall it after eight hundred years.”
“What method?” Linley’s heart began to race.
Good heavens!
He hadn’t expected this King of Killers to actually have a way for a rank 7 magus to kill a rank 9 expert.
“The King of Killers has the most assassination techniques, so of course he knows more than me. But if I had lived for over five thousand more years, I’d probably know more than him,” Doehring Cowart’s voice rang out in Linley’s mind.
Linley smiled bitterly. Grandpa Doehring never admitted defeat.
“The method is…” Hise smiled at Linley. “Use poison!”
“Poison?”
Linley was stunned. He had thought it would be some clever trick. A king’s food and drink would be checked. How could poisoning be that simple?
“Master Linley, don’t underestimate poison. Poisoning is a very profound art of assassination. There are countless materials in the world and tens of thousands of poisons. Who dares to claim they know all the poisons in the world? Who can detect every poison?”
Linley couldn’t help but nod.
He believed that. For example, Doehring Cowart knew that Blueheart Grass could neutralize the overbearing nature of dragon’s blood.
“The poison I’m talking about is specifically designed for warriors. As long as they haven’t reached the Saint-level, once they are poisoned, their strength will be reduced to less than a tenth. Moreover, there is no antidote for this poison. It takes a year or half a year to slowly burn it off with battle qi,” Hise said, clearly remembering this poison well. “And this poison is colorless and odorless. To this day, there is no way to detect it. Only after being poisoned do you realize you’ve been poisoned.”
Less than a tenth? Undetectable?
Linley’s eyes lit up.
Clayde was only a rank 9 expert. Once poisoned, with Linley’s current strength, he could do whatever he wanted to him.
“Mr. Hise, do you have this poison?” Linley pressed.
Linley guessed that this poison must be extremely valuable. There was no need to think twice. It was effective against all warriors below the Saint-level, colorless and odorless, and undetectable to this day. If such a poison weren’t valuable, all the warriors in the world would be dead.
“Master Linley, didn’t you hear me just now? I casually remembered it eight hundred years ago. I only glanced at the poison recipe back then, since it wasn’t a threat to me, I didn’t pay much attention,” Hise said with a frown. “I only know that the recipe listed eight main ingredients. As for what those eight are, I’m not sure.”
“Not sure?” Linley was so anxious he could kill someone.
Hise smiled at Linley. “Master Linley, don’t worry. Although I’m not sure, this recipe is stored in our organization’s base. I can send someone to copy it and bring it over. But our Saber organization’s bases are all in remote areas. It will probably take a month or two to get it.”
A month or two. He could wait!
Linley nodded at Hise. “Mr. Hise, does your organization have any of this poison ready-made?” Linley didn’t want to waste time searching for various materials to mix the poison.
“We don’t,” Hise shook his head. “In this world, only the Grim Reaper’s Hand organization would have it.”
“Grim Reaper’s Hand?”
Linley had chatted with Yale before, and Yale had mentioned the four major assassin organizations: Saber, Blood Rose, Red Moon, and Grim Reaper’s Hand. Each assassin organization had its own specialty. Grim Reaper’s Hand was famous for its various strange and unique assassination methods.
“Yes. If the Grim Reaper’s Hand hadn’t needed something from me back then, they probably wouldn’t have been willing to give us this extremely valuable recipe,” Hise nodded.
A poison that could almost guarantee a kill against anyone below the Saint-level—its value was obvious.
“Then, could I buy this poison from the Grim Reaper’s Hand?” Linley asked hopefully.
“Impossible,” Hise laughed. “The Grim Reaper’s Hand never gives its top ten poisons to other organizations. They gave us this recipe because they guessed we wouldn’t bother to mix it.”
“Wouldn’t bother?” Linley looked at Hise in confusion.
“Because the cost is too high. It’s not worth it,” Hise laughed. “Especially two of the rare ingredients, which have long been monopolized by the Grim Reaper’s Hand. The cost of mixing one dose of this poison would probably exceed the commission fee.”
Linley understood.
But for Linley, no amount of money mattered.
“Alright then, I’ll go back now and arrange for someone to bring the recipe to you. But Master Linley, in a month, you’ll have to give me the stone sculpture,” Hise said with a smile to Linley.
“Of course,” Linley said, feeling a sense of relief.
After seeing Hise off, Linley, who had long been troubled by how to deal with Clayde, finally felt at ease. That night, he even had a rare, sweet dream.
The next afternoon.
Linley was sitting cross-legged on the grass, cultivating his Dragonblood battle qi. The dark cyan Dragonblood battle qi surged within him, and the special energy of the Dragonblood lineage continuously merged into Linley’s bones, meridians, and muscles, slowly improving his physique.
Linley believed that if he continued like this, one day his body would be comparable to a Saint-level dragon, and he would restore the glory of the Dragonblood Warrior.
“Lord Linley.” The voice of the maidservant came from outside.
Linley took a deep breath, letting the Dragonblood battle qi return to his dantian.
“Come in,” Linley said calmly.
The maidservant entered and said respectfully, “Lord Linley, several guests from the Debs family are at the door. They say they’ve come to thank you.”
“Thank me?” Linley paused.
Then he understood. Clayde had done him a favor and released Kalan of the Debs family.
“Thank me? I doubt it’s just that,” Linley thought to himself.
These people from the Debs family were probably emboldened by Linley’s help and wanted to ask him to do more to save the Debs family.
“Let them in,” Linley said. Knowing that the poison recipe existed, he felt confident. Naturally, his mind was at ease, and he had some leisure to concern himself with the Debs family’s affairs.
“The Debs family? If they aren’t wiped out, they’ll be completely weakened,” Linley could already foresee the Debs family’s future.
In the living room.
Nimitz led the group, including Kalan’s two uncles, Kalan, Rowling, and Alice—six people in total. Nimitz and the others didn’t dare sit; they stood respectfully, waiting.
Seeing Linley approaching from a distance, Nimitz and the others immediately put on smiles. Nimitz even cupped his hands and said, “Lord Linley.”
“I just finished my training. Please wait a moment while I wash up and change clothes,” Linley said with a faint smile. Then, without paying further attention to Nimitz and the others, who were bowing respectfully, he walked along the corridor toward another room.
Nimitz and the others were stunned for a moment, then forced a smile and stood there, waiting quietly.