Chapter 562: The Lost Loner
Amidst the shattered wind and sand, a furious and unwilling sharp howl rang out!
The wind settled, the sand fell, and the mountain path became clear once more.
That demon clan expert from the Free List had vanished without a trace, leaving only a small pool of blood on the ground.
The man in blue still stood there, just as before—head bowed, shoulders slumped, only his right hand, exposed beyond his sleeve, trembling slightly.
There was no sword in his hand. That dazzling, eerie sword light from moments ago seemed to exist only in imagination.
In truth, aside from special circumstances like Xunyang City, very few living people had ever seen his sword.
The scene was dead silent. The crowd stared at the man in blue above the mountain path, utterly shocked, wondering who on earth he was. A hidden expert sent by the National Church to protect Chen Changsheng?
The demon clan expert who had been defeated in a single move did not recognize this man in blue.
No one recognized him—not even the most well-traveled among them.
Su Li had once dismissively commented on this man in blue, saying that any assassin with a name was not a good assassin.
But in truth, aside from figures as prominent as Su Li and Zhu Luo, who truly knew who this man in blue was?
Chen Changsheng knew.
On the long journey south from the demon snow plains, this man in blue had been watching them in secret the entire time. Back then, Chen Changsheng thought he was waiting for an opportunity to strike. Only later did he realize the man was protecting them all along. Then, during the storm in Xunyang City, the man in blue finally drew his sword, and with one strike, he turned the tide of battle.
Just like now.
He walked behind the man in blue and said, "Thank you."
The man in blue turned around, his face expressionless, and said, "Even without me, he wouldn't have dared to kill you."
Looking at that ordinary face, Chen Changsheng suddenly realized it was truly hard to remember. He had already forgotten whether the man looked the same back in Xunyang City.
"Even if he wouldn't dare kill me, humiliating me is not something I want either."
"If it were before, I would have definitely watched to see what tricks you had up your sleeve."
The man in blue looked at the sword in Chen Changsheng's left hand, clearly certain that Chen Changsheng had some hidden methods.
"Then why did you help me so early today?"
"I can't let anything happen to you."
"Why?"
The man in blue looked into his eyes and said with great seriousness, "Because you are Big Brother's disciple."
Chen Changsheng was taken aback for a moment before realizing who he meant by "Big Brother." He shook his head and said, "No."
"You are Big Brother's disciple." The man in blue ignored him entirely and insisted, "So you are Big Brother's disciple."
Chen Changsheng felt helpless and said, "Even if Senior Su Li taught me swordsmanship, given your temperament, you wouldn't care whether I live or die."
"The father's debt is repaid by the son; the teacher's debt is repaid by the disciple."
The man in blue looked at him very seriously and said, "He ran away, so you have to repay his debts. Of course, I can't let you die."
Chen Changsheng didn't understand and asked, "What debts?"
The man in blue said, "Back then, he brought us into this line of work, but then he ran off himself. Now he's run even farther away, so you have to come back and keep leading us."
Chen Changsheng was stunned for a long time before saying, "I recall you still have a number two?"
The man in blue said, "He went after Big Brother."
Just then, a voice suddenly sounded from behind the two.
"That's a woman, isn't it?"
The speaker was Tang Thirty-Six.
The man in blue's expression froze slightly, as if he hadn't expected that the world's number two assassin—effectively the chief assassin—was a woman, and that this secret would be guessed in one sentence.
Tang Thirty-Six said smugly, "You don't need to look at me like that, and you don't need to admire me. Who am I?"
The man in blue suddenly looked at Chen Changsheng and said, "He reminds me of someone."
Chen Changsheng had heard this many times before and nodded with a sense of shared sentiment.
The man in blue turned to Tang Thirty-Six and said, "I don't like that person, so stay far away from me, or I'm afraid I might not be able to resist killing you."
Tang Thirty-Six was startled, thinking this guy was crazy. But recalling the man's earlier feat of wounding and repelling Xiao De with a single sword strike, his curiosity got the better of him. He nudged Chen Changsheng with his shoulder and said, "Enough with the nonsense—hurry up and introduce us."
"Tang Tang, from Wenshui," Chen Changsheng said. "This is Liu Qing."
The man in blue was naturally Liu Qing, the world's third-ranked assassin.
Hearing this very ordinary name, Tang Thirty-Six paused, feeling it sounded familiar.
Suddenly, he remembered. He stared at Liu Qing in shock, let out a loud cry, and reached out both hands to shake his, blurting out, "Idol, can I get your contact info?"
An assassin's greatest taboo is having his hand grasped. Liu Qing was no exception, and since he disliked Tang Thirty-Six, he naturally wouldn't let him take his hand.
Chen Changsheng suddenly asked, "Why do you like slumping your shoulders now?"
Back in Xunyang City, Liu Qing had been utterly ordinary—his temperament and build extremely plain—but he hadn't deliberately slumped his shoulders.
After all, deliberate or easily memorable traits were exactly what an assassin needed to avoid.
Liu Qing said, "I learned it from Wang Po. I found that it lets me draw my sword faster."
Chen Changsheng recalled the flash of sword light in the wind and sand earlier and realized that Liu Qing's sword was indeed a third faster than it had been in Xunyang City.
An assassin at the Star Gathering realm was already the most terrifying existence in the world. If his sword was a third faster, how terrifying would that be?
No wonder Xiao De, a demon clan expert ranked in the top five of the Free List, couldn't match Liu Qing even without a sneak attack.
The storm in Xunyang City had changed him, Wang Po, Liu Qing, and even Su Li—for the better, of course.
"Remember what I told you. He ran away, but don't think you can run." Liu Qing looked at Chen Changsheng very seriously.
Tang Thirty-Six had been listening for a while and finally couldn't hold back, saying, "Making the future Pope the head of an assassin organization... are you even sane?"
Liu Qing was stunned. He had truly never thought about this issue before. It wasn't until Tang Thirty-Six asked if he was sane that he snapped out of it.
Yes, who would give up being the ancestor of Lishan Sword Sect to become an assassin leader?
And who would give up being the Pope to become a killer boss?
What an absurd idea.
So this was how absurd he had been all these years.
The expression on Liu Qing's face dimmed. Then he lowered his head, turned around, and walked up the mountain path.
He didn't say another word to Chen Changsheng.
For some reason, his figure on the mountain path seemed so desolate, evoking a sense of sorrow.
"What's with him?"
Tang Thirty-Six watched Liu Qing's retreating figure and called out, "Hey... you haven't given me your contact info yet, idol!"
Chen Changsheng asked, "Why do you think he came to Cold Mountain?"
Tang Thirty-Six reluctantly withdrew his gaze, looked at him, and said, "Are you an idiot? Coming to Cold Mountain at this time is obviously for the Stone Boiling Assembly."
In this world, probably only he and Little Black Dragon would call Chen Changsheng an idiot.
"You're the idiot." Zhe Xiu's voice rang out nearby. "An assassin coming to the Stone Boiling Assembly is asking for death."
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(There will be another chapter at nine in the evening.)