Chapter 100: Lord Cassander

The blackness was complete, devouring all ambient light in the grand hall...

Within the void of the Eclipse domain, a sliver of pure killing intent manifested.

It was a blade of compressed shadow, aimed at Theo’s throat!

The pressure of the domain was crushing. An ordinary Inner Scenery cultivator would have been paralyzed, their meridians locked by the sheer weight of a Mystic Core expert’s aura. But Theo triggered the tether to his newly forged External Qi-Core.

A pulse of Abyssal fire surged through his veins, breaking the shadow-lock. He did not bother dodging.

*CLANG!*

Elder Thorne moved with desperate speed, throwing a brass alchemy crucible directly into the blade’s path.

Sparks rained down, illuminating the shadows for a fraction of a second. Vespera moved in the next instant, her palm striking the air and forcing the Eclipse Blade to retreat.

"Kill the boy!" Vane’s voice echoed from everywhere at once.

He had not come alone.

The estate’s windows burst inward. Dozens of Syndicate elites, dressed in pitch-black armor, poured into the hall.

They did not get far...

Liana stepped forward. Her hair whipped around her as she unleashed the full might of her Supreme Yin aura.

A torrent of frost-sword intent erupted from her blade, sweeping across the room. Six assassins froze mid-leap, their bodies turning into brittle ice statues before crashing onto the floor in pieces.

Theo drew his broadsword. His karmic fire ignited the blade, weaving through the chaotic melee and cutting down any assassin that slipped past Liana’s frost.

Lord Cassander and his merchant guards joined the fray, turning the grand hall into a warzone.

Syndicate assassins were renowned for their tactical retreats. If an ambush failed, they melted into the shadows to try again later. But these elites fought with fanatic desperation. They had no intention of leaving!

A moment later, the reason became clear.

The floorboards beneath Theo’s feet exploded.

A spiked iron chain lashed upward like a striking viper. It dragged a hyper-compressed, localized domain of pure destruction behind it.

This was a second Earth-Ranking assassin, one who had buried himself beneath the foundation of the estate to wait for the perfect opening.

The sheer concentration of killing intent froze the air in Theo’s lungs.

A delicate fist intercepted the spiked chain before it could reach Theo.

Vespera stood there, her expression entirely blank. She grabbed the spiked iron links with her bare hand.

The hidden assassin yanked the chain, trying to tear her arm off, but Vespera did not budge an inch. Instead, a torrent of golden, liquid fire erupted from her palm. The flames surged down the length of the chain, diving straight into the broken floorboards.

A muffled scream echoed from the basement, followed by the smell of roasting flesh.

The battle was over just as quickly as it had begun.

...

Ten minutes later.

The estate’s main hall was a disaster zone. The furniture was reduced to splinters, and frost covered half the walls. The bodies of the Syndicate elites were piled in the center of the room.

Only two assassins remained alive: Vane the Eclipse Blade, and the chain-wielding assassin pulled from the basement.

Both were missing limbs and bleeding heavily onto the ruined floor.

The chain-wielding assassin coughed up blood, glaring defiantly at Vespera. "We underestimated your roster. But we are only the first wave. The Syndicate will never stop. Save your breath; we will not tell you Zelia’s plans."

"Oh. Alright," Vespera said.

She drove her heel downward, crushing his skull into the floorboards with a sickening crunch.

Vane the Eclipse Blade flinched, staring at the headless corpse of his partner. The legendary assassin’s composure crumbled.

"Wait!" Vane panicked, his voice cracking. "I will tell you! I will tell you where Zelia is hiding!"

"Ask your mother," Vespera scoffed. She kicked Vane in the chest. The force of the blow caved in his ribs, sending his lifeless body flying out the broken window.

He sailed in a perfect arc over the estate walls and splashed into the nearby lake.

Theo gave the execution a solid zero out of ten for dramatic flair, but he appreciated the efficiency.

"Please!"

Lord Cassander threw himself to his knees, his robes ruined by soot and ice. He looked at Vespera.

"I swear on the graves of my ancestors, I had no knowledge of this!" Cassander pleaded. "That ironwood trunk was supposed to contain array plates! The Syndicate must have intercepted my courier!"

Vespera glanced at Theo.

Theo activated his Heavenly Mandate Divine Eye, scanning the merchant’s recent fate. The logs confirmed his innocence.

"He is telling the truth," Theo nodded, sheathing his broadsword.

Relief washed over the merchant lord.

Cassander was a shrewd businessman; he knew when a deal was dead.

He immediately pledged a vast sum of spirit stones to cover the estate’s damages and emotional distress, then fled the premises with his surviving guards.

Elder Thorne pulled up an overturned chair and sat down with a sigh. "Defending against a daily siege is impossible. Zelia has marked you as a traitor, Theo. The Syndicate will hunt you until you are dead."

"Some have survived the Syndicate’s wrath," Liana spoke up, her voice calm.

The group turned to her.

"How?" Thorne asked.

"By reaching the Soul Formation realm," Liana replied simply.

Silence stretched across the room.

Thorne groaned. "A perfect solution. Unfortunately, there are perhaps three Soul Formation experts in the entire province, and it takes a century of secluded meditation to reach that tier. Who could survive a daily barrage of Earth-Ranking assassins long enough to ascend?"

Liana looked at Theo. Her eyes were filled with a confidence. She truly believed he could do it...

"While I appreciate the vote of confidence," Theo said, clearing his throat. "Constantly fighting off assassins will severely delay my cultivation. However, the Syndicate has a fatal flaw that we can exploit today."

"A flaw?" Vespera raised an eyebrow, pulling out a fresh gourd of wine.

"They are mercenaries," Theo said, tapping a finger against the hilt of his sword. "They have no loyalty to Zelia. They are driven entirely by profit."

"That is not a weakness," Thorne argued. "Zelia holds the Syndicate’s treasury. She posted a tenfold bounty on your head. You cannot simply bribe an assassin to ignore a standing Archon’s contract."

"I don’t intend to bribe them," Theo smiled. "I intend to hire them."

Thorne blinked. "Hire them for what?"

"To protect me," Theo stated matter-of-factly.

Thorne froze. He leaned forward. "The Syndicate only accepts killing contracts."

"If an assassin attempts to claim Zelia’s bounty and kill me, and my hired Syndicate guard kills that assassin to protect me... is that not still a killing contract?" Theo asked.

The room fell silent again, but this time, the gears were turning...

"The Grand Bounty Pavilion accepts all anonymous contracts," Theo continued, his smile widening. "Thanks to my recent investments, I am quite wealthy. I will march down to the Pavilion and place a permanent protection bounty on my own head. I will set the reward at twenty times whatever Zelia is offering."

Thorne’s eyes widened in realization. "By the heavens..."

"Their assassins wear masks. They do not share contract details with their peers. If I place a huge protection bounty on myself, the Syndicate will become a paranoid forest." Theo explained.

"No assassin will know why the killer standing next to them is there," Vespera realized, a wicked grin spreading across her face.

"Exactly," Theo nodded. "They won’t know if their partner is trying to claim Zelia’s assassination bounty, or my protection bounty. The moment someone draws a weapon, paranoia will take over. They will slaughter each other before they even reach my front door."

As he reviewed the strict, ancient bylaws of the Grand Bounty Pavilion and the Shadow Syndicate, Thorne realized something deeply disturbing.

Theo’s plan did not break a single rule...