Chapter 128: Spirit Awakening Potential Means Nothing to Me

The man struggled to raise his head.

His face was pressed against the cracked wall, and the hand gripping his skull felt like an iron clamp. No matter how hard he struggled, he could not break free.

He had never felt so helpless in his life.

Even when facing cultivators stronger than himself, he had always retained some confidence in his ability to escape.

After all, he had reached the absolute pinnacle of the Ninth Stage Body Tempering Realm. There were basically no individuals beneath the Spirit Awakening Realm who could truly threaten his life.

Yet, before this masked young man, his strength was no different from that of an infant.

He swallowed with difficulty.

"We... we were hired."

Lu Yang did not respond immediately, causing the man to break out in a cold sweat as he hurriedly continued, afraid that the slightest hesitation might cost him his life.

"We are assassins from outside Wuyuan Province. Someone hired us to kill Prefectural Judge Lu Shishui and his entire family!"

His voice was muffled, and his words came out with considerable difficulty.

Nevertheless, every word was clearly heard by Lu Yang.

For a moment, the alley fell silent.

The fingers gripping the man’s head did not move, nor did the masked young man display any obvious reaction.

However, beneath the wooden mask, Lu Yang’s expression grew increasingly cold, a terrifying fire raging beneath those calm eyes.

Kill Lu Shishui and his entire family, those words constantly echoed within his mind.

His father, his stepmother, and his younger brother, people who had virtually nothing to do with the affairs of the cultivation world, yet were about to become victims of a completely unexpected assassination.

"Continue."

Lu Yang’s voice was quiet, but the killing intent within made the assassin shudder.

"We don’t know who hired us. We were contacted through an intermediary, and the other party never revealed their identity. We only received the information necessary to complete the mission."

"What information?" Lu Yang pressed.

"Prefectural Judge Lu’s residence, the number of people in his family, their approximate cultivation levels, and the time when we could enter the residence without attracting too much attention."

The man paused before hastily adding, "We were also told that the family possessed no powerful cultivators. We only needed to enter the residence, kill everyone inside, and leave before anyone discovered what had happened."

Lu Yang’s eyes narrowed slightly.

No powerful cultivators?

That assessment was not entirely wrong.

His father had reached the Ninth Stage Body Tempering Realm, but he was a civil official who almost never participated in life or death battles. Against an experienced assassin of the same cultivation level, especially one at the absolute pinnacle of Ninth Stage Body Tempering Realm, his chances of survival were not high.

As for Chen Yuruo, her cultivation was even lower, only at the peak Sixth Stage of Body Tempering Realm.

And Lu Hanqing... he had not even reached the age when most people began to understand the cruelty of the world and didn’t possess any cultivation talent at all.

Lu Yang suddenly asked, "Who was the intermediary?"

"We don’t know his real identity either!"

The assassin hurriedly answered.

"He wore a disguise when we met, and we communicated through a temporary contact point. He gave us the initial payment and promised to provide the remaining amount after the mission was completed. He said he would contact us himself once the job was finished."

"How much were you paid?"

"A thousand taels of silver."

The man’s voice became increasingly weak as he spoke.

"Five hundred taels were paid in advance, and the remaining five hundred would be given after we succeeded."

Lu Yang fell silent.

For an ordinary Body Tempering Realm family, this would have been an enormous sum of money. Even for a Spirit Awakening Realm Rogue Cultivator, it was enough to make many people consider taking a dangerous assignment.

But the target was a Prefectural Judge of Great Qian.

Furthermore, Lu Shishui was on the verge of being promoted to Vice-Prefect.

To assassinate such an official and slaughter his entire family, all for a thousand taels of silver...

What audacity!

Had corruption spread even to Wuyuan Province to such an extent?

Or had certain people become so accustomed to wielding power that they no longer regarded the laws of Great Qian as anything worth fearing?

Lu Yang did not immediately arrive at a conclusion, but several possibilities flashed through his mind.

The employer might have been a powerful clan seeking to eliminate an obstacle, officials involved in some dispute, or there could even be an entirely different reason.

However, the assassins themselves probably knew very little.

They were hired to kill.

They would ask when, where, and whom, not concern themselves with why.

That was the nature of their profession.

Fortunately, no Spirit Awakening cultivator accepted this task. Any Rogue Cultivator capable of cultivating to that level wasn’t stupid and knew the risks involved with assassinating a Prefectural Judge.

Otherwise, it would have been considerably more troublesome to deal with them.

Lu Yang looked at the man before him.

"Is that everything you know?"

The assassin’s heart sank at the question.

"I have told you everything! I swear that I didn’t hide anything, I truly don’t know who hired us! Please, senior, spare my life!"

He struggled to turn his head, attempting to see through the wooden mask.

"With your strength, you can easily obtain anything you desire. I am willing to serve you! I can tell you everything about the people I know, and I can help you investigate the employer. I’m not yet fifty years old and have the chance to achieve Spirit Awakening! Please, senior, give me a chance!"

Lu Yang listened quietly before shaking his head.

"Spirit Awakening potential means nothing to me."

The man’s eyes widened.

Before he could utter another word, Lu Yang’s fingers tightened.

*Bang!*

The man’s head exploded, his corpse sliding down the cracked wall and collapsing beside the other four bodies.

Lu Yang withdrew his hand and looked at the five corpses scattered throughout the alley, his expression indifferent.

He did not ask where the five hundred silver taels were hidden.

These assassins had come from outside Wuyuan Province. That meant they probably had no established base of operations in the region, and the money they had received would most likely remain with them until the mission was completed.

Indeed, when Lu Yang searched their bodies, he quickly found several pouches full of silver taels.

After counting everything, the total came to six hundred and eighty-two taels.

Five hundred taels were presumably the advance payment. The remaining one hundred and eighty-two taels were likely their own savings.

Lu Yang placed the money into his own robes without any hesitation.

He did not feel the slightest remorse about what happened.

These people had willingly entered the cultivation world and chosen to earn their living through assassination.

They accepted money to slaughter an entire family, including people who never offended them and possessed no particular connection to the cultivation world itself.

They knew the risks, and they were prepared to kill without hesitation.

Why, then, should they expect mercy when the situation was reversed?

If Lu Yang had not discovered them tonight, his father might have already died by now, and Chen Yuruo and Lu Hanqing might have been slaughtered in their beds before they even understood what was happening.

The assassins would have left the residence before the first person outside noticed anything unusual, and the entire matter would have been dismissed as an unfortunate encounter with cultivators, the investigation presumably yielding no results.

And perhaps, several days later, Lu Yang would have returned to Canglan Prefecture City only to find an empty residence.

This was the cultivation world.