Immortal Cultivator System

Chapter 48: Killings and Politics ( Part 1 )

"Men, women, children, all should hear this ! For long, you people of the Peizhi Kingdom have rejected us, thinking we wished for nothing more to grab the power and rule like tyrans ! However death is at your door ! A monster like you have never seen before has come ! And he will take all of you, except if you accept us and get under our protective wings !" A man wearing a black and blue disciple robe exclaimed.

Those talks would've been ignored normally, the citizens minding their own business and acting like the disciples weren't there. However fear was something that had gripped their hearts the last few days, and they couldn't just ignore those words now.

They had rejected that so called protection for years, but now that the most infamous killer had most likely returned and was killing anyone he met, they just couldn't bear with it. Their dear soldiers, who had given everything to protect them throughout the years proved to be useless, and no one actually blamed them. In fact, those very same soldiers were also listening to the words of the disciples. 

A spark of hope was all they needed, and in the end they knew that the sects would be able to protect them. This was an undeniable fact, all of those sects were strong enough to catch the killer. The army was also strong enough, but contrarily to the sects, they were spread thin, guarding every inches of the kingdom and also protecting the neighbouring countries that had asked for Peizhi's protection.

"It seems almost like a joke now..." A guard said. His two colleagues looked at him, obviously confused, before he explained what he meant.

"We offered our protection to some other countries, and now we are the ones who need protection the most. They must be panicking honestly. It's never good to know that the only wall that stands between you and the horrors ocan just crumble at any time." He said. 

"Jinhai, you just came back from your training with that guy, ain't you supposed to be crazy strong now ? Why are you so afraid ?" One of the guards asked. The guard who had first talked, Jinhai, shook his head and walked the other way.

"Even power can't exactly shield me from such horrors. I may be more powerful than that killer, but if I was faced with a walking atrocity such as that monster, I would freeze up in fear." He said, before leaving his two colleagues behind. 

They froze up for a few seconds before looking at each other, and then moving towards the disciples talking to the masses. Hearing someone as powerful as Jinhai saying something like that, they suddenly felt less confident. A life as a guard of an actually quite peaceful country wouldn't prepare you to deal with such criminals. 

However the poor peasants, the nobles and the guards weren't the only ones listening to those disciples talking.

" The Sea Sword Sect, huh ? Call for a meeting with the elders now. I'm not liking this one bit. They were allowed on the capital first. We have been waiting for the officials to allow us to move our HQ to the capital for years, and the first Sect they welcome is the Sea Sword Sect...This smells fishy." A man wearing a dark red cloak said. Another man wearing the same cloak was sitting on a barrel and sighed when he heard those words.

" It's no surprise actually. You were too busy cultivating to hear about this, but apparently one of the Elite disciple of the Sea Sword Sect married into the family of the Prime Minister." The man said as his colleague gasped.

".....This is bad, really bad. Have you even thought about what move we should make ?! I have heard nothing from the elders !" The first man said. His colleague sighed once more before getting off the barrel and stretching his arms.

"Well, here's the thing....Our plan involves you. You see, we also need to get close to powerful families of the kingdom....And we just so happen so have the perfect candidate....You remember the Su family ?" He said. His colleague furrowed his brows in thought, before realization dawned on him.

" Yeah, I remember now. They once were in the top three of the Kingdom's noble families, right ? I think I got it right, they lost their position because their patriarch was murdered in his sleep...Right ?" The man said, not wanting to come off as clueless. His colleague nodded and took a peek over the wall, looking at the disciples of the Sea Sword Sect.

"The family has finally decided on a new patriarch, after 30 years, they have finally come to an agreement and they aren't fighting anymore....And actually, I forgot to say, it's not a patriarch....It's a matriarch." He said, smirking at his colleague.

"No....Absolutely not ! A woman of the Su family ?! I heard they were all cursed or something !" 

"Those are just some baseless rumors, and don't even start with their patriarch's murder, no one ever found the killer, and we all know it could have only been the Qin family that hired an assassin. Cultivators of even such high realms are completely defenseless in their sleep, except if they have made preparations in advance. Poor old man just happened to be too confident, and the Qin family capitalized on it. Now here's what you're going to do.....The matriarch is a relatively young woman, the second daughter of the late patriarch, ya know, the daughter that didn't just randomly vanished, like the other who was most likely kidnapped by the Flies or the Worms....Damn slave dealers.....Anyway she's 40 years old or something like that. We want you to seduce her, or at least get close to her. We could use every benefits that come off out of you two's relationship. The Su family is sure to soar even higher now that they have come back in an era where all the other families have been forced to use their own ressources to defend the kingdom. They haven't announced their new leader yet when the order came, so they won't be forced to spend a single dime....We need their support, you get that right ?"

"...Understood..."

*******************

(With Jian)

It had been a few days already, and he had started to give targets to Biyu. He hadn't exactly been on the political field already. He was supposed to use his serial killer to make important people disappear and reap the benefits. However he had no experience with that. The only important target he had given to Biyu was a trash member of the Sun family. He was nothing more an arrogant young master who spent his day drinking himself to death, and arranging a little accident to happen was rather easy. The death of that young master had freed the way for his brother, Sun Cheng, who was very happy with the service 'The Crow' provided. The Crow was the persona Jian had come with.

It was rather basic and quite cliche, but he had been a fan of a hero of old who had been called like that. Jing 'The Crow' Fan had been a legendary figure of the kingdom Jian grew up in, a man who had single handedly erased an entire nation, for the simple crime of having insulted his sister. He was a man who placed honor over everything else, except his family. So when both were insulted, he became The Crow who descended on the nation's capital and destroyed it with a single flap of his wings.

It was also quite fitting, given that Biyu had given him the uniform of a Flies' member she had killed for daring to touch her a few days ago. The uniform was very noble-like. Made out of expensive materials, and giving him the appearence of a mysterious nobleman. It was actually the standard uniform the royal guards wore on formal occasions, all that with a cloak thrown on it, a cloak bearing the symbol of a crow. It was the symbol of one of the elite's member of the Flies. Though weirdly enough, Jian had never heard seen an actual member of the Flies wear it. He had seen it on doors and shops' windows, but never on actual members' clothes.

After creating his persona, he had immediately contacted a young master who he had met at an inn while gathering intels. The man was actually quite decent for a young master. He wasn't overly arrogant, treated most people like a proper noble should, and suprisingly enough, he was also rather naive. 

Jian had been an avid reader of all sorts of books some of his old masters had. They had amazing stories, but all contained very basic protagonists and antagonists. And the two young masters seemed straight out of those books. Two young masters from the same family, one arrogant and alcoholic, the other well educated and naive. Truly a villain and a hero. 

Well it was useful for him. The rather desperate naive young master had immediately accepted the deal, knowing it was his only chance to first, end the tyranny of his brother, and second, get the title of heir. Though Biyu did deliver a letter stating that Sun Cheng was a good target, for he had wished for his brother's death, not to take the title, but to save the woman he loved. A tragic story really, but Jian was slowly distancing himself from the people he wasn't too close to, so it didn't matter much to him.

Now the young master was indebted to The Crow and knew he couldn't even think about betraying said individual, as Jian had proofs that Sun Cheng hired a killer for his brother. 

Now what did Jian gain from this ? Well firstly he had an ally in a powerful family, an ally that could provide ressources for his group, but most importantly he just so happened to have placed Sun Cheng on the 20th position of the family heirs, which meant he would get to participate in the next tournament that would be held for the crown prince's birthday. 

Jian knew next to nothing about all this, and had trouble acclimating to all those changes...However he did fish out some intels and learned that the prizes for this tournament were rather...Mouth-watering. Sun Cheng had little chances to win, but Jian had found a way to make him stronger. The young master had agreed to give the rewards to The Crow, as long as he kept supporting him. For he only wanted to make his family proud by climbing the rankings and finally be allowed to marry the girl he loved, the heiress of another family who happened to have had an affair with Sun Cheng's brother, and was nearly killed by said drunkard when she dared say she would reveal the truth to both their families.

It was crazy all the informations one could get from a bartender at a popular inn and a personal serial killer working for an organisation that knew everything that went on in the kingdom.

And since Jian had to both train himself and Sun Cheng, whom he was surely going to recruit after getting the man's complete trust, he had sent a letter to Biyu, telling her to train the man herself. The Flies proved to be totally uncaring when it came to Biyu's actions as long as she killed who they told her to kill, and as such she could afford to train the young man who wasn't on her list.

Jian on the other hand was finally ready to get to his own training, especially since Zhao Shu had lost no time and had already started. He just had a little something to take care of before getting to training.

*Knock*

A few seconds after Jian had knocked on the door, it opened, revealing a sleep-deprived Uma who seemed to know exactly what was going to happen.

"It's time.....After this, I'll have my final view on you, and I'll know whether I can trust you or not." He said, entering the room. Uma closed the door, but not before a shadow entered it.

Uma sat on her bed, while Jian grabbed a chair and sat on it, his arms resting the chair's back.

He smiled at Uma innocently, as the shadow morphed behind her, revealing Su Biyu looking ready to devour the lady.

"Let's start. "