Martial King's Retired Life

Purple Jade had established himself as a core member of Six Blades over the years. He was the principal mastermind for Six Blades, which was the reason he was the only person whose true identity was known between the Six Blades cohorts. Song Clan’s vast network provided the group with an ocean of information. Combined with Song Chi’s meticulous strategies, they had a significantly easier time entering locations that would’ve otherwise been painful to infiltrate. The others certainly could’ve collected the intelligence and figured out a way themselves, but he was the only person who was willing to remove his mask.

Song Chi knew Bai Yumo was Bronze Mask long ago, but he never interacted with her in private more than necessary as it was against Six Blades’ rules. Every experienced assassin knew that today’s friend could’ve been tomorrow’s enemy for plenty of possible reasons. There was no such thing as pity, compassion, trust or luck in the cold world of assassins. The price of oversight was often death or even worse consequences. Regulations were the only means of providing a sense of security, the simplest of which was, don’t trust anyone and don’t expect to be trusted.

Six Blades didn’t make emotional decisions; everything and everyone followed rules. Members didn’t need to have chemistry, befriend each other or invest any emotions. As long as they followed orders and abided by the rules, they’d be fine. Of course, rules without consequences wouldn’t work. Naturally, violating the strict rules incurred bloody punishments, and there was one name that guaranteed punishments would be handed out – Redsnow. Anyone who chose to contravene a rule did so knowing full well they were risking their lives. The looming threat was the spell that maintained members’ distances.

Private interactions were prohibited, especially interactions with Purple Jade. As the collector and communicator of information, the group’s operations would be impacted if his public identity was stained. For that reason, not even Bronze Mask would approach him even without their masks. Technically, she shouldn’t have shown up at this point in time; her task was to snatch the Nine Dragons Fire Jade, not assassinate Xun Feng. She shouldn’t have concerned herself with Song Chi’s wellbeing. She should’ve taken Xun Feng’s head when he fled with the Nine Dragons Fire Jade. Hence, Song Chi asked, “What are Her Highness’ orders?”

Although Song Chi made no efforts to hide any identities, “Her Highness” was actually a codename for the true leader of Six Blades.

Jingan began working with them long ago.

When Song Chi joined Six Blades, there were only Bronze Mask and Redsnow despite them being called Six Blades. Jingan already knew them at that point. Song Chi never forgot the shock he felt when he saw Jingan and Redsnow playing checkers together. One of his strengths was being able to stop himself from thinking about what he didn’t need to know; that was a necessary skill for anyone who wanted to live a long live, and he evidently inherited the skill from his predecessors.

Redsnow gave a simple instruction for what to do with Li Jingan – obey her. It took a few years of interaction, but Song Chi eventually understood why Redsnow gave the instruction. She provided far more than a client would.

The first time Song Chi worked with Li Jingan, he questioned if he was seeing things due to the paltry sum she offered for the target she commissioned them to take out. He and the new Silver Crow nearly lost their lives on the mission. Though they were successful, they had to lay off for three months to recover from their injuries, so they took it up with Redsnow. Instead of debating with them, Redsnow slammed a mission blueprint that was sent along with their payment down onto a table. They couldn’t believe that the assassination blueprint detailed even which hand their target preferred to drink with. Song Chi trembled when he read the detailed plan that convinced him even someone untrained and weak could’ve completed the job.

“This should be your standard,” Li Jingan said with a smile. “Otherwise, you can submit your head and blade.”

Li Jingan showed no hostility in appearance or tonality, yet Song Chi couldn’t stop shaking. That was the first time he realised she was a lot more complicated as a character than he gave her credit for. Behind her charming smile was a void that he didn’t have the courage to explore.

Clients couldn’t interfere with assassins’ training, not even Li Jingan. Redsnow didn’t waver when it came to honouring the rules. However, he permitted her to train them using different means. Allowing the group to follow her suggestions and codenames crossed the line between a mere client and mercenary. As a result, members were inevitably curious about Redsnow and Li Jingan’s relationship, but none of them dared to voice it.

It was clear that Redsnow and Li Jingan weren’t in a romantic relationship. Redsnow was virtually a blade, while Li Jingan’s idea of love was… atypical – as per Song Chi’s observations and assessment. Most likely, they were equals in the collaboration. Nobody knew what the deal between them was, but surely there was some sort of deal established.

Every time they completed jobs she suggested, they gained more fame and skill. The bigger the challenge, the more capable they were at overcoming it. Most importantly, she never owed them payments or delayed payments. Ensuring that much was the most basic display of respect for them, and it was Redsnow’s primary concern. Never crossing Redsnow was the most important rule for members of Six Blades.

While Six Blades’ place as the top assassination group was a product of their own efforts, the role that their training played in it also needed to be credited.

It wasn’t easy to resist, but Song Chi stopped himself whenever he had the urge to pry. After all, that discomfort was far better than seeing his family hung. Over time, he stopped thinking about what Li Jingan’s goal was or what she wanted. All he had to do was respect the rules.

“Tonight’s tasks have been completed. Plan Bingchou.”

“Bingchou” was a task assigned only a handful of times in the three-plus years Song Chi worked in Six Blades as retreating and erasing all traces of their involvement was something they seldom did. If they didn’t have enough time to erase their involvement, they had to prioritise their lives. Thus far, the strategy had only ever been deployed when unforeseen circumstances suddenly arose. In other words, something unpredicted had cropped up.

“I see.”

Whether Bronze Mask wouldn’t divulge Li Jingan’s true intent or whether she didn’t have the time to understand the intent, Bronze Mask didn’t elaborate, though she was never one to speak unless absolutely necessary. Unsubstantiated guesses were pointless, after all.

Since Six Blades accepted missions as their monikers, they could’ve been working in the same vicinity but on different jobs and for different clients. In the event that their missions clashed, they had a means of resolving it. In saying that, it was extremely rare for them to not run into each other when there were four of them in the same city at once.

Song Chi was glad the mission was called off despite being perplexed about numerous things. Frankly, he almost jumped when he heard Bronze Mask was tasked with assassinating Ming Feizhen. Knowing how dangerous Ming Feizhen was, he would’ve declined the assignment if Li Jingan offered it to him. Declining a commission didn’t mean failing one. He learnt of Bronze Mask’s assignment through Jin Zhaoying, but he wasn’t sure if the other two members’ jobs were related. If they ran into Ming Feizhen, then all he could do was wish them good luck.

“Are you ready?”

“What’s the plan?” Song Chi asked.

“Gengwei.”

“Blade?”

“Bold form. Cicada Wing.”

Song Chi smiled. Seeing how composed she was, he realised how needless the sleepwalking story he fabricated was.

“I’m impressed you could locate ‘Blacksmith’ when the capital is in this shape.”

“I didn’t. I did it myself.”

Song Chi nodded and set aside Xun Feng’s corpse. “Where are the pursuers?”

Bronze Mask wore on her mask. “Will be here in a second.”

“Understood. Who are the concerns?” As he conversed, Song Chi moulded energy to make himself look pale and activated the poison residue still in him.

“Shield and bow.”

“So two people. Let’s do it.”

“Coming.”

Song Chi feebly blocked Bronze Mask’s slash, looking as if he was almost going to be cut in two. After only a few exchanges, they heard, “Brother Song!”

Bronze Mask scoffed and jumped. Dugu managed to locate her from the clangs, but he lost her. He was going to give chase again until he saw Xun Feng’s corpse.

Song Chi bitterly smiled. “It is a long story, but I finally took him down. Unfortunately, I lost the item.”

“Brother Song, are you… poisoned?”

“He…” Song Chi shook his head, “colluded with Six Blade’s Bronze Mask. I was hopelessly outnumbered. Had you been a moment later, you would have found my corpse instead of me.”

It was hard to figure out the details based on the situational evidence, but there was no question that there was an intense fight. He witnessed Bronze Mask put Song Chi in a pinch, so Dugu had no suspicions.

“Brother Song, duty calls, and I cannot split myself, so I shall have Brother Shili escort you. I shall go after her.”

“You must be careful! Her qinggong is unbelievable, and she is clever. If you have an archer accompanying you, you must protect her, or she will…” Song Chi looked unable to continue speaking.

Dugu couldn’t argue otherwise. It was unwise for Ye Luo to continue the pursuit in light of her injury; if Ye Yun found out his daughter got hurt, as well…

“Thank you for the warning, Brother Song.” Dugu proceeded to have a team protect Song Chi and told Ye Luo to stay put prior to continuing his pursuit.

In the end, Dugu couldn’t track down Bronze Mask.

***

Not even a century of learning and experiences helped Gongsun Chu comprehend what he was watching despite how obvious it should’ve been from the scene itself. The man kneeling on the ground expressed respect and humility through his manners and tone. Even though the man on the chair looked as if everything happening was naturally a given, he ticked all the boxes of a master sitting before his servant.

“You two…”

One was one of the imperial court’s The Ultimate Three, while the other was Lord San Shen of the imperial court’s long-standing nemesis, Divine Moon Cult. Moreover, Gongsun Chu himself had pitted them against each other numerous times. Following several rounds of contemplation, he came to terms with the fact that he wouldn’t be able to understand what was going on.

Glossary

Six Blades’ codes (bingchou etc.) – I’m sticking with the pinyin for now because they don’t mean anything, at least at this point in time. The characters don’t mean anything combined, but if they do down the road… That’s going to be a hassle, so I’m treating them as just nonsensical names, which they appear to be on the surface.