The Tianji Gate was originally created by a scholar, and he designed the ranks of the Tianji Gate using a system of Heavenly Kings and Heavenly Generals. In truth, this was meant to satisfy his ambition of becoming a local warlord, which also explained why the Tianji Gate became an assassin organization. Since assassins can control the life and death of others, what difference is there between them and the ruling authorities?

Although the Tianji Gate was merely an assassin organization, its rules followed the official ranks of an imperial court. They had always used a strict hierarchy for management. This meant that if someone wanted to report a fault regarding a certain Heavenly General, they had to report it to a Heavenly King. Only a Heavenly General could report to a Heavenly King, making it impossible to bypass ranks.

Furthermore, the Tianji Gate strictly observed another rule, which was that subordinates could not defy their superiors. No matter what faults a superior had, you absolutely could not speak ill of them. Unless the higher ups questioned you directly, you could only state the facts when asked. Otherwise, if you actively chose to report a superior yourself, it would be treated as treason. This meant that the swordsman in front of him was, at the very least, an expert of the Heavenly General rank, otherwise he would not dare to bypass ranks to report a Heavenly General.

Su Mohan immediately thought of all this after hearing the swordsman’s words. He asked, “It seems you are someone at or above the rank of Heavenly General, sir. May I ask how I should address you?”

“Ning Bufan. Ning, as in Ningke, and Bufan, as in extraordinary. For now, I am just a minor Heavenly General. If you face any difficulties, little brother, do not hesitate to tell me. Since we are from the same sect, there is no need to be polite,” the swordsman said casually.

Su Mohan saw that this Ning Bufan was around his early thirties and was already a Heavenly General. Thinking back to his foster father, who was now nearly fifty and still struggling to get past the Heavenly General rank, he could not help but admire Ning Bufan a little.

“Heavenly General Ning truly lives up to his name; he is not ordinary at all.”

Ning Bufan smiled slightly and said, “You flatter me, little brother. Judging by your cultivation and achievements, if no one were deliberately holding you back, you would definitely not be beneath me. Go ahead and tell me about the grievances in your heart, and I will definitely help clear your name.”

Su Mohan felt no warmth in his heart despite hearing Ning Bufan offer to help him time and time again. He knew very well that the Tianji Gate was just like the imperial court, where fellow members stepped on each other’s corpses as stepping stones to climb higher.

Ning Bufan did not even ask for Su Mohan’s name first, yet he seemed remarkably eager to help him settle his grievances. Su Mohan could already see that Ning Bufan was not that kind of goodhearted person. Plus, during their brief time together, Ning Bufan had first turned on his companions and then burned his bridges. Su Mohan could already tell that he was a highly manipulative person.

Su Mohan could not possibly allow his foster father, Ye Xuyang, to be used as a stepping stone for Ning Bufan. Therefore, he said, “I appreciate your kindness, Heavenly General Ning, but I am still a minor Sect Leader right now and no one is holding me back. It is just that I am lazy and do not take on many jobs, so my achievements within the Tianji Gate are mediocre. It really has nothing to do with anyone else.”

“Oh, really?” Ning Bufan stared at Su Mohan with some suspicion, clearly not believing his words.

Su Mohan felt very uncomfortable being stared at by Ning Bufan’s suspicious gaze, so he could only nod quickly and look away from him.

“Can there really be someone in our Tianji Gate who is too lazy to kill, has no desire to climb higher, has no wish to make tons of money, and does not want to learn top tier martial arts?”

Su Mohan also felt that his excuse was a bit weak. If a person had no drive at all, how could they possibly become a hidden tool for killing? It was not as if someone could just murder as a hobby or simply love the profession of an assassin!

Su Mohan chose to no longer answer Ning Bufan’s questions and walked straight toward the thatched hall, with Ning Bufan following closely behind.

At this moment, only a scattered few dozen people were left on the beach around the thatched hall because most of the heroes had already fought their way inside. The ordinary citizens who were there to watch the show had fled this dangerous place, as no one wanted to watch such a spectacle anymore. Even if you watched from far away, others might mistake you for someone trying to reap the spoils of the conflict, so who would risk their life just to watch a show?

Qin Guanghai stood on a distant rocky shore, looking at this battlefield covered in corpses with a wide smile on his face, as if an artist admiring a masterpiece he took great pride in.

The hundreds of servants from the Qin Estate all held wooden staffs and protected Qin Guanghai on all sides, terrified that some blood crazed fighter might accidentally attack their master and ruin their livelihoods.

The area in front of the four large doors of the thatched hall was piled high with corpses. To enter the thatched hall, one had to cross over these bodies. You could either save some energy and walk directly over the corpses, or expend a bit of effort to use lightness kung fu to glide over. Su Mohan did not want to step on the corpses of others, feeling that it was disrespectful to the dead. Thus, he used his lightness kung fu, cutting through the air like a black shadow as he gracefully darted inside.

Ning Bufan really did not want to waste his physical energy on such a trivial matter, so he chose to walk across the corpses. Stepping on these bodies was like stepping on wooden planks floating on water; after wobbling a few times, he also entered the thatched hall.

The situation inside the thatched hall was complete chaos. Just as Su Mohan darted inside, he felt a flash of cold light cleaving straight down at his head. Su Mohan quickly drew his sharp sword, using the momentum to thrust toward the person’s wrist. The attacker was a middle aged man around his forties wielding a large broadsword with five iron rings on its spine. The iron rings let out a crisp jingling sound, and the man twisted his wrist, managing to dodge Su Mohan’s sword strike.

To dodge this strike, the man’s broadsword clearly paused for a moment in mid air. Then, he twisted his wrist again, making the iron rings jingle once more. The sword that had paused in the air cleaved toward Su Mohan yet again.

Seeing his strike miss, Su Mohan originally wanted to use the momentum to launch a counterattack. Unexpectedly, the opponent’s reactions were even faster than his own, so he had to leap backward to dodge. His legs blurred in mid air, and his toes tapped against the blade of the man’s descending sword. Like a dragonfly skimming the water, his body shuddered like a swaying snake as he sprang five or six paces away before finally landing on the ground.

“Young man, your lightness kung fu is quite good! What is your name? Which sect did you learn from?” The man asked in a gruff voice.

“My surname is Su, named Mohan. I am self taught, with no master and no sect.” After Su Mohan finished speaking, he said coldly, “Your sword skills are also quite good. Leave your name!”

“Liu Meng,” the man said. He waved his broadsword once more, taking powerful steps forward and kicking up a large cloud of dust.

Seeing the brute rushing over, Su Mohan did not panic. He stood his ground and swung his long sword, and fiery red sword light quickly flared up along the blade. The sword light rushed straight to the tip of the sword before vanishing like the snuffed wick of a candle.

Just then, Liu Meng’s broadsword let out another crisp jingling sound, and the sword whipped up a howling wind in the air, cleaving downward in the blink of an eye.

Su Mohan swung his blade faster and faster, the afterimages of his sword forming the shape of a solid disc in the air. Streaks of fiery red sword light brushed across the blade, making the disc look just like a sun that had recently risen in the morning.