The Imperial Martial Pill Venerable

"Could it be... he succeeded!?"

One-Eyed Dragon was filled with shocked disbelief. That was a peculiar poison that not even a Fifth-Grade Alchemist could cure, yet that kid had actually done it. ’Just how old is he?’

Heifeng nodded. "Yes, he succeeded. What’s more, he refined a Seventh-Grade Elixir, which means he is a Seventh-Grade Alchemist."

HISS...

Even for these assassins, who lived by the blade and possessed iron wills, the shock was incomparable. It was as if countless thunderclaps were booming inside their heads, leaving their ears ringing and their minds reeling. A Seventh-Grade Alchemist!

But assassins were assassins, and they quickly composed themselves. Still, the profound shock deep within their eyes was impossible to conceal. To them, this news was simply too stunning. Who could have ever imagined that Qin Ya would actually succeed?

"Heifeng," One-Eyed Dragon said in a heavy voice, "are you telling the truth?"

"Hmph. The imperial proclamation has been posted. By now, everyone in the Imperial Capital knows. If you don’t believe me, you can go see it for yourselves."

One-Eyed Dragon’s expression twisted, his face a mixture of colors.

’A Seventh-Grade Alchemist... That’s a being completely beyond me, on par with someone Extraordinary!’ Few in the entire Imperial Capital would dare to provoke such a person.

Hearing this, the members of the Slaying Alliance exchanged glances, and the thought of retreat began to take root.

One-Eyed Dragon gritted his teeth. "So what if he’s a Seventh-Grade Alchemist? His own cultivation is only at the Spiritual Element Realm. With this many of us, we have more than enough power to kill him! One Hundred Thousand Gold Coins... And don’t forget, Qin Ya is a Seventh-Grade Alchemist. Who knows how many priceless treasures he has on him..."

As he reached the end of his speech, One-Eyed Dragon grew visibly excited. His words stoked the flames of greed in the assassins behind him. ’That’s right,’ they thought. ’Qin Ya is a Seventh-Grade Alchemist; he must be loaded with treasures. Forget everything else, the elixirs he refines are priceless treasures in and of themselves. That’s far more tempting than one hundred thousand gold coins.’

Heifeng watched them with cold eyes before speaking dispassionately. "A pack of fools. You think someone like him is that easy to kill? Let me spell it out for you: Qin Ya isn’t just a Seventh-Grade Alchemist. His Majesty has also named him a National Hero, a rank equal to a First-Grade Duke."

His words struck them like another bolt from the blue, leaving them dazed and reeling.

National Hero—that title hadn’t been bestowed in decades. Anyone holding it was a talent deeply respected by both His Majesty and the Empire. It was as if they were under the Emperor’s personal protection; hardly anyone in the Empire would dare to move against them.

To do so would be to declare oneself an enemy of the Emperor!

They remembered a story from over a hundred years ago. A Black Market Killer had successfully assassinated a Caster who held the title of National Hero and received a handsome reward. But when the Emperor of that era found out, he flew into a rage. The Black Market suffered an unprecedented crackdown, and more than half of its assassins were captured.

That, of course, included the very assassin who had killed the National Hero.

SHATTER...

The sound of a shattering wine glass snapped One-Eyed Dragon and the others out of their stupor.

At a nearby table, a beautiful woman in a red dress sat with her elegant hand hovering in mid-air. Her mouth was slightly agape, her lovely face a mask of utter shock.

’That kid is an absolute monster.’

Hua Wuchang was already stunned when she heard that Qin Ya was a Seventh-Grade Alchemist. Now, hearing that he had also become a National Hero, she lost her composure completely and dropped her wine glass.

The thought that she had once tried to assassinate such a person—and had somehow survived—made Hua Wuchang feel a surge of incredible luck. But then another thought struck her: ’That guy... he isn’t going to come after me for revenge, is he?’

"Thousand Faces?!"

One-Eyed Dragon asked tentatively. There weren’t many female assassins in the Crimson Wine Tavern who were this beautiful, and most of the ones who were, were just illusions created by Thousand Faces.

"You all just carry on. Pretend I’m not here."

Hua Wuchang gave a stiff smile, grabbed another cup, and went back to her drinking.

One-Eyed Dragon and his men, however, were silently fuming. ’If it hadn’t been for the intel Hua Wuchang brought back, why would they have formed the Slaying Alliance in the first place?’

But Hua Wuchang was more powerful than they were, so they couldn’t risk confronting her.

One-Eyed Dragon sighed. "It seems there’s no other choice. The Slaying Alliance is disbanded. Qin Ya is a target we can no longer touch."

The others fell silent, and no one objected.

Faced with his dual status as a Seventh-Grade Alchemist and a Young National Hero, they finally decided to back down. No matter how great the reward or how valuable the loot, you had to be alive to enjoy it.

"Damn it! How can one kid be such a monster?"

A burly man shot to his feet, slammed his fist on the table, and spat out angrily.

"Yeah, the kid doesn’t play by any logical rules! It’s so damn frustrating. How old is he, anyway? And already a Seventh-Grade Alchemist."

"Sigh... I guess there are always some geniuses in this world you just can’t make sense of."

"This is more than just ’can’t make sense of’! It’s completely Heaven-Defying."

The assassins sighed and groaned, and a gloomy atmosphere fell over the table.

BOOM...

At that very moment, the tavern’s main doors were violently kicked open.

Everyone looked over. A young man holding a long black saber was walking in slowly, a bloody severed head dangling from his other hand. The intense Evil Qi radiating from him was enough to make even these hardened assassins feel a chill of fear.

The man tossed the head onto the front counter. "The head of Xiao Lin, the prized prodigy of the Xiao Family’s younger generation," he said coldly. "Where’s my payment?"

The handler, a permanent fixture in the tavern, glanced at the head and said dispassionately, "Mm, the target is correct. It’s indeed Xiao Lin of the Earth Element Realm."

He then took out a stack of gold notes and handed them to the young man.

"Heh, eight thousand gold coins, easy money."

The young man gave a dry chuckle, stuffing the gold notes into his Storage Ring without even bothering to count them. His gaze then swept across the mission board. "Now then," he murmured, "which prey should I hunt next? Such a difficult choice."

His low words carried an inexplicable chill that made one’s skin crawl.

One-Eyed Dragon and his men recognized the young man. In the Crimson Wine Tavern, everyone called him Black Saber. He was the tavern’s number one assassin and was counted among the most elite of the Imperial Capital’s Black Market Killers.

It was said that he didn’t kill for money, but only cared about the target’s cultivation and power.

It seemed he was using his targets to hone his own abilities.

Seeing Black Saber choosing a mission, the middle-aged man at the counter suddenly gave a strange smile. "I happen to have a mission I could introduce to you," he said. "I just don’t know if you’d be interested in taking it."

"Oh?" Black Saber’s interest was piqued. "What’s their cultivation level?"

"Only the Spiritual Element Realm." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Are you messing with me?" A murderous glint flashed in Black Saber’s eyes.

The middle-aged man said, "Don’t be so hasty. While he may only be at the Spiritual Element Realm, three assassins at the Earth Element Realm went after him and never returned. Even Thousand Faces, Hua Wuchang, has suffered a defeat at his hands."

"Is that so?" Now Black Saber was truly interested.

The middle-aged man continued, "And just moments ago, this same person forced more than twenty assassins to abandon their mission against him. So tell me, Black Saber, is someone like that worthy of being your prey?"

Hearing this, Black Saber turned to glance at the crowd of assassins. "Is what he says true?"

Not daring to hide anything, One-Eyed Dragon replied, "Yes. His name is Qin Ya."

Black Saber’s body jolted. "You mean *that* Qin Ya? The one who’s a Seventh-Grade Alchemist and a Young National Hero?"

"That’s the one," the middle-aged man said coolly. "Are you afraid?"

"Hahaha! Interesting... Very interesting!" Black Saber’s expression grew serious for a moment, then he broke into wild, unbridled laughter. "I’ll take the mission!"