Chapter 703: One Demand! A Heavenly Ninja, Instantly Slain!
"Silence!"
Yu Guanying's face turned ashen as he shot back a harsh rebuke. "Since when does my Yu Clan subordinate itself to the Shen Clan? Have you forgotten our family's teachings? Everything is for the Yu Clan!"
Yu Guannan's expression was ice. She said nothing more, but a deep disappointment settled in her heart.
Without another word, Yu Guanying took her by the arm and guided her back into the suite.
"What's this? Does Miss Yu Guannan not approve?" Koga Ichiro's tone was playful, his expression one of detached amusement as if he hadn't overheard the heated exchange just outside his door.
"Of course not. My younger sister holds Mr. Koga in the highest admiration," Yu Guanying said, forcing a smile. "However, the matter of a marriage alliance must wait. It would be best to proceed after the Shen and An Clans are eliminated, to avoid alerting them to our plans."
In truth, Yu Guanying had no desire to be a mere puppet for the Koga Dojo. At the very least, he wanted to see the assassination of Shen Anyu and his cohorts completed first. A marriage alliance at this stage would also be a blatant admission of the Yu Clan's collusion with the Koga Dojo, a risk he was unwilling to take.
His plan was far more cunning. When the time was right, he would have Yu Guannan feign her death from a sudden illness. With her identity wiped clean, she could then be married into the Koga Holy Land, leaving the public reputation of Yanxia's Yu Clan completely spotless.
Koga Ichiro sneered inwardly. He saw through Yu Guanying's petty calculations as if they were glass but chose not to expose them. Instead, he moved on, stating his second condition.
"Within the headquarters of the Yanxia Special Department, there is an item our Koga Dojo requires. Your Yu Clan must help us breach the facility."
The air in the room seemed to freeze.
As Koga Ichiro's words fell, both Yu Guanying and Yu Guannan stared at him in utter shock.
The Koga Dojo wanted to attack the headquarters of the Yanxia Special Department?
"Mr. Koga, this…" Yu Guanying's face was grim, the forced smile gone. If he agreed to this, the slightest leak would spell absolute doom for Yanxia's Yu Clan. They would be condemned by the entire nation, branded as traitors for generations to come.
The conditions they had previously agreed upon were limited to providing intelligence. But to act as guides, leading foreign agents in an assault on the Special Department's headquarters? How could they possibly commit such a treasonous act?
Leaving aside the moral implications, the headquarters was a fortress, guarded by a legion of experts. Breaching it was a fool's errand. Even with the Yu Clan acting as inside agents, the mission would be fraught with extreme difficulty and danger.
, Yu Guanying could clearly see the endgame. Even if they succeeded, the Koga Dojo would hold this act of treason over their heads like a guillotine, giving them use to manipulate the Yu Clan indefinitely and dragging them deeper into an inescapable mire.
"Brother, you absolutely cannot agree to this!" Yu Guannan could no longer restrain herself, her voice sharp and cold. "This demand, regardless of success or failure, will doom our Yu Clan to eternal damnation! We will be infamous for a thousand years!"
"And those previous agreements for intelligence—we cannot agree to those either! It would be better to offer them more money, more resources, than to commit such a heinous crime! If this is exposed, the thousand-year reputation of our Yu Clan will be destroyed in an instant! How would that make us any different from Qin Hui, the great traitor?"
Her voice rose, her eyes blazing with a righteous fire. "If you agree, Brother, I will smash my head against this wall and die here and now!"
At that moment, Yu Guannan's expression was one of unmatched solemnity, her face illuminated by the stark light of a martyr ready to sacrifice everything for her principles.
From a distance, Shen Anyu leisurely observed the scene through a nanometer monitoring robot.
'As expected of the Destined Heroine,'he thought with a dry amusement.'So full of righteousness… ahem, integrity.'
The fact that the Yu Clan was colluding with the Koga Dojo to assassinate him didn't bother Shen Anyu in the slightest. Even if they brought their full strength to bear, they stood no chance against his Ice Slave and Yun Slave. He wouldn't even need to lift a finger himself.
It was Koga Ichiro's condition that gave him pause.
An item within the Yanxia Special Department's headquarters, coveted by the Koga Dojo? What kind of treasure would warrant such an immense risk?
Even with the Yu Clan as inside agents, attacking the headquarters was a venture so dangerous that even a Tenin-level expert could perish. For a Tenin to risk his life, the prize must be extraordinary.
'I'll have to go take a look for myself one of these days,' he mused.
Just then, Shen Anyu's eyebrows arched, and a faint, knowing smile touched his lips.
"The Death Star has moved."
Zhang Zhiyun was here.
…
Meanwhile, reeling from Yu Guannan's furious tirade, Yu Guanying's expression was ugly. He glanced at his sister, who truly looked as if she would end her own life if he conceded, then turned back to Koga Ichiro.
"Mr. Koga, isn't this condition a bit too demanding?" he said, his voice strained.
Koga Ichiro's expression hardened into one of pure arrogance. "You can choose not to agree."
Yu Guanying's face was a grim mask. After a moment of tense deliberation, he tried a different approach. "May I ask what item Mr. Koga requires? Perhaps my Yu Clan can help you steal it. That would be far better than a forced assault on the Special Department's headquarters."
Koga Ichiro, however, refused flatly.
This puzzled Yu Guanying. If all they needed was a single item, wouldn't a stealthy theft be far more efficient, with less cost and a lower profile? Why insist on a direct, frontal assault?
Shen Anyu, still observing, found his interest piqued even further. The Koga Dojo's objective was becoming more and more curious.
"Yu Guanying, either you agree to this condition, or I will inform the Shen Clan of your little arrangement with us," Koga Ichiro stated coldly, dropping all pretense.
"You!" Yu Guanying's face contorted with fury. He knew it was a threat, but it was one Koga Ichiro was perfectly capable of carrying out. If that happened, the Yu Clan would be backed into an even more desperate corner.
BOOM!
Before he could respond, the door to the suite exploded inward. A deafening blast sent fragments of wood and metal flying like shrapnel, riddling the luxurious decorations of the Hilton's penthouse with deep gouges and holes.
"Who is it?" Yu Guanying's expression changed drastically. Had Shen Anyu discovered his meeting with Koga Ichiro? Or had the Special Department tracked them?
Either possibility was disastrous for him and for the Yu Clan.
"Mr. Koga!" Yu Guanying's gaze snapped sharply toward the ninja.
"Do not worry. I will kill them and silence them," Koga Ichiro said, his voice a low, cold promise. He knew he couldn't push the Yu Clan too far; he still needed their cooperation. With them as an inside force, he could breach the Yanxia Special Department's headquarters and obtain that item. No clues could be allowed to leak, no witnesses left alive.
Without a moment's hesitation, Koga Ichiro's figure melted into the shadows. Two shurikens materialized in his hands, their edges glowing with a faint, dark blue light—the telltale sign of a potent, fast-acting poison. He moved without a sound, a phantom poised to deliver a fatal strike, like the fangs of a viper closing in on its prey.
A Tenin whose assassination arts had reached the very pinnacle of technique was Death itself.
Yu Guanying's confidence surged. Even if Shen Anyu himself had come, he would be no match for Koga Ichiro. This was a Peak Tenin, a master assassin who had claimed the lives of more than one Celestial and Celestial Master. Otherwise, why would the Yu Clan have been willing to pay such an exorbitant price for his services?
Yu Guannan's heart clenched. Could the attacker be Shen Anyu?
In the next instant, a crimson sword light tore through the void. It was a thread of pure, condensed energy, as thin as a fishing line, yet it radiated a sharp, sinister, and bloody aura that felt ancient and deeply malevolent. It was an ominousness that defied description, like the presence of a demon god returning from the depths of Hell, treading upon mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
The ominous crimson thread sliced cleanly through the shadows.
Koga Ichiro's body slowly materialized from the darkness he had inhabited.
"What… a terrifying sword…"
His eyes were wide, filled with a mixture of raw terror and utter despair.
A thin red line appeared on his forehead. At first, it was only an inch long, but it rapidly extended downward, tracing a path along the bridge of his nose, his philtrum, his lips, his chin, his neck, his chest…
The line split him perfectly, from the crown of his head to his groin, cleaving him in two.
A terrifying surge of Sword Qi erupted from the wound, followed by an explosive spray of blood and viscera.
A Peak Tenin, dead on the spot.
Yu Guanying and Yu Guannan could only stare, their minds utterly blank, frozen in shock.
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