While the Ye Clan was being dismantled by a golden meteor in White River City, a different kind of battle was taking place in the Whispering Forest ten miles away.
The forest was silent. The birds had stopped singing. The wind had died. Hidden in the shadows of the ancient trees were three hundred elite killers of the Blood Soul Sect.
They were led by Blood Elder Kui (Nascent Soul Level 5). He held a jagged red dagger, his eyes scanning the path below. "The intel is confirmed," Kui whispered into his transmission jade. "The targets have split up. The giant went to the city. The girl and the blind boy are heading this way."
"Do not underestimate them," the voice of the Blood Demon Emperor echoed from the jade. "They killed Xie Molin inside the Small World. Use the Blood-Lock Formation. Trap them and drain them dry."
"Understood, Your Majesty," Kui grinned, revealing sharpened teeth. "They are just two juniors. One is a nerd, the other is blind. They won't even know they are dead."
He signaled his men. Three hundred assassins melted into the darkness, activating their stealth arts. They were the best in the business. They made no sound. They had no scent.
The Target Approaches
On the forest path, Su Ling and Wei Wu were walking. They looked completely relaxed. Su Ling was tapping on a holographic keyboard projected by her drones. Wei Wu was humming a tune, tapping his cane on the stones.
"Su Ling," Wei Wu whispered without turning his head. "Three hundred and one heartbeats. Surrounding us in a spherical formation."
"Correct," Su Ling didn't look up from her screen. "Calculated threat level: Low. Annoyance level: High."
She adjusted her glasses. Her eyes, now glowing with blue data streams (Digital Nascent Soul), scanned the forest. She didn't see trees; she saw lines of code. She saw the flow of Qi that sustained the assassins' stealth techniques.
"Master said we need to build a reputation," Su Ling muttered. "Killing them is easy. But Master likes profit."
She stopped walking. "Hey!" Su Ling shouted into the empty forest. "I know you are there. And I know you are getting paid 100 Million Spirit Stones for our heads."
Silence. The assassins didn't move.
"But," Su Ling smiled coldly. "Have you checked your bank accounts lately?"
The Hack
In the trees, Blood Elder Kui frowned. 'Bank accounts? What is she babbling about?'
Su Ling tapped a key on her holographic interface. [System Skill: The Heavenly Algorithm.] [Target: Blood Soul Sect Financial Network.] [Action: Reroute.]
PING. Suddenly, every transmission jade in the forest lit up. The assassins looked at their waistbands in confusion. Their jades were vibrating.
[Alert: Withdrawal Processed.] [Amount: -50,000 Spirit Stones.] [Balance: 0.]
"What?!" An assassin gasped, breaking stealth. "My savings! They're gone!"
"Mine too!" another shouted. "My retirement fund!"
Blood Elder Kui checked his own jade. [Alert: Your secret stash in the Northern Bank has been donated to the 'Charity for Blind Swordsmen'.] [Balance: -5,000,000.]
"YOU!" Kui roared, jumping out of the tree. "You witch! What did you do?!"
Su Ling pushed her glasses up. "I hacked your sect's payroll array. It was encrypted with a basic Level 4 cipher. It took me three seconds to break. Currently, all your bounties have been transferred to my account."
She showed them the screen. [Su Ling Balance: +300,000,000 Spirit Stones.]
"Kill her!" Kui screamed, his eyes bloodshot. "Get our money back!"
The stealth was broken. Three hundred assassins erupted from the trees, screaming in rage. They didn't care about the mission anymore; they were broke.
"Wei Wu," Su Ling stepped back. "I handled the finances. You handle the complaints."
The Void Cut
Wei Wu stepped forward. He looked small compared to the rushing horde of blood-thirsty killers. He was blindfolded. His sword was rusty.
"Three hundred," Wei Wu whispered.
He didn't draw his sword. He simply placed his thumb on the hilt.
[Void Sword Soul: Active.]
The world turned grey in Wei Wu's mind. He didn't see people. He saw Lines. Every assassin had a line connecting them to life. Every weapon had a line connecting it to durability. Every attack had a line connecting it to trajectory.
"Too noisy," Wei Wu murmured.
CLICK.
He pushed the sword one inch out of the scabbard. He didn't swing. The Intent did the work.
SHING.
A sound like tearing canvas echoed through the forest. It wasn't a single cut. It was a domain of cuts. An invisible sphere of Void Sword Qi expanded outward from Wei Wu, covering a radius of 100 meters.
The assassins froze mid-air. Blood Elder Kui, who was leaping toward Su Ling, stopped.
"What..." Kui tried to speak. Then, his dagger fell apart. Sliced into ribbons. Then, his clothes fell apart. Then, the trees around them fell apart.
And finally... the Stealth Formations tattooed on their skin fell apart.
They weren't dead. Wei Wu hadn't cut their bodies. He had cut their ability to move. He had severed the tendons in their wrists and ankles with surgical precision.
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
Three hundred assassins collapsed to the ground simultaneously like puppets with cut strings. They couldn't hold their weapons. They couldn't stand. They could only lie in the dirt, staring up at the blind boy in horror.
"You..." Kui gasped, unable to lift his hand. "You didn't even draw the sword..."
"If I drew it," Wei Wu said softly, pushing the blade back in with a click, "you wouldn't be breathing."
The Interrogation
Su Ling walked over to the paralyzed Blood Elder Kui. She squatted down, her drones hovering menacingly around his face.
"Now," Su Ling opened a spreadsheet. "Since you are currently unemployed and broke, I have a job offer."
"I will never serve you!" Kui spat.
"Oh, it's not a service," Su Ling corrected. "It's debt repayment. You tried to kill us. That incurs a Life Insurance Fee."
She tapped her screen. "I have your sect's communication codes. I know where your headquarters is. I know where your Emperor sleeps."
Su Ling smiled. It was the smile of a demon accountant. "Go back to your Emperor. Tell him that the Divine Dragon Sect has acquired his debt. Tell him that for every assassin he sends, I will drain another vault. I will crash his economy. I will make his sect so poor that you will have to sell your blood robes to buy rice."
"Go," Wei Wu kicked Kui.
Kui scrambled up. His tendons were healing (Nascent Soul regeneration), but his spirit was broken. He looked at the monsters—the hacker and the blind god. He turned and ran. The other assassins crawled away after him, terrified.
Meanwhile, in the Divine Dragon Realm
Jiang Chen lay on his lounge chair, watching the scene on a giant holographic monitor. He popped a grape into his mouth.
"Not bad," Jiang Chen commented. "Su Ling understands the power of economic warfare. And Wei Wu... he's showing off."
Old Sky (The Butler) stood behind him, trembling. "Master... that girl... she hacked a Sect's treasury remotely? Is that even a cultivation technique?"
"Everything is cultivation, Old Sky," Jiang Chen sipped his tea. "Information is Qi. Money is Dao."
Jiang Chen looked at the third screen. It showed Ye Kai standing over the broken body of the Ye Patriarch. It showed Su Ling bankrupting the Assassins. It showed Wei Wu crippling an army without drawing his blade.
"The introduction is complete," Jiang Chen stood up. "The world now knows we are here."
"System," Jiang Chen commanded. "Calculate the Reputation Points earned."
[Reputation: Explosive.] [Fear Level: Maximum.] [The name 'Divine Dragon Sect' is now ranked #1 on the Southern Region Threat List.]
"Good," Jiang Chen smiled. "Now... prepare the guest rooms. We are about to have a lot of visitors who want to 'apologize' with heavy bags of gold."