Chapter 3 – Within the Bloodshed Tavern
Night, within an extravagant mansion in the Azure River County.
Many soldiers were seen patrolling around in teams, demonstrating the extremely heavy security present in this mansion! This was because the owner, Cui Jin Peng, was a big boss within the underworld. Cui Jin Peng controlled all of the dark and dirty matters that occurred. Being a loyal dog of the Si Clan was the primary factor in how he had acquired his station and power!
As other underworld leaders coveted his position, Cui Jin Peng had to constantly fight to maintain his status and standing within the underworld community.
“Hu.”
“Hu.”
Cui Ji Peng’s servants, drenched in cold sweat, attempted to control their breathing. Only when they finally able to get their breath under control were they able to gently breathe in a mouthful of cool, sweet air.
The servants had been breathing hard because tonight, their master had actually already killed 20 of them!
“Damn.”
“Damn, damn, damn,” Within the extravagant mansion, the gold-robed Cui Jin Peng was pacing over in fury.
Everyone who had previously been within the hall had retreated outside, waiting for orders.
“Hu’er, oh my Hu’er,”Cui Jin Peng’s heart quivered.
He was a savage and mad person.
Born in the slums, Cui Jin Peng never knew his father, and his mother was a whore! She had not cared whether her son lived or die. From a young age, he grew up like a wild dog, step by step, trampling over the bodies of many others in order to reach where he was today. He now stood at the top of the underworld, with the appreciation of the uncrowned emperor of Azure River County, Si Liang Hong.
Having lived in the darker side of the world for so many years, there was no heinous task he would deign to undertake! Yet in his life, the one thing Cui Jin Peng cared for most was his only son. He spoiled his son and would prepare whatever his son desired according to his whims and fancies. If his son wanted beautiful women, he would get them for him. But because of this excessive doting, his son had become more and more domineering.
Once his son became uncontrollable, he decided to send him to the army to temper his character! But who would have thought…
His son had actually died?
“Hu’er, oh my Hu’er, how am I going to continue living after your death?” Cui Jin Peng’s tears were streaming down his face. This mad underworld king sobbed in great grief right at this moment.
“I want all of them to die.”
“I want all of them to die with you. The whole Snow Eagle Territory’s Dong Bo clan! That damned Dong Bo Qing Shi and his brother, Dong Bo Xue Ying. And everyone within the castle, I want all of them to die with you!” Cui Jin Peng’s eyes gleamed with extreme madness, “All of them!”
“Big brother.”
Someone from outside came running in. This person bristledwith hair – his entire face, his entire body, all parts of him exuded hair. His glowing green eyes indicated the race he belonged to – the Werewolf Clan. This person was second-in-charge under Cui Jin Peng and a powerful Silver Moon Knight.
His big brother had the moniker of ‘Mad Dog’, while for him, he was called ‘Wild Wolf’.
“Big brother, all you have to do is to give me the command and I’ll rush over to exterminate their clan,” This wolf-man growled ferociously.
“Do you think we have the certainty in killing them without any plans? No!” Cui Jin Peng’s expression turned hideous, “Did you not listen to the information of how Hu’er and Fifth brother old Zhao died from a single spell scroll! Even Meteor knights do not have the capability of holding themselves against this spell, instantly dying to it. That’s precisely a grade five spell’s power. From what I see, that Dong Bo Xue Ying should be a Silver Moon Knight. With him hiding in his castle, do you think our strength of just 3 Silver Moon Knights have the certainty in exterminating them? Especially so when it’s in their own domain!”
“So what should we do?” Wolf-man became anxious.
“Put out a bounty!” Cui Jin Peng said with a cold face, “Bloodshed Tavern!”
“Bloodshed Tavern?” Wolf-man became shocked.
Bloodshed Tavern has been around for so long; as far as history was recorded, it was a fact that Bloodshed Tavern was always present.
As for the price required to pay for setting up a mission, it was determined entirely by the bounty given by the Bloodshed Tavern! What’s more, the Bloodshed tavern would be getting 80% of the bounty given, leaving just 20% for the hired assassin. Thus, the prices of their services were generally exorbitant.
“That price would be very high, extremely high.” Wolf-man could not help but exclaimed.
“I want all of them to die. The entire Dong Bo clan must die! For that sake, I do not care whatever price is stipulated,” Cui Jin Peng gritted his teeth, “This information was sent out by second brother, using the empire’s army. I must make use of this opportunity, strike while the iron is hot before that Dong Bo Xue Ying finds out about my son.”
“Mn,” Wolf-man nodded.
Having been in the underworld for so long, they understood the importance of striking while the iron was hot, and that the advantage would be given to the one who strikes first.
“Pass on the message, the news of my son’s death must be kept a secret. Those who know of this, lock them up,” Cui Jin Peng coldly commanded, “Only when the entire Dong Bo Clan is dead do we release them! I’ll be heading out now for the Bloodshed Tavern!”
Since he was going to exterminate the other party, there was no way he would be willing to give the other party the opportunity to return the favour!
……
Night, Bloodshed Tavern.
This tavern was extremely busy and crowded. Many adventurers and blood-loving people were mixing around in this location. Even the rich nobles dare not act wantonly in this particular tavern, due to the fact that the people within did not care about what titles and background the other party had. After killing, the hired hands would instantly escape, making it hard to really know the actual identity of the assassin.
“Up the stairs.”
The tavern had a specific door only for those who wanted to accept a mission or to give out a mission.
Cui Jin Peng took out the Bloodshed Order from his black robe as a form of identification. One must know that before one could accept or give out a mission, he must either have the Bloodshed Order, or the very least, the Black Iron order from the Dragon Mountain Manor!
Second floor of the Bloodshed Tavern.
It was very quiet. Even though the place was filled with quite a few people, they were all either hiding their identity or wearing some face mask. Clearly, most of those who were willing to work as an assassin were not willing to disclose their identities. Within the entire Azure River County, only a few people, like the powerful Xiang Pang Yun were willing to publicise their identity after killing. Xiang Pang Yun had the strength to match his arrogance, and should he want to establish a clan, even the Azure River County’s Si Clan would be shaken by it.
“I want to offer a bounty,” Cui Jin Peng sat down after entering the second level, facing towards a purple-robed female.
“Please continue,” She smiled.
“I want to offer a bounty for someone to exterminate the entire Water Rites Town, Snow Eagle Territory’s Dong Bo Clan. I want everyone within the Snowrock Castle to die! Specifically, the brothers Dong Bo Qing Shi and Dong Bo Xue Ying must die,” Cui Ji Peng’s voice dripped with an intense killing intent.
“Alright. Please wait a moment while we calculate the bounty.”
Kill?
Even if the mission was tasked to kill a Transcendent, the Bloodshed Tavern would still accept it.
As long as you were able to fulfil the required price!
“Humph humph,” Cui Jin Peng forced himself to be patient as he waited with an eyes full of malice. He really could not endure any longer in eradicating the roots of the entire Dong Bo Clan as revenge for his son.
At this moment, the purple-robed female gazed at the crystal ball in her hands. Some numbers appeared on it.
She nodded, before stating, “If you want to request for the eradication of the entire Dong Bo clan, the price required is three million gold pieces!”
“Three million???” Cui Jin Peng instantly stood up, “Why is it so high? T… This is crazy. That Dong Bo Xue Ying is just a Silver Moon Knight and yet, exterminating his clan required three million gold pieces? Even if your Bloodshed Tavern accepted 80% of the bounty, the remaining 20%, 600,000 gold pieces would given to the assassin who accepts this mission, isn’t that still too much? What kind of assassin would require such a price?”
Bloodshed Tavern had a very strict regulation for its contract’s price.
Even though Dragon Mountain Manor’s information of Dong Bo Xue Ying was kept a secret, Bloodshed Tavern still had news of how Xue Ying actually killed a Silver Moon Wolf King and the Shadow Leopard at 15! Even though killing the Shadow Leopard was kept a secret, and selling off its precious parts were done in the dark, Bloodshed Tavern and Dragon Mountain Manor still had the capabilities of investigating such happenings. And it was precisely this that made Bloodshed Tavern recognise Dong Bo Xue Ying being a Silver Moon Knight when he was 15!
As for how he could spend more than 500,000 gold pieces casually these days, without having more than a few million gold, logically speaking, nobody would be so daring as to splurge like that!
Thus, all of these pieces of information allowed Bloodshed Tavern to conclude… Dong Bo Xue Ying had a probability of 30% that he was already a Legend ranker!
Thus, it was with this that allowed them to demand such a price. If the information affirmed Xue Ying being a Legend ranker, then the price would be more than doubled!
“T… This…” Cui Jin Peng did not dare believe. The price set was too high. A Legend ranker clan’s property could at most be worth two to three million or so! That is to say, for ordinary Legend rankers, they could not even afford such a price even when they sell off everything they owned. Even though Cui Jin Peng himself was the underworld boss, above him was still the Si Clan. Even after amassing for so many years, he only had a million gold pieces at most.
“In our Bloodshed Tavern, prices are non-negotiable. If you could not afford it, please see yourself out,” Purple-robed female lightly stated.