Family Cultivation: My entire family are Villains

Chapter 402: 203, Jinling Zhu Clan_2

The Qinglong Association appeared three times, all in Tongling, and now, all the influential forces in Tongling, including the Great Luo Sect, are gone, leaving only the Hou Clan. To say they have no ties with the Qinglong Association, I wouldn't believe it even if I were beaten to death. On the surface, they say they use this Kill-on-Sight Order to test us, but in reality, they want us to deliver ourselves to death, hmph!"

As she spoke, Zhu Qing's expression grew increasingly cold, a hint of hatred rising in her eyes.

Hearing this, Zhu Lan's expression also changed slightly. She asked in a low voice, "Sister, are you saying that the second branch intentionally wants to harm us?"

"Who else could it be!"

Zhu Qing spoke with anger, but remembering the current situation of their family and the predicament she and her sister faced, her face displayed more helplessness.

She and her sister were born into the Jinling Zhu Clan, an assassination organization.

There were numerous assassination organizations in the martial world. Viewed worldwide, the Jinling Zhu Clan certainly wasn't much, but considering all of Xingnan Prefecture, the only assassination organization that matched the Zhu Clan in strength was the Silver Blade Society of the Prefectural City.

Assassination organizations in the martial world often had difficulty operating openly. After all, although this trade could be lucrative, it had several disadvantages; primarily, one couldn't seek fame, it was easy to make enemies, and one had to live in the shadows, not openly.

As a result, those willing to engage in the business of assassination generally weren't very skilled experts. The Silver Blade Society and the Zhu Clan, capable of assassinating warriors of the Gang Qi Realm, were already considered the top of Xingnan Prefecture.

Over the years, the Zhu Clan had thrived in Xingnan Prefecture by relying on their reputation, never disclosing client information, a nearly eighty percent success rate in assassinations, and the low profile and secrecy of all family members.

The Zhu Clan was a family, but not in the ordinary sense. Normal families strengthen their cohesion by living together, but as an assassination organization, every male and female in the family was trained to be an assassin from birth, which meant they couldn't afford to be high-profile or flashy and had to live under the cover of darkness.

For this reason, although the Zhu Clan had seven branches and over a hundred members, everyone lived scattered in the marketplace, each household on its own, the two sisters had lived with their father, Zhu Wulei, from childhood, belonging to the third branch of the Zhu Clan.

Neither sister lacked talent in martial arts. This year, both in their thirties, they had reached the Gathering Evil Phase of the Gang Qi Realm in their cultivation and had handled over a hundred assassination orders, including three warriors in the Coagulate Gang Phase.

Originally, with the backing of their family in the assassination camp, although their occupation was unspeakable, they never lacked money, and their cultivation could proceed smoothly. They could also live comfortably with their father.

However, at the beginning of this year, their father, Zhu Wulei, took an assassination order from Jianye Prefecture. The target was just a martial artist in the Dan Embracing Phase. Since their father had successfully assassinated even Grandmaster Realm martial artists before, the sisters didn't take it seriously, confident that their father would certainly succeed.

Unexpectedly, once their father left, he disappeared without a trace.

Left with no choice, Zhu Qing had to take her sister, Zhu Lan, to the family's mission hall, trying to discover the target of the Jianye Prefecture order to trace their father's whereabouts. However, the Zhu Clan always kept strict confidentiality about their targets; except for the assassins executing the tasks, no one else had the right to inquire.

Moreover, the mission hall had been under the control of the second branch, which had always been at odds with their father. Zhu Qing and her sister approached them, but, unsurprisingly, they were rebuffed, and their uncle, Zhu Wuqing, directly refused them.

While refusing them, he also provided a solution. He stated that if the two could complete a Jinling Death Order, the unfinished Jianye Prefecture task of their father could be transferred to them.

The Jinling Death Order was regarded as the highest level of assassination order within the Zhu Clan.

The Zhu Clan's general rule for accepting assassination jobs was: first, someone places an order, and then they set a price based on the target's cultivation level, after which the Zhu Clan would send someone to assassinate the target.

If the cultivation level was as stated, and the assassination succeeded, the transaction would be complete. If the assassination failed, it was considered the assassin's fault, and the Zhu Clan would fully refund the payment; but if the stated cultivation level was false, if the assassination succeeded, the client must pay an additional five times the price, and if it failed, no refunds were given, and they would not accept any future orders from that client.

The Jinling Death Order, unlike ordinary ones, was priced by the Zhu Clan based on the real strength of the target. The client paid three times the price, and the Zhu Clan would send up to three squads of assassins to ensure the assassination's success.

So far, the success rate of the Jinling Death Order had exceeded ninety percent, making it a golden emblem of the Zhu Clan.

The target of this particular Kill-on-Sight Order was named Fang Jinghong, who was also known as the Third Dragon Head of an assassination organization called the Qinglong Association, with his cultivation suspected to be in the Coagulate Gang Phase but definitely not exceeding the Gathering Evil Phase.

Zhu Qing initially thought her uncle was being generous by giving them a task that seemed easy to complete. She was overjoyed, thinking that once the mission was finished, they could surely find out their father's whereabouts. However, upon investigating in August in Tongling, they discovered it was not as they had imagined.

First, the Qinglong Association had become involved with the Blood Demon, and during the chaos in Tongling, more than ten warriors of the Gang Qi Realm were mobilized. Secondly, in July, the Second Dragon Head of the Qinglong Association, Fang Longxiang, boldly killed the Deputy Sect Master of the Shaying Sect, Yan Sannu, in front of five Grandmaster Realm martial artists of the Great Perfection stage at the Shengxin Residence.

With just these two leads, Zhu Qing had already realized that the Kill-on-Sight Order they had undertaken was practically impossible to complete.