Road of Blood

"Are you telling the truth?"

When the servants heard the last question, their body froze. This time, the one who asked the question was their Madam, Su Lian.

The servants quickly bowed their heads in fear that Su Lian would take any attention to them. Ye Jiao also followed suit and tried to make her voice quiver as much as possible. "Y-yes, t-that's true, Madam."

Ye Jiao was still not that good at controlling her expression, so she looked to the ground, acting all timid. Besides, she needed to hide her green pupil. Her long bangs alone might not be enough. It was known that Su Lian was short tempered, so there was nothing weird with her acting like this.

Su Lian frowned. "Tell me everything you know."

"Y-yes, Madam," Ye Jiao still didn't look at Su Lian as she started to simplify the knowledge she had. "O-once someone lose t-their core, they should have b-been unable to train anymore. However, the b-barbarian kingdom develops a technique that allow them to get other people's core. The method is a secret of their kingdom…"

Trying her best to act like a timid servant, Ye Jiao told the general knowledge of the method to Su Lian. She didn't say anything regarding the actual method as if she didn't know. The book she read did specify the method, but it would be weird for a small servant to know so much.

Su Lian listened to the conversation as her heart thumped harder. This was the first time she heard of this method.

"A-also, it's not a secret that newly formed core can be taken away by other people," Ye Jiao added at the end of the sentence. "This is the reason many parents never allowed their children to get out once they form their core and only let them come out after they reached rank 1."

Hearing that, Su Lian recalled that she too was not allowed to get out of her house when she just formed her core. At that time, she didn't understand and her father never explained everything. Even when her first son first formed his core, Wei Shang instructed strict order to keep him in the residence.

Now everything makes sense.

"You, take your reward from the head maid later."

Ye Jiao raised her head as if she was surprised. A wide smile appeared on her youthful face. "Many thanks for your generosity, Madam."

Su Lian merely waved her hand and walked away as she thought of the method. As she didn't pay any attention, she didn't realize that beneath the smile that the 'servant' had, lied a ruthless glint.

"How nice."

"You're really lucky."

"Don't forget to share with us later."

The other servants immediately fawned over the servant to make sure that they also took part in the joy. No one wanted to be left behind as they were excited. Ye Jiao just smiled and didn't say anything before picking up her broom.

"Let's quickly finish our work."

"Yes!"

The girls swiftly moved. Ye Jiao waited for a few more seconds before she retreated behind the bushes. The servants were too busy to care for her because they knew that they had to clean up as soon as possible. Finding the servant from before, Ye Jiao swiftly changed her clothes once again.

"I'm sorry for using your identity, but no one will be able to find me anymore," Ye Jiao smiled bitterly. If they tried to find her for another questioning, they would surely find out that the servant they met before was not someone from this residence.

'Forget it, it's for my future worry.'

Ye Jiao sneaked out of the quarter and headed to the main front. From there, she could see Lu Wan and Wei Cheng were fighting against one another. She was dumbfounded. Didn't he come here for a peaceful talk?

Tak! Tak! Tak!

Lu Wan suddenly retreated to the back and raised his hand. "I think that's enough for today. Our real battle will start in the hunt."

"Fine," Wei Cheng harrumphed and kept his sword away too. His eyes were filled with irritation and at the same time, satisfaction.

"Don't worry, this time I only use 10% of my power," Lu Wan grinned. "You'll see my real power when we meet later."

"What a coincidence, I only use 5% of my power too."

"Oh really?"

Wei Cheng snorted. "Don't you ever dream of beating me up. You're 10 years too early to defeat me."

Lu Wan just smiled, yet his eyes glinted with killing intent for a split second. If he was not afraid of the hidden expert at rank 3 around them, he would surely kill this young master right here, right now. He was confident that he could reach Wei Cheng faster than them, but he wouldn't be able to get out of here alive.

He didn't want to die just for someone like him. "Xiao'er, let's go."

"Yes, Young Master."

No one paid any attention to the small servant on the side as the main attention was Lu Wan. Little did they know that the one that would cause their servant to be in total chaos was none other than the little servant that they ignored.

After Lu Wan got into the carriage, he grabbed Ye Jiao's shoulder. "You take too much time, Idiot! Do you know how hard it is to convince that block head to agree for a match?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize that it takes so much time."

"Forget it," Lu Wan sighed. "At least, I get what I come here for."

"What will you compete about?"

"First, we'll compete on who will break through to rank 2 faster. Secondly, we'll compete on the number of beast cores we can get during the hunt. Thirdly, we'll compete in the arena ranking."

"What about the race?"

"There are too many factors in a race," Lu Wan shook his head. "He didn't want to compete in something he didn't feel confidence in."

Rather than speed, Wei Cheng focused his attention more into power. Even if Lu Wan wanted to compete in terms of speed, Wei Cheng wouldn't want it.

"I see."

"What about you? What are you doing that takes so much time?"

Ye Jiao proceeded to tell everything she did to Lu Wan. Listening to Ye Jiao's story, Lu Wan was astonished. This was the first time he found out that Ye Jiao's capability in using her brain was far higher than what he thought. She was not just slightly good; she was very good!

However…

"You're too reckless to show your face to them. You might have darkened your skin color, but your feature is still the same as before. If you meet with someone who has keen memories, you won't be able to get out of the place alive," Lu Wan remarked.

Ye Jiao smiled bitterly. "I know that, Senior Brother Lu."

"Then, why…?"

"I think I'm just too impatient. When I get the idea on how I could get back at them, I couldn't stop myself from doing it even though I know the consequences of my rash action. I…I just can't let them go."

Hearing the tone filled with heartache and pain, Lu Wan didn't know what to say. He himself knew very well the pain of a betrayal, but he never got too bad of a beating when he was in the Lu Family Residence. The servants might not like him because of his lower status as someone born from a maidservant, but they still behaved because he was the young master.

But Ye Jiao didn't have any of that. They didn't hold back at all when they treated her. Even the servants, who have lower status, would trample on her. No one would care for a trash with her father had offended someone so powerful.

In the end, Lu Wan raised his hand and patted Ye Jiao's head. "Master won't like it when he hears that you do something like this."

"I know."

"I won't stop you because I don't have any right to interfere in your matter," Lu Wan retracted back his hand. "And I won't meddle because I know that you must want to do it yourself."

Ye Jiao smiled gratefully. "Thank you."

"I didn't do anything. In fact, I'm still surprised that you can think of a plan like that. That's quite an unusual and cruel plan, though I know that I'll do the same if I'm in your situation," Lu Wan murmured.

She might not hear him clearly because Lu Wan spoke in low tone, but Ye Jiao knew what Lu Wan meant. Her plan would surely cause bloodshed to happen and at that time, there was no one who could tell what the end result would be.

Ye Jiao just smiled. "It seems that I have just taken another step in the road filled with blood."

"Blood, huh? You have a peculiar way to call it."

Ye Jiao didn't reply and looked outside the carriage. She was no longer the same girl as she was before. The hesitation and the tie that blocked her from doing her work was no longer present. Ever since the missions, she had learned that there were so many different people in the world. Hesitation and compassion often only led in their own misery.

Sometimes, they still could forgive others, but not every single time. Many times, they should just cast away any of the hesitation they had and pushed forward. Right now, she was no longer just an ordinary trash girl, but rather an assassin who was walking on a road tainted with blood.

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A/N: Thank you for following this far! \(^v^)/

This is the end of Volume 2~