Volume One: The Stream Through a Thousand Years Chapter 21: Mission in Progress

On the third day, at the foot of the western mountain of the Great Stone Slope, Sun Zikai held a small leather-bound notebook. Ten paces before him stood a scruffy, bearded man—Qin Heng.

Qin Heng looked at him as if he were an idiot. "You’re saying you want to take my head to exchange for money? Kid, how old are you?"

Sun Zikai, eyes fixed on his notebook as he scanned the details of the second mission, replied nonchalantly, "Thirteen."

"Hahaha! I've slaughtered over twenty greenhorns just like you."

"Oh." Sun Zikai handed the notebook to Jiang Yujin, who stood beside him. He took a deep breath, his left hand gripping the scabbard and his right resting on the hilt. A stream of air swirled around his lips. He leaned forward and charged at Qin Heng. "Condensing Qi into a blade, wielding intent without a sword, the Wave of No-Sword... eh, forget it. It's boring."

He suddenly stopped halfway, his momentum vanishing. He shoved his hands into his front pockets, looking less composed than simply lazy.

Qin Heng was bewildered. "Boy, why did you stop? Scared?"

But as the words left his mouth, he clutched his throat in horror. Blood gushed out, and until the moment he died, Qin Heng never knew when his neck had been severed.

Sun Zikai stepped forward and deftly decapitated Qin Heng with his blade. He used a hemp rope to tie the hair into three knots, easily lifting the head in a way that kept it stable and ensured no blood splattered on him.

"Here, hold this."

"You want me to carry that?" Jiang Yujin shook her head repeatedly.

"It’s not like it's the first time you've seen me kill someone. What are you afraid of?" Since Jiang Yujin refused to touch the blood-soaked head, Sun Zikai had to carry it himself, and the two headed toward the location of their next mission.

An hour later, in Eastern Valley, two more heads were tied with hemp rope and lifted. Sun Zikai stood to the side, dipping an ink brush in saliva to cross off two names.

Jiang Yujin, holding a head, was nauseous to the point of vomiting. She dared not look down and urged him, "Are you done yet? The blood is about to drip onto my legs."

That night, three miles outside the Ji Family Village, a burly man was hung from a thick tree branch by a thin rope around his neck. He struggled incessantly, his face turning purple.

Sun Zikai, holding his notebook, urged her, "Can you hurry up? We have to reach the next location by the second half of the night."

Jiang Yujin held Sun Zikai's sword, aiming it at the man's neck. The blade trembled, as did her arms. She finally couldn't bring herself to strike and cried out, "Why do you force me to do this? Wuu..."

Sun Zikai said helplessly, "The mission clearly states that the bounty is only paid upon delivery of the head."

"Then why don't you cut it off?"

"I've already cut off three. Besides, this is part of your training."

"That’s twisted logic! How can this be training? This is murder."

"The mission is to kill. If you don't kill, what kind of training is this? Should you go back to being a princess?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yujin’s blood boiled. She should have faced the bloody reality of killing long ago. For someone who had survived under the butcher's blade, what was there left to fear?

She closed her eyes and brought the sword down. The sharp blade did not cut easily. The man's desperate screams and the sound of gushing blood caused Jiang Yujin to break down again. She couldn't cut through, so she had to saw. The sound of bone scraping and the man's gargling throat pushed her to her limit. Unable to open her eyes, she felt the world spinning. She sat on the ground and sobbed, "I can't do it!"

Sun Zikai sighed, walked over, picked up the sword, and severed the man's head in one stroke. He crossed off the name in his book, turned the page, and said, "Let's move. We can still catch one more target."

Jiang Yujin looked lost and hollow, so Sun Zikai carried her on his back. After a long while, she asked, puzzled, "Is this truly training? Is this what all the other disciples do?"

"I suppose so. How else would one become strong? It's settled: you kill the next one. I'll only help by restraining him."

In the middle of the night, on flat ground, Jiang Yujin stood with a sword in both hands, her body taut, facing a woman at the second level of Qi Refining. Unlike Sun Zikai, Jiang Yujin gave her a reason for the battle: "After deserting the sect, you brutally murdered over forty civilians and killed four disciples who came to apprehend you. Your crimes are unforgivable."

The woman gave a contemptuous smile. "Girl, are you here to take my head?"

"Exactly. I am here on a sect mission, and I shall bring you to justice!"

"Justice?" The woman sneered. "You think you can judge me?"

"Indeed. Accept your punishment!" Jiang Yujin charged.

"Tch, a brat at the third level of Qi Refining." No sooner had the woman spoken than a cold flash appeared before her. She had not expected the girl's strike to be so fast; she had already lost in terms of speed.

She was forced to erupt with spiritual energy to barely deflect the trajectory of the blade. The cold edge pierced through, slicing across the woman's face. By the time the woman tried to grab her, Jiang Yujin had already retreated with her sword.

The woman felt only a gust of wind; the pain in her face didn't even register. She stared at Jiang Yujin with suspicion. "What movement technique and skill is that? A disciplinary disciple shouldn't have such ability. Are you from the Inner Sect?" She immediately dismissed the thought—no Inner Sect disciple at that age would only be at the third level.

However, the woman wouldn't give Jiang Yujin another chance. She unleashed her spiritual energy, dipped her fingers into the blood on her face, drew a talisman in the air, and whispered, "Ghost Descent!"

The talisman glowed, and a black skeleton crawled out. It was semi-ethereal. To someone of the same level, it was merely an entity that could be dissipated with pure spiritual energy, but to someone of lower cultivation with scarce energy, this phantom was a nightmare that could neither be killed nor dispersed.

The black skeleton "came to life" and lunged at Jiang Yujin. Its speed was actually quite fast, but the practitioners from the Yanming Sect focused solely on Qi rather than the physical body. They could manipulate Qi with divine precision, but their physical constitution and movement techniques were their weaknesses. This gave Jiang Yujin, who had mastered the "Wind-Walking Step," an opportunity.

Jiang Yujin remembered what Sun Zikai had told her: duels don't have fancy flourishes or long exchanges; in a life-or-death struggle, everything happens in an instant. You only get one chance.

She shifted her steps like the wind, easily evading the skeleton's three lethal strikes. She feigned a retreat, having calculated the distance and steps needed for a kill-shot. After dodging the skeleton for the fourth time, she leaned low and slid forward, riding the wind to appear before the woman.

The woman panicked. Before she could raise her hand, Jiang Yujin shifted behind her—a movement she had practiced countless times. She simply pushed her sword forward, piercing the woman's back. This was an attack the woman could not dodge.

Her chest was impaled, and flames erupted from the wound. The woman did not experience the madness or collapse of the dying; instead, she turned around in disbelief, studying the two children.

Jiang Yujin maintained her stabbing posture, while Sun Zikai’s fingers were pressed against the blade—the flames were born from him.

The woman's internal organs were burning. She sat on the ground. Death brought her no fear, only a sense of relief. The sound of roasting flesh echoed through the quiet night.

The woman whispered, "Are you disciplinary disciples?"

Sun Zikai nodded. The woman tilted her head, smiled as if liberated, and remained in that posture as she burned to the end.

Sun Zikai withdrew his hand. He had intervened because he realized Jiang Yujin's critical strike was not enough to kill the opponent. She was, after all, a Qi Refining expert whose body had been tempered by spiritual energy countless times.

He held the sword out to Jiang Yujin, urging her to cut off the head herself. This was her first battle, and her first victory.

Jiang Yujin took the sword but did not approach. She silently waited for the flames to die down, leaving the woman as a charred husk. Finally, the two worked together to bury her—just a simple burial, leaving no trace that she had ever existed in this world.

Sun Zikai asked, "Can you accept all of this now?"

Jiang Yujin nodded, then shook her head. Sun Zikai silently took out his book, opened it, and said, "We'll rest here for two hours. At dawn, we head to the next spot."

On the fifth day, at the Outer Sect Disciplinary Office, fourteen bloody heads were lined up on the table. The elder holding the ink brush couldn't recover his composure for a long time. He checked the heads against the wanted posters over and over. He had lived over sixty years and had never seen such a bizarre occurrence: two green, inexperienced children—one at the first level and one at the third level of Qi Refining—had killed fourteen wanted criminals of the Qi Refining stage. Fourteen Level 5 missions, completed by them in two days.

First of all, this was impossible, the elder concluded. So how had these heads, which looked exactly like the wanted criminals, been gathered?

The elder felt this was a grave matter. He ordered Sun Zikai and Jiang Yujin to wait in the office while he urgently contacted three other elders, sending them to investigate. By evening, they returned, and the news they brought left the entire office of elders dumbfounded: those wanted villains had indeed been killed. Their heads were missing, but the elders realized these must be the ones on the table.

The elders did not make a scene; instead, they kept the matter secret and warned all disciples who had seen it. They did not rashly interrogate the two children, but after discussing it in private for a long time, they finally took action.

Jiang Yujin pulled on Sun Zikai’s sleeve, asking nervously, "Did we act too brazenly?"

Sun Zikai whispered, "Looking at their expressions, it seems so. Are you hungry?"

"Yes."

As soon as she spoke, a group of elders approached them. The leader spoke first: "The missions were completed well. You are surnamed Sun, and she is surnamed Jiang, correct?"

"Yes, I am Sun Zikai, and she is Jiang Yujin."

The elder then tentatively asked, "Are you... related to anyone from above?"

Sun Zikai quickly deduced all possibilities. He reasoned that the elders believed they were incapable of completing the tasks, so they assumed someone had helped them. In that case, the children might be spies, but using this method to infiltrate was too exaggerated. Therefore, it wasn't outside help, but the intent of the Inner Sect.

It couldn't be an Inner Sect elder, either. Sun Zikai had witnessed the recruitment standards of the Dongchen and Yanming sects: pay enough, and you get in. If they could latch onto an Inner Sect elder, why go through all this trouble? Thus, the person behind this had to be someone above the level of Inner Sect elders—perhaps the Sect Master himself. This was why the Outer Sect elders dared not act.

Once Sun Zikai understood this, an idea formed. He recalled an old guest he had met years ago.

He said, "I cannot tell you his name."

The elders exchanged glances, their expressions full of meaning. The leading elder asked again, "Child, just a hint would suffice."

"I can only say that he flies in the sky, stepping on a green-peaked precious sword." Years ago, Sun Zikai had asked that man if he could teach him how to cultivate. The man had told him that cultivation was not about the body and advised Sun Zikai to go back to the city and live a peaceful life.

Upon hearing "green-peaked precious sword," the elders immediately knew the answer. One of them looked smug, as if he had guessed correctly.

The lead elder took out a money bag, hesitated, then bit the bullet and pressed it into Sun Zikai's hand without even opening it. He patted the bag and said, "This is your mission reward. You did well. I am Nie Hai, the Great Elder of the Disciplinary Pavilion. If you have any questions, you can come find me."

Sun Zikai opened the bag, glanced inside, and asked, "Elder, this is much more than the reward."

Nie Hai smiled and nodded without speaking. Sun Zikai accepted the money. Just as he was about to thank them, another elder produced two small wooden tokens inscribed with characters and clear energy signatures. The elder said, "The two of you have set a precedent for our sect's outer disciples to kill enemies above their own rank. Such an achievement deserves a reward. I am Wang Jiachiao, the Great Elder of the Distant Pavilion. Representing all the elders, I give you each a special reward. With these tokens, you may go to the Manqian Tower and exchange them for a technique manual."

"Really?" Sun Zikai and Jiang Yujin looked at each other, both pleasantly surprised.

The other elders looked displeased. One remarked, "Elder Wang has gone to such lengths; what else can we say?"

Nie Hai offered a half-hearted smile. "Elder Wang, this token is a quota shared by all us disciplinary elders. It is a bit abrupt to hand it out, but these two children deserve it. Very well, I shall take the initiative and approve this proposal. What does everyone think?"

The elders were all harboring their own agendas, but with no other choice, they agreed.

Sun Zikai and Jiang Yujin took the tokens and money, quietly walking out of the Disciplinary Office.

Beside the Xian Garden, Fu Zhe stood in the middle of the rabbits. The outer sect elder guarding the place stood respectfully to the side, having narrated the events of the day, and now waited in silence for instructions.

Fu Zhe pondered for a long time before whispering, "These rabbits are not easy to catch. If the disciples can catch them, they must have practiced movement techniques."

The elder quickly added, "You are right. I am not familiar with the inner disciples, but among the outer disciples, no one has reached such a level of movement technique."

Fu Zhe paced in circles, slowly walking into the woods. The elder followed closely, continuing, "Catching one rabbit is hard enough, let alone so many. Of course, outer disciples also practice techniques, and rendering a rabbit immobile is no problem. But to do so without harming the rabbits, and to string up over eight hundred of them in a short period of time without anyone noticing... that is absolutely impossible. It must be... someone higher..."

Feeling Fu Zhe’s cold gaze, the elder immediately shut his mouth and lowered his head with a forced smile.

Fu Zhe asked, "At that time, was there a woman in the woods?"

"Uh, it was indeed a woman's voice, but..."

"But what?"

The elder dared not hide anything. "But I have pondered that voice many times later. It always felt a bit too immature—not like an adult shouting, but more like a little girl's voice."

"So, someone was intentionally disguising their voice?"

"I dare not speculate," the elder said cautiously. "Sect Master, the Sect Leader once sent word that this matter should be put to rest... as for you..."

Fu Zhe stood with his hands behind his back. "I am simply curious and asking around."

"Yes."

Fu Zhe stood for a moment, thinking he wouldn't get any more information here, and prepared to leave. However, he asked one more question: "These rabbits are very hard to catch. Have any outer disciples ever caught them?"

The elder immediately replied, "For an outer disciple, it's very difficult. But someone actually did catch them; it happened just a few days ago. Wait? Yes, that was the day the rabbits went missing. Two children, coming up from the miscellaneous chores department. They had been practicing a breathing method for many years and had reached the Qi Refining stage, but they were quite old—thirteen years old."

Fu Zhe interjected, "Thirteen is late to start cultivation."

"Yes. At the time, Elder Chongming set this challenge to make them retreat. Who would have thought they would actually catch two rabbits and pass the test? I suspect it was just their good luck to catch the rabbits that were released back from the Black Forest during the chaos."

Fu Zhe's expression changed slightly. He suddenly became interested. "Are you sure they caught the rabbits after the incident, rather than before?"

"Uh, they greeted me when they arrived. It should have been before the rabbits disappeared, but I didn't pay attention to them afterward."

"In other words, they were let in and might have witnessed the entire process of the rabbits being caught?"

"This..." The elder realized suddenly, "I hadn't thought of that."

"Could it have been the two of them?" Fu Zhe asked.

The elder laughed. "Sect Master, that boy is only at the first level of Qi Refining, and the girl is at the third. They would struggle to catch even one."

Fu Zhe said, "Do you think that a rabbit released back from the Black Forest is no longer a rabbit?"

"This..."

"A rabbit is still a rabbit. How could it be easy to catch? How did they manage to walk away with one each?"

The elder was speechless. After a moment of contemplation, Fu Zhe said sharply, "Even if they didn't do it, they must know the inside story. Who are they, and where are they now?"

"Uh, I don't know. They are where the Disciplinary Office assigned them. Why don't you go there and ask?"