Mu Jinyu's words, filled with disdain, escaped his lips.
Not only was the dwarf stunned, but those assassins nearby who had been eavesdropping with pricked ears were also shocked.
They thought to themselves, truly befitting of a rookie assassin, he actually dared to speak to the dwarf like that, he must be tired of living.
Though the dwarf was short and seemingly ill-suited for killing,
in actuality, he could rank as a top figure among the first-rate assassins, being a Martial Arts Grandmaster and also a rare Psychic.
Born with the ability to control fire, if some novels were to be cited, he could be considered a practitioner of Magic and Martial Dual Cultivation, reaching top-grade status in both. Had he not been born a dwarf, with that flaw, perhaps he might have become a super killer of an even higher tier.
However, with gain comes loss. Although the dwarf possessed extremely strong innate talent in martial arts and his special ability, his stature was short, like that of a boy. In his early stages of performing missions and killing, he was very successful, as few people would be wary of a child, but once his reputation spread, as soon as others knew they were targeted by an assassin and saw a child approaching, they would immediately become alert.
Therefore, it became difficult for him to carry out missions alone, prompting him to establish the "Desolation" Guild and start recruiting talents.
Mu Jinyu's audacity to speak to the dwarf like that earned him the admiration of the masses, especially since the Murderous Banquet was about to begin, with all the assassins from the Assassin Alliance and the Assassins guild ready to engage in life-or-death challenges at any moment. By acting this way, he was essentially courting death.
"Heh, you've got quite the nerve!"
As expected, upon hearing Mu Jinyu's words, the dwarf's eyes flickered a few times. The dwarf, sensitive and self-conscious, immediately took offense at the unpleasant tone, sensing disgust and mockery. His gaze instantly became venomous as he glared at Mu Jinyu.
Having said that, the dwarf turned around and left, throwing over his shoulder without looking back, "Their lives are mine, later on, no one else try to compete with me."
Mu Jinyu, after all, was new to the scene, and it wouldn't be sensible to kill the dwarf outright, lest he failed to lure out the Lord of the Killing Realm later.
Therefore, he endured the dwarf's arrogance.
Afterwards, he saw the people around him casting looks of ignorance, foolishness, and pity at him, and puzzled, he whispered to San Liu beside him:
"So, during the Murderous Banquet later, can we just kill anyone we like?"
He didn't ask who the dwarf was or why he was so arrogant.
In Mu Jinyu's view, within the Slaughter Redemption, apart from Nameless who was too troublesome to deal with, he felt he could handle San Liu himself; a dwarf who didn't even make it onto the list of dangerous figures simply didn't pose any threat to him, so naturally, he didn't consider him significant.
Hearing Mu Jinyu's question, San Liu didn't find Mu Jinyu arrogant or contemptuous. The Dragon King from Dragon King Hall who could defeat him, he had the right to ignore that dwarf.
"Yes, the upcoming internal conference is the Assassins guild's event for setting rankings and resolving private disputes, otherwise it wouldn't be called the Murderous Banquet."
"Of course, in order not to reduce the number of assassins in Slaughter Redemption too much, when the Murderous Banquet starts, no matter how many assassins each guild has, only five are allowed to come out, and then a best-of-five series starts."
"The losing guild's assassins will automatically be delisted from Slaughter Redemption, and then merge into the winning side, meaning they're being swallowed up."
San Liu explained all of this in one breath.
Hearing San Liu's words, Mu Jinyu nodded and said, "So our 'Six Disasters Canglong' is currently the most inferior assassins guild, and to become the world's number one ranked assassins guild and meet the Realm Master, we need to swallow up these other guilds step by step, starting with the smaller ones, right?"
"Yes, that's right!" San Liu nodded.
His expression held a hint of tension.
After all, they were talking about killing the Realm Master, which was somewhat rebellious.
When Mu Jinyu spoke these words, he did not lower his voice much, and some of the assassins who were already paying attention to them,
could not help but snicker aloud.
"Ha, they still think they can step by step become the first ranked assassins guild and meet the Realm Master?"
"Interesting."
"They do have the capability, but first, they'll need to survive against 'Sanmi'."
"..."
Sanmi, this was a code name, the very alias of that dwarf. The reason he chose this code name wasn't hard to guess.
Of course, in private, everyone actually still called him the dwarf.
The reason they didn't replace his original code name with Sanmi like they did with Nameless and San Liu was that dwarf was too offensive and could lead to deadly enmities!
The many assassins of the Thunder God Guild, seeing Mu Jinyu and the dwarf become enemies, were all holding back laughter.
They began to look forward to how the dwarf would torment and slaughter Mu Jinyu and his associates.
Time slowly passed by.
Soon it was eight in the morning.
By this time, the numerous assassins' guilds that had come to participate in the Slaughter Feast had all arrived in the great hall.
"Bang!"
At that moment, a burly old man with white hair and beard leaped onto the platform and landed in the center, causing a muffled boom.
However, the platform, covered in red cloth, didn't tremble or break from the sturdy old man's stomp, regardless of what material it was made of.
Mu Jinyu looked curiously at the old man. From the conversation he just had with San Liu, he already knew that this old man was the Vice Alliance Hierarch of Slaughter Redemption.
"Alright, everyone is almost here, so I won't say much more. The ranking of the assassins' guild begins now. Those who feel their strength has improved, and can advance further, may now step forward and challenge the guild's magic artifact," said the old man, before jumping off the platform.
His actions were swift and decisive.
At that moment, the "Sanmi" dwarf turned back and glared hatefully at Mu Jinyu, about to tell him and his companions to come up and face death.
But then, a frail-looking middle-aged man suddenly leaped onto the platform and pointed at someone below, saying, "Come up and face your death!"
The person he pointed at was a robust-looking black man who, upon hearing the middle-aged man's words, wasn't surprised. With a stamp of his foot, he shot straight up and landed on the platform.
The "Sanmi" dwarf, seeing this, looked disappointed, beaten to the punch by someone else.
He then turned back to Mu Jinyu, giving him a look that signaled not to hurry, they would deal with him later.
Mu Jinyu ignored the dwarf and asked San Liu, "What kind of assassins are these two?"
San Liu replied, "The Vice Alliance Hierarch will explain in a moment."
No sooner had he finished speaking.
The burly old man began, his voice carrying throughout the entire banquet hall without the use of a microphone.
"'Dawn' Guild's Guild Master 'Owl' has issued a challenge to 'Dusk' Guild's Guild Master 'Cliff', in accordance with the rules of Slaughter Redemption, both guilds may send five members to participate in a best-of-five relay match. The winner will absorb the loser's guild. Should there be no objections from either side, the first match will now begin..."
With things having reached this point, naturally, there were no objections from either side.
As the old man finished his announcement, the lean man pulled something from his pocket, but some people couldn't make out what he had taken out.
Mu Jinyu, with his sharp eyes, noticed at once that it was an extremely thin rope, so fine it was almost invisible.
It was only because it occasionally gleamed weakly under the lighting that Mu Jinyu was able to discern what it was at all.
"Is that his weapon?" Mu Jinyu asked San Liu curiously.
San Liu replied, "Yes, 'Owl' is Filipino, and he is a master of the local 'Banana Datu Rope Technique'. When on missions, he prefers to strangle his targets to death with things like their ties or shoelaces. He fondly recalls one particular kill where he used a single strand of the female target's hair to strangle her to death!"