[Level 1 mission] board.

Shadow and Bai had skimmed through the missions available to on the board. All sorts of assassination missions were listed there, some included killing an ordinary person to killing a manager of some inn or organization.

Finally, Shadow chanced upon a particular mission that required them to kill the head of a small bandit group outside of Phoenix City. As compared to the other missions, this mission gave the highest reward, of course, its difficulty was proportional to its reward.

"Interesting..." Bai voiced out his thoughts. Normally, people wouldn't choose missions of this difficulty as their first mission as this might be first time they killed someone. Humans are adaptable creatures, when doing something for the first time, they might feel uncomfortable, however, after doing it repetitively, they will become numb to the feeling.

Following what the receptionist said earlier on, Shadow brought the paper towards the reception counter. This time round, a beautiful woman had replaced the previous man. She was dressed in a black robe with a dagger hanging off her waist, it also had orange veins coiling around it.

When the mission paper was presented to her, the receptionist gave a bright smile and swiftly find the documents related to that mission.

After a short moment, another larger piece of paper was presented to Shadow. Almost immediately, she explained, "This list contained further details of the mission paper that you have chosen. Please take a look, sir."

Shadow received the list and curiously shifted his gaze onto the list. It read:

[Assassination of the leader of Laughing Knives]

[Mission level]: 1

[Reward]: 100 gold/10 spirit stones

[Further details]: Located 10km to the north of Phoenix City, can be easily identified by a black flag with 2 knives and a smile drawn on it. Cultivation of leader at around Qi Formation lower stage. 200 golds/20 spirit stones if the entire Laughing Knives is killed. Total population numbered around 100.

After he finished reading the list, he accepted the mission without a trace of hesitation. The receptionist took back the list and said as she realized that Shadow does not have a life weapon with him, "Bring back the head of the leader for mission completion. If you managed to kill any other Laughing Knives members, bringing back their ears will do."

Shadow nodded and just before he was about to walk away, he turned and curiously asked, "Previously, there was an over-sized male receptionist. May I know where has he gone to?"

"Uh...Are you talking about receptionist Tang? He had requested to quit his job awhile ago. I have no idea what got into him."

"Oh, I see...Thanks." Shadow replied with a bit of regret. He actually quite liked that guy. What a shame...

After they left the Assassins Guild via a portal, the duo returned back to the dilapidated house.

"Shadow, when are you going to carry out the mission?" Bai asked casually. He was worried that Shadow might be unsure of where to start.

"Tonight. I'll go prepare myself first and after that I will set off," Shadow replied after giving it much thought.

"Alright, give me a heads up when you are leaving."

"You are coming too?" Shadow asked, evidently surprised.

"This is your first mission after all. I'll watch your back if anything happens," Bai said as he slowly recalled his experience of his first mission.

"By the way, Bai, what's the mission level you can accept?" Shadow suddenly thought of something.

"Hmm...Level 2. What's wrong?"

"Is it possible for you to accept a level 2 mission and share it with me? We can split the rewards." Shadow wanted to gather more spirit stones quickly so as to advance to Core Formation stage.

"It is possible. But I will only share it with you after your performance in the first mission." Bai sternly said.

"Alright then. See you later." As Bai left, Shadow remained in the house. Since he had nowhere to go, he might as well stay in this house for now.

After finding an obscure and dark corner, Shadow sat down and took out the 5 Profound ranked daggers.

He controlled the Dark Qi and imbued them into the daggers. Slowly, the 5 motionless daggers vibrated and floated in front of Shadow, as if an invisible hand was holding them.

Shadow observed that a layer of Dark Qi shrouded the daggers, giving off a deadly aura.

With a will of his mind, Shadow controlled the dagger with his mind. One of the daggers immediately flew around the house, piercing through several metal and wooden furniture, it's original penetration power was already quite good, when a Dark Qi was imbued in it, the penetration power came close to that of a Spirit ranked weapon.

Satisfied, Shadow recalled the dagger and cultivated while controlling the 5 daggers to spin around him. The daggers were rotating so fast such that it created afterimages.

***

As night fell, they city was covered in a dark layer of blanket. Two silhouettes could be seen running down the streets.

When they arrived at the city gate, Bai flashed the Bai clan crest and the guards immediately saluted them, allowing them to exit the city.

Upon exiting the city, they were greeted by a stretch of endless desert. Circulating their Qi, the 2 cultivators ran towards the North, the wind wiped against their faces as they ran at a pace of about 50 km/h.

Around 10 minutes later, they finally reached a small hill. Below the small hill was the stronghold of Laughing Knives, several camp fire was lit in the middle and near the entrance.

"I will stay here and watch. Call me if you need help. Remember, do not alert the whole Laughing Knives," Bai said seriously, his tone carried a tinge of worried.

"Got it," Shadow replied with confidence.

Shadow then made his way down the small hill and a few moments later, his figure emerged under the light from the fire torches.

"Who goes there!?" One of the gate guards spotted Shadow and immediately shouted out.

Puusch!

In an instant, the guard that shouted slumped onto the floor, blood was flowing out of his forehead.

"I-intrud...!" The rest of guards attempted to alert the whole camp upon seeing the scene. However, several daggers instantly pierced through their heads, silencing them.

But alas! There were only 5 daggers, hence, it was not enough to silence everyone at once. Instantly, the intruder alarm sounded and the commotion outside woke the entire camp.

"..." Bai stood there watching with his mouth agape. Which part of 'Do not alert the whole Laughing Knives' does he not understand...

Shadow slowly made his way into the stronghold, everywhere he walked, heads flew and blood splattered.

The 5 daggers pierced through the bandits like toufu, swiftly cutting down one after the other. After all, most of them were normal people and only a handful of them was at Qi Refining realm.

"Hmph! How audacious! Does he not know who I am?" A robust man wielding a twin battle axe spoke, his tone contained traces of fury. He was the leader of Laughing Knives.

"Boss! Let me deal with him! I alone am enough!" One of the Qi Refining realm bandits said as he licked his lips.

"Go! Make sure to cut him into pieces!" Upon seeing more of his members fall, the leader was truly infuriated.

"Hahaha boy! Time to die!" The Qi refining realm bandit rushed towards Shadow, in his hand was a long chain filled with spikes.

Before the chain even reached Shadow, Shadow stretched out his hand towards the chain and imbued his Dark Qi into it.

Flowing along the chain, the Dark Qi flowed inside the body of the cultivator. Since Dark Qi and White Qi were like fire and water, the 2 forces clashed inside his body.

In the next moment, his eyes constricted and his body convulsed. Before he could even utter a single word, his body exploded, splattering his body into pieces.

"Qi Formation cultivator! Do not worry everyone! Join hands to kill him!" The leader was momentarily shocked but he quickly regained his composure and gave another order.

Hmph! See how you deal 4 Qi refining cultivators! Bastard!

The 4 remaining Qi Refining bandits immediately rushed out towards Shadow. However, Qi Formation realm and Qi Refining were separated by a huge gap after all.

Shadow recalled his daggers and 4 of them immediately flew towards the 4 cultivators.

'Stopping us with a dagger! Foolish!' That was what went through their minds as they raised their weapon to block.

Pusch! Pusch! Pusch! Pusch!

4 bloody holes were created each on their foreheads. Their eyes were still opened when they die, hell, they did not even know how they died. They were sure that they blocked it, so how...But alas! They could only think about it under the yellow spring.

The leader face turned grim. All of his subordinates were gone, he was the only one left. He has clearly seen how they died, the 4 daggers unbelievably pierced through their weapons!

"We have no hatred between each other! So why! Why must you massacre the entire Laughing Knives?!" The leader knew that it was impossible for him to escape, much less win. Right now, all he hoped was to know why would someone massacre them mercilessly.

Shadow looked at him emotionlessly and said in a cold tone, "Assassin's guild. Mission."

"Y-you!!" The leader could not accept this. He definitely could not! To think that they were all massacred by a piece of paper.

The leader slowly stood up. His eyes were blazing red. All of his fear was converted into rage. Even if it caused him his life, he was going to take a bite off the opponent in front of him.

At the corner of eyes, a dagger shot towards him, aiming for his head. The leader raised his axe and immediately spun it, causing the dagger to be deflected at an angle.

After that deflection, he continued his advance towards Shadow.

Shadow released the rest of the daggers and soon enough, they overwhelmed the leader. Eventually, blood started to seep out from his arms, legs and body.

Knowing that his end was near, the leader laughed at the sky, his voice echoed out, "HAHAHA! You are like someone that I heard of before! I know! The imperial army! HAHAHA! Everyone knows that they massacred the entire Dark Forest region..."

When Shadow heard his word, rage replaced the coldness in his eyes. Both of his eyes radiated red and golden light and his killing intent surged, in an instant, Shadow grabbed a dagger and impaled it into the leader's head. His mouth in a laughing manner.

The aftermath of the one man massacred was a sight to behold. The scene was extremely bloody with bodies strewn everywhere.

Bai witnessed the entire scene in shock, he was surprised by Shadow's strength, but he was even more surprised at Shadow's ruthlessness and merciless actions.

Shadow knelt before the leader. His breath was heavy, his eyes contained traces if uncertainty and guilt. 'Am I like the imperial army? What...have I done? Brother Lin, what should I do? Brother Lin...'

Thinking up to this point, Shadow broke down and quietly wept. Tears flowed out of his colored eyes and down his pitch black face. His emotional state had completely broken down, his mind was in turmoil.

Suddenly, a hand was placed on his shoulder. Without looking, he knew that it was Bai. With the comfort and reassurance of the hand, Shadow cried even harder.

He was unsure of where to go from now on.