Path Of The Lilies

"…" Master, can I just take a mission?

Ye Jiao wanted to cry as she turned her head to look at Qi Huan, hoping for him to help her escape this deathly training. Since they had advanced to rank 2, wouldn"t it mean that the training became even harsher?

Qi Huan turned his head around, pretending to not see Ye Jiao. "Master, I have accepted a mission, so I"ll be taking my leave first."

"You can leave tomorrow. Today, you"re going to train with me."

Qi Huan: "…"

"Master, how do you find out that we"re here?" Ye Jiao decided to ask another question. The two of them didn"t inform anyone about their departure, so their master shouldn"t be able to find them in the numerous Bao Fu Organization Headquarters that existed here.

"Lu Wan told me that you depart to the West, so I know that you should head here."

"…" That traitor.

The two of them secretly brewed a plan inside their mind to make Lu Wan suffer the moment they met with him again in the future. That brat just blurted out their designation to their heartless master. They knew that they would surely try to make Lu Wan suffer as much as possible, probably to the point that he was black and blue.

Zhan Jing took out a sword. "Now, shall we start with a spar?"

Ye Jiao and Qi Huan wanted to cry but no words came out. They silently took out their weapon as they readied their stance.

Master, please hold back a bit.

…

Qi Huan was lucky to be released after a day of training, but Ye Jiao had to suffer for the entire week after that. Zhan Jing didn"t allow her to have even the slightest rest as he grinded her into training over and over again. It was so tiring that Ye Jiao could barely maintain her focus on the seventh day.

"This should do for your training," Zhan Jing remarked after they had another spar. He stretched his body. "You have improved a lot even though you"re still not a match for me."

Ye Jiao smiled bitterly. "Master, you"re Eon Energy Master rank 4. How do you expect me to match with you?"

"True enough, but there are a lot of geniuses out there who didn"t care too much for the difference in rank. They can defeat people who are at higher ranking than them with ease," Zhan Jing looked at Ye Jiao. "Do not be content with your strength. No matter what, rank 3 is just the beginning."

"Yes, Master."

Zhan Jing took out a book and pa.s.sed it to Ye Jiao. "You"re very good at hiding your presence and launching surprise attacks, so I think this can help you in your training."

"What is this, Master?" Ye Jiao tilted her head as she opened the book. It was filled with the description regarding erasing one"s presence.

"It"s a secret book of Bao Fu Organization. There are a lot of other books and this one is the one I copied back when I"m still outside the four kingdoms," Zhan Jing explained.

The book nearly fell to the ground from Ye Jiao"s hand. "Master, are you sure it"s alright for me to have this book?"

"It"s fine," Zhan Jing waved his hand. "It"s worthless for me because I can only train to the third stage because of my limited talent. Perhaps, you can train into a higher rank since you seem to be very good."

"Thank you very much, Master!"

"Train hard."

"Ah, wait a minute," Ye Jiao recalled the look of the people around them that she saw before. It was weird to see them directing it to Eon Energy Master rank 4 because in the four kingdoms, they were at the peak of the power structure. "Master, can I ask something?"

"Ask away."

"Why did it seem that the people from the Bao Fu Organization hate you?" Ye Jiao asked curiously.

Zhan Jing"s eyes widened for a moment before sighing. "I should know better than anyone that you and Qi Huan would be able to detect it right away. Unlike that blockhead Lu Wan, both of you have keener sense."

Ye Jiao grew up with a lot of people sending her malicious gazes. Even when she was doing missions, there were a lot of villagers who would give her suspicious looks because she was unfamiliar. Compared to Lu Wan, who never thought anything about it, Ye Jiao learned how to differentiate them and recognize the type of gazes that they used.

"Master?"

"It"s a long story, but if I have to cut it short, I"m not from four kingdoms. I come from a much larger and powerful kingdom with a lot of experts at the higher rank compared to me. In that place, rank 4 is just the average power. No, not just average, it"s even lower than average."

Rank 4 is even lower than the average?

Ye Jiao"s eyes widened. In this place, rank 4 was already the strongest existence. But in that place, it seemed that their standard was much higher. She always though that Four Kingdoms were vast, but it didn"t seem to be the case in real life. The world is much larger than what she thought. 

"Here, I"m called the hidden leader while in truth, it"s the same as cutting away my relation to the organization. They can use me for their mission, but if I"m captured or killed, they"ll deny my relations.h.i.+p to the organization."

"That-!"

Zhan Jing patted Ye Jiao"s head. "It might be hard for you to accept, but this is my position in the organization."

"Is there no way out?" Ye Jiao peered to her master.

"No. I already pledged an oath of loyalty to the organization, so I"ll never be able to get out of this place unless I die."

There were numerous oaths or pledges or vows that people could make in this world. They were the promises that one made to an organization, kingdom, or even to other people. Oath of loyalty was one of them and also considered as one of the highest possible oath one could make.

A person could only make an oath of loyalty once in their life. They would be giving their promise to stay loyal until the end of their life to someone. It was usually forced by master to servant in order to make them stay loyal to him until the very end. Some organizations also enforced this oath to make sure that their disciple should never leave them.

The only way for them to be released was only if they gave that oath to a person and that person cut off the ties. That way, they would be able to make the Oath of Loyalty once more to other people or organizations.

If they broke their oath, they would be punished by the Heaven directly. Sometimes, they would die right away, but it also might not kill them directly and only took their power. After all, breaking a promise they made to the Heaven was considered as the greatest crime to the entire world.

"But Master…"

Zhan Jing just smiled and patted Ye Jiao"s head. "I"m not that good of a master, you know? I have my own reason to pick you all as my disciple."

"Whatever reason you have, it"s a fact that you"re helping us, so we"re not going to leave you, Master," Ye Jiao said earnestly. "There must be a way for you to get out of the organization, so we"ll try to find the way out together, Master."

"Yeah."

Seeing the little girl so adamant on having him released from the organization, Zhan Jing"s lips curled up into a smile. He truly had good disciples. It was truly unfortunate of them to meet him when he was entangled with a mess with his own organization.

A mess that could never be cleared out. 

"I"ll also start doing personal missions, Master. Is that fine?"

"It"s good that you can start doing personal missions. Also, you might be able to hone your killing intent the more people you kill. It might not be as much as Qi Huan, but you should be able to gain a considerable amount of them with training."

"Yes, Master, I understand."

"Now, I need to get going," Zhan Jing stood up. "Do not neglect your practice. I"ll come over to see you in a few months" time. Also, do not forget that you three have to gather together for a group mission."

"Group mission, Master?"

"Yes, defeat one Eon Energy Master rank 3."

Ye Jiao: "…" master, do you want to kill us?

Seeing that Zhan Jing had disappeared, Ye Jiao truly wished to scold her master. The difference between Eon Energy Master rank 3 and rank 2 were large. It would be hard for them to defeat even one.

She sighed to herself as she knew that she would have to do it.

They just have a too demanding Master….