John watched the scene before him in silence, giving them the respect they deserved in their final moments. While he did consider the captain an enemy and wanted his death, he still allowed him and his woman to go out together, their love and dignity intact.
The group of assassins behind watched the scene before them with mixed expressions. Some had tears in their eyes, while others looked on at John with anger and hate. John ignored those stares, as their anger was beneath his notice.
A woman suddenly stepped forward towards the bodies, uncaring about John or what he did to her. She touched both bodies, collecting them into her spatial ring, before her gaze shifted towards John.
"I'm going to bury them together. If you have a problem with that, just kill me now."
John raised one eyebrow at her words, as well as her unflinching resolve, and nodded his head.
"Go ahead," he replied, allowing her to leave with the bodies.
The woman walked by John, not giving him a second glance. He allowed her to go, as his gaze shifted back towards the group of assassins that stood before him.
Their cultivations ranged from Mist Creation to Core Formation. While this level of strength was pathetic in the Holy Lands, it was quite respectable in these lands. Just getting to Core Formation in John's homelands was an accomplishment that only one in a million was able to achieve.
"So who is your leader?" John asked the group. "You addressed that man as captain, but surely you have a leader? Why has he not appeared?"
The group remained silent as they stared at John. Silence filled the cave for a moment.
"Just kill us already. You expect us to sell out our leader? Forget about it," one of the men in the group eventually replied.
The rest nodded their heads in agreement, their resolves firmed together. John nodded his head in approval at their attitudes. If they had sold out their leader, he would have killed them instantly, as they would have revealed they valued their own lives more than those around them. Such people weren't worthy of living.
John's consciousness suddenly flared, as his instincts kicked into high alert. His power flared outwards, and he was just about to dodge to the side when he decided not to do so at the very last moment.
Peng!
A metallic sound boomed within the cave, as the walls trembled slightly from the collision that had just taken place. The force of the collision sent a slight shockwave through the hall, knocking the nearby assassins off their feet.
They slowly clamored back to their feet and took in the site before them. Their eyes opened wide in shock at what they saw.
John stood there motionlessly, as an elderly looking man stood directly behind him. A dagger was in the elderly man's hands, and was pressed against John's back between the shoulderblades.
The assassins all had their eyes light up in hopeful optimism as they saw who had arrived. However, that optimism quickly dimmed as they saw the next scene play out.
John smiled over his shoulder as he stared at the Elderly man behind him. The man's face turned from an emotionless face to one of slight grimness as he noticed John's gaze. He instantly retreated, putting some distance between himself and John.
John turned around and faced the man, who had shown up without any warning. The man's cultivation was at the Meridian Forging Realm, and John could instantly tell that this was the assassin guild leader.
His stealth and assassination arts were incredibly impressive, and even John had only noticed his presence at the last moment. While he would have been able to dodge the attack in time, he decided not to do so, as a display of the power difference between him and the man.
The dagger had exploded onto his back with incredible speed and precision, which would have plunged deep into the flesh of any other Meridian Forging cultivator. However, John's body toughness was far above anything the elderly man had come across before, and the dagger couldn't even scratch the surface of his skin.
"Who are you?" the elderly man asked with a cold voice. His gaze swept across the group of assassins behind John, and noticed several of them lying on the floor, dead. His gaze turned slightly angry at the sight, but his aura remained calm and undisturbed.
"Not bad," John complimented the man. "Even when you see your underlings dead before you, you are able to maintain your composure. As expected of the leader of such a guild."
The man ignored John's compliment as his eyes swept over the group once more. He immediately noticed that several members were missing.
John could tell what the man was thinking, and decided to clear up the situation from the start.
"If you're looking for your captain, he's dead. Along with his woman," John explained.
The man's expression turned dark as he heard this, and his aura quickly disappeared. At the same time, he disappeared from John's vision, causing John to raise his eyebrows once again in surprise.
Peng!
A metallic sound rang out once more as John's hand caught a dagger in front of his face.
"Going straight for the eyes? You're quite brutal," John exclaimed as he kicked his leg out.
Bang!
His leg collided with thin air, but it made a loud sound as the eldelry man was suddenly revealed to all once more. His body collided violently against the cave wall, causing him to spew out blood. The man struggled to get up, but collapsed to the ground as the force from John's kick had been incredibly strong.
John observed the man for a moment before he once again nodded his head in approval.
"That stealth art of yours was actually quite impressive. You seemed to combine a soul illusion art with strange movements to disappear from sight. That, combined with your speed and ability to conceal your aura is an incredibly deadly combo against anyone in the same realm as you. Unfortunately, you went against me."
"Leader," several of the assassins cried out as they ran towards the elderly man. Several of them helped him up, and one gave him a low tier healing pill. The man accepted their aide, before he gazed at John once more.
"Who are you?" the man asked once more. "With your power, if you wanted me and everyone else here dead, we would be dead already. What are your intentions with my guild?"
"You'll get to find out who I am after you answer this one question of mine," John replied. "Are you willing to have your assassin guild become a subordinate of my clan?"
