Dragonblood: Book 2 of the Coiling Dragon Saga

by Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi

  A favor of an assassin who had reached the Saint level over five thousand years ago was priceless. In Linley’s mind, a thought quickly flashed by — Kill Clayde!

  This entire time, Linley had been bitterly trying to come up with a way to deal with Clayde, or perhaps capture and interrogate him. Linley absolutely had to find out what happened to his mother. But in terms of both personal power and total forces available, Clayde was far more powerful than Linley. He had no way at all to deal with Clayde.

  But now, Linley had a way.

  “If I were to invite this Cesar to go kidnap Clayde, that shouldn’t be too hard.” Linley began to grow excited. This problem had already vexed him for a long time. It seemed as though he could resolve it now.

  “Mr. Cesar, please tell me what you need,” Linley said seriously.

  Cesar said boldly, “Fine, then I’ll just say it outright.”

  Rubbing his goatee, Cesar’s attitude was that of chatting with an old friend. “I don’t have too many hobbies. Women, I like. In the past, killing was also a hobby. But after I got bored of killing, I began to take an interest in art. And naturally, I am most infatuated by stonesculpting, that highest of art forms. Master Linley… last time, I felt a great deal of regret for being unable to purchase your sculpture, ‘Awakening From the Dream’. When I went back, I couldn’t even sleep well at night. After tossing and turning many times, I decided to come pay a visit to you in person.”

  “Mr. Cesar, what are you trying to say?” Linley’s brow was furrowed.

  He had already sold off the sculpture, ‘Awakening From the Dream’. Delia had been the one to buy it.

  “I was hoping to ask you, Master Linley, to help me carve a sculpture.” Cesar looked hopefully at Linley.

  “Easily done.” Linley quickly agreed. Every day, he spent a few hours training himself by carving sculptures. To spend some of that time carving one for Cesar was an easy task.

  “I have a few secondary requirements for this sculpture.” Cesar stood up, looking a bit embarrassed.

  Embarrassed!

  Right, this six-thousand-year-old freak seemed a bit embarrassed.

  “Mr. Cesar, feel free to explain.” Linley looked at Cesar with curiosity.

  Cesar chortled. “Master Linley, I hope… this sculpture will be of me, and will capture my unique aura.”

  “Use you as my model? Your unique aura?” Linley was startled.

  Seeing the look on Linley’s face, Cesar quickly said, “What, will that be hard?”

  “No. That isn’t it.” Linley shook his head, frowning. “Using you as the model is very easy. Having seen you once, it’s easy for me to remember what you look like. I can sculpt you without any problems. But it’s a bit more complicated to imbue the statue with your unique aura as well. This is because every person has a different aura at different times, such as one aura for when they are angry, another when they are happy, still another when they are sad, or wounded, or both angry and sad…”

  Cesar immediately laughed. “Easy. The aura I want… is the aura I have when I am at my manliest.”

  “Your manliest?” Linley looked questioningly at Cesar. “Mr. Cesar, when do you feel you are at your manliest?”

  Linley was beginning to wonder if this six-thousand-year-old freak had some mental problems.

  Cesar said confidently, “I believe that I appear manliest when I am killing someone! My nickname is the ‘King of Killers’ for a reason, you know!”

  Cesar, the ‘King of Killers’!

  This was a very terrifying name in the Yulan continent. Neither the Four Great Empires nor the two major alliances wished to offend this individual. Even the four major assassin’s guilds, if they were forced to nominate the most outstanding person within their ranks, would without question select this person who had dominated the Yulan continent for over five thousand years. Cesar, the ‘King of Killers’.

  A peak-stage Saint-level combatant, and specialized in assassination techniques! In terms of the numbers and complexity of assassination techniques he possessed, he had already reached the pinnacle of perfection in this field. Those people who had received some training from Cesar went so far as to say his assassination techniques had reached the field of artistry.

  The strongest assassin. The King of Killers!

  Although there were quite a few people in the Yulan continent who had become peak-stage Saint-level combatants, such as the Holy Emperor of the Radiant Church, or the Dark Patriarch of the Cult of Shadows, or that Lord Fallen Leaf of the Radiant Church. And of course, the Four Great Empires each had their own peak-stage Saint-levels.

  But without question, every single one of these combatants were wary of the King of Killers, Cesar.

  Because in terms of assassination, none of them could match him.

  The power of the peak-stage Saint-level ‘King of Killers’ was simply too terrifying. Even the Four Great Empires and the two major alliances held fast to the principle of, ‘do not offend him if it is at all possible to avoid doing so’, much less the other major clans of the Yulan continent.

  Originally, during the auction, Cardinal Lampson and Cardinal Guillermo had been prepared to bid an extremely high price so Linley would feel grateful towards them. But upon seeing Cesar make a bid, they were so scared they no longer dared to bid at all. Even that old servant of the Leon clan, Shaw, had been terrified upon seeing Cesar, the King of Killers. Afterwards, only after Delia had wrote Cesar a letter and obtained his agreement did Delia dare to make another bid.

  From this, one could tell how truly formidable this ‘King of Killers’ was.

  Despite him having a medal of a Cardinal for so many years, the Radiant Church had never tried to regain it, and allowed Cesar to use it to deceive others as he pleased without a peep of protest. This was their show of goodwill towards Cesar. As for that Cardinal he had killed, the only thing that could be said was that he died in vain.

  “When killing someone?” Linley shook his head. “Mr. Cesar, I’ve never seen you kill anyone. How would I know what you are like when you kill someone?”

  At present, Linley still knew very little regarding the names of the Saint-level combatants of the Yulan continent. Even the world famous ‘King of Killers’, Cesar, he had never heard of before.

  “That’s easy. I’ll just show you right now what it looks like when I kill someone. Watch carefully.” Cesar’s attitude instantly changed.

  “Wait!” Linley hurriedly shouted out in alarm. “Mr. Cesar, please don’t kill anyone in my home.”

  “Who said I was going to kill someone? I’m just going to show off the way I look when I kill someone, that’s all.”

  Cesar glanced at Linley rather sourly.

  Linley laughed awkwardly.

  In his heart, he was filled with a great deal of trepidation towards this ‘King of Killers’, Cesar. When he heard Cesar say he was going to show how he looked upon killing someone, Linley was instantly frightened and wanted to stop him.

  “Watch carefully. Pretend my target is that flower vase in front of us,” Cesar said calmly.

  Cesar’s previous attitude had totally changed. He became calm. In the blink of an eye, that lazy, indolent aura of Cesar’s totally disappeared, and he became someone without a hint of an aura, without a hint of power, without a hint of emotion.

  Cold. Calm.

  Linley didn’t see anything at all. He only felt the air tremble slightly, and then the flower vase in front of Linley suddenly started to disintegrate, one inch at a time.

  Right. As clearly as can be, the flower vase had disintegrated, one inch at a time!

  This sensation totally stunned Linley.

  “So this is the King of Killers?” In Linley’s mind, he firmly memorized this moment. When making his move, Cesar’s expression hadn’t changed in the slightest. At that moment, Cesar had seemed totally emotionless, and he had coldly stared at everything in the manor. It was as though in his eyes, all life was nothing more than a blade of g
rass.

  Killing someone was nothing more than cutting a blade of grass.

  But Linley also had the feeling that, when Cesar had made his move, all of his attention had been focused on that flower vase.

  As though the entire universe had been reduced to the flower vase, and nothing else had existed.

  That strange, bizarre feeling made Linley want to vomit blood.

  “Did you see it?” Cesar once more became energetic and animated. Casually sitting down, he crossed his legs and looked up at Linley. “What do you think? Do you agree that I look the manliest at that type of moment? I’ve relied on this technique to win the hearts of quite a few young ladies, you know.”

  20

  Poison

  Linley firmly etched this scene into his mind.

  Faced with Cesar’s questions, Linley nodded. “Very charismatic. I’ve already committed that scene to memory. However, I’m afraid it will be quite difficult for me to make a carving on the same level of ‘Awakening From the Dream’ again.”

  A ‘Masterpiece’ level sculpture appearing in the world was a rare event indeed.

  In the past, Linley had been thoroughly heartbroken, and had poured all of his emotions into that carving, allowing himself to forget everything else in the world and attain that most mysterious of states. Only then was he able to complete such a sculpture. For him, in his current state, to attempt to carve another sculpture of that level was virtually impossible.

  “As long as you, Master Linley, are the sculptor, I’ll be satisfied. I don’t ask that it be on the same level as ‘Awakening From the Dream’, only that it is on the same level as most master-level sculptures,” Cesar said with a laugh.

  Linley nodded.

  If that was the case, Linley had total confidence in his abilities.

  “Mr. Cesar, how about this. I will produce the sculpture you requested in about a month. What do you say?” Actually, Linley only needed three days, but he wanted to give himself sufficient time.

  Cesar nodded. “Alright. One month is a very short period of time. I’m not in a hurry. I have all the time in the world. Haha.”

  “Master Linley, if you have anything you want me to help with, feel free to tell me. As long as I can accomplish it, I will definitely do it for you,” Cesar said magnanimously.

  Linley couldn’t help but feel rather nervous.

  With Patterson killed by him, the only target in Linley’s mind now was Clayde. To kill or to capture Clayde wasn’t something which Linley was currently capable of.

  But Cesar, the King of Killers, definitely was capable!

  “Mr. Cesar, if I were to ask you to capture one of the rulers of a kingdom belonging to the Holy Union, would you agree?” Linley resisted the urge to be rash, and instead first sounded Cesar out.

  Cesar was startled. He stared questioningly at Linley. “Capture a king?”

  Linley nodded heavily. “Yes.”

  Cesar frowned. After a short pause, he looked at Linley. “How about this. Let me ask you something first. If I were to help you capture this ruler, would you kill him?”

  “Most likely!” Linley replied honestly.

  Lying to a ‘King of Killers’ would most likely be quite unwise. As for killing Clayde, if his mother really had died in Clayde’s hands, how could Linley not seek vengeance?

  Linley had a dark premonition. There had been no trace of his mother for so many years. Most likely, she was dead, or perhaps imprisoned somewhere. No matter what the case, he would seek vengeance for his mother.

  “Kill a king?” Cesar looked at Linley.

  Linley looked back with hope in his eyes.

  In Cesar’s heart, he understood that although in terms of status, a Cardinal was somewhat more important than a King, the impact caused by the murder of a King would be greater than that caused by the murder of a Cardinal.

  A dead Cardinal could instantly be replaced by the Radiant Church.

  But the death of a King would cause countless battles and strife within a kingdom. At the same time, the Radiant Church would yet again be unhappy with him.

  “This request of yours… forgive me for being unable to fulfill it.” Cesar looked seriously at Linley. “Linley, the impact caused by the murder of a King is too great. And, this entire time, the Radiant Church has treated me quite well. I don’t wish to set the Radiant Church and my Sabre organization up as enemies just for the sake of a sculpture.”

  Behind Cesar, the King of Killers, was the Saber organization, one of the four great assassin’s guilds.

  Cesar knew what was important and what was not.

  A single sculpture wasn’t worth allowing cracks to appear in the friendly relationship between himself and the Radiant Church. All these years, the Radiant Church had treated him with courtesy, something Cesar understood in his heart. He couldn’t be a selfish wolf who repaid the Church’s kindness by acting against one of their kings.

  “Change your request,” Cesar said apologetically.

  Linley suddenly felt powerless. Perhaps in terms of power, Cesar didn’t care about Clayde at all, but Clayde’s status had convinced Cesar to stay his hand.

  Linley forced himself to remain calm.

  “Mr. Cesar, I would like to ask, do you have any method by which I, a magus of the seventh rank, can kill a combatant of the ninth rank,” Linley asked.

  Cesar glanced at Linley. After a short silence, he said, “I have quite a few assassination methods. But one which would allow a magus of the seventh rank to assassinate a combatant of the ninth rank? This… is challenging.” As he spoke, Cesar began to consider this question. In the mind of this ‘King of Killers’ who hadn’t killed anyone in a long time, one assassination method after another began to speed through his mind.

  Linley didn’t dare to disrupt Cesar’s train of though. He stood there quietly.

  Suddenly, Cesar turned to look at Linley. “The combatant of the ninth rank, would this be a warrior or a magus? If this person is a magus, I have a method.”

  “Warrior,” Linley immediately said.

  Dealing with a warrior and dealing with a magus required totally different methods. Hearing Linley explain that this was a warrior of the ninth rank, Cesar’s head began to hurt.

  Linley could only wait there urgently.

  “Oh. I have an idea.” Cesar’s eyes suddenly lit up, and he turned to Linley. “Haha, a long time ago, I stumbled upon this method by accident. I didn’t imagine that eight hundred years later, I’d still remember it.”

  “What method?” Linley immediately grew excited.

  Heavens!

  This King of Killers actually had a way for a magus of the seventh rank to kill a warrior of the ninth rank.

  “The King of Killers is full of assassination techniques. Indeed, he knows far more than I do in this field. Although, if I lived for five thousand more years, perhaps I would still know more than him.” Doehring Cowart’s voice rang out in Linley’s mind.

  Linley couldn’t help but force a laugh. Grandpa Doehring never liked admitting inferiority to anyone.

  “The method is…” Cesar smiled at Linley. “Using poison!”

  “Using poison?”

  Linley was startled. He thought it must’ve been some sort of good method… but a king’s food was always tasted and tested. How could using poison be effective?

  “Master Linley, don’t underestimate the power of poison. The art of using poison is an extremely deep, subtle method of assassination. This world is filled with countless ingredients, which can be used to make countless types of poisons. Who in this world can dare say that he knows all of the poisons in the world? Or that he can detect any sort of poison?”

  Linley couldn’t help but nod.

  He agreed with this. For example, Doehring Cowart knew about using Blueheart Grass to counteract the forceful effects of dragon’s blood.

  “This poison that I’m talking about was specially designed for use against warriors. As long as the warrior is not at
the Saint level, upon being affected by this poison, his strength will decrease by more than 90%. What’s more, to this very day, there’s been no antidote invented for this poison. Only by spending a year of time can one slowly use his battle-qi to purge the poison from his system.” Cesar clearly had a very clear memory regarding this poison. “And this poison is both odorless and tasteless. There’s no way to detect it at all. Only after having been poisoned would one realize that one had ingested it.”

  Less than 10% of strength would remain? No way to test for it?

  Linley’s eyes lit up.

  Clayde was nothing more than a warrior of the ninth rank. Once he was impacted by this poison, based on Linley’s current level of power, wouldn’t he be able to easily trample Clayde into the ground?

  “Do you have this poison, Mr. Cesar?” Linley quickly asked.

  Linley could guess that this poison was extremely rare and valuable. That was without question. A poison which was effective against all warriors short of the Saint level, and which was odorless, tasteless, and undetectable, would of course rare and precious. If not, all the warriors in the world would be dead already. “Master Linley, didn’t you hear what I just said? This is something I recalled learning about eight hundred years ago. I just glanced at that recipe back then. After all, this poison was of no use or threat to me.” Cesar frowned. “I only know this poison was primarily formed from eight major ingredients, but I don’t recall the exact ingredients clearly.”

  “You don’t remember?” Linley was so frantic, he could kill someone.

  Cesar laughed towards Linley. “Master Linley, don’t worry. Although I’m not sure, the recipe for this poison was stored within my organization long ago. I can order some people to make a copy of it and bring it to me. However, the base of my Saber organization is in a place with very few people. From here to there and back, most likely it would take a month or two of time.”

  A month or two. That was acceptable!

  Linley nodded towards Cesar. “Mr. Cesar, might I ask if your organization has any of this poison already in stock?” Linley didn’t want to waste time looking for ingredients to mix the potion.