During the Qin Dynasty, he was in charge of the net.

Li Ji never expected to see an acquaintance during his promotion ceremony to the highest rank.

The underground palace was cold and desolate, with long lamps on the stone walls flickering with candlelight.

Layer upon layer of assassins stood with their heads bowed on either side, while a black stone platform stood before them.

Li Ji stood quietly at the center of the altar, awaiting the arrival of the leader of the Luo Wang organization before the ascension ceremony would begin.

At that moment, footsteps came from Li Ji's right.

The newcomer was dressed in blue, with tight-fitting leggings, a blue headband with a red ribbon casually tying his black hair, and two long swords hanging at his waist. He appeared to be in his thirties.

Black and white Xuanjian.

The last time the two met must have been three years ago.

He would never forget that it was Hei Bai Xuan Jian who brought him to Luo Wang back then.

He did not resent Xuan Jian for bringing him into this cold-blooded and ruthless organization.

In his previous life, he was an orphan. In this chaotic world full of dangers, no one could be relied upon except his own strength.

The Net gave him this power.

Xuan Jian stopped a few steps away from Li Ji, his gaze sweeping across the altar in front of him:

"I never imagined that the little beggar from back then would become a top-tier scholar."

Xuan Jian always remembered the shocking scene he witnessed during a mission years ago.

A ragged, teenager was fighting with a hungry dog ​​for a leftover meal thrown away by a wealthy family.

That dog was starving and extremely possessive of its food; it would bare its teeth at anyone who passed by.

The boy, however, went even crazier, tearing at a hungry dog ​​over a little leftover food.

finally.

The dog lay in a pool of blood, while the child survived.

Having witnessed all of this, he took the child back to the Net.

Eleven years have passed in the blink of an eye, and that child has become the top-ranking member of the Luo Wang organization.

Li Ji glanced at Xuan Jian beside him, noticing the deep weariness on his body; he must have rushed back to Luo Wang overnight.

"If it weren't for you back then, that little beggar might have died out there."

Li Ji casually mentioned the embarrassing moment when he traveled back in time.

"I didn't intend to save you in the first place. I'm not a good person, and the Net isn't a good place either."

Xuan Jian touched his nose. Back then, he only admired the ruthlessness in that child's bones and never thought about how far that child could go in the Luo Wang organization.

Upon hearing Xuan Jian's answer, Li Ji gave Xuan Jian a deep look and then said:

"No matter what, I owe you a favor."

Xuan Jian shrugged upon hearing this, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with Li Ji's words.

Little did he know how much Li Ji's favor would help him in the near future.

During their conversation.

Four sets of footsteps, some steady, some light, some ghostly, slowly approached from the depths of the underground palace.

The first to arrive was Yanri.

He wore a Qin-style black iron battle armor, with the Yue King's Eight Swords hanging at his waist. His entire face was covered by an iron mask, with only a pair of jet-black eyes exposed.

Following closely behind was Zhen Gang.

His upper body was completely naked, his muscles were sharply defined, and his bronze skin was covered with scars of varying depths. He wore tight trousers and carried a broad sword on his back. Standing there, he looked like a human weapon.

Then two figures arrived side by side.

The man was tall and slender, dressed in black, with a somber and cold expression, and surrounded by a dark and sinister aura.

The woman was slender and graceful, her clothes adorned with subtle, dark patterns, and her eyes held a deep, enigmatic light, as if she possessed the ability to bewitch and confuse.

The two were the only pair of assassins within the Luo Wang organization to become husband and wife.

The man wielded the Eight Swords of Yue to destroy souls, while the woman wielded the Eight Swords of Yue to transform spirits. The two stood side by side, their auras intertwined, yet their eyes held no tenderness like that of ordinary couples, only ruthlessness and indifference.

In the blink of an eye, all the first-class Heavenly Ones were in place, arranged according to their rank.

The position of the obscured sun is one position to the left, and the position of the dark slash is one position to the right.

Zhen Gang is second from the left, while Mi Hun Zhuan Po is second from the right.

Li Ji, on the other hand, stood alone below the high platform, wearing a cold jade mask.

Upon inspection today, it turns out that the Eight Swords of King Yue have already been completed, including six of them: Yan Ri, Xuan Jian, Zheng Gang, Mie Hun, Zhuan Po, and Duan Shui.

The armor, concealing the sun, exudes a subdued aura; the sharp edge of the Xuanjian sword is hidden, while the true strength and ferocity are fully revealed; the spirit and soul are intertwined, yin and yang are interdependent.

The air around Li Ji was thick with moisture, making the cold water feel even colder.

The six first-class Heavenly Beings released their auras without any restraint, causing the oppressive feeling in the underground palace hall to rise steadily.

The various assassins from the Luo Wang organization below looked at the six top killers in front of them, their hearts filled with fear, excitement, or awe.

Normally, they rarely even get to see a single person of the highest rank, so today, being in the same room with six of them puts them under immense pressure.

The six top-ranking Heavenly-level assassins had all arrived, and the densely packed assassins of the Luo Wang (Net of Heaven) stood solemnly. Everything was ready, except for the mysterious and unpredictable Lord of Luo Wang, who was still nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, all was quiet inside the underground palace, and the wind stopped abruptly.

There was no one in sight, no footsteps, and no warning whatsoever.

next moment.

The domed stone walls trembled slightly, and the boundless shadows began to flow, surge, and overlap, finally transforming into a huge, spiderweb-like black shadow covering hundreds of feet above everyone's heads.

A flat, monotone voice came from all directions, without origin or direction.

No one could even tell whether the sound came from the spider webs overhead or from deep underground.

But the voice lingered in everyone's ears, cold and indifferent.

"A net that can penetrate anywhere in the world."

As the voice rang out, the thousands of assassins below all ducked to the ground, their heads buried deep inside.

"Duan Shui has strictly adhered to the rules of the network and has performed excellent deeds. Today, he is given a baptism of his name and bestowed with the full seven-eyed secret pattern, thus establishing him as a first-class rank in the Heavenly Class."

As soon as the words were spoken, shadows surged above everyone's heads, and spider webs swayed gently.

Everyone understood that this was the intention of the leader of the Net.

Li Ji's promotion ceremony to the first rank of Heaven was thus initiated.

Li Ji slowly walked up to the high platform, inserted the Broken Water Sword into the platform, and then knelt on one knee.

On the high platform, an elderly man with white hair and a long beard came to Li Ji and began the first step of the ceremony: the name-severing baptism.

The so-called "name-severing baptism" means that all files related to Li Ji will be erased, and from then on, the name Jian Qi will no longer exist; only Duan Shui will remain. At the same time, Li Ji's past experiences of joining Luo Wang will be destroyed, and everything about his past, including his so-called identity, will vanish into thin air.

When Li Ji saw the long-bearded old man burn the relevant files and the token engraved with Jian Qi's name, a moment of bewilderment flashed in his eyes, but he quickly regained his composure.

Then Li Ji took off his shirt and began the second step of the ceremony: branding the seven-eyed mark.

For ordinary web-hunters, a spider is merely a marker, usually hidden in the shadows of clothing.

For those of the highest rank, spiders must be tattooed on their bodies, not only as a symbol of status but also to stimulate their blood and energy, and even to create a secret connection between them.

The entire back of the creature, covered in spiderwebs and shadows, is adorned with patterns of nocturnal spiders, indicating it is a large, nocturnal spider.

On both of Hei Bai Xuan Jian's shoulders, a Crimson Blood Spider with blood-red fur intertwined with black and red.

Zhen Gang had a giant, bone-cracking spider on his chest, with ten legs like blades, and it was extremely cold and ferocious.

The Soul-Transforming Spider and the Soul-Destroying Spider are respectively marked on the neck and waist, with the Soul-Seizing Silk-Spitting Spider and the Bone-Rotting Soil Spider. One is a fine-legged, thousand-silk poisonous spider, and the other is a swampy, rotten soil hunting spider.

The spider given to Li Jiwen was also rarely seen among the top-ranked Heavenly Class spiders. It was full of power, just like the other top-ranked Heavenly Class spiders, but it was not the usual three- or five-eyed spider; instead, it had seven eyes.

This is a true Seven-Eyed Frost Spider. Starting from Li Ji's right scapula, a half-crouched spider head is hidden between the scapulae. The entire secret pattern originates from the right scapula, with dark raven-blue patterns spreading out in layers.

The spider's main body is coiled in the middle of its right arm, with ten long legs extending outwards and in a staggered pattern. The five legs on the left are long and sharp, while the five legs on the right are thicker and slightly curled up.

There are seven spider eyes, four of which are located on the back of Li Ji's right wrist, and the other three are located on the back of his right hand.

If Li Ji activated his true energy, he could see the Seven-Eyed Frost Spiders from his shoulder blades to the back of his hands glowing with a faint blue light.