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Does the Black Kill Pavilion allow outsiders to join? Or, to put it another way, does the Black Kill Pavilion recruit new members from outside?

The answer is of course.

Black Kill Pavilion couldn't have grown this big on its own.

Does the Black Killing Pavilion have a precedent of turning mission targets into their own people?

It seems... there are some!

Elder Ning began to understand Lu Chen's purpose.

Is he scared?

Realizing that his secret had been discovered by the Black Killing Pavilion, and after assessment, it was determined that he was no match for the Black Killing Pavilion, so he took a different approach and joined us directly.

Mr. Ning felt that his guess was probably correct.

He glanced at Lu Chen, noticing Lu Chen's still smiling expression: "Do you know anything about our Black Kill Pavilion? Why do you want to join us?"

Lu Chen shook his head: "I know absolutely nothing about you. Before today, I had no idea you existed. As for why I joined you..."

He gave an awkward laugh: "I'm afraid of dying, I don't want to die, but I can't find any other way, so I chose to join you!"

Upon hearing this, Elder Ning thought to himself, "Just as I expected."

He guessed right.

Ghost Hand, standing to the side, was stunned by this maneuver.

Is this even possible?

If you can't beat them, join them?

Broken Knife simply lowered his head, seemingly drowsy.

Elder Ning did not directly agree to Lu Chen's request. Instead, he had Ghost Hand serve Lu Chen tea, tending to the wounds on Broken Blade while talking to Lu Chen.

"The Black Kill Pavilion doesn't accept just anyone. If you want to join the Black Kill Pavilion, you must pass the trials and gain our approval."

"Oh, what kind of trial is required? A test of strength?"

While listening to Lu Chen's question, Elder Ning's focus was on the injuries to Can Dao's limbs.

He didn't reply, but frowned.

The injury caused by this tendon-picking technique is a very obvious example of the "butcher's knife" method.

The "dissecting an ox" technique is quite famous in Shahu County because of Wang Hu, the leader of the Green Bamboo Gang.

The technique originated from the Bao family of Mingde Prefecture, and can be cultivated up to the Innate Realm. It is considered a decent sword technique.

However, the sword technique that has been passed down outside is only the content of the Refining Realm and below; it is impossible to cultivate it to the Marrow Cleansing Realm.

Since Lu Chen was able to damage the broken sword like this, he is obviously quite strong.

So what technique did he use to advance to the Marrow Cleansing stage?

Moreover, the "dissecting an ox" technique has a unique characteristic: people who practice this technique are generally broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, especially their arms.

But Lu Chen didn't. Dressed up, he looked rather thin and wiry, more like a scholar than a warrior.

He had never seen this kind of hidden weapon technique before. Or rather, it was everywhere; there was no real technique involved, just sheer strength and accuracy.

This person is strange!

He had absolutely no idea where Lu Chen came from.

"The trial requires you to complete a task. Once completed, you will become a one-star iron-rank assassin."

After carefully treating the wound, Elder Ning stood up and looked at Lu Chen.

Lu Chen was sitting at a stone table in the courtyard, on which a tea set was laid out.

He leisurely surveyed the environment and structure of the entire house and yard.

He didn't drink a drop of the tea on the table.

"No problem, I can start the mission right now!"

Upon hearing Elder Ning's reply, Lu Chen smiled and said.

"Ghost Hand, go and get the second bag from the third row of my bookshelf."

"good!"

Ghost Hand quickly took out a cardboard-wrapped bag.

After taking the bag, Elder Ning sat down opposite Lu Chen, opened it, and took out two documents.

"There are two people here. You can choose which mission to accept. As long as you complete the mission, you can become a member of my Black Kill Pavilion, and the things you were worried about before will not happen."

Lu Chen looked at the document.

The first document clearly bore the name "Hu Bufan".

He opened the file out of curiosity.

It contained some information about Hu Bufan.

He was from Mingde Prefecture, the eldest son of the second branch of the Hu family. He became a Jinshi in the tenth year of the Tianshun reign and came to Shahu County as magistrate in the eleventh year of the Tianshun reign.

Lu Chen calculated that this should be the time when his father, Lu Hai, passed away.

In other words, Hu Bufan has been here for more than five years.

"Marrow Cleansing Realm strength, practicing the Soaring Sky Sword Technique, mission requirement: kill him within seven days using an unexpected method?"

Lu Chen was speechless.

Damn it, are they using me as free labor to send me to my death?

Killing a county magistrate? Am I tired of living?

He remained expressionless as he read through all of Hu Bufan's information before turning to another document.

Li Ziren!

Lu Chen's eyes lit up.

Holy crap?

Did they treat the employer as a task?

A smile played on his lips as he turned to the first page.

Li Ziren, a member of the Li family of Yuncheng, is a prominent family in the neighboring Yuncheng County, which has been in Yuncheng County for over a hundred years.

Twenty years ago, Li Ziren left the Li family and started working in Shahu County. He has only two sons, Li Jun and Li Feng.

Li Jun is the son of the first wife, and is 25 years old now. Li Feng is the son of a concubine whom the first wife married after her death. He died at the age of 19.

Li Ziren's family's secret technique, the Formation-Breaking Spear, has reached the Blood-Changing Realm.

That's right, it's the Breaking Formation Spear that Lu Chen obtained from the Green Bamboo Gang.

This spear technique was passed down in the army. The Li family was rewarded for their meritorious service in the army a hundred years ago, where they killed many barbarians in the northwest. They were given a spear technique that could be cultivated to the Marrow Cleansing Realm, which allowed them to establish themselves in Yuncheng County.

This technique has spread quite widely, but most of them are severely incomplete. The fact that the Li family was able to cultivate this Breaking Formation Spear Technique to the Marrow Cleansing Realm was a great achievement and was rewarded for it.

Lu Chen looked at Elder Ning.

"This Li Ziren..."

Elder Ning chuckled: "You want to ask why I assigned this task to you, right? Heh, since you want to join the Black Kill Pavilion, and Broken Blade has told me about your strength, you're a perfect fit for us, so... you should understand!"

"We at Black Kill Pavilion don't want the mission to fail and damage our reputation, and you don't want to die. We also acknowledge your strength, so let's just make the employer disappear. In my opinion, you're more valuable than him! There's also a mission here related to him, so we'll just assign it to you!"

Lu Chen was somewhat surprised by Elder Ning's directness.

He was a little embarrassed.

"Then I'll take this mission!"

He picked up Li Ziren's documents.

"Perfect timing. The swordsman has gone to invite Li Jun over. Go with him later. With your strength, completing this mission should be easy."

"That's what Elder Ning said."

Lu Chen was surprised by this unexpected joy.

Bring people directly to our door?

Is this for real?

"By the way, Ghost Hand, could you take care of that document I left on my desk? Also, take Broken Knife downstairs to rest. I need to talk to Lu Chen."

Old Ning said to Ghost Hand, who was standing to the side.

Ghost Hand nodded gently, went to the drowsy Broken Blade's side, and helped him up.

Broken Blade's eyes widened slightly, he perked up, glanced at Lu Chen, and followed Ghost Hand away.

"Have some tea!"

After everyone left, Elder Ning invited Lu Chen to have some tea.

Lu Chen glanced at the tea and smiled, "I drank a lot of water on the way here, so I won't drink any now. I'll finish my mission first, and then we can drink some when I get back. We can even replace the tea with wine to celebrate!"

"No rush, the task can be done anytime."

Elder Ning didn't force Lu Chen to drink the tea. After pouring himself a cup, he squinted his eyes, savored it for a moment, and said, "Good tea!"

"How did you acquire such martial arts skills? I'm very curious!"

"Huh? You just practiced and practiced and you got it? To be honest, I didn't put in much effort, it was really easy for me to break through."

Lu Chen was very sincere.

He really didn't try very hard.

It's all thanks to the system's stat allocation!

Old Ning's expression was almost breaking down.

He coughed, took another sip of tea to conceal his expression, and tentatively asked, "I see you must have practiced the art of butchering an ox. May I ask, young friend, what is your relationship with the Bao family?"

"The Bao family? Which Bao family?" Lu Chen was taken aback.

Where did this Bao family come from?

Although he didn't know what Elder Ning meant by asking this, he remained calm, chuckled, and didn't answer.

Seeing this, Elder Ning became even more suspicious, as Lu Chen's identity seemed to be somewhat extraordinary.

A country boy has no way of obtaining cultivation techniques, let alone cultivating them to the Marrow Cleansing Realm.

Moreover, who would believe that a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy could easily defeat a seasoned four-star Iron-Rank assassin from the Black Kill Pavilion?

This is just a county town under Shanyang Prefecture, with a total population of only about 100,000. It is not a capital city like Beijing, where geniuses are as numerous as carp crossing a river.

How could such a genius emerge from such a remote and impoverished place?

He was still a poor boy!

This makes no sense at all.

Practicing martial arts requires eating meat, taking medicine, and soaking in medicinal baths, and not just once or twice, but over a long period of time.

These all cost a lot of money.

None of these are things that ordinary people can afford.

Could it be that he collected fake news?

Is Lu Chen actually a member of a large family?

After thinking about it for a while, Elder Ning ruled out this idea.

At least many people witnessed the incident where Lu Chen was beaten in the street by Li Feng some time ago, so it couldn't have been faked.

What else is possible?

The cultivation techniques are strictly controlled by powerful families. The key parts are either passed down orally and never written down, or they are written in special coded texts. If you don't know how to decipher them, outsiders simply cannot understand them, and forcing yourself to practice them will only lead to your sudden death.

Even if one were to unexpectedly obtain a cultivation technique, it would definitely be incomplete.

Where did Lu Chen get this complete Marrow Cleansing Realm cultivation technique?

If we rule out other possibilities, then he must have someone backing him!

This Lu Chen was cultivated by a powerful force!

Old Ning was somewhat alarmed.

Is this person here to act as a spy for the Black Killing Pavilion?

That doesn't make sense either. What powerful family would be willing to use such a genius as a spy?

He was utterly bewildered.

I can't understand it, I just can't understand it!

Holding the tea, Old Master Ning's mind was racing. His eyes were lowered as he took a small sip of the strong tea, deep in thought.

Ghost Hand must have seen the words he wrote on the table.

It will take some time for the bear and wolfhound to receive the message and then come over.

We must stall him!

The courtyard was quiet for a moment.

Lu Chen suddenly asked, "Elder Ning, I wonder how many people our Black Kill Pavilion has in Shahu County? Well, I accidentally injured Broken Blade, and I thought I shouldn't let things get too tense, so I wanted to buy some gifts for everyone to make things easier in the future. Elder Ning, do you have any recommendations?"

"No need, Broken Blade's problem stems from his own lack of skill, it has nothing to do with you." Old Ning waved his hand and said with a smile, "Please sit down, I reckon the swordsman will be back soon."

"Alright."

The two exchanged a glance, smiled, and then looked away.