The Killing

In the center of Tian Ruo City, there was a martial arts stage that had been built over twenty years ago. At that time, the major orthodox sects of the White Sect held public martial arts contests here.

In its heyday, Tian Ruo City was the prefectural city of Tian Ge Prefecture and was quite a famous city, flourishing in both civil and military affairs. But in recent years, as the government grew greedy and the underworld rose, the sprawling martial arts stage, where martial artists used to compete, had been left unused for many years.

Yet today, this square stone platform had once again attracted a crowd to watch.

Because executions were about to take place.

Do not doubt people's morbid curiosity, no matter the era.

On this day, the sky was gloomy and cold winds blew, as if it would snow at any moment.

On the stone stage, six men were tied up, including an old man with white hair. All of them looked haggard, with bloodstains on their prisoner's clothes, apparently having suffered untold tortures.

They had vacant looks in their eyes, too tired or perhaps too tormented to speak.

Behind them stood six executioners, seemingly ready to behead the six men before the audience at any moment.

Unfortunately, the sky today was dark and overcast.

At this hour, shortly after noon, no one knew exactly when the executions would take place.

Unable to restrain his curiosity, Zhang San, who had only promised to take a quick look, stood at the back of the crowd with Wang Xiaoer, surveying from afar the martial arts stage that now served as an execution ground, some twenty years later.

However, Wang Xiaoer was nowhere to be seen on the cart behind Zhang San. Who knew where the mischievous child had gone.

Zhang San noticed the crowd was growing by the minute, already numbering a few hundred people. He thought to himself, people sure love spectacle these days. Is watching an execution really so entertaining?

Back when I was killing people with Master every day, it made me sick.

"Master, I'm back!" An excited Wang Xiaoer ran back from the crowd and said to Zhang San.

Zhang San said directly, "Get on the cart, we're leaving."

Wang Xiaoer asked in puzzlement, "Master, don't you want to know everything I found out?"

Zhang San took a look at Wang Xiaoer and said, "Not interested."

But Wang Xiaoer had already started talking on his own: "Those who are about to be executed are the assassins who tried to assassinate the Magistrate in the government building a few days ago. I heard they were from some 'Green Sword Sect'."

Zhang San's footsteps halted briefly. The name sounded very familiar. He seemed to have heard it from his master before. "Such a familiar name. It was one of the orthodox sects back in the day, I suppose. Didn't expect there were still inheritors. An open execution in the city means they didn't catch all of the assassins that day."

Zhang San was implying that today's execution stand was clearly a trap.

Wang Xiaoer immediately admired, "Master, you and I think exactly alike! They said there were over thirty assassins total. Six who got caught except for that old guy are all at the Martial Apprentice realm. As for those who got away, I heard they were all at the Martial Master realm. The Magistrate set up an execution stand in the city, obviously to lure the Green Sword Sect masters to come rescue them."

Zhang San said, "Then that means there is even less to see here. Let's go."

Wang Xiaoer said, "Why, Master?"

Zhang San said, "Are you dumb? Something even you have figured out clearly, those twenty-odd Martial Masters of Green Sword Sect can't be so stupid as to not see it too? Tian Ruo City has thousands of government troops. I took a rough look just now, many people in the crowd weren't even watching the stage, but kept looking around instead. Clearly the Magistrate has made preparations."

Wang Xiaoer said, "But Master, according to the rumors, those twenty-odd escaped people from Green Sword Sect are all at the Martial Master realm. Although the government troops have a thousand men, just look around..."

As he spoke, Wang Xiaoer gestured at the buildings all around, his meaning very clear.

Being in the center of Tian Ruo City, they were surrounded by dense streets. And right now, with several hundred people already crammed together, even if the government troops had thousands, it would be impossible for them to deploy properly in such a congested space.

Wang Xiaoer guessed, "So Master, I actually feel that since the government can only mobilize very limited manpower in this terrain, if I were from Green Sword Sect, I would take the chance and go all out."

Zhang San scoffed and scolded in a low voice, "Quit judging people by their looks! And, even if the troops can't spread out here, why would the Magistrate gather the entire army here? Normally, for a trained government force of a thousand men, fifty per squad, each squad led by a Junior Martial Master... "

Before Zhang San could finish, Wang Xiaoer immediately understood.

That's right. Why gather the entire thousand-man army here?

With the enemy having just twenty-odd people, they only needed to plant those Martial Master squad leaders among the crowd, lying in ambush for the right moment.

Just as Master said, there were government men mixed into the crowd. They were probably those Martial Masters from the army squads.

Wang Xiaoer took another look around and thought, although the army can't deploy, there are so many multi-story buildings around, plenty of places to station archers.

Zhang San added, "Also, twenty-odd Martial Masters represent what? They represent the legacy of the sect. Especially for orthodox sects like Green Sword Sect, like your late master, they value legacy the most. The various orthodox sects have declined for so many years. If twenty-odd Martial Masters die all at once, it may mean the end of Green Sword Sect."

After hearing all this, Wang Xiaoer suddenly understood. Looking at those few people on the execution stand, especially the white-haired old man, he sighed.

Zhang San asked, "What are you sighing for?"

Wang Xiaoer said, "I just feel like they're not bad people. Will really no one come save them?"

Zhang San stated bluntly, "Quit judging people by their looks! Also, if someone was coming to rescue them, I'd eat my he... "

Before he could finish speaking, over twenty men in green robes and carrying longswords descended from the sky!

In Zhang San's eyes, those men had indeed reached the Martial Master level.

So Zhang San froze in shock.

Something's not right.

There must be some mistake!

Wang Xiaoer helpfully asked, "Master, you were just saying something about eating your what?"

In response, Wang Xiaoer received a punch the size of a sandbag!

While Wang Xiaoer was crouching on the ground, furiously rubbing his small head, Zhang San carefully observed the surroundings again. He still believed that people from the Green Sword Sect, an orthodox sect, should not appear in this kind of situation.

It was clearly a trap. So why come?

Could it be that Green Sword Sect had someone on the level of Xiu Wangchou, whose martial arts not only reached the peak of Martial Master, but could also fight a Martial Grandmaster for a few rounds? Only then would they dare to come rescue people.

But Zhang San immediately rejected this speculation. After all, even for a large prefectural city, at most they could find twenty-odd Junior or mid-stage Martial Masters among the thousand-man army troops.

If Green Sword Sect really had someone on the level of Xiu Wangchou or Hei Shanke, plus twenty-odd other Martial Masters, their assassination attempt on a Magistrate probably would have succeeded, or at least they could have easily escaped without six people getting caught.

Back to the original question, why would Green Sword Sect come?

Recklessness and suicide are two different concepts, right?