A big dumb oaf, a mumbling old man, a little lunatic, and finally a complete fool.
Is this kind of lineup really reliable?
Li Dao shook his head, opened the registration book in his hand, and glanced at the information on the remaining three individuals.
“Name: Little Lunatic”
“Gender: Male”
“Age: 17”
“Crime: Injuring the Jinyiwei, resisting arrest”
“Cultivation: None”
“Details: Fast, agile, iron-like muscles and bones, sharp fingernails”
“Name: Old Ghost”
“Gender: Male”
“Age: 101”
“Crime: Selling fake medicine, secretly storing deadly poison, practicing medicine without a license”
“Cultivation: First Grade Postnatal”
“Details: Skilled in medicine, poison arts, and health preservation”
“Name: Xu Hu”
“Gender: Male”
“Age: 12”
“Crime: Resisting arrest, murder”
“Cultivation: Ninth Grade Postnatal”
“Details: Innate divine strength”
In addition to this information, there were special notes recorded in the registry about the three individuals.
According to the notes, Little Lunatic was originally just an ordinary child, but was captured by an exotic cultivator and turned into a Gu Child through cruel practices. His body was forever altered, and his mind also became unstable due to the perverse methods used.
The reason he was imprisoned here was because the cultivator who created him released him to fight against the Jinyiwei when he was captured. The cultivator was killed on the spot, and with no one left to control him, Little Lunatic was caught and brought here.
When he read the notes on Old Ghost, Li Dao was even more surprised.
Old Ghost was originally just a regular disciple of the Medicine King Valley. After saving someone once, he became obsessed with strange and difficult medical cases, eventually descending into madness.
There was also an explanation for his First Grade Postnatal cultivation level.
Old Ghost practiced a technique from Medicine King Valley that was easy to learn but hard to master. It didn’t give him great power but focused on strengthening the body and prolonging life.
So even though he had reached a high level, he didn’t have much actual combat strength and relied solely on poison. However, he also had a bad habit — he never used poison to kill.
Because of his eccentric and solitary ways, the authorities feared he might one day cause a major incident with his poisons. Coupled with the fact that he once offended an influential figure while treating someone, he ended up imprisoned.
As for the last one, Xu Hu…
Li Dao glanced at the name field, then looked at the towering, muscular boy beside him.
Twelve years old?
Whose twelve-year-old child is 2.5 meters tall?
But the Jinyiwei were the ones who investigated this information, so it likely wasn’t wrong.
With physical attributes like that, it was like he was born for greatness.
According to the notes, Xu Hu was an orphan. He was born so large that his mother died giving birth, and his father abandoned him in the wilderness out of rage.
Instead of dying, Xu Hu was taken in and raised by a tigress.
His surname “Xu” came from his father, and “Hu” (Tiger) because he was raised by one.
Possibly due to drinking tiger’s milk and his natural talent, by the age of twelve he had already developed such a massive physique.
He ended up here because his tigress mother was killed by a group of hunters.
Enraged, Xu Hu killed all the hunters to avenge her.
After the Jinyiwei learned of the incident, they captured him.
His cultivation level was assigned based on the small amount of true energy detected within him.
As for how he developed true energy, no one knew.
After reading through the entire registry, Li Dao felt that apart from Shen San, the rest were basically three problem children.
But even though they were troublemakers, they were also talented individuals.
Little Lunatic, despite being a Gu Child with mental issues, was lucky enough to retain some intelligence — the fact that he feared Li Dao said as much.
Due to his transformed body, he had strong bones and iron-like muscles, and was extremely fast. Even Shen San, with his sixth-grade postnatal cultivation and skill in lightness techniques, couldn’t easily shake him off.
If he had proper cultivation aptitude, his future prospects would be immense.
Old Ghost needed no further explanation.
Living over a hundred years — that’s considered a sage in his previous life.
They say the older you are, the trickier you get. Though odd and mumbling, he was undoubtedly the most knowledgeable among them.
Xu Hu didn’t even need to be mentioned.
A gift straight from the heavens — his only misfortune was his lowly origin.
If Xu Hu had his background and training, with that physique at age twelve, he’d be the perfect battlefield general.
If he had even a little talent for cultivation, he’d be a war machine.
And with himself — the cheat-like presence — in the mix…
Li Dao couldn’t help but admire Wei Yun. How did he manage to put together such a lineup?
The so-called Che Guevara Cheng wasn’t lying — this prison really was full of talent.
As for the last one, Shen San…
Li Dao looked at the still shell-shocked big fool and shook his head. The guy looked more like a mascot.
Wait no — having him around didn’t feel lucky at all.
Barely counted as an ornament.
“Alright, Fatty, stop dwelling on why you got caught. Instead of worrying about that, you’d be better off thinking about how to get out of Death Row Camp.”
Old Ghost couldn’t take it anymore and finally spoke up with a reminder.
Shen San snapped out of it and gave Wei Yun a resentful look, ultimately resigning himself to bad luck.
Li Dao put down the registry and looked up. “Any missions right now?”
Wei Yun was a bit surprised. “You five just got thrown together — you sure you don’t want some time to get used to each other?”
Li Dao glanced at the other four, hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. “No need. Better to jump straight in than sharpen the blade here.”
“Alright then.”
Wei Yun nodded. “As it happens, I’ve got something urgent that needs doing.”
“What is it?”
“Assassinate the third prince of the Luoyun Tribe.”
“Huh?”
A moment later, after Wei Yun’s explanation, the group understood the mission.
Although the Northern Barbarians were technically a single dynasty, internally they were a patchwork of large and small tribes, more like a confederation than a unified empire.
The relationships between the tribes varied — some good, some bad.
Right now, the main force targeting Great Qian was a large tribe within the Northern Barbarians — the Tamu Tribe.
The reason they were targeting Great Qian was twofold: one, because winter was approaching and the Tamu Tribe wanted to raid Great Qian for supplies; and two, because the Tamu Tribe bordered Qian territory and there had been countless skirmishes over time, creating deep resentment.
The target of the assassination — the third prince of the Luoyun Tribe — had been chosen because Great Qian had intelligence that the Tamu Tribe was attempting to rope in the Luoyun Tribe for a joint campaign against Qian.
The third prince of Luoyun was the one handling the negotiations.
Due to the urgency of the matter, there wasn’t enough time to dispatch personnel from within the kingdom.
So they had to select operatives from the frontier military camps.
At the same time, they couldn’t let the Luoyun or Tamu tribes know that Qian was behind the assassination, meaning regular military couldn’t act directly.
This made the condemned prisoners from the Death Row Camp the perfect choice for the mission.
Changgu Town was located near the route the Luoyun third prince would pass through, which was why the mission landed in Wei Yun’s hands.
“Luoyun and Wei Yun,”
Shen San couldn’t help but laugh. “Commander Wei, sounds like that tribe’s your natural nemesis.”
Wei Yun ignored him and turned to Li Dao. “So? Are you taking this mission?”
“What happens if we say no?”
“Nothing,” Wei Yun said casually. “This was a last-minute mission. Even if you refuse, no one would blame me. But if you succeed, I might earn some credit.”
Li Dao asked casually, “Do you know what kind of guards the Luoyun third prince has with him?”
“Yes.”
Wei Yun nodded and explained, “Since the Luoyun Tribe also decided to hold the talks on short notice, he likely doesn’t have many elites with him. At best, a few. But there are a lot of ordinary soldiers — I’ve found out he’s traveling with at least 300 troops.”
Not many elites?
At least 300 troops?
Li Dao froze for a moment — was this a gift-wrapped mission?
For someone like him, killing a bunch of ordinary soldiers was much easier — and far more rewarding — than assassinating a top-tier expert.
If the intel was accurate, then this mission was tailor-made for him.
“Too hard? Well, it is just the five of you going up against 300 people,” Wei Yun said, thinking Li Dao was hesitating.
“Wait. We’ll take it,” Li Dao suddenly said.
“Hm? You’re accepting?”
“Yeah.”
“You do know it’s 300 people, right? And there might still be some hidden experts among them. There’s only five of you.”
Wei Yun looked baffled.
He’d wanted Li Dao’s group to do the job, but not to throw their lives away. He had even said he wouldn’t assign them a suicide mission.
In his eyes, even if they succeeded in assassinating the prince, it was likely they wouldn’t make it back — or at the very least, suffer heavy casualties.
Li Dao smiled calmly. “Gotta at least earn your investment back, right?”
Wei Yun: “……”
He wanted to say, That’s not how investments work, but since they had accepted so decisively, what more could he say?
Either way, it didn’t matter to him whether the mission succeeded or not.
Like he said, they were all condemned prisoners. Even if they had unique abilities, they were still condemned — their only value was in serving the empire. If they couldn’t provide value, their deaths wouldn’t change anything.
“Alright then. But shouldn’t you ask the others what they think?”
Wei Yun looked at the other four. He had assigned Li Dao as the group leader, but if the rest didn’t follow orders, there was nothing he could do.
“Is that necessary?”
Li Dao didn’t answer directly but turned to face the others.
Xu Hu said in a low voice, “I’ll follow you. You decide.”
Little Lunatic already had a fear of Li Dao and wouldn’t dare object.
Old Ghost grinned. “Young people love to do crazy things. I like it. Three hundred men? I used more test subjects than that back when I was experimenting with medicine. I’ll tag along for fun.”
That left only Shen San.
“I… I…” Shen San started to speak but noticed everyone’s eyes were on him. He could only mutter, “If the rest of you are fine with it, what can I say?”
Li Dao turned back to Wei Yun. “Everyone’s agreed.”
Wei Yun gave a thumbs-up. “You five really are a good match.”
“Since you’re all in, I’ll leave the mission to you. If you need anything, say so now.”
One incense stick’s time later.
Shen San was grinning as he held his confiscated gear.
Old Ghost was clutching a mountain of bottles and muttering cryptic things to himself.
Little Lunatic and Xu Hu had hit it off and were stuffing their faces with food like they hadn’t eaten in ages — which, considering Death Row, they probably hadn’t.
“What do you want?” Wei Yun asked, turning to the last man, Li Dao.
“What do I want?”
Li Dao thought for a moment, then said, “If you’re serious about helping, then give me a blade sharp enough to kill 300 men without losing its edge.”
Wei Yun raised an eyebrow. “Planning to do the whole job yourself?”
Li Dao shrugged. “That’s the idea. Whether I can pull it off… we’ll see.”
“You’re something else,” Wei Yun said, taking the sword from his waist and placing it in front of Li Dao. “Made from hundred-year-old black iron. I’ll lend it to you for now.”
Li Dao raised a brow. “So generous? Aren’t you worried I’ll fail and let the Luoyun Tribe take your blade?”
Wei Yun smiled. “At first I thought you were nuts, but then I figured — someone as smart as you wouldn’t take on something you weren’t confident about. I’m betting you’ll come back.”
“If I lose, it’s just a blade. If you lose, it’s your life.”
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