Chapter 1244: The Tense Night
More than an hour after the city was placed on high alert because of the assassins, Su Zhen, who had also been observing the search operation, received a report that shocked him.
He received news that several high-ranking officials of the city, including the commander of the City Guardians, along with some people close to him, such as elders of his family, had been assassinated.
Su Zhen immediately flew back to the manor with fury clear on his face. When he arrived, the sight that greeted him was the corpses of several elders of his family. They had been killed inside the City Lord’s Manor with the same wounds as the other victims of the assassins.
Su Zhen was truly furious. He had not expected the assassins to target the elders of his family, who lived inside a manor protected by tight security, from detection formations and trapping formations to constantly patrolling guards.
No one knew how the assassins had slipped inside, and not a single formation had been triggered by their movements.
All of these elders were Immortal Overlord stage cultivators. If these assassins targeted them, they would have no way to fight back. Even Immortal Saints could die helplessly against them.
The commander of the City Guardians had been assassinated inside his own manor, and no one had managed to catch even a trace of the assassins.
Breuze, who was also examining the corpses inside the manor, started to feel irritated. He felt as though he had been underestimated by the assassins. They did not seem to care about his presence and continued carrying out assassinations even after he had discovered their existence.
It was as if these assassins were challenging him to find them. Or perhaps they simply looked down on him and were confident that he would never be able to catch them.
He had to admit that these brazen assassins had successfully made him quite angry, and he was even more pissed by the fact that he still could not trace them despite using some of his abilities.
’The signs are still the same. The only trace they leave behind is the energy of Tarius’ followers. Is it really those followers of Tarius doing this solely because of their animosity toward us?’ Breuze thought.
"My lord, in my opinion, this might be really the work of Tarius’ followers who learned of our arrival without any other intent other than to weaken our force. The fact that the assassins targeted our group first despite us not being in the Second Heaven for long is already a sign that someone has relayed information about us to them," the male demigod said.
"Or perhaps the assassins have been following us since the moment we arrived in the Second Heaven, or even before that. With assassins this skilled, there is a possibility that they could sneak in without being detected by the cultivators stationed near the central region of the Second Heaven. Moreover, God Tarius himself might have a hand in this," he added.
Breuze frowned, as that was also one of the possibilities.
One thing he had taken note of throughout this series of assassinations was that the killers seemed to target his group first, as though they already knew of the presence of God Avergis’ followers who had descended from the higher heavens.
The assassins also appeared to have deliberately chosen the weaker members of the group. They had yet to make a move against him or the two demigods.
It was as though they knew his true strength and status, something that only a limited number of people in this region should know.
If the assassins truly came from the rebel side, how could they know such things? Their arrival had been kept secret, and they had moved from the central region of heaven to this region in a short period of time.
The rebels should not have had enough time to learn of their presence and organize such actions, which left only one uncertain factor.
That dangerous being behind all of this.
But was it really that powerful being?
They still had not found even the slightest trace of him. Instead, they continued to find traces connected to Tarius’ followers throughout this region.
From the battles between them and God Avergis’ followers to these assassinations, everything pointed in the same direction.
This caused his heart to lean more and more toward the conclusion that Tarius’ followers were indeed responsible, driven solely by their hostility toward the followers of God Avergis.
"Icorus, change of strategy. We will see if we can find any of Tarius’ followers in this city. We will put aside the matter of that dangerous being for now. If we do not deal with these assassins, our forces will continue to dwindle, and we will lose the strength needed to face the powerful being mentioned by our lord if we encounter him," Breuze said to the demigod.
"Tell Clerise to assist with the search. Let her group search the southern side of the city and the area around the temple. Use the same methods we use when searching for Tarius’ followers."
Icorus, the male demigod, bowed to Breuze.
"Yes, my lord."
After that, he disappeared.
Later, Su Zhen came to discuss the assassins with him. Breuze informed him that Tarius’ followers were the most likely culprits behind these incidents.
This prompted Su Zhen to take a more radical approach. He decided to place the entire city under a state of full emergency. In his opinion, the matter of Tarius’ followers had become more urgent and required a much more serious response.
From this incident, they knew that the assassins had not left the city. Instead, they had chosen to stay and mock them by continuing their killings.
There had already been many victims, and all of them were strong cultivators. No one knew when the assassins would strike again, so Su Zhen had no choice but to act with greater caution and seriousness.
He himself could become the next target.
He no longer cared about his image or the city’s reputation in front of the many prominent figures attending the grand tournament. Sooner or later, they would realize that something was happening with so many people searching for assassins. Since that was inevitable, there was no reason to continue hiding it.
The people who had initially been unaware of the events unfolding that night finally realized that something was wrong. Patrols became much more intense, with guards occasionally entering establishments to conduct inspections.
Rumors soon spread that assassins had infiltrated the city and had already killed many people.
However, the public did not know who the victims were, leaving them with nothing but speculation.
The situation made the city far more tense than usual that night. The festive atmosphere surrounding the grand tournament was disturbed, and many people began talking about the assassinations.
Many wondered who would dare send assassins to this city while it was hosting a grand tournament attended by numerous powerful and prominent figures. However, one suspect quickly came to most people’s minds.
"It must be those followers of God Tarius. They have already caused destruction in many other regions. Now they are targeting this city to weaken our lord’s forces in this region."
"I agree. What I heard from my friend, who works as a guard in the City Lord Manor, supports that theory. Based on what he knows, those savages have already killed several people, and even some elders of the Su Family have become victims."
"What? The elders of the Su Family? Which elders? If they are among the family’s strongest elders, then those assassins must be truly powerful to have killed them."
Such conversations became common among the populace after the rumors spread. The attention of the people was suddenly divided between the grand tournament and the assassination case.
Even some of the important figures attending the tournament went to meet Su Zhen and asked him to clarify what had happened behind the scenes. They were also concerned about the safety of their own groups, as they did not want to become targets of the assassins.
The Zhu Family, having finally learned of the situation, also decided to assist in the search for the assassins. After all, this city lay within the Zhu Family’s territory, and they bore the greatest responsibility for maintaining order within their realm.
After meeting with Breuze, Elder Zhu Jianxuan finally learned about Breuze’s status and the reason for his arrival.
With that, he also realized the seriousness of the situation, which made him believe that the Zhu Family needed to pay much closer attention to this matter.
Elder Zhu Jianxuan sent a message to the main Zhu Family, informing them of what had happened in Su City and requesting reinforcements.
The tense night continued as cultivators moved throughout many parts of the city, searching for clues even after the sun rose above the eastern horizon.
Many wondered whether the tournament would continue under the current circumstances.
Aldrian, who had been observing all of this from the inn, smiled as he watched the sun rise above the horizon.
’Now for the next step. Let’s make it more festive.’