The Martial Unity

Rui wasn't sure what to make of his circumstances. He hadn't expected his first meeting with the Silent Shadow to go this way.

He expected a dark hooded figure with a brooding air about her and a severe tone. After all, all the intelligence from the Beggar's Sect indicated that she had been a madwoman who was hellbent on solving all her problems by killing.

Yet she seemed remarkably... not insane.

"I have to say, I appreciate the effort." She smirked. "Thanks to you I've had the most interesting three months. You've brightened my days, I thought I would die of boredom in those stuffy boardroom meetings about the fake progress on finding the Silent Shadow that I would cook up to appease those idiots."

"You're welcome, I guess," Rui replied cautiously.

Being in the presence of a Martial Master put much more pressure on him than when he was a Martial Squire, ironically enough. This was because he instinctively understood a greater portion of their true power.

One who had reached the clouds understood the depths of the sky better than one who had never gotten off the ground. Despite having broken into the Senior Realm and even started off much stronger than most of his peers, he understood how vastly she dwarfed him.

"What's the matter? Scared of a retired old grandmother?" She remarked sarcastically. "Young men these days aren't much, it seems.

Rui simply stared at her.

"It's a shame you're not as immature as others your age." She remarked. "Then again..."

Her eyes turned towards him with a glint of interest. "There are no Martial Seniors your age."

Rui narrowed his eyes.

Had she figured out his identity?

a single glance. More than

He had learned that lesson the hard

her elbows on the table.

I came here. I wish to become more capable in the art

stared at him for a

in the unfathomable depths that seemed to

two kinds of people who come to me." She remarked. "Assassins...and people who seek to

you have done a better job at faking being a true assassin than actual assassins actually

Rui didn't disagree.

his Martial Path, pursuing Project Water, the ambition of being able to adapt to everything. Assassinations were, at most, a constituent if he was

you wish to kill." She continued. "Tell me.

a sensitive topic. "I wish to kill he who threatens to end

glad you decided not to lie." She replied. "However, in pursuit of me, you have already sharpened your ability to

true. He had become a much more capable killer

had managed to make the most out

help if he gained a powerful

Rui replied. "I

words. "Alright, I

of training, and another three months of rapid back-to-back assassinations, he had finally

happened just like

happened so quickly, that he almost couldn't

"Well..." Rui murmured. "Thanks."

absurd lengths I had to go through to

even as she casually revealed that she knew he had been