Chapter 144: The rogue who reveals nothing

A scarlet coloured gold traced rugged was spread across the stairs underneath the seats.  There were three large seats in the main hall of the headquarters.  The center one was the main seat while two other seats were placed to either side.  In the center seat, there was a middle aged warrior who was around forty years old.  This was the legendary Great Envoy and the highest ranked member of Swordsman Hall in the Ling Bei area.

[TL Note: I made a mistake and read great envoy to be his name, so I'll fix it from now on.]

The leader had a long face and his face was shaped just like a blade, revealing a perseverance and many life experiences.  He must have gone through many things to obtain his current position.

"I am Lin Yan, I greet the Great Envoy."  Lin Mu Yu stood in front of him and cupped his fists.

The Great Envoy gave a laugh, "Good, good.  Little brother Lin Yan, since you wish to join our Swordsman Hall, shouldn't you take off the mercenary badge on your chest?"

"The moment I get a member's badge, I will take off the mercenary badge."

"Ha, that's interesting!"

The Great Envoy looked to the right and left with a smile, "Li Qian Xun, Luo Yu, what do you think of this kid as envoys?"

Li Qian Xun was around forty years old with an expressionless face.  This was a person that people could not see through.  Holding onto an extravagant sword, he gently said, "Let him stay.  He'll start off as a rogue and he'll earn any other ranks he gets with his own abilities.  Our Swordsman Hall has never cared about what kind of relations a person has, so we must be impartial even if he has Jin Xiao Tang's introduction."

The Great Envoy gave a laugh, "Alright.  Envoy Luo Yu, what do you think?"

Luo Yu was clearly a young person, being around the same age as Feng Ji Xing and Qin Lei.  His lips raised and he said with a smile, "I agree with Envoy Li.  We'll have him start at the lowest level!"

"Alright!"

The Great Envoy waved his hand and said, "Long Yan, take Lin Yan away and give him a rogue medal!  Then help him arrange his living conditions!  Hei, I don't care if you're a dragon or an insect.  If you want to earn a place for yourself in our Swordsman Hall, you have to reveal your true self!"

Lin Mu Yu gave a happy smile and cupped his hands as he said, "Yes!"

Following Long Yan out, they took a left turn into a courtyard.  They saw an old man with trembling fingers carving symbols into tokens which made Lin Mu Yu a little worried.  This old man seemed like he had Parkinson's and his hand trembling was quite scary, was he fine carving symbols into tokens like this?

Long Yan swaggered over and with a smile, he said, "Old fellow, prepare a token for this new person.  It's a rogue token with the name Lin Yan.  Hurry up, I'll give you one minute to finish it."

The old man nodded and took out a green metal token from the side.  He quickly carved the words Lin Yan onto it and carved the crossed sword symbol of Swordsman Hall on the front.

"Alright….."  The old man said with a smile.

Long Yan took the token and gave it over to Lin Mu Yu.  With a smile, he said, "Lin Yan, you are now a part of our Swordsman Hall now, but you're only at the rogue rank right now.  Here, this is your badge."

Lin Mu Yu took it and put it on his chest.  Then he asked, "Sir Long Yan, what does this rogue rank mean?"

Long Yang stared at him, "You don't even know the rankings of Swordsman Hall and you dare to come to this mountain?"

Lin Mu Yu remained silent.

Long Yan gave a laugh before saying, "Listen closely.  Swordsman Hall has a total of nine ranks.  From bottom to top they are, Rogue, which you are currently at, Venerable, Iron Ranger, Copper Ranger, Silver Ranger, Gold Ranger, Envoy, and Great Envoy!"

After a pause, he said, "Each province has a headquarters and a Great Envoy supervising it.  Our Xiao Lin Branch's Great Envoy is called Ji Yang, he is quite an amazing person.  Hei hei, in the future you will learn more about that.  There is also a Envoy Leader rank above Great Envoy, but it is not something normal people can approach.  I have been in Swordsman Hall for seven years and I've reached the Gold Ranger rank, but I've never seen the Envoy Leader before.  It can be imagined that he is quite mysterious."

"Let's go, I'll take you to your quarters."

"Yes!"

Lin Mu Yu pulled his horse along and followed Long Yan to the dwellings.  When he was outside the dwellings, he found that it was very poor, just like a newly crafted thatch shed.  There wasn't anything else beside the building itself.

Seeing Lin Mu Yu's expression, Long Yang couldn't help laughing, "The Rogue treatment is like this.  If you have skills, then slowly crawl your way up.  Silver Rangers have the chance to have fun with girls every three days and Gold Rangers will have the opportunity to have a concubine.  The Envoy's have even better treatment, being able to have a private courtyard and three different concubines.  As for the Great Envoy, I have no idea.  The Great Envoy's words are everything here and everything belongs to him."

Lin Mu Yu nodded, "Then how do I raise my rank?"

"It's very simple.  There will be missions every day such as destroying enemy establishments, a.s.sa.s.sination missions, killing spirit beasts, etc.  As long as you complete the missions, you will gain contribution points and you can use that to increase your rank."

After saying this, Long Yan revealed a fierce expression, "But this all depends on whether you can stay alive or not.  Once you die, everything will be for naught, hei….."

Lin Mu Yu gave a secret laugh and then cupped his hands before saying, "Alright then.  Good night.  Sir Long Yan should rest early."

"Alright."

Not to mention a delicious meal, all he received was a bowl of gruel and two hot cakes.  It was very simple, but it was still filling.  It seemed like the life of a Rogue was not that good.

There were several other thatch sheds close to Lin Mu Yu's shed.  It was now night time, but there were several Rogues sitting outside chatting over some tea.

A young rogue had a childish face and looked no older than seventeen years old.  With a smile, he said, "We're getting our missions tomorrow.  I'm really excited, I wonder, what mission will I get?"

Another thirty year old Rogue gave a cold laugh, "Xiao Ding Zi, you really don't know your place.  Every day, there is a Rogue that dies, I hope it won't be you."

The young rogue named Xiao Ding Zi stuck out his tongue and said with a smile, "Uncle w.a.n.g, how many people are there in total in this Xiao Lin Branch?"

Uncle w.a.n.g said, "I just saw the name register today.  There are around 2700 Rogues, 224 Venerables, 110 Iron Rangers, 42 Bronze Rangers, 17 Silver Rangers, 5 Gold Rangers, 2 Envoys, and one Great Envoy for a total of over three thousand people, otherwise this mountain wouldn't be filled with people.  Xiao Ding Zi, don't take any dangerous missions, it's more important to keep your life."

"Alright.  Many thanks Uncle w.a.n.g.""

"Go to bed early, make sure to be well rested."

"Alright!"

Lin Mu Yu could not sleep well that night.  It was already winter and the night wind blowing was like knives being blown into his face.  This thatched hut had no walls at all.  This kind of harsh treatment was something he rarely encountered, but he endured it.  He was not close enough to the Great Envoy and the other Envoys yet.  It was probably only through the Great Envoy and the Envoys that he could discover the secret behind Swordsman Hall.

His Spiritual Sense was slowly released.  The Swordsman Hall at night was very quiet, as if no one was speaking at all.  The only thing he could feel were energy fluctuations and nothing else, which made Lin Mu Yu very unhappy.  It seemed like Swordsman Hall was very strict, like this, he wouldn't be able to gather any information with his Spiritual Sense.

Stretching out his Spiritual Sense, he felt a few strong true qi auras which came from the Gold Ranger residence!  In the distance there was the fluctuations of true qi of someone in the third tier Earth Realm, which was unsurprisingly Luo Yu who was a peak third tier Earth Realm expert.  The other strong power was in the Heaven Realm, releasing a dense battle qi.  This should be the Envoy named Li Qian Xun.  On the peak of the mountain, around three hundred meters away from Lin Mu Yu was a strong battle qi.  It was the Great Envoy Ji Yang.  He really hid his strength.  He was at least in the second tier Heaven Realm, entering the Heavenly King realm!

After releasing his Spiritual Sense for so long, Lin Mu Yu finally pulled his Spiritual Sense back in.  He then used his Spiritual Pulse Technique to hide his own strength.  If he could investigate others, then perhaps others could use the same method to investigate him, so he had to be careful.

Without knowing how long he slept, he was suddenly awakened by the shout of a rooster.  Once he opened his eyes, the eastern sun light s.h.i.+ned down on his face, telling him that it was morning.

Swordsman Hall did not have any kind of morning practice, so everyone was just doing their own cultivation, no one bothering anyone.

After was.h.i.+ng up, it was another meal without any nutrition at all.

At this moment, Envoy Luo Yu came into the square.  Raising his true qi into his voice, he said, "Everyone listen up, today we'll be doing the usual.  We'll be killing spirit beasts and bringing back their spirit stones, exchanging the spirit stones for contribution points.  Other than that, on the east side of Mullet Fish Mountain, there is a band of rogue mercenaries.  After killing the mercenaries, you can bring their heads back and you'll earn contributions based on their cultivation level.  It's like this, you can go now!"

"The missions really are easy….."  Lin Mu Yu revealed a grin.

Long Yan raised his war axe and shouted, "Those that are going to Mullet Fish Mountain, come with me!  It's best if you bring your bow and arrow!"

There was a roar of answers as over a thousand people went with Long Yan to attack Mullet Fish Mountain.

Swordsman Hall did not go after any of the major mercenary groups, but they still killed mercenaries to raise their own prestige which was something that others looked down on.

Lin Mu Yu was not planning to kill people after all, his hands were already stained with enough blood.  He only killed those that deserved to die.  As for these mercenaries, many young people became mercenaries to earn a living, so it was not a dishonourable thing.

Putting the prairie sword on his back and mounting his horse, he left to try his luck in the Dragon Seeking Forest, seeing what kind of Spirit Beasts he would meet today.  Perhaps he would find a Spirit Beast's spirit stone that would allow him to quickly raise his rank.

After descending the mountain, he headed off in a southeastern direction.