San Liu seemed to vaguely recall the scene.
As for whether it was seven years ago, he had already forgotten.
But he vaguely remembered that he indeed visited Yang City back then, killed a wealthy but uncharitable merchant, and obtained a substantial bounty.
With the money in hand, and in high spirits, he went to a nearby upscale restaurant to have a feast, ordering whatever was expensive.
After finishing his meal, he walked out of the restaurant, picking his teeth with a toothpick, and then saw at the corner of the street a frail girl squatting beside a trash can, filthy all over, with disheveled hair and flies buzzing around her head.
The girl, who looked like a beggar, must have been starving at that time, her eyes shining with a wolf-like green light, staring at the half-eaten roast chicken in his hand.
Feeling good, having just made a lot of money, and seeing the girl in such a pitiful state, he walked over and gave her the half-eaten roast chicken.
The girl, upon seeing him offer the roast chicken, froze for a moment, then said thank you and wolfed down the entire chicken.
She ate it so cleanly that he, feeling benevolent, took her back to the restaurant and treated her to a meal.
As for whether he talked to the girl about being an assassin at that time, he was a bit fuzzy on the details, but he probably did, right?
After all, during his missions over the years, whenever he encountered pitiful people whose families were destroyed and who were utterly destitute, he would generally give them some advice, suggesting that they could consider becoming assassins.
If you can't afford to hire an assassin for vengeance, then become an assassin yourself. As long as you survive, revenge is simple.
After all, it takes a long time to train in martial arts. Ordinary people need about four to five years to reach Mingjin, and some may never reach Dark Energy in their lifetime.
But by becoming an assassin, undergoing training in an assassins guild, learning killing skills and techniques, although it doesn't carry the same prestige as martial artists, if you can survive the devilish training, you will undergo a complete transformation. At that point, killing an ordinary person could be done with just a strand of hair...
Hearing Nameless talk like this, San Liu felt that she might be the lost little lamb he had casually advised during one of his missions.
But...
That's not right!
San Liu clearly remembered that, like him, Nameless's parents had also met tragic deaths at the hands of the Lord of the Killing Realm. She was forbidden from betraying him from a young age, then raised to be a killing machine, right?
And her level of brainwashing was even more thorough than his own.
How could it be that suddenly, Nameless is saying she was not raised by the Lord of the Killing Realm from childhood, but became an assassin because of his words seven years ago?
Could it be...
Nameless knew what her admission might make San Liu realize.
Without waiting for San Liu to voice his doubts, she explained, "You must have noticed, right? In fact, I am not the Nameless of before, but the new Nameless who took her place three years ago."
"This..." Upon hearing Nameless's words, San Liu was shocked, his mind swirling with all kinds of wild thoughts.
He vaguely sensed something amiss over these last three years.
The original Nameless didn't get along well with him. Even though both of their parents were killed by the Lord of the Killing Realm, and had restrictions placed on them, being raised as killing machines, he still harbored thoughts of vengeance, constantly looking for opportunities to kill the Lord of the Killing Realm.
While Nameless was completely brainwashed, becoming a loyal hound for the Lord of the Killing Realm.
But three years ago, Nameless's attitude suddenly changed. She opened up to him, admitting she had not actually been brainwashed by the Lord of the Killing Realm but had concealed her own desire for revenge.
Then she felt that since they were both at the Peak Energy Transformation, they could attempt to kill the Lord of the Killing Realm, but because of the restrictions, they still couldn't act rashly.
So they discussed finding an opportunity to strike again and eradicate the Lord of the Killing Realm once and for all.
That wait lasted three years until they received the task of assassinating the new Dragon King of the Dragon King Hall, and after some probing, they took the opportunity to have Mu Jinyu join forces with Xiang Mantang to help them kill the Lord of the Killing Realm.
At that time, San Liu felt that Nameless was a bit strange, but he didn't think much of it, only to realize she had actually replaced the original Nameless...
After the shock, San Liu noticed some issues and asked puzzledly,
"But how did you do it?"
"Four years' time, to transform from an ordinary person to a Martial Artist at the peak of Energy Transformation?"
"And to also possess Nameless's Invisibility Ability? Moreover, what's with the restrictions on your body?"
"If you just killed Nameless and impersonated her, the Lord of the Killing Realm might have noticed you don't have any restrictions..."
San Liu asked all of his unanswered questions in one breath.
He felt something was very wrong.
Even if Nameless actually had excellent Root Bone and showed prominence from the start of her cultivation, reaching the peak of Energy Transformation within a few years, how could she possess the same Invisibility Ability as Nameless, even if she just happened to have it?
What about the problem with the restrictions? How did she deceive the Lord of the Killing Realm right under his nose?
Hearing San Liu's series of questions, Nameless explained succinctly,
"Actually, I have no real talent, and wouldn't be able to reach the Grandmaster level of Energy Transformation in this lifetime under normal circumstances. But I was quite lucky, in my second year as an assassin, I received an astonishing fortune that took me from a minor assassin who hadn't even achieved Mingjin to a Grandmaster at the peak of Energy Transformation..."
"In this stroke of fortune, I also obtained a rather sinister secret technique, which is, Soul Seizing..."
Nameless said in a calm tone.
In that tone, there lay a hint of melancholy and regret.
"Soul Seizing?!"
Hearing Nameless's explanation, San Liu was stunned for a moment, then sharply inhaled, feeling that Nameless was truly mad and terrifying.
Soul Seizing, as the name suggests, is like a sparrow occupying a dove's nest, abandoning one's own body, taking over someone else's, and usurping their identity.
"But..." San Liu said, still shocked and puzzled, "Wasn't the real Nameless already at the peak of Energy Transformation at the time? How could you seize her body? And why would you even need to seize Nameless's body if you had already obtained great fortune and became a Martial Artist at the peak of Energy Transformation?"
San Liu was thoroughly perplexed.
Nameless explained, "Because after I became a Master of Energy Transformation, and had avenged my grievances, I wanted to repay my debt to you."
"But having been an assassin myself for two years, I vaguely understood that you seemed to be shackled by the Lord of the Killing Realm, not free, and that you had to kill the Lord of the Killing Realm to regain your freedom."
"But if I joined forces with you, we definitely wouldn't be able to kill the Lord of the Killing Realm, and we'd be hindered by Nameless, with too high a chance of failure."
"So I thought, since Nameless was equal in status to you and even more trusted by the Lord of the Killing Realm, if I were to seize her, the Lord of the Killing Realm would lose her support. Using his trust in Nameless, if we were to team up, might we succeed?"
"Therefore, I spent over two years gaining the trust of Nameless, finally finding the opportunity to ambush her, and carry out Soul Seizing."
"In the end, I succeeded. I seized Nameless, obtained some of her memories, her Invisibility Ability, and also the restrictions placed on her by the Lord of the Killing Realm..."
"But after seizing Nameless, from fragments of her memory, I realized the terror of the Lord of the Killing Realm, the dread of the God Realm, and knew that even if we teamed up, it wouldn't be possible to kill him. So, I gave up the initial plan, secretly supported you instead, and looked for the opportunity to join others and attack the Lord of the Killing Realm again."