Thread by @velithya

SO WHAT IF-
#Xicheng feat. dark LXC 💜💙
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https://twitter.com/proyearner/status/1302023892417024001

Zewu-Jun has a reputation for ruthlessness. This dark-clad assassin kills indiscriminately, and leaves no target alive. No-one still living has ever seen his face.
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The cultivation sects have banded together to try and hunt down the assassin - Sect Leader Lan, in particular, has spoken very strongly on the matter at many discussion conferences.
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Sandu Shengshou, Sect Leader Jiang, has gotten the closest. He correctly guessed the identity of Zewu-Jun's next target and was lying in wait. He was able to injure Zewu-Jun, but the assassin escaped.

It's the first time Zewu-Jun has failed to kill a target.
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Since then, there have been several more killings. Some, Sect Leader Jiang guessed, and attempted to fight the assassin once more; some, he did not, and another target died.
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But no-one forsaw the Wen.
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Wen Zhuliu, the Core Melting Hand, is in the vanguard of the Wen assault on Lotus Pier.
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It's a massacre.
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With the news of the fall of Yunmeng Jiang yet to reach the rest of the cultivation world, Zewu-Jun is preparing to set out on another assassination.
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There's a clatter outside the door, and he draws a blade, slides the door open-

Sandu Shengshou is there, swaying on his feet. He's covered in blood, robes torn; his pupils are blown wide, and he's shivering.
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"Zewu-Jun," Sandu Shengshou says, wobbling. There's dirt and blood on his face. "I didn't know where else to go-" and Zewu-Jun sheathes the knife just in time to catch Sect Leader Jiang as he collapses.
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Sect Leader Jiang wakes up. It's perhaps something of a surprise - given his destination, it hadn't been a certainty.

He's in clean robes, his wounds treated & dressed-

-and there's a dark figure seated across the room, their face in shadow: the legendary assassin.

Zewu-Jun.
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"Why did you save me?" Sect Leader Jiang asks.

"Because you are the one who knows me," Zewu-Jun replies.
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"I'm afraid that will no longer be true," Sect Leader Jiang says, and turns his face away. "I - they-"

"I saw what they did," Zewu-Jun says, and there's anger in his tone. "Tell me who touched you, and they will die."
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"The greatest damage cannot be seen," Sect Leader Jiang says, and closes his eyes in shame. "When the Wen came to Lotus Pier, they brought the Core Melting Hand. And his touch-"

He can't finish his sentence, but he doesn't need to - Zewu-Jun lets out a hiss.
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"He will die," Zewu-Jun declares. "They will all die. And when I am finished, we will restore what was taken from you."

Sect Leader Jiang has no reason to believe him; the man is an assassin, after all. He doesn't know his identity, or his face. But somehow, he does believe.
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Somehow, somewhere in there, between the hunting & the chase - he, too, knows Zewu-Jun. Knows his character from who he chooses to kill-

Knew enough to know where to find him, bleeding out & with his core shattered.

He doesn't need to see his face. He knows him.

Trusts him.
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"Then I shall wish you good hunting," Sandu Shengshou says, and in the shadows, concealed by darkness-

Zewu-Jun smiles.
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Thank you for reading & I hope you enjoyed!! :3
💜💙🥰

Thanks must go to @/houkoori for answering my panicked "wait can I still call the assassin Zewu-Jun?" an hour ago, bless you friend!!🥰

(I only had to screencap a few photos... the rest I had already saved, cough <.<)