Chapter 57: The Plan
Three full days had dragged by since the night of the roasted mountain mutton, three days of playing the part of fragile, slow moving mortal merchants while their minds worked at a feverish, lethal pace.
They had spent every waking hour charting the patrol routes, counting the steps of the sentries, and mapping out the complex, uneven geography of the Shu Clan.
Every transaction they had made in the outer ring, every bolt of cloth or pouch of coarse salt they had traded, was merely a cover to buy time and know how the Shu Clan is like.
They kept their heads down and their eyes open, recording the layout of the entire compound into their minds like a cold and tactical blueprint.
The political and military structure here was vastly different from the hierarchy of the sect.
In the sect, power was absolute and singular, only a legendary, transcendent entity, an immortal vampire could ever claim the throne of Sect Leader.
But a clan was a messy web of bloodlines, regional influence, and political balancing acts, governed by five major political cultivator ranks, Watchers, Commanders, Advisors, Leaders, and the Supreme Elders.
Through careful observation, careful listening to the gossip of the outer rings people talking about how they were too much unhappy about the leader, and watching the changing of the guard, they had cataloged the clan’s exact military strength.
There were three hundred Watchers acting as the eyes and ears of the estate, though two hundred of them were mere low level, baseline fledglings used as cheap fodder.
Above them stood thirty Commanders, the true iron muscle of the Shu Clan and twenty-five of them were fully matured, awakened vampires who possessed refined blood and other path abilities.
Further up the chain were twenty Advisors who handled the logistics, law, and internal intelligence, from the twenty advisors, ten of them had reached the formidable Adept level of cultivation.
The nominal ruler of the day to day operations was the Leader, an awakened vampire named Shu Hui.
He was not a supreme tyrant, but rather a governor chosen and vetted by the true apex of the Shu Clan, the Supreme Elders.
The Supreme Elders were all powerful Ascendants, monsters who lived entirely separate from the common populace on a massive, jagged hill rising directly behind the estate, a peak reverently called "The Protector of the Shu."
Now, deep within the shadows of their partitioned tent, the three disciples huddled around a crude map scratched into the dirt floor.
The target was the Awakened Vampire, the leader of Shu Clan, Shu Hui who lived in a heavily fortified camp located at the exact geometric center of the clan territory.
’The security around this Shu Hui’s camp is tight, but it has a specific, unyielding rhythm,’ Ghost whispered, his deep voice compressed into a low rumble that barely carried past the canvas walls of their stall.
He pointed a thick, dirt stained finger at the center of the scratched map.
’The camp itself is completely ringed by defensive wooden fences, keeping everyone within a strict three meter radius from his main pavilion. Day and night, ten Watchers patrol that perimeter line. During the day, five are peak fledglings and five are initial stage fledglings, meaning their senses are somewhat dull. But at night, they swap them out for the elite, now at the night all ten are peak stage fledglings. Worse, there is always one Commander, a fully awakened vampire, circling the outside of the fence line day and night without stopping.’
Evan studied the dirt map, his dark eyes cold, analytical, entirely empty of fear, and deep like an abyss.
’We strike at night. Peak fledglings are usually arrogant, but they are also loud when they breathe, which makes them easier to track in the dark. And we have to do this entirely using our grass camouflage to blend into the central lawns. If a single ward is tripped or a single distress talisman is burnt, the Supreme Elders will descend from the Protector hill in seconds. The entire sequence, from the first strike to the last breath of the guards, must be executed within a single minute."
Peaker leaned forward, his face serious as he rubbed his chin.
’How do we split the targets? Ten Watchers and an awakened Commander. That’s a massive amount of bodies to drop silently without causing a commotion that alerts the entire inner ring.’
’We divide the perimeter by their layout,’ Evan said, his finger tracing the lines in the dirt.
’The Watchers split themselves up into specific zones around the fence. three to four patrol the left side, two cover the backside, and four handle the main front gate, while the Commander continuously circles the entire fence line on a larger loop. I’ll take the left side. I’m going to position myself at a perfect linear angle in the high grass and channel my liquid crimson Qi into my silent revolver at maximum output. With that kind of compressed pressure, a single heavy bullet will tear straight through three to four bodies simultaneously before they can even register the sound of the mechanical hammer dropping.’
Ghost nodded, his massive hands tightening into fists.
’The moment your shot fires, I’ll execute my part from the brush. I’ll use my blood worm, the Silenced Crossbow and also I have an another awakened blood worm, Ice Arrow now what it will do is freeze those watchers for more then an hour and as it is winter, to be honest I think they might be frozen for three to four hours, depending on the circumstances, of course.’
’That leaves the four at the front and the circling Commander,’ Peaker noted, his expression darkening as he calculated his own internal energy.
’My capacity is limited for this kind of mass engagement. I can use my Shadow Strangler Blood Worm, which forces a target’s own shadow to rise up and strangle them from behind. It’s perfect for a silent mass execution because it leaves no external marks and makes no sound, but it has two major flaws, the first one is that it only works on fledglings who have not yet cultivated to the level of an awakened, not awakened cultivators, and my absolute capacity in this is restricted, I can only strangle five to six people at the exact same time before my Qi is drained so much that I might not be able to stand for a week.’
’The capacity is more than enough for the four front guards,’ Evan calculated smoothly, his voice a flat whisper.
’But the Commander is the real anomaly in this equation. An awakened vampire has a stabilized aperture and nourished Qi. He will break through your shadow strangulation instantly, shrug off the restriction, and sound the alarm before we can reach him. So, we wait for the rotation. We initiate the entire multi pronged strike when the Commander is walking past the front. As he finishes his circle and moves toward the backside, away from the front gate, I will instantly swap my cylinders and fire my blood worm, the Paralyzing Bullet directly into his upper spine.’
Evan’s eyes locked onto Peaker, intense and unyielding.
’The moment the paralyzing round hits him, his nervous system will shut down. He will be frozen in place, but his awakened vitality means his vocal cords might still function for a split second to release a gasp. That’s your window.’
Peaker grinned, a dangerous, sharp glint appearing in his dark eyes as he understood the timing.
’Consider it done. The moment your bullet strikes his spine, I’ll activate my Shadow Teleportation Blood Worm to phase through the darkness, bypass the physical distance, and reappear directly behind his frozen body. From there, I’ll manifest my awakened Shadow Blade Blood Worm. My own shadow will forge into a razor sharp, solid obsidian blade, and I’ll drive it straight through his ribcage, piercing his heart from behind. A ruptured heart kills an awakened vampire instantly if they do not have a Light Path defensive blood worm, that is a bit uncommon in the Northern Continent.’
’It’s a flawless sequence on paper,’ Ghost muttered, looking between his two roommates as he leaned back slightly.
’Maximum output from the revolver on the left, frost bolts from the brush on the back, shadow strangulation on the front gate, and a teleportation heart-stab on the Commander. No commotion, no spilled Qi arrays, and completely silent. We drop eleven high tier guards in less than sixty seconds.’
Evan stood up slowly, the heavy grass camouflage gear resting on the wooden cot beside him.
The theoretical phase of their long, three day preparation was finally over, the variables had been weighed, the political ranks of the Shu Clan had been thoroughly accounted for, and the perfect execution window was rapidly approaching as the midnight hour drew near.
His mind was already moving past the perimeter guards, visualizing the interior of the central tent where the clan leader slept, entirely unaware that three wolves from the First Court were standing at his doorstep ready to slit his throat.
Evan looked down at the map one last time before erasing the dirt lines with the sole of his heavy leather boot, grinding the tactical layout back into anonymous dust.
’Now here is how we’re gonna go inside the camp... and now how do we assassinate him.’
