Kai Jin's Journey - Disappointment

The Imperial Capital of Luoyang

Lord Cao Cao’s residence was quiet on that particular night. Ever since he had been given governorship of Puyang, he had risen through the ranks and earned great respect and influence within the Imperial Court. Many lauded his shrewd political maneuvering as well as his strategic acumen. What many more renowned and experienced warlords had gained in decades, Cao Cao had managed to earn in only a handful of years.

This didn’t sit well with his rivals and detractors…

There were many who criticized his brutal tactics and cold disregard of mercy on the battlefield. Others were jealous that Cao Cao had managed to surround himself with the finest strategists, the strongest warriors and the most cunning of advisors. In a masterstroke of genius, the cunning warlord had managed to turn adversaries into useful allies and pawns. In a display of calculated ruthlessness, he gave surrendering enemies the chance to serve or die under his banner. As such, Lord Cao Cao was considered by many as the rising star in the Imperial Court.

A notion that troubled the Ten Attendants. Therefore, instead of removing the upstart, Cao Cao, through political maneuvering, they decided to simply send assassins to do the dirty work. Hiring an army of assassins would certainly be overkill… but they knew of one warrior that could easily defeat an army by himself who was in the employ of Cao Cao.

The Blade from Hell - Kai Jin.

The silence within Cao Cao’s residence was uninterrupted at the stroke of midnight. The guards on patrol were yawning with boredom as they neglected to pay attention to their surroundings, even when they were in the center of the Capital. They were not prepared for what was coming…

The assassins had easily infiltrated the residence without much resistance. The guards at the main gate had been easily slain in silence, so no alarms would be heard. As they scampered through the hallways and rooms of the house, they killed everyone that could be a threat to their secrecy and their mission - it didn’t matter if they were innocent people or soldiers, they were killed without discrimination, and even with a hint of pleasure…

Many of the assassins believed this job was too easy to send an army of them. All of them just to kill one warlord? The Attendants must really hate this man - Cao Cao. After they made sure there would be no interruptions, they all reached the main hallway that led to Cao Cao’s chambers. Slowly and silently, the assassins opened the door and looked within the hallway expecting an army of bodyguards at leisure.

Only darkness filled the hallway…

The faint rays of moonlight managed to grant some small illumination to this room. Everything else was quiet as a tomb and just as unsettling.

Feeling confident that they would have no further confrontations, the assassins began to pour into the hallway and moved quietly towards the chamber doors of Cao Cao’s room.

Everything was still and quiet… their footsteps were like the sounds of ghosts.

Their eyes darted from side to side… the Moon was bright even in its crescent phase.

The leader of the assassins suddenly stopped… he sniffed the air…

Jasmine tea…

They all stopped moving and tried to look beyond the shadows.

From within the darkness ahead they noticed something… a red light… like a burning ember that suddenly appeared.

The sound of someone drinking and setting down a cup of tea was heard.

Then they heard that person had just stood up from a chair.

Footsteps approaching… the red ember seemed to be getting closer…

The assassins drew their weapons instinctively… they could feel a great threat… they all felt a cold chill running down their spines…

The moonlight that entered the room seemed to embrace the figure of the man they had hoped to avoid…

His face was the picture perfect of complete emotional detachment. His right eye - black as night, and his left eye - glowing with red fire, stared at them with indifference. His armor was practical to allow him ease of movement due to the god-like speed he used in combat. His black hair had been fixed in a practical ponytail with bangs falling over his eyes occasionally. His left hand gripped the sheath of his sword with a firm hand while his right hand hovered lazily to his side, always ready to reach for his single edged curved longsword.

Before the assassins stood Kai Jin - The Heavenly Sword of Order. The last enemy they would have to face if they wanted to slay Cao Cao.

For several heartbeats nobody moved. The assassins stared at Kai Jin with fear mounting up in their throats. The Blade from Hell continued to look at them as if they didn’t even matter.

“Kill him!” The leader of the assassins roared out, which prompted the three dozens of assailants to rush towards the single defender en masse. The leader believed that their numbers would be enough to distract the Blade from Hell long enough for one of them to slip past him and kill their target.

What happened next was like the scene of a nightmare for the leader…

The first four opponents rushed from all four sides to try and attack Kai Jin. But the instant they tried to get past him or got just within arms reach they suddenly noticed that the Heavenly Sword had materialized three steps ahead of them and was seen sheathing his sword.

The rest of the assailants witnessed in horror how their four comrades had simply fallen into pieces behind the solitary guardian as if they had been cut down by an invisible blade. They then realized that in that split second when their comrades tried to breach the swordsman’s space, he had cut them with his sword at an imperceptible speed.

The rest of the assassins, feeling their fear turn into mad desperation, launched themselves at Kai Jin in a mad attempt to kill the dreaded Heavenly Sword. Their attempts were futile…

The leader was shocked by what he saw…

It didn’t matter if they all attacked him from every side or by surprise. Whenever he moved, he seemed to materialize a few steps away from them or to the side. When that happened, everything within his range was cut apart and fell to the floor in bloody pieces and grisly displays of cold brutality. It didn’t matter if they tried to shoot him with arrows, throw knives or use other trickery to attack him. All they heard was the whisper of steel being swung at blinding speed and everything was cut within his range.

The leader of the assassins fell to his knees at the scene before him - All of the other assassins had been slaughtered by an unseen threat and were littered on the floor like butchered meat around the single swordsman.

Then the red eye turned to look at him! The Blade from Hell’s attention now fell upon him! Paralyzed by fear and unable to control himself, he lost all control and soiled himself. There was a complete lack of interest in the eyes of the monster that had killed his comrades. Even as he approached him, the man kept looking at him as if he were nothing.

“Disappointing…” Was the only word the master swordsman said before he turned around, fading back into the darkness. The sound of the man sitting back down on a chair was heard along with the sound of tea being poured into a cup.

From the shadows, only the red eye of the Blade from Hell could be seen.

A few seconds later, Cao Cao opened the doors to his chamber, revealing that he had been waiting for this attempted assassination and that his full strength had been hidden within his room. Xiahou Yuan quickly moved to apprehend the assassins’ leader while Xiahou Dun, who had arrived from the main gate with his soldiers as well to secure the residence.

“To think they would send assassins to kill Lord Cao Cao…” Xiahou Yuan mused with concern as his cousin, Xiahou Dun grimaced with anger.

“Cao Cao was right all along.” The veteran warrior growled. “The corruption in the Capital is worse than you predicted, my Lord.”

Cao Cao was analyzing everything that had transpired and his mind raced to come up with solutions and plans in order to answer against this attempt on his life. However, he had a more pressing concern at this moment.

Despite the slaughter of the assassins and the dangerous situation that they had been in, Kai Jin remained completely uninterested in what was happening around him. The swordsman was simply taking sips from his tea as if nothing had happened. In fact, for all his stoicism, Cao Cao could tell by the minute changes in Kai Jin’s posture and the slight relaxation in his otherwise unmoving facial expressions, that the Heavenly Sword of Order was weary of all this pointless slaughter. Furthermore, he knew that Kai Jin was looking forward to returning to Puyang in order to meet with the artist girl - this Ming Yue.

“You’ve saved my life, yet again, Kai Jin.” Cao Cao said those words not to praise the Heavenly Sword, but simply to get his attention. As usual, Kai Jin simply nodded. “This kind of travesty could only have been perpetrated by the true power within the Imperial Court.”

“It’s THEM, again.” Kai Jin said with cold disgust.

Cao Cao knew what Kai Jin meant - the Ten Attendants. They had grown too powerful, too fat and too happy. Having the Empress Dowager in their pocket and placing all their minions in key government positions had allowed them to become the true power in the Capital. Eventually, this would break the back of the Han Dynasty. Something Cao Cao had predicted.

While Cao Cao planned, Xiahou Yuan mused and Xiahou Dun growled, Kai Jin’s mind was elsewhere. He longed to return to Puyang and meet with Ming Yue. Ever since he left to accompany Cao Cao to the Capital, he had been constantly longing to hear her music and enjoy a proper cup of jasmine tea. "...Not the same..." he constantly mused to himself. The garbage they served in the Capital was certainly not helping… especially since he felt something deep in his core that made him feel unsettled.

After the defeat of the Yellow Turbans, Kai Jin had found some manner of purpose fighting for Cao Cao and the Realm seemed to enjoy some manner of lasting peace.

But he knew that the world was still in chaos… Why else would he still be in this world? Order had not yet been achieved. It was only the deep breath before the plunge into the waters… he could feel the tremors of change coming closer… the stillness in his mind and soul kept feeling it… like a growing wave just waiting to slam into everything.

His duty as the Heavenly Sword of Order hadn’t been fulfilled yet. Until he did, he would continue to linger in this chaotic realm. If he could find the strongest warrior within that storm, then he would continue to languish under the service of the ambitious Cao Cao for the time being.

Until someone finally appeared that wouldn't disappoint him again.