It was exactly because of this reason that the Mountainshade Black Market assassins could never reveal their identity no matter what.
If the assassins revealed their identities, this would be a big taboo and they would even be killed by the thunder penalty of the Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation Oath.
If someone impersonated the Mountainshade Black Market, he would not be forgiven too!
There was an explicit rule clearly stipulated in writing that whichever sect or person dared to impersonate a Mountainshade Black Market member, they would definitely be annihilated by the Mountainshade Black Market.
In order to protect this baseline, the Mountainshade Black Market had even come up with a rule that all Mountainshade Black Market members who had reached the Saint Stage must swear using the Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation Oath that they would go all out to annihilate whoever impersonated as their fellow members.
Those who refused to follow this rule would be blasted to death by the thunder penalty.
Even Tai Wu and Yin Yang were of no exception as well; both of them had already made this oath.
It was still alright if they did not know anything, but once they found out, the Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation Oath would start to run its course.
"How are you going to prove that what you've said is true?" Yin Yang looked at the Quasi Three-Star Assassin in front of him and asked in a deep voice, "Do you dare to make a Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation Oath and prove that every word you spoke just now was nothing but the truth? If there was any false statement in it, you'd be blasted to death by the thunder penalty!"
Upon hearing this, the Quasi Three-Star Assassin instantly completed the Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation Oath without saying anything.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
…
Nine thunderous sounds reverberated and took half of Han River City by surprise.
Those who heard the thunderous booms knew that somebody must have already made the Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation Oath and the thunder had corresponded to him.
Seeing how this Quasi Three-Star Assassin had made his Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation Oath so straightforwardly and was not punished by the thunder penalty, Tai Wu and Yin Yang realized that the man was not lying.
The reason they wanted to affirm this was because they were also worried that the Quasi Three-Star Assassin just want to find an excuse to kill a person.
In the Nine Sect Alliances' district, their hands were no doubt the sharpest blade that existed!
Looking at the Quasi Three-Star Assassin, Tai Wu asked, "Just now, you said that you've confirmed the identity of the people who impersonated as our Mountainshade Black Market's members, haven't you?"
"Yes." The Quasi Three-Star Assassin nodded.
"Who are they?" Yin Yang asked.
"They're from the Ouyang Clan of Han River City. The Ouyang Clan is an eight-rated force from Han River City. They usually rely on the Nine Sect Alliances to do their business and have accumulated quite a lot of wealth," answered the Quasi Three-Star Assassin.
"The Ouyang Clan?" Upon hearing his words, Tai Wu and Yin Yang exchanged glances with each other, both noticing the cold brilliance in each other's eyes.
That night, the Ouyang Clan had received an unprecedented catastrophe that they had never faced before.
The entire Ouyang Clan, including Ouyang Ba the Clan Leader, had all been slaughtered, except for a minority of them who were not in that night.
Before the group of high-ranking officials of the Ouyang Clan could realize what was happening, they had all already been killed one by one.
Even the few old Ouyang Clan elders who were at the Paramount Saint Rudiment Stage were also dragged out from the Ouyang Clan's secret room by the intruders before they were slaughtered.
Up to that moment when they were slaughtered, the old Ouyang Clan elders did not understand why would Saint Stage powerhouses be coming to kill them, to the point that they did not even say half a sentence to them at all.
That night, the Ouyang Clan's blood flowed like a river.
Just as the Ouyang Clan shed blood like water, the two Saint Stage powerhouses who made their move rapidly also left ostentatiously.
When they left, a group of black-robed men rushed in and ransacked the entire Ouyang Clan.
By the time the people from the Nine Sect Alliances' headquarters came, almost everything that was worthy in the Ouyang Clan had already been looted, leaving only bodies strewn everywhere on the ground and streams of blood that looked like a river.
The Ouyang Clan that was once glorious and magnificent had completely become history in just a night.
All of the people-in-charge of the nine great sects gathered together in the Nine Sect Alliances' headquarters.
"Everyone, what do you think of the incident regarding the Ouyang Clan?" A huge burly man with a bristly beard asked in a boisterous voice.
His glance swept past all of the thirty over people present at the scene.
These people were all the people-in-charge sent by the nine great sects to Han River City. Each of them worked together to manage the affairs in the Nine Sect Alliances' headquarters.
They came from nine great sects. The few people from the Moon Illumination Sect, including Dong Hui, were also present.
"Why would the Ouyang Clan suddenly be annihilated entirely? Don't tell me that Senior Brother Bai Li Hong was the one who made the move? Wait a minute… Even if Senior Brother Bai Li Hong made his move, he couldn't possibly have wiped the entire Ouyang Clan out overnight! All of the few Paramount Saint Rudiment Stage powerhouses in the Ouyang Clan have actually died! None of them managed to escape at all!" At first, Dong Hui thought that Bai Li Hong had taken revenge for Duan Ling Tian's sake but very soon, he realized that this was not possible.
"Oh?" Suddenly, Dong Hui noticed many of them shifting their gaze towards their Moon Illumination Sect members.
"Do we still have to think? It must be the Moon Illumination Sect who did that… Tsk tsk! The Moon Illumination Sect really loves Duan Ling Tian so much to the point that when they found out that he was already bullied by the Ouyang Clan, they immediately wiped out the entire Ouyang Clan!" An ugly middle-aged man exclaimed sarcastically.
"Just one night and the entire Ouyang Clan was wiped out! Even those few Paramount Saint Rudiment Stage powerhouses couldn't make it out either… A Saint Stage powerhouse must've been involved too!" Another person added.
An old man glared at Dong Hui and a few others with fury and almost howled as he demanded, "What a great move, Moon Illumination Sect! How could you actually wipe out an eight-rated clan who is also an alliance of our Nine Sect Alliances just for the sake of one small conflict? Besides, it was a clan that we helped to support and raise together in the past. Moon Illumination Sect, you owe us an explanation!"
"That's right! No matter how bad the Ouyang Clan is, it was still raised and brought up by us! Even if your Moon Illumination Sect wanted to annihilate it, you should have at least told us first. Acting all by yourself without consulting us, what do you take the other eight great sects as?" Many people continued to interrogate.
"Now that you guys have slaughtered the Ouyang Clan, who's going to clean up the mess that the Ouyang Clan left behind then? Do you know how much effort we need to take to raise another eight-rated force? What your Moon Illumination Sect has done this time is just too much!" Right at this moment, Dong Hui and the few others had become the target of the eight great sects.
"Hmph! What proof do you to accuse our Moon Illumination Sect?" A sturdy, old man beside Dong Hui snorted coldly with disdain and asked in a deep voice as he cast a glance at the crowd.
This old man was the main person-in-charge sent by the Moon Illumination Sect to the Nine Sect Alliances' headquarters. He was Tan Quan, one of the few Vice Sect Leaders of the Moon Illumination Sect.
"That's right! It's better not to point fingers before you have any evidence," Dong Hui also grunted.
The few remaining people-in-charge of the Moon Illumination Sect also agreed.
Even though they were secretly skeptical about Elder Bai Li Hong managing to persuade the high-ranking officials in the sect to let the Saint Stage powerhouses annihilate the Ouyang Clan, they could not show their suspicions right now.
"What kind of proof do you still want to see?" A strong, middle-aged man stood up and smirked. "Other than your Moon Illumination Sect, who else would have the motive to wipe out the entire Ouyang Clan?"
"That's right! We can be certain that it was a Saint Stage powerhouse who wiped out the entire Ouyang Clan in a night. Tell us then, other than our nine great sects here, which other force has Saint Stage powerhouses in the Nine Sect Alliances' district?" Somebody questioned again.
"Other than our nine great sects, which other force has Saint Stage powerhouse in the Nine Sect Alliances' district?" When Tan Quan heard this person's question, he smirked right away. "You seem to have forgotten the Mountainshade Black Market, huh?"
The Mountainshade Black Market!
The moment they heard Tan Quan mention the Mountainshade Black Market, the entire scene turned deadly silent. The atmosphere changed to become slightly weird.
The Mountainshade Black Market had always been the thorn in the Nine Sect Alliances' throat all the while. It was also the force that made the nine great sects stick together closely like birds of the same feather.
If there were no Mountainshade Black Market, there would be no Nine Sect Alliances.
One could even say that the alliances among the nine great sects were created by the Mountainshade Black Market alone.
The Mountainshade Black Market had given them an inexplicable sense of huge pressure.
"Hmph! Stop using the Mountainshade Black Market to scare us. All this while, the Mountainshade Black Market has only been making their move in the dark and since when have they done anything like this before?" Soon, one of the high-ranking officials of one of the sects returned to his senses and scoffed.
Many other people agreed with his words.
"That's right! Although the Mountainshade Black Market is peculiar about what they do, this doesn't seem to be their style at all."
"The Ouyang Clan has just offended Duan Ling Tian from your Moon Illumination Sect a few days ago and now it's already wiped out. Who would believe you if you say this has nothing to do with your Moon Illumination Sect at all?"
"So, it turns out that the Moon Illumination Sect is actually a sect that doesn't dare to admit their doings, huh?"
…
Many people from the other eight great sects started to mock Tan Quan, Dong Hui, and a few others.
At once, the Moon Illumination Sect did not have any comeback at all.
After all, whatever the eight great sect members uttered kind of made sense too.
"Perhaps, it was some simple-minded people from the Ouyang Clan who offended the Mountainshade Black Market." In the end, it was Dong Hui who first returned to his senses and tried to refute.
Just as the group of high-ranking officials of the eight-grade sects wanted to answer, a young man hastily rushed in from outside. Such rude manners caused the crowd to frown right away.
"Which sect's disciple is this who doesn't know any manners at all?"
"He's definitely not from our Profound Talisman Sect!"
"Not from our sect too."
…
The high-ranking officials of the eight great sects clarified their relationship to the man one after another.
Soon, their gazes shifted towards the few high-ranking officials of the Moon Illumination Sect in unison.
If he was not from their sects, then he must be from the Moon Illumination Sect.
At this moment, be it Tan Quan the Vice Sect Leader of the Moon Illumination Sect, or Dong Hui and the others, each of their faces appeared solemn.
The Moon Illumination Sect's disciple who barged in, on the other hand, seemed to not have realized that the atmosphere of the scene was heavy and he still stormed in. As he was barging in, he kept saying, "Senior Uncles, the reason the entire Ouyang Clan being annihilated has already been spread out in Han River City."
"What?" The moment the Moon Illumination Sect disciple's words left his mouth, the entire scene broke into an uproar.
At this moment, nobody was concerned about this Moon Illumination Sect disciple's manners anymore.
To them, the reason the entire Ouyang Clan had been annihilated was the most important right now.
"What reason is that?" At once, the nine great sects' high-ranking officials, including the few high-ranking officials from the Moon Illumination Sect, looked at the Moon Illumination Sect disciple altogether.