As an assassin, Lan Jiwan was exceptional. Her real identity—a young and attractive university student—provided excellent cover for her assignments, as few would deliberately guard against her.

Initially, Lan Jiwan genuinely believed she was carrying out "justice's punishment," for those she killed were indeed no good people, but she gradually sensed something amiss…

The Bitter Tea Sect prohibited its disciples from discussing the tasks they performed on regular days, and also forbade them from probing into each other's real-life identities. Thus, at first, Lan Jiwan was unaware of who her companions were or what they did regularly.

The Bitter Tea Sect even gave Lan Jiwan a mask that could conceal her Divine Sense, a privilege not extended to other companions, leaving them ignorant of her true face, while she knew what her companions looked like.

Several times, Lan Jiwan's tasks involved eliminating former companions she had once met—they were disciples under the Bitter Tea Sect, just like her.

According to the Bitter Tea Sect, they were degenerates, using Secret Techniques for personal gain and evil.

Lan Jiwan was merely an executor, not an investigator, responsible solely for elimination without verification. As an assassin, she valued stealth, striking only once with precision, and could not risk exposing her identity to engage in any interaction with the assassination targets.

During her covert observations, she indeed found that those guys were no good.

But on the other hand, she was perplexed as to why disciples of the Bitter Tea Sect, her former companions, would turn out to be rotten one after another. They were all trained by the Bitter Tea Sect, regularly executing tasks assigned by it.

Could it be that the misdeeds were ordered by the Bitter Tea Sect itself, or were habits developed under its command? Once this thought emerged, it lingered like a venomous snake gnawing at her heart.

She guessed correctly, but not entirely!

Many cleaners under the Bitter Tea Sect's command, after completing a few tasks, would realize they were doing work that couldn't see the light of day. But so what? They received so much and paid almost no price.

They acquired the legacy of Secret Techniques, mastering incredible abilities. While working for the Bitter Tea Sect, they could also reap some benefits to satisfy their own desires, as performing dirty work meant who they did it for didn't matter—be it for the Bitter Tea Sect or themselves.

More importantly, when the Bitter Tea Sect chose talents, it emphasized examining this aspect of "quality." Since they were cultivated to do dirty work, they obviously couldn't be good people; otherwise, they would lack motivation and initiative.

Take for example individuals like Feng Zilong and Gao Chenshu—they were inherently not good people, suited for doing bad deeds. You couldn't possibly ask them to be charitable, could you?

However, for people like Ye Liangcheng and Lan Jiwan, due to their responsibilities for more special tasks, the Bitter Tea Sect had different talent selection standards. This is also called teaching according to aptitude and making good use of talent.

The targets Lan Jiwan eliminated, though said to each have their reasons for their demise, were chosen by the Bitter Tea Sect based solely on whether they were still loyal and reliable. Expecting genuine loyalty from these people was unlikely; reliability was the main concern.

Some cleaners gradually stopped following the Bitter Tea Sect's orders, for instance, secretly investigating other members' identities and tasks, or excessively indulging in personal affairs, or perhaps leaving evidence that could expose their identities during missions…

Once such individuals were exposed, falling into the hands of the Ancestral Hall would mean death, also implicating the Bitter Tea Sect. The cleaners themselves needed to be systematically and batch-wise eliminated.

Although Lan Jiwan sensed something was wrong, she dared not act rashly, because in her eyes, the Bitter Tea Sect was a mysterious and overwhelmingly powerful entity, against which she could not resist. She could only pretend she hadn't discovered anything and cautiously investigate.

The event that truly confirmed the true nature of the Bitter Tea Sect and this organization for Lan Jiwan happened two years ago when she uncovered the identities of those two thugs from back then.

The two thugs had long been buried, and no one had even reported the case afterward.

However, Lan Jiwan further investigated and discovered they had each traveled from different places to her hometown the day before the incident, as if intentionally going there to meet. Could it really be a coincidence they would run into a high school girl in the mountains and not even try to rob her?

Why investigate these two people? Because they were long dead, it wasn't easy to attract attention even if Lan Jiwan conducted a private inquiry.

Lin Jiwan was no longer the ignorant girl she used to be. She quickly realized that someone had deliberately arranged the incident, and the person who orchestrated this setup was likely the Bitter Tea Sect.

If she hadn't gone hiking that day, she might have encountered danger elsewhere and then been rescued by the Bitter Tea Sect. Those two thugs weren't Sorcerers, but they were enough to deal with a schoolgirl.

The Bitter Tea Sect also had another type of people—those who hadn't completed their Cultivation of Techniques. Despite the aptitude screening, the Bitter Tea Sect couldn't guarantee everyone would reach Entry Level within the expected timeframe.

The value of such people was not high, but they were useful, and those two thugs might have been in such a situation.

He Kao thought Lan Jiwan was harsh on herself, but she was also compelled by circumstances. After realizing the true nature of the Bitter Tea Sect, she did one thing—began skipping classes, frequenting bars, smoking, drinking, indulging in casual relationships, and even got a tattoo…

Upon hearing this, He Kao interrupted: "A tattoo?" He indeed never noticed Lan Jiwan had any tattoo.

Lan Jiwan explained somewhat embarrassingly: "It's not a real tattoo, but it looks real enough, and can't be washed off with water. I mixed the paint myself, it was meant to be seen by others."

It was evident, Lan Jiwan did it deliberately, portraying herself as a rebellious and decadent young woman, repeatedly violating school rules and regulations, with several failed exams, often skipping classes for long periods, no one knowing where she went or what she was up to.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.