Xu Qing agreed to join.7

The job that Kong Xianglong mentioned was actually a secret mission assigned to him by the Field Operations Office. Normally speaking, people from other departments wouldn’t be allowed to go on such secret missions. However, Kong Xianglong knew that Xu Qing needed military credits, as did his other friends. Therefore, after a lot of coaxing and pestering his superiors, he received approval to allow swordsages from other departments to help. The main reason was that he agreed to act as their guarantor.2

The participants included other Field Operations Office swordsages, plus Xu Qing, Sir Mountain-River, Wang Chen, and Duskspirit.4

As for the task at hand....1

“It’s an extraction mission.”4

It was in the middle of the night when the team met in the Field Operations Office headquarters. There were a total of seventeen swordsages present. Kong Xianglong stood in front of them, looking very serious.1

“We’ll get moving first. Along the way, I’ll explain how the mission is going to work. As per standard operating procedure, all transmission jade slips need to be sealed. During the entire duration of the mission, you cannot contact anyone for any reason. The only person who can do so is the mission leader, who is me.”5

With that, he waved his hand, and someone from the Field Operations Office stepped forward, clasped hands officially, then started sealing all the jade slips. It was a simple seal involving a warding spell. The Field Operations swordsage performed an incantation gesture, and the sealing marks flew out into the crowd.3

Xu Qing looked around and noted that everyone seemed fine with having their jade slips sealed. At the same time, he knew it was one of the mission requirements....8