King of Assassins

King of Assassins is a long-form fantasy novel by the web author Ta Xue Zhenren. Serialized on Qidian.com starting in May 2020 and completed in June 2021, it runs about 3.05 million Chinese characters across 785 chapters. The story is set in a future world where humanity has entered the interstellar age: technology is highly advanced, and the path of cultivation has continued alongside the expansion of civilization, with assassins, exotic artifacts, and supernatural powers together forming a new order. The protagonist, Gao Xuan, was taken in as a child by a secret assassin organization and raised in an underground training base as the nameless "Number 088." At the story's opening, he is reborn with over a century of life experience; still a youth, he already knows everything about the base. He decisively kills his instructor, defects from the organization with the growth-type artifact the God-Slaying Sword, and, relying on memories and insight from his past life, seizes opportunities ahead of time and befriends and rescues allies including the female assassin Number 33, Yun Qingshang. With alien races and evil gods watching from outside and human society rotting from within, Gao Xuan clears out enemies by assassin's methods while trying to reverse humanity's slide toward decline. The book centers on "the steadiest (and most cowardly) assassin in history," emphasizing cautious development and ambush backstabs in an invincible-protagonist power-fantasy style, with brisk pacing, vivid fight scenes, and a lively supporting cast.