Chapter 170
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Black Shadow thrust his spinning drill at me, evidently intent on drilling a hole through my chest and instantly killing me.
Clang!
However, his drill bounced off my Snow Aegis and he staggered back, surprised. Why should he be surprised? He fought against me in Free Trade Street when he tried to assassinate Tang Qi Hong days ago, and should have known about my shield.
Ah. I see why he was shocked. I was currently in prison, yet somehow I still was equipped with my Spirit Armaments. Come to think of it, I completely forgot about my spatial device. Elder Zhao and Elder Cheng did not ask me for my belongings, so I didn't surrender them and just walked straight into my cell.
A good thing I did too, otherwise I would be at an overwhelming disadvantage against Black Shadow.
I thanked Elder Zhao and Elder Cheng under my breath. I didn't know if they truly forgot about my stuff, or they did it on purpose, trusting me not to pull my weapons out and attempt to escape. I wouldn't, as that would defeat the whole purpose of me putting on this show and setting an example in the first place.
Clang!
Sparks flew between us and Black Shadow was forced back. I withdrew my shield and swung a kick at Black Shadow, and the middle-aged man tried to duck. Unfortunately, the confined space of my cell made it difficult for him to evade and my foot connected with his temple, sending him spinning to the ground.
However, Black Shadow was far from helpless. As he fell, he instinctively shoved his drill in my direction, forcing me back on the defensive.
"I'm glad my drill instructor drilled all those defensive techniques into me," I muttered as I found myself pushed back by the tremendous force. Black Shadow snarled at me, his face contorted in venomous fury.
"You won't get away with this! You'll regret ever killing Young Master! The Divine Shadow Sect will definitely kill you!"
I tilted my head curiously. "The Divine Shadow Sect will kill me, huh? Not you? You sound like you're already resigned to failure."
Black Shadow froze for a moment, but he shook his hesitation away and dashed at me, forcing me to block his next thrust.
"Ha ha ha!" he chortled. "You're right! I'll be the one who kill you, and help the Divine Shadow Sect seek retribution for the death of Young Master!"
"Er…you know he was the one who attacked and tried to kill me, right? I have the right to self-defense."
Black Shadow responded with another deadly thrust, his drill colliding with my shield in another shower of sparks.
"You'll never escape the retribution from the Divine Shadow Sect!"
I was getting tired of all this bullshit logic. "You're taking revenge on me because I defended myself? Then what am I supposed to do? Just stand still and let Liang Shao Yang kill me without fighting back?"
"Yes!" Black Shadow snapped. "That's the fate of the weak! You exist solely for the strong to kill! You're just cannon fodder and a stepping stone for Young Master to reach the pinnacle! Know your place, trash!"
"Sorry to disappoint you, but the fact that Liang Shao Yang lost to me means that he's weaker than me. So if I'm weak, then Liang Shao Yang is worse than a weakling. And if I'm trash, then what does that make him, who lost to me? Garbage?"
Black Shadow's expression darkened and he slashed at me with his viciously spinning drill, almost catching me by surprise. I staggered back from the impact, huffing, but the bastard continued to press on.
"Shut your mouth!" he snarled. "You're not worthy to disgrace Young Master's name!"
"And here I was, thinking that I would be free from the cliché arrogant young master thing, and then his whole sect descending upon me for revenge when I kill him in self-defense."
Shaking my head, I sighed wearily. Seriously? Did I have to deal with this bullshit? It was essentially "how dare you fight back and defend yourself against an arrogant young master who tried to kill you? Our entire sect will take revenge on you because you refuse to submit yourself and let him kill you without fighting back!"
Absolutely illogical and extremely hypocritical. Typical of these bastards to try and establish double standards that benefited only them.
If I was a typical xianxia protagonist, I probably would escape somewhere, train and reach a random cultivation level higher than my current realm, then return and wipe out the sect by myself. However, that was clearly impractical and unrealistic. No matter what bullshit realm I attained, there was no way I could turn into a one-man army and waltz into a sect and exterminate the hundreds of members in it by myself.
That was just bullshit power fantasy turned up to the max.
Besides, I had Blood Blades and the power of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect backing me. If Divine Shadow Sect really wanted to target me, they would be in for a surprise. The Nine-Tailed Fox Sect was one of the eight major sects of the Martial Arts Alliance. As powerful as the Divine Shadow Sect was, they were no match for the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect and their legendary Blood Blades. To attack my sect would be tantamount to suicide.
I doubted that was going to stop them from trying, though. And to be fair, they were shadowy assassins, so they were intelligent enough not to engage Nine-Tailed Fox Sect in a direct war and would seek for stealthy ways to kill me when my guard was down. They should be aware that attacking from the front would only end in their own deaths.
Speaking of which, Black Shadow's actions were a little unusual. I guess it made some sense that he was trying to assassinate me when I was inside a cell, but it was precisely because this was Fire Prison Cliff that his mission woul inevitably end in failure.
"You do know that the Blood Blades and the elders will be arriving soon, right?" I informed him, not because I wanted him to escape but because I knew he would stick around regardless of what happened. He was extremely determined to kill me. But if I talked, I might be able to buy some time until reinforcements arrived. "You won't be able to get away with this."
"I know, but it doesn't matter. I estimate that they will be here in five minutes." A smile curled over Black Shadow's face. "That's more than enough time for me to slaughter you."
He could try, but I doubted it. The bastard was vastly underestimating me. All the more fool him, then. I wasn't going to teach him to be clever.
As an aside, the reason why it took five minutes for the elders to arrive was because Black Shadow's timing was impeccable. He deliberately waited until the middle of the night, when everyone was asleep and when Fire Prison Cliff was not being staffed, before he attacked. As expected of a professional assassin.
I was surprised he even managed to get past security and dig his way to the prison. Then again, he probably used that drill to carve an underground tunnel all the way here, bypassing the qi barriers and defenses on the surface. Furthermore, the prison in Fire Prison Cliff was built to keep the prisoners in, not to keep intruders out, so he would find the defenses facing weaker than usual, and was thus able to penetrate them relatively easily. No doubt Elder Zhao would take that into account when repairing the prison cell, but currently that information was of no use to me.
Of course, that meant Black Shadow would find it near impossible to escape Fire Prison Cliff, even if he reused the route he just dug to get here, but fro his expression I was certain that he was already resolved to throw his life away, as long as he could eliminate me.
Obviously I didn't plan on making it easy for him.
"Just die already!"
Frustration was creeping up on Black Shadow's face. He was hammering me with more frequent, faster attacks, his drill relentlessly crashing against my shield. My back was to the wall, and I was slowly crumbling under the pressure. Even though my Snow Aegis protected me from most of the impact, my arms were slowly trembling from the constant bombardment. My shield could withstand the blows, but my body could not.
"Damn it!"
I briefly wondered if I would be able to survive long enough for reinforcements to arrive. Perhaps, but I wasn't satisfied with just taking the blows. I wanted to counterattack too. I wasn't just going to roll over and let this bastard hit me!
I waited for an opening, a slight pause in Black Shadow's hail of attacks as he stopped momentarily to catch his breath. The moment he withdrew his drill briefly, I lowered my shield and lashed out with a Shadow Kick. Black Shadow tried to block my foot with his drill, which had been temporarily unpowered so that he could rest, and I only succeeded in driving him back a couple of meters. He staggered, sucked in a deep breath, and launched another attack again, forcing me back to the defensive.
"Kuh!"
I stumbled backward as I brought my shield down to defend myself. Once again, I found myself cornered.
Damn it!
Glancing at the snow "petals" attached to the core of my Snow Aegis, I cursed under my breath. Normally I would have detached the mobile qi beam turrets and fired on Black Shadow's position from multiple angles, but the cell was too narrow and confined a space for me to launch them. Simply put, there was no space for the mobile qi beam turrets to move about. They would only get in each other's way, and probably my way too.
Fortunately, the mobile qi beam turrets could function as something else to.
While Black Shadow was busily drilling my shield, I reached out and drew two of the mobile qi beam turrets. Grabbing them by the shaft, I activated them, and azure qi beams fizzled out of their barrels, forming qi blades.
"!!!"
Evidently Black Shadow had never seen qi blades before, and he was taken aback. Capitalizing on his momentary distraction, I slashed at him with dual qi blades, whirling around from behind my shield and grazing his arm as he fell back on reflex.
"You…!"
Black Shadow's face twisted in fury and he renewed his attack. My hovering Snow Aegis zoomed in to block his drill, and I synchronized with its movements, spinning from behind my shield to strike with both my qi blades.
"Ugh!"
It was Black Shadow's turn to cry out in pain as he fell back, finding himself cornered. He raised his drill to block my next attacks, and I executed Heavenly Draconic Meteor Strike. The ground beneath Black Shadow's feet immediately crumbled and the wall behind him shook from the tremendous impact, his legs nearly giving way under him.
"Don't underestimate me!"
With a determined roar, Black Shadow shoved me away with his drill, but I ducked under it gracefully before answering with a riposte that grazed his cheek, drawing blood. However, the superheated qi blade cauterized the wound, which meant there was no danger of him bleeding to death. On the other hand, the intense heat possessed unrivaled destructive power, which meant I would kill him instantly if I pierced a vital spot.
We traded another few blows, my azure qi blades streaking into glowing blurs as I flashed and slashed them. Black Shadow met my attacks evenly, deflecting my qi blades while countering with deadly thrusts, but my Snow Aegis swooped in to block them every time. I swung both qi blades again, but Black Shadow parried them, and with a twist of his drill, sent the qi blade in my left hand flying away harmlessly, the qi blade deactivating automatically the moment it left my grip.
Undaunted, I drew another qi blade from my Snow Aegis. There were still another three remaining, waiting for me to draw them in the event I was disarmed. Seeing that, Black Shadow scowled bitterly.
"Fucking brat!"
I crossed my qi blades to block his drill, and then kicked him under his guard. Normally Black Shadow would have flown several meters backward, but this was the confined space of a cell and he slammed into the wall, causing violent tremors and a cloud of dust to rain down on him. Gritting his teeth, he retaliated with his drill, forcing me back while my Snow Aegis dove in to take the blow. Almost as if I was waltzing, I spun from behind cover and slashed at him with my qi blades again.
However, Black Shadow was a seasoned veteran who had been through many battles and prevailed in most of them. He had far more experience than me, and possessed more strength and qi. He knocked away my qi blades and counterattacked so flawlessly that he ripped a hole in my shoulder and caused me to fall back.
"Ugh…"
I could feel the blood streaming down my shoulder and dripping off my arm, red-hot pain stabbing into my nerves. Fortunately, adrenaline and endorphins were flowing through my body, so it didn't hurt as much as it otherwise would have. I knew, however, that once the battle was over, that wound was going to sting like a bitch.
"Hu…"
Exhaling, I renewed my assault, but Black Shadow twirled his drill around, knocking me back with the ease of a veteran. A sudden smash sent one qi blade spiraling out of my hand and the other was rocked so violently that the qi beam disappeared.
"Hah!"
Crowing triumphantly, Black Shadow closed in and struck with his drill. Gritting my teeth, I blocked his killing blow with the barrel of my qi blade. Sparks scattered over me and Black Shadow pressed closer, exploiting the gap.
In terms of strength, he was clearly winning. I could feel my qi blade slowly lowering and being pushed aside, and the drill drawing closer.
Just as planned.
The moment my qi blade was angled toward his face, I reactivated it. To be more precise, I fired the qi beam turret, and the devastating blast hurtled out of the barrel and burned a hole through Black Shadow's face.
"Argh!"
Howling in pain, Black Shadow staggered back, stunned. Not wasting the opportunity that my trick earned me, I reached out and grabbed a fourth qi blade, activated it and hacked off Black Shadow's arm in one smooth motion. The drill the dismembered arm was holding crashed heavily onto the ground and bounced off, leaving small craters and huge cracks on the concrete.
"UGH!"
Black Shadow cried out, clutching his stump. There was no blood, especially because the superheated qi beam of my qi blade had cauterized his wound, but it was enough to send him into shock. Without hesitation, I struck and stabbed him with my qi blades, pinning him to the ground. Black Shadow writhed, cursing and bellowing in murderous rage.
His qi built up, the assassin obviously trying to use a powerful technique to free himself of his restraints. However, I wasn't going to give him the chance.
Reaching out, I snatched the final two qi blades mounted on my Snow Aegis, activated them and slashed the helpless Black Shadow, carving two cauterized trails of fatal wounds across his body. Black Shadow's mouth gaped soundlessly and he collapsed, his eyes losing their light as he slumped into death.
For good measure, I flicked both my qi blades and decapitated him to ensure that he was really dead. There was no telling if he was just pretending to be dead. I was not taking anything for granted. The man was a professional assassin. I didn't want to get stabbed in the back when I lowered my guard and turned around or something.
"Fei Wu! What happened?!"
Finally Elder Zhao rushed into the Fire Cliff Prison, perspiration pouring down his face. He was followed shortly by a squad of Blood Blades, each of them armed to the teeth with high-ranked Spirit Weapons.
"Oh…seems like I had an uninvited visitor."
Panting from the exertion, I staggered to the opposite wall and leaned against it to catch my breath. Deactivating my qi blades, I inserted them back into my hovering Snow Aegis and closed my eyes to rest.
"How did he get in?" Elder Zhao demanded, astonished.
"Looks like he dug his way into the cell," one of the Blood Blades observed, noticing the hole in the floor.
"Yeah, there was quite a hole in the prison's defense," I confirmed and opened my eyes to grin weakly at Elder Zhao. "Seems like you'll have to redo the defenses of this prison from the ground up."
*
"Senior Liu Fu! Please!"
Hu Mei Er was pleading with the inner sect disciple named Liu Fu, while he was smithing Spirit Artifacts in his smelting furnace.
"No."
"Why?!" Hu Mei Er demanded. "Isn't Shao Yang your junior from Divine Shadow Sect? How can you just act as if his death has nothing to do with you?"
Liu Fu stopped for a moment to stare at the beautiful girl coldly. "So what if we're both from Divine Shadow Sect? Junior Shao Yang was reckless and arrogant. He offended people for no reason and attacked a Blood Blade member in broad daylight. He got what he deserved."
Returning his attention to his smelting furnace, he snorted.
"Even worse, that Blood Blade he tried to kill turned out to be a genius who can trigger a response from three of the Spirit Engraved Pillars. He was really overestimating himself."
"Are you really not going to take revenge for your fellow sect member?" Hu Mei Er cried out in disbelief.
"Fellow sect member?" Liu Fu smiled coldly. "If we're talking about fellow sect member, isn't Junior Fei Wu a fellow sect member as well? Why are you asking me to kill him?"
"Are your bonds with the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect stronger than your bonds with the Divine Shadow Sect?"
"Maybe. So what if they are? It's none of your business." Liu Fu continued smithing his current project. "Besides, you seem to misunderstand something about Divine Shadow Sect."
"…eh?"
Hu Mei Er suddenly felt a chill. Liu Fu turned his head to stare at her with glacial eyes, his silvery pupils devoid of any warmth.
"Do you think the disciples of Divine Shadow Sect have any loyalty to each other? We're trained to be assassins." He leaned closer, dropping his voice into a whisper. "We were forced to kill each other from young. In the Divine Shadow Sect, the only way to ascend the ranks and survive is to climb atop the corpses of your fellow sect disciples. It's completely different from the big happy family that the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect has here."
Hu Mei Er couldn't help but shudder. Liu Fu continued fixing that wintry gaze on her.
"In other words, Liang Shao Yang's death benefits me. I am more inclined to thank Junior Fei Wu than take revenge for Junior Shao Yang. Besides, it would be suicide to target Junior Fei Wu now, especially since he'll surely get the protection of Blood Blades for being such an asset to the sect after triggering the response from three Spirit Engraved Pillars. Rather than provoke the guy, I would rather befriend him."
Hu Mei Er swallowed, unable to refute his points. She took a deep breath, whirled around and stomped out of Liu Fu's workshop. The latter watched her leave, and then return to smithing, his expression remaining unreadable.
Zhao Yu and Wang Tong, despite also being from Divine Shadow Sect, weren't willing to help either.
"Don't you know that Blood Blades will purge you guys?" Hu Mei Er had demanded. "They will eliminate anyone related to the Divine Shadow Sect!"
Zhao Yu had laughed at that. "You think this is ancient China? You've been reading too much Spirit Realm. Sect Leader is not that ruthless and tyrannical. He's not going to kill people for belonging to the wrong sect, not when they did nothing wrong. This is the twenty-first century. Nobody is going to behave like barbarians and resort to killing for such obscure reasons."
"Besides, what does Divine Shadow Sect have to do with you?" Wang Tong had asked. "You're not from Divine Shadow Sect. What goes on in our sect is none of your business."
Despite being from Divine Shadow Sects, all these disciples had found the warm, friendly environment of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect a lot more hospitable and to their liking. They were extremely glad to be in a place where they didn't have to worry about their lives daily, and where they could live peacefully without being forced to kill anyone.
They had no intention of returning to Divine Shadow Sect.
Hu Mei Er gritted her teeth and stalked off, almost in tears.
If nobody was going to help her take revenge for her beloved Liang Shao Yang, then she had no choice but to take matters into her own hands.
"Ah…!"
With a cry, Hu Mei Er suddenly realized something.
"Now that everyone's attention is focused on Fei Wu, doesn't that mean no one is paying much attention to Tang Qi Hong right now? The security around her should be lower than usual."
Clenching her fists tightly, Hu Mei Er smiled for the first time in days and began drawing up a heinous plan in her mind.
*
In a mountain range far away from Tushan City, towers and pavilons stretched endlessly, forming a small castle-like compound. They seemed virtually covered in shadow, the darkness shrouding over them like natural cover.
Many martial artists with dark, cold eyes ghosted in the spaces between the buildings, not bothering to exchange a greeting or even a glance with each other. They all seemed wrapped up in their own world, focusing on their own survival…or more accurately, they remained wary of each other even though they were from the same sect.
As Liu Fu pointed out, the environment in Divine Shadow Sect was such that they were raised upon the principle of strong killing the weak. Only those ruthless enough to murder their erstwhile comrades and climb atop the heap of those corpses were able to survive. As such, they could not trust each other.
Moreover, the movements of the martial artists were stealthy and soundless. Despite the large volume of movement, there wasn't even a single footstep that echoed throughout the grounds. There wasn't even the sound of breathing.
The martial artists of Divine Shadow Sect had perfected their stealth skills and honed their assassin techniques to near perfection.
Inside one of the towers, the biggest one in the compound, a dark-haired middle-aged man stood up straight, his expression grave.
"Shao Yang is dead," Liang Yang Zu spoke up to Di Shi Jiu, who managed half of the sect. He had personally visited the latter's chambers to discuss this matter, but found Di Shi Ju less than accommodating.
The thin, balding old man merely looked up in a disinterested manner.
"So what? He is your son. You can do whatever you want, but it has nothing to do with me."
Despite the cold tone, there was an edge of mockery in his words. Liang Yang Zu stiffened, but he concealed his rage easily enough.
"You also agreed to the plan of having Shao Yang infiltrate Nine-Tailed Fox Sect." Liang Yang Zu's eyes blazed frostily with what seemed like black flames. He seemed to be emanating a vicious and formidable aura even without putting in the effort to intimidate people. "Now that he is killed, are you really not going to do anything about it?"
"Why should I?" Di Shi Jiu responded flippantly. Liang Yang Zu twitched imperceptibly.
"My son has been killed. If Divine Shadow Sect does not make a move regarding this, then our reputation will be ground to dust."
"Your son attacked a fellow sect disciple in Nine-Tailed Fox Sect and tried to kill him. The other party was only acting out of self-defense. Your son deserved what he got." Di Shi Jiu snorted nonchalantly. "If you want to do something about it, you can take your subordinates and resolve the mater yourself. My Dark Shadow Faction will stay out of it."
Liang Yang Zu closed his eyes and sighed through gritted teeth.
"Fine."
He turned away slightly, but then stopped.
"What if Nine-Tailed Fox Sect and Blood Blades purge our Divine Shadow Sect's presence from Tushan City? Are you still not going to act?"
"Zi Shou De will not do that," Di Shi Jiu replied without any hesitation. "He's not that stupid. On the contrary, he's intelligent enough to not go around unnecessarily provoking people. He won't kill my Dark Orchid Pavilion, unlike some retarded sect master in some other story."
Liang Yang Zu twitched again, obviously disappointed that this card failed, but skilled enough to conceal his emotions.
His shoulders slumped and he sighed as he began running through several numbers in his head. If Di Shi Jiu and his faction would not assist him for the reputation of the Divine Shadow Sect, then he had no choice but to use that…
On the other hand, Liang Yang Zu had sort of anticipated this. As Liu Fu correctly pointed out, the Divine Shadow Sect members displayed no loyalty to each other. They were wary of each other and often looked for ways to kill each other in order to ascend the ranks. In fact, Di Shi Jiu was most likely celebrating in his heart now that the son of one of his rivals, who would most likely pose a huge challenge to the candidancy of taking over the Divine Shadow Sect in future, had been eliminated. He could push his own candidate forward.
Liang Yang Zu had hoped to recruit Di Shi Jiu not because he wanted the sect to show a united front or because he sought solidarity, but because he required Di Shi Jiu's faction's power in order to mount a successful attack on Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. More importantly, he needed to check Di Shi Jiu's power and prevent him from growing too strong and influential. The attack was sure to reap a horrifying bounty of casualties, and he didn't want to leave his faction vulnerable to being backstabbed by Di Shi Jiu's Dark Shadow Faction after eradicating the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect.
No, if they were going to take losses, he was going to make sure Di Shi Jiu suffered the same amount of losses too.
However, Di Shi Jiu was too crafty to fall for that. Fortunately, Liang Yang Zu had another ace up his sleeve.
"How about this? I would like to hire your Dark Shadow Faction for this raid."
If loyalty and solidarity did not appeal to Di Shi Jiu and his shadowy assassins, then perhaps money and material goods would.
Retrieving a tablet from his pocket, Liang Yang Zu ran through some numbers and then displayed the screen to Di Shi Jiu. The balding old man stared at the screen for a few momoments, his inky black eyes almost swallowing the figures in their bottomless depths, and then he grinned with relish.
"Now we're talking," he said, a satisfied smirk spreading across his wizened face.
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Black Shadow thrust his spinning drill at me, evidently intent on drilling a hole through my chest and instantly killing me.
Clang!
However, his drill bounced off my Snow Aegis and he staggered back, surprised. Why should he be surprised? He fought against me in Free Trade Street when he tried to assassinate Tang Qi Hong days ago, and should have known about my shield.
Ah. I see why he was shocked. I was currently in prison, yet somehow I still was equipped with my Spirit Armaments. Come to think of it, I completely forgot about my spatial device. Elder Zhao and Elder Cheng did not ask me for my belongings, so I didn't surrender them and just walked straight into my cell.
A good thing I did too, otherwise I would be at an overwhelming disadvantage against Black Shadow.
I thanked Elder Zhao and Elder Cheng under my breath. I didn't know if they truly forgot about my stuff, or they did it on purpose, trusting me not to pull my weapons out and attempt to escape. I wouldn't, as that would defeat the whole purpose of me putting on this show and setting an example in the first place.
Clang!
Sparks flew between us and Black Shadow was forced back. I withdrew my shield and swung a kick at Black Shadow, and the middle-aged man tried to duck. Unfortunately, the confined space of my cell made it difficult for him to evade and my foot connected with his temple, sending him spinning to the ground.
However, Black Shadow was far from helpless. As he fell, he instinctively shoved his drill in my direction, forcing me back on the defensive.
"I'm glad my drill instructor drilled all those defensive techniques into me," I muttered as I found myself pushed back by the tremendous force. Black Shadow snarled at me, his face contorted in venomous fury.
"You won't get away with this! You'll regret ever killing Young Master! The Divine Shadow Sect will definitely kill you!"
I tilted my head curiously. "The Divine Shadow Sect will kill me, huh? Not you? You sound like you're already resigned to failure."
Black Shadow froze for a moment, but he shook his hesitation away and dashed at me, forcing me to block his next thrust.
"Ha ha ha!" he chortled. "You're right! I'll be the one who kill you, and help the Divine Shadow Sect seek retribution for the death of Young Master!"
"Er…you know he was the one who attacked and tried to kill me, right? I have the right to self-defense."
Black Shadow responded with another deadly thrust, his drill colliding with my shield in another shower of sparks.
"You'll never escape the retribution from the Divine Shadow Sect!"
I was getting tired of all this bullshit logic. "You're taking revenge on me because I defended myself? Then what am I supposed to do? Just stand still and let Liang Shao Yang kill me without fighting back?"
"Yes!" Black Shadow snapped. "That's the fate of the weak! You exist solely for the strong to kill! You're just cannon fodder and a stepping stone for Young Master to reach the pinnacle! Know your place, trash!"
"Sorry to disappoint you, but the fact that Liang Shao Yang lost to me means that he's weaker than me. So if I'm weak, then Liang Shao Yang is worse than a weakling. And if I'm trash, then what does that make him, who lost to me? Garbage?"
Black Shadow's expression darkened and he slashed at me with his viciously spinning drill, almost catching me by surprise. I staggered back from the impact, huffing, but the bastard continued to press on.
"Shut your mouth!" he snarled. "You're not worthy to disgrace Young Master's name!"
"And here I was, thinking that I would be free from the cliché arrogant young master thing, and then his whole sect descending upon me for revenge when I kill him in self-defense."
Shaking my head, I sighed wearily. Seriously? Did I have to deal with this bullshit? It was essentially "how dare you fight back and defend yourself against an arrogant young master who tried to kill you? Our entire sect will take revenge on you because you refuse to submit yourself and let him kill you without fighting back!"
Absolutely illogical and extremely hypocritical. Typical of these bastards to try and establish double standards that benefited only them.
If I was a typical xianxia protagonist, I probably would escape somewhere, train and reach a random cultivation level higher than my current realm, then return and wipe out the sect by myself. However, that was clearly impractical and unrealistic. No matter what bullshit realm I attained, there was no way I could turn into a one-man army and waltz into a sect and exterminate the hundreds of members in it by myself.
That was just bullshit power fantasy turned up to the max.
Besides, I had Blood Blades and the power of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect backing me. If Divine Shadow Sect really wanted to target me, they would be in for a surprise. The Nine-Tailed Fox Sect was one of the eight major sects of the Martial Arts Alliance. As powerful as the Divine Shadow Sect was, they were no match for the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect and their legendary Blood Blades. To attack my sect would be tantamount to suicide.
I doubted that was going to stop them from trying, though. And to be fair, they were shadowy assassins, so they were intelligent enough not to engage Nine-Tailed Fox Sect in a direct war and would seek for stealthy ways to kill me when my guard was down. They should be aware that attacking from the front would only end in their own deaths.
Speaking of which, Black Shadow's actions were a little unusual. I guess it made some sense that he was trying to assassinate me when I was inside a cell, but it was precisely because this was Fire Prison Cliff that his mission woul inevitably end in failure.
"You do know that the Blood Blades and the elders will be arriving soon, right?" I informed him, not because I wanted him to escape but because I knew he would stick around regardless of what happened. He was extremely determined to kill me. But if I talked, I might be able to buy some time until reinforcements arrived. "You won't be able to get away with this."
"I know, but it doesn't matter. I estimate that they will be here in five minutes." A smile curled over Black Shadow's face. "That's more than enough time for me to slaughter you."
He could try, but I doubted it. The bastard was vastly underestimating me. All the more fool him, then. I wasn't going to teach him to be clever.
As an aside, the reason why it took five minutes for the elders to arrive was because Black Shadow's timing was impeccable. He deliberately waited until the middle of the night, when everyone was asleep and when Fire Prison Cliff was not being staffed, before he attacked. As expected of a professional assassin.
I was surprised he even managed to get past security and dig his way to the prison. Then again, he probably used that drill to carve an underground tunnel all the way here, bypassing the qi barriers and defenses on the surface. Furthermore, the prison in Fire Prison Cliff was built to keep the prisoners in, not to keep intruders out, so he would find the defenses facing weaker than usual, and was thus able to penetrate them relatively easily. No doubt Elder Zhao would take that into account when repairing the prison cell, but currently that information was of no use to me.
Of course, that meant Black Shadow would find it near impossible to escape Fire Prison Cliff, even if he reused the route he just dug to get here, but fro his expression I was certain that he was already resolved to throw his life away, as long as he could eliminate me.
Obviously I didn't plan on making it easy for him.
"Just die already!"
Frustration was creeping up on Black Shadow's face. He was hammering me with more frequent, faster attacks, his drill relentlessly crashing against my shield. My back was to the wall, and I was slowly crumbling under the pressure. Even though my Snow Aegis protected me from most of the impact, my arms were slowly trembling from the constant bombardment. My shield could withstand the blows, but my body could not.
"Damn it!"
I briefly wondered if I would be able to survive long enough for reinforcements to arrive. Perhaps, but I wasn't satisfied with just taking the blows. I wanted to counterattack too. I wasn't just going to roll over and let this bastard hit me!
I waited for an opening, a slight pause in Black Shadow's hail of attacks as he stopped momentarily to catch his breath. The moment he withdrew his drill briefly, I lowered my shield and lashed out with a Shadow Kick. Black Shadow tried to block my foot with his drill, which had been temporarily unpowered so that he could rest, and I only succeeded in driving him back a couple of meters. He staggered, sucked in a deep breath, and launched another attack again, forcing me back to the defensive.
"Kuh!"
I stumbled backward as I brought my shield down to defend myself. Once again, I found myself cornered.
Damn it!
Glancing at the snow "petals" attached to the core of my Snow Aegis, I cursed under my breath. Normally I would have detached the mobile qi beam turrets and fired on Black Shadow's position from multiple angles, but the cell was too narrow and confined a space for me to launch them. Simply put, there was no space for the mobile qi beam turrets to move about. They would only get in each other's way, and probably my way too.
Fortunately, the mobile qi beam turrets could function as something else to.
While Black Shadow was busily drilling my shield, I reached out and drew two of the mobile qi beam turrets. Grabbing them by the shaft, I activated them, and azure qi beams fizzled out of their barrels, forming qi blades.
"!!!"
Evidently Black Shadow had never seen qi blades before, and he was taken aback. Capitalizing on his momentary distraction, I slashed at him with dual qi blades, whirling around from behind my shield and grazing his arm as he fell back on reflex.
"You…!"
Black Shadow's face twisted in fury and he renewed his attack. My hovering Snow Aegis zoomed in to block his drill, and I synchronized with its movements, spinning from behind my shield to strike with both my qi blades.
"Ugh!"
It was Black Shadow's turn to cry out in pain as he fell back, finding himself cornered. He raised his drill to block my next attacks, and I executed Heavenly Draconic Meteor Strike. The ground beneath Black Shadow's feet immediately crumbled and the wall behind him shook from the tremendous impact, his legs nearly giving way under him.
"Don't underestimate me!"
With a determined roar, Black Shadow shoved me away with his drill, but I ducked under it gracefully before answering with a riposte that grazed his cheek, drawing blood. However, the superheated qi blade cauterized the wound, which meant there was no danger of him bleeding to death. On the other hand, the intense heat possessed unrivaled destructive power, which meant I would kill him instantly if I pierced a vital spot.
We traded another few blows, my azure qi blades streaking into glowing blurs as I flashed and slashed them. Black Shadow met my attacks evenly, deflecting my qi blades while countering with deadly thrusts, but my Snow Aegis swooped in to block them every time. I swung both qi blades again, but Black Shadow parried them, and with a twist of his drill, sent the qi blade in my left hand flying away harmlessly, the qi blade deactivating automatically the moment it left my grip.
Undaunted, I drew another qi blade from my Snow Aegis. There were still another three remaining, waiting for me to draw them in the event I was disarmed. Seeing that, Black Shadow scowled bitterly.
"Fucking brat!"
I crossed my qi blades to block his drill, and then kicked him under his guard. Normally Black Shadow would have flown several meters backward, but this was the confined space of a cell and he slammed into the wall, causing violent tremors and a cloud of dust to rain down on him. Gritting his teeth, he retaliated with his drill, forcing me back while my Snow Aegis dove in to take the blow. Almost as if I was waltzing, I spun from behind cover and slashed at him with my qi blades again.
However, Black Shadow was a seasoned veteran who had been through many battles and prevailed in most of them. He had far more experience than me, and possessed more strength and qi. He knocked away my qi blades and counterattacked so flawlessly that he ripped a hole in my shoulder and caused me to fall back.
"Ugh…"
I could feel the blood streaming down my shoulder and dripping off my arm, red-hot pain stabbing into my nerves. Fortunately, adrenaline and endorphins were flowing through my body, so it didn't hurt as much as it otherwise would have. I knew, however, that once the battle was over, that wound was going to sting like a bitch.
"Hu…"
Exhaling, I renewed my assault, but Black Shadow twirled his drill around, knocking me back with the ease of a veteran. A sudden smash sent one qi blade spiraling out of my hand and the other was rocked so violently that the qi beam disappeared.
"Hah!"
Crowing triumphantly, Black Shadow closed in and struck with his drill. Gritting my teeth, I blocked his killing blow with the barrel of my qi blade. Sparks scattered over me and Black Shadow pressed closer, exploiting the gap.
In terms of strength, he was clearly winning. I could feel my qi blade slowly lowering and being pushed aside, and the drill drawing closer.
Just as planned.
The moment my qi blade was angled toward his face, I reactivated it. To be more precise, I fired the qi beam turret, and the devastating blast hurtled out of the barrel and burned a hole through Black Shadow's face.
"Argh!"
Howling in pain, Black Shadow staggered back, stunned. Not wasting the opportunity that my trick earned me, I reached out and grabbed a fourth qi blade, activated it and hacked off Black Shadow's arm in one smooth motion. The drill the dismembered arm was holding crashed heavily onto the ground and bounced off, leaving small craters and huge cracks on the concrete.
"UGH!"
Black Shadow cried out, clutching his stump. There was no blood, especially because the superheated qi beam of my qi blade had cauterized his wound, but it was enough to send him into shock. Without hesitation, I struck and stabbed him with my qi blades, pinning him to the ground. Black Shadow writhed, cursing and bellowing in murderous rage.
His qi built up, the assassin obviously trying to use a powerful technique to free himself of his restraints. However, I wasn't going to give him the chance.
Reaching out, I snatched the final two qi blades mounted on my Snow Aegis, activated them and slashed the helpless Black Shadow, carving two cauterized trails of fatal wounds across his body. Black Shadow's mouth gaped soundlessly and he collapsed, his eyes losing their light as he slumped into death.
For good measure, I flicked both my qi blades and decapitated him to ensure that he was really dead. There was no telling if he was just pretending to be dead. I was not taking anything for granted. The man was a professional assassin. I didn't want to get stabbed in the back when I lowered my guard and turned around or something.
"Fei Wu! What happened?!"
Finally Elder Zhao rushed into the Fire Cliff Prison, perspiration pouring down his face. He was followed shortly by a squad of Blood Blades, each of them armed to the teeth with high-ranked Spirit Weapons.
"Oh…seems like I had an uninvited visitor."
Panting from the exertion, I staggered to the opposite wall and leaned against it to catch my breath. Deactivating my qi blades, I inserted them back into my hovering Snow Aegis and closed my eyes to rest.
"How did he get in?" Elder Zhao demanded, astonished.
"Looks like he dug his way into the cell," one of the Blood Blades observed, noticing the hole in the floor.
"Yeah, there was quite a hole in the prison's defense," I confirmed and opened my eyes to grin weakly at Elder Zhao. "Seems like you'll have to redo the defenses of this prison from the ground up."
*
"Senior Liu Fu! Please!"
Hu Mei Er was pleading with the inner sect disciple named Liu Fu, while he was smithing Spirit Artifacts in his smelting furnace.
"No."
"Why?!" Hu Mei Er demanded. "Isn't Shao Yang your junior from Divine Shadow Sect? How can you just act as if his death has nothing to do with you?"
Liu Fu stopped for a moment to stare at the beautiful girl coldly. "So what if we're both from Divine Shadow Sect? Junior Shao Yang was reckless and arrogant. He offended people for no reason and attacked a Blood Blade member in broad daylight. He got what he deserved."
Returning his attention to his smelting furnace, he snorted.
"Even worse, that Blood Blade he tried to kill turned out to be a genius who can trigger a response from three of the Spirit Engraved Pillars. He was really overestimating himself."
"Are you really not going to take revenge for your fellow sect member?" Hu Mei Er cried out in disbelief.
"Fellow sect member?" Liu Fu smiled coldly. "If we're talking about fellow sect member, isn't Junior Fei Wu a fellow sect member as well? Why are you asking me to kill him?"
"Are your bonds with the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect stronger than your bonds with the Divine Shadow Sect?"
"Maybe. So what if they are? It's none of your business." Liu Fu continued smithing his current project. "Besides, you seem to misunderstand something about Divine Shadow Sect."
"…eh?"
Hu Mei Er suddenly felt a chill. Liu Fu turned his head to stare at her with glacial eyes, his silvery pupils devoid of any warmth.
"Do you think the disciples of Divine Shadow Sect have any loyalty to each other? We're trained to be assassins." He leaned closer, dropping his voice into a whisper. "We were forced to kill each other from young. In the Divine Shadow Sect, the only way to ascend the ranks and survive is to climb atop the corpses of your fellow sect disciples. It's completely different from the big happy family that the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect has here."
Hu Mei Er couldn't help but shudder. Liu Fu continued fixing that wintry gaze on her.
"In other words, Liang Shao Yang's death benefits me. I am more inclined to thank Junior Fei Wu than take revenge for Junior Shao Yang. Besides, it would be suicide to target Junior Fei Wu now, especially since he'll surely get the protection of Blood Blades for being such an asset to the sect after triggering the response from three Spirit Engraved Pillars. Rather than provoke the guy, I would rather befriend him."
Hu Mei Er swallowed, unable to refute his points. She took a deep breath, whirled around and stomped out of Liu Fu's workshop. The latter watched her leave, and then return to smithing, his expression remaining unreadable.
Zhao Yu and Wang Tong, despite also being from Divine Shadow Sect, weren't willing to help either.
"Don't you know that Blood Blades will purge you guys?" Hu Mei Er had demanded. "They will eliminate anyone related to the Divine Shadow Sect!"
Zhao Yu had laughed at that. "You think this is ancient China? You've been reading too much Spirit Realm. Sect Leader is not that ruthless and tyrannical. He's not going to kill people for belonging to the wrong sect, not when they did nothing wrong. This is the twenty-first century. Nobody is going to behave like barbarians and resort to killing for such obscure reasons."
"Besides, what does Divine Shadow Sect have to do with you?" Wang Tong had asked. "You're not from Divine Shadow Sect. What goes on in our sect is none of your business."
Despite being from Divine Shadow Sects, all these disciples had found the warm, friendly environment of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect a lot more hospitable and to their liking. They were extremely glad to be in a place where they didn't have to worry about their lives daily, and where they could live peacefully without being forced to kill anyone.
They had no intention of returning to Divine Shadow Sect.
Hu Mei Er gritted her teeth and stalked off, almost in tears.
If nobody was going to help her take revenge for her beloved Liang Shao Yang, then she had no choice but to take matters into her own hands.
"Ah…!"
With a cry, Hu Mei Er suddenly realized something.
"Now that everyone's attention is focused on Fei Wu, doesn't that mean no one is paying much attention to Tang Qi Hong right now? The security around her should be lower than usual."
Clenching her fists tightly, Hu Mei Er smiled for the first time in days and began drawing up a heinous plan in her mind.
*
In a mountain range far away from Tushan City, towers and pavilons stretched endlessly, forming a small castle-like compound. They seemed virtually covered in shadow, the darkness shrouding over them like natural cover.
Many martial artists with dark, cold eyes ghosted in the spaces between the buildings, not bothering to exchange a greeting or even a glance with each other. They all seemed wrapped up in their own world, focusing on their own survival…or more accurately, they remained wary of each other even though they were from the same sect.
As Liu Fu pointed out, the environment in Divine Shadow Sect was such that they were raised upon the principle of strong killing the weak. Only those ruthless enough to murder their erstwhile comrades and climb atop the heap of those corpses were able to survive. As such, they could not trust each other.
Moreover, the movements of the martial artists were stealthy and soundless. Despite the large volume of movement, there wasn't even a single footstep that echoed throughout the grounds. There wasn't even the sound of breathing.
The martial artists of Divine Shadow Sect had perfected their stealth skills and honed their assassin techniques to near perfection.
Inside one of the towers, the biggest one in the compound, a dark-haired middle-aged man stood up straight, his expression grave.
"Shao Yang is dead," Liang Yang Zu spoke up to Di Shi Jiu, who managed half of the sect. He had personally visited the latter's chambers to discuss this matter, but found Di Shi Ju less than accommodating.
The thin, balding old man merely looked up in a disinterested manner.
"So what? He is your son. You can do whatever you want, but it has nothing to do with me."
Despite the cold tone, there was an edge of mockery in his words. Liang Yang Zu stiffened, but he concealed his rage easily enough.
"You also agreed to the plan of having Shao Yang infiltrate Nine-Tailed Fox Sect." Liang Yang Zu's eyes blazed frostily with what seemed like black flames. He seemed to be emanating a vicious and formidable aura even without putting in the effort to intimidate people. "Now that he is killed, are you really not going to do anything about it?"
"Why should I?" Di Shi Jiu responded flippantly. Liang Yang Zu twitched imperceptibly.
"My son has been killed. If Divine Shadow Sect does not make a move regarding this, then our reputation will be ground to dust."
"Your son attacked a fellow sect disciple in Nine-Tailed Fox Sect and tried to kill him. The other party was only acting out of self-defense. Your son deserved what he got." Di Shi Jiu snorted nonchalantly. "If you want to do something about it, you can take your subordinates and resolve the mater yourself. My Dark Shadow Faction will stay out of it."
Liang Yang Zu closed his eyes and sighed through gritted teeth.
"Fine."
He turned away slightly, but then stopped.
"What if Nine-Tailed Fox Sect and Blood Blades purge our Divine Shadow Sect's presence from Tushan City? Are you still not going to act?"
"Zi Shou De will not do that," Di Shi Jiu replied without any hesitation. "He's not that stupid. On the contrary, he's intelligent enough to not go around unnecessarily provoking people. He won't kill my Dark Orchid Pavilion, unlike some retarded sect master in some other story."
Liang Yang Zu twitched again, obviously disappointed that this card failed, but skilled enough to conceal his emotions.
His shoulders slumped and he sighed as he began running through several numbers in his head. If Di Shi Jiu and his faction would not assist him for the reputation of the Divine Shadow Sect, then he had no choice but to use that…
On the other hand, Liang Yang Zu had sort of anticipated this. As Liu Fu correctly pointed out, the Divine Shadow Sect members displayed no loyalty to each other. They were wary of each other and often looked for ways to kill each other in order to ascend the ranks. In fact, Di Shi Jiu was most likely celebrating in his heart now that the son of one of his rivals, who would most likely pose a huge challenge to the candidancy of taking over the Divine Shadow Sect in future, had been eliminated. He could push his own candidate forward.
Liang Yang Zu had hoped to recruit Di Shi Jiu not because he wanted the sect to show a united front or because he sought solidarity, but because he required Di Shi Jiu's faction's power in order to mount a successful attack on Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. More importantly, he needed to check Di Shi Jiu's power and prevent him from growing too strong and influential. The attack was sure to reap a horrifying bounty of casualties, and he didn't want to leave his faction vulnerable to being backstabbed by Di Shi Jiu's Dark Shadow Faction after eradicating the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect.
No, if they were going to take losses, he was going to make sure Di Shi Jiu suffered the same amount of losses too.
However, Di Shi Jiu was too crafty to fall for that. Fortunately, Liang Yang Zu had another ace up his sleeve.
"How about this? I would like to hire your Dark Shadow Faction for this raid."
If loyalty and solidarity did not appeal to Di Shi Jiu and his shadowy assassins, then perhaps money and material goods would.
Retrieving a tablet from his pocket, Liang Yang Zu ran through some numbers and then displayed the screen to Di Shi Jiu. The balding old man stared at the screen for a few momoments, his inky black eyes almost swallowing the figures in their bottomless depths, and then he grinned with relish.
"Now we're talking," he said, a satisfied smirk spreading across his wizened face.
Black Shadow thrust his spinning drill at me, evidently intent on drilling a hole through my chest and instantly killing me.Clang!However, his drill bounced off my Snow Aegis and he staggered back, surprised. Why should he be surprised? He fought against me in Free Trade Street when he tried to assassinate Tang Qi Hong days ago, and should have known about my shield.Ah. I see why he was shocked. I was currently in prison, yet somehow I still was equipped with my Spirit Armaments. Come to think of it, I completely forgot about my spatial device. Elder Zhao and Elder Cheng did not ask me for my belongings, so I didn't surrender them and just walked straight into my cell.A good thing I did too, otherwise I would be at an overwhelming disadvantage against Black Shadow.I thanked Elder Zhao and Elder Cheng under my breath. I didn't know if they truly forgot about my stuff, or they did it on purpose, trusting me not to pull my weapons out and attempt to escape. I wouldn't, as that would defeat the whole purpose of me putting on this show and setting an example in the first place.Clang!Sparks flew between us and Black Shadow was forced back. I withdrew my shield and swung a kick at Black Shadow, and the middle-aged man tried to duck. Unfortunately, the confined space of my cell made it difficult for him to evade and my foot connected with his temple, sending him spinning to the ground.However, Black Shadow was far from helpless. As he fell, he instinctively shoved his drill in my direction, forcing me back on the defensive."I'm glad my drill instructor drilled all those defensive techniques into me," I muttered as I found myself pushed back by the tremendous force. Black Shadow snarled at me, his face contorted in venomous fury."You won't get away with this! You'll regret ever killing Young Master! The Divine Shadow Sect will definitely kill you!"I tilted my head curiously. "The Divine Shadow Sect will kill me, huh? Not you? You sound like you're already resigned to failure."Black Shadow froze for a moment, but he shook his hesitation away and dashed at me, forcing me to block his next thrust."Ha ha ha!" he chortled. "You're right! I'll be the one who kill you, and help the Divine Shadow Sect seek retribution for the death of Young Master!""Eryou know he was the one who attacked and tried to kill me, right? I have the right to self-defense."Black Shadow responded with another deadly thrust, his drill colliding with my shield in another shower of sparks."You'll never escape the retribution from the Divine Shadow Sect!"I was getting tired of all this bullshit logic. "You're taking revenge on me because I defended myself? Then what am I supposed to do? Just stand still and let Liang Shao Yang kill me without fighting back?""Yes!" Black Shadow snapped. "That's the fate of the weak! You exist solely for the strong to kill! You're just cannon fodder and a stepping stone for Young Master to reach the pinnacle! Know your place, trash!""Sorry to disappoint you, but the fact that Liang Shao Yang lost to me means that he's weaker than me. So if I'm weak, then Liang Shao Yang is worse than a weakling. And if I'm trash, then what does that make him, who lost to me? Garbage?"Black Shadow's expression darkened and he slashed at me with his viciously spinning drill, almost catching me by surprise. I staggered back from the impact, huffing, but the bastard continued to press on."Shut your mouth!" he snarled. "You're not worthy to disgrace Young Master's name!""And here I was, thinking that I would be free from the clich arrogant young master thing, and then his whole sect descending upon me for revenge when I kill him in self-defense."Shaking my head, I sighed wearily. Seriously? Did I have to deal with this bullshit? It was essentially "how dare you fight back and defend yourself against an arrogant young master who tried to kill you? Our entire sect will take revenge on you because you refuse to submit yourself and let him kill you without fighting back!"Absolutely illogical and extremely hypocritical. Typical of these bastards to try and establish double standards that benefited only them.If I was a typical xianxia protagonist, I probably would escape somewhere, train and reach a random cultivation level higher than my current realm, then return and wipe out the sect by myself. However, that was clearly impractical and unrealistic. No matter what bullshit realm I attained, there was no way I could turn into a one-man army and waltz into a sect and exterminate the hundreds of members in it by myself.That was just bullshit power fantasy turned up to the max.Besides, I had Blood Blades and the power of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect backing me. If Divine Shadow Sect really wanted to target me, they would be in for a surprise. The Nine-Tailed Fox Sect was one of the eight major sects of the Martial Arts Alliance. As powerful as the Divine Shadow Sect was, they were no match for the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect and their legendary Blood Blades. To attack my sect would be tantamount to suicide.I doubted that was going to stop them from trying, though. And to be fair, they were shadowy assassins, so they were intelligent enough not to engage Nine-Tailed Fox Sect in a direct war and would seek for stealthy ways to kill me when my guard was down. They should be aware that attacking from the front would only end in their own deaths.Speaking of which, Black Shadow's actions were a little unusual. I guess it made some sense that he was trying to assassinate me when I was inside a cell, but it was precisely because this was Fire Prison Cliff that his mission woul inevitably end in failure."You do know that the Blood Blades and the elders will be arriving soon, right?" I informed him, not because I wanted him to escape but because I knew he would stick around regardless of what happened. He was extremely determined to kill me. But if I talked, I might be able to buy some time until reinforcements arrived. "You won't be able to get away with this.""I know, but it doesn't matter. I estimate that they will be here in five minutes." A smile curled over Black Shadow's face. "That's more than enough time for me to slaughter you."He could try, but I doubted it. The bastard was vastly underestimating me. All the more fool him, then. I wasn't going to teach him to be clever.As an aside, the reason why it took five minutes for the elders to arrive was because Black Shadow's timing was impeccable. He deliberately waited until the middle of the night, when everyone was asleep and when Fire Prison Cliff was not being staffed, before he attacked. As expected of a professional assassin.I was surprised he even managed to get past security and dig his way to the prison. Then again, he probably used that drill to carve an underground tunnel all the way here, bypassing the qi barriers and defenses on the surface. Furthermore, the prison in Fire Prison Cliff was built to keep the prisoners in, not to keep intruders out, so he would find the defenses facing weaker than usual, and was thus able to penetrate them relatively easily. No doubt Elder Zhao would take that into account when repairing the prison cell, but currently that information was of no use to me.Of course, that meant Black Shadow would find it near impossible to escape Fire Prison Cliff, even if he reused the route he just dug to get here, but fro his expression I was certain that he was already resolved to throw his life away, as long as he could eliminate me.Obviously I didn't plan on making it easy for him."Just die already!"Frustration was creeping up on Black Shadow's face. He was hammering me with more frequent, faster attacks, his drill relentlessly crashing against my shield. My back was to the wall, and I was slowly crumbling under the pressure. Even though my Snow Aegis protected me from most of the impact, my arms were slowly trembling from the constant bombardment. My shield could withstand the blows, but my body could not."Damn it!"I briefly wondered if I would be able to survive long enough for reinforcements to arrive. Perhaps, but I wasn't satisfied with just taking the blows. I wanted to counterattack too. I wasn't just going to roll over and let this bastard hit me!I waited for an opening, a slight pause in Black Shadow's hail of attacks as he stopped momentarily to catch his breath. The moment he withdrew his drill briefly, I lowered my shield and lashed out with a Shadow Kick. Black Shadow tried to block my foot with his drill, which had been temporarily unpowered so that he could rest, and I only succeeded in driving him back a couple of meters. He staggered, sucked in a deep breath, and launched another attack again, forcing me back to the defensive."Kuh!"I stumbled backward as I brought my shield down to defend myself. Once again, I found myself cornered.Damn it!Glancing at the snow "petals" attached to the core of my Snow Aegis, I cursed under my breath. Normally I would have detached the mobile qi beam turrets and fired on Black Shadow's position from multiple angles, but the cell was too narrow and confined a space for me to launch them. Simply put, there was no space for the mobile qi beam turrets to move about. They would only get in each other's way, and probably my way too.Fortunately, the mobile qi beam turrets could function as something else to.While Black Shadow was busily drilling my shield, I reached out and drew two of the mobile qi beam turrets. Grabbing them by the shaft, I activated them, and azure qi beams fizzled out of their barrels, forming qi blades."!!!"Evidently Black Shadow had never seen qi blades before, and he was taken aback. Capitalizing on his momentary distraction, I slashed at him with dual qi blades, whirling around from behind my shield and grazing his arm as he fell back on reflex."You!"Black Shadow's face twisted in fury and he renewed his attack. My hovering Snow Aegis zoomed in to block his drill, and I synchronized with its movements, spinning from behind my shield to strike with both my qi blades."Ugh!"It was Black Shadow's turn to cry out in pain as he fell back, finding himself cornered. He raised his drill to block my next attacks, and I executed Heavenly Draconic Meteor Strike. The ground beneath Black Shadow's feet immediately crumbled and the wall behind him shook from the tremendous impact, his legs nearly giving way under him."Don't underestimate me!"With a determined roar, Black Shadow shoved me away with his drill, but I ducked under it gracefully before answering with a riposte that grazed his cheek, drawing blood. However, the superheated qi blade cauterized the wound, which meant there was no danger of him bleeding to death. On the other hand, the intense heat possessed unrivaled destructive power, which meant I would kill him instantly if I pierced a vital spot.We traded another few blows, my azure qi blades streaking into glowing blurs as I flashed and slashed them. Black Shadow met my attacks evenly, deflecting my qi blades while countering with deadly thrusts, but my Snow Aegis swooped in to block them every time. I swung both qi blades again, but Black Shadow parried them, and with a twist of his drill, sent the qi blade in my left hand flying away harmlessly, the qi blade deactivating automatically the moment it left my grip.Undaunted, I drew another qi blade from my Snow Aegis. There were still another three remaining, waiting for me to draw them in the event I was disarmed. Seeing that, Black Shadow scowled bitterly."Fucking brat!"I crossed my qi blades to block his drill, and then kicked him under his guard. Normally Black Shadow would have flown several meters backward, but this was the confined space of a cell and he slammed into the wall, causing violent tremors and a cloud of dust to rain down on him. Gritting his teeth, he retaliated with his drill, forcing me back while my Snow Aegis dove in to take the blow. Almost as if I was waltzing, I spun from behind cover and slashed at him with my qi blades again.However, Black Shadow was a seasoned veteran who had been through many battles and prevailed in most of them. He had far more experience than me, and possessed more strength and qi. He knocked away my qi blades and counterattacked so flawlessly that he ripped a hole in my shoulder and caused me to fall back."Ugh"I could feel the blood streaming down my shoulder and dripping off my arm, red-hot pain stabbing into my nerves. Fortunately, adrenaline and endorphins were flowing through my body, so it didn't hurt as much as it otherwise would have. I knew, however, that once the battle was over, that wound was going to sting like a bitch."Hu"Exhaling, I renewed my assault, but Black Shadow twirled his drill around, knocking me back with the ease of a veteran. A sudden smash sent one qi blade spiraling out of my hand and the other was rocked so violently that the qi beam disappeared."Hah!"Crowing triumphantly, Black Shadow closed in and struck with his drill. Gritting my teeth, I blocked his killing blow with the barrel of my qi blade. Sparks scattered over me and Black Shadow pressed closer, exploiting the gap.In terms of strength, he was clearly winning. I could feel my qi blade slowly lowering and being pushed aside, and the drill drawing closer.Just as planned.The moment my qi blade was angled toward his face, I reactivated it. To be more precise, I fired the qi beam turret, and the devastating blast hurtled out of the barrel and burned a hole through Black Shadow's face."Argh!"Howling in pain, Black Shadow staggered back, stunned. Not wasting the opportunity that my trick earned me, I reached out and grabbed a fourth qi blade, activated it and hacked off Black Shadow's arm in one smooth motion. The drill the dismembered arm was holding crashed heavily onto the ground and bounced off, leaving small craters and huge cracks on the concrete."UGH!"Black Shadow cried out, clutching his stump. There was no blood, especially because the superheated qi beam of my qi blade had cauterized his wound, but it was enough to send him into shock. Without hesitation, I struck and stabbed him with my qi blades, pinning him to the ground. Black Shadow writhed, cursing and bellowing in murderous rage.His qi built up, the assassin obviously trying to use a powerful technique to free himself of his restraints. However, I wasn't going to give him the chance.Reaching out, I snatched the final two qi blades mounted on my Snow Aegis, activated them and slashed the helpless Black Shadow, carving two cauterized trails of fatal wounds across his body. Black Shadow's mouth gaped soundlessly and he collapsed, his eyes losing their light as he slumped into death.For good measure, I flicked both my qi blades and decapitated him to ensure that he was really dead. There was no telling if he was just pretending to be dead. I was not taking anything for granted. The man was a professional assassin. I didn't want to get stabbed in the back when I lowered my guard and turned around or something."Fei Wu! What happened?!"Finally Elder Zhao rushed into the Fire Cliff Prison, perspiration pouring down his face. He was followed shortly by a squad of Blood Blades, each of them armed to the teeth with high-ranked Spirit Weapons."Ohseems like I had an uninvited visitor."Panting from the exertion, I staggered to the opposite wall and leaned against it to catch my breath. Deactivating my qi blades, I inserted them back into my hovering Snow Aegis and closed my eyes to rest."How did he get in?" Elder Zhao demanded, astonished."Looks like he dug his way into the cell," one of the Blood Blades observed, noticing the hole in the floor."Yeah, there was quite a hole in the prison's defense," I confirmed and opened my eyes to grin weakly at Elder Zhao. "Seems like you'll have to redo the defenses of this prison from the ground up."*"Senior Liu Fu! Please!"Hu Mei Er was pleading with the inner sect disciple named Liu Fu, while he was smithing Spirit Artifacts in his smelting furnace."No.""Why?!" Hu Mei Er demanded. "Isn't Shao Yang your junior from Divine Shadow Sect? How can you just act as if his death has nothing to do with you?"Liu Fu stopped for a moment to stare at the beautiful girl coldly. "So what if we're both from Divine Shadow Sect? Junior Shao Yang was reckless and arrogant. He offended people for no reason and attacked a Blood Blade member in broad daylight. He got what he deserved."Returning his attention to his smelting furnace, he snorted."Even worse, that Blood Blade he tried to kill turned out to be a genius who can trigger a response from three of the Spirit Engraved Pillars. He was really overestimating himself.""Are you really not going to take revenge for your fellow sect member?" Hu Mei Er cried out in disbelief."Fellow sect member?" Liu Fu smiled coldly. "If we're talking about fellow sect member, isn't Junior Fei Wu a fellow sect member as well? Why are you asking me to kill him?""Are your bonds with the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect stronger than your bonds with the Divine Shadow Sect?""Maybe. So what if they are? It's none of your business." Liu Fu continued smithing his current project. "Besides, you seem to misunderstand something about Divine Shadow Sect.""eh?"Hu Mei Er suddenly felt a chill. Liu Fu turned his head to stare at her with glacial eyes, his silvery pupils devoid of any warmth."Do you think the disciples of Divine Shadow Sect have any loyalty to each other? We're trained to be assassins." He leaned closer, dropping his voice into a whisper. "We were forced to kill each other from young. In the Divine Shadow Sect, the only way to ascend the ranks and survive is to climb atop the corpses of your fellow sect disciples. It's completely different from the big happy family that the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect has here."Hu Mei Er couldn't help but shudder. Liu Fu continued fixing that wintry gaze on her."In other words, Liang Shao Yang's death benefits me. I am more inclined to thank Junior Fei Wu than take revenge for Junior Shao Yang. Besides, it would be suicide to target Junior Fei Wu now, especially since he'll surely get the protection of Blood Blades for being such an asset to the sect after triggering the response from three Spirit Engraved Pillars. Rather than provoke the guy, I would rather befriend him."Hu Mei Er swallowed, unable to refute his points. She took a deep breath, whirled around and stomped out of Liu Fu's workshop. The latter watched her leave, and then return to smithing, his expression remaining unreadable.Zhao Yu and Wang Tong, despite also being from Divine Shadow Sect, weren't willing to help either."Don't you know that Blood Blades will purge you guys?" Hu Mei Er had demanded. "They will eliminate anyone related to the Divine Shadow Sect!"Zhao Yu had laughed at that. "You think this is ancient China? You've been reading too much Spirit Realm. Sect Leader is not that ruthless and tyrannical. He's not going to kill people for belonging to the wrong sect, not when they did nothing wrong. This is the twenty-first century. Nobody is going to behave like barbarians and resort to killing for such obscure reasons.""Besides, what does Divine Shadow Sect have to do with you?" Wang Tong had asked. "You're not from Divine Shadow Sect. What goes on in our sect is none of your business."Despite being from Divine Shadow Sects, all these disciples had found the warm, friendly environment of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect a lot more hospitable and to their liking. They were extremely glad to be in a place where they didn't have to worry about their lives daily, and where they could live peacefully without being forced to kill anyone.They had no intention of returning to Divine Shadow Sect.Hu Mei Er gritted her teeth and stalked off, almost in tears.If nobody was going to help her take revenge for her beloved Liang Shao Yang, then she had no choice but to take matters into her own hands."Ah!"With a cry, Hu Mei Er suddenly realized something."Now that everyone's attention is focused on Fei Wu, doesn't that mean no one is paying much attention to Tang Qi Hong right now? The security around her should be lower than usual."Clenching her fists tightly, Hu Mei Er smiled for the first time in days and began drawing up a heinous plan in her mind.*In a mountain range far away from Tushan City, towers and pavilons stretched endlessly, forming a small castle-like compound. They seemed virtually covered in shadow, the darkness shrouding over them like natural cover.Many martial artists with dark, cold eyes ghosted in the spaces between the buildings, not bothering to exchange a greeting or even a glance with each other. They all seemed wrapped up in their own world, focusing on their own survivalor more accurately, they remained wary of each other even though they were from the same sect.As Liu Fu pointed out, the environment in Divine Shadow Sect was such that they were raised upon the principle of strong killing the weak. Only those ruthless enough to murder their erstwhile comrades and climb atop the heap of those corpses were able to survive. As such, they could not trust each other.Moreover, the movements of the martial artists were stealthy and soundless. Despite the large volume of movement, there wasn't even a single footstep that echoed throughout the grounds. There wasn't even the sound of breathing.The martial artists of Divine Shadow Sect had perfected their stealth skills and honed their assassin techniques to near perfection.Inside one of the towers, the biggest one in the compound, a dark-haired middle-aged man stood up straight, his expression grave."Shao Yang is dead," Liang Yang Zu spoke up to Di Shi Jiu, who managed half of the sect. He had personally visited the latter's chambers to discuss this matter, but found Di Shi Ju less than accommodating.The thin, balding old man merely looked up in a disinterested manner."So what? He is your son. You can do whatever you want, but it has nothing to do with me."Despite the cold tone, there was an edge of mockery in his words. Liang Yang Zu stiffened, but he concealed his rage easily enough."You also agreed to the plan of having Shao Yang infiltrate Nine-Tailed Fox Sect." Liang Yang Zu's eyes blazed frostily with what seemed like black flames. He seemed to be emanating a vicious and formidable aura even without putting in the effort to intimidate people. "Now that he is killed, are you really not going to do anything about it?""Why should I?" Di Shi Jiu responded flippantly. Liang Yang Zu twitched imperceptibly."My son has been killed. If Divine Shadow Sect does not make a move regarding this, then our reputation will be ground to dust.""Your son attacked a fellow sect disciple in Nine-Tailed Fox Sect and tried to kill him. The other party was only acting out of self-defense. Your son deserved what he got." Di Shi Jiu snorted nonchalantly. "If you want to do something about it, you can take your subordinates and resolve the mater yourself. My Dark Shadow Faction will stay out of it."Liang Yang Zu closed his eyes and sighed through gritted teeth."Fine."He turned away slightly, but then stopped."What if Nine-Tailed Fox Sect and Blood Blades purge our Divine Shadow Sect's presence from Tushan City? Are you still not going to act?""Zi Shou De will not do that," Di Shi Jiu replied without any hesitation. "He's not that stupid. On the contrary, he's intelligent enough to not go around unnecessarily provoking people. He won't kill my Dark Orchid Pavilion, unlike some retarded sect master in some other story."Liang Yang Zu twitched again, obviously disappointed that this card failed, but skilled enough to conceal his emotions.His shoulders slumped and he sighed as he began running through several numbers in his head. If Di Shi Jiu and his faction would not assist him for the reputation of the Divine Shadow Sect, then he had no choice but to use thatOn the other hand, Liang Yang Zu had sort of anticipated this. As Liu Fu correctly pointed out, the Divine Shadow Sect members displayed no loyalty to each other. They were wary of each other and often looked for ways to kill each other in order to ascend the ranks. In fact, Di Shi Jiu was most likely celebrating in his heart now that the son of one of his rivals, who would most likely pose a huge challenge to the candidancy of taking over the Divine Shadow Sect in future, had been eliminated. He could push his own candidate forward.Liang Yang Zu had hoped to recruit Di Shi Jiu not because he wanted the sect to show a united front or because he sought solidarity, but because he required Di Shi Jiu's faction's power in order to mount a successful attack on Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. More importantly, he needed to check Di Shi Jiu's power and prevent him from growing too strong and influential. The attack was sure to reap a horrifying bounty of casualties, and he didn't want to leave his faction vulnerable to being backstabbed by Di Shi Jiu's Dark Shadow Faction after eradicating the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect.No, if they were going to take losses, he was going to make sure Di Shi Jiu suffered the same amount of losses too.However, Di Shi Jiu was too crafty to fall for that. Fortunately, Liang Yang Zu had another ace up his sleeve."How about this? I would like to hire your Dark Shadow Faction for this raid."If loyalty and solidarity did not appeal to Di Shi Jiu and his shadowy assassins, then perhaps money and material goods would.Retrieving a tablet from his pocket, Liang Yang Zu ran through some numbers and then displayed the screen to Di Shi Jiu. The balding old man stared at the screen for a few momoments, his inky black eyes almost swallowing the figures in their bottomless depths, and then he grinned with relish."Now we're talking," he said, a satisfied smirk spreading across his wizened face.
