Chapter 360 - 216: Assassin 3

Chapter 360: Chapter 216: Assassin 3

But in the next instant, he swung his short sword, scattering the mist before him and parrying the blade hidden within.

Xie Yuan felt as if he’d been struck by lightning. An immense force traveled up his arm, knocking his Long Sword aside and leaving him wide open.

The Shadow’s short sword flashed again. He ignored Xie Yuan’s opening, instead continuing his lunge toward Situ Qin.

Situ Qin’s expression was grave. She pushed off the ground and shot backward, putting everything she had into narrowly evading the strike.

Though his strike met only air, the Shadow’s movements didn’t pause for an instant. His figure flickered as he immediately moved to give chase.

However, he suddenly sensed a vast, sharp presence rushing at him from the side. Even with his will, which had been forged through countless trials, he couldn’t help but shudder slightly.

’This attack will injure me.’

The Shadow was somewhat surprised. He whipped his sword back to meet the arc of the axe, which seemed capable of sundering an entire army.

BOOM! A heaven-shaking roar erupted. The ground, blasted by the Qi Force, instantly cracked as dust and smoke billowed up.

With a single swing of his short sword, the Shadow had actually blocked Xie Yuan’s Army-Sweeping Cleave!

He hadn’t come out of it completely unscathed, however. He couldn’t help but shake out his hand and glance at Xie Yuan before resuming his pursuit of Situ Qin.

Xie Yuan stood rooted to the spot, his whole body trembling. It took several breaths for him to recover, and when he did, his pupils contracted, his gaze filled with gravity.

’Qi Blood Third Transformation... He’s definitely at the Qi Blood Third Transformation Realm!’

Thanks to Xie Yuan’s intervention, Situ Qin had already steadied herself a short distance away, her Guqin at the ready.

With her Guqin in hand, her aura grew calm and steady. She watched the faint shadow charge toward her, completely unafraid. Her hands began to pluck the strings, gently at first, but in the space of a breath, her movements accelerated until they were a blur.

As if a tornado were bearing down on him, the Shadow stopped short, his posture growing wary.

His short sword danced, shielding his body as a sphere of dim light shot out to meet the sonic storm.

DING—

A long, continuous song of the sword rang out, unabated by the Guqin’s assault. It was the sound of the short sword clashing with the sonic force.

On closer listening, however, it wasn’t a single sound at all, but a continuous, incredibly dense, seamless series of rings. They came so fast they merged into what sounded like a single, sustained note!

In a single instant, the short sword had moved countless times to block just as many sonic blasts. Then, with a final slash, it cleaved apart the last shockwaves of the sonic storm!

When the storm dissipated, the Shadow was completely unscathed. He gave his short sword a flick, let its tip point to the ground, and stood there proudly.

Situ Qin’s devastating sonic storm—a ferocious attack capable of instantly killing an expert of the same Transformation Realm—had failed to penetrate even an inch into the assassin’s defensive sword-work!

The Shadow took advantage of the lull in Situ Qin’s attack. He tensed, about to press his advantage, when he suddenly sensed another furious blast of Qi Force from behind.

He spun around to find that Xie Yuan’s aura had inexplicably returned to its peak—and even seemed to have surpassed it. His very frame seemed to have grown a size larger.

Xie Yuan looked solemn and majestic. Wielding his giant axe, he seemed to have grown a foot taller, like a Demon Subduing Arhat.

He stared at the Shadow, raising his giant axe with deceptive slowness before unleashing an Army-Sweeping Cleave that far surpassed any he had delivered before!

Facing the enormous black arc of the axe, the hair on the Shadow’s arms stood on end. With a light tap of his feet, he flipped into a somersault, dodging the deathly light that swept across the ground.

Seeing that the Assassin was finally showing fear, Xie Yuan bellowed and swung his axe again, slashing up into the air as if he had a limitless supply of Blood Qi!

’The haul from the Slaughter Tower—a Small Returning Pill and a Great Strength Vajra Pill—is working better than I could have ever imagined!’

The Assassin, with no way to leverage himself in mid-air, saw the army-annihilating axe-light envelop the sky, and his expression turned solemn.

He was like a falling leaf, seemingly about to be swept into the arc of the axe. And yet, just before the black light reached him, he truly became one with the wind. The Qi Force seemed to blow him upward again, letting him float gracefully, hugging the very edge of the attack as he passed over it.

After displaying this sublime Body Technique, the Shadow—now upside-down—planted his foot firmly in mid-air.

BOOM—

As if an invisible platform existed in the sky, his stomp created a sonic boom that sent ripples spreading through the air!

The Shadow suddenly accelerated to incredible speeds, completely evading the sonic arrows Situ Qin had sent to cover the sky. Before either of them could react, he flashed in front of Xie Yuan and thrust out his dim, lusterless short sword.

In an instant, the short sword broke through the automatically-activated Golden Bell Shield and struck Xie Yuan’s chest, where it abruptly stopped.

A faint Buddhist chant echoed. Xie Yuan felt a warmth spread from his chest as an immense light erupted, flinging the Assassin and his short sword away.

At the same time, the Jade Buddha Statue that Situ Qin had given him instantly grew dim, its warm luster gone.

’Just one more hit like that,’ he thought, ’and this protective treasure, which is supposed to withstand several full-power attacks from someone in the Third Transformation Realm, will probably end up shattered just like Situ Qin’s two rings.’

The Shadow’s eyelid twitched. He hadn’t expected Xie Yuan to possess such a powerful protective artifact.

He clearly decided it would be too difficult to kill Situ Qin quickly. ’Better to get rid of this meddlesome helper, Xie Yuan, first,’ he thought, ’then I can focus everything on the main target.’

’I doubt he can withstand that kind of protection more than a few times. Against me, he won’t last two more exchanges anyway.’

The Shadow’s short sword danced again, transforming into a nearly imperceptible gust of wind that was both feather-light and impossibly fast as it aimed for Xie Yuan’s throat.

The brief respite granted by the Buddha statue was all the time Xie Yuan needed to react. He surged his Blood Qi, and a sacred, golden barrier of light—his Golden Bell Shield—erupted around him. Thanks to the Great Strength Vajra Pill, it was far more stable than usual.

The short sword struck the Golden Bell Shield, producing a melodious chime. The shield shuddered violently, countless ripples spreading across its surface and nearly obscuring Xie Yuan from view, but in the end, it held firm and stabilized once more.