Chapter 47: Ch 47 Tieing lose ends pt 3.

Wan Ling returned to his quarter more paranoid than ever.

He didn’t know when the assassin was coming or who they even were, so he didn’t let his guard down even once.

He might be confident of his survival, but that didn’t give him an excuse to be stupid.

He needed a form of insurance, so once he entered his room, he went to his bed and began browsing through the system.

"System, do you have any items for life-and-death situations?" He asked, and immediately, an array of menus appeared.

[Lucky Charm]

[Cost: 500 Comprehension points]

[Details: A charm blessed by the Luck Goddess. Offers a one-time instance of luck to the user. Once used, the charm is destroyed.]

It was good... very good, even, but it was far too valuable to waste now.

This was the kind of tool he would use when searching for legendary treasures in ancient ruins, not escaping life-or-death situations.

Also, it was too expensive.

So he passed it over and scrolled down.

[Teleportation Talisman]

[Cost: 200 Comprehension points]

[Details: When infused with Qi, immediately teleports the user to the most convenient location possible.]

"This should work!" Wan Ling muttered and immediately bought it.

A second later, a slim talisman carved with ink symbols manifested in his palms.

The symbols were ancient, probably even preceding the Desolated Era, hence he couldn’t read them.

Even so, from the texture of the paper alone, he could tell it was ancient, as were the words written on it.

Wan Ling glanced at it shortly, then tossed it into his storage ring before sighing in relief.

"I have one get-out-of-jail card. Now I need information." He mused as he began thinking back to He Xue.

According to Zhang Hao, she and Chen Yu had backed off from Li Wei, but she could act as his informant.

Provided she came to him.

"I guess I’ll go find her."

Thinking so, he rose from his bed, then immediately heard a knock.

Normally, he would have gone to open it, but he didn’t hear any footsteps.

Usually, he heard them, but today he didn’t.

That was a red flag.

"Could they be the assassin?" He panicked and grabbed Chen Yu’s sword, which he had looted from her.

"Who is it?" He asked and began taking considerable steps back.

Seconds passed, but there was no response, just an eerily silence.

Wan Ling’s eyes narrowed, then came the rapid beating of his heart.

Realizing he might actually be scared, he cursed Li Wei and promised that if he survived, he was going to make that bastard suffer.

A second later—

BOOM!!!

His door exploded inwards, sending fragments of wood scattering about the room.

Wan Ling flinched, his grip tightening while a lean man walked through the destroyed door and cracked his neck.

Wan Ling’s pupils shrank.

"Shit!"

He cursed and immediately tried assessing the man’s realm.

The dense Qi around him made it difficult to gauge, but one thing was certain: he was going to lose.

As that thought settled in, the assassin pulled out a short blade from within his sleeves and grinned.

"You’ve got spunk, attempting to fight back."

"And you have guts attacking a disciple in broad daylight." Wan Ling retorted while the assassin calmly shook his head.

"Well, nobody is around to see or stop me."

"....."

"I threatened and paid your neighbor to let it pass. For the stubborn ones, all I needed to do was announce I was with the Red Tiger Gang, and they immediately backed off." He explained and began with a casual approach.

"Red Tiger.... so you’re the fucker Li Wei sent. I expected more threatening individuals." He taunted while his back was against the wall.

"Let’s talk big. I’ll have you eat those words." The assassin snorted, a trail of pale Qi coloring the edges of his blade.

Wan Ling exhaled, his breath icy as the assassin followed with a swift lunge at him.

Upon closing in, his sword slashed at Wan Ling, who, with the aid of the Fairy Sword Dance, was able to anticipate and match the timing with his sword blade.

Clang—!

A terrible shockwave exploded throughout the room as the two blades met.

"You’re good." The assassin complimented before completely overwhelming Wan Ling and sending him straight into the walls.

"But you can’t overcome the difference in realms." He laughed and pursued.

Wan Ling was tempted to use his spirit root, but he held back and completely threw himself to the side.

A second later, the wall he once had his back against was scarred, while he himself fluidly switched into a roll before quickly rising up.

"You don’t get it, do you?"

Plucking out his blade from the wall, the assassin snarled and hurled his blade at Wan Ling.

"You aren’t escaping."

Wan Ling was quick to parry, only for a second later to regret doing so when he lost sight of the assassin and received a crushing blow straight into his guts.

His body arched unnaturally as he spat blood and saliva, then came the finishing impact that hurled him through the walls of his quarters and out into the hallway.

He barely managed to stand up, only for his neck to be seized by the assassin.

Barely conscious, Wan Ling gritted his teeth in frustration as he gazed down at the assassin, who was ready to strangle him.

"Now, why don’t you be an obedient junior and rest for me? The boss and my contractor wouldn’t want me to have all the fun after all."

His grip tightened as he began to choke Wan Ling.

The force it carried almost crushed his windpipe, but Wan Ling persisted, forcing his arms up as he wielded Qi into his storage ring.

"It’s futile."

The assassin laughed and pressed him harder against the hallway.

Wan Ling let out a scream from the crushing force, his mind almost going numb, but he held onto the last thread of his consciousness and successfully managed to summon the talisman.

"What the...."

Before the assassin could react, Wan Ling gathered a mouthful of air, refining the Qi around his lips into a mist of ice that was blown straight into the assassin’s eyes.

It was harmless, but he didn’t know that, hence he let go of him and backed up.

In the time that happened, Wan Ling poured his Qi into the talisman and was whisked away, leaving nothing but air in his place.

---

Bai Ruoxue sat within her garden, gently sipping a cup of tea while her servants watched.

"Have you still not found him?"

Placing her cup down, she glanced at the newest servant, a delicate-looking girl, and asked.

"No, milady. My first visit to his quarters, it was empty. The second, I encountered his sister. She too was in search of him."

"So even Wan Mei doesn’t know where he is." Bai Ruoxue mused, rather annoyed.

A month ago, Wan Ling came to her with a proposal.

A proposal, while vulgar, would be very beneficial for her in the long run.

She accepted, but still wasn’t in the mind-set to practice this dual cultivation. That was until a week later when she had resolved herself and asked her servant to call Wan Ling.

She spent the entire hour pacing about her room, losing her mind at the decision she had made, and yet all that worrying turned into naught when her servant returned without Wan Ling.

Something about him not being there.

She didn’t think much of it and told her servant to rest.

The next day, she sent her servant once again, but to no avail. Wan Ling wasn’t there again.

For an entire week, her servant went and returned without any news of Wan Ling.

She wasn’t close with Wan Ling, so she didn’t know whom to ask about him.

She was worried something might have happened to him and still was.

"Milady, I did hear he was friends with a core disciple named Hei Wumei." Her servant said.

"Does he do that with her... no... stop thinking about that." She shook her head and turned to her servant once more.

"Go to this Hei Wumei and ask about Wan Ling’s whereabouts." She instructed, slightly hopefully.

She didn’t want to lose an asset like Wan Ling.

It would be too much of a shame.

As she thought so, her servant was just about to set off when a shadow suddenly loomed over them.

Bai Ruoxue instinctively looked up and saw a barely conscious Wan Ling descending towards her.

He missed her by an inch and smashed into her tea table, scattering tea and utensils all over.

"Well, would you look whom we have here."

Masking her worry with amusement, she looked down at Wan Ling, who struggled on the ground in pain.

A/N: One Chapter today. I am a bit under the weather, so sorry.

Also, I am announcing this in advance: there will be no Chapter released tomorrow, but three will be released the day after.

I’m sure I’ll be feeling better then.