The middle-aged man was Lu Zhong, a military cultivator who had retired from the frontline battlefield of the empire not long ago.
He had a calm bearing and was cautious and strict. He had fought countless battles in his time, and after he joined Jadelight Pavilion, he was highly regarded and became an important cultivator like Chang Henshui.
Lu Zhong originally didn’t approve of the large-scale operation that night as he thought that they could easily deal with a youngster at the human dipper stage and there wasn’t a need for him to act himself.
However, he came to learn that he was evenly matched with the youngster when they fought. Only then did he realize that the youngster was indeed extraordinary.
In particular, Lin Xun had sensed an assassin hiding when he didn’t notice it at all. Lu Zhong’s face grew overcast and he couldn’t control the shock in his heart anymore.
Lin Xun’s tremendous strength had surpassed his prediction and made him feel threatened!
However, as a military cultivator with ample fighting experience, Lu Zhong reacted swiftly. He blew a whistle the moment he realized that Lin Xun had smashed through a wall and escaped.
A strange sound resembling a blocked flute rang out, echoing throughout the rainy night.
It was a signal for reinforcement!
Immediately, Lu Zhong drew a deep breath, raised his dark golden spear into the air and sped after Lin Xun.If other cultivators saw that scene, it would have caused a huge stir. Lu Zhong was a powerful Earth Dipper cultivator yet he had released a signal for reinforcement. This undoubtedly proved that he felt tremendous danger in the operation to assassinate Lin Xun!
……
Almost at the same time, a gray figure loomed at the top of a tall building thousands of meters away from where Lin Xun and Lu Zhong had fought.
It was almost impossible to notice his presence on the dark rainy night.
“What a powerful little guy. His spirit sense power seems stronger than that of Earth Dipper cultivators. Unbelievable…”
Murmuring, the gray figure sat up on the ground. His voice was chilling and strange like a snake spitting out venom.
A striking lightning streaked across the night sky, lighting up the world for a split second. Only then was it clear that the gray figure was a pale young man with long and narrow cheeks.
His eyes were a bewitching ash-brown and his thin lips seemed to have been smeared with a thick layer of scarlet lipstick. Wisps of gray light spiraled up from his body, creating an illusory and fuzzy aura around him.
The most terrifying feature of his was no doubt the huge bow in his arms. Its entire body seemed to be constructed from a string of fist-sized skulls and the string was a blood-red color. It emitted a sinister and ruthless aura all over it.
He was Remnant Wind!
A ruthless assassin who moved in the darkness and who many cultivators in Haze City extremely hated and feared.
He was very surprised that he had failed to assassinate Lin Xun two times in a row. It was the first time that he felt it was more difficult and troublesome to assassinate a Human Dipper teenager than an Earth Dipper cultivator.
It was very abnormal!
“Third time’s the charm. Little guy, the next time I make a move will be your death day…”
As his sinister and low voice sounded, he rose to his feet and looked at the distance. Then, like a bat, he glided across the dark sky in a strange arc and swiftly vanished into the rainstorm.
……
In the rainy night, Lu Zhong constantly searched for their target’s scent and swiftly moved forward.
However, as time passed, his brows started to scrunch up because he found that his opponent’s aura was growing fainter in the torrential rain and it was almost impossible to locate it.
Having searched until now, he began to suspect that his target had already broken through the siege and escaped.
At that moment, Lu Zhong seemed to notice something. He halted abruptly and shifted his gaze to a building on the side of the street.
The door was tightly closed but Lu Zhong detected a very familiar aura inside.
Unhesitatingly, Lu Zhong stepped forward and his body rushed up like an arrow released from the bowstring. The golden spear shot out a dazzling light in his palm as he made a slashing stroke towards the house.
He intended to break the house and force his opponent out!
Rumble!
However, before Lu Zhong struck, the closed door exploded into pieces and fired out thousands of arrows. It was as though a blazing sunset sky had suddenly bloomed across the rainy night.
Blazing Sunset Crossbow!
Without a hint of panic, Lu Zhong narrowed his eyes. He waved the dark gold spear, swiftly deflecting the thousands of arrows shooting towards him.
However, the power of the crossbow was extremely terrifying. Even though Lu Zhong had blocked the wave of attacks and he possessed a solid foundation, he still reeled back from the force and his blood and qi tumbled wildly in his body.
By the time that Lu Zhong managed to stabilize his body and crushed the last arrow, a strange blade cry suddenly rang out.
It was mysterious and ethereal like the sounds of heaven. Although it seemed to contain no power, Lu Zhong’s mind drifted into a trance-like state. Dazzling stars seemed to be descending before him from the eternal night. Everything was shrouded in despair and destruction like doomsday was approaching.
That’s—?
Lu Zhong was aghast. His years of experience allowed him to sense a deadly danger.
In imminent danger, Lu Zhong let out a tremendous roar, swung his dark gold spear and repeatedly made slashing strokes in all four directions of the compass.
Rumble—
The void fell into chaos, the spectacle of falling stars suddenly collapsed, and all illusions faded like paper.
However, a ray of blade light seemingly from the eternal darkness streaked through the chaos in an unstoppable manner and struck Lu Zhong.
With a pff, Lu Zhong felt his entire body aching with severe pain. The blade had forcibly tore open his chest. Blood spurted everywhere and his organs all seemed to be crushed. He couldn’t help but scream in agony.
Immediately, he was blasted across the air and slammed into the rain-soaked ground.
“That..that…that’s the power of imagery?!”
Lu Zhong gasped in shock and fear. His face contorted in disbelief. The blade was filled with unimaginable magical power similar to the legendary imagery power unique to Heaven Ascension cultivators!
Lin Xun suddenly emerged without the slightest sound and headed Lu Zhong’s way.
“Impossible! Absolutely impossible. You only have a cultivation base of the Human Dipper Stage. How can you possibly grasp such immeasurable power?”
Lu Zhong seemed deeply provoked and showed signs of going berserk. He had indeed lost his composure.
He was an Earth Dipper cultivator yet a teenager at the Human Dipper Stage had severely wounded him with one blade slash. He almost even lost his life. How could he accept this?
What blade was that?
Lu Zhong’s heart uncontrollably trembled as bewilderment filled his mind.
Meanwhile, Lin Xun’s expression remained unchanged from the beginning to end. He paid not the least attention to Lu Zhong’s abnormally fluctuating emotions and came to a stop three feet from him.
Bang!
An arrow blazing like sunset clouds shot out from Lin Xun's sleeve and completely enveloped Lu Zhong.
Lu Zhong was a cultivator of the Earth Dipper Stage. Lin Xun knew that he shouldn’t underestimate him even if he had been severely wounded and was on the verge of death. A crossbow was undoubtedly the best choice of weapon to avoid Lu Zhong making a counterattack just before dying.
Lu Zhong screamed tragically as his entire body was seemingly pierced with thousands of holes like a hornet’s nest. In the end, he died reluctantly on the ground.
Chi!
But before Lin Xun breathed a sigh of relief, an extremely subtle ripple in the air caused his expression to alter and he suddenly threw himself to one side.
An arrow silently brushed past Lin Xun's shoulder and blasted a bottomless hole into the ground.
It’s that damn guy again!
Lin Xun fumed. He felt a burning sensation in his shoulder. This was the third sneak attack of the night. He is following me like a ghost.
It was just that the third time was different from the previous two. This time, the opponent didn’t intend to stop until he took Lin Xun’s life!
Bang! Bang!
Before Lin Xun had steadied his body, another two subtle but strange noises sounded in the air. Two arrows were silently fired from two completely different directions. They were tricky, ruthless and accurate.
However, Lin Xun remained surprisingly very calm. He suddenly curled up his body, bounced against the ground like a ball and blasted towards the building on the other side.
A burning pain shot through his back and blood gushed wildly. It was as though a pointy cone had pierced right through his skin.
Lin Xun staggered and then rolled to the other side of the building like a rolling gourd.
But he still wasn’t completely safe!
A series of strange noises reverberated through the air before a swarm of arrows pierced the wall and rushed towards him.
The house seemed to be shrouded in a shower of arrows and was riddled with holes.
Eventually, the house exploded and collapsed.
The rain of arrows disappeared and everything fell into deathly silence. Only the torrential rain continued to pour down and lashed the broken walls.
Unknowingly, Remnant Wind’s fuzzy gray figure had walked out of the rain and he came to stand silently before the collapsed building.
His ash-brown eyes shone a bewitching glow as he scanned the ruins of the house.
He had sealed the areas around the house when he launched a sneak attack so he was certain that Lin Xun hadn’t escaped.
In other words, in Remnant Wind’s view, Lin Xun had died in his rain of arrows.
“Little guy, you have nothing to regret even if you died since you could force me to use all my means…”
Remnant Wind muttered as he walked through the ruins. He had to sever Lin Xun’s head to receive the reward.
Remnant Wind swiftly pulled out a corpse from the ruins, but to his surprise, it wasn’t Lin Xun. Instead, it was a middle-aged man who died with a horrified and helpless expression on his face. His body was pierced with arrows and badly mangled.
This was bad!
Remnant Wind’s expression dramatically changed.
A blade shot up from the ruins with a boom, like a star rising from beneath the earth. It produced the most dazzling and breathtaking sheen.