120 Assassination 2 (1/2)
Chapter 120: Assassination 2
”I am a friend of your father's. Ask him to come out and see me, he'll know,” Su Lin said with a smile.
Garen stood to a side an observed their exchange silently. Suddenly he heard faint footsteps. When he turned around, he saw the boy who was weaving earlier cautiously stick his head out from the end of the alley in curiosity and look over. His small dirty face had a wooden sense to it. Two streaks of transparent sticky mucus flowed from his nostrils; he sniffed hard and the mucus was retracted back into his nose.
He took a look at him then ignored him and turned back around. Su Lin had already asked the girl.
The two of them were led into the shop and offered two chairs—the cleaner ones of the lot—to sit down on.
Soon, a middle-aged man with a full-faced beard pulled aside the tattered cloth partition separating the inner part of the house and walked in. He looked like an honest fellow. His face was calm and indifferent, his gaze complex with the vicissitudes of life; obviously he had been through a lot.
When he walked out, the impression he gave was no different than that of a common blacksmith.
Honest, straightforward, strong, crude, and of course, he had oil stains all over him.
The first thing that the man saw when he walked in was Su Lin sitting on the chair. He furrowed his brow slightly. He wiped the oil stains off his hands on his clothes, walked over and sat down in front of Su Lin and Garen.
”It's you? Once I saw you, I knew my peaceful life was over. Tell me, what do you need my help for?” His sized Garen up and seemed to have doubts.
”Come on. I had a hard time getting that promise from you before. If you went back on your word, I'll be suffering a big loss. To think for your sake, I had to…”
”Alright, just come out with it. What do you want?”
Su Lin was cut short by the man, and didn't manage to finish his sentence.
The young boy and girl stood to one side and were left confused by the conversation; they had no idea what was going on.
Su Lin looked at them, and knew that the man had no intention of hiding anything from them, so he spoke his mind.
”I've run into some trouble.”
”What kind of trouble?” The man leaned forward, and took his outer coat off.
”Duskdune Shura.”
The man abruptly stopped what he was doing.
Silence filled the air.
The man didn't speak, Su Lin didn't speak, and neither did Garen.
Affected by the atmosphere, the boy and girl standing to a side didn't dare to breathe too heavily either. They looked puzzled; the girl even seemed vaguely excited.
After a while, Su Lin spoke again.
”What's the matter? The Eight-Arm Dragon King of yore is now speechless at the mention of Duskdune Shura?”
The man's eyes flashed.
”What's the use of reminiscing about the past?”
The Eight-Arm Dragon King!
Garen sitting to a side was instantly stunned. He had never heard of this title, but to be able to carry such a name was proof enough of his terrifying true strength in the past.
Regardless of the field, for one to be called a king, they were definitely no plain characters. Not to mention he was acknowledged by Su Lin as an absolute companion in countering the impending attack from Duskdune Shura!
When he saw the man evade, Su Lin didn't let up. ”You're really able to let go of that thing with Duskdune Shura before? I don't believe it.”
The atmosphere turned somber again.
The youths were mostly confused, but caught the gist of it. The old man in the shop must have been a powerful big shot in the past. He merely resided here because of some kind of grudge. These two people in front of them had obviously come to ask the old man to come out of retirement.
”I thought I could live peacefully till I died of old age. I didn't think there would be such a day…” The middle-aged man let out a long sigh. ”Unfortunately, I have let it go entirely.”
At these words, Garen saw Su Lin's face turned unpleasant.
”You're joking?” his voice became very deep. ”What about the promise you gave me before? Also, could you bear to see your daughter and apprentice toil on in mediocrity, forever living in this dingy corner till they die?”
The Eight-Arm Dragon King was unfazed. ”I will not go out. But owing to my previous promise, I will give you a satisfactory explanation.”
”Explanation? What further explanation can you offer?” Su Lin said coldly. Suddenly, he took out a piece of something from his front pocket: it was part of an unknown ornament, like a brass hoop. It was cracked at the bottom.
At the sight of this, the Eight-Arm Dragon King's eyes immediately widened. ”Why is this with you?” his voice became unusually frigid. In contrast to his calm and passive demeanor a moment ago, he became frantic and dangerous in an instant.
”Don't you bother why it's with me,” Su Lin sneered. ”I…”
Snap! The words had barely left his mouth.
The Eight-Arm Dragon King erupted instantly. He drew two machetes out with both hands and hacked at Su Lin's arms with a swoosh.
Chhhh!
The blades froze to a halt inches above his skin.
The Eight-Arm Dragon King lowered his head and saw a large hand clutching his throat.
Bang!
He instantly flew backwards into a pile of debris, and broke numerous items as he went.
Garen gave a cold scoff and retracted his arm.
”Ridiculous.”
Su Lin only managed to react then, and started to break out in cold sweat. Although he could hold his own, compared to a Grandmaster of Combat, he was definitely not as good in close quarters. Even Garen, who wasn't fast, had quicker reactions than he.
”This is your so-called expert?” Garen frowned at Su Lin. ”Weak.”