193 Chapter 192: Against All Odds (1/2)

”What the fuck is wrong with you?!” I hollered. Both Tong Xue and Blood Shadow turned to stare at me. I was sure Tang Qi Hong and Lian Rou were staring at me too, but obviously they were immobilized and unable to speak.

”You…” Blood Shadow snarled, then snorted. ”Well, it doesn't matter. Brat, you're on the must kill list, so I won't let you go like Tong Xue.”

”That's exactly my point!” I bellowed, catching him off guard. Blood Shadow actually looked molliefied, completely taken aback by my reaction.

”What…?”

I didn't let him finish.

”You're supposed to be a skillful, veteran assassin with decades of experience, right? Yet why are you making such stupid amateur mistakes?” I then did a mocking pretense of him, waving my hands dramatically. ”'Leaving so soon?' What the fuck, dude? If your goal was to kill me, why did you have to go announce your presence so loudly and forewarn us that you were coming, instead of just catching us unaware and stabbing us in the back? Like what any professional assassin would do – kill the target before he even realizes what hit him!”

”That's…” Blood Shadow trailed away, realizing that I was right. He shrugged. ”For dramatic purposes?”

My jaw dropped. Amazing…this guy had a sense of humor too?

”It doesn't matter anyway,” Blood Shadow continued. ”You won't be able to survive the night. You're far too weak!” he grinned. ”I was just giving you a chance. It wouldn't be fun if I kill you instantly. I want to watch you struggle.”

”Yup, you're definitely not a professional assassin.” I sighed and shook my head. ”Real assassins don't think about fun.”

”Oh, shut up!”

Blood Shadow snapped and then softly whistled in a low tone. Thousands of blood tendrils seemed to snake out of the night and charged toward me at once.

”This sucks…” I muttered, getting a headache. Using Absolute Zero, I froze everything within ten meters with my concept. The blood tendrils all turned into ice and stopped just centimeters short of me. I panted heavily, using all of my qi to stop the blood tendrils while simultaneously bringing my Snow Aegis down to help me.

”The same trick won't work twice!”

Having survived the barrage from my mobile turrets earlier, Blood Shadow deftly jumped away and disappeared into the shadows. However, I could still detect him with the infrared vision installed in my glasses and I directed my mobile turrets, firing qi beams on his position with uncanny precision. Blood Shadow was forced to withdraw several of his blood tendrils to defend himself.

”What the hell is this?!” he demanded, astonished by the sheer firepower. ”Even though I'm at the Pure Spirit Stage, I still can't defend against attacks from a Qi Fusion Stage practitioner? What is this Spirit Weapon?”

Having no intention to inform him of my capabilities, I continued to bombard his position, forcing him to retreat. As my mobile turrets spun about wildly in midair, I quickly withdrew, joining Tong Xue as we tried to escape.

I knew I wouldn't be able to hold Blood Shadow off for long.

”The whole plan is falling about,” I complained to Tong Xue, who grimaced and nodded sourly as he hefted Lian Rou in his arms.

Originally, the plan we concocted with Lang Xie and Hai Rong was that I would momentarily distract Blood Shadow. When he attacked me, then Lang Xie would immediately assassinate Blood Shadow from behind (which was why I made a big fuss about Blood Shadow not being a professional assassin and pulling such amateurish stunts). Meanwhile, Hai Rong and Tong Xue would then seize the opportunity to rush toward Tang Qi Hong and Lian Rou to release them.

At least that was what we decided. Unfortunately, as a famous general once said, no battle plan ever survived contact with the enemy.

As it turned out, this whole thing had been a trap, one elaborately planned out by the late Hu Mei Er. I was so glad I killed that bitch. It was all her fault that we were running the risk of getting killed. We never would have expected Di Shi Jiu and Yuan Tian Ya to show up!

If I wasn't mistaken, Hu Mei Er must have secretly led all these members of Divine Shadow Sect inside Tushan City for this assassination mission! For her to pull this off…she must have been scheming with Divine Shadow Sect and perhaps the Martial Arts Alliance for a long time now. Since when did she betray us?

Ever since Liang Shao Yang died by my hands?

”Where is Lord Lang Xie and Instructor Hai?” I asked rhetorically, casting my glance around for the two adults, to no avail.

Tong Xue shook his head bitterly as he tightened his grip on Lian Rou.

”Lord Lang Xie is currently occupied by Di Shi Jiu and Yuan Tian Ya. Even if they somehow fail to defeat him, there is still Liang Yang Zu hiding nearby. Instructor Hai is currently fighting a shadow conjured from Blood Shadow's blood.”

”How do you know all that?” I asked, astonished. It was a rhetorical question, and I wasn't really expecting a reply.

Tong Xue smiled sourly. ”Smart Shadow Sect's techniques. I had netflies scattered into the atmosphere to keep tabs on them.” he held up a cogitator gauntlet, which projected holographic images that displayed Lang Xie and Hai Rong fighting for their lives against their respective opponents, and one screen even showed Liang Yang Zu hiding in the bushes, waiting for his chance to ambush the unsuspecting Lang Xie.

”What the hell?! Are you supposed to be an assassin from the Vanus temple now?”

”The what temple now?” Tong Xue repeated incredulously. I shook my head.

”Never mind. Anyway, keep an eye on them. And take Qi Hong.” I passed Tang Qi Hong to a bewildered Tong Xue. ”Go! I'll distract Blood Shadow for now. His target is me.”

”But you…” Tong Xue protested even as he obediently shifted Tang Qi Hong over his shoulder. I grinned.

”…won't die so easily.”

Tong Xue stared at me for a moment, and then he nodded, as if saying that he trusted me. He then sped away just as Blood Shadow smashed the ice and summoned a new swarm of blood tendrils to launch at me again.

”You think you can get away?” he snarled, throwing a bunch of serpentine blood tendrils at the fleeing Tong Xue. Before any of them could reach him or the girls, six brilliant qi beams seared through the air and incinerated them, vaporizing the blood.

”You think you can chase them?” I responded sarcastically.

Blood Shadow's eyes narrowed. ”Brat, don't think too highly of yourself! And worry about yourself before you try and save your friends!”

He had a point. Thousands of blood tendrils were whipping mercilessly toward me, stretching out as if to ensnare me.

Pushing my glasses up my nose, I smiled.

Closing my eyes, I reached into my mind, allowing my consciousness to sink into the freezing tundra that formed the bedrock of my soul. Gathering as much pure qi as I could, and remembering the lessons from the snow-patterned Spirit Engraved Pillar, I used the Heavenly Snow Terminus Body in conjunction with the Nine-Tailed Frost Fox Formula. This time, I didn't just use Absolute Zero, but combined Absolute Zero with Heavenly Snow Terminus Body.

My freezing qi gushed out of my body, which was being slowly coated with a layer of frost. Extreme cold flooded out from my spiritual sea and into reality, altering the world itself. With me as the core, the world around me distorted as it froze and reality itself turned into ice. The courtyard was transformed in an instant, turning into a snow-white tundra.

The blood tendrils were unable to withstand the extreme cold, every single one of them turning into ice before fragmenting into powder and crumbling away from existence. Crystalline and sparkling ice expanded across the whip-like contusions, turning them from crimson-red to azure-white. They resembled nothing more than frozen sculptures before their demise, lending to their frozen forms a transient beauty that couldn't last long.

The icy concept spread from my body and continued to freeze not just the blood tendrils or Blood Shadow's techniques but the entire courtyard, altering the very landscape itself. Winter had descended upon us a few months too early. Such was the power of Absolute Zero that I could even change the very weather itself.

It wasn't just any winter, but the coldest winter that Tushan City had ever experienced.

The mansion was coated in ice, with icicles beginning to dangle from the eaves, and a layer of frost solidifying thickly over the roof. Even the ground beneath our feet had become slush with snow, which was actually pretty hard.

”Br…”

Even though Tong Xue managed to escape to a safe distance, he could still feel the unnatural chill this far away. His teeth were chattering and his face had grown pale. If he hadn't drawn his qi about him, he wouldn't have been able to move, and might even end up frozen along with the mansion and poor trees surrounding me.

”…”

Tang Qi Hong and Lian Rou couldn't speak, even as their bodies were covered by frost, and their long hair encased in ice as well. They could only look at me in surprise.

Underneath his mask, Blood Shadow's eyes widened in shock, but then they narrowed ferociously, blazing demonically. Unfortunately for me, he wasn't affected by my enhanced Absolute Zero technique, what with his superior strength and amount of qi. Glancing nonchalantly at his frozen blood tendrils that were crumbling away into nothingless rapidly, he shook his head and scowled.

”You really are a skilled young man. To think you'll be able to reach this level of ice technqiues at such a young age…it's just too bad…”

Blood Shadow dashed toward me, a dense bloody aura shrouding his body. I used Tui on reflex, widening the distance between us, and causing Blood Shadow to miss with his first attack. His fist smashed the ice on the ground, and for a moment it seemed that he had elevated the temperature and returned it to normal, neutralizing my technique.

”!!!”

Jumping back as far as I could, I watched Blood Shadow cautiously.

”Isn't this bloody cheating?” I complained as Blood Shadow pulverized the ice I had so painstakingly created.

Honestly, I shouldn't have expected anything different. I was still a greenhorn, a sapling who had yet to grow. In contrast, Blood Shadow had decades of experience and cultivation. He was probably at his peak, a powerful martial artist on par with Yuan Tian Ya and the sect leader of Snow Valley Sect or Dark Valley Sect. As much as I hated to admit it, he was a topnotch martial artist in the Great Zhou Empire, even if his assassination skills left something to be desired.

However, he was speaking the truth when he said he could easily kill me anytime he wanted. That begged the question then.