253 Chapter 252: Ambush (1/2)

It didn't take us too long to retrace our route back to the Toxic Marshes, and toward the base camp. Thanks to my glasses, I had recorded the route and mapped the area, so the trail was highlighted vividly in my lenses. We just needed to follow the holographic path of light, and since we were already somewhat familiar with the terrain and environment by now, we were able to hasten our pace and cut down the required time for travel.

”How do you plan on fighting the Heavenly Venom King, Sha Chen?” Tong Xue asked as we jogged across the outskirts of the swamp.

”What makes you think I plan on fighting him?” I responded. ”If he's as powerful as you and Song Ting Yu say he is, then wouldn't the most prudent course of action to avoid him at all costs? Sneak in, grab a sample of the Black Venom Toxin, and then run away before he realizes that we were there at all. I would rather avoid fighting if possible.”

Tong Xue nodded in approval. ”I agree!”

The both of us then vaulted over an outlying root from a gnarled, twisted tree, and veered into an alternative direction when we saw that our current trajectory would take us right into the bog. Thanks to Lian Rou's guidance earlier, we knew what to avoid.

…unlike Zi Sha, Jiu Bu Liao and Yi Ding Si…

Of the trio, two were dead. Fortunately, Yi Ding Si had opted to follow us, so he lived longer. Unfortunately, his death seemed inevitable unless we retrieved the Black Venom Toxin and brought it back. Even then, I didn't know if we would make it time.

The last time I saw him, his life was hanging by a thread. There wasn't much longer left for him. Lian Rou and the paramedics at Duchun Town were doing their best to stabilize his condition and prolong his life for as long as possible, but quite frankly, the situation didn't look good.

However, I was going to smash this stupid thing called Fate. Fate had been screwing me over way too many times, and conveniently giving Zhu Jiao whatever power-ups, treasures, Spirit Pills, martial arts skills he needed. It seemed like the Heavens favored only the protagonist, and screwed everyone over. They already killed off Zi Sha and Jiu Bu Liao, but I was determined that they did not take Yi Ding Si as well.

As long as he was under my charge, I refused to let him die. I was going to save him, no matter what.

Even if I had to face the Dark Sage, Sha Chen himself.

”Does the Heavenly Venom King, Sha Chen, have any weaknesses?” Despite myself, I couldn't help asking.

Tong Xue glanced at me, furrowing his brow.

”I thought you wanted to avoid combat with him?”

”That's the ideal situation,” I admitted. ”But you're too experienced a martial artist like me to know that no battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy. I want to prepare for the worst case scenario, just in case we're forced to fight him.”

”If we're forced to fight him, we'll most likely not suvive.” Tong Xue sounded grim. ”He is that strong. He isn't one of the three Sages of the old Martial Arts Alliance era for no reason. He's legendary for his brutal strength.”

”Not his poison techniques?” I asked, surprised. Tong Xue considered for a moment, and then shook his head.

”Strangely enough, no. As poison techniques are viewed with great taste by the vast majority of the orthodox sects, Sha Chen refrained from using them. It didn't matter – he favored great strength and brute force. He enjoyed crushing his enemies with superior power. He would only use poisons against those opponents he deemed worthy.”

Somehow I doubted that. Most likely Sha Chen used poison against enemies he couldn't beat in a head-on confrontation because it was one of the few ways he could close the gap between their strengths.

”That was decades ago, though.” Tong Xue shrugged before bounding over another outstretched root. ”He's disappeared for so long that I wouldn't be surprised if he has changed his fighting styles, or undergone a personality transformation.”

”In other words, it's likely that he has no qualms using poison techniques now, especially since he is no longer part of the Martial Arts Alliance, and is considered unorthodox.”

I nodded thoughtfully. Tong Xue grimaced.

”I'm afraid you're right. I'm sorry, but we just don't have enough information about the 'current' Dark Sage, Sha Chen, to be able to tell.”

However, there was one thing we knew for sure. Sha Chen had singlehandedly wiped out Song Ting Yu's entourage of bodyguards – each one of them a professional expert at the service of the Song Family and the Martial Arts Alliance. In other words, his strength had not diminished. In fact, he might even have gotten stronger.

This was not good at all.

Worse, from what Tong Xue had said, any information he had regarding Sha Chen's weakness in the past might not be applicable today. Any decent martial artist would surely overcome or shore up his weakness in the last few decades he spent hiding.

Our intelligence on him would be obsolete now, especially since it was decades old.

We took a detour around yet another swampy area, aware of the denizens dwelling within it. Judging from my glasses' holographic map, I could tell that we were about half an hour away from Black Venom Cult's base camp. We had cut our travel time by an hour this time, probably because we were a little more familiar with the route by now.

”Tong Xue,” I said as I deliberately went the long way upon sensing a gigantic creature dwelling within the swamp just a few dozen meters away from us. ”If we do indeed end up fighting against Sha Chen, I want you to leave him to me.”

”What?” Tong Xue stared at me, astonished. ”Are you crazy?”

”Maybe. But I have a plan. And a killer move that might work against him.” As I told Zi Sha, Jiu Bu Liao and Yi Ding Si before, even if the opponent was much stronger, that didn't mean we automatically lost to him in a fight.

Humans were intelligent beings. If we were weaker than our enemy, we often found ways to circumvent those weaknesses. In my original timeline, primitive humans developed spears to hunt tigers, sabertooth tigers and other predators. As technology progressed, we could kill creatures as immense as elephants, as armored as crocodiles with high-powered hunting rifles, or even magnum revolvers. We went from being one of the frailest species in the planet into the most destructive, developing nuclear bombs that could wipe out kilometers wide areas of life and rendering them into a radioactive wasteland where nothing could survive, no matter how strong.

That was why, no matter how powerful this Sha Chen was, there definitely was a way to defeat him. My chances of winning were pathetically low, probably less than even 1%, but it was not zero. It was far from zero.

I might be less experienced than Sha Chen, I might be less skilled, and less powerful, but I could still make up for that gap with my weapons and intelligence. All I needed was for Sha Chen to slip up, make one mistake, and I could deal a decisive blow. Even a 10-dan black-belt karateka in my timeline would die if someone shot him with a gun. Similarly, no matter how powerful Sha Chen was, he was only human. If my blade stabbed him in the heart, ruptured a carotid artery or jugular vein, or better still, take his entire head off, even he would die.

Of course, the hard part was getting into that situation in the first place.

”I have a Spirit Shield, and I have lots of guns,” I assured Tong Xue, who looked unconvinced by my plan. ”Among the both of us, I'm the one with the higher chance of survival. And all I need is one good shot, and I'll take him down.”

”No, you won't.” Tong Xue shook his head. ”He's on a completely different level. You can shoot him a hundred times and he won't die. He's too powerful.”

”We'll see about that.” I sighed. ”Of course, the best case scenario is sneaking past him without attracting his attention, but reality never goes the way we want it to.”

”That's true.” Tong Xue looked a little resigned. ”But I'm not going to leave you to fight such a monster by yourself…”

Before I could reply to that, I suddenly sensed three presences bolting toward us at high speed. Clearly the Black Venom Cultists had detected us approaching and were rushing forward to meet us. So much for the element of surprise.

”Incoming!” I shouted a warning. Being just as experienced as me, Tong Xue also picked up their presences and dove to the opposite side at the same time as I did. And not a moment too soon – several poison darts struck the grass where we were running on a few seconds ago.

”Damn it!”

Tong Xue rolled to his feet and took cover behind a tree. The poison darts truck the trunk of the tree, but didn't penetrate further than its bark. He cursed and kept his head down, trying to keep a low profile. ”They already found us?!”

”This is going to be difficult…” I muttered, also glancing from behind a tree I had sought cover behind. Even though I was immune to poison, those barbed darts looked wicked. I sure as hell didn't want any of those lodging themselves in my skin. It would definitely hurt like a bitch.

”See? The Great Leader was right! Those Martial Arts Alliance bastards would definitely dispatch another group to finish us off!”

”I didn't think we would run into them so soon in our patrol, though.”

Listening, I frowned. Great Leader? That must be the Dark Sage, Sha Chen. I was also a little miffed that they thought we were from the Martial Arts Alliance.

”Should we call for reinforcements?”

”Really? It's just a couple of kids.” The middle guy sneered. ”We can take care of them. There's no need to trouble the rest.”

”Besides,” the third guy added. ”There's so few of us left after that damned assault. If the Great Leader didn't return, we would be the only three left!”

”Yeah, we don't have enough people left to guard the base. I don't think they can even spare one. And Great Leader says we need to leave at least five back in the base. We're the only ones the Cult can spare for patrol.”

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The hell? Were they actually discussing their numbers, disposition and plans right in the open? Either they were vastly underestimating us, or they were complete and utter idiots.

Then again, the middle guy was pretty strong. I could tell that he was stronger than even Da Du.

This is going to be difficult…

Sighing, I flattened myself against the tree as another series of poison darts thudded against the trunk.

”Fei Wu!” Tong Xue hissed. He did a few gestures with his hands, hand signals developed for combat, and I nodded in understanding. He wanted to flank our enemies, who for some incredibly idiotic reason had chosen to clump themselves up.

As I said, they were extremely over-confident in their ability to take us out. They didn't even place us in their eyes. To them, we were nothing more than bugs to be squashed underneath the sole of their boots.

They were going to regret this.

At Tong Xue's signal, the both of us swung from our cover and dashed toward them. Tong Xue had evidently learned Shadow Steps as well – the basic technique available for everyone to learn – while I relied on a combination of footwork techniques that Teacher Jiao taught me and Shadow Steps. The both of us seemed to disappear after the trio launched their stupid barbed poison darts at them, and reappeared behind the stunned trio.

”?!”

”When did they…?”

As we were weaker than the three of them in terms of qi and strength, Tong Xue and I combined our attacks and slashed at the guy in the right. Tong Xue with his Shadow Dagger and me with my Azure Lotus Sword and Shadow Fox. He blocked my attacks, raising his spear to block both of my swords, but Tong Xue swept up from under his guard and slit his throat.

”Gah!”

The guy shrieked as blood fountained out of his throat, his carotid artery and jugular vein having been cut open by Tong Xue. Wow…scary. As expected of someone formerly from the Smart Shadow Sect, which was a subsidiary of the Divine Shadow Sect. Tong Xue had truly mastered the ways of the assassin.

No…he had combined the Shadow techniques of the Divine Shadow Sect with the combat techniques of the legendary Blood Blades of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. That made him an even more potent assassin than the members of the Divine Shadow Sect. Even Liang Shao Yang wouldn't be able to match him now.

”Fucking brats!”

”How dare you?!”

The surviving two whirled around to confront us, but Tong Xue and I split up and disappeared back into cover with our footwork, confounding and frustrating the duo.