"So they really can't hear us, uh?"
Xuan chuckled. He was somehow right behind all of them. At this point, they all knew they had fucked up big time.
The six remaining assassins jumped back away from Xuan, preparing a stance, ready to fight. One in the middle had quickly summoned his silver spear.
While two at both sides summoned the same weapon—a two-mouth rifle shotgun—aimed at Xuan.
"Fucking blast the bastard!"
Boom... Boom.
However, Xuan effortlessly leaped up above the released shots, and at the same time, the assassin with the spear also leaped up to knock Xuan down.
But it was the other way round. Xuan, who had leaped high, seemed to have vanished in mid-air and appeared in front of the assassin.
Covering the assassin's whole face with his palm, and from the air—Kabam—Xuan slammed the assassin so hard against the ground that it shook and even cracked.
The gap between them was now clear, but even at that, one still attempted to shoot Xuan. He missed, with no one in front of him.
Xuan was right behind him and waved his hand with the dagger, slicing the bastard's neck off—a clean cut.
"This guy's fucking dangerous."
The dagger was dripping blood. They felt a bit frightened, but Xuan did not answer them. He walked towards the assassin he had slapped down hard.
Then squatted. Kweuk—the assassin coughed out blood the moment Xuan stabbed his forehead deep. He died, and Xuan stood up.
That was three dead, and four staring at him.
"Come on, those guys were just Martial Realm stage 05. In fact, none of you here has crossed stage 07, so you're not the ones I sensed."
Xuan was right. The assassins here were to capture him or, if possible, kill Xuan. The strength he had sensed when entering the palace wasn't these ones.
The elders were at least Final Martial Realm stage. These guys were just Mid Martial Realm, so whoever it was that really needed Xuan dead wasn't here.
"And one of you will take me to them," said Xuan, raising his blood-soaked dagger.
Sadly for them, Xuan was at late martial realm stage eight and with unique techniques, so he was far from ordinary.
"Like hell we're gonna do that!" yelled an assassin.
As he dashed forward, the last gun-type assassin simultaneously shot at Xuan—a decoy to what was really coming.
And as Xuan tried blocking the incoming bullet—bam, kweuk—he coughed out blood, feeling a fist buried in his abdomen.
Boom.
The force was so unreal that it sent Xuan crashing against the invisible wall, landing him on a knee as he coughed out blood again, letting go of the dagger.
Well, he expected that to be painful anyway. I mean, these guys were at Martial Realm stage seven.
The assassins stood smiling, finally having landed a hit on Xuan. It was even taking time for Xuan to recover.
"Come on, Shooter, finish him off with your final gun attack."
The gun assassin smirked. He stood in front of them, pointing two guns at Xuan, and when Xuan stood up, he saw six more guns floating at the sides of the cultivator.
"Guess you ain't that strong after all."
Xuan's eyes widened—boom... boom... boom... boom—all the guns pointing at him released fire. However, Xuan's hand started moving tremendously fast.
"Hey, Shooter, stop playing around and fucking kill him already!" yelled an assassin from behind.
Xuan's body was emitting a purple dark aura. He kept his head down while slashing away all the fired shots, keeping up with the speed of the gun.
Xuan kept slashing as he took little steps forward. Shooter was giving it his all; he was even starting to get scared and couldn't keep his balance.
It was too late. Xuan walked past him, leaving a cut on his cheek. Just when did Xuan do that without him seeing it?
"Fucker, you should have killed me when—" Shooter fell on the ground. He kept coughing out blood as the cheek where he was cut started growing dark veins crawling towards his eyes.
Before he knew it, the venomous dagger had eaten up his whole eye, gushing out blood as Shooter kept yelling uncontrollably. He held his bloody eyes, covered with tears as well.
He could feel his strength and life slowly draining away from his body, but before he died, he saw Xuan cut off all three heads of the remaining assassins.
Shooter felt the embrace of fear. He wasn't seeing anything more than the darkness standing in front of him.
Xuan's cold, emotionless gaze was the clue that death was around the corner. He was the only assassin left alive, though near death.
"Aaarrghaaa, my eye! You fucker, aaarrghaaa... how the hell are you—"
"Shsssh." Xuan squatted, placing the blood-dripping dagger on the guy's neck. He was forced to shut the pain and just kept groaning as he cried.
"Now listen, you're only alive because you'll tell me where to find who sent you, and I mean where they all are," said Xuan.
The assassin kept breathing heavily. He undoubtedly knew he was going to die, either by the hands of Xuan or the deep wound.
So fuck loyalty right now. If there were chances of treating himself, he needed that—even if it meant ratting out the elders and those involved.
Xuan felt impatient and pressed the dagger harder.
"Tell... I'll tell you," the elf steadied his breath. "They're gathering at the forest at Black Road City," the elf groaned in pain.
"They'll be expecting you," he added.
"How many?" asked Xuan. The elf replied, telling him the elders were just three. He raised an eyebrow, feeling suspicious.
"But I swear that's it. Only Elder Xao Lee among them is at Divine Combustion 01; the remaining two are Final Martial stage ten."
"How can there be so many of you and only three of them?"
"You moron, I'm telling you," the elf cried out. "Only three elders have been killing all Queen Li Feng's guests. The council has decided to let her have her ways of breaking the sacred rule, but these three persisted."
"So you're telling me, once I kill those three, she won't have any more enemies in her country?"
"I swear, yes. The council needs a strong leader."
Xuan kept quiet for a few seconds. He weaved a out sigh and replied, "Okay."
But before the assassin could even understand what he said, Xuan's face was stained with blood as he slashed off the elf's neck.