"Just where are they already?"
Beside a big tree, one of the elders was impatiently waiting for the assassins while stroking his white, goated beard.
"Relax, elder. You seek the Queen's downfall the most, haha," this one had a white mustache.
"It's not a laughing issue anymore. Did you not see how she disrespected me earlier?" said Elder Goat Beards.
"Still, killing the innocent guest is something evil, when we could actually go kill her. There's three of us."
"Are you sick in the head? First, the humans are our enemies, so killing them is also a part of our job. And second, you think if we openly decide to attack the queen we won't die? Don't forget the council has let her have her way with the sacred rule, so they'd intervene."
At last, the unspoken elder, Xao Lee, chimed in, his hands behind his back as he pointed out the fact. The remaining two elders quickly agreed he was right.
"There's no way something else could have happened, right? That guy was at Spirit Combustion. If they can't capture him, they should just kill him then."
Meanwhile...
Xuan was just squatting at a far tree behind them. He didn't need to go closer than this, and by enhancing his hearing capabilities, he heard clearly.
He had arrived from that far distance a few moments ago. This would be anyone's least suspect, because it was very far from the palace.
Which was why they brought horses along, but Xuan had to track them down.
These three elders, with no doubt, could kill him if he fought them head-on.
Two Martial Realm Stage Ten and the other a Divine one. On top of that, his time freeze wouldn't work on such people.
"One at a time."
Though this wasn't that effective, because he would still have big trouble facing off against someone this much higher than him.
So it wasn't just one at a time he was thinking. Xuan cloaked his face; he had taken the clothes of a dead assassin.
He was going to become an assassin for the night and take them out using stealth, speed, quietness, and composure.
He brought out his dagger, perfectly hiding his killing intent that could permeate the air.
"Hmmm."
Elder Xao Lee turned to look at the exact same tree Xuan squatted at, but whether it was night or not, he saw nobody there but floating leaves.
Xuan had already leapt from that tree branch to another behind them.
"What?"
Knife Cutting Techniques, boom—Elder Xao Lee sensed the slightest error in the surroundings, and as he turned around, forming a knife hand...
One slash split an entire tree behind them. But no, Xuan had left that tree already.
"What happened?"
"There's someone else here," said Elder Xao Lee.
Then the horse they brought started making a few noises. Before they knew it, the horses began running away.
"Li, wait!"
However, the goat-beard elder quickly fell for Xuan's bait; he was chasing the horses. "Stop there, you stupid animals! The person's aura must be chasing them away!"
Before they knew it, the elder was out of sight, leaving the two staring at each other, hoping for his return.
It wasn't a surprise the elder chased the horses, because he was the laziest, and there was no way he could walk that distance.
He would rather give up the mission. But as the elder was chasing the horses, he could feel someone was following him—but not from behind.
Xuan was perfectly running on the trees to cloak himself and silence his steps. "Tsk, come outside and I'll kill you," said the elder, clicking his tongue as he chased the horses.
The elder jumped and twirled in mid-air, landing in front of the horses as he brought them to a stop.
The elder calmed the horses, petting his white horse. While looking at the moon through its eyes, he saw something else.
"Shhsssh."
But he quickly felt something else at the same time—it was the cold steel of Xuan's dagger. The elder's heart started beating unnaturally.
"What? What do you want? Money?"
"No, scream the name. It's Queen Li Feng."
"What?"
Xuan pressed the dagger harder. A little cut formed, and the elder's eyes widened. He was quickly aware the dagger had a venomous effect and yelled,
"It's Queen Li Feng!" yelled the elder. "Is that—"
In the next moment, the face of the beautiful white horse was stained with blood. Xuan cut off the man's throat, slowly dropping the body on the ground.
"Li Feng? Did the princess perhaps come for us? This is not good."
"Relax, there are two of us," Xao Lee tried reassuring the frightened elder.
"What? The two of us against a Divine Stage 03? We'll be dead before we know it."
Xuan smiled where he squatted on a dark tree, watching the drama unfold. To aid his stealth, speed, quietness, and composure, he needed fear.
A perfect timing—the white horse began walking back towards them, its face covered with blood, scaring the hell out of the elders.
"Wait, think this through. This could only be our last chance," said Elder Xao Lee. But it was too late.
"Last chance? We're going to die, you fool!"
The other elder jumped on the horse and kicked it hard, starting to ride fast away from the forest. At this exact moment, Xuan silently pursued behind.
Elder Xao Lee gritted his teeth with a frown. "Just what type of cowards do I have as friends?" he cursed.
Thinking it through for a second, he knew he couldn't handle the princess alone, so he quickly dashed toward the other elder to see if he could catch up.
However, when he ran far into the forest, he stopped.
"What? You're not Li Feng!"
He yelled out. There was no one else seen around the area, but he knew Xuan was hiding somewhere. Besides, Xuan wasn't hiding his killing intent anymore.
Thud.
Then the heads of the two elders were thrown at him, falling to the ground and rolling to his feet. This, Xuan used to distract him.
So when Elder Xao Lee looked up—swoosh—a cut was left just beside his throat.
"Fuck, he dodged that." Xuan quickly went back in the shadows while the elder assisted his bleeding neck.
"Fuck you, bastard!" He stumbled sideways while yelling. That attack just now was coming for his life, but being at Divine Combustion Stage 01, he was able to dodge it.
Knife Cut Technique, first form: Disaster. In the next minute, Elder Xao Lee started slicing mid-air, splitting apart all the trees surrounding him until he was finally clear.
So where was Xuan? "Show yourself, you coward!" yelled Xao Lee.
But Xuan wasn't stupid. Even the venom from the dagger wasn't affecting fast like it did with the previous elf he cut beside the eye.
So for someone at the stage of the elder, it was moving slow—showing how strong he was.
Xuan couldn't risk fighting this guy one-on-one; he just hid in the bushes.
"That cut is enough," Xuan sighed.
He wasn't going to fight this guy. Though the venom must be crawling very slow, there was no way it wouldn't either kill the elder before morning or make it too obvious it was the person Xuan cut.
That was all he needed—he believed Li Feng could handle it from there.
The elder was standing in the middle of the ruined trees, as if construction had taken place. He thought Xuan was still around and yelled, veins bulging from his head,
"SHOW YOURSELF..!!!!!"