As the group headed back toward the Lou mansion, the once-bustling district had already begun to quiet. The shops that once bustled with noise by day were shuttered now, their lanterns dimmed. A hush had settled like mist across the streets, and above them, the sky darkened into hues of plum and ink.
The carriage rolled along the cobbled road, its wheels echoing in the silence. The mansion's silhouette loomed in the distance—a comfort just within reach.
Until it wasn't.
With a shriek of metal and the sudden rearing of horses, the carriage jolted to a stop.
Mo Heng was on his feet in an instant, divine sense sweeping the shadows like a net. "Young master," he said darkly, "we're being ambushed."
Before Jian could even peer out, twenty figures materialized ahead of them—black robes fluttering slightly despite the still air, their bodies cloaked in a thin mist of spiritual energy one he was familiar with.
They stood in a semicircle across the road like a wall of death. A dozen more dropped from rooftops and alleyways with terrifying precision, their boots hitting the stones in eerie unison.
The fog around them wasn't natural. It pulsed faintly with killing intent.
"Blood Mist Assassins," Yun Ji muttered, his voice unusually grave.
Jian turned. "You know them?"
Yun Ji's jaw tightened. "Everyone who wants to live knows them."
The Blood Mist Assassins.
Whispers of them lingered in every kingdom. Ghosts wrapped in fog. A group of merciless killers that never failed a contract—and never left survivors.
"Two Heavenly Tribulation Realm signatures," Yun Ji said, voice low. "The rest? Core Refinement and above."
He looked sideways at Jian, eyes narrowing. "Heavenly Tribulation assassins for a fifth-stage body refining brat. Who the hell are you?"
Jian said nothing, his expression unreadable, " so the Blood mist Assassins are also human furnace users.
Yun Ji cursed under his breath. "Doesn't matter."
In a flash, he unsheathed his blade—not fast, but absolute. Like drawing truth from silence.
With the tip, he carved a clean circle into the stone ground beside the carriage. The scratch of the blade sounded louder than thunder in the quiet.
He turned to Jian.
"Kid. Stay inside this circle until I'm done."
Jian opened his mouth with a smile, "did you just draw you sword?"
"kid this is not the time I'm not here to die for you. But I am bound to keep you alive. So sit tight."
The spiritual pressure that began to roll off Yun Ji was different now—still contained, but heavier, colder. It was the kind of presence that whispered to the world: something terrible is about to happen.
Mo Heng unsheathed his blade, taking position in front of the carriage, but Yun Ji raised a hand.
"Don't interfere unless they reach the kid," he said, eyes still locked on the enemy. "And if I fall—run. Take him and run."
"I don't run," Mo Heng said flatly.
Yun Ji snorted. "We'll see."
Then the mist shifted.
From the front line, two masked figures stepped forward. Their presence was crushing—vibrations that rattled through bones, not ears. The unmistakable aura of Heavenly Tribulation Realm cultivators cloaked them like death's robes.
"The Lou boy dies tonight," said the one of the Heavenly Tribulation Cultivator which was none other than Bao Ren. Standing beside him was his twin brother Jin Wuye..
Yun Ji smiled.
"No," he said softly, raising his sword. "Tonight, you all remember what fear tastes like."
Then he vanished from sight.
Then—without warning—Yun Ji appeared behind the group closest to the carriage.
There was no flash. No dramatic burst of light. Just silence.
And then…
Limbs dropped to the ground like fruit from an old tree.
Arms. Necks. Torsos split like peeled fruit. Blood sprayed the cobblestone in arcs too clean to have come from a man. The fog itself seemed stunned, refusing to move as reality tried to catch up.
In the time it took the assassins to blink, seven elite cultivators had been reduced to a pile of meat and confusion.
Even the mist seemed to shiver.
Bao Ren and Jin Wuye froze—momentarily disarmed not by a weapon, but by disbelief.
Heavenly Tribulation Realm or not, they had been trained to act without emotion. To suppress fear. But this…
This wasn't a technique. This wasn't flashy swordsmanship or Qi manipulation.
This was a butchery.
A perfect, precise, terrifying dance of death.
Yun Ji didn't speak. He simply turned—blood drying on his blade, eyes colder than any battlefield.
Bao Ren's jaw clenched. "Unacceptable," he spat.
"This wasn't in the briefing," Jin Wuye muttered, voice tight. "We were told this would be clean."
"Doesn't matter," Bao Ren growled, drawing his twin daggers—thin, hooked, each connected by a fine black chain that shimmered faintly with hidden inscriptions. "We kill him first. Then the boy."
Jin Wuye drew his weapons as well—twin swords with elegant curves, designed for rhythm and speed, their steel catching the last of the dying sun.
Without another word, they launched forward—moving in perfect tandem, a blur of blades and killing intent.
Yun Ji stood there. Calm.
As if he hadn't just slain seven assassins.
As if two Heavenly Tribulation experts weren't charging at him with death in their eyes.
He lowered into a stance.
And smiled.
"Finally," he muttered. "A warm-up."
Then he moved again.
Like a ghost, Yun Ji vanished from sight—reappearing behind the encroaching group in the blink of an eye. His sword came down in a merciless arc, but this time—clang!—Bao Ren's twin daggers intercepted it, sparks showering between them.
"You won't get to do that twice!" Bao Ren snarled, chains whipping between his blades as he pushed back.
Yun Ji's gaze didn't waver. "So bad… with your talent, you ended up on the wrong side of the coin—"
Before he could finish, Jin Wuye flashed to his flank, twin curved swords already slicing toward his chest. But the strike hit nothing—Yun Ji had vanished yet again.
He reappeared several meters away, sword resting lazily against his shoulder. "I'm two realms above you," he said flatly, before lunging forward again. "You have no chance of winning this fight."
At those words, Bao Ren and Jin Wuye faltered. The gap in power was wider than they'd expected, and for the briefest moment, uncertainty flickered in their eyes.
Then they exchanged a single glance. A silent agreement.
Their killing intent flared—and their spiritual energy twisted into something darker. In an instant, their auras surged, breaking past the sixth stage of the Heavenly Tribulation Realm… then the seventh… the eighth… the ninth.
They paused for barely two heartbeats before their power exploded again, shattering the limits of their realm entirely. The oppressive weight of the Eternal Evolution Realm descended upon the battlefield—first stage, then climbing rapidly.
Second. Third. Fifth. By the time their aura stabilized, the twins stood at the seventh stage of Eternal Evolution, eyes bloodshot, skin faintly ashen.
Yun Ji exhaled slowly, his voice tinged with pity. "Trading your life force for borrowed strength… and still, you won't win."
Around them, the core formation cultivators who had been stationed on the perimeter activated their own desperate measures. Their realms surged into the early Nascent Soul stage, life essence burning away like candle wax. Moving in perfect synchronization, they carved glowing sigils into the air, weaving them into an intricate formation.
A shimmering barrier snapped into place around Yun Ji, locking him in like a beast in a cage.
He smirked. "In your little minds, you really believe you can seal me?"
Raising his sword, he brought it down in a single, brutal stroke. The barrier shuddered under the impact, cracks spiderwebbing across its surface.
Then it clicked as spiritual energy left his body to aid the repair of the seal—but even at that before it could shatter completely, several of the formation members poured fresh spiritual energy into the seal, mending it almost instantly.
The moment's distraction was all Bao Ren and Jin Wuye needed.
They stood side by side, weapons raised. The tips of their blades touched, and between them a swirling orb of sinister energy began to form—black and red, pulsating with killing intent so dense it warped the air around it.
The sphere grew larger with each breath, feeding off the life force they were already burning. The very ground beneath their feet began to crack under the strain of the gathered power.
Yun Ji… simply watched them, his stance loose, almost casual. Beads of sweat traced down his temple—not from fear, but from focus.
He could dismantle this threat entirely, but the barrier surrounding him was still in place and sapping on his energy.
Breaking it required time to accumulate energy enough to totally destroy the seal without giving a chance for repairs, and time was something he did not have at the moment as what ever technique the twins were about to unleash was almost comple
te.
His gaze shifted to Jian beside the carriage inside the circle he had drawn earlier just then Slowly, a small, knowing smile crept across his face.