"The Li Clan's bunch of losers are completely useless. Looks like it's up to me to turn the tide!"
"In four more days, the Venerable One will descend upon Modu. When that time comes, this so-called impregnable fortress will be nothing but chickens and dogs in the face of his power."
"Kid, enjoy your last few days of fun. Soon enough, you won't have the chance anymore."
The Thousand Shadow Assassin sneered, already writing off Sun Qian—holed up inside the Century Hotel—as a dead man.
After confirming the Li Clan was completely washed up and he was on his own, he'd sent an urgent plea for backup to his superiors, begging them to dispatch someone stronger.
Never in his wildest dreams had he expected such a huge surprise: they were sending a mysterious Venerable One.
"Only the top-tier powerhouses of the Eighth Realm Heavenly Being rank earn the title of Venerable One within the organization. I wonder which one of them is coming this time..."
"If I can curry favor with a big shot like that, I might finally get my hands on the true core of the Thousand Shadow Demon Art..."
The Thousand Shadow Assassin was lost in his daydreams when his expression suddenly froze.
The figure that should've been standing by the window on the Century Hotel's top floor had vanished without a trace.
How did he disappear so suddenly?!
He was just there a second ago!
At that moment, a faint, cold voice sounded behind him:
"So it was you who lured that eunuch Ghost Doctor here."
Whoosh!
Snapped out of his fantasies, the Thousand Shadow Assassin's pupils constricted violently. A wave of ice-cold dread washed over him, leaving his face—hidden beneath the black cloth—twisted in disbelief.
Impossible!
How could someone sneak up on him without him noticing?!
This was a complete humiliation—crushing him at his own game, the art of stealth, which he prided himself on above all else.
Worse still, the voice coming from behind sounded eerily familiar, like he'd heard it somewhere before.
It sounded exactly like the target he'd been stalking inside the Century Hotel!
Shadow Thorns
Sizzle!
A shadow erupted from the ground, stabbing toward the figure behind him, aiming to pierce straight through their heart.
Whoosh!
But the shadowy thorn sliced through empty air.
No one was there!
The Thousand Shadow Assassin's expression shifted. He stared at the empty space behind him, his face a mask of shock, as if he'd seen a ghost.
"How is this possible?!"
Slap!
An icy-cold hand suddenly patted him on the shoulder, and that same eerie voice whispered:
"Looking for me?"
Whoosh!
Hair standing on end, the Thousand Shadow Assassin's scalp went numb. He whipped around frantically—and was met with a familiar young face, smiling right at him.
It was none other than Sun Qian.
In his hand, he held an ancient-looking mirror glowing with faint blue light, exuding wispy tendrils of extreme cold energy.
"It's you!!!"
Crack! Crack!
In the blink of an eye, the Thousand Shadow Assassin—with his myriad of tricks and notoriously elusive skills—was completely engulfed by the cold. He froze solid, turned into a lifelike human ice sculpture on the spot.
The expression of shock and terror was frozen forever on the ice sculpture's face. He'd never imagined that his supposedly weak prey would possess such terrifying power—killing him, a Transcendent Realm assassin, with a single move.
"That You Can't See Me (Red) talent is insanely good for ambushes. One wrong step, and you're done for."
"Pair it with the Profound Yin Mirror, a Heavenly Being's Treasure, and taking down a Transcendent Realm assassin is child's play."
"Still, this treasure's energy consumption is brutal. Just unleashing a tiny bit of its cold energy drained me of eighty percent of my spiritual power."
Sun Qian stared calmly at the ice sculpture before him, tucking the Profound Yin Mirror away, and muttered to himself.
Now that he'd spotted the hidden danger of the Thousand Shadow Assassin, he'd naturally gotten rid of him to avoid future trouble.
This same terrifying assassin who'd effortlessly tortured and killed him in his first Villain Simulator run...
Was now no more than an ant beneath his feet. A flick of his wrist, a couple of aces up his sleeve, and the man was dead.
"No wonder the Ghost Doctor the Venerable popped up out of nowhere during that last simulation. I completely overlooked you."
"After dealing with the Li Clan, I should've turned every stone to dig you out of your hole."
Sun Qian had always thought it was the Li Clan who'd ratted him out and lured the Ghost Doctor over during that simulation run—reducing the entire Century Hotel to rubble, capturing Su Meng and killing him, gravely injuring Sun Zhong and ransacking his soul...
He'd never imagined that the true mastermind behind it all was the Thousand Shadow Assassin standing before him now.
Unfortunately, he'd found out too late. The assassin had already sent his message and made contact with the mastermind pulling the strings.
In four days, the arrival of the Ghost Doctor the Venerable seemed inevitable...
Crack!
Sun Qian casually plucked the assassin's storage pouch from his frozen body, broke the restriction on it, and began rummaging through its contents.
An assassin of the Transcendent Realm like him could never hope to own a high-grade item like a spatial ring—reserved only for Heavenly Being powerhouses like the Ghost Doctor the Venerable...
(Note: Storage pouches have limited space and are unstable. If struck with force, the items inside may be lost or destroyed.)
(Note: Spatial rings have vast storage capacity and are far more stable, resistant to damage.)
「 Ding! Host has effortlessly eliminated the Thousand Shadow Assassin and removed a potential threat. Reward: Enhancement of the Illusionary Clone Divine Power, +1,500 Villain Points! 」
Slap!
A specially crafted communication token emerged from the storage pouch.
This was clearly the tool the Thousand Shadow Assassin had used to contact his superiors.
"Maybe I should give that eunuch a little surprise."
Sun Qian glanced at the token in his hand, then at the assassin's ice sculpture. His eyes flickered, and a plan began to form in his mind.
"First, though, I need to run another simulation."
...
"What an eerie ability. Even I couldn't detect him. Is it some kind of spatial power? To kill a Transcendent Realm cultivator so easily..."
Liu Yue, who'd been keeping a close eye on Sun Qian, had witnessed the entire scene of him killing the Thousand Shadow Assassin. Her expression turned grave.
This man was hiding far too many secrets. He always seemed to pull unimaginable tricks out of his hat.
This was nothing like the information she'd been given about him.
"Could this be the power of the Supreme Imperial Bone—the same power that almost destroyed the entire Qianyuan Empire all those years ago?"
...
Slap!
Sun Qian's figure reappeared on the top floor of the Century Hotel.
From start to finish, none of the guards below—Qi Wei and the others—had noticed that the Young Master Sun they were supposed to be protecting had slipped out and come back again.
Now that his strength had grown, the power of the You Can't See Me (Red) talent was becoming more and more terrifying in the real world.
Only Liu Yue—who'd been watching him closely from the room—might have vaguely sensed his brief departure and return.
But when Sun Qian turned to look at her, he couldn't help but blink in surprise.
At some point, the woman had crawled off the carpet and onto his bed—and stolen his spot.
"You little troublemaker."