Yuan Luoyang

Li Bai continued running faster.

As he ran, he felt a bit of wetness drop on his nose.

"Oh, it's raining."

He brought out an umbrella from his Silverstone ring. But it was no ordinary umbrella... Actually, it was an ordinary umbrella.

.....

Wu Tai was losing his vitality. He had clutched his hand on the other party's dagger, trying to take it out. However, it seemed impossible for his frail current self.

Zhao Mei turned immediately as soon as she heard Wu Tai's groan. With that, her eyes lost all color.

"W- what...?"

There were corpses littered throughout the sand. Her guardian had a dagger stuck in his stomach. A knight was laughing at him.

From there, her body started to leak Dark Energy.

The rain started to pour.

"What an eventful day... It has rained here for the first time in 50 years!"

A man covered in black cloth, with only eyes showing, came out of the ruins behind Zhao Mei. There were about twenty of them as well, similar to their numbers.

Wu Tai didn't have enough strength to pull the dagger out, so he left it there for the moment. He turned his head towards Guo Da, eyes filled with sorrow.

"Brother Guo... why would you do this?" Wu Tai struggled to speak, coughing up blood in the process of doing so.

"Brother Guo? Oh, that pushover. I already killed him while you were having fun in the city," the assassin in the knight's armor answered.

He removed his helmet, and a face riddled with scars was revealed. An eyepatch covered his left eye. As he smiled, he showed his two gold front teeth.

"Although, I have to give him credit... He added to my collection of scars, right here!" The assassin pointed to a barely visible line on his face.

Wu Tai's face scrunched up. No wonder something felt off earlier. Brother Guo was already dead... and this guy's still making fun of his inability to harm him.

"You- agh!" The pain in Wu Tai's stomach started to sting even more than before. His eyes started to close. His body was going to fall over.

"Uncle Wu!" Zhao Mei ran towards Wu Tai with great worry.

"Where do you think you're going?" The other assassin raised his hand and gestured to attack.

Silhouettes came from every direction towards Zhao Mei. Soon, every limb was restrained with a couple of cultivators.

"Let me go!" Zhao Mei struggled to get out of their grasp.

The assassin leader just laughed as he saw the despair on Zhao Mei's face. He then walked towards Wu Tai who was close to collapsing.

Seeing the assassin coming closer to Wu Tai, she started to move with more strength than before.

"I said, let me go!" Zhao Mei started to exude more Dark Energy, which proved to be effective.

All of them were only at the Heavenly Mark Fourth Level, while Zhao Mei was at the Godly Mark First Level. Alas, they came prepared, as they took out jade cuffs from their storage rings.

They rushed her and put the cuffs on her wrists without her noticing until after the fact.

"Wh- what's this?" Zhao Mei didn't notice anything different, but the assassins were smiling as if they've achieved victory.

Zhao Mei ran towards the assassin leader as he walked as slow as possible towards Wu Tai. However, as soon as she tried to move, an invisible force pulled her back.

Zhao Mei's jade cuffs were like magnets, attracted to a large sandstone wall. Her body was suddenly sent flying until her back hit the wall. "Ack-!"

She spit blood.

The assassin leader stopped walking as he watched the show of despair from Zhao Mei.

Zhao Mei tried to move her limbs, but her wrists were restrained. The jade cuffs just wouldn't move!

"You despicable bastards!" Zhao Mei cursed at them, but they showed no reaction.

"Little bro, you can come out now. I'll take care of this guardian of hers," the assassin leader spoke, "and you, come here!"

The assassin leader called out the assassin with scars on his face.

"Yes, boss?" He seemed eager to accept new orders.

"Stand on your four limbs. Act like a dog, and fetch this!" The assassin leader suddenly threw out something.

"Yes, boss! Arf, arf." The scar faced assassin went down on his four limbs and ran like a dog towards what the assassin leader threw.

A youth in his twenties came out from behind the sandstone wall. He also had the same uniform as the assassins, but his face was full of innocence.

"What? Really? Where is it?," the little brother asked.

"Right there, on that other wall," the assassin leader responded, his finger pointing towards Zhao Mei.

The little brother turned his head in an instant, and saw the exasperated and exhausted face of Zhao Mei. His eyes sparkled with color.

The girl restrained on the wall... she was simply too beautiful. Her hair directly complemented her face, as her clothes did with her body.

The little brother walked over to Zhao Mei with an innocent smile on his face.

"Excuse me, Miss Zhao Mei?" The little brother asked for her attention.

Zhao Mei was surprised by the guy's greeting. He was a year older than her, yet he knew how to be polite! Perhaps he is still untainted.

Suddenly, a crashing sound could be heard. Zhao Mei and the assassin leader's little brother both turned their heads to look.

Wu Tai had collapsed on the sand. He was still conscious, however, he could not exert that much strength anymore.

As he saw the face of the one approaching him, the one who threw something for the scar faced assassin to fetch, he recognized the vile villain.

"Yuan Luoyang..."

"Ooh! I'm flattered that you actually know me. I am pretty famous nowadays."

.....

Li Bai felt a bit of energy fluctuation as he ran.

"It's coming from... the eye of the storm?"

He headed towards the energy fluctuation.