Assassin Obstacle Course (8)

Meanwhile, Shui faced the six assassins who were trapped with him in the boundary. Even he didn't have enough artifacts to make a new sword formation of comparable strength, so he relied on his perfect relic to fight them. When he first met them, he had considered using the Four Elements Technique, but after seeing their spells he realized that his comprehension of the corna wasn't high enough to give him an advantage. And while his heart flame could still deal devastating damage, there were benefits to relying on his blade.

As an assassin threw a poisoned knife at him, he dodged it with the smallest movements and then blocked the spear that came swinging down. He had no need to struggle under the weight of this spear, but he pretended otherwise. Instead of pushing back, he shifted the position of his blade in order to divert the force of the spear to the ground. His opponent regained control of it before it struck the ground, but it was too late to block Shui's kick. This would be a good chance to follow up and deal additional damage, but Shui didn't bother to entertain the thought since he could sense two other assassins attacking him from both sides.

They were Tower assassins, so their coordination was especially exceptional. While one unleashed a barrage of burning skulls, the other came close to stab him with knives dipped in poison so strong, the scent alone could cause paralysis in an ordinary Earth Realm cultivator.

Against this pincer attack, Shui dealt with the skull spell first. He wouldn't be able to face the other enemy if he simply countered with a spell of it own, so he activated the power of the phantom palace which was his body. As if his body caught on fire, he felt a surge of energy fill his vessel and empower his muscles. It was lackluster compared to the omnipotence that coursed through him when he activated his quasi-divine body, but it was still above what was possible for an early Earth Realm cultivator.

With his phantom palace strengthening the link between his soul and his body, he used the Four Elements Technique to cloak his blade in fire and swung it down to create a wall of flame that blocked the skulls. He then spun it towards the other assassin to blow away the poison. He didn't think the poison would be effective against him, but he was limiting his abilities as much as possible to sharpen his technique. Even without his quasi-divine body, this fight would have quickly shifted to his advantage if he used his heart flame, but through this fight, Shui became more aware that his techniques had been improving at a slower rate since he left the Primordial Library. Most would say that his standards were too high since he was already capable of fighting against Sky Realm experts without relying on his pure strength, but Shui couldn't accept such a compromise because he felt irritated that he wasn't performing as well as he should be able to.

Fortunately, he had left Emily's protection to Alia, so he didn't have to rush to defeat these assassins and was able to feel the results of this struggle already. Right after he blew away the poison, he made his next move without a need to take his usual stance.

"Speed Form, First Stance: Instant."

He thrusted at the assassin in high speed, and although it couldn't pierce his armour, the assassin spat a mouthful of blood. However, before he could make another move, the assassin behind the flame wall jumped above it and shot a giant flaming skull, while the other two Tower assassins threw projectiles. Shui summoned a tornado to hide his figure, and then used the Instant stance on the assassin who shot the skull, after suppressing his presence to the limit.

His blade tasted blood, but the wound was shallow and the assassin escaped further injury by activating the barrier spell. Keeping up a barrier used nature energy no matter how minimal it was, and it also reduced the efficiency of their attacks, so they couldn't afford to do so in a close battle like this, even though it would take more effort for Shui to break them since he was relying on his lower cultivation. However, their swift reactions had allowed them to remain without serious injuries.

At this rate, they would wear him down until he had no choice but to stop holding back, so he had to figure out how to properly cut them, but Shui didn't plan on exerting any more force. That would be against the way of the blade that he envisioned when he fused with Sui.

'I wasn't fast enough. No, I wasn't able to use my speed well enough. I'm just relying on brute force and pushing off the ground. I have to be more flexible.'

As soon as his feet touched the ground once more, the duke's assassins came at him from opposite directions. Their defenses were weaker than the Tower assassins, but burning their blood essence had increased their power and ferocity. One thrusted their spear while the other prepared to swing down their saber.

'I can't settle with reading their next move. I have to read ahead of that and place myself in the best position to counterattack.'

Shui didn't move a step away. He tilted forward and lifted his feet, and as if he was lying down on a bed in midair, he gracefully allowed the sword to swing above him and the spear to strike below him. Then, he twirled and swung Sui up at the assassin with the saber, marking his chest with a bright red, vertical line. He tried to swing down at the other assassin's hand as well, but he retracted his spear in time to block.

'It's not enough.'

He pushed off the spear and glided away. The assassin who he had slashed was already healing, but the most he could do was stop the bleeding since he was in the midst of battle. Shui was ready for another clash, but he leaped away once again as he sensed the Tower assassins attempting to surround him. Two or three was manageable, but he wasn't skilled enough to combat the six of them at once without injury.

After landing on the nearest roof, Shui watched as the six assassins gathered their nature energy and transformed it into advanced spells that rushed at him. These colourful spells that were in the form of giant beasts and weapons, made for a rather pleasant sight, but Shui didn't stare at them for that reason.

He took a step deeper into the Still Heart state and carefully examined them. Though the spells seemed to leave no path of escape, they were still cast by different people so he searched for the hidden gap caused by their individualities. Perceiving this gap was like finding the right route in a giant maze on the first try, but Shui's detection abilities were almost as perverted as his body cultivation so he managed to pull it off.

He pushed his feet off the roof and jumped right into the spells. The assassins watched with bated breaths as he swerved past one fire spell that was in the form of a lion and cut through a giant lightning arrow. He seemed to find and exploit the weak points of their spells as if he had already mastered them, but his fascinating performance ended when he couldn't escape the jaws of a giant tiger spell in time.

After the tiger shut its mouth, the other spell that hadn't missed, crashed into it and caused a loud explosion. The assassins were trained to never believe a death they didn't verify, but they hoped that this would be the end. Unfortunately, a cold wind blew that hope away and with the sharp gleam of a saber, an assassin's arm had been removed from his body.

With control over the wind, Shui was able to move swift and discreetly, despite not having the natural flight ability possessed by those in the Sky Realm. He had failed to cut the neck, but the damage wasn't finished yet. Before the assassin could process his missing arm, a ravenous gust began to eat up the rest of his body starting from the fresh stub.

A nearby comrade managed to slice off the path of the hungry wind in time, but it left the assassin's heart nearly exposed. While they remained in position, Shui lithely jumped out of the encirclement and looked at them coldly.

"Not enough. Again."