The Surrounding Peril

The indistinct shout through one assassin’s veil could be heard, which said, "How did he know we were coming?!?

"I didn’t know that the toxic smoke we had used didn't work. How is this possible?” The muffled voice became more and more anxious. Although all the assassins had been instructed explicitly by their employer who also joined them on this mission, these five experienced killers still couldn't understand why a youthful boy with such an innocent look and a very low cultivation level—the second level of the basic Qi—was able to resist their poisonous smoke. For the face-to-face fight, they might not be equivalent to a cultivator belonging to a large martial school, but assassination is a different matter. The use of poison, enervation, camouflage, and assassination were very specialized sciences and difficult for a cultivator with the mediocre level of cultivation to fend off. However, it seemed that this boy with the cultivation level lower than theirs was not affected by the poison they had used at all.

Yet, the use of poison was just a preliminary tactic because the core of assassination was the quick attack without allowing the target to prepare, or by the time he was aware of the assassination, he was already assaulted and cut off most of his strength. Thus, the assassins’ ability to camouflage and assassinate were unmatched by those cultivators of a great martial school. But this time, they hadn’t even started the actual assault—just sending two assassins to check if the poison had been effective—but the flames were thrown onto the wall that the two killers were spying on until they could not withstand the heat, thus having to reveal themselves.

Despite being consumed with panic, as a professional assassin, the five men in camouflage quickly regained consciousness. When the dark night could no longer conceal them, the remaining three did not have to hide in the dark anymore. After all, this victim only had the second level of the basic Qi. Despite being strongly warned that this young man was extremely dangerous, their subconscious mind still could not accept it. They only had to try and see for themselves.

The wall behind Xueming collapsed, making the light soar up high and outshine the moonlight until the latter became gloomy. Without the supporting walls on both sides, the ceiling was hanging low before falling down. The collapsing force did not affect the cultivator's tough body, just blocking the view.

Xueming did not expect that he would be surrounded by enemies so quickly. When the front was under attack, and the right side was blocked. On the other two sides, the fierce fire blew violently. As the ceiling collapsed Xueming suddenly flashed an escape idea. His two legs immediately jumped, thus sending the body to soar high with a double fist rushing through the ceiling toward the roof frame—aiming to use this path for fleeing.

However, he did not know that there were more than two groups of villains. A whistling wind dashed through the air as the meteor pendulum suddenly appeared close to his face. With a higher sense of response, Xueming suddenly twisted his body and tilted his neck to evade but failed to avoid the sharp thorn of the pendulum that moved past his left shoulder. A stream of blood splattered, a purple-black vapor floated up from the wound. But after a little while, it was burned by the hot Qi in his body and destroyed all the toxic poison.

The assassins clearly saw that the meteor pendulum’s sharp thorn coated with deadly poison cut the victim's flesh, so they took a chance to follow him closely and aggravate his condition. They forcefully kicked the ceiling beam, aiming to cause further harm to Xueming, who was falling to the ground. But because the training room’s structure was burned by the fire to the point of being rickety and unable to resist the kicking force, the whole building collapsed.

The other assassins waiting on the ground were showered by the fire sparks from the broken wood of the collapsed training room. They had to exert force to fend off and evade the sparks in a disorderly manner, thus missing the opportunity to attack Xueming at the last second.

Even Xueming was attacked, he only had external wounds. When the meteor pendulum began rushing toward Xueming for further harm, he then used his fist to resist it. With Xueming's great physical strength, just a bare punch already weighed over 5,000 Jin. Moreover, with the body as strong as steel from the Divine Body Cultivation Technique, in time of need, he struck a punch with extreme force against the iron pendulum, causing it to fly back without much difficulty. Although the reactive impact sent Xueming to fall hard onto the ground, it did not inflict more wounds on him.

In contrast, the assassin who used a meteor weapon as his weapon was pulled by the impact of the pendulum swinging backwards. The jerking force caused the crotch of the hand to be torn, unable to hold a deadly weapon in his hand any longer and having to let the meteor pendulum fall afar. His eyes were still frightenedly fixed on Xueming who had fallen.

This kid is a real menace!!!

He shouted it to the other assassins with panic.

As soon as his back hit the ground, Xueming suddenly rolled forward to attack the nearby assassin because he noticed that the killer was ignoring him to fend off the flames. Xueming was still in a condition where one knee was on the ground. Yet, when seeing the chance from the careless enemy, and in this life-and-death situation, if he made a slip he could die. Therefore, Xueming did not want to hide his skills anymore. His right fist—now bathed in hot flames—immediately charged towards the nearby assassin's flank.

CRACK…!!!

The sound of shattered ribs resonated. Though the face under the black veil was invisible, from the howls that seeped out, one could imagine how painful it was.

Although Xueming’s attack was powerful, the opponent was not a weak amateur or an ordinary cultivator. Instead, he was a cultivator with the fourth level of the basic Qi. When he was assaulted, his hands were not frantic. He quickly moved his short elbow to hit Xueming’s arm that was used to throw the punch.

"Bla… Blargh." Fresh blood was spilled out, staining the veil. "This bastard’s attack was stronger than my fist.” The sound that came out this time was not muffled as before, because after spitting out blood, the assassin tore off the veil and threw it into the blazing fire to destroy his trace, before gasping heavily to relieve the pain and stiffness that occurred.

Although Xueming’s attack was effective, the situation was still dire. The punch was thrown with full strength, with the attack power of at least 8,000 Jin, yet it could not kill the opponent. Plus, he was counterattacked until his right arm got hurt, causing him to pull the fist back and unable to attack the opponent continuously.

Although the burning flames were strong, when the training room fell apart, the incendiary materials connected to each other decreased. The flames simply burned the nearby remains of the training room but did not spread.

Xueming, who already stood up had his back leaning against the fire that was rising up above his head. Even though he felt some heat, it was considered tolerable, unlike the danger in front of him. After the five assassins realized Xueming's true ability, they could no longer afford to be careless. They spread out into a fan-shaped formation and moved their feet to approach Xueming at the same time with bodies full of murderous rays.