Game Ends

Time trickled by.

Lam Minh remained motionless in his rock alcove, as patient as a stone. His breathing was nearly non-existent, his heartbeat slowed to a minimum. He had completely merged with his surroundings. To the spiritual sense of others, this place was just an empty rock alcove.

He wasn't impatient. A good hunter knows that patience is the sharpest weapon.

Around midnight, as a thick fog began to settle in the valley, his first alarm system was triggered.

Clink...

A very small, almost inaudible sound came from a string of wooden beads several hundred meters away.

"They're here," he murmured in his mind, but his body remained completely still.

Five black shadows were moving with extreme caution through the fog. They were the "Night Shadow" squad sent to hunt him down. Leading them was one nicknamed "Blood Fang," one of the most experienced assassins in the unit.

"Stop," Blood Fang suddenly signaled. "Something's not right."

The squad halted, looking around warily.

"What is it, Captain?" one of them asked.

"The air," Blood Fang said, sniffing. "There's a very strange scent in the air. It's making my spiritual energy flow a bit sluggish."

They had entered the area where Lam Minh had applied the poison to the trees. The poison was very diluted, not enough to cause immediate harm, but it was silently seeping into their bodies.

"It's probably just the miasma of this forest," another one said. "We've followed the trail this far. The target must be nearby."

Blood Fang still felt uneasy. He was an assassin; his intuition was very sharp. He had a feeling that he was being watched by something invisible.

"Everyone, spread out. Maintain distance. Scan every meter carefully. Signal immediately if you find anything," he ordered.

The five assassins spread out, forming a fan-shaped formation, and slowly advanced deeper into the valley.

They moved with extreme professionalism. Every footstep was light, every gaze was sharp. They checked every bush, every boulder.

One of them, while crossing a patch of grass, suddenly felt his foot sink.

Rustle!

He had stepped into one of the shallow pit traps Lam Minh had dug.

He was startled and instinctively jumped back. He checked; there were no spikes, no dangerous traps. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Just a natural hole," he thought to himself.

But he didn't know that a layer of itching powder from the leaves at the bottom of the pit had stuck to his trousers. A short while later, he would feel an unbearable itch, causing his concentration to lapse.

Lam Minh's small traps were beginning to take effect. They didn't cause damage, but they slowly wore down the assassins' vigilance, concentration, and even their stamina.

Blood Fang felt more and more uneasy. He signaled for the squad to stop. "Retreat! It's a trap! The target isn't injured as we thought. He's luring us into an inescapable net!"

Blood Fang's decision was absolutely correct. But it was too late.

The moment he finished speaking, from the high cliff, a figure suddenly shot down.

It was Lam Minh.

He didn't choose to attack Blood Fang, the strongest and most vigilant one. He chose as his target the assassin standing on the outermost edge of the formation, the one who had been hit with the itching powder and was stealthily scratching his leg.

His appearance was too sudden, like a falcon hunting its prey, descending from the heavens.

The assassin only had time to look up and see a flash of azure sword light before his eyes.

SWOOSH!

A head flew into the air.

[Eliminated a Peak Foundation Establishment Madakaros. Received 7,800 Immortality Points.]

"AMBUSH!" Blood Fang roared. "FORMATION!"

The remaining four were not panicked. They reacted instantly, forming a square formation, back-to-back, weapons pointed in four directions. It was a standard but extremely effective defensive formation.

They knew the target had appeared. But they couldn't see him anywhere.

After delivering the killing blow, Lam Minh had immediately vanished into the fog and the darkness of the jungle.

He had no intention of confronting the remaining four head-on. He would continue his game of cat and mouse.

"Where is he?"

"Be careful! His stealth ability is extremely high!"

The four "Night Shadows" were extremely tense. They didn't dare to move, only able to stand their ground and use their spiritual sense to scan their surroundings. But in this forest filled with miasma and fog, their spiritual sense was greatly limited.

They were like four prey trapped in a cage, and Lam Minh was a hungry leopard, patiently stalking outside, waiting for an opportunity.

The air became suffocating. The silence was more terrifying than any roar.

A moment later, a small stone flew from nowhere and hit a bush in the distance.

Rustle!

The assassin facing that direction was startled and instinctively swung his dagger towards the sound.

That was a mistake.

The moment he exposed an opening at his back, Lam Minh appeared again like a ghost.

The Thuan Thien sword thrust out gently, precisely, through his heart.

STAB!

The second one fell.

[Eliminated a Peak Foundation Establishment Madakaros. Received 7,500 Immortality Points.]

"DAMMIT!" Blood Fang roared. "Don't get distracted! He's playing with us!"

Only three remained. Fear began to creep into their minds. The hunters had now become the cruelly hunted prey.

They no longer dared to stand still. They huddled together, back-to-back, moving cautiously while trying to escape this valley of death.

But would Lam Minh let them leave so easily?

The game was still on.

...

The three remaining "Night Shadows" huddled together, back-to-back, forming a defensive triangle with no blind spots. They no longer dared to advance or scout, only moving slowly, trying to retreat out of the valley of death.

Fear had completely replaced their arrogance. The invisible, ghost-like enemy was turning them from hunters into panicked prey.

Blood Fang, the captain, gritted his teeth. "Keep moving! Don't stop! He's alone, he can't attack all three of us at once!"

He was right. If Lam Minh attacked such a solid defensive formation head-on, he would be immediately attacked by the other two. It was not a wise choice.

But who said Lam Minh would attack head-on?

He remained hidden in the darkness, as patient as a stalking leopard. He observed their movements, analyzed their formation, searching for an opening, no matter how small.

Time passed in suffocating silence. The sound of the three assassins' footsteps echoed rhythmically, mingling with the wind whistling through the rocks.

And then, the opening appeared.

As they were passing over a rough patch of ground, one of them misstepped. For just a moment, he lost his balance, and a small gap appeared in their triangular formation.

To a normal person, that gap was insignificant. But for Lam Minh, it was a golden opportunity.

VROOOM!

A sound of tearing wind was heard.

It wasn't Lam Minh who appeared. It was his Thuan Thien sword.

He had thrown it like a flying dagger. The sword spun at a terrifying speed, enhanced by the spiritual energy of a Peak Foundation Establishment cultivator, and shot straight into the gap in their formation.

The three assassins were startled and reflexively raised their weapons to block.

CLANG!

The Thuan Thien sword collided with their weapons, creating a shower of sparks and a loud noise. The purpose of this throw was not to kill, but to distract.

And it succeeded.

The full attention of all three assassins was drawn to the sword.

At that exact moment, Lam Minh, now unarmed, finally made his real appearance. He burst out from a thicket, not with a sword, but with his fist.

Primeval Dragon God Art – Dragon Fist!

He aimed for the nearest assassin. His fist, enveloped in a thick layer of Dragon qi, slammed straight into the back of his neck.

BOP!

A dull thud echoed. The assassin's cervical spine snapped. He didn't even have time to realize how he had died.

[Eliminated a Peak Foundation Establishment Madakaros. Received 7,600 Immortality Points.]

"He's here!" Blood Fang and the other one roared, turning to attack.

Lam Minh didn't retreat an inch. He snatched the Thuan Thien sword that had just fallen to the ground. With the sword in one hand and his other fist clenched, he faced the last two assassins head-on.

A true hand-to-hand battle erupted.

But now, the scales were completely tipped in Lam Minh's favor. The two "Night Shadows," despite being top assassins, were no match for a "tank" like Lam Minh in a direct confrontation.

His sword blocked Blood Fang's attack. At the same time, his fist smashed straight into the face of the other one.

This one was sent flying backward by the devastating blow, his face deformed. Lam Minh gave him no chance, lunging forward and finishing him with a single sword strike.

[Eliminated a Peak Foundation Establishment Madakaros. Received 7,900 Immortality Points.]

Only Blood Fang remained.

The captain looked at Lam Minh, his eyes no longer filled with fear, but with the madness of a cornered beast. He knew he couldn't escape.

"WHO ARE YOU?" he roared.

"Just a passerby," Lam Minh shrugged, slowly approaching.

"I'LL DRAG YOU TO HELL WITH ME!"

Blood Fang roared, his body beginning to swell, the spiritual energy within him turning chaotic. He was going to self-destruct, to use his own death to take his enemy with him.

"Oh? Wanna play rough?" Lam Minh sneered. "Sorry, I'm not interested in dying with you."

He gave him no chance. Before he could fully self-destruct, Lam Minh's speed exploded.

A streak of green light flashed.

Blood Fang's head was severed from his neck.

His headless body continued to swell for a moment, then let out a "hiss" and deflated like a punctured balloon.

"If I let you self-destruct, who's going to reimburse me for the points?" Lam Minh flicked his sword lightly, looking at the five corpses lying on the ground.

The hunting game was over.

He didn't leave in a hurry. He used the "Dragon Soul Devour" skill again on Blood Fang's corpse, the strongest one, to gather more information.

New fragments of memory appeared. He saw more clearly their plan to find the "Dragon Veins." They had zoned in on a few suspected areas, and one of them was this very Hoang Lien Son mountain range.

"Interesting," he murmured. "Looks like my trip has a new objective."

He also saw some information about Black Shadow, the Golden Core commander. This one was extremely suspicious and ruthless. After losing contact with an entire squad, he would certainly not sit still.

Lam Minh knew the real enemy was about to appear.

He looked towards the north, where the ancient temple was located. The smile on his lips widened.

"An Early Golden Core... I wonder how many points that's worth?"

His hunt was not over yet. It had just entered a new, more exciting phase.