Chapter 36: The Spook in Feiyun
Lian Rufeng instantly became black in the face. He subconsciously flung himself on one side.
Bang!
A pitch-black arrow hurtled through the air. One of the guardians blocked it with his blade, but it exploded the moment it met the blade.
The guardian screamed in great pain, and then his body blasted and fell apart.
Lian Rufeng and the rest guardians were stunned once again. They found that the arrow was not only fast, but it also possessed incredibly explosive power. There was no way they could warn it off with their hands or weapons.
“The enemy is there!”
One of the guardians yelled, pointing to somewhere deep in the village.
Lian Rufeng saw a figure flashing by one of the roofs in the village at once. The vague figure looked familiar.
Lin Xun?
Lian Rufeng narrowed his eyes. Could it really be the 13-year old boy?
“Charge!”
With no time to think it through, Lian Rufeng shouted, and dashed into the village.
The fighting situation in the village was complicated. It had a lot of hiding places, making it hard for the archer to aim the target.
All of the guardians had rich experience in fighting. They knew if they stayed outside of the village, they would have no place to hide and the archer would shoot them as living targets, so they all ran into the village behind Lian Rufeng.
Wu Henshui was livid when he saw all of these. He had never expected such a small village would have such a good archer.
“Elder Wu, the arrow was too powerful to be an ordinary weapon. If I guess right, it must have been inscribed with ‘Explosive-flame Spiritual Tattoo’!”
A middle-aged man said in surprise.
His name was Han Junshan, a capable subordinate brought here by Wu Henshui. He had reached the forth level of the Martial Realm, and more importantly he used to be an apprentice of Spiritual Tattoo.
He had lost the hope to become a Spiritual Tattooist long time ago due to inadequate talent, but he still had an eye for Spiritual Tattoos.
Explosive-flame Spiritual Tattoo?
Wu Henshui’s heart jolted, “You mean there is a Spiritual Tattooist in the village?”
Han Junshan shook his head, “I don’t think so. Explosive-flame Tattoo is one of the basic Spiritual Tattoos. Even I have certain confidence in it, except……”
“Except what?” Wu Henshui asked.
“The requirement of the Spiritual Ink is harsh, let alone it is inscribed on an arrow. Such an arrow could be sold for 30 copper coins in Donglin. It is hard to imagine such a poor village could have such valuable weapons.”
Han Junshan frowned. This was what puzzled him.
Wu Henshui’s eyes twitched, “So you mean there’s a master in the village?”
Soon he shook his head and denied, “That’s not right. If there’s a master, why did he hide and ambush us at the entrance of the village? In my judgement, the enemy should not be very strong, so he had to do so.”
Han Junshan nodded, “I think so too. The shoots before have consumed much energy of the enemy. If they can seize the opportunity, they will surely take him down.”
Wu Henshui felt tempted, “Thus, we may find out where the arrows come from, and even make a good fortune out of it.”
Han Junshan smiled, playing along, “So it dose. Who would have thought there are not only dozens of acres of fine Spiritual Lands but also an abandoned mine tunnel full of blood marrow grit as well as explosive-flame arrow in such a small and poor village?”
Wu Henshui took a deep breath, and said coldly, “After Lian Rufeng takes care of the enemy, all of these will be ours!”
Han Junshan asked, “Elder Wu, shall we support them?”
Wu Henshui sneered and replied slowly, looking at the village in the distance, “We don’t need to get our hands dirty. Leave it to the bumpkins.”
……
Feiyun village was not big, but the alleys and the houses were both in disorder due to lacking of overall planning, making it like a big cobweb.
If someone determined to hide in it, it was not easy to be found. Because people with cultivation below the Gang Spiritual Realm didn’t have strong mind power to lock the trace of a hidden man, so they could only use their eyes and ears in searching.
Lin Xun was not worried about this.
He had been certain the opponents’ cultivation were within the Martial Realm, so he had asked Shiao Tianren to transfer all the residents out of the village in advance. In doing so, he could take advantage of the intricate terrain to kill Lian Rufeng and the guardians and not fear to be threatened.
Right now, he was hiding in a house, gasping and gulping from a water bag.
It was filled with “spiritual syrup”, which could help him regain his spiritual energy in a short time. The three shots he fired had consumed more than half of his spiritual energy.
If he had not risen to the third level of the Martial Realm and refined the spiritual energy to perfect through the spiritual vortex, he could never shot three explosive-flame arrows in succession.
During the time waiting for his spiritual energy to recover, Lin Xun became calm again. However, inside his heart, he felt unfortunate that he had not killed Lian Rufeng.
He had planned to kill Lian Rufeng by surprise but had failed.
At the thought of this, the old man with a goatee beard came into his mind. He had never seen Wu Henshui before, but instincts told him the old man was much more dangerous than Lian Rufeng.
“Why does Lian Rufeng bring him back to Feiyun? What on earth do they want?”
Lin Xun frowned. He knew things were getting tricky. His plan had only been made to deal with Lian Rufeng and the guardians. An extra dangerous man he did not know virtually added to his stress.
Soon his spiritual energy recovered as before, making him refreshed and get rid of the bad thoughts.
He put down the bone bow, held the Sky Breacher in his hand, took a deep breath, and went out of the door like a graceful cat.
The fight had begun, and one of them had to die at the end. He had no time to waste.
The village was no longer quiet. Footsteps and shouts were heard from time to time, indicating Lian Rufeng and the guardians were searching for Lin Xun.
“Three were down, twelve to go. The old man with a goatee beard was the most dangerous, and Lian Rufeng shall not be underestimated too……”
Lin Xun quickly calculated as he carefully sneaked in the alleys.
When he was about to make a turn at one of the corners, he suddenly stopped and a cold light flashed across his eyes. He did not hear any noise, but he sensed danger was approaching.
He held his breath and got close to the wall, waiting.
A figure emerged to his sight silently. The guardian had a knife in one hand and a shield in another, alert and on guard.
At the same time, he saw Lin Xun. The distance between them was one meter.
Without hesitation, a green light flashed. Lin Xun slashed at the guardian with Sky Breacher, like a mountain dashing to him.
The guardian reacted fast. He shouted in anger, held the shield to block Lin Xun’s knife and thrusted the long blade in his right hand towards Lin Xun at the same time.
Bang!
Unfortunately he underestimated Lin Xun’s capability. The shield cracked into pieces at once and he was knocked into the air and hit hard the wall on the other side of the alley. His head then titled to one side, and he never got up again.
Lin Xun leaped forward and cut the guardian’s throat open with no delay. Blood burst out everywhere.
Then he bent over and dashed off. He was like a cheetah with only his tiptoes tapping on the ground, disappearing from the alley again.
That guardian, with his cultivation reaching the second level of the Martial Realm, had no threat for Lin Xun any longer, so Lin Xun’s winning was of no suspense.
A guardian had heard the noise and came to the site, but only to find a dead body on the ground with no trace of Lin Xun. He gave out a roar of rage.
Soon, Lin Xun killed another guardian at a corner on the other side of the village. This time, he rushed from the roof and cut the top of the guardian’s skull with one slash. The guardian fell on to the ground without a sound.
After that, Lin Xun disappeared like a ghost.
He had been prepared for this, so he had walked through every corner of the village a few days ago and memorized every hiding place in his brain. He just needed to wait in the dark and got ready.
His opponents, on the other hand, were unprepared and were taken by surprise.
Over time, Lian Rufeng and the guardians looked awful. An unspeakable rage and scare filled with their hearts.
First they were greeted with arrows at the entrance of the village, and then they were forced to take part in an alley fight in the village. They were smart enough to know their enemy was well prepared and waiting for them to come.
In a quarter of an hour, a guardian came to Lian Rufeng with fear and said in a low voice, “Captain Lian, the villagers are all gone. We have nothing to threat the enemy. Clearly it’s a trap.”
“Bullshit. Of course I know it.”
Now there were only six people standing around Lian Rufeng. When he realized something was wrong, he had tried to get the guardians together.
However, within only a quarter of one hour, five more guardians had been killed. Only seven of them stayed alive, including him.
“Lin Xun!”
He clenched his teeth out of hatred. Until now, he was sure they had only one enemy this time, a 13-year old boy.
But……
He couldn’t understand how a young boy he despised could turn to a cunning, ruthless and powerful killer in just a few months.
There was no doubt Lu Ting and Qian Qi had already been killed by him!
“Where did Shiao Tianren find such a tough little boy?”
Lian Rufeng desperately wanted answers.
Om!
All of a sudden, the familiar shrill sound rang from a place afar. That was the sound of a fast arrow tearing up the air.
But in the ears of Lian Rufeng, it was the Death asking for his life. He roared with his face turned paler, “Fuck, there you go again!”