Chapter 286: Chapter 261 Battle with True Body Assassin_1
"So, does that mean Chu Tianming would find it difficult to leave after entering?"
Zhuo Kunsheng asked.
Lord Xueshen and the Master of Greedy Wolf Hall both stayed silent.
They dared not to make a definitive statement, as figures like King Ming often created miracles.
"Perhaps King Ming only penetrated the edge and did not go in deep, using this to shake off our pursuit."
A Supreme Elder from Tianque Sect suggested.
The others nodded, also coming to this conclusion.
However, they dared not risk entering.
They already had the upper hand and there was no need to gamble with their own lives.
At this time, the Sect Master of Shengxuan Sect, together with few experts, hurried over.
"Brother Huang, King Ming has entered Moling Mountain. I plan to guard this place myself to prevent his escape. Without King Ming, his mansion will surely be in chaos. It is the best opportunity for your Shengxuan Sect to act and take control of all of Xuan Zhou. In an advantageous position against my Tianque Sect, we can slowly devour the remaining territories of King Ming’s Mansion."
Zhuo Kunsheng said.
"That’s very good. I’ll go back to prepare."
The Sect Master of Shengxuan Sect fist saluted and left quickly with his group.
"Master Zhuo, I must also go back and prepare to discreetly support the Shengxuan Sect."
The Xueshen Hall Master also saluted in response and left with the Master of Greedy Wolf Hall.
Zhuo Kunsheng, together with two Supreme Elders of Tianque Sect, guarded outside Moling Mountain for seven days. There was no sign of King Ming. After instructing the two elders, they also departed.
...
Inside the great hall of Shengxuan Sect.
The Sect Master of Shengxuan Sect, Huang Xuan, convened a meeting with the high-level members of the sect to discuss the strategy on attacking King Ming’s Mansion and unifying Xuan Zhou.
The most significant power in Xuan Zhou was undoubtedly the ten third-level Blood Land Veins.
Among them, six belonged to King Ming’s Mansion.
After vanquishing the Yan Clan, King Ming’s Mansion directly owned four of the third-level Blood Land Veins.
The other two belonged to two different Honorable Feudal Lords each.
The Xuanhuo City of Yan Clan was the closest to the Shengxuan Sect, followed by the two Honorable Feudal Lords, and next were the three Blood Land Veins owned directly by King Ming’s Mansion.
After some discussions, Shengxuan Sect decided not to touch the two Honorable Feudal Lords for the time being.
If they were to attack them directly, these two feudal lords would surely fight till death.
Their strategy was to gather strength, bypass the two Feudal Lords, and attack the two Blood Land Veins owned by King Ming’s Mansion and Xuanhuo City.
Once they captured these three Blood Land Veins, it would form a siege around the two Honorable Feudal Lords, which would naturally force them to surrender without a fight
Of course, before the main force launched an attack, they planned to send assassins from Dark Moon to infiltrate the three cities and assassinate the masters garrisoned there.
As long as the masters were eliminated, the remaining troops would be leaderless. As soon as the main force arrived, they would easily take over and minimize casualties.
...
Xuanhuo City.
During this time, Lu Yan had been following Chu Feng and others, rectifying Xuanhuo City.
Now, the hidden dangers in Xuanhuo City had been mostly eliminated. Two thousand troops of King Ming’s army were garrisoned there, including a commander who had arrived recently, a strong man in the Primordial Spirit Realm.
Xuanhuo City was now firmly occupied by King Ming’s Mansion and thoroughly assimilated.
The change of regime had no impact on the common people or ordinary martial cultivators. Life went on as usual and soon, Xuanhuo City returned to its past prosperity.
At night.
"Master Zhang, Master Chu Feng has requested your presence."
Two soldiers dressed as King Ming’s army came to see Lu Yan.
Lu Yan glanced at the two men and found them a bit unfamiliar.
However, he didn’t take it to heart. Given the 20,000 King Ming’s soldiers stationed in Xuanhuo City, it was normal for him not to know everyone.
"Alright, let’s go."
Lu Yan stepped forward, with the two soldiers following closely behind.
However, at this moment, Lu Yan felt an intense sense of danger, feeling a chill at the back of his head.
Lu Yan, accustomed to life and death battles, felt something was amiss, and without any hesitation, he deployed his Divine Jiao Gold Body, Hundred Beast Battle Body, and Tian Gang Red Dragon Body, his body covered in scales immediately.
Ting Ting Ting...
Dong Dong!
A large handful of fine, hair-thin poison needles, along with two slender longswords, were thrust towards his back and head, but they were blocked by the scales. The poison needles bounced off, and the two swords were deflected without leaving a mark.
The two ’soldiers’ of King Ming’s army looked horrified and turned to run.
"Seeking death."
A fierce light flashed in Lu Yan’s eyes. He turned around and lunged forward, stirring a fierce gust of wind.
The two ’soldiers’ knew they couldn’t escape and put in their full strength to turn around and stab two swords into Lu Yan’s palms.
Bang, bang!
The two divine weapons broke instantly. Lu Yan’s palms, like routing rotten wood, smashed into the two ’soldiers’.
The two soldiers were thrown violently, coughing up blood. The front of their bodies had caved in.
They were not dead yet. Lu Yan had intentionally left them barely alive.
"Speak. Who sent you here? What was your purpose in trying to assassinate me?"
Lu Yan stepped forward and asked coldly.
"You can’t get a word from us."
One of the assassins uttered a low yell, black blood oozing from his mouth, his head drooping to the side as he died.
The other assassin followed suit.
"Even if you don’t speak, it’s not hard to tell from your methods that you are assassins from Dark Moon."
Lu Yan’s face went dark.
After the battle with the Yan Clan, he had learned from Chu Feng that Dark Moon was an assassin group secretly nurtured by Shengxuan Sect.
Shengxuan Sect had sent Dark Moon assassins to kill him. Had they already discovered his true identity?
Or perhaps, the Shengxuan Sect is not just targeting him alone?
At this thought, Lu Yan’s face changed.
"Yinuo."
Lu Yan quickly rushed to Yinuo’s room, only to see her wielding a small knife, slashing at a maid’s throat.
"A fifth-level master disguised as a maid to assassinate me, but she doesn’t realize how clumsy her disguise technique is."
Shen Yinuo curled her lip.
Boom!
At that moment, a loud explosion resonated from the center of Xuanhuo City.
Two figures soared into the sky, locked in fierce combat.
Lu Yan saw that one of these people was that division commander of King Ming’s army.
His body was covered in blood, evidently injured.
The person he was fighting was an old man, thin and sinister faced.
"Lixiuyu, your Shengxuan Sect is really bold!"
The commander of King Ming’s army roared in anger.
But the other party remained silent, attacking relentlessly.
The Shengxuan Sect had prepared, and the masters they dispatched were extremely powerful, easily suppressing King Ming’s commander. Since the commander was already injured, he was even more unable to fight back. After a dozen moves, he was struck by a palm and forced to retreat ten miles.
"They dare to assassinate the commander of King Ming’s army. Is the Shengxuan Sect preparing for a complete rebellion?"
Lu Yan’s face turned solemn.
He had a nagging feeling that something big was about to happen.
"Yinuo, let’s get out of here."
Lu Yan said.
The two of them leaped out of the house and began to rush towards the city outskirts.
But they hadn’t gotten very far before Lu Yan and Shen Yinuo both felt a sudden change in their faces. They sensed a crisis.
However, when they looked around, they didn’t see anyone.
Yet that feeling of danger persisted without the slightest hint of fading.
"There’s a terrifying assassin hiding in the shadows tracking us. It’s very likely that he’s from the True Body Realm."
Shen Yinuo said in a low voice.
"He didn’t immediately attack but preferred to lie in wait. This indicates his power is also limited. Even if he’s of the True Body Realm, he must be the most ordinary of his kind. We need to get out of the city first. Once outside, we can lose him by moving at full speed."
Lu Yan murmured.
The two of them nodded to each other and sped towards the city outskirts without hesitation.
Of course, they kept their senses on high alert for any signs of danger.
However, the hidden assailant never made a move, but the sense of danger lingered without easing.
Clearly, the enemy was still tailing them from the dark.
Soon, they were near the city wall.
Just then, Lu Yan’s sense of danger heightened.
Swoosh!
An arrow fired from an unseen corner, aiming straight for Lu Yan’s forehead.
The arrow was pitch black and nearly invisible against the dark night sky. Combined with its incredible speed, it seemed bound to kill its target.
However, as a master archer himself, Lu Yan was usually keen toward the sound of arrows. With his high alertness, he reacted instantly. Tensing his muscles all over, he drew his war knife and swung towards the side.
With a clang, the arrow was deflected.
Immediately after, a group of thin poisoned needles fired in their direction, followed closely by a slender longsword.
The sword stabbed towards Yinuo’s throat. Fast, precise, ruthless, and vicious.
Lu Yan stepped forward and unleashed a barrage of blade screens, blocking all the poisoned needles.
And Yinuo, somehow a pitch-black wok appeared in her hand. She used it as a shield, protecting herself against the attacking sword.
"Destruction!"
Lu Yan could not afford to be careless, and he exerted all his strength.
When he blocked the arrow, it became clear that the enemy was a real power of the True Body Realm.
Facing such a fearsome enemy and a terrifying assassin, Lu Yan dared not hold back his strength. As he stacked three types of Body Refining Martial Arts, he launched the most powerful Jiu Jie Knife attack towards the enemy’s head.
The assailant retreated quickly after his sword was blocked by Yinuo, raising his sword to meet Lu Yan’s war knife.
Lu Yan immediately felt a horrifying force rushing down his knife, threatening to shatter his inner strength.
It was true vigor.
Fortunately, he managed to withstand the opponent’s true vigor with his twenty-eight rounds of inner strength and solid Body Refining Martial Arts. His figure only slightly swayed.
"I can stand a direct confrontation as an inferior True Body, at first refinement."
Lu Yan was encouraged by the thought, and his confidence grew.
When he was at the fourth-level master and hadn’t cultivated the Tian Gang Red Dragon Body, he was injured and forced to retreat after a face-to-face confrontation with an ordinary True Body Realm cultivator from the Tianque Sect.
But now, he’s not afraid to face such a powerful enemy.
Bolstered by his courage, Lu Yan unleashed waves of attacks, constantly swinging his knife and executing killing moves, targeting the enemy’s weaknesses.
Meanwhile, Shen Yinuo was keeping a flying knife in one hand, circling behind the enemy, looking for opportunities to attack.
She was carefully keeping her other hand behind her back, her palm turning blood red. As time passed, the color grew deeper and deeper.
"What’s wrong? These two have a horrific combat power, despite being only at the Master level. Are they prodigies secretly raised by King Ming?"
The assassin’s mind turned quickly, already considering his retreat.
Assassins are not suited for head-on confrontations. They focus on striking from the shadows and retreating quickly if their attack misses, in order to find another opportunity.
Once they engage in face-to-face battles, they lose their biggest advantage.
At this moment, Yinuo took action.
She swung her hand and threw out her flying knife, aiming at the assassin’s heart.
Almost simultaneously, she dashed out. Her blood-red hand, like a bloody edged weapon, stabbed towards the assassin.
