Chapter 59: Shadow Strangling
The heavy air within the partitioned stall grew suffocatingly dense as the final remnants of the Crimson Marrow Wine settled into their veins.
The time for celebrating as fictional merchants had officially expired.
Without a single word, the three disciples moved in perfect synchronization, their relaxed demeanor instantly vanishing, replaced by the cold, lethal precision of First Court assassins.
First, they stripped away the coarse, stained wool merchant robes that had served as their cover for the last three days.
Beneath the outer garments, they wore tight, form fitting black combat fatigues designed to minimize friction and absorb sound.
Next, they reached into their tactical packs, pulling out a specialized chemical solvent.
Evan poured a few drops onto a clean cloth and began wiping his face, systematically dissolving the sticky, dried layers of the disguise paste.
Peaker and Ghost did the same.
As the artificial wrinkles, faux blemishes, and grey ash washed away into the damp straw below, their true identities resurfaced.
Returning to their original looks, they stood as they truly were, young, sharp eyed, and dangerously vital cultivators, their unblemished skin reflecting the faint, dying embers of the room.
Evan checked the cylinder of his silent revolver, ensuring the heavy output Qi rounds were perfectly aligned, while Ghost checked the tension on his mechanical crossbow.
They slipped out of the back seam of the tavern tent, stepping directly into the bleak mountain night.
The environment outside had shifted dramatically over the last few hours.
The sky was entirely full of dark, churning clouds that hung low over the valley, blotting out the stars and the moon completely.
The air was thick with humidity, carrying the sharp, metallic scent of ozone, it looked like it was about to rain at any second, a torrential downpour waiting to burst from the heavens.
The howling wind had died down into a deceptive, heavy stillness that made every rustle of the canvas tents echo through the narrow lanes.
Keeping low, they began their quiet walk through the maze of the tents, navigating the outer slums toward the heavily fortified inner ring.
They moved like ghosts, shifting from shadow to shadow, utilizing the absolute blackness of the cloud covered night to mask their movements.
Suddenly, as they rounded a sharp corner between a tattered storage pavilion and a row of sleeping quarters, the unexpected happened.
A lone vampire rogue, completely intoxicated and running frantically through the dark lane to escape the impending storm, violently collided with them.
The man stumbled backward, his crimson eyes widening in shock as he hit them, his gaze darting across their dark combat fatigues and their completely undisguised, unfamiliar faces.
He instantly realized these weren’t local baseline merchants or clan enforcers.
’Who the hell are you people?’ the man rasped out, his posture tensing as he opened his mouth, drawing in a deep breath as he was about to shout at the top of his lungs to let the entire estate know that there were invaders within the grid.
Before a single vibration could leave the man’s throat, Peaker moved with terrifying, instantaneous speed.
His eyes flashed with a dark, predatory light as he triggered his technique.
The low ambient light from a distant torch cast a long, warped shadow from the rogue’s boots onto the mud.
In a fraction of a second, that very shadow detached itself from the ground, rising up like a pair of pitch black, spectral hands that wrapped violently around the man’s throat.
It was the Shadow Strangling Blood Worm.
The shadow hands constricted with immense, supernatural force, completely crushing the man’s windpipe and snapping his cervical vertebrae in a single, muted echo.
The rogue died on the spot, his body going completely limp before hitting the wet dirt without a sound.
Evan gritted his teeth a bit, a sharp flash of irritation crossing his cold features at the unexpected variable, but he knew this cold execution was absolutely necessary for their survival.
He did not say much, merely giving Peaker a sharp nod before gesturing forward.
They dragged the corpse into the deep space between two canvas walls, leaving it hidden in the dark, before continuing their advance.
They go and go and go, slipping deeper into the heart of the territory, bypassing the secondary guard stations with calculated timing.
After ten minutes of intense, heart-stopping navigation, they finally see the central camp, the heavily fortified pavilion of the clan leader, Shu Hui.
The entire camp was surrounded by an intentional perimeter of dense bushes, overgrown shrubbery, and towering, ancient pine trees, creating a natural acoustic barrier that isolated the leader’s quarters from the rest of the slums.
Evan stopped at the edge of the tree line, his dark eyes scanning the perimeter fences just three meters away.
He looked back at his two roommates, his voice a barely audible breath.
’Go where you are supposed to be.’
The group split instantly.
Ghost faded into the brush, moving in a wide, silent arc toward the backside of the camp where his crossbow would have a clear trajectory.
Peaker slipped toward the front gate, readying his mass strangulation worms.
Evan moved fluidly to the left side, scaling a massive, thick branched pine tree with effortless agility.
Because the central camp was so heavily surrounded by interlocking bushes and trees, they were completely hidden within the foliage, the leaves and branches were so dense that they couldn’t even see each other’s positions, entirely relying on their internal timing.
Evan climbed to a sturdy, high branch, settling his body into a comfortable, stable shooting posture.
He pulled his Silenced Revolver from his waist, resting his forearm against the dark bark of the tree, his eyes tracking the three peak stage Watchers patrolling the left fence line below.
He began to slowly circulate his liquid crimson Qi, preparing to channel the maximum output into the chamber.
Suddenly, the absolute stillness of the tree fractured.
The deep, pitch black shadow which was on his right side, cast naturally by a larger branch directly above him, slowly started to twist and take a shape.
The darkness pooled together, rising upward in a silent, unnatural mass.
Evan’s heart violently hammered against his ribs.
He got scared, his survival instincts screaming as he instantly swung the barrel of his revolver around, pointing it directly at the heart of the emerging shadow figure, his finger tightening on the trigger.
But as the darkness fully receded, it turned out to be Peaker.
However, this was a completely different kind of Peaker than Evan had ever seen before.
He did not look like the lazy pervert who slouched on his mattress, nor did he look like the sleepy, unbothered disciple who drank wine to pass the hours.
This was Peaker in his fully active form, his chest heaving with silent, rapid breaths, his face completely pale, and his dark eyes wide with a cold, genuine terror that Evan had never witnessed in him.
His hands were trembling slightly as he held onto the bark.
Evan slowly lowered the hammer of his gun, his brow furrowing in deep confusion and sudden alarm.
’What happened?’ Evan asked, his voice a tense, sharp whisper.
Peaker gripped Evan’s shoulder, his fingers digging into the fabric with a desperate, iron like strength as he leaned in close, his voice trembling with an urgency that shattered their entire plan.
’Evan, we have to leave the Shu clan... now.’
