Chapter 65: Hiding Talent for a Lethal Strike

Chapter65: Concealing Clumsiness, The Absolute Kill

Night thick as ink.

Wind threading through woods, striking leaves.

The offensive steps of the Heavenly Treasury Heavy Industry Action Office against the side chambers seemed to have met an obstruction; gunfire that had already shown signs of abating suddenly roared like startled thunder.

In that very instant, Li Jun, holding his breath and focusing his spirit, keenly caught a faint, stifled whimper from behind.

"Again with this moldy old trick of a sneak attack from behind!"

Li Jun’s expression was disdainful. He rotated his wrist, sweeping his saber behind him; the blade light fluttered like an unfolding fan, just blocking that thread of fierce wind aimed at his back.

Beneath the great moon, two figures nearly overlapped.

Fei Baiju’s figure emerged behind Li Jun like a phantom, his murderous gaze colliding squarely with the sidelong glance Li Jun cast back.

Eyes met and parted in a flash, both filled with an identical, stern killing intent; naturally, there was no need for a second look.

Fei Baiju, dagger in right hand, slid down along the long spine of the ink saber, grating out a piercing metallic shriek.

The instant the dagger tip collided with the saber guard, it rotated and chopped down, intending to sever Li Jun’s right hand clean off.

Dagger kissing wrist, like a cold, slippery venomous snake coiling up.

Li Jun decisively released the hilt, backhand grabbing for the opponent’s dagger-wielding wrist, simultaneously stepping to the side and turning, left elbow smashing toward Fei Baiju’s skull.

One grab, one elbow, both a defense and an attack.

If Fei Baiju did not choose to shift to the rear flank, whether his wrist was seized or his skull took the elbow, what followed would be Li Jun’s storm-like onslaught.

Close-quarters killing was not merely a contest of skill, but also a battle of wits.

Fei Baiju naturally saw through Li Jun’s plan, but he, too, was equally unwilling to simply give up such a good opportunity with the enemy having dropped his saber.

Mechanism Heart humming, Fei Baiju’s feet did not move, yet his body, driven by a sudden surge of roiling airflow, shifted laterally by an inch.

A miss by a hair’s breadth, an error of a thousand miles.

Just that one inch of distance caused Li Jun’s seize and elbow strike to simultaneously find only air.

The dagger once more thrust toward Li Jun’s waist and abdomen.

*Clang!*

The dagger tip struck something hard, ringing out a crisp, metallic clang!

In the split second of a spark flaring, Li Jun used his toe to flick the long saber to his waist, spreading his elbow and extending his arm to grasp the saber with his left hand, blocking the dagger’s assassination while simultaneously lifting it in a sweeping slash.

All movements in one breath, fast as lightning.

Fei Baiju’s face changed drastically; his Mechanism Heart pumped furiously, forcing countless streams of air from his pores, wrapping around him as he flew backward.

Narrowly, by the slimmest margin, he avoided the cold, stern blade light that suddenly appeared within a square inch.

"So you have grown some skills. No wonder you dared block my path today."

Landing ten zhang away, the shock in Fei Baiju’s eyes gradually faded, a cold smirk curling his lips.

"Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?"

Fei Baiju’s face suddenly flushed red, as if Li Jun had struck a sore spot; his lips moved, about to retort.

But Li Jun’s figure had already stepped forward and charged, the ink saber thrust straight ahead, carrying a momentum to shatter enemy formations.

After the Po Lu Saber Art advanced to the mid-stage, the flow of saber momentum already carried a flavor of battlefield slaughter.

But the next second, a pitch-black gun muzzle appeared in Li Jun’s field of vision!

"Playing dirty?"

The thought had just risen when the gunshot exploded at point-blank range!

The instant gunfire surged from the depths of the muzzle, Li Jun only had time to raise his left hand, five fingers spread, barely blocking before the muzzle.

The scorching bullet bored a bloody hole in his palm, a deformed bullet embedding deep into his metacarpals.

At such close range, even with the Eighth-Rank Golden Bell Shield protecting his body, it could only barely keep Li Jun’s hand from being blown entirely apart.

"Words and bullets are the same—one kills the heart, the other kills the body! Do you understand the principle in that?"

Fei Baiju’s tone was mocking; his figure drifted like a willow catkin on the wind, easily dodging the ink saber’s pursuing horizontal slash.

The instant he landed, the Mechanism Heart of the Wind Earl churned airflow once more, dragging his body into a forward charge.

This series of advance and retreat had no stagnation whatsoever, and the speed was strange, eerily agile.

Li Jun’s brows and eyes were cold and stern; he halted his steps, planting his stance, holding the saber horizontally before his eyes.

One moving, one still, a stark contrast.

Another ear-splitting gunshot.

The prepared Li Jun tore open the front of his martial tunic, using it as a shield before him.

The bullet slammed into the fabric; the tremendous impact force ground the fingers gripping the tunic raw with pain.

Before Li Jun could even catch his breath, a cold wind attacked from the blind spot obscured by the clothing.

Li Jun gripped the saber in a reverse grip, the straight blade edge clinging to his forearm, swinging his arm to drive the saber in a cut toward the left.

*Clang! Bang!*

Li Jun violently threw his head back; his jaw was grazed by a bullet, tearing a bloody gash, revealing bone; yet his left hand, hideously wounded, resolutely grabbed for the scorching gun barrel.

But the very instant his fingertips touched the gun body, Li Jun caught a faint smile emerging in Fei Baiju’s eyes!

"You want it? I’ll give it to you."

Fei Baiju’s left hand loosened its five fingers, actually letting go of the pistol voluntarily. Then a dagger slid from his sleeve into his left palm, stabbing toward Li Jun’s abdomen!

*Pu chi!*

Almost instinctively, Li Jun’s waist muscles tensed tight, yet he still failed to stop the ice-cold dagger from piercing his body.

Agony surged like a tide, forcing a muffled groan from his throat.

"You should learn more from Qian Jindong. Though he is a waste, he knows better than you how to survive."

Fei Baiju’s face beamed with a brilliant smile; he released the dagger buried in Li Jun’s abdomen, his body drifting backward like a willow catkin.

Only this time, the airflow surging around him was not all that urgent.

This was not Fei Baiju being careless, but rather another cunning scheme.

In his view, Li Jun was now a fish on the chopping block; there was no need to continue wasting Mechanism Heart energy. He only needed to repeat the same method and torture him slowly.

On the contrary, the situation at the Yang Family Main Residence was still unclear, with many variables; there would likely be quite a few more vicious battles to come.

"It should end."

Fei Baiju had just retreated a step when a voice utterly contrary to his thoughts suddenly rang out.

Fei Baiju, whose stature was considerably shorter than Li Jun’s, looked up in astonishment, only to see a pair of bloodshot, hideous eyes.

*Hum!*

An inexplicable panic coiled around his heart; the Wind Earl Mechanism Heart suddenly pumped, countless streams of air madly spilling from his pores, blowing Fei Baiju’s robes into a loud flutter.

No matter how exquisite the machinery, it could never instantaneously surge power to its zenith.

Li Jun, who had concealed his prowess for so long, how could he possibly let slip the opportunity before him?

A single step leapt the abyss; he soared into the azure heavens.

Li Jun erupted with speed far surpassing moments prior, like a keen arrow leaving the bowstring, crashing before Fei Baiju in the blink of an eye!

"I took your spear and your blade just to kill you—do you even possess the wit to grasp the reason within?"

Concealing clumsiness exists only for the absolute kill!

To kill the man is to kill the heart.

Fei Baiju, his spirit shaken by terror, shrieked harshly, heedless of the wreckage of his mech-body, forcibly driving his mech-core output higher.

The airflow seeping from his pores abruptly intensified, tearing open hair-thin wounds across his entire skin.

Li Jun’s gaze was cold and sharp; his steps seemed to stride yet seemed to leap, sticking close to Fei Baiju whose mech-core power had yet to peak.

Spine ramrod straight, the long saber gripped in his left hand pressed against his rear, as if intent on hiding the whole blade within his torso.

Waist twisting, elbow rising, blade lifting.

One motion to conceal, one to reveal—the ink-black saber swept upward from below with a staggering, tyrannical ferocity, fast beyond belief!

Po-Lu Saber, Lie-Ma Form!

*Clang!*

A line of blood pierced straight through Fei Baiju’s entire face.

That Fengbo Mech-Core still droned on; the escaping airflow first blew away the outermost layer of synthetic skin, then shattered mechanical components, and finally the pink brain matter within the skull.

[Acquired 150 Proficiency Points.]

[Remaining Proficiency Points: 152.]

Gazing at the small black characters jumping into view, Li Jun let out a knowing sigh. Proficiency points gained from killing those of the same sequence truly did decrease as his own strength grew.

Li Jun raised a hand to wipe the white synthetic blood staining his face, turning to look toward a dark corner.

A youth of clear, handsome features crouched there, a red dot flickering intermittently in the center of his helmet, like a third eye.

"You've come looking for a beating again?"