Chapter 74: Assassination

Chapter 74: Assassination

At this moment, Wu Jinfeng’s face was a mask of mingled blood and sweat; his once magnificent brocade robe was filthy and torn, slashed open in countless places by sharp blades, yet his eyes remained fierce and keen!

His left hand clutched half a scroll, his right hand held his green blade level, pointing straight ahead.

Before the sword’s edge stood a suit of exoskeleton armor, black as ink; from afar it loomed like a deep pool or a towering peak, but up close it was riddled with wounds.

The armor’s right arm was severed clean at the wrist, the cut smooth and even, clearly the work of a sharp blade.

Its left hand gripped a ferocious dragon’s head, its roaring maw bristling with dense gun barrels.

The host within the armor was likewise unconscious, his features twisted askew, a truly wretched sight.

“A freshly advanced Mo Eighth thinks to fish in troubled waters? Why don’t you piss a puddle and take a look at your own reflection!”

Damn it all, letting you get so damned cocky!

If it weren’t for that bastard Zhao Qingxia giving me a death order before he passed out, your grandpa here would have buggered off long ago—who’d stay here to fight you to the death?

The helmet’s red eyes flickered erratically, like a mouth cursing up a storm.

Lord Ma was now like a mute eating coptis—bitter suffering with no way to voice it.

He hadn’t expected this old dog Wu Jinfeng to be so fierce, actually a hidden master of the Ru Eighth rank.

By the time he reacted and tried to hold Zhao Qingxia back, that hot-blooded fool had already lunged down from the Golden Eagle.

In such a situation, even if he didn’t want to fight, he had no choice but to.

Glaring at the arrogant Wu Jinfeng before him, Lord Ma roared, “You got lucky! Ran into your grandpa when I didn’t bring enough ammo, otherwise I’d have blasted you to hell long ago!”

“A mere artifact spirit dares to bluster? Without a host, what skills do you have left?”

“Heh, sorry, your grandpa is a Divine Artifact—host’s out cold and I’m even stronger!”

“Sharp-tongued!”

Blue veins bulged on Wu Jinfeng’s forehead; he closed the distance in a flash, his movement speed nearly matching that of Fei Baiju, who possessed the Wind Earl’s Core.

“This is a massive loss!”

Lord Ma wailed inwardly even as he jerked up the dragon head, its gun barrels spinning up to a high-pitched whine.

But for an Eighth Sequence, the warm-up time of this dragon-shaped machine gun was clearly far too long.

Before the dragon’s maw could belch fire, the brocade-clad figure had already closed the distance, wrist snapping to thrust out a blinding sphere of sword light.

Ding-ling! A chaotic clangor rang out as dazzling sparks erupted in great patches across the armor.

Lord Ma retracted his armor plates, desperately shielding the unconscious Zhao Qingxia within; his left hand whipped out streams of bullets like lashes of light, flailing wildly to drive off the old dog Wu circling him.

Alas, in such close-quarters combat, his muzzle simply could not lock onto his opponent.

The linked stream of bullets poured forth, peeling back layer upon layer of the street surface; the soil beneath was churned up by the torrent of lead, raising clouds of dust.

The roadside shops couldn’t withstand such ferocious firepower; in a single instant they were swept into ruins. God knows what was hit, but a violent explosion followed hard on its heels.

Boom!

A sudden, scorching wave of flame instantly lit up half the sky over Mianzhou County.

Thick black smoke billowed up, spreading through the street as if a bank of dark clouds had pressed down.

In the darkness came the ceaseless clang of clashing blades and spears and the click-clack~~ of spent casings hitting the ground.

The bright lash of light still whipped about wildly, yet it could never catch that roving brocade robe.

Clang!

A gorgeous sword light tore through the black smoke, flicked aside the dragon-head machine gun, and stabbed straight for the mecha’s chest.

There, the armor plates had been gashed open with a massive crack, exposing the host hidden within.

The red eyes in the helmet instantly turned a bloody crimson; the artifact spirit’s shriek was near ear-splitting!

“What good does roaring do? The damned must die!”

Wu Jinfeng’s face, illuminated by the gunfire, was twisted with a savage grin.

Just as the blade was about to pierce the skull, a sudden change occurred!

A streak of biting saber light smashed through the black smoke, chopping down abruptly at Wu Jinfeng’s head!

A bone-piercing chill raced from his tailbone to his crown; Wu Jinfeng, like an old dog with its tail stepped on, let out a sharp shriek.

His originally forward-thrusting sword suddenly flicked upward, attempting to intercept the falling saber light.

“The damned must die!”

Lord Ma finally seized his chance to retort, roaring in rage as he swung the still-smoking dragon-head machine gun to smash aside the parrying sword, simultaneously shattering Wu Jinfeng’s hope of survival.

The saber light descended unobstructed, clean and decisive; a human head soared into the sky!

The blood-soaked brocade robe crashed down amidst the yellow-orange spent casings littering the ground!

[Acquired 200 Proficiency Points]

Sizzle!!

Amidst a teeth-aching screech, several plates on Lord Ma’s chest suddenly parted, revealing the unconscious Zhao Qingxia within; his battered left hand shot forward, delivering several resounding slaps.

“Hmm?”

Struck heavily, Zhao Qingxia let out an unconscious moan before being shoved back into the armor.

The helmet’s red eyes flashed; Lord Ma let out a comfortable breath. “You killed the man, so our deal is void.”

Li Jun looked the wretched exoskeleton armor up and down and couldn’t help but laugh. “Wouldn’t that mean you lost your shirt?”

Lord Ma muttered glumly, “Business is business; agreed terms are agreed terms. A loss is a loss—I’ll own it.”

Li Jun ground his toe down and flicked it up, snapping the hand bones of the brocade-robed corpse, flipping the quarter-piece of the Luci badge toward Lord Ma.

“What’s this mean?”

“Nothing much. Just making a friend. If you don’t trust me, treat it as a deposit—perhaps we’ll have a chance to cooperate later.”

The red eyes flickered bright and dim; Lord Ma hesitated for a long moment.

Above, the Buddhist and Daoist sects held the throat; below, the aristocratic clans held the knife. Li Jun’s Sequence destined him to likely meet no good end.

For a figure destined to fight to the death, accepting his favor would inevitably mean joining him in a desperate gamble later.

Yet this Slice was equally critical for him and Zhao Qingxia.

After a long while, Lord Ma finally spoke in a low voice. “I’ll take the thing. When you need a hand, use that comms device to contact me.”

No sooner had he spoken than he hastily added, “Contact *me*, not Zhao Qingxia.”

Li Jun smiled. “Understood. Zhao Qingxia won’t know about these things.”

“Damn it, the son’s debt falls on the father, the son’s debt falls on the father!”

Lord Ma muttered incessantly, his figure fading into the black smoke, vanishing without a trace.

A moment later, the pervasive black smoke finally dissipated.

On the long street where firelight swayed, the saber-wielding martial artist trod upon the brocade-robed corpse, glancing askance at the four figures eyeing him like tigers before him, the corner of his mouth hooking into a cold, contemptuous smile.

【Consumed 100 Mastery Points. Abyssal Stride elevated to Eighth Grade Grand Perfection.】

【Consumed 100 Mastery Points. Eight Extremities Fist elevated to Eighth Grade Late Stage 0/100.】

【Consumed 100 Mastery Points. Eight Extremities Fist elevated to Eighth Grade Grand Perfection.】

【Remaining Mastery Points: 53.】

Minute black characters cascaded before his retina like a waterfall; Li Jun felt the blood in his veins surge like a boiling cauldron, the genes deep within his body roaring without cease.

*Click-clack, click-clack~~~*

The copper latch secured the door, yet what it stirred was a ferocious blaze no one dared meet with their eyes.

Li Jun leaned on his saber, his voice cold: "Anyone else want to try taking it? Step right up!"