Chapter 712: Small Cheat Meets Big Cheat

Chapter 712: A Small Cheat Meets a Big Cheat

Zhao Changhe truly had not anticipated this, nor had Yue Hongling.

Just yesterday, they had fought the Snowy Owl, and his skill level matched their previous impressions—a Heaven-ranked assassin at the Third Secret, incredibly fast, ruthlessly sharp, striking once and fleeing a thousand miles, never lingering for a fight.

He was formidable; having such an assassin on your trail made anyone’s scalp tingle. After all, no one could guard against him day and night forever, and it would be no surprise to be caught off guard and killed. But once such an assassin was forced into a direct confrontation, things became much easier—his frontal combat ability was relatively average.

When Yue Hongling had counter-ambushed yesterday, joining swords with Zhao Changhe, the Snowy Owl was clearly overwhelmed and couldn’t hold his ground. So this time, to assassinate Zhao Changhe, he had to keep following, waiting for a moment of distraction between the two, to strike silently.

Everything made logical sense.

Who could have imagined that in just one day, his cultivation would inexplicably skyrocket, even more absurd than Zhao Changhe’s own cheat-like life?

Of course, this phenomenon wasn’t entirely strange—breakthroughs happen, and the next day you’re that powerful—but it’s rarely anticipated, often leading to death from information disparity. Such a reversal through information asymmetry was usually the protagonist’s privilege. Zhao Changhe was stunned: Could it be that you’re the real protagonist?

Yet the one even more stunned was the Snowy Owl.

His sword pierced Zhao Changhe’s throat, and joy flickered in his heart, only to freeze on his face the next instant.

The sword that passed through the throat had no real sensation, much like his own afterimage technique. The phantom twisted, and Zhao Changhe’s broad blade was already swinging down toward his neck.

This had turned into an all-out close-quarters brawl, closer than they had ever been!

The Snowy Owl was utterly baffled.

His absorption of Annihilation energy and its Imperial Realm intent was unique—unlike Wang Daoning’s forced acceptance of the Sea Emperor’s will. Not everyone could do such a thing; Wang Daoning had doomed himself. Because the “primordial demon god” like Annihilation was a condensation of the world’s corrosive shadow intent, essentially a “heavenly treasure” that anyone could absorb and refine—if they thought of it and had the right techniques. The Snowy Owl happened to specialize in the method of fishing for qi and absorbing techniques, and he had learned of this from other information. It was a perfect match, allowing him to absorb and break through.

He had broken through by absorbing a “heavenly treasure.” So why had Zhao Changhe learned his own Light-Splitting Shadow-Flow technique?

Startled from his sickbed, he thought: Could the treasure be me?

In close-quarters combat, even against an Imperial Realm opponent, Zhao Changhe had never been afraid. His broad blade swung wildly; the Snowy Owl parried with Imperial Realm force, barely matching him, though at least he wasn’t nearly killed by the sheer force like yesterday.

Meanwhile, Yue Hongling, merging with her sword, swept up from below, her longsword thrusting straight for his back, once again forming a pincer attack.

The Snowy Owl’s expression darkened as he flickered again.

In all directions, seven or eight afterimages of the Snowy Owl appeared, half attacking Zhao Changhe, half Yue Hongling. This was an advanced result of his Light-Splitting Shadow-Flow technique combined with Annihilation’s shadow control—not true clones, only one was real, but the others weren’t entirely harmless, merely ordinary shadow wounds. Yet how to tell which was real and which was shadow?

Zhao Changhe simply swung his blade horizontally, bloodlust surging around him, stirring the blood energy within all the Snowy Owl’s “clones.”

A casual application of Blood Flooding the Mountains—anything without blood energy was fake, no need to distinguish!

Yue Hongling could also clearly sense this outward blood energy. Her sword control was exquisite; with one thrust, seven or eight sword qi spiraled toward the clones, while a single powerful sword beam shot toward the Snowy Owl’s true body.

The couple’s cooperation was as seamless as one person. The Snowy Owl’s newly mastered, seemingly invincible technique was shattered in an instant.

His habitual mindset of avoiding direct confrontation took over again. He swiftly deflected Zhao Changhe’s approaching Dragon Sparrow, ignored Yue Hongling’s back-thrusting sword, and turned his body into an afterimage, letting Yue Hongling strike the phantom while his true body fled far into the sky.

But this ever-reliable escape technique suddenly failed him.

To those who couldn’t understand this move, his true body seemed to teleport, inexplicably appearing far away, impossible to predict. However, Zhao Changhe had studied this technique through the Heavenly Book and could barely use it himself to dodge a throat strike—so he naturally knew that this so-called “teleportation” had a trajectory.

At the Snowy Owl’s landing point, a sword appeared unexpectedly.

The River of Stars sword, truly merged with the night, had been waiting there, thrusting seemingly lightly.

The Snowy Owl seemed to impale himself on the blade. This time, he couldn’t even dodge; he twisted barely, and the divine sword grazed his ribs, drawing a spray of blood.

“Zhao Changhe’s journey has indeed not been easy,” a hoarse voice finally faded into the night, accompanied by the pain of sword qi churning. It was clear this blow would keep him down for quite a while.

The couple exchanged glances and shook their heads helplessly.

They couldn’t match his speed; they couldn’t catch him. This had become a persistent problem.

“Forget it. Assassins like him live by their movement and speed. In Bashu, Li Shentong was stronger but couldn’t catch him; in the palace, even Xia Longyuan failed to detain him. Making him unable to cause trouble for a while is good enough. We still have room to grow; we’ll get him next time.” Zhao Changhe spoke, still shaken: “Damn, I almost fell to him. Assassins like this are a real pain.”

Yue Hongling said, “Being able to wound him like this is already something to be proud of… but he might become even more troublesome.”

Zhao Changhe asked curiously, “What do you mean?”

“I left a remnant of Sunset Glow sword qi inside him, very subtle. I don’t know if he’ll notice it. If he doesn’t, next time we can set a more targeted trap and catch him in a net.”

Zhao Changhe was overjoyed: “So that’s why your sword strike seemed lacking in power earlier—you were playing dirty.”

“With his ghostly movement, even a full-power strike wouldn’t have yielded better results, so I might as well stir things up…” Yue Hongling pursed her lips. “I’ve been corrupted by you. Since when does a chivalrous hero get so happy about playing dirty? You’ve tarnished your reputation.”

“There’s a chivalrous heroine right here who plays dirty herself.” Zhao Changhe wasn’t in the mood for too many jokes; his mind was heavy. “I really don’t know how he suddenly seemed to merge with Annihilation. He never used shadows before, and he wasn’t in the Imperial Realm.”

Yue Hongling looked up, thinking. “Could it really be a merger with Annihilation? Like absorption. I heard Wang Daoning absorbed the Sea Emperor’s yin energy, though it had flaws… but think about it, Shi Wuding was actually the Snowy Owl’s sword slave. The Snowy Owl has always specialized in this kind of release-and-absorb technique.”

“That might be the truth.” Zhao Changhe frowned. “If so, I’m worried that Huang Yang and the others might also…”

Yue Hongling’s expression grew grave.

Just the Snowy Owl absorbing a demon god relatively close to his nature wasn’t a big deal—his cultivation bias meant he couldn’t accommodate too much; he could only focus on one type of power. What truly worried them was if there was another, highly compatible powerful demon god that encompassed most of the demon gods’ attributes. What then?

For instance, Kunlun itself contained chaotic intent. From the Snowy Owl’s displayed abilities, chaos wasn’t his attribute… So was this attribute one of the various demon gods, or did it belong to a higher-level integrator? If everything was attributed to chaos and destruction, who could resist then?

Zhao Changhe said quietly, “We might have touched the core… I need to discuss this with Yu Xu.”

Yue Hongling asked, “So we’re still going to Miaojiang first?”

“Yes. I have a bad feeling.” Zhao Changhe said, “Demon gods descending everywhere, dragons and snakes rising from the land. Who knows if Miaojiang and the Spirit Clan’s secret realm are still peaceful? It’s been a long time; I have to go see for myself to be at ease.”

As he spoke, the Dark Steed, which had been hiding somewhere, poked its head out and flew over to greet them.

“This guy has gotten really good at hiding and watching the show.” Zhao Changhe’s mood inexplicably lifted. He scooped up Yue Hongling and jumped onto the Dark Steed. “Let’s go, Miaojiang!”