Crow Attack

Just then, a hurried cry came from afar, growing louder as it approached.

"Thief! This thief stole my bag! Everyone, please help me catch the thief!"

A thin, weasel-faced young man carrying a bulging leather bag was seen darting and jumping through the crowd, followed by a portly middle-aged man.

The chase caused a commotion among the crowd, especially the weasel-faced youth who kept trying to slip into the crowd to escape his pursuers. Pedestrians on the street were thrown into a panic, dodging and weaving, while some men who couldn't stand it chased after the two and tried to grab them.

The young man who snatched the bag looked flustered and kept overturning the stall to block the pursuers. He quickly spotted the old woman's stall and ran towards Si Ming. At this moment, two brave men rushed out from the side and pounced on the young man, as if to hold him down.

"Catch, catch the thief..."

The middle-aged man, panting heavily, slowly stopped, seemingly too exhausted to run any further. He raised his sleeve to wipe the sweat from his forehead, but as his sleeve fell down, seven silver lights flashed and shot out. However, the target of the sneak attack was not the young man who snatched the bag, but Si Ming.

Seven silver throwing knives, each the size of a willow leaf, shaped like the Big Dipper, streaked across the sky, their magnetic forces interacting and generating electric arcs. They suddenly accelerated mid-flight, moving faster than bullets.

At the same time, the young man who had been fleeing in a panic stopped, turned around, reached into his bundle with his right hand, pulled out a double-barreled shotgun, and fired it at Si Ming with a "bang." He then took out two short guns and fired them at Si Ming in succession.

As for the other two heroes who acted righteously, one on the left and one on the right, their ten fingers were black and swollen, gleaming with a metallic luster, and they transformed into a sky full of claw shadows that covered Si Ming's head.

The old woman selling chestnuts pushed her cart, and it instantly shattered under immense force, turning into countless scattered wood chips that shot towards Si Ming. Not only that, but the moment the cart fell apart, the iron pot on it also flipped over, blocking his view, and half a pot of roasted chestnuts were scattered out, raining down on Si Ming like hidden weapons.

"What the hell? There really is an assassin?"

Si Ming was puzzled. Where did these people get the confidence to assassinate him? Didn't they even bother to investigate their target before making their move?

This is so unprofessional! If you want to assassinate him, you should at least send someone at the Nascent Spirit Transformation. What can these useless guys do? Only the young man who pulled out the hunting rifle startled him. I didn't expect assassins to be so modern and keep up with the times.

The problem is that Sea Continent is a world where "you have science, I have superhuman skills." People make up for their lack of strength with technology. For example, the hidden weapons thrown by a master with Internal Cultivation Level Ten are no slower than bullets.

Despite his complaints, Si Ming reacted quickly. Treating it as a test of a new move, he immediately took a step forward, then twisted his body with his hands behind his back. Centering on his left leg, his right leg swept a perfect circle across the ground as his body spun. In an instant, the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi reversed, and the five elements were reversed.

Faced with this group of weaklings, he skipped the steps of withdrawing and neutralizing, directly using his combined power to rebound.

The seven-star flying dagger shot back and quickly pierced the middle-aged man's body. The bullets fired from the shotgun and pistol also returned along the same path, blasting the head of the weasel-faced youth to pieces.

Before the two men who used their claws could even rejoice after striking Si Ming, they felt the claw force flowing back through their meridians. Their bodies swayed, and five bloody holes appeared in their chests. The two men looked down in disbelief and then collapsed to the ground, dead.

However, not everyone died from their own attacks. The hunched old woman suddenly unleashed the power of Spirit Transformation. Her body straightened abruptly, and she reached for her waist, pulling out a silver whip thinner than her little finger. A three-inch-long, double-edged blade was attached to the whip's tip. She then swung the whip like a silver snake, deflecting the rebounding wood chips and chestnuts.

However, since the sawdust and chestnuts were imbued with Si Ming's power, she didn't feel good taking them. She felt the internal energy seeping in and injuring her internal organs. She couldn't help but groan. Knowing that staying any longer would mean certain death, she immediately endured the pain and took out a round lump and smashed it on the ground, instantly filling the air with smoke.

This smoke naturally did not hinder Si Ming. Although there are often scenes in TV dramas where people disappear immediately after throwing a smoke bomb on the ground, escaping in reality is not that simple. Masters do not rely solely on their eyes to lock onto their enemies. Just as he was about to give chase, his Blazing Sun True Qi stirred within him. However, the smoke was poisonous, Internal Cultivation automatically activated to neutralize the poison.

"Tch, how cunning."

Si Ming was helpless. Although he didn't care about the poison gas, there were innocent passersby on the street. He couldn't let them get involved because of him. He immediately reached out and gathered his energy, causing the spreading poison gas to be drawn into his palm and condensed into a dark green poison pill. He grabbed it and released his True Qi, turning it into a poison.

The assassination happened so fast and ended even faster. It wasn't until everything had settled that pedestrians on the street belatedly screamed and scattered in all directions, unaware that they had just walked through the Ghost Gate.

"That woman must be Li Shuang, the 'Spinosaurus Whip' of the Remote Heaven Society, but why would she think of assassinating me? It's one thing if the assassins were unaware, Remote Heaven Society know my strength to some extent. They should know that this woman and those useless assassins couldn't possibly succeed. What are they planning? Or perhaps they don't know that I'm the one scouting the Divine Pillar, and they deliberately sent this woman to test the waters?"

Si Ming thought for a while but couldn't figure it out. Suddenly, he heard the sound of fighting in the distance. He immediately realized that this might be a feint, so he quickly ran towards the source of the sound.

He thought to himself that Senior Ji and Hualiu were both skilled in long-range combat. If these assassins got close, Senior Ji would certainly not be in mortal danger with his cultivation level, but he would probably not be able to escape easily. Hualiu's many abilities were also suppressed by the Eternal Barrier and could not be used.

Sure enough, when he arrived, he saw four assassins surrounding Ji Shichen, their movements intertwined, their movements gleaming with cold light. Their shifting positions revealed a strange pattern, clearly a combined attack formation. These four assassins were a level stronger than those who had dealt with Si Ming and his group of four, and each of them unleashed their Sword Qi to trap Ji Shichen.

Ji Shichen's glasses fell to the ground, and there was a scratch on her cheek with traces of blood. It seemed that she had failed to dodge the enemy's Sword Qi during the previous battle and had her glasses knocked off. Hualiu was also injured and was clutching his chest against the wall, with two corpses lying next to him.

Upon seeing Si Ming, the four assassins knew there was no time to lose and immediately launched their killing moves. Each of their bodies transformed into a streak of light, and the green swords in their hands also transformed into streaks of light. The eight streaks of light merged together, instantly radiating brilliant light, and transformed into a sword wheel that slashed inward.

Seeing this, Si Ming was about to unleash a powerful punch from a distance to save the person when he suddenly saw Ji Shichen flick her hair, grasp the Star Staff with both hands, and a powerful aura surged from her body, transforming into the shape of a nebula, seemingly possessing the power to destroy mountains and overturn seas.

"Great Star Heavenfall!"

Ji Shichen gripped the staff and swung it forcefully. The image of the nebula suddenly expanded outward, exuding a vast and boundless power. Waves of energy surged in all directions, and unparalleled force was like meteorites crashing outward.

With four clangs, the dazzling sword wheel shattered and all four swords were destroyed. But Ji Shichen's attack did not stop there. She switched the grips of her hands and swung the sword in reverse.

With four loud "bangs," the heads of the four assassins were blown off one by one, turning them into four headless corpses that fell in the four directions in front of, behind, to the left and right of Ji Shichen.

"Snort."

Ji Shichen waved her staff, flicking the red and white mixture onto the ground, then turned to Si Ming and said calmly, "You've come."

"... Hmm." Si Ming suddenly forgot what he was supposed to say and could only ask, "What did you just use, senior?"

"Falling Star Staff Technique, what's wrong?"

At this moment, Ji Shichen's eyes were sharp, no longer the gentle and refined person she usually was, but exuding a fierce and courageous aura, and even her tone became much tougher.

"Isn't your specialty Divine Arts and archery, senior?"

"Divine Arts and archery are both ranged techniques, so I need to learn a melee martial art for self-defense to avoid being ambushed by thieves. For example, it came in handy today. And since I always carry a staff with me, it's only natural that I learn a staff technique."

"Uh... that seems to be correct."

Si Ming couldn't find fault with it. Reality isn't a game; no one says that holding a staff means you can only cast Law Technique. It's perfectly reasonable for someone to want to learn a set of "Mad Devil Staff Techniques" for self-defense.

Although Ji Shichen's physical attributes were not particularly strong, she was still Spirit Transformation with powerful Internal Cultivation, making her no less capable than ordinary martial artists. Moreover, Sea Continent was an Eastern martial arts system where martial arts training was the foundation of everything. Even Divine Arts needed to strengthen their bodies, though they were somewhat inferior to martial artists of the same level.

Just as Si Ming was in a daze, Ji Shichen picked up her glasses from the ground, put them back on, and her temperament suddenly changed. That feeling of a literary girl and a gentle older sister returned.

"Don't just stand there daydreaming. Go check on the others. It's likely that you and I aren't the only ones who have been assassinated; they might need your help."

Si Ming slapped his forehead. "Right, right, I almost forgot. I'll leave Hualiu in the care of my martial uncle. I'll be going now."

Chapter 698 Crow Attack