Innate Martial Artist of Red River Palace

Innate Martial Artist of Red River Palace

In a dense forest outside Great Liang City.

"Ji Yang, I never thought Chu's ruler, Xiong Tuo, would be so ruthless. He even killed his own people so cleanly and decisively," said a man in gray short garb.

The man crouching by the stream, washing a dagger, casually replied, "This delegation consisted of ministers within Chu Country who were relatively opposed to war. Xiong Tuo had never been pleased with them to begin with, so he sent them on an envoy mission to Wei Country and conveniently slaughtered them along the way—killing two birds with one stone."

The man in gray short garb shook his head. "I don't understand these court affairs. I only know how to kill."

"Wu Yi, you've always honed your killing skills. Don't you want to advance further in cultivation?"

"I heard the Red River Palace Master is only one hundred and fifty years old. Now that he has entered the Creation Realm, his lifespan has suddenly risen to nearly four hundred years." The man named Ji Yang finished washing his dagger, concealed it against his arm, and dusted off his clothes. "He's so young. Perhaps he may succeed in forging the furnace within his lifetime and gain a thousand-year lifespan. Aren't you tempted? The fact that he cultivated to such a realm proves that the martial path beneath heaven has not yet been severed."

"I know exactly what I'm worth. Let alone the Creation Realm, even forging Martial Courage would be difficult for me. Compared to someone like the Red River Palace Master, I'm far, far behind."

Wu Yi spoke with great nonchalance. "As for me, I don't have such lofty ambitions. I just want to kill more people, earn more money and Wish Stones. When I can no longer kill, I'll take my money, find myself a pretty wife, and live out the rest of my days. Not everyone wants to live for hundreds or thousands of years. In these times, having enough strength to protect yourself and not be casually slaughtered by some petty bandit martial artist is enough."

"You really do see things clearly..."

Bang!

Just then, a streak of black light flashed past.

Ji Yang was greatly alarmed. In that instant, he rolled to one side like a gray snake slithering several paces away, then shouted, "Who goes!?"

Seeing that the situation was wrong, Wu Yi's body turned into a rainbow-like afterimage. He wound his way up a tree and vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye.

"Not bad, not bad. As expected of Han Country's Innate Assassins."

Before long, heavy footsteps came from deep within the forest, steadily drawing closer.

Suddenly, a pair of hands stretched out from the undergrowth and landed on two trees as thick as thighs.

"A little in the way."

The two great trees were uprooted by those huge hands as easily as pulling scallions from the earth.

Bang.

A figure over two meters tall squeezed out from between them.

Ji Yang and Wu Yi, hidden in the shadows, both felt their eyelids twitch at the sight of him.

The man's hair hung loose and wild, his skin dark, and muscles piled across his entire body like small mountains.

With his exaggerated height of more than two meters, merely standing there gave off an overwhelming sense of oppression.

The man's eyes, large as bronze bells, swept over the bedraggled Ji Yang and the hidden Wu Yi. He grinned. "When I watched you kill people earlier, my hands started itching. I couldn't wait to fight you, so I came."

Ji Yang's heart jolted.

He had been there too?

Earlier, they had received orders from their sect to assassinate the Chu envoys together with Xiong Tuo's Wei-armored soldiers. They had acted with the utmost care throughout the entire operation, yet an unrelated outsider had actually witnessed it.

Instinctively, Ji Yang wanted to kill him to silence him.

The Han Country Assassin Ji Yang's heart tightened. At once, he circulated his True Qi to its limit, and a dark azure radiance enveloped his body as he stomped hard on the ground.

Earth and stones flew everywhere as his body shot forward like an arrow released from a bow.

Yet as the distance between them rapidly closed, his heart sank bit by bit.

Even from afar, this man had already given him immense pressure. Once he rushed close, that feeling became even stronger.

The visual impact alone made his scalp go numb.

It was as if what stood before him was not a man, but a vicious beast as massive as a mountain, blocking his path.

Innate Realm martial artists could use their Divine Souls to grasp certain mysterious minor supernatural abilities and wield objects from afar.

With a thought from Ji Yang, the dagger hidden against his arm transformed into a streak of rainbow light and shot forth.

The tall man neither dodged nor retreated.

The muscles all over his body tightened.

Clang!

The dagger, which had always struck without fail, collided with his body in a shower of sparks, not even leaving behind a trace of blood.

Ji Yang charged to the man's side, twisted his feet, and swiftly circled behind him.

In a flash of lightning and flint, he beckoned with one hand and caught the dagger flying through the air. True Qi surged wildly through his body, dark azure radiance pouring forth and coiling around the dagger as he viciously stabbed at the man's nape.

This was the Felling Mortals Slaying Immortals Art of their Heavenly People, an art that focused everything into a single point and was exceptionally suited for an assassin's killing strike.

As though he sensed it, the man's mountain-like body shifted slightly to one side, lightly evading Ji Yang's attack.

Squelch!

The dagger seemed to strike stone. It pierced into the man's shoulder, sinking half an inch deep.

Blood burst from the wound and sprayed outward.

The man lowered his head to glance at the wound. There was no expression of pain on his face, only a trace of surprise and a faint excitement in his eyes.

He bared his sharp teeth in a grin. "Han Country Assassins truly live up to their reputation. You actually managed to injure me. You're much stronger than those senior and junior brothers of mine. Not bad, not bad."

As soon as he finished speaking, he ignored the injury on his shoulder. Like a fierce tiger turning its head, his palm, broad as a cattail fan, suddenly slapped toward one side with astonishing speed.

The air itself let out a piercing shriek.

Ji Yang had hidden himself at the man's side and had no room to maneuver. In his haste, he fiercely met the palm strike.

Bang!

A dull impact rang out.

Ji Yang was sent flying sideways, crashing through several trees in succession before finally stopping.

He spat out a mouthful of black blood and collapsed onto the ground, unable to rise again.

Wu Yi, hiding in the shadows, sucked in a breath of cold air at the sight. His expression changed drastically.

Innate Realm!

The man before them was also an Innate Realm martial artist, and one who specialized in cultivation techniques for physical defense and strength.

Bolstered by his Divine Soul, he possessed powerful perception, allowing him to catch Ji Yang's movements and render Ji Yang's assassination techniques utterly ineffective against him.

Their Martial Arts were inherently skilled at concealing their forms, and so was the True Intent they condensed. Everything was for the sake of a single fatal strike.

Against this man's iron-like defense, they posed no great threat at all.

The man looked toward where Wu Yi was hiding, a smile that was not quite a smile appearing on his face.

Wu Yi's heart skipped a beat.

He had been discovered.

"Zhang Biao, enough!"

At that moment, a sharp shout came from midair.

A figure swept over and landed before the man.

"This is not your Red River Palace. You are not allowed to act recklessly."

Zhang Biao grinned, pulled the dagger from his shoulder, casually tossed it to the ground, and said in a deep, muffled voice, "Heh heh, understood, Commander Shen."

He walked over to Ji Yang's side, took out a Pill and stuffed it into his mouth, then used his True Qi to help him digest it.

After a while, Ji Yang finally regained consciousness and sat on the ground, gasping for breath.

Shen Xishan cupped his fists toward a certain spot and said, "Allies of Han Country, this is Zhang Biao from Red River Palace, sent here as reinforcements. His temperament is rash, and if he has offended you in any way, I hope you will forgive him."

New book—please recommend it and keep reading...