Three More Fans?

Night fell over Black Wind City like spilled ink.

This small frontier city had now become a nest of demons.

On the streets roamed Wind Fiend Sect disciples with blood-red eyes, corrupted by Killing Intent, along with low-level demonic beasts they had raised, their faces savage and grotesque.

They were Black Wind City's first—and outermost—line of defense.

At the temporary command post twenty miles outside the city, the atmosphere remained grave.

Meng Kuo, Wu Yong, and Liu Qing stood around a sand table, conducting their final tactical simulation.

"Based on our observations during the day, the patrols around Black Wind City rotate every incense stick's time. Their routes are fixed. There are twelve squads in total, ten men per squad, each led by a Meridian Opening Realm disciple."

Wu Yong's finger lightly traced across the sand table, his expression focused.

"My plan is this: at the third quarter of midnight, when the moon is dark and the wind runs high, Sister Liu will lead the assassination team and, with the force of thunder, eliminate all twelve fixed sentry posts at once. Then Brother Meng will lead the main force through the weakest point in their defenses—the west city gate—tear open a breach, storm into the city, and head straight for the Wind Fiend Sect's headquarters!"

"An excellent plan!"

Meng Kuo nodded in agreement. "But the key is that Sister Liu's assassination team must leave no room for error. We cannot alert a single person inside the city!"

"Don't worry."

Liu Qing's cool voice brimmed with confidence. "The brothers under me are all experts at lurking and concealing their tracks. Taking care of some small fry won't be a problem."

The plan was nearly perfect.

Professional and rigorous.

Just as they were about to issue orders and have the squads prepare for action—

"Report—!"

A scout in charge of surveillance stumbled and crawled inside, his face wearing the expression of someone who had seen a ghost.

"M-M-Milords! Th-this is bad!"

"What are you panicking for?!"

Meng Kuo frowned, displeased. "Did something happen to the patrols?"

"N-no, not a disturbance..."

The scout stammered, his voice trembling. "They... they're gone!"

"What's gone?"

Wu Yong also sensed that something was wrong.

"The outer... those twelve patrol squads... they're... they're all gone!" the scout said, nearly crying.

"What?!"

The three Bronze Envoys shot to their feet at the same time, their faces full of disbelief.

"All... gone? What do you mean? Who took them out?!"

Meng Kuo grabbed the scout by the collar and roared.

"I-I don't know!"

The scout was about to cry, his tongue tying itself in knots.

"Just now, the brothers watching them discovered that those patrols were walking along... and then suddenly fell! One squad after another, like wheat being cut down by a sickle! From beginning to end, we didn't even see a ghost's shadow! They just... just vanished into thin air!"

"Vanished into thin air?"

Wu Yong and Liu Qing exchanged a glance, each seeing deep confusion and shock in the other's eyes.

How was that possible?

Twelve patrol squads—more than a hundred and twenty Wind Fiend Sect disciples, including quite a few high-level Body Tempering Realm experts.

And they had been silently wiped out right under their noses?

Had Old Demon of Black Wind discovered them and deliberately set an empty-city trap?

Or had... a third-party force intervened?

"Go! Let's take a look!"

Meng Kuo made the decision on the spot. He could no longer sit still.

The three figures flashed, becoming three streaks of light as they personally sped toward Black Wind City.

When they cautiously slipped into the streets previously marked as the "patrol zone," the sight before them made all three suck in a cold breath.

Wind Fiend Sect disciples' corpses lay scattered across the street, sprawled in pools of blood.

Every corpse had been killed with a single slash across the throat. The wounds were smooth as mirrors, without even the slightest sign of unnecessary struggle.

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Clearly, they had not managed to react at all in the instant they were killed.

"What a fast blade... what ruthless methods..."

Liu Qing, who excelled at assassination, showed a grave expression on her cool face for the first time upon seeing the corpses.

"To accomplish this, the culprit must at least be a peak True Qi Realm expert proficient in assassination! And... he knows these patrol routes like the back of his hand!"

"Could it be... some senior expert from our division acted ahead of schedule?" Wu Yong guessed.

"Something isn't right!"

Meng Kuo sniffed the air and said in a deep voice, "Look at these corpses. They have been dead for less than an incense stick's time. In other words, the murderer rushed through twelve locations in an extremely short span and slaughtered over a hundred people! That efficiency... is terrifying!"

The more the three examined the scene, the more frightened they became, and the notion that a master was aiding them grew stronger in their hearts.

"Go! Follow the trail and take a look! I want to see just who is helping us 'clean up the battlefield'!"

Meng Kuo let out a low shout, and the three followed the direction in which the bodies had fallen, tracking onward.

Before long, they reached Black Wind City's inner district.

The defenses here were clearly several times tighter than those on the outskirts.

Squads of elite Meridian Opening Realm disciples patrolled everywhere, and the air was thick with a tense, murderous atmosphere.

Clearly, the loss of contact with the outer patrols had already put them on alert.

"It seems our mysterious helper is about to run into trouble."

Liu Qing spoke softly.

But before her words had faded—

"Whoosh!"

A black shadow, so fast it was nearly impossible to catch with the naked eye, suddenly shot out from the shadow at a street corner like a bolt of midnight lightning.

In the black shadow's hand seemed to be a crescent moon, carving a dazzling yet deadly arc through the air.

"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!"

A string of soft sounds of blades piercing flesh rang out almost simultaneously.

That patrol squad of ten Meridian Opening Realm elite disciples did not even catch a glimpse of their enemy before they all clutched their throats and collapsed in disbelief.

Blood gushed forth like fountains.

One slash—total annihilation!

Having done all this, the black shadow did not pause in the slightest. It became an afterimage once more and vanished at the end of another alley. The entire process flowed like drifting clouds and running water, swift to an outrageous degree.

"..."

Meng Kuo, Wu Yong, and Liu Qing stood dumbly on the rooftop like three petrified statues, their mouths wide enough to fit an egg.

What had they just seen?

A squad of ten Meridian Opening Realm elites had simply... vanished?

They had all been instantly killed with one slash?

What kind of joke was this?!

Even Meng Kuo, the strongest among the three, did not think he could accomplish something so cleanly and decisively!

"Th-this is a fucking lawn mower, isn't it?!"

After holding it in for a long while, Meng Kuo finally squeezed out those words through clenched teeth.

With a clatter, the feather fan in Wu Yong's hand fell to the ground. The military strategy and tactics he had painstakingly studied all his life seemed utterly pale and powerless before this simple, brutally direct "one-blade style."

Liu Qing, meanwhile, stared fixedly in the direction where the black shadow had vanished. Her cool eyes were filled with shock and fervor.

As an assassin, this was the first time she had seen someone perform the art of "assassination" with such bloody efficiency and such violently beautiful flair!

"Chase! We have to see just who this is!"

The three no longer bothered concealing themselves. They pushed their movement techniques to the limit and, like three hunting hounds that had caught the scent of blood, clung tightly to the black shadow's trail.

[Crit multiplier increased to 90x! Obtained 3500 Crit Points!]

[Crit multiplier increased to 92x! Obtained 6300 Crit Points!]

[Crit multiplier increased to 95x! Obtained 8600 Crit Points!]

Ahead, Lin Feng was leisurely harvesting "Crit Points" while listening to the system's delightful notifications ring in his mind.

He had not noticed at all that three more "fans" had appeared behind him.