The Shadow Assassin

"That old fox had come all this way just to test how much I was hiding..." Chen Lin sneered inwardly, but wore an expression of profound gratitude.

After Cao An left, he was just about to sit down and meditate when his body suddenly stiffened—

Next time, he'd have to show off his Core Formation Realm cultivation.

A dark figure had appeared in the rocking chair at some point!

The Black Robed Man sat motionless like a specter, his entire body seeming to merge with the shadows.

If not for Chen Lin's keen Spiritual Sense, he would have found it almost impossible to detect the man's presence.

This was the Imperial Palace's forbidden grounds, yet people came and went as freely as in a marketplace?

He'd already run into several groups. What was going on?

The visitor was none other than the Shadow Assassin from the Blood Wolf Mercenary Group's Shadow Edge Squad!

With his Divine Treasury cultivation and peerless concealment arts, he had once assassinated a powerful expert at the first level of the Dharma Aspect Realm!

"Money on the ground means someone's bought your life."

The Shadow Assassin's voice slithered through the quiet Scripture Repository like a snake's forked tongue.

He slowly raised his right hand. A gold coin slipped from his fingers, struck the bluestone floor with a crisp chime, then bounced and rolled away.

Chen Lin retreated several steps in "terror," his back against a bookshelf, his face "deathly pale." "G-good sir, spare my life! I'm only an old man in charge of looking after the books..."

Before he could finish, the Shadow Assassin had already turned into a streak of black light and lunged!

The dagger's eerie blue poison traced a deadly arc through the air—

At the critical moment, Chen Lin "panicked" and "accidentally" knocked the Bronze Token off the stone table.

The instant it hit the ground, blinding golden light suddenly flooded the entire Scripture Repository!

"Ah!"

A shrill scream tore through the night. The Shadow Assassin's form twisted into view within the dazzling golden glow of the formation.

The black robe that could shield him from Spiritual Sense was now burning with strange Golden Flames. His dagger-wielding right arm had been charred black as coal, and the acrid stench of burning flesh filled the air.

"Assassin!"

Almost at the same moment, the clatter of armor came from outside the hall.

Twelve Golden Armored Divine Guards burst through the door. Their black iron masks were etched with dragon patterns, and each one possessed Divine Treasury cultivation. They were none other than Ling Cangqiong's most elite Imperial Guards!

The Shadow Assassin endured the agony and crushed a Blood-colored jade talisman in his left hand.

With a BOOM, dense Blood Mist instantly filled the entire Scripture Repository.

By the time the mist cleared, the assassin had vanished.

Chen Lin collapsed to the floor, "still shaken," but while no one was watching, a thread of Golden Light quietly flicked from his fingertip.

It pierced the Blood Mist and silently sank into the assassin's body—the Sun Mark unique to the Great Sun Heavenly Merit!

The Great Sun Heavenly Merit had quite a few tricks.

The Golden Armored Divine Guards' Commander strode up to Chen Lin, his steps bold and forceful. His sharp gaze swept over him. "Lord Lin, are you injured?"

"Th-thank you, General, for arriving in time..." Chen Lin "tremblingly" steadied himself against the stone table and shook his "pale" face. "I-I'm fine..." As he spoke, he cast a "still shaken" glance at the Golden Flames still burning on the ground.

The Commander's gaze flickered. In the end, he rose and cupped his fists. "In that case, my lord, please take good care of yourself."

After the Golden Armored Guards' footsteps faded into the distance, the "terror" on Chen Lin's face had yet to disappear.

He gazed in the direction the Shadow Assassin had fled, his expression that of a man who had narrowly escaped death.

—The Sun Mark was relaying the assassin's location clearly through the night sky.

He wasn't getting away!

The old silver fox Cao An was still spying from the shadows. No wonder the timing had been so perfect.

You bastard.

I'll kill you sooner or later.

Soon, Chen Lin keenly sensed Cao An's faint presence moving away and gradually fading.

Without showing anything on his face, Chen Lin returned to his room. With a flicker, a clone quietly took shape. "Perfect. Let's go have a look!"

A thought flashed through his mind, followed by a trace of coldness. "I might as well get rid of one eyesore while I'm at it."

This clone was enough to fool the probing of anyone in the Dharma Aspect Realm. As for cultivators of the more profound Cave Reality Realm, why would they bother paying attention to the movements of a little "ant" like him?

Once he'd made up his mind, Chen Lin's true self blurred into a shadow and vanished from the room, following the direction of the Sun Mark he'd sensed earlier.

Little Anzi happened to be away at the moment.

Tianyan City

A swift, specter-like figure slipped into a Deep Narrow Alley.

Before he could catch his breath, a figure clad in Black Heavy Armor already stood at the alley's entrance, like an immovable mountain. It was none other than Black Tortoise, one of the Imperial Guards' Four Commanders!

The Imperial Guards' Four Commanders were Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Black Tortoise, and Phoenix.

"Oh?" Black Tortoise slowly lifted his head. His voice was low and hoarse, with the rasp of metal scraping against metal. "The Blood Wolf Mercenary Group actually dared to assassinate royalty, and before that, killed a disciple of the Yantian Sect? Heh. Interesting."

He paused, his gaze locking onto the Shadow Assassin as if it had substance. "I know who you are. You're from the Blood Wolf Mercenary Group. Your road ends here."

The Shadow Assassin's face turned deathly pale. "You... You're the ones behind all this!"

At those words, the assassin finally understood: the god of slaughter before him was the mastermind!

An icy despair seized him. He thought of the Iron Blood Squad—a team renowned for their ferocity, who had also vanished without a trace after completing their mission.

His superiors had sent him to carry out the assassination and investigate the matter at the same time.

Now he had his answer.

He roared hoarsely, unwillingness and hatred blazing in his eyes. At the same time, he quietly tightened his fingers and crushed a Recording Talisman, recording the truth within it.

"The Iron Blood Squad... You killed them too?"

Black Tortoise suddenly let out a deep laugh, dripping with bloodlust. Beneath his mask, a flash of crimson seemed to glimmer. "Those useless fools? Before they died, they were whimpering like dogs at my feet, begging me to spare them!"

Before his words had even faded, the Shadow Assassin suddenly sprang into action!

Seven Purple Lightning Talismans exploded at once, and serpents of lightning danced wildly through the alley.

Using the lightning as cover, he transformed into a streak of Blood Shadow and shot skyward—

"Pfft!"

An unbearable pain burst through his shoulder without warning. A Black Iron Heavy Sword had pierced his shoulder blade at some point, its icy blade sending a bone-deep chill through him.

The Shadow Assassin didn't even have time to scream. All he could manage was a brief, muffled groan.

Black Tortoise's body pressed close to his. Breath tinged with metal and blood brushed his ear. "Why do you think... I chose to wait for you in such a dead alley?"

The assassin panted violently, disbelief and terror filling his eyes.

"Your concealment arts are indeed decent," Black Tortoise said in a low, unhurried voice, each word hammering into the assassin's heart. "But..." His tone abruptly turned cold. "They're still only at the Divine Treasury Realm. And I..."

He paused, utterly confident and merciless. "I've long since reached the fifth level of the Dharma Aspect Realm!"

Before he'd finished speaking, Black Tortoise yanked the heavy sword free. The tremendous force instantly threw the assassin off balance.

The Shadow Assassin screamed as he was flung away like a rag doll. His back slammed into the icy wall with a BANG, and the sound of cracking bones rang out clearly.

Black Tortoise dragged the bloodied Black Iron Heavy Sword toward the assassin, taking one slow step after another.

The blade scraped against the ground with a teeth-grating shriek, leaving a winding trail of bright red blood behind him.