Assassination

The pockmarked giant stood with a knife in hand, staring at the battered door with a sinister grin.

"Why make such a fuss over some kid who hasn't even grown his first whiskers? The deputy gang leader insisted we come to this godforsaken place to assassinate him. If you ask me, we should've chopped off his head in broad daylight and tossed it into the back alley for the dogs!"

Behind him, the man in black cautiously looked around. "Shh! You've got a death wish, talking about the deputy gang leader like that?"

"What's there to be afraid of? The deputy gang leader can't hear us anyway!"

The pockmarked giant finished speaking and strode forward, his footsteps thudding against the ground. Then he pried open the dilapidated door with his broadsword and entered the cramped, narrow room.

Two curtains hung inside, separating the "rooms" of Chen Lan and Chen Mo.

Calling them curtains was generous—they were just two ragged pieces of cloth, slightly larger than usual.

The pockmarked man walked up to the curtain on the east side, raised his broadsword, spat on its edge, and then broke into a chilling grin.

The next moment, he lunged forward. His broadsword slashed through the curtain in an instant and plunged into the room behind it.

But the scene he'd imagined, with blood spraying everywhere, never happened. He tore the curtain aside in fury, only to find the room completely empty. There was nothing in it but a hard wooden plank, just big enough for someone to lie on.

At the same time, he suddenly felt a chill at his back and spun around.

He'd only turned halfway when a figure deftly dodged the man in black and drove a punch toward the pockmarked man's throat.

The pockmarked man reacted quickly, immediately raising his broadsword to block.

"Clang!"

The force of the punch slammed into the broadsword, making it shudder violently.

At the same time, the man in black drew a short blade, darted behind Chen Mo with a swift leap, and stabbed at him.

Chen Mo was unarmed. Against one mid-stage Ming Jin fighter and one late-stage fighter, both wielding weapons, his chances of killing them were slim.

He knew it, so he could only rely on the movement advantage of Flowing Cloud Attack and look for an opening to strike.

With that in mind, Chen Mo immediately used Flowing Cloud Attack to spin away from the short blade, then followed with a flying punch that struck his opponent's shoulder blade.

"Thud!"

The man in black staggered back two steps from the blow.

A hint of fear flashed in his eyes. During the ambush on the merchant caravan not long ago, Chen Mo had been little better than him. But in this brief clash today, Chen Mo was clearly stronger than before.

"Don't you dare show him you're scared! Get in there and take him down!"

The pockmarked man roared and swung his broadsword horizontally at Chen Mo from behind, the blade whistling through the air.

Chen Mo caught the reflection of the broadsword in the short blade held by the man in black. He immediately bent backward, and the broadsword swept past his hair.

In the blink of an eye, Chen Mo spun up and drove a punch toward his opponent's armpit.

"Thud!"

The punch landed. The pockmarked man's face twisted in an instant, and the agony in his armpit nearly made him drop his broadsword. But he reacted quickly, changing to a two-handed grip and sweeping the blade at Chen Mo's legs.

Chen Mo leaped backward, landing lightly on the dining table. The broadsword cut through empty air.

Caught up in the attack, the pockmarked man raised his weapon and slashed wildly ahead. Under the moonlight, the blade flashed with streaks of icy light.

By the time he hacked the dining table to pieces, Chen Mo had already leaped into the air. He planted his left foot on the wrist gripping the broadsword and pressed down hard.

Clang! Clang!

The broadsword slipped from the man's grasp and hit the ground.

Seizing the opening, Chen Mo quickly gathered Stone-Crushing Strike in his hand and slammed it into the pockmarked man's chest.

A swordsman without his sword was no different from a fish on the chopping board when facing a fist fighter.

At the same time, however, the man in black charged at Chen Mo from behind with his short blade. He'd chosen the safest moment to attack: while Chen Mo was throwing everything into his assault on the pockmarked man.

Even so, Chen Mo's punch did not falter for an instant.

The pockmarked man's expression changed drastically, and he raised a fist to block.

Stone-Crushing Strike crashed into him!

Their fists collided. The pockmarked man's seemingly massive fist was no match for Stone-Crushing Strike; it was instantly knocked aside.

Stone-Crushing Strike continued into his chest. Chen Mo felt his fist break through ribs and sink into the soft flesh of the man's chest.

"Ugh!"

The pockmarked man spat out blood mixed with fragments of his organs, splattering half of Chen Mo's body.

By then, the man in black's short blade was already at Chen Mo's back. Chen Mo twisted aside, causing the blade to miss by a few inches, but it carved a deep gash in his arm. Blood quickly stained half his sleeve.

But he had no time to tend to the wound. He spun away, retreating, and picked up the broadsword lying nearby.

With the broadsword in hand, he felt a little more at ease—and a surge of murderous intent rose within him.

The pockmarked man was struggling to his feet. In a hoarse voice, barely recognizable as speech, he shouted, "He's wounded... Kill him... Hurry, kill him..."

The man in black nodded, but didn't dare take a single step forward. The hand holding his blade trembled slightly.

Chen Mo had been this formidable with nothing but his fists and feet. Now that he had a broadsword in hand, how was he any different from an assassin?

With that thought, the man in black not only held his ground but also took a step back and to the side.

Seeing this, disappointment and terror spread across the pockmarked man's face.

Though he'd killed many people, now he too trembled for his life.

Chen Mo's gaze sharpened. Spotting the opening as the man in black shifted aside, he planted his foot and leaped over the man's head, bringing his broadsword down toward the pockmarked man's throat.

A cold gleam of steel flashed before the pockmarked man's eyes. The blade's reflection in his pupils grew larger in an instant.

"Squelch!"

Half of the pockmarked man's head was severed, held on by only a few neck bones. Blood gushed out at once.

His terrified eyes remained open, their eyeballs bulging, but the life in his pupils had already faded.

"Quiet."

Chen Mo spoke calmly, as if he'd casually killed a stray dog by the roadside.

He turned to face the man in black, who backed away in terror until he was trapped in a corner with nowhere left to go.

In the man in black's eyes, Chen Mo seemed to be the real assassin of the night.

But his desperate will to survive made him raise his blade and dance through every sword technique he knew, until the weapon blurred into a faint afterimage.

Chen Mo held the broadsword in his hands. A longer weapon meant a greater advantage; its destructive power was beyond compare to the short blades assassins carried for their lightness and ease of concealment.

The broadsword swept forward with a rush of wind. In just a few breaths, the two weapons had clashed dozens of times, occasionally sending sparks flying.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

At one point, Chen Mo abruptly twisted his wrist. His opponent's short blade was knocked from his grasp and sent flying into the corner.

"Whoosh!"

The broadsword instantly came to rest against the man in black's neck.

The man in black trembled all over and instinctively raised his hands to beg for mercy. His trousers were already soaked.

"Sp... spare me..."

Chen Mo's gaze hardened. "I ask, you answer. If I don't like your answer, you die."

The man immediately nodded like a pounding pestle. "All right, all right. If I answer well..."

"If you answer well, I'll let you go. First, did you try to assassinate me for revenge?"

The man nodded and shook his head at the same time. "It wasn't all for revenge. The deputy gang leader said to kill you and search your body for a mysterious cultivation manual."

"Hm?" Chen Mo tightened his grip on the broadsword.

"Ah! I'm not lying. That's really what he said."

Chen Mo's expression darkened. "How close are the Hansha Gang and the Zhao Family?"

The man thought for a moment. "I only know they're very close. Our deputy gang leader seems to... take orders from the Zhao Family Head."

"Have you ever met your gang leader?"

The man immediately shook his head. "Our gang leader is very mysterious. I've never seen him..."

Chen Mo nodded slightly. "You answered well."

"Then..."

Before the man could finish speaking, the broadsword suddenly dropped.

"Thump!"

The broadsword hit the ground. Beside it, a severed head rolled away.