In his first life as an assassin, Teng Qingshan had already reached extraordinary heights with the Flying Dagger.
After crossing over to the Nine Provinces Continent, he had taken his skill with the Flying Dagger to an entirely new level.
Now, having crossed over once again, Teng Qingshan's body was still weak, but the daggers he threw were already comparable to bullets fired from a small-caliber handgun.
Within a hundred meters, they were nearly impossible to guard against.
That was also why Teng Qingshan had dared to get involved.
Every image transmitted from the Little Cauldron seemed to have a purpose.
Teng Qingshan didn't care about those three people, but he was very interested in that mysterious map.
Anran Homestay.
It was an ordinary, unremarkable homestay.
Yet tonight, it held three top assassins from the underground world, along with Teng Qingshan, hidden in the shadows.
Time passed slowly.
Assassins were all patient.
Hidden in the weeds, White Bear and Monkey held their breath, as motionless as two stones.
Meanwhile, Lu Hong showed no impatience inside the room. He took two wooden poles from his backpack, then pulled out a spearhead.
With a twist and a turn, the two unremarkable poles joined together to form a one-meter-long staff. Lu Hong twisted the tip, then attached the spearhead.
In an instant,
a short spear, one meter long, had taken shape.
"It's a pity that this is the most I can do in China. Still, it's enough to deal with those two."
Lu Hong watched the clock on the wall reach 9:10.
Then he rose, gripped the short spear, and soundlessly slipped out through an inconspicuous window at the back of the homestay.
Lu Hong hadn't made a single sound throughout the entire process.
"Is he making his move?"
Teng Qingshan raised an eyebrow.
As a veteran assassin with a high vantage point, he could naturally see every move Lu Hong made.
"This man seems pretty capable. His Xingyi Fist foundation is solid in every movement. Let's see if he can deal with those two assassins."
Teng Qingshan's figure flickered. Five fruit knives suddenly appeared in each of his hands, and he stealthily moved forward as well.
"White Bear, why do I feel like something's off?" Monkey whispered suddenly. Martial Artists who practiced Internal Martial Arts were generally very perceptive, with keen sixth senses. At that moment, Monkey sensed that something wasn't right.
"Lu Hong won't come out for a walk for another ten minutes. It's quiet around here, too. Nothing seems wrong." White Bear checked his night-vision watch, glanced around, and replied in a low voice.
Suddenly,
Lu Hong appeared behind the weeds, thirty meters away. He hurled the short spear in his hand like a javelin, sending it straight toward the back of Monkey's head.
Whoosh—thud!
The sharp spearhead flashed coldly in the moonlight.
Monkey was worthy of being an expert nearing the grandmaster level in Taiji Fist. The moment he sensed the rush of air, he dodged to the right.
But Lu Hong, a grandmaster who had thrown with all his strength, had sent the spear flying at nearly the limit of speed. It even produced a sonic boom!
Though Monkey had sensed the danger and tried to dodge, the short spear still shot toward him with unstoppable force!
Rip!
The sound of flesh being torn apart rang out.
At the critical moment, Monkey unleashed all his potential and forcibly shifted a short distance to the upper right. The spear, which should have pierced the back of his head, instead struck his left shoulder.
In an instant, a cloud of blood burst from his entire left shoulder, and part of his arm went flying.
"White Bear!"
Monkey shouted through the pain.
Even without Monkey's warning, White Bear knew they'd been exposed. He caught a glimpse of Monkey's mangled state from the corner of his eye, and his eyes flared with fury. "You're asking for death!"
Boom!
His massive fist, wrapped in a metal gauntlet, slammed down at Lu Hong as he charged toward him.
"Hmph. Not bad."
Seeing that his confident throw hadn't killed Monkey outright, Lu Hong was a little surprised. His rapidly advancing figure darted sideways like a ghost, and White Bear's enormous fist struck empty air.
And Lu Hong had dodged straight toward the spot where Monkey was rolling!
"Die!"
Lu Hong's right hand curled into a claw and reached for Monkey, who seemed to be rolling helplessly.
But the next moment,
Monkey turned his head and glared viciously at Lu Hong. Then he suddenly grinned.
"Damn it!"
Lu Hong had assumed that even if Monkey survived losing an entire arm, he'd have lost most of his fighting ability. But it was clear now that Monkey could still fight back.
Sure enough,
Monkey thrust out his unharmed right hand, aiming the dark mouth of a gun at Lu Hong as he lunged toward him.
Pfft, pfft, pfft!
The silenced pistol fired in rapid succession, the bullets barely making a sound and hardly noticeable in the night.
Just as the bullets were about to hit him, Lu Hong's body, still charging forward at high speed, suddenly twisted like a snake, slipping at an uncanny angle past most of the shots coming at him.
But in that split second, he could only dodge so far. One bullet still pierced his right elbow.
"White Bear, kill him!"
Having made his last desperate counterattack, Monkey finally tipped his head to one side and passed out from blood loss.
"It's been a long time since I took a hit this bad."
Lu Hong rose from his roll to the left. The joint in his right arm jerked, and as his muscles and bones shifted, he forced a bullet out of his flesh.
"Die!"
Hearing Monkey's final shout before he passed out, White Bear's eyes instantly turned bloodshot. It had been a long time since their team had taken such a heavy loss, too!
Two meters tall and built like a human tank, White Bear charged furiously toward where Lu Hong had rolled, swinging both massive fists.
"Hmph!" Though Lu Hong was injured, his control over his muscles was at its limit. He had already stopped the bleeding by controlling them, temporarily suppressing the wound. Only the strength in his right arm had been affected.
"Even with only my left hand, I can deal with a stupid bear like you!"
Dressed all in black, Lu Hong watched White Bear charge toward him. The man seemed slow, but his speed was no slower than that of the world's top sprinters. A trace of disdain crossed Lu Hong's lips.
"If I hadn't broken through, today might really have been dangerous. But now..."
Whoosh!
Lu Hong's well-proportioned legs drove powerfully against the ground, and his speed instantly surged to its limit. He easily dodged White Bear's brutal charge, even using the surrounding terrain to pull the short spear from where it had been stuck in the ground!
With a weapon in hand, Lu Hong's aura changed once more.
"I didn't expect him to be a spear grandmaster, too." Teng Qingshan, watching the fight from the shadows, smiled faintly.
Indeed,
Xingyi Fist could naturally be adapted into Spear Technique.
It could be said that every Xingyi Fist grandmaster had considerable skill with the spear.
The man in black before him was clearly an expert among experts.
"Damn it!"
White Bear felt a flicker of unease when he realized that even at full strength, he hadn't managed to catch up.
Lu Hong with a weapon and Lu Hong without one were two entirely different people!
"But at least Monkey injured his right arm before passing out. I still have a chance of winning this fight!"
White Bear was tall and powerful, and fearsome in a head-on battle. Even an ordinary Xingyi Fist grandmaster wouldn't gain much against him.
But his weakness was too obvious!
For someone as big as him, his speed was far too slow compared with other experts of the same level!
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