Blood on the Shadow Blade

The midnight wind wailed over the abandoned shipyard like the gasping breath of a dying Beast. Xiang Yi curled up deep within the steel skeleton of a rusted gantry crane. He wore a dark hoodie over his thin school uniform, but it still could not keep the needle-like cold from piercing his bones. His twelve-year-old body trembled faintly in the night wind, his teeth nearly chattering aloud. He forcibly suppressed the shivering and sank all his senses into the invisible mental link deep within his mind—the "string" connecting him to the Shadow Guard was stretched taut. Every transmission of information felt like fine sand scraping across his nerves, bringing a constant dull pain. The shadow of the poisoned dart beneath the Shadow Guard's shoulder blade lurked in his heart more coldly than the wind.

His vision switched in an instant.

Cold metal, engine oil, and the briny stench of stale seawater rushed toward him. Lanling King seemed to melt into the edge of the dim yellow emergency lights, pressed tightly against the mottled red iron wall of a shipping container. He moved like a shadow without substance, every step precisely timed to the millisecond-long blind spots created when the surveillance cameras turned. His feet made no sound. Only through the senses shared through the mental link could Xiang Yi "hear" the nearly inaudible, catlike footfalls hidden beneath the heartbeat.

[Turn left. Third container. The deepest shadow.] Xiang Yi's command slid into his consciousness like a thread of ice.

Lanling King did not reply. His figure had already drifted over like a ghost. The target container was more dilapidated than the others, its massive padlock covered in rust, giving off an air of deliberate disguise. He did not approach immediately. With a flick of his fingers behind his waist, a metal sliver as thin as a willow leaf slid between his fingers. There was no sound of lockpicking. Through the mental link came only a strange concept of "unlocking" that acted directly upon the deepest layer of consciousness—the faint click of metal springs being moved by an invisible force rang with perfect clarity in Xiang Yi's mind.

The container door opened just wide enough for someone to slip through sideways, and a heavy smell of dust and rust billowed out. The emergency light grudgingly leaked in through the gap, illuminating stacks of crates covered by thick waterproof tarps. Lanling King flashed inside. The door silently closed behind him, shutting out the last trace of light.

Absolute darkness swallowed sight, but Xiang Yi's mental threads became like a blind man's fingertips, more keenly "feeling" the outlines of the cold iron walls and crates—massive boxes, the chill texture of metal, and a faint... almost imperceptible pulse of energy?

[Front left. Behind the lowest crate.] Lanling King's calm thought came through, carrying a barely detectable gravity. He moved over as though he were part of the darkness itself. His fingers brushed across the rough, icy floor and found an extremely weak ripple of energy in one corner, like a stone dropped into still water. Shadow Power flowed into his fingertips as he pressed down soundlessly. A loose floor panel slid aside, revealing a metal safe embedded in the concrete below, gleaming with an eerie blue light.

The safe was heavy, with fine energy patterns flowing over its surface. It was clearly no ordinary object. Lanling King curled his fingers. The Shadow Power gathered at his fingertips was no longer the gentle force used to pick a lock, but an invisible awl carrying an absolute will of sharpness.

[Break!] Xiang Yi's thought was resolute.

A soundless impact exploded through the mental link. The eerie blue glow abruptly dimmed, the patterns shattered, and the heavy alloy bolt let out a muffled groan before springing inward.

The safe was not large inside. A stack of paper documents lay quietly in its center. Lanling King reached in, and the instant his fingertips touched the paper, a piercing warning surged through the mental link!

[Trap! Retreat!] Xiang Yi's thought exploded like thunder.

Too late!

"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!"

Several smoke bombs shot from the corners near the top of the container without warning and smashed violently into the floor. Dense, pungent gray-white smoke instantly burst outward and filled the entire cramped space! His vision vanished completely. The thick smoke stabbed at his eyes with agonizing pain, and the violent choking and burning agony in Lanling King's eyes transmitted through the link made Xiang Yi's own throat tighten uncontrollably! The image shared through the mental link was swallowed at once by rolling chaos!

"Whoosh! Whoosh, whoosh—!"

Shrill whistles tore through the smoke! The angles were tricky, vicious, and lethal! One streak of black light moved as though it had blended into the writhing smoke itself, perfectly avoiding the focus of Xiang Yi's psychic scan as it shot in from an unexpected blind angle!

Lanling King's form abruptly blurred within the thick smoke, as if splitting into several afterimages in an instant. He narrowly evaded several glints of cold light aimed at vital points. The metallic clash of a dagger blocking blades exploded through the smoke, and sparks flashed before vanishing. But that strange streak of black light—

"Urgh!"

A suppressed groan slammed through the mental link and into Xiang Yi's mind! It was Lanling King's voice! Immediately afterward came the teeth-grating sound of a sharp weapon piercing flesh!

A patch of smoke was forcibly blown away by a sudden eruption of Shadow Power. Lanling King was kneeling on one knee, his right hand clamped over the area beneath his left shoulder blade. Between his fingers, the tail of a black diamond-shaped dart was clearly visible! The skin around the wound was turning an eerie blue-black at a visible rate, spreading rapidly outward!

Three equally black figures seemed to condense from the smoke itself, appearing soundlessly around Lanling King in a triangular encirclement. They were wrapped head to toe in black combat attire, revealing only cold, emotionless eyes. The short ninja blades held in reverse grips gleamed with an eerie blue poisoned light beneath the remnants of the emergency lighting. The leader's gaze fell upon the wound Lanling King was covering, then swept over the document pouch clenched in his other hand. A flicker of cruel satisfaction crossed his eyes.

"Leave the item," the lead ninja said in a hoarse, dry voice like sandpaper scraping. "Leave yourself too."

Killing intent surged like an icy tide, instantly flooding the entire container—and Xiang Yi's senses as well.

Lanling King tried to rise, but the numbness in his left shoulder spread across half his body like lightning, making him stumble. As though receiving a signal, the three ninjas moved. Three streaks of eerie blue blade-light instantly ripped through the smoke and intertwined into a deadly net that descended over him! Their target was not only Lanling King, but also the vital document in his hand!

"No—!"

On the abandoned gantry crane, Xiang Yi's eyes flew open! Within his pupils, the terror accumulated across both his past and present lives, the fury of witnessing his protector wounded, and his fear of death erupted like volcanic lava! It was not calculation. It was not skill. It was the most primal, savage roar of destruction squeezed from the depths of an infant Beast's marrow when it saw its protector on the verge of death! In an instant, every emotion was ignited, compressed, and detonated by a cold, violent force that rose from the depths of his soul!

Bzzzz—!

An invisible storm abruptly spread from his thin body! The rusted steel framework beneath his feet groaned under the strain, showering down large flakes of reddish-brown rust. His psychic power surged forth with unprecedented violence. It was no longer a thread, but a roaring tidal wave!

There was only one target—the ninja inside the container whose blade was slashing toward Lanling King's neck!

"Die!!"

Xiang Yi's thought roared as though it had come from the abyss! A cold will condensed from ultimate fury, fear, and killing intent crashed into the ninja's mental core like a tangible iceberg, freezing it before crushing it apart!

Time seemed to freeze for an instant inside the container.

The ninja who had been about to bring down his blade suddenly went stiff. His cold pupils were instantly filled with a blank, deathly gray. There was no scream and no struggle. The ninja blade raised above his head slipped from his grasp with a clang. Then his head abruptly shrank inward, and thick sprays of blood mixed with fragments of brain matter burst from all seven of his orifices at once! His entire skull gave a sickening muffled crack under unimaginable internal pressure, instantly collapsing and deforming inward! The headless corpse remained rigid for half a second before crashing heavily to the ground with a dull thud.

The heavy stench of blood instantly overwhelmed the pungent smell of the smoke bombs, filling the cramped space and making one want to vomit.

Dead silence.

The remaining two ninjas seemed frozen in place. Even their breathing stopped as they stared in disbelief at the twisted, collapsed headless corpse on the ground. An absolute terror of a higher predator, born from instinct deep within their souls, seized them in an instant. Even their marrow trembled beneath the lingering aftershock of that cold will! What was that just now?!

Lanling King was also stunned by the sudden, utterly bizarre death. But his bone-deep loyalty and vast combat experience made him seize this once-in-a-lifetime opening at once! The deadly poison spread through his veins like cold fire, and every heartbeat worsened the numbness, but he poured his last strength into the Shadow Power capable of tearing through iron walls!

"Go!"

Shadow Power surged wildly! It was not an attack, but a powerful thrust that slammed against the container's weakest rear wall, as indicated by the mental link shared with Xiang Yi!

Boom!

The already corroded metal wall was torn open into a massive breach by the violent Shadow Power! The icy night wind, carrying the salty smell of seawater, poured in!

Lanling King shot through the opening like an arrow loosed from a bow, the lethal poisoned dart still lodged in his shoulder blade! He headed straight for the gantry crane where Xiang Yi was hiding!

Only then did the two ninjas snap out of it. They let out furious, frightened snarls and lunged through the breach after him!

Bang!

Lanling King crashed heavily onto the rusted platform of the gantry crane. His body shook violently from the poison and exhaustion, while more thick blue-black blood seeped from the wound in his left shoulder. Xiang Yi threw himself to his side. His small body erupted with astonishing strength as he hauled up Lanling King's heavy frame.

"This way!" Xiang Yi's voice was hoarse and trembling with the shock of surviving. His psychic power swept through the complex steel maze below like a searchlight, instantly mapping out the only possible route of escape.

The footsteps of their pursuers and the sound of garments cutting through the air already rose from below, clinging to them like maggots on bone.

Supporting Lanling King, Xiang Yi stumbled down the swaying steel stairs. Every step felt as though he were walking on cotton. His brain seemed to be repeatedly pierced by countless steel needles, every heartbeat like a sledgehammer striking his temples. Black snow danced at the edges of his vision, and blood poured uncontrollably from his nose, dripping onto the cold rust. The price of that all-out psychic eruption had far exceeded his expectations.

[Corner!] Lanling King's voice sounded in Xiang Yi's mind as he endured the dizziness and spreading numbness.

The two ninjas landed soundlessly like black bats on the platform they had just left. Their icy gazes instantly locked onto the two staggering figures fleeing below!

"There!" a hoarse voice shouted in Japanese.

The ninjas raised their hands, and several more poisoned black streaks tore through the air, shooting straight at Xiang Yi's back!

Xiang Yi did not even have time to turn around! A powerful premonition of death made his scalp explode with terror! His psychic power had long been exhausted, and his body had reached its limit! At the critical moment, he bit down hard on his tongue. The sharp pain brought him an instant of clarity! Without hesitation, he frantically compressed every last scrap of his will. It felt like using his soul, already on the verge of shattering, to block a sharp blade head-on! An invisible, crude, fragile "shield" instantly formed behind him and slammed backward!

Bzzzz!

A crisp crack like shattering glass rang out on the mental plane! Xiang Yi's vision went completely black, and the thick metallic sweetness of blood surged into both his nose and throat! Yet he could clearly "feel" those lethal poisoned darts pause strangely in midair less than half a foot from his back, their trajectories shifting by an almost imperceptible degree! One poisoned glint carrying the breath of death skimmed past the sweat-damp hairs at the back of his neck!

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

The poisoned darts grazed Xiang Yi and Lanling King before embedding themselves deep in the rusted pipes beside them with dull thuds.

"Urgh!" Xiang Yi groaned. His body swayed, and the nosebleed worsened, but his feet did not slow in the slightest. Borrowing the force of the recoil, he dragged Lanling King and rushed into a narrow corner piled with discarded cables!

"This way!" Xiang Yi roared hoarsely. His psychic power scanned frantically as he pointed toward a gap obscured by a massive abandoned winch, barely wide enough for one person to squeeze through sideways.

The two of them squeezed through in a miserable scramble. Beyond the gap was a dead corner deep in the shipyard, half-enclosed by an enormous breakwater. Cold seawater crashed against the reefs beneath the embankment.

Lanling King slid down to sit against the icy concrete breakwater. Under the faint emergency lights, his face had turned a terrifying blue-gray. His breathing was rapid and weak, every inhale accompanied by a strained rasp. Xiang Yi knelt beside him, his small body shaking violently from exhaustion and psychic backlash. Black snow whirled through his vision, while his nosebleed continued to drip, blooming into dark plum blossoms across his dusty school uniform pants.

He stretched out both hands, wanting to examine the glaring poisoned dart in Lanling King's shoulder. But the moment his eyes fell on his own fingertips, stained with rust and dust, his knuckles faintly white, he froze.

A sticky, warm sensation carrying the heavy stench of iron suddenly revived and spread across his fingertips without warning—the viscous warmth, as though it still carried the faint twitch of nerves, clung stubbornly to his fingers. It even crept along the nerves in his fingertips, thread by thread, up toward his arms... bringing a cold chill of being tainted by death. It was the sensation of blood and brain matter from another life bursting and splattering when the invisible spike in the mental world had crushed the ninja's mental core. A real, sticky sensation, carrying death's lingering warmth.

His stomach churned violently. What surged from the depths of his throat was not just nausea, but an uncontrollable spasm laced with the bitter taste of bile. Xiang Yi abruptly covered his mouth and forcibly suppressed the rising tide. Cold sweat instantly soaked through the clothes against his skin. It was not merely fear. It felt more like something once clean that belonged to "Xiang Yi" had been forever polluted and covered by that splattered scarlet blood and sticky white brain matter. A foreign emptiness, as if he had been defiled by invisible filth, seized him.

Lanling King opened his eyes with difficulty. His unfocused gaze struggled to settle on Xiang Yi's deathly pale little face. He saw his young master's trembling fingers, the lingering shock within those black pupils, and the bottomless emptiness. His bloodstained fingers tightened slightly around Xiang Yi's cold, shaking hand. In his clouded eyes, alongside loyalty, was a deep understanding that was almost pitying.

"My lord..." His voice was weak as a dying candle in the wind, yet it carried a strange soothing power. "You... did not need to..."

Before he could finish, his gaze fell on the waterproof document pouch in Xiang Yi's other hand, stained with dust and flecks of dark red blood. Its opening was slightly parted, revealing the corners of several sheets within. At the top of one page was a striking, peculiar symbol formed by ten tightly interlocking rings, glimmering with a cold, mysterious light in the dimness.

Following his gaze, Xiang Yi lowered his head and looked at the ten interlocking rings. The instant the symbol entered his eyes, the bloody hallucination lingering on his fingertips seemed to activate at once, forming a strange resonance with the symbol's cold glow that made his heart clench! The bloody illusion on his fingertips intertwined with the eerie, cold symbol before him, forming a suffocating weight.

In the distance, sirens sounded faintly, sometimes near and sometimes far, like the horn signaling the closing of a net. They shattered the dead silence of the corner, yet squeezed the already cramped space into something even more suffocating. They could not drive away the heavy bloodstink or the deeper chill brought by the cold symbol.

The night wind swept past, lifting several scraps of paper and sending them spinning down into the bottomless black seawater.