第39章 英雄试炼

Yunnan Border, deep in the mountains and ancient forests. Moonlight was shredded by the branches and leaves of towering old trees, scattered miserly across a muddy trail. The air was damp and heavy; every breath felt like swallowing cold mud. The rich stench of rotting earth mixed with the pungent scent of medicinal herbs and a faint, rust-like smell of blood, pressing heavily against the chest. The valley was deathly silent, save for the strange cries of night owls, like fingernails scraping black cloth, enough to make one's hair stand on end.

Deep in the valley stood a cluster of ramshackle buildings carved against the mountainside, like festering sores growing from the darkness. Several storm lanterns hung from crooked wooden posts, their dim yellow light swaying and casting warped shadows of the guards across slick stone walls and crude wooden fences. The guards were dressed in black, moving as swiftly as ghosts. The kunai and short blades at their waists glinted with poison-coated coldness in the dark. Before a building larger than the others, resembling a ruined temple, stood a thick wooden post topped with the half-skinned head of a beast—the mark of The Hand: "Beast."

[Target: The Hand's Yunnan Base. Kill the leader, "Poison Fang," and destroy this hideout. The intelligence is hidden in a secret compartment beneath the altar east of the ruined temple. Operatives: Lanling King, A Ke.]

Deep within the Kunlun Mountains, at the core of the Stardust Workshop, Xiang Yi was like a cold phantom. His consciousness crossed thousands of mountains and rivers, firmly locked onto the two moving points in Yunnan's dense forest. The enormous screen before him was split into two views, data streams cascading down it like waterfalls while the air purifier hummed lowly.

Lanling King's view was as steady as a boulder. He moved close along the shadow of a cold, damp rock wall, his breathing nearly inaudible. His specially made night suit absorbed light and insulated heat, making him almost part of the stone itself. Yet the old gunshot wound in his shoulder felt as if insects were gnawing at it in the cold dampness, reminding him of his body's frailty. The hand gripping his blade, however, did not tremble in the slightest.

A Ke's view was like the wind, silently flitting through the treetops around the camp so quickly that only afterimages remained. Her senses formed an invisible net, covering every guard's breathing, footsteps, and blind spots in their sightlines below. Her heartbeat was steady as a clock. Only her terrifyingly bright eyes in the darkness burned with a cold desire to hunt. Her two cicada-wing-thin short swords, Remnant Rainbow, their edges gleaming with a ghostly blue light, had already slid soundlessly from their sheaths, reflecting the wavering firelight below.

"Twelve outside, rotating in three groups. One circuit every seven seconds. Four fixed posts: the northeast platform, the southwest rooftop, and the stone lamps to either side of the ruined temple. Three inside the temple. One reeks strongly—eighty percent chance it's Poison Fang." A Ke's voice was like an ice awl, driving straight into Lanling King's and Xiang Yi's minds, swift and precise.

"Understood." Lanling King's voice was low. "I'll infiltrate. You clear the field. Make it loud."

"Understood." A Ke's reply was as short as a blade's edge.

Before her words had faded, both of them moved at once!

A Ke's figure dove fiercely from the treetops, fast enough to tear the air apart! She did not choose the nearest target. Like a blue bolt of lightning delivering death, she pounced straight at the sentry on the farthest southwest rooftop!

"Pfft!"

A soft sound, like a rotten fruit being punctured. A tiny red dot appeared on the ninja's throat. Terror had only just reached his face when his body went limp and toppled over. A Ke had vanished before he fell, leaving behind only a faint blue afterimage.

Almost at the same time, Lanling King moved. Like a shadow merging into a crevice in the rock, he silently slid toward the rear of the ruined temple. There was a narrow drainage gap there—the only blind spot through which he could slip inside.

A Ke's slaughter began. She moved too quickly for the human eye to follow. The guards only saw a ghostly blue afterimage flash at the corners of their eyes before searing pain seized their throats! She appeared wildly from the shadows, gaps between wooden huts, and blind spots in their vision! Each appearance brought a streak of blue blade-light! Their screams sounded as though their necks had been clamped shut, usually cut off after only half a cry!

"Urgh—!"

"Enemy attack! Over there!"

"Fuck! An expert! Form up! Hit her with shuriken!" a minor leader screamed until his voice cracked.

Chaos spread like a plague. In less than ten seconds, seven of the twelve patrolling guards outside had fallen! The attention of the two guards by the temple's stone lamps had been completely drawn to the bloody massacre.

Now!

Lanling King flowed through the narrow gap and into the ruined temple like a wisp of weightless smoke. The temple was dimly lit, several oil lamps flickering as a thick smell of incense mixed with a strangely sweet, fishy odor. A more ferocious beast-head totem stood in the center. Beneath it, three men were looking uncertainly toward the commotion outside.

One was especially short and wiry, dressed in a dark purple hooded ninja outfit. He wore a metal mask engraved with serpent fangs, exposing only his eyes and mouth. A strange curved blade hung at his waist, its hilt set with a ghostly green stone—this was Poison Fang! The other two were his guards, their auras steady.

Lanling King did not pause for even an instant! Target: Poison Fang! He seemed to grow directly out of the shadow in the corner, his dagger carrying killing intent so dense it felt tangible. Soundlessly, he drove it straight toward Poison Fang's back! Fast! Precise! Ruthless! The full strength of his life was concentrated in that single thrust!

It was a trap!

At the instant the dagger cut through the air, an extremely faint green flash seemed to flicker beneath Poison Fang's hood! His short body twisted bizarrely like a boneless snake, sliding sideways at an unbelievable angle! At the same time, a sharp, piercing hiss burst from his mouth!

"Hiss—!"

The sound was like a poisoned needle driven into Lanling King's mind! His movements instantly slowed by a fraction.

[Mental shock! Movement distorted! Old injury flaring up!]

That mere tenth of a second was enough for the lethal strike to skim past Poison Fang's clothes!

"Courting death!" The guards reacted with startling speed. One roared and drew his sword, slashing at Lanling King's neck with a fierce wind behind it! The other flung both hands up, sending a rain of poisoned throwing stars over Lanling King's entire body!

Lanling King's dagger twisted in a strange arc, precisely knocking aside the incoming blade. His body bent like a phantom, narrowly slipping through the gaps in the poisoned darts. But Poison Fang's counterattack arrived! He abruptly slapped the ghostly green gemstone on his sword hilt!

"Buzz!"

A pale green mist, visible to the naked eye and carrying a sweet, fishy stench, burst from the gemstone and lunged at Lanling King like a living creature!

"Poison!" Lanling King's pupils contracted sharply as he held his breath and retreated. The poison mist spread too quickly, and a trace still slipped into his nose. Burning pain instantly raced from his nasal cavity to his throat, and the world before his eyes began to sway.

[Poisoned! Snake-Saliva Paralysis! Mind slowing! Vision blurring!]

At the same time,

[A trace of poison from the Corrode-Bone-Erode-Heart Dart has touched him. Not fatal yet.]

Outside the temple, A Ke instantly sensed the energy eruption inside and the disturbance in Lanling King's aura! The scan fed back the broken door, swaying oil lamps, fighting figures, poison mist... and, among the pile of "corpses" in the corner, a trace of deliberately concealed, cold malicious intent! An ambush! But saving Lanling King came first!

"Lanling King!" she shouted sharply through their minds. Her twin blades severed a ninja's neck, and her body turned into a blue lightning bolt ripping through the night sky as she slammed toward the temple doors without regard for anything else!

"Boom!" The wooden doors shattered!

The instant she rushed in, killing intent surged in A Ke's eyes!

Lanling King was being entangled by the two guards, his movements visibly slowed by poison. Poison Fang grinned viciously as a pitch-black poison dart, its tail glowing with miserable green fluorescence, silently shot toward the opening at Lanling King's left ribs exposed during his block! Tricky! So fast it seemed to teleport!

"Watch out!" A Ke screamed, throwing Remnant Rainbow from her left hand with all her strength!

Clang!

A crisp ring! The short sword precisely struck the poison dart's tail, knocking it off course! The dart grazed past Lanling King's ribs and thudded into the wooden pillar behind him! Acrid white smoke instantly rose from the point of contact, and the wood visibly corroded and blackened!

Yet, at the very moment A Ke threw her sword, when her old momentum had faded and new force had yet to rise—

From the pile of "corpses" in the temple corner, toppled by the force of the broken door, a black shadow sprang up like a lurking venomous snake! Faster than Poison Fang! Colder! The true killing move!

A short blade coated in ghostly blue poison-light tore through the air with a shriek, stabbing straight at A Ke's completely unguarded back! Tricky! Precise! Ruthless to the bone!

"A Ke!" Lanling King's eyes nearly split with fury! He wanted to save her, but she was too far away! With the poison numbing him and the two guards attacking madly, he could not break free at all!

Every hair on A Ke's body stood on end! A lethal chill pierced into her marrow like an ice awl! The tearing sound of wind behind her had arrived! In that razor-thin instant between life and death, a top assassin's instincts erupted! Her body forcibly lunged forward and left in a move that should have been impossible, while the remaining short sword in her right hand swung backward to block!

"Riiip—!"

The blue poison blade failed to pierce her back, but it viciously sliced open the outer side of A Ke's right arm! Her tough night suit tore like paper, leaving a wound deep enough to expose bone! Blood spurted out! Intense numbness and searing pain spread wildly from the wound! That ghostly blue poison-light moved like a living thing, racing through her veins. Her muscles felt as if countless icy needles were piercing and tearing them apart. What came from her nerve endings was not pain, but cold, suffocating death! Her right arm instantly went numb! The short sword flew from her hand!

"Urgh!" A Ke grunted and fell, her right arm completely useless!

"Die!" Having succeeded, the disguised elite ninja's eyes flashed with cruel delight. Without pausing, his poisoned blade stabbed again toward A Ke's throat as she lay on the ground!

At the critical moment!

A dark shadow appeared in front of A Ke as though it had teleported!

It was Lanling King! Ignoring the blade slashing down behind him, he used all his strength to smash his dagger viciously into the attacker's wrist! At the same time, he lunged forward, using his back to forcefully knock aside the other guard's sword thrust aimed at A Ke.

[Severe back injury!]

"Pfft!" The dagger nailed itself into the attacker's wrist, and the poisoned blade fell free!

"Squelch!" The guard's blade also tore a long bloody gash across Lanling King's back! Blood instantly soaked through his black clothes!

Under the twin torment of agony and poison, Lanling King's vision darkened, yet he stood firmly in front of A Ke. His eyes held the madness of someone fighting for his life.

"Go..." A Ke struggled to push him away. The poison had numbed her entire body, and her voice was weak.

Poison Fang looked at the carnage before him and let out a piercing laugh, slapping the green gemstone at his waist again. Fresh poison mist began to gather. The two injured guards also grinned viciously as they closed in.

In the monitoring room, veins bulged across Xiang Yi's forehead, and cold sweat instantly soaked his back! On the screen, Lanling King's and A Ke's life signs were plunging off a cliff! Blood-red alarms flashed madly!

[Lanling King: Snake-Saliva Paralysis Poison + trace Corrode-Bone-Erode-Heart Dart poison! Seriously injured! More than half his mobility is gone! Back bleeding!]

[A Ke: Shadow-Throat-Sealing Poison (severe)! Right arm disabled! Poison spreading! Near death!]

[Poison Fang: lethal neurotoxic mist! Covering the ruined temple! Survival probability below ten percent!]

The cold notifications rang like funeral bells!

Xiang Yi's fingers became a blur over the console! His mind felt as though ten thousand needles were piercing it! The exchange list scrolled wildly!

"Exchange! Universal Potent Antidote Needle! Lock onto A Ke!" Xiang Yi roared through the consciousness channel, with unprecedented urgency and madness.

[Exchange successful! The injection has appeared in the hidden pouch on A Ke's belt!]

A Ke's consciousness was being muddled by the deadly poison, but Xiang Yi's voice exploded like thunder! Her survival instinct and assassin's will made her bite through her tongue! The sharp pain gave her a trace of clarity! Her intact left hand shot to her waist like lightning!

She pulled out a cold metal tube as thick as a finger, its tip fitted with a sharp needle! Without the slightest hesitation, she drove it viciously into the muscle above the wound on her right arm, where the poison had not yet completely eaten through!

"Hiss—!"

Ice-blue medicine was injected under high pressure! Like liquid nitrogen rushing into her veins, it collided explosively with the rampaging ghostly blue poison-light! A Ke felt as though her right arm had been thrown into a furnace and then stuffed into an ice cellar. The extreme burning and freezing exploded into a wash of bloody red and pallid white before her eyes, and she nearly shattered her teeth! Her body convulsed violently as if electrocuted, a suppressed beastly roar forcing its way from her throat! Amid that inhuman torment, the wildly spreading blue of death seemed to be seized by an invisible giant hand. Its corrosion visibly slowed and froze.

[Deadly poison erosion greatly slowed! Paralysis has stopped spreading! Life temporarily preserved!]

"Aaargh—!" A Ke let out a roar that barely sounded human. Forcibly suppressing the agony and numbness wracking her body, she slammed her left hand against the ground! Her body shot toward the attacker whose wrist Lanling King had injured like an arrow loosed from a bow!

Her movements staggered and twisted under the severe poison and injuries, tragic beyond measure, but the killing intent to take her enemy down with her was even more terrifying! The attacker's wrist throbbed with pain, his poisoned blade gone. Seeing A Ke's desperate charge, fear appeared on his face for the first time!

"Stop her!" Poison Fang shrieked, sending the newly gathered poison mist toward A Ke!

Blood poured from Lanling King's back. The poison was eating into his nerves, and his vision blurred into overlapping images. But he saw A Ke's desperate counterattack after taking the injection. He saw the poison mist Poison Fang had released, about to swallow her whole. If that mist covers her, it's over! A wild force exploded from his dying body! He suddenly turned, ignoring the blade hacking down behind him, and used his last strength to leap at a dead guard nearby—an armed high-explosive grenade hung at the guard's waist! He even took the guard's slash on his shoulder, flesh splitting open! He seized the grenade and hurled it hard into the cloud of poison mist Poison Fang had released!

"Booom—!!!"

A deafening explosion erupted inside the cramped ruined temple! Violent flames and shockwaves instantly swallowed the poison mist! Splintered wood, chunks of stone, and human remains scattered like a torrential downpour!

Poison Fang bore the brunt of it. He was blasted backward into the beast-head pillar behind him, his mask shattering to reveal half a charred, twisted face as he spat blood wildly! The two guards were also swept down by the shockwave, screaming as they were thrown away!

The attacker A Ke had targeted was also knocked off balance by the blast!

That instant!

Like a parasite clinging to bone, A Ke ignored the blast's impact and the flying debris. Her only remaining left hand precisely seized the attacker's injured wrist! Her five fingers tightened like steel pincers!

"Crack!" The sound of shattering bone made one's teeth ache!

"Aah—!" The attacker screamed miserably!

There was no ripple in A Ke's eyes. As he bent over from the agony, her left hand slid upward and coiled around his neck like a venomous snake! Her body strength, the inertia of her weight, and an ancient strangling technique erupted at once!

"Crack!"

The snap of his cervical vertebrae was especially piercing beneath the fading echoes of the explosion! The terror in the attacker's eyes froze, and his body went limp.

A Ke released him. Exhaustion and lingering poison made her stagger backward into the shattered wall, where she gasped for breath. Blood ran down her right arm and from the corner of her mouth. The fingers of her remaining left hand spasmed from overexertion, trembling pale and white. Though the poison had been suppressed, nerve damage and blood loss darkened her vision. She could barely remain standing against the broken wall. Every breath pulled at the agony in her right arm and internal organs.

The smoke and dust slowly dispersed.

The ruined temple was a complete mess, as if ravaged by some giant beast. The beast-head totem leaned crookedly, broken apart. Poison Fang lay collapsed beneath a pillar, his chest a mangled mass of flesh. He had only one breath left as he stared in terror at the two blood-soaked assassins. The two guards struggled to rise, both badly injured.

Lanling King knelt on one knee not far from A Ke. The wound across his back was a grotesque, gaping tear, while poison had turned his face bluish-green and made his breathing heavy. His body swayed slightly, more blood seeping from his back with every breath. The numbness wrapped around his limbs and mind like icy vines, and the double vision blurred even Poison Fang's position. Yet the wrist holding his blade remained steady. It was instinct carved into his bones, his dagger fixed unwaveringly on the dying Poison Fang.

A Ke panted, her cold gaze sweeping over Poison Fang before settling on Lanling King. Her voice was hoarse, yet carried a strange note of approval. "That blast... had some kick, old man." She was referring to the crucial grenade.

Lanling King laboriously lifted his head. Looking at A Ke's battered state and her trembling but tightly clenched left hand, he forced out an ugly smile. "You... didn't... hold me back either."

The mission was not over. The intelligence. And... ending this completely.

In the monitoring room, Xiang Yi watched the two bloodied figures on the screen and their faint yet stubbornly sustained life signs. Only then did his taut nerves loosen slightly. A fierce wave of dizziness struck him, and he braced himself against the cold console, his knuckles turning white. Sweat dripped from his chin. His overdrawn mental strength was like a dried-up well, throbbing with needle-like pain.

[Mental strength nearing exhaustion]

Remote control, exchanging the antidote, and intense emotions had drained him dry.

[Warning: Lanling King and A Ke remain critically injured! Emergency treatment urgently required!]

The cold notification declared the price of their bitter victory. Xiang Yi looked at the screen. There was no joy of victory on his young face, only bottomless gravity and cold determination.

"Secure the target, get the item, and withdraw immediately!" Xiang Yi's voice rang through their minds, carrying an unquestionable command and a trace of exhaustion. "Reinforcements... will be there soon."

He glanced at another signal rapidly approaching on the screen—the Stardust Workshop's rapid-response team. The cost was enormous, but they had to come.

Lanling King and A Ke locked their eyes on the dying Poison Fang once more, their killing intent gathering.