Fourfold Kill!

The difficulty of the Shu Road is greater than climbing to the sky.

Clown had never traveled the Shu Road, but he felt the mountain paths of Hate Mountain were much harder to navigate.

Shriiiik!

The sound of tearing fabric reached them.

Clown glanced back and let out a cry of alarm, "Ah, my white suit!"

"This is my favorite suit."

"What kind of terrible road is this? I'm going to kill you, kill you!"

He drew a double-barreled pistol from his waist and pulled the trigger on the thorny tree that had ripped his clothes. With a loud bang, the tree was blasted into smithereens, leaving a large pit where it had just grown.

He was also hit by the powerful blast of air, his small braid at the back of his head scattering, leaving him in a state of disheveled, wild-haired madness.

Mr. Shanhe frowned and said angrily, "Clown, your shouting will alert the enemy. Also, energy bullets aren't meant to be used like that; you've wasted them all."

"Alert the enemy?" Clown pointed to the bald, burly man at the front of the group, wielding a saber to clear the path, and said mockingly, "He's making such a commotion up ahead, do we really need me to alert the enemy? Forget people, you won't even see a single mouse."

Clown's abilities were unknown, but he was a master at drawing aggro.

As expected, the bald man was enraged. Gripping his saber, he charged at Clown and roared, "Believe it or not, I'll chop your head off with one swing!"

Clown toyed with the pistol in his hand, his expression playful as he said, "I don't believe it."

Tsk, tsk, tsk. Not only can he draw aggro, but he can also court death. Truly excellent.

The bald man's saber suddenly shone with a brilliant silver light, the blade trembling. As Yin Yang Qi was infused into it, the saber was no longer an ordinary weapon.

Clearly, he was also a cultivator.

And at least at the peak of the Body Tempering realm.

Clown blew into the muzzle of his gun as if injecting energy into it, completely unfazed by the bald man's threat.

"You're looking for death!" the bald man roared, raising his saber high, intending to cleave Clown's head.

Slap!

A large hand landed on his wrist. Mr. Shanhe shook his head at the bald man and said, "Jinta, don't be rash."

Jinta roared indignantly, "Am I being rash? It was this Clown who provoked me first."

"You know what kind of person he is." Mr. Shanhe's eyes flashed with red light, and he said in a deep voice, "And I promise you, if he dares to behave like this again, I will personally break his neck."

Jinta glared fiercely at Clown, then released his Yin Yang Qi and, carrying his saber, walked to the front of the group again.

He was responsible for clearing the path, and due to the unique nature of his cultivation method, he could also provide overall defense for the team at critical moments.

After Jinta had moved further ahead, Mr. Shanhe looked at Clown and asked, "Did you hear what I said?"

"Heard it, heard it. I'm not deaf, how could I not hear?" Clown said with a chuckle, looking at Mr. Shanhe. He knew the old man was truly angry. If he pushed too hard, Mr. Shanhe might just make an example of him.

"Mr. Shanhe, I understand what you mean. You don't want any conflict among us, you don't want the team to be disunited. Actually, I have a very clever suggestion: why don't you let everyone act separately? That way, wouldn't everyone be happy?"

"No." Mr. Shanhe immediately refused. "I've made this mistake before. Letting everyone split up led to the deaths of Shadowless and Wufeng. The situation is quite clear now; the target has other experts by their side. Therefore, we cannot give them the opportunity to pick us off one by one."

"Alright then. When people are together, there will be friction. If I argue with them again later..."

"I will still break your neck."

Mr. Shanhe's patience with Clown had reached its limit. They hadn't even seen a trace of that Phoenix yet, and they had already lost two key members.

If he continued to cause trouble like this, he feared their entire group would be annihilated.

As the leader of this group, he had to be responsible for the entire team. Moreover, he himself didn't want to die in this chaotic place.

He wanted to return to New Star, where his haven of comfort and indulgence awaited him.

Clown shrugged casually, but this time he didn't retort to Mr. Shanhe's words.

The Hate Mountain was covered in dense vegetation and thorns; every step was extremely difficult. If Jinta hadn't been constantly hacking his way through, many areas would have been impassable.

Even though these assassins were all highly skilled, navigating through this dark forest was extremely draining.

"Lord Shanhe, should we look for them again tomorrow?" the Snake Woman suggested. "The enemy is hidden, and we are exposed. It's too dangerous to navigate through the dense forest like this."

Mr. Shanhe pondered for a moment and said, "No. Wufeng and Shadowless have already alerted them, and they know we exist. If we wait until dawn to search, they'll likely have vanished without a trace."

"If it's this difficult for us to travel at night, where else could they escape to?"

"Don't forget, the owner of that small courtyard is named Tang Fei, and he is the most formidable hunter in the Hate Mountain District," Lord Shanhe said. "Clearly, when they left, they also abducted Tang Fei and his family. Otherwise, why would his house be empty?"

"No matter how skilled an ordinary hunter is, how skilled can he be?" The Snake Woman was dismissive of the hunter named Tang Fei. "Don't forget, we are the professionals when it comes to tracking and killing."

"We cannot take risks." Mr. Shanhe insisted on his decision. "Eliminate the target within a controllable range. Once the mission is complete, we'll all return to New Star. Won't we get whatever we want then?"

"Alright, I was just saying. I'll follow Mr. Shanhe's orders." The Snake Woman nodded in agreement.

"Has your little snake sent back any information?" Mr. Shanhe asked.

"After sending back an image of them entering the dense forest and heading in this direction an hour ago, their tracks went cold. I suspect they discovered the reconnaissance snake." The Snake Woman looked worried. "However, I've given it new instructions: as soon as it finds any trace of them, it will alert us immediately."

Just then, Jinta, who was leading the way, suddenly roared, "Careful, there's an ambush!"

As he spoke, he used his saber to deflect several bamboo arrows that were flying towards them.

The others immediately rolled around, searching for cover.

Swish, swish, swish.

Rows of bamboo arrows swept across, covering the entire area.

They either chopped with sabers, slashed with swords, or dodged with nimble footwork.

After several volleys of bamboo arrows, none of the assassins were injured.

"A mere trick!" Shanhe sneered. "This is the most basic arrow formation; it requires a mechanism to be triggered or ropes to be pulled to activate."

"Since we've encountered an arrow formation, it means they're ahead. Let's put in some effort, finish them off, and then we can go back and take a hot bath."

"Kill them all!" Jinta, gripping his saber, charged forward first.

The others followed closely, unwilling to fall behind. What if this big guy managed to chop up that little bird? Where would they go to argue?

Whoosh!

Jinta felt his body suddenly lift into the air as a large net scooped him up from below.

Jinta's face turned ashen. He tried to chop open the net with his saber, but found his limbs completely unable to move.

He was like a fish caught in a net, with extremely limited space to move. The more he struggled, the tighter the net bound him.

Just then, Jinta felt the hairs on his body stand on end. The crisis awareness of a top assassin told him he was being locked onto by a powerful aura.

The night was as dark as ink, and an arrow, darker than ink, emerged from the darkness, flying like lightning towards Jinta, who was suspended in mid-air.

A chain of deadly moves!

Jinta felt his mouth go dry. Forgetting his assassin's pride, he urgently shouted, "Save me!"

Clang!

The rope snapped, and the fishing net rapidly fell.

Mr. Shanhe took a step forward and caught Jinta's body as he was about to fall to the ground.

He wasn't as sturdy as Jinta, but he possessed immense strength, like the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King from mythology. With one hand, he steadily held Jinta in mid-air.

The arrow, meanwhile, grazed Jinta's head and shot towards a tree further away.

Bang!

The first tree couldn't withstand the force of the arrow and snapped in half from the middle.

Even more terrifying was that the arrow's momentum didn't decrease, continuing to pierce forward.

The second tree, the third tree...

There were sounds of explosions all the way.

It wasn't until it pierced the fifth tree that it became deeply embedded in the trunk, unable to move.

Everyone's pupils dilated, their faces filled with terror.

What kind of archery was this? Able to hit a target a hundred paces away in the darkness.

And what kind of force was this? Piercing through the trunks of four trees with a single arrow, only stopping in the fifth.

"Qi Control Technique," Mr. Shanhe said hoarsely. "And another Qi Control Realm expert."

He knew very well that without the augmentation of Yin Yang Qi, this arrow couldn't be this powerful or possess such terrifying penetration.

An arrow shot out, its power weakening with each subsequent target.

You've pierced five trees, what kind of logic is that?

He now understood the nature of the hole on Shadowless's neck. It was the immense power of a Qi Control Realm expert augmented by Yin Yang Qi, something even nano-level combat armor struggled to defend against.

Ching!

A crisp sound, like a sickle cutting through leeks, echoed.

Shanhe felt a wetness on his face. He reached up to wipe it, and thick, hot liquid clung to his palm.

It was blood!

A cleaver spun in the air above them before landing in the hands of a young man not far away.

And Jinta, whose head was held high in his left hand, his head thumped as it rolled onto the ground.

Along with a piece of the fishing net that had wrapped around his head.

This was the fourth layer of killing intent!