168 Torrent of terror

Since the first volley of those concealed weapons had been focused on the palanquin, Jun Mo Xie had clearly understood that he was the intended target of the attackers; and now that the upper part of the palanquin had been smashed to pieces, he was certain that the assassins were simply waiting to see their reaction. If these assassins were to realize that their target has already died, then he was sure that these people would immediately turn around and leave without even coming out in the open!

"We'll make our way to that corner ten feet away, and then we'll take the road which leads to the Jun residence." Jun Hu, the head of the guards immediately whispered his command.

"Good! Now listen to my orders; and you're not allowed to oppose me! Else you'll be removed from the Jun Family's command, understood?!" even though Jun Mo Xie's voice was barely audible, the severity of his command was evident from his tone.

The eight guards looked rather stumped by his words, but quickly realized that this wasn't the time to argue and hastily nodded.

Jun Mo Xie had been able to spot that most of the concealed weapons had been issued at the back of golden colored lights, while another five or six had originated from green colored sources. But the most surprising thing was that the number of golden colored sources was almost thrice as many as the green colored ones!

[Who is trying to get me killed? Who's capable of organizing such an expensive line-up?]

Jun Mo Xie couldn't resist drawing a comparison: [even the assassination attempt on the princess wasn't half as strong as this one! Am I an even bigger target than the princess now?]

"You will immediately abandon the palanquin; and then you'll move forward in full speed. I'm their target! You don't need to worry about me; I'll make my escape once you're gone!" Jun Mo Xie calmly instructed.

Jun Hu shook his head as he blankly stared in his master's direction, [we will not abandon the young master under any circumstances…] "This is our only duty! We will not abandon you young master… we'll defend you till our deaths! We cannot obey that command young master!"

"Nonsense! I'm your master, and as long as I'm alive, you will listen to every word of mine! Now obey the command!" Jun Mo Xie patiently replied: "It was obvious from their attacks that they are much stronger than you guys are, so you won't be able to do much even if you stay here and fight. However, you will end up becoming a burden for me if you stay! You have to get out now so I can get out of here with ease!"

"We'll be waiting for you up ahead in that case young master! And we'll try to attract as many troops as possible towards us!" Jun Hu didn't hesitate one bit while making up his mind, [if the young master dies, then I will not wait for the martial judgement… I will immediately put a knife to my throat, and I'll kill myself.[

He ordered his men, and the eight silhouettes immediately rushed out.

"I don't care who you are, nor will I care about your instigator… since you've come to kill me, you should've come prepared to face the consequences!"

As Jun Mo Xie watched his eight guards reaching the corner, the long-lost glimmer of a familiar glory shone in his eyes: "It seems that it's unavoidable to divulge from the ways of my past today! So…..It's time to kill!"

A monstrous smile surfaced on his face as his body sunk deeper into his seat. Like a snowflake in the summer sun, his body disappeared into the ground below without a trace, leaving the palanquin completely empty.....

The movement of the bodyguards had left the assassins baffled! They had been spying for several days now, and had even gone to the lengths of bribing local peddlers for gathering reliable information about Jun Mo Xie's activities. They were absolutely convinced that Jun Mo Xie was sitting inside the palanquin!

[But why are those guards abandoning the palanquin? Are they just trying to distract our attention?]

[But that just doesn't make any sense, ah, they didn't even peek into the palanquin to see if their master is alive or dead…. They just fled! How could such irresponsible guards exist under this sun? But my sources were sure that these guards are most loyal to the Jun Family, and weren't even afraid of sacrificing their lives for the sake of their masters!]

[This is really weird! Could it be that the palanquin…. Is really….. empty?]

[No that can't be! Just the elevation of the palanquin was enough to indicate that someone was inside the palanquin! Therefore, someone must still be in there!]

[But there must be a reason why they are abandoning the palanquin and fleeing!]

Even though his head was swarming with several different possibilities, the leader of the assassins immediately issued his orders: "Two teams will go and stop those eight guards, but make sure that you don't kill them all! At least one man must be taken captive! One team will follow after me, and we'll personally go and kill that evil bastard!"

A dozen silhouettes emerged from within the shadows of the surrounding area, and swiftly made their way towards the escaping guards. A few more assassins, who were already positioned in the direction of their escape, had already started engaging them in combat.

Several more assassins came out of their hiding spots almost simultaneously, and then dispersed into four groups as they completely surrounded the palanquin. They quickly blocked every possible and imaginable exit route of the palanquin while their gleaming swords flickered and reflected their black masks.

"Young son of the Jun Family, you can come out now….. There are no loopholes in our plan, so it's pointless to struggle." The leader of the assassins slowly stated in a cold voice as he unsheathed his golden sword.

"You're still in there; I'm a hundred percent sure of it! If you don't come out now, then I'll set your ride ablaze!" the ominous hint of a sadistic pleasure gleamed in his eyes, revealing that he would genuinely enjoy this act of cruelty.

The man repeated himself twice, but heard nothing apart from the constant clashing sounds coming from some distance away due to the confrontation between the guards and his two other teams. Even though those eight guards were both outnumbered and less powerful as compared to their opponents, they were still bravely trying to attract as much attention onto themselves as possible. It was evident that they weren't fighting for their survival, but for that of their young master's, and were somehow able to match up to their aggressors in the backdrop of their bravery!

Amidst the fierce fighting, a flag with flowery engraving on it suddenly rocketed into the sky!

"This is the Jun Family's secret signal for help!" the leader of the assassins already knew their secret signal, and knew that they would run into trouble if they didn't hurry. Hence, he waved his hands and ruthless ordered: "Burn him!"

Five or six torches lit up at the same time, and were set in contact with the fabric of the palanquin and its bamboo structure. With the wind assisting their intention, the conflagration instantly took control of the palanquin's fate, while the faces of the arsonists rejoiced as they tried to imagine Jun Mo Xie's fruitless struggle for escape.

However, their laughter came to an abrupt end.

They were surprised upon realizing that the fire only gave rise to the snapping sounds of the palanquin's structure, but not of Jun Mo Xie's screams. Moreover, the only scent they could smell was that of burning inanimate objects; and not that of a living body….[ah, what's going on?]

[Is that evil bastard really not in the palanquin?]

Two men simultaneously exposed the chains which were nicely concealed in their sleeves. These chains snaked out towards the palanquin and ripped open the vehicle's flaming structure!

Not a soul in sight!

"Li Zhi Wu, what is going on?" an ice cold voice sounded from a distance. The graceful and elegant body of a woman was watching from distance with a flavor of extreme disappointment in her eyes.

"We've been fooled!" the leader, Li Zhi Wu was startled by the sight of a silver bolt of lightning, which pierced through the dark of the clouds. This flashing light was followed by the crisp and bombarding sound of thunder.

A torrent of rainfall came crashing down from the heavens above.

At this point, the eight body guards of Jun Mo Xie's were still engaged in a fierce confrontation with a number almost twice of theirs', and even though they were somehow hanging tough, it was evident from the rate which they were consuming their Xuan Qi, their blood would start to flow through the bare streets of the city very soon. In fact, if these men chose to flee at this point, some of them would actually be able to make an escape….. However, they were still fighting back with the single-minded ambition of distracting their master's aggressors!

"Hey, how's it going?" a ghostly figure suddenly appeared behind one of the black masked men; the man turned around… only to find two slender fingers approaching his Adam's apple, 'chuck'..... the eyes of the assassin froze in shock while his hands trembled twice as his feet recoiled backwards under the effect of his collapsing body.

Since the appearance of this figure was too ambiguous, another one of the assassins was unable to spot it. All he saw was his collapsing comrade, and was unable to understand why his companion would choose to drop to the ground for no reason: "What are you doing?" he asked as he extended his hand to assist his companion.

As the palm of his hand came in contact with his deceased companion's body, the remaining fifteen or so of his companions hastily screamed: "Be careful….."

They were too late. The man felt a cold hand around his neck as his ears heard a crisp snapping sound of something breaking…. The man was left perplexed to find that he was staring at his own buttocks!

[What's going on? I was obviously looking in the forward direction, so why am I seeing my own butt...] as his thoughts seized to exist, his body collapsed to the ground while his dead fish-like eyes continued to remain glued to his own buttock!

This man was quite fortunate, especially when one considers the fact that he died a painless death, and saw only his own buttock in his last moments, and not some foreign object…..

However, his companions weren't destined to be as fortunate!

Thunderbolts of lightening continued to accompany the falling torrents of rain!

As the lightening continued to shine in the dark sky, almost everyone experienced an incredible but frightening torrent of terror: an erratic figure suddenly appeared in between four assassins, almost like a ghost….. no one saw where the figure came from….. no one heard any sounds of its approach....

Is he a god or .....a monster?

Like a devil from a nightmare, one their eyes could see but hands couldn't touch, the monster leisurely cut their lives short…. Helpless, they only stood there in passive acceptance of their fate!