126 Betrayal of Ye Chen

One of the security forces of the caravan suddenly turned and pounced towards Ye Chen and the caravan owner. But suddenly a very powerful force originated from Ye Chen and he slightly moved his sword, and a small line was drawn on the caravan owner's neck.

"Who are you?" Security leader asked Ye Chen, feeling his cultivation at the peak of foundation establishment. "Someone like you shouldn't be a nameless person."

"I am Ye Chen." Ye Chen said. "The deputy leader of the rumbling bandits."

"See how smart I am." The leader of the rumbling bandits said. "Knowing that you might have some tricks up your sleeve, I told Ye Chen to infiltrate your group. The original plan was to poison you all, but somehow it failed. But I think that taking hostages will work too."

"How exactly is this worse for us?" Huang Yao suddenly asked. "You are going to kill us all anyway. If we surrender because of the hostages, you will kill us all including the hostage. If we don't surrender, then you will kill the hostage. Either way, the hostage dies. Thus you taking the hostage has no meaning."

For a moment the everyone went silent. No one could refute that reasonable argument. The leader of the rumbling pirates was confused, and everyone watched as he tried to come up with something to say. "Idiot." The leader of the sky pirates mumbled under his breath.

"Forget about me." The caravan owner shouted. "Just fight with all you have. Or else you will all die."

"Shut up." Ye Chen said as he kicked the caravan owner to the ground. The caravan owner was not someone with a high cultivation base, and could not resist Ye Chen. "Actually I have a better idea. The reason we wanted to kill them all is so that we could have time before the city lord finds out about what we did right. In that case, why don't we just take them hostage for a couple of weeks while we flee the area? Once a couple of weeks pass, even if the city lord finds out the truth he won't be able to find us."

For a moment everyone was silent as they thought about Ye Chen's plan. "It seems that your deputy has more brains than you." The leader of the sky bandits grumbled.

"Don't believe him." The caravan leader said. "Once you surrender they will only kill you. Even if I die, you must fight to the end."

Once the caravan owner said this, the surroundings got even tenser. Everyone was then waiting for the decision of the two core formation cultivators of the security team.

Suddenly the shadow behind Ye Chen rippled. Then, before anyone could warn him, a dagger was thrust into his back, right at the position of his heart!

When the group had stopped because of the poison, Bai Yun quickly moved towards Ye Chen. Everyone only that Bai Yun was standing near someone he trusted due to his age and no one thought much of this. When the caravan was setting up the defensive perimeter, Ye Chen had taken it upon himself to stand near the caravan leader. Seeing this Bai Yun was even more sure of his guess. So Bai Yun went and stood right behind Ye Chen.

Bai Yun had also used the Assassin gods teaching to full effect. Bai Yun made no movement and no sound. He was standing like a shadow. Bai Yun had noticed the eye line of everyone and hid in such a way that he would be easily missed. Since Bai Yun had not made any friends in the entire time he was here, no one missed him. So no one noticed him standing there. And even if they did, the expression on his face made it look like he was panicking.

When Ye Chen took the caravan leader Bai Yun was the only person who saw it coming. So Bai Yun took his place behind Ye Chen and slowly took out his dagger. When Bai Yun took out his dagger from his storage ring, everyone's attention was on Ye Chen, and thus no one noticed him.

Bai Yun then waited till Ye Chen's attention was elsewhere. As the tension grew, Ye Chen was more and more focused on a sneak attack by the security team. Soon Ye Chen was almost entirely focusing his attention on them. He had almost given up on the people of the caravan. Most of them did not have a high cultivation, and they did not walk the path of fighting. He overlooked Bai Yun even more due to his age.

And thus his wariness towards the members of the caravan was decreasing second by second. And it was in the moment that he finally gave up on looking at the caravan members that Bai Yun finally struck.

Bai Yun held the hilt of the dagger in his left hand, and his right hand covered the base of the hilt to give extra strength to his attack. Bai Yun used both the Assassin God's technique, as well as what he had learned of windless motion to move as fast he could, as silently as possible. There was no sound at all in Bai Yun's movement.

But the reflexes of a peak foundation establishment realm cultivator was indeed too much. Ye Chen found out about Bai Yun the moment his dagger touched Ye Chen's clothes. In an instant, he turned around to swing his sword at Bai Yun.

But Bai Yun had already predicted this movement from Ye Chen. So when Bai Yun saw Ye Chen move, Bai Yun also moved accordingly. Bai Yun had spent enough time studying Ye Chen with his eyes, that he had unsealed. Every single curve and bulge in Ye Chen's body was laid bare before Bai Yun. So when Bai Yun attacked him, Bai Yun's dagger slipped in between Ye Chen's ribs, slid along his muscles, and went straight at his heart.

But Ye Chen was fast. A lifetime of battle had given him good instincts. He turned around fast and swung his sword at Bai Yun. But being a hastily made attack, it did not have his full force behind it.

At that moment a blue aura started to cover Bai Yun's right side. It almost looked as if a thin glowing blue cloth was draped over his right shoulder and upper right arm. It was false armor, the defensive technique Bai Yun had selected from his clan library. Bai Yun had been ready to deploy it long before he made a move.

In an instant, Ye Chen's sword collided with Bai Yun's false armor, just as Bai Yun's dagger thrust into Ye Chen's back. Bai Yun heard a small crack coming from his arm. Then he felt a huge force passed onto his body. In an instant, Bai Yun was lifted and flung far away by the force of the attack. Bai Yun was flung away and crashed into one of the carriages. There was a huge dent in the side of the carriage and it was overturned by the force of Bai Yun's collision. At the moment of collision, Bai Yun spit up a little bit of blood. And then he shakily stood up on top of the carriage.

Bai Yun quickly analyzed his injuries. There was a gash on his arm and it was bleeding profusely. Thankfully no major artery or a muscle was torn, so he was fine. Bai Yun could also tell that his right arm bone had cracked a little. His organs had also shaken up a little, but he would be fine with a little rest.

Bai Yun then ripped up his sleeve and started to bind up his arm. "I was really close." Bai Yun said. "Half a second, no a quarter, no a tenth. If you were just a tenth of a second late with your attack, my dagger would have pierced your heart."

"Of course you can't kill me with a surprise attack." Ye Chen said. "Who do you think-"

"But that's okay." Bai Yun interjected. "I could clearly feel my dagger pierce your pericardium. When the dagger came off with me as I flew away, it tore it up even more. Soon the area around your heart will start to fill up with blood. As it does do, it will become harder for your heart to beat. Slowly you will struggle to breathe. Even though your lungs are fine, you will start to suffocate. Then you will pass out with the lack of air. And then you will die as you lie there. I may not have stabbed your heart, but unless you have extremely precious healing pills, your death is only a matter of time. The only reason you haven't passed out till now is due to your cultivation. I am essentially looking at a dead man walking."

When Bai Yun finished, the entire crowd looked at him. Then they looked at Ye Chen. They could see that Ye Chen was bleeding quite strongly from his back. Bai Yun had finished bandaging his arms by then. He then leaped down off the carriage and picked up his dagger that he had dropped when he collided with the carriage. Then Bai Yun quickly drew his sword. This was not the sword his father had given him, but a cheaper one Bai Yun had bought just before he started his journey.

"Well if I am dying, then you are coming down with me." Ye Chen shouted. Then he started to run straight towards Bai Yun, knocking away some of the members of the caravan, who were injured by Ye Chen's charge.

Ye Chen reached Bai Yun and swung his sword down. Bai Yun only took a single step to the side and dodged the attack. Then Ye Chen swung his sword again, which was easily dodged once again by Bai Yun. Bai Yun was trying to tire out Ye Chen and end the fight this easily.

If Ye Chen was at his strongest, Bai Yun would not have been able to so easily dodge his attacks. The difference in cultivation was simply too much. But Ye Chen was weak with blood loss, so this was a much easier fight for Bai Yun.

Soon Ye Chen started to slow down. Even though Bai Yun was dodging his attacks, it had caused Bai Yun to observe very close, and now his eyes were hurting a bit. It wasn't as easy as he had made it look. So Bai Yun was also quite happy to see Ye Chen weakening.

Suddenly Ye Chen collapsed. As he lay there bleeding into the dirt, Bai Yun smiled.

"I can easily tell when someone is truly down or not. "Bai Yun said. "But I'll play along with you anyway." Saying so, Bai Yun started to move toward Ye Chen.

Just as Bai Yun reached Ye Chen's attack range, Ye Chen jumped up and stabbed at Bai Yun. But his attack only hit the air. Bai Yun had jumped even before Ye Chen had attacked him.

When Bai Yun was in the air, he kicked downward. Bai Yun's leg collided with Ye Chen's head. With a snap, Ye Chen finally fainted for real.

Bai Yun landed on the ground and then drove his sword through Ye Chen's heart to make sure that Ye Chen died for real. He then let out a long breath and sat down in the ground.

Bai Yun looked up to see that everyone was staring at him. He smiled and then said, "Well, what are you all waiting for. The hostage crisis is over. You guys should fight now."