Chapter 72 - Assassination

Chapter 72: Assassination

Within a luxurious horse-drawn carriage sat some of the most powerful men in the entire Celestial River County!

The elders and leaders of the Duan, Wang, and Sun families were all present.

Alongside them, there was also the county mayor, Gu Tailai!

After a brief discussion, Duan Xilai concluded with a smile, “We have already revealed our intentions to Mayor Gu. Even if those six important figures are going to be overlooking the tournament, Mayor Gu will still have full control over the proceedings. Also, all of the troops within the city are under Mayor Gu’s command, and when the time comes, both the Colosseum and the Myriad Spring Brothel will be severely lacking in protection…”

However, Gu Tailai waved his hands and refused, “I won’t fix the tournament. This is an extremely important event, and those six people are all quite meticulous, especially that Qi Kaiyang. He is a Half-Step Earth Martial Stage warrior, so nothing will escape his notice… However…”

Gu Tailai stroked his beard as he chuckled, “The Myriad Spring Brothel is full of beautiful women, so we should just let them be, but the Colosseum has gathered a bunch of powerful and potentially volatile warriors, so it does need to be investigated… Of course, I will be requiring your help in those efforts.”

“Not a problem!”

All of the family leaders and elders nodded in unison.

Qi Kaiyang was a massive headache for everyone. During the tournament, they would only be able to gang up on Qi Ying and target him, but not play any tricks to bring him down.

However, it would be great if they could eliminate Yan Thirteen during the tournament period!

At that moment.

Duan Xilai looked outside at the moon and mused to himself, “Xue Yuesha is about to act!”

“Xue Yuesha?”

Everyone faltered upon hearing that.

They had all heard of that person. He was a top-tier assassin who had been traveling around the Celestial River County of late. His cultivation base was at the First Spirit Martial Stage, and he even had a bounty of eight hundred thousand crystals on his head, as he had assassinated the mayor of a neighboring county.

Duan Xilai chuckled, “I hired Xue Yuesha to take care of Yan Thirteen, and he was hiding on the banquet just then! However, we don’t know where Yan Thirteen is after he left the mountain villa, so I deployed him to assassinate Qi Ying. If he succeeds today, we’ll be able to focus all of our efforts on eliminating Yan Thirteen tomorrow…”

Gu Tailai’s brows furrowed with concern. “Yan Thirteen and Lu Feifei didn’t bring that many people with them, but they’re all elite warriors at the Ninth Energy Martial Stage. Xue Yuesha may not be able to succeed.”

Duan Xilai shook his head. “We’ll see how it goes. Even if he can’t kill Qi Ying, he’ll be able to wound him for sure! If he fails to kill Qi Ying, he will have failed his mission, so he won’t be getting a single crystal. Either way, we won’t incur any losses.”

…

Qi Ying’s mind was filled entirely by that unforgettable figure. They were finally reunited after three months, but they couldn’t even look directly into each other’s eyes.

He knew that a massive gulf stood between him and Qin Susu. Even though there was mutual affection, people from the Qin family, such as that Madam Butterfly, would never allow him to get close to Qin Susu. If there were any indication that a relationship could blossom between the two, the Qin family would immediately send someone to hunt him down and kill him!

That was exactly what had happened back when he left Nameless City.

At the time, Qi Ying was very fortunate in that the killer sent out by the Qin family was one of Qin Susu’s loyal guards. He wounded himself to fabricate a story about how one of his past injuries had relapsed, thereby preventing him from being able to hunt Qi Ying down. Otherwise, Qi Ying would have already been long dead.

Thankfully, Madam Butterfly hadn’t appeared on the Nameless Mountain back then, so she didn’t know who Qi Ying was.

If that had not been the case, he would have most likely been killed on the spot.

‘It’s alright! My future is filled with infinite possibilities… The Qin family would probably only permit the likes of Qi Shun and Yan Beigui to get close to Qin Susu… I’m not inferior to either of them! I will rise above all of them!’ 

Qi Ying was extremely confident in himself.

Back when he had vowed to be together with Qin Susu, his confidence was nothing but a forced facade.

However, he had since gained genuine conviction due to the rapid progression in his cultivation base!

Just as he was getting absorbed in his train of thought.

Boom!

The horse-drawn carriage suddenly tremored violently, as if it had crashed into something. It then came to a sudden stop as the horses whinnied in panic.

“Argh!”

Lu Feifei screamed loudly, and her momentum was about to send her flying out of the carriage.

“What’s going on?”

Qi Ying hurriedly wrapped his arms around Lu Feifei as he focused his gaze.

Whoosh whoosh!

The four black-robed guards within the carriage immediately rushed outside.

Immediately afterward.

“We’ve been ambushed!”

“Look out!”

“Protect Madam Lu and Qi Ying!”

“Use the flare!”

Whoosh… Boom!

The voices of Lu Zuo and Lu You, as well as that of the black-robed guards, erupted outside, followed by the explosion of the flare.

Immediately afterward.

Bam bam!

A powerful burst of force suddenly swept forth, destroying the entire carriage.

“Be careful!”

Qi Ying sprang into the air with Lu Feifei in his arms, then retreated to several dozen feet away!

Bam!

A red streak of light crashed down upon the spot where they had been just a moment ago, sending clouds of dust and debris flying into the air.

“Lu Zuo? Lu You!”

Qi Ying’s heart skipped a beat at the sight of scenes unfolding outside the carriage.

Lu Zuo and Lu You were driving the carriage, but both of them were sprawled onto the ground, completely unconscious.

The four black-robed guards who had rushed out earlier had all drawn their weapons, and were engaging in a fierce battle with a red figure.

“What’s going on?”

Lu Feifei turned pale with fright in Qi Ying’s arms.

“Someone is trying to assassinate us!”

Qi Ying’s brows furrowed tightly as he surveyed the battle.

The situation was not very optimistic!

The four Ninth Energy Martial Stage black-robed guards were being forced firmly onto the back foot by that red figure. Lu Zuo and Lu You had also presumably been knocked out by a surprise attack. As such, there was a very good chance that the enemy was a Spirit Martial Stage warrior!

“Argh!”

One of the black-robed guards let loose a cry of pain, before being kicked flying by the red figure.

Whoosh!

Qi Ying put down Madam Lu before leaping into the air and catching that black-robed guard.

“Your arm…” Qi Ying gasped. That black-robed guard’s right arm had been completely severed at the elbow.

If things continued in that fashion, they were all going to be killed before Master Thirteen arrived!

Qi Ying pulled out a pill to stanch bleeding from his spatial ring, before feeding it to the black-robed guard and instructing in a low voice, “Look after Madam Lu!”

He then rushed into the ongoing battle!

…

Boom!

A burst of light suddenly appeared over the forest amid a loud explosion.

The two people standing on the tips of the trees had many things to say to one another, but one of them noticed the flare and his expression immediately changed. “Brother Nine, I have to go!”

Whoosh!

That figure abruptly disappeared.

Yan Nine looked on in the direction that Yan Thirteen had departed in as he heaved a faint sigh, “Who would have thought that I would meet you here… Among our thirteen brothers, you have the worst aptitude and cultivation base… But now, there are only two of us left…”