Chapter 55

Chapter 55: Killing the Tier-two Assassin

It was only after the first exchange of blows that Xia Tian realized his opponent’s might. His opponent was nearly equal in both strength and speed, and although Xia Tian had not exerted all his might, he knew that this was not the extent of his opponent’s strength as well.

In order to become a Tier-two assassin within Quicksand, one had to undergo a huge internal change. Due to this, there was a huge disparity between the skills of a Tier-two assassin and a Tier-three assassin.

“What?!” The Tier-two assassin was taken aback that he had not killed Xia Tian with his first blow.

“To think that you’re alive. It seems that you’re the one responsible for finishing off the other Tier-three assassins.” The Tier-two assassin tightened his grip on his Emerald Cloud Dagger. Once he saw Xia Tian holding an Emerald Cloud Dagger of his own, he knew that Xia Tian was the one who killed Shadow.

The Emerald Cloud Dagger was a custom-made weapon within Quicksand, and not everyone had it. Usually, only assassins that were Tier-two and above were allowed to have the weapon, and in Shadow’s case, he had a special reason.

“Yeah, they deserved it.” There was no way Xia Tian would allow anyone to harm his woman. Although Ceng Rou had already called off their relationship, within Xia Tian’s heart, Ceng Rou was already his.

“You’ll die today. You’ll only bring more trouble in the future if I spare you.” The Tier-two assassin wanted Xia Tian dead.He was that certain someone’s son, after all.

“It seems Quicksand had a hand in my father’s death.” Until now, Xia Tian still had no idea how his father had perished.

“That’s not for you to know. The disparity between you and your father is far too huge. All I could do was cower myself like an insignificant ant in the face of your father, but you, on the other hand, are nothing but a breathing corpse before me.” The Tier-two assassin did not waste any more time with Xia Tian. He bolted towards him in a blink of an eye, carving a long arc in the air with his Emerald Cloud Dagger.

Xia Tian had to admit that the Tier-two assassin was indeed formidable. Had Xia Tian not gone through another breakthrough in his abilities, he feared that he would really die to this assassin’s hands.

Cling! Clang!

After exchanging a few blows, the two backed off unanimously.

“To think that you had this much up your sleeve. It’s clear to me you’re in the early Yellow Ranks, but our reports indicate that you’re just a regular person.” The Tier-two assassin clenched his fists around his Emerald Cloud Dagger.

‘Early Yellow Rank!’ Xia Tian innately understood that it was a level classification within the world of martial arts, but the specifics eluded him.

“I, too, am that level, but you’re not the first Yellow Rank I’ve ever killed.” A sly glint appeared in the Tier-two assassin’s eyes as he hurled two shurikens towards Xia Tian.

Using his Insight, Xia Tian was able to see the paths of the shurikens. They were not directed towards him but his flanks instead. The shuriken themselves were not the assassin’s true objective, but rather, his killer technique was the fine string that connected the two shurikens at their center. The string was extremely fine, and without his Insight, Xia Tian would never have been able to sense its presence.

Xia Tian hurriedly ducked, avoiding the string. The string then passed through Xia Tian and went past a small tree. The trunk fell, split in two.

“How’s this possible?” The Tier-two assassin gave a dumbfounded look at Xia Tian. This was his ultimate hand, but Xia Tian had easily avoided it.

“How did my father die? Answer me and I’ll allow you to live,” Xia Tian stated coldly as he glared icily at the Tier-two assassin. At the same time, the aura that he was exuding had also undergone a major change.

All the while, Xia Tian had been suppressing his Empyrean Slumber Technique at level one. This was one of the abilities of the technique — allowing the user to mask their cultivation, making it seem one level lower than it actually was.

“You’re… You’re an advanced stage Yellow Rank! How’s this possible?” The Tier-two assassin stared at Xia Tian with a look of pure bewilderment. He was unable to come to terms that the person in front of him was actually an advanced stage Yellow Rank expert.

‘Run!’

That was the first thought that filled the assassin’s mind, as an advanced stage Yellow Rank was way beyond his league.

The Tier-two killer immediately turned around and prepared to take off, but Xia Tian had activated his Unrestrained Cloud Sage Step to its maximum speed. Xia Tian immediately blocked off his assailant from the front, and in response, the quick-witted Tier-two assassin plunged the dagger in his hand towards Xia Tian.

Nevertheless, just as the blade was about to make contact with Xia Tian’s body, two fingers suddenly caught the dagger.

Spurt!

Xia Tian used his own Emerald Cloud Dagger to slice through the Tier-two assassin’s throat. The Emerald Cloud Dagger was exceedingly sharp, and with that, the Tier-two killer collapsed onto a puddle of his own blood. Xia Tian did not bother to handle the corpse. Instead, he took the assassin’s dagger as well as the mechanism attached under the assassin’s shoe.

“Hi, Sister Rou, we’re done here. From this moment on, you’ll no longer encounter any more trouble. I need to head home now, so I won’t be following you back.”

After hanging up on the call, Xia Tian began to head towards his old residence. It was almost noon, and there was no way Xia Tian would let his master wait for him.

It took two whole hours for Xia Tian to reach his abode, and after taking a haphazard meal, he began his training.

“Stand up, let’s pick up where we left off yesterday.”

What Yin Nie was referring to was that he would stand rooted to the same spot while Xia Tian would continuously attack him. If Xia Tian was able to force Yin Nie to move half a step from his spot, Yin Nie would consider the training as a pass.

“Yes, master.”

Xia Tian meant what he said, and he immediately began to move quickly about with his Unrestrained Cloud Sage Step. Despite that, he did not display his full strength, and he maintained his strength at the first level. He was aware that his master was testing him not on his strength, but instead his attacking style. Furthermore, even if he had activated his full strength, it was still insufficient to defeat his master, and it would also be strange to his master if he were to show him his sudden improvement.

If that were to happen, his master might go even tougher on him.

Due to this, Xia Tian was only using the strength of his level one Empyrean Slumber Technique, coupled with his Resonating Finger and Unrestrained Cloud Sage Step to attack Yin Nie.

On the other hand, Yin Nie was holding his famed sword, Red Abyss in his right hand while fending off Xia Tian’s attack with his left.

As if he was unable to grow tired, Xia Tian sped up his attacks; whereas Yin Nie continued to defend. Unbeknownst to Xia Tian, his speed in attacking and his attacking patterns were gradually improving throughout the session.

Experience is the greatest treasure known to man. While Xia Tian’s cultivation rate was extremely fast, he was still lacking in combat experience.

After attacking continuously for three hours, Yin Nie finally left. Despite that, Xia Tian did not relieve himself. Instead, he continued to cultivate. Although he had failed to beat his master earlier, Xia Tian had obtained plenty of invaluable experience.

“Elder Xu, bring Lil Fei to my house.”

Xia Tian made a call to Elder Xu. Now that Lil Fei was under his wing, it was only natural for Xia Tian to teach him a few of his techniques. However, whether or not Lil Fei was able to master his teachings would depend on his own capabilities. As the saying goes, the master leads one to the door, but the rest is up to the individual 1.

Lil Fei’s unique quality was his ferocity, and Xia Tian was extremely curious as to what kind of achievement Lil Fei could bring about.

Although Xia Tian had already exhausted all his energy, energy continued to surge out from within his Dantian, replenishing his energy. Before long, he had completely recovered his lost energy, and he could resume his cultivation.

An hour later, Elder Xu brought Gao Fei over.

“I’ll return for him tomorrow morning.” After saying farewell to Xia Tian, Elder Xu drove off.