Chapter 23 Who's Assassinating Who?

After looking at the Map in his System, Xuan marked a weapon shop on it and began making his way to it by foot. En route, he thought about the various messages he received after the announcement earlier—and he wasn't thinking about the achievement one that gave him the Credits.

No—he was thinking about the one hidden beneath that, the one involving the Chaos Scripture. It had looked like this:

<Ding! You unlocked the third and final technique of the Chaos Scripture—Devouring Qi!>

<You can now absorb the souls of dead cultivators, stealing their techniques, memories, and items.>

This was interesting. The trigger must've been the fact that Xuan killed someone, which was why he didn't receive it before—it was locked behind a specific event. However, there was a problem—namely the Devil's knowledge sea.

Both of these abilities had to do with devouring the soul of another cultivator, so would they conflict? He imagined not since he had full control over these techniques and could choose when to use them, but he couldn't be too sure. There were, however, a few stark differences between the Devil's knowledge sea's special ability and Devouring Qi.

For instance, the Devil's knowledge sea's absorption power could only be used when Xuan's enemies were already inside, while Devouring Qi could be used anywhere—but only on those whose physical bodies were already dead. Their effects were different too—one directly gave boosts to Xuan's Soul and Physical stats, while the other let him learn their techniques, items, and gain their experiences as well as knowledge.

As such, depending on the situation and his state at the time, he could choose to deal with an enemy cultivator's soul using one method or the other. He liked having this freedom of choice—perhaps the real reason he developed the Devil's knowledge sea in the first place was actually because he cultivated the Chaos Scripture, not because of his Legacy like he'd originally thought.

'Hm… the description on the Devouring Qi technique didn't mention anything about time or whether I had to be the one to kill them, though,' Xuan thought as he walked. 'The more powerful a cultivator is, the longer their soul could last after they die—as long as no one destroys it, that is. Does that mean… if I were to come across the soul of a strong cultivator who died a long time ago, I could absorb it and gain all of their experience, knowledge, items, and learn their techniques?'

There was no way for him to tell at this point, but if he could, that would be incredible. Raw strength could be cultivated—but experience, knowledge, memories, secret techniques and artifacts—these things were far more valuable, and could only be accessed with a special technique such as the Chaos Scripture's Devouring Qi.

All that, though, was for the future. Right now? He still needed a weapon.

*****

About an hour later, Xuan was on his way back to Open Sky Alchemist Guild, brand-new weapon stored inside his inventory. It was nothing special—just a simple sword. It was sharp, could cut, and durable—that was good enough for Xuan.

After all, this sword wasn't going to be his permanent weapon, just a temporary one until he could find something better—something that would never appear in the normal market. He could, however, use this sword to cultivate his Sword Intent, which could be carried over to better weapons when he got his hands on them.

'Hm… in my past life, I also cultivated Sword Intent rather than Spear or any other weapon. I wonder if that will allow me to progress faster since I've already comprehended and experienced its mysteries…'

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While thinking about this, Xuan abruptly turned right, down a narrow alleyway isolated from the rest of the city. It was empty and just wide enough to fit about four people if they stood shoulder-to-shoulder, making it a decent place to fight without attracting attention from other people on the street—though at this hour, the sun was about to set. Most people had already returned home through the main roads in the city, so there were very few people to begin with in this sector.

'… Good, good. The four presences following me are getting closer.'

Xuan had picked up on them ever since the weapon shop, where he bought his sword. At the time, the four of them, wearing civilian clothing, had been sitting together at a bench outside a restaurant. At first, Xuan had thought they just happened to be there at the same time and had been looking at him because of his somewhat conspicuous appearance that tended to stand out, but before long, it became apparent they had been sent here to follow him and take him out.

As for the reason… without a doubt, it was Zhou Hai at work again.

Xuan chuckled. These four assassins must be so confused, wondering why he entered an isolated alleyway like this. Wasn't this helping them? Did he notice they were following him?

Questions like these flowed through the four's minds, but they didn't have time to consider their options. With a signal from their leader, the four moved, following Xuan into the alleyway after putting on their masks and tossing away their civilian clothing to reveal their black assassin attire underneath.

They walked and walked, passing by trash bins, old junk, and even a ladder up to the roof of a building that a construction worker was working on earlier today. One member of the group had her eyes glued to a cube capsule containing an insect of some sort inside, which appeared to be crawling in the direction they were facing as if leading the way.

Abruptly, the insect turned right inside the capsule, right as the group came across an opening to the right. It lead into a dead-end in the shape of a small square courtyard, but it was the only way to go—there was no other place that the alleyway led to. When the group entered the open space, however, they were shocked to see that there was not even a single trace of Xuan anywhere to be found.

"What the- where did that guy go…?"

"I'm certain we went into the same alleyway as he did, and there were no other paths branching from this one on the way. This was the only way he could've gone, and yet…"

"A movement technique, perhaps? Viper, how's the Twin Passion Insect Insect looking?"

"The Insect's stopped crawling, meaning he's right here, in front of us," the girl amongst the group muttered, named Viper. "But… there isn't anyone. Just a raccoon."

Xuan, watching all this unfold from above, let out a soft chuckle. 'They think a mere Twin Passion Insect is enough to track me? Fools… I discovered it long ago, and stuck it onto the raccoon to deceive your eyes.'

"The hell? What's going on… invisibility arts?" The largest and burliest of the four scratched his head, confused.

"No, he's only a Body Tempering stage cultivator," the man who appeared to be leading them said. "Young master Zhou Hai did say he possessed some special artifact that could drain our Soul attacks, but he is still only a Body Tempering stage. This should be an easy kill. Calm down—Viper, search for auras."

"…" Viper closed her eyes and furrowed her eyebrows in concentration as she tried to look for Xuan's aura, but came up empty and shook her head. "All I can detect is the raccoon."

"The raccoon, eh? Don't tell me…"

The burly man snarled and stepped up, brushing past his teammates until he arrived right in front of the raccoon, which remained perfectly still.

"A normal raccoon would've ran away by now, shithead. You thought you could deceive us, eh?" He growled. "Good try, but the Four Serpents of Cloud Catcher City don't fall for tricks that easily."

Saying this, he lifted his boot up above the poor animal, about to crush it, as Viper's eyes widened in realization.

"Wait, Python, don't—"

But it was too late. Python's large boot slammed down on the animal, killing it instantly. He wore a disgustingly sadistic expression on his face as he did so, like he was enjoying it. The only thing stopping him from grinding his foot on the animal's body even more was the fact that Viper just vomited all over the floor.

Slowly, he lifted his boot away from the animal's corpse, and stepped back. There, however, amidst the blood and gore, was another, smaller animal. Namely…

"… Huh? Isn't this… the other Twin Passion Insect…?"

"It was in the raccoon…?" The tallest man of the bunch frowned.

"… We've been tricked," the leader muttered, narrowing his eyes. "Mamba—"

"Look out!"

The tallest man, alias Mamba, suddenly cried out before their leader could finish the sentence, and the four assassins looked up to see a massive reddish-brown palm flying towards them.

"Sky Devil's Palm? I thought that technique was purple!" Python yelled, gritting his teeth.

"Be careful, this is not a normal technique! Mamba!"

"I'm on it!"

Narrowing his eyes, Mamba made a gesture with his hand, pointing his index and middle fingers up while keeping the other three down. Then, condensing his Qi, he unleashed a barrier technique.

"Zodiac Technique: Spirit Boar Barrier!"

A green flash appeared from his hands, expanding into a large rectangular barrier with the spiritual form of a large pig at its center. The enormous Sky Devil's Palm slammed into the barrier, however, shattering it instantly, and continued to strike the ground where the four assassins were.

"Ngh-!"

The Four Serpents were blasted away from one another as they grunted in unison, smoke rising from the ground. Xuan, standing on the roof of the building next to them, narrowed his eyes and prepared his next attack—Spirit Thorns.

"Bastard…!" Python was the first to get back up from the ground and jumped up towards Xuan with his spiked gauntlets, but Xuan simply smirked.

'Essence Guard.'

He did not even need to say his technique names out loud. Other cultivators needed to do it since it helped them condense their Qi into a technique, but with Xuan's experience in controlling Qi, that was simply unnecessary. All it took was a simple thought in his mind, and an equally-as-simple movement with his hands.

Python's powerful punch was stopped a good meter before it hit Xuan by a translucent moon-shaped barrier, and the brute was sent crashing back into the ground from reverse momentum.

"Oof!"

"Don't rush it, Python! He's a stronger enemy than expected," Their leader muttered, slowly getting up to his feet as he resisted the pain. "Kid… I don't know how you managed to do it, but since you've already killed one of us, don't expect to walk out of here in one piece."

"Wha- Cobra?! Mamba is dead?!" Python cried, eyes widened.

Their leader, alias Cobra, gave a grim nod. "He was directly underneath that attack, and didn't have time to use the full defense technique."

"But… Mamba was a Qi Transformation Realm cultivator… he was one-shot… by an Earth-Grade technique…?!" Viper cried, a mixture of shock and fear on her face.

"… Young master Zhou Hai was right. This man is hiding his true cultivation," Cobra said, glaring at Xuan on the roof. "But the fact that the three of us are still alive means he is not yet beyond our capabilities. If we go together, we can defeat him."

"It is indeed a surprise you three are still alive," Xuan replied, a bemused expression on his face. "That idiot… Mamba, was it? His techniques are not bad. I'll be taking them after I'm done with you."

"Bastard, courting death!"

Python reared his fist back, and for a moment, Xuan thought he was going to jump up again like a fool. But contrary to his expectations, the large man ran straight forward—right towards the wall of the building Xuan was standing on top of.

"EAT… THIS!"

His punch was powerful enough to shake the entire building—as expected of a Qi Transformation stage cultivator with physical stats of over 80,000. Unlike the city guards, these guys were experienced and had proper artifacts and equipment. They weren't going to be easy opponents to face, but…

… Too bad Xuan had already long saw through their stats using his Divine Asura Eye, and easily leaped off of the roof down into the courtyard below as the building behind him crumbled.

"Haha, you're dead now!" Python roared, diving towards Xuan, but he easily evaded using Swift Cloud Steps, granting him enhanced speed and agility.

Cobra and Viper, however, weren't just standing there idly either. The former pulled out several poison-laced knives from his breast pocket and threw them at Xuan, while the latter pulled out two daggers and dashed towards him.

"… Futile creatures."

With a look of utter condescension in his face that almost resembled cold pity, Xuan conjured a few throwable projectiles of his own—Spirit Thorns, formed with raw World Qi thanks to his command over it.

With incredible precision, Xuan let them fly, each striking one of Cobra's poisoned knives. The older man's eyes widened in surprise as he saw this—clearly, no novice in battle could pull something like this off. The 'brat' in front of them was someone extremely experienced in fighting… and killing.

"RAGH!"

Python bellowed and rushed towards Xuan once more, with Viper on the flank. Xuan, however, only smiled, and materialized his sword in his hands.

It was a very basic, simplistic sword. Earth-Grade, no special abilities, and didn't look particularly unique, either. It was the kind of weapon that could be mass-produced, given to a low-class army's soldiers.

But the sword wasn't the real weapon. Sword Intent was—the practice of imbuing Qi into the sword—more accurately known as Sword Qi.

Much like Sky Devil's Palm, the power of one's Sword Qi was determined by both their physical Stats and Soul Stats. These hybrid techniques were rare, but they did exist. As such, since Xuan's Soul Strength was already at 16 billion…

… Xuan's Sword Qi, despite technically only being at the 1st level, already had equivalent raw power to the 5th.

SLASH.

With a single, calculated strike, Xuan cut the air around him in a circle, precise and powerful. An impressive red wave of energy shot out from his sword all around him, cutting anything it passed through—human or building.

Python and Viper both froze mid-attack as the energy slash burst through their bodies, and slowly, they looked down.

They were no longer intact.

Each cut in half, the two assassins toppled to the ground, both wearing shocked expressions on their faces. They didn't even have time to fully process what happened before they died.

Now, Cobra was the only one left.

"Whew…"

Breathing out, Xuan slowly rose from the ground and turned to Cobra, who had a look of deep hatred in his eyes. Everything had happened so quickly that he only had time to get one attack off, and said attack was countered easily with one of Xuan's.

"Tell me," Xuan said, stopping several feet away from Cobra. "Everything you know about Zhou Hai. If you can satisfy me, I might consider letting you… die a painless death."

"… Heh. Who do you think I am?" Cobra chuckled deeply as he revealed a pair of sharp steel arm blades. "If I sold out my clients every time, I'd be out of business a long time ago."

Xuan sighed, inspecting his own sword. "Too bad… after this, your business won't exist any longer."

"… Is that so?"

Realizing the oddity in Cobra's voice, Xuan narrowed his eyes in suspicion—but it was too late.

"Zodiac… Technique… Serpent's… Binding…!"

"—!"

Xuan's eyes widened as several vines formed out of Qi crawled out of the ground and shot up to tie his arms and legs, restricting his movement. Each of them had a snake head at the end of them, and it became clear whose work this was.

"Bastard… you didn't die…?"

Xuan could've sworn he hadn't felt Mamba's presence any longer after the Sky Devil's Palm attack, but thinking back on it now, he could've used another Zodiac Technique to conceal it. If Xuan had looked more carefully, he would've been able to spot him thanks to his high Soul stats, but he was too focused on defeating the other three…

… A fatal mistake indeed.

Xuan struggled to break out of the vines, but it was too late. Cobra charged forward with a cry of anger and hatred, before driving his armblade deep into Xuan's chest—right where his heart was.

"Ngh…!"

Xuan let out a cry of pain, but Cobra wasn't done just yet.

"This one's for Python!"

Pulling his armblade out, he slashed again, this time cutting off Xuan's right hand.

"Argn…!"

Xuan gritted his teeth, his arm wanting to flail wildly but unable to because of the vines binding him. Closing one eye and biting his teeth hard, he attempted to endure, but Cobra's torture still wasn't finished.

"This one's for Viper!"

This time, his left hand.

"AGHH!"

Xuan cried out in agony at the pain—he'd never experienced something like this before. In the past, his body was incredibly strong, so anything that may have been far more painful than this was reduced in power when it hit him.

But this… this was raw agony—and it wasn't because of the initial cut.

That, Xuan could deal with. But just like everything else this Cobra man had, his armblades were poisoned with a deadly, excruciating venom. The toxins flowed into Xuan's bloodstream, eating away at his cells one by one, tearing apart his tissues and threatening to cut his nerves.

Before long, Xuan stopped screaming, his body limp.

"Hah… hah… hah…"

Cobra, panting heavily, lifted his finger and held it against Xuan's nose, searching for any sign of breathing.

There was none.

However, Cobra wasn't stupid. Even though Xuan's real body appeared to be dead, every cultivator had a Soul—powerful individuals could even transfer their Souls to another body in order to keep living.

Closing his eyes, Cobra searched for the presence of Xuan's Soul—and indeed, it was still alive, right inside of Xuan's knowledge sea.

"Bastard… thinking of running away after what you did to my brothers and sister? I won't let you!"

Furrowing his brows, Cobra sent his own Soul into Xuan's knowledge sea, taking advantage of his real body's downed state and thus lowered knowledge sea defenses.

But just as Cobra's consciousness entered… back in the real world, Xuan opened his eyes, a sinister smile on his face.

"Heh… hook, line… and sinker."