Chapter 146: Sudden Surge of Abnormality

Zu'an felt no relief, even after eliminating two enemies. His recent encounter with Shi Zhenxiang had made him keenly aware that while he had previously defeated fifth-rank and killed fourth-rank cultivators, those victories were due to various unexpected circumstances. In a direct, head-on fight, it wouldn't be easy for him to defeat even a single fourth-rank opponent. Fortunately, he had the Bide Dagger and the armor-piercing arrow he had just acquired; otherwise, he wouldn't even be able to break through their defenses. The remaining two opponents were even stronger, making it likely much harder to kill them. It seemed a head-on confrontation was impossible; he would have to rely on strategy.

Gazing at Shi Zhenxiang's corpse, Zu'an suddenly had an idea.

Meanwhile, the other two assassins had searched for a long time without finding any trace. They hadn't even found signs of human activity in the forest, and it immediately dawned on them that they had been chasing in the wrong direction. So, as prearranged, they began heading back, and on the way, they met each other.

The man wielding the sword asked, "Brother Jia, did you find anything on your end?"

"No, how about you, Brother Zhen?" replied the man with the spear.

It turned out that the swordsman was Zhen Liumang, and the spearman was Jia Zhengjing. Both were trained as assassins by the Shi family from a young age. In the past two years, they had joined Brightmoon Academy on a mission. Though they saw each other daily, their relationship was quite good.

"I couldn't find any signs of anyone passing through here," Zhen Liumang said gravely. "Could that fellow have gone north towards Shi Zhenxiang? Why don't we go check the northern area?"

Jia Zhengjing shook his head. "Let's go back and rendezvous with Liao Zhongyou first. If Shi Zhenxiang hasn't returned, it won't be too late for us to search north together."

"All right!"

With a mutual understanding, the two no longer proceeded cautiously as before, instead rushing toward Liao Zhongyou's location.

"Since neither of us found anything, do you think that fellow, Zu, might have doubled back towards Brother Liao's position?" Jia Zhengjing asked seriously.

Zhen Liumang chuckled. "If Brother Liao had really found Zu, he would have shot him dead by now. With his archery skills, as long as he's not cornered, even we would have a hard time dealing with him."

"That's true," Jia Zhengjing smiled faintly, then suddenly noticed a figure ahead. "Huh, so Brother Shi is already back..." As he spoke, a doubt arose in his mind. He could see Shi Zhenxiang from such a distance; wasn't he standing a bit too high?

As the two drew closer, their expressions simultaneously changed. They had clearly seen that Shi Zhenxiang wasn't standing high up; instead, he was suspended in mid-air, his neck encircled by a rope, hanging from a tree.

"Brother Shi!" Zhen Liumang exclaimed in shock. The group had been undercover together at Brightmoon Academy for years, and some emotional bonds had formed. Seeing his companion hanged from a tree, he was both shocked and enraged. Instinctively, he flew over, embracing the body with one arm while with the other, he slashed his sword to cut the rope around the neck, intending to bring him down.

"Watch out!" Jia Zhengjing shouted a warning, but it was too late. The moment the rope was severed, a dark streak of light shot towards them. Zhen Liumang had no leverage in mid-air to dodge, but he wasn't entirely unprepared. He swung his sword, deflecting the incoming arrow. However, before he could feel relieved, something on Shi Zhenxiang's body suddenly exploded. Zhen Liumang screamed, quickly throwing the corpse away from him. Fortunately, he had already activated his protective *qi*, so while the explosion caused him many injuries, none were fatal. Due to the shockwave, Zhen Liumang fell to the ground nearby. Just as he was about to curse the vile trickster, the ground beneath him suddenly collapsed, and he involuntarily plunged downwards. A scream echoed from below, indicating some kind of trap.

All of this happened in a flash. Jia Zhengjing, however, did not rush over to check. Instead, he concentrated his *qi* and adopted a full defensive posture. Sure enough, a dark figure shot out from the side, a black dagger in its hand, emitting no light whatsoever. "Good timing!" Jia Zhengjing's spear, like a silver dragon emerging from the sea, thrust violently towards the assailant. His strike, in both momentum and power, far surpassed the dagger in the opponent's hand.

However, a sudden warning surged in his heart. He let out a roar, bounced backward, and looked down at his chest. His breastplate had been sliced open, revealing the inner lining of his clothes. If the opponent's strike had advanced even an inch further, he would likely have been disemboweled. "What kind of dagger is that?!" Jia Zhengjing was profoundly shocked. He had been maintaining his protective *qi*; ordinary attacks shouldn't have been able to harm him in the slightest. Yet, this single strike not only pierced through his protective *qi* but also sliced through the expensive soft armor he wore underneath. How could he not be alarmed?

Zu'an, however, inwardly cursed his missed opportunity. That sudden attack should have been a guaranteed kill, but the dagger was too short, and his opponent reacted too quickly. Otherwise, he could have boasted about instantly killing a peak fourth-rank cultivator. This thought made him admire Dongfang Bubai even more. He complained about his dagger being too short, yet Dongfang Bubai could defeat everyone in the world with just an embroidery needle.

On the other side, Jia Zhengjing, having been raised as an assassin from childhood and having learned much at Brightmoon Academy, possessed extensive combat experience. He instantly recovered from his shock. With a roar, his *qi* surged, and his spear thrust swiftly towards Zu'an. Having learned from the previous close call, his movements were slightly slower this time, but the power behind his strike was undiminished; the air around the spearhead seemed to tear apart.

Zu'an flashed to the side, dodging the attack. Just as he was about to seize the opportunity to close in, he suddenly felt a powerful gust of wind from his side. He quickly pulled back his dagger to block, intercepting the sweeping shaft of the spear. A strange force emanated from the spear shaft. Zu'an, employing the Sunflower Phantasm, retreated several steps consecutively before completely neutralizing the force from the spear.

A sneer had initially appeared on Jia Zhengjing's face. After years of mastering spear techniques, how could he be so easily approached? With his peak fourth-rank *qi* cultivation, that sweeping strike should have been enough to destabilize his opponent's entire *qi*. However, the smile on his face quickly froze. He felt as if his strike had hit a wad of cotton, producing none of the anticipated effect. "That movement technique of yours..." With his discerning eye, he could tell that his opponent had neutralized the force from the spear shaft by relying on that miraculous movement technique. He had heard before that Zu'an had displayed extraordinary and strange movement techniques during the Chu and Yuan family martial arts competition. However, intelligence reports at the time concluded that while the technique initially appeared amazing, it actually had many flaws. But the movement technique the opponent displayed just now, whether attacking him or evading his attacks, was nothing like what the intelligence reports suggested.

Zu'an pushed off the ground, rushing directly towards his opponent. He heard the other person groaning in the pit, realizing the trap hadn't killed him. Therefore, he needed to quickly finish off the person in front of him.

However, he thrust his dagger multiple times, but each strike was parried by the spear with clanging sounds. Jia Zhengjing's cultivation was, after all, much higher than his, and his combat experience was incomparable. He wouldn't be so easily hit.

Zu'an's expression was grave. His attack speed grew faster and faster, and combined with the eerie "Sunflower Phantasm" footwork, his figure became truly ghostly and elusive.

Sweat dripped down Jia Zhengjing's face. He finally understood why Yuan Wendong, a dignified fifth-rank cultivator, had been injured by Zu'an. Everyone had mocked Yuan Wendong for being careless and underestimating his opponent, but only by truly facing him did he understand the terror of the opponent's swordplay. It was clearly the thirteen basic sword forms taught by the academy, but wielded by Zu'an, they were unpredictable and phantom-like, each move imbued with an uncanny strangeness, making him feel cold all over despite sweating.

Initially, he still intended to attack his opponent with his spear, but after a few moves, he adopted an eighty percent defensive stance, with only twenty percent for occasional attacks. After ten moves, several narrow escapes made him so wary that he didn't even dare to attack anymore, resorting entirely to defense. He wielded his spear so densely that it seemed to form a steel shield, enveloping his entire body.

He felt stifled and aggrieved. Despite his much higher cultivation, he was forced to resort to such a cowardly fighting style.

Zu'an's dagger thrust in, clashing with the spear multiple times, causing a tingling numbness in his tiger's mouth (the web between thumb and forefinger). Several times, he nearly lost his grip, and the dagger almost flew out of his hand. Clearly, the opponent's *qi* was far stronger than his own. After several exchanges, Zu'an also dared not press forward rashly, instead circling his opponent, waiting for an opportunity.

He knew that if the fight continued this way, he would maintain the absolute initiative because his opponent couldn't retaliate at all. The moment there was an intention to attack, the spear's defensive posture around him would expose an opening, allowing him to seize the chance to close in. Moreover, the opponent couldn't keep defending so rigidly. After all, wielding the spear with full force to protect his entire body consumed *qi* at an alarming rate; there would eventually be a moment when his energy was depleted.

After a while longer, Zu'an noticed that the circumference of the opponent's spear defense had shrunk slightly. Knowing that he must have realized the problem, Zu'an couldn't help but smile faintly, and his dagger movements intensified.

At this point, Jia Zhengjing felt so stifled and frustrated that his lungs might burst. He had never fought such a depressing battle. His opponent's cultivation and strength were clearly far inferior to his own, yet with his unpredictable movement technique, he rendered Jia Zhengjing utterly incapable of striking back. Initially, he felt some anger, but now his heart was cold. As the saying goes, "Prolonged defense leads to inevitable loss." If the fight continued like this, he was bound to be defeated and killed. But if he counterattacked now, he might die even faster. The black dagger in his opponent's hand, to him, was as uncanny as the movement technique; every time it came close, it made the hair on his skin stand on end.

Suddenly, a drastic change occurred in the arena. A dark figure leaped out of the pit trap, grabbed Zu'an, and shouted, "Brother Jia, kill him quickly!" This dark figure was none other than Zhen Liumang, who had initially fallen into the trap. At this moment, an arrow was clearly still impaled in his leg, and he was covered in wounds from head to toe.

Zu'an inwardly chided himself for his carelessness. At first, he could hear groans, but later the sounds gradually faded, leading him to subconsciously assume the opponent was severely wounded or dead. He had no idea that the man had been lying in wait, biding his time. What a cunning old fox! He quickly tried to break free, but his opponent's mid-fourth-rank cultivation was a major realm higher than his own, and his strength was clearly much greater. There was no way he could break free.

"Die!" Zhen Liumang sneered. The opponent's only advantage was his uncanny movement technique; his actual cultivation was far inferior to theirs. So, Zhen Liumang exerted his full strength, intending to crush all of Zu'an's bones. He had sustained severe injuries today, but killing this guy would be worth it. Their young master had promised a hefty reward to whoever killed him. However, he suddenly stiffened, and all strength seemed to drain from him. The last thing he saw before his death was the opponent's dagger piercing his arm, and then a cluster of intricate black runes spreading from the wound. "What kind of dagger is this, so powerful..."

Zu'an, however, couldn't feel happy at all. Although his opponent was dead, his hands were still clasped around Zu'an. While it didn't completely immobilize him as before, he couldn't break free immediately. No matter how miraculous his movement technique was, with such a burden clinging to him, his mobility was naturally severely hampered. Jia Zhengjing's spear was already darting towards him like a death omen. Without the advantage of his movement technique, his opponent was just a moving target in Jia Zhengjing's eyes.