201.2 – Phantom

“Commander Luo, are you okay?”

Gong Jing is standing in front of Luo Hong in order to protect him. Xue Qilin purposely stands behind Luo Hong.

“Hey hey, Luo Little Hong, how could you be so easily hit?”

With a sword in one hand and a talisman in the other, the lass complained without looking back.

“This one was careless.”

While clasping his wound, the hoarse-sounding Luo Hong stood up slowly.

“This one caused trouble for the both of you.”

“All right, save your strength.”

The expression on Xue Qilin’s face became a bit more grim.

It seems like the attacker doesn’t exist, like he never appeared in the first place.

“What the hell!”

No matter what perception ability she used, Xue Qilin could not detect any clues. She scoffed in annoyance.

Just then —

“Lady Xue, the left side!”

Luo Hong suddenly gave a loud warning.

Before his voice reached Xue Qilin’s ears, a sharp whistling pricked her eardrum. She still hasn’t turned, when the black phantom has already burst into her peripheral vision. She held up her sword to block.

The sound and sparks produced by metal rubbing against metal assaulted the senses.

At the moment of the confrontation, Xue Qilin felt like there was no weight behind the other party’s dagger. As soon as Xue Qilin pushed her sword forward, the attacker flew back as if he bounced back.

“Leaving the moment the attack didn’t succeed!”

Xue Qilin pursued and chopped with the sword, angry.

The attacker dodged the counterattack with strange movements, and then changed direction abruptly. Like a sharp arrow turning suddenly, he drew an angular trajectory around Xue Qilin, and then approached Gong Jing behind her from a tricky angle with grace and speed.

Faced with the dagger radiating cold rays, Gong Jing did not retreat, but advanced.

“Ah!”

After stepping forward and assuming the bow stance, the old man tensed up and threw a straight right punch with the power of his whole body.

The rumbling sound of ripping silk made the unprepared Xue Qilin tremble. She knows that this ordinary punch contains the destructive power to pierce through stone.

The fist containing rich true qi pierced the atmosphere and struck the target in the blink of an eye.

— there was no sound.

Despite receiving such a heavy blow, the black phantom wasn’t sent flying. Instead, they unnaturally stopped in place.

Aware that something is amiss, Xue Qilin shouted, “Old Master Gong, some –”

Before she could finish her warning, she saw the black phantom suddenly disappear in front of her eyes like mist.

As for Gong Jing —

“Ugh –!”

By the time the dull groan of pain sounded, several cuts appeared on Gong Jing’s right arm and spurted out blood. With a stern face, he pressed the wound and retracted his fist.

Was Old Master Gong cut? When did that happen? Xue Qilin couldn’t help holding her breath. Even though she witnessed the whole process, she still didn’t catch the moment when Gong Jing was injured.

In other words, the other party’s dagger was too fast to catch with Discerning Eyes.

Who are they exactly? Xue Qilin broke out in cold sweat from her forehead.

The identity of the attacker is thought-provoking.

Gong Jing undoubtedly possesses Heaven Realm strength. Furthermore, he is not a newcomer to the realm. The power of the punch just now can testify to this point.

However, he, who not only possesses Heaven Realm strength, but also has experienced many battles, was easily injured by the attacker.

This fact makes Xue Qilin deeply apprehensive.

Whether it is in terms of strength or realm, the attacker is likely to be above Gong Jing. Maybe they are a great Heaven Realm master.

— a great Heaven Realm master who is expert in breath concealment.

“Blast it, do great Heaven Realm masters like to wander about now?”

Xue Qilin complained in a low voice, puzzled about why a great Heaven Realm master would suddenly intervene in their dispute.

More importantly, unlike their initial claim, the attacker is an enemy, not an ally. Otherwise, they would not have attacked Xue Qilin from the get go.

“One against three, we’re really being looked down on…”

“At night, he does indeed have that capability.”

Gong Jing’s answer came from behind. Even though he was injured, but his voice remained unshakable.

When he said that… Xue Qilin frowned.

“Old Master Gong, do you know who the other party is?”

“If this old one didn’t guess wrong, he should be that great Heaven Realm master from the Shadow Gate. Commander Luo, is this old one right?”

Gong Jing turned his head slightly, glanced at Luo Hong, and threw a question at him.

“Yes, Great General Gong’s guess hit the mark.”

Luo Hong left the protection of the two. Standing in a triangular formation, the three are on alert of the attacker, who is hiding somewhere in the area.

Then, Luo Hong affirmed with certainty, “He is my former Senior Disciple Brother — Shadow.”

The identity of the attacker is far beyond her expectation.

Shadow? The current Gate Master of the Shadow Gate, the person hailed as the No. 1 assassin in the world? Why would he be here, why would he suddenly attack us? Xue Qilin is both shocked and confused.

“You talk too much.”

Likely because he noticed the gap in Xue Qilin’s concentration, Shadow appeared out of thin air, looking like he is wrapped in a piece of black cloth. He stabbed with his dagger at Xue Qilin from her blind spot.

The dim light that surfaced from the dagger’s tip forced her to snap out of it quickly, and she secretly scolded herself for being carelessness. At the same time, she yelled.

“– ah!”

Xue Qilin concentrated true qi into her right foot and stamped on the ground violently.

The sound of the impact and the sound emitted by the ground spread in the courtyard.

Unable to withstand the lass’s full-strength blow, the ground instantly depressed and cracked, and then exploded. Propelled by a strong force, a large number of small stones shot at Shadow.

The next moment, a dark flower bloomed before her eyes.

Several dark strips suddenly extended from Shadow’s waist in different directions. As he span rapidly in the air, the dark strips, as if blades of a windmill, knocked away the small stones shooting at him. Some of the small stones that were knocked away shot at Xue Qilin. However, they were ultimately blocked by the lass’s domain.

“Heavenly Dragon Lifts Head!”

In the meantime, Xue Qilin shouted the name of a move and thrust her sword. The green sword suddenly bent, dodged the dagger, and stabbed into the opponent.

But —

The feeling of stabbing the other party is missing! Xue Qilin retracted her sword at once.

However, since she isn’t good at martial arts, she doesn’t know that by retracting her sword, she gave the opponent a chance in disguise.

Of course, Shadow didn’t miss this chance. He dodged Gong Jing’s fist and rushed into Xue Qilin’s bosom. Upon seeing this, Xue Qilin threw a kick forward.

Although it has both speed and power, but the kick is meaningless.

Shadow bent at a 90 degrees angle. Xue Qilin’s right foot streaked past his waist and missed by a hair’s breadth.

Crap! Xue Qilin has a bad feeling. She is wide open at the moment.

As if to tell Xue Qilin that she was right, the feeling of being pulled came from her right foot. Like a moth flying into the flame, she stumbled towards Shadow, who in turn thrust his dagger towards her.