While Zu An had managed to deal with two enemies thus far, he dared not let his guard down at all.

While he was trading blows with Shi Zhenxiang earlier, he realized that, even though he had defeated a fifth rank cultivator and killed a fourth rank cultivator before, he’d enjoyed a healthy dose of luck in each of those fights. In a real fight, defeating a fourth rank cultivator was definitely no easy feat.

It was fortunate that he had Poisonous Prick and the armor-piercing arrow he had picked up earlier, or else there would have been no way for him to even breach their ki armor. The remaining duo were of even higher cultivation rank, so defeating them would pose much more of an issue.

It looks like I can’t brute force my way through them. I need to come up with a strategy and make it work.

Looking at Shi Zhenxiang’s corpse, an idea floated into Zu An’s mind.

…

Meanwhile, after searching the forest in vain for quite some time, the remaining two killers realized that they might have run in the wrong direction. So, in accordance with their previous agreement, they headed back to where the archer was supposed to be camping to meet up, bumping into one another along the way.

“Brother Jia, did you find anything on your end?” the one with the sword asked.

“I couldn’t find anything. What about you, Brother Zhen?” asked the one wielding the spear.

The swordsman’s name was Zhen Liumang, whereas the spear wielder’s name was Jia Zhengjing. They were both deathsworn soldiers groomed by the Shi clan. They had only been dispatched to Brightmoon Academy in the past two years, and they had soon gotten on fairly good terms with one another.

“I didn’t find any tracks. Could he have headed north, to where Shi Zhenxiang is?” asked Zhen Liumang. “Should we head up there to take a look?”

Jia Zhengjing shook his head. “Let’s meet up with Brother Po first. If Brother Shi hasn’t returned by then, we’ll head north to take a look.”

“All right, then!”

Now that they were covering each other’s backs, they grew less cautious with their own movements. They raced back to the area where they had left Po Zhongyou.

“Say, if neither of us found any traces of Zu An at all, is it possible that he turned around and headed back to where Brother Po is?” asked Jia Zhengjing.

Zhen Liumang replied with a laugh, “Brother Po would have shot Zu An dead if he spotted him. Even we would have trouble dealing with his arrows if we can’t get close to him.”

“That’s true.” Jia Zhengjing nodded. He suddenly noticed a silhouette in front and remarked, “Ah, Brother Shi is… back…”

His words faded off into uncertainty as he realized that Shi Zhenxiang seemed to be standing a little too high off the ground. The two of them quickly rushed over, and their faces went pale with shock. Shi Zhenxiang was hanging from a tree with a noose around his neck.

“Brother Shi!” exclaimed Zhen Liumang in horror.

They had been stationed together in Brightmoon Academy for several years now, and had forged a strong bond. He was horrified to see the other party hanging from the tree. Without any hesitation, he rushed forward to sever the rope and release Shi Zhenxiang’s body.

“Be careful!” warned Jia Zhengjing.

However, it was already too late. The moment the rope was severed, a black shadow suddenly streaked through the air.

Stuck in midair, Zhen Liumang was unable to dodge the arrow at all. Fortunately, he wasn’t completely out of defensive options. He swiftly swung his sword to deflect the arrow, but before he could even heave a sigh of relief, something on Shi Zhenxiang’s body suddenly exploded.

With a scream of horror, he quickly tossed the body aside. It was fortunate that he had activated his ki armor to protect himself earlier on, so even though the explosion had dealt significant injuries to him, it wasn’t fatal.

The shockwave of the explosion pushed him toward the ground. He was just about to curse the evil bastard who laid out this series of despicable traps, when the ground beneath him suddenly caved in, and he fell into a pit.

“Ahh!”

A horrified scream echoed through the forest. There appeared to be some kind of mechanism inside the pit to deal with its unsuspecting victim.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye, catching the two of them off-guard. Jia Zhengjing was horrified as well, but he held back his urge to check on his comrade. Instead, he scanned his surroundings carefully. Sure enough, a silhouette darted toward him from the side, a dagger in hand. No light glinted off its jet-black surface.

“Come and face me, then!” Jia Zhengjing’s spear rushed forth like a silver dragon rising from the sea. In terms of force and speed, his spear thrust was undoubtedly far stronger than the dagger brandished by the silhouette.

However, an alarm bell suddenly went off in his mind, and he leaped backwards with a roar. When he finally glanced downward to take a look, he realized that his breastplate had been slit open, revealing his inner shirt.

Had the enemy come even a single inch closer, his blade would have pierced through his skin and skewered his abdomen.

“What special dagger does he have?” Jia Zhengjing was shocked. He had been maintaining his ki armor all this while, so any ordinary attack should not have possibly hurt him at all. Yet, that earlier strike actually managed to penetrate both his ki armor and the expensive soft body armor he was wearing as well. Inconceivable!

Zu An, on the other hand, let out a sigh of regret. The earlier strike had been a good one, but the short strike range of Poisonous Prick and the sharp reflexes of his enemy had worked against him. Otherwise, he could have bragged about having killed a cultivator at the pinnacle of the fourth rank in a single strike.

Thinking about this, he suddenly found himself filled with awe for Dongfang Bubai. While he was lamenting about the shortness of his dagger, the latter was already dominating the world with just a couple of needles in hand.[1]

The battle didn’t stop right after this clash. Jia Zhengjing was, after all, no ordinary student. He had been groomed as a deathsworn soldier from a young age, and he had learned many new things while studying in Brightmoon Academy. He swiftly recovered from his astonishment and charged forth with a furious roar, thrusting his spear toward Zu An.

Given what had happened earlier, he made sure that his movements were more controlled and careful this time around, but the force of his strike was still not to be underestimated. The spear tip moved so quickly, it was on the verge of breaking the sound barrier.

Zu An dodged sideways before attempting to make another frontal charge, but he suddenly felt a strong gale coming from his side. He quickly pulled his dagger back and brought it to his side, blocking the spear’s sudden sweep.

Despite having successfully blocked the attack, the sheer force from the spear sweep forced Zu An to use Sunflower Phantasm, retreating a few steps before he was able to completely neutralize the impact.

A cold sneer formed on Jia Zhengjing’s face as he swept the spear across. He had been learning the art of the spear from a very young age, so how could he possibly allow anyone to get close to him so easily? In fact, he had put the full force of his power as a pinnacle fourth rank cultivator behind that attack, and it should have been more than enough to crush his enemy.

However, the smile on his face quickly froze. There wasn’t as much feedback from the blow as he had expected. It felt as though he had struck a bed of cotton instead.

“Your movement skill…” mumbled Jia Zhengjing. He could tell that the other party had used his bizarre movement skill to neutralize the force of his attack.

He had also heard about how Zu An’s bizarre movement skill had garnered much attention at the Clans Tournament, but the intelligence team had also figured out that, while the movement skill looked impressive at first sight, it was riddled with openings.

But, given the way his opponent had attacked him, and the way that he had managed to deflect his own attack, that was clearly not the case.

Having neutralized the sweep with some difficulty, Zu An charged toward the spear user once more. He heard a groan coming from within the trap, which meant that the swordsman who had fallen into it wasn’t dead yet. He had to eliminate this spearman quickly, to prevent it from turning into a two-on-one situation.

However, all of his attacks were parried by the spear each time, accompanied by a loud metallic clang. The difference in both their cultivation rank and combat experience were clearly showing. It wouldn’t be easy for Zu An to catch the spearman out.

Zu An’s expression turned grim. He dished out blows at an increasingly faster speed, dancing about with his Sunflower Phantasm, looking like a specter haunting the battlefield.

Sweat began trickling down Jia Zhengjing’s face. He finally understood how a fifth rank cultivator like Yuan Wendong had ended up being crippled by Zu An. The world mocked Yuan Wendong for foolishly underestimating his opponent, but that was only because they had yet to have a taste of this swordsmanship themselves.

It was indeed the Thirteen Forms of Elementary Swordplay from Brightmoon Academy, but it was somehow elevated to another level in Zu An’s hands. His attacks looked straightforward, but, when paired with his movement skill, they became nearly impossible to predict.

Jia Zhengjing had managed to hold on thus far, but he definitely wasn’t as relaxed as he appeared to be, which was most evident by the cold sweat drenching his body.

At first, he tried to launch his own counterattacks, but after trading several blows, he was forced to take a defensive position. Only in the scant few moments when Zu An failed an assault was he able to sneak in an attack, but Zu An would parry and swiftly retaliate with a counterattack, nearly doing him in on several occasions. In the end, he was forced to concentrate fully on defense.

He desperately brandished his spear about him to form an impregnable defensive shell, reminiscent of a barrier.

It was incredibly frustrating for him. He should have been at an advantageous position, but he could only resort to retreating into this shell like a tortoise.

On the other hand, Zu An’s hands were starting to feel numb after constantly clashing with the spear. Several times, his dagger was nearly sent flying after being jolted by his opponent's blows, but he’d learned his lesson from his previous encounter with Shi Zhenxiang, and made sure to hold it tighter than ever.

After exchanging several blows, Zu An reined in his aggression. He chose to skirt around the spearman instead, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

He knew that he had the initiative right now. The spear user was swinging his spear to create a defense shell around his body, but it was obvious that he couldn’t keep this up for too long. He was depleting his ki at a terrifying rate, and it was only a matter of time before his reserve emptied out.

The spearman would eventually have to thrust his spear outward to launch an attack, and that would create an opening for Zu An to flash in and end the fight.

After a few moments, Zu An noticed that the defensive shell had grown smaller. It seemed that the spearman had noticed this problem too, and was attempting to conserve his energy. A smile crept across Zu An’s lips. There was no way he would allow the spearman to catch a breather, so he headed in once more to apply pressure to his opponent.

At this very moment, Jia Zhengjing was feeling so stifled that his lungs were about to blow up. He had never felt so aggrieved in a fight before. He obviously had the advantage in terms of speed and strength, but the sheer elusiveness that his opponent’s movement skill granted him was more than enough to undo whatever advantage he had.

Despite his initial fury, his heart soon turned cold upon realizing the terrible situation he was in. The way things were going, it was a given that he would soon succumb to his opponent and lose his life. He had to find a chance to counterattack.

The problem was that launching a counterattack would force him to leave an opening, and he might meet his end even more quickly as a result of that. That pitch-black dagger Zu An was holding in his hands gave off a dangerous aura. Every time it came close to him, goosebumps would rise all over his body.

A sudden twist occurred on the battlefield.

A silhouette leaped out from the pit and grabbed onto Zu An before shouting, “Brother Jia, kill him!”

It was Zhen Liumang! There was still an arrowhead embedded in his leg, and his body was filled with terrible wounds, but he was still alive!

Zu An realized that he had gotten careless. He had heard groans coming from within the pit at the start of the battle, but the groans had slowly grown lower and quieter, and he assumed that the other party had succumbed to his injuries and died. Who could have thought that he was simply biding his time for an opportunity to strike?

This wily fox!

Zu An tried to break free of Zhen Liumang’s grip, but the latter was a middling fourth rank cultivator, and an entire rank stronger than him. The sheer difference in their strength made it impossible for Zu An to break free.

“Die!” sneered Zhen Liumang.

In his view, the greatest threat that Zu An had was his movement skill. So, he began channeling his ki to enhance his strength, intending to crush Zu An’s bones.

He might have sustained grievous injuries, but it would be all worth it if he could kill this fellow. The young master had declared that he would handsomely reward the person who managed to kill Zu An.

However, at this critical juncture, Zhen Liumang’s body suddenly froze, and he found his own strength seeping out of his body. The last thing he saw before everything went dark was Zu An nicking his arm with his dagger, followed by a bunch of profound, black runes seeping in through his wounds.

“What is that dagger…? How could it be this formidable…”

With those parting words, Zhen Liumang breathed his last.

Despite having just killed one of his opponents, Zu An was feeling incredibly stressed out. Even though he was now dead, the swordsman’s hands were still attached to his body. It would take him a moment to completely shake off the burden hanging off him, but it was clear that the spear user wouldn’t give him the chance to do so.

No matter how powerful Zu An’s movement skill might be, its prowess was sure to be diminished with a burden hanging off him.

Jia Zhengjing’s spear shot toward him like the Grim Reaper’s scythe. Now that Zu An had lost the advantage of his movement skill, he was nothing more than another moving target.

1. Dongfang Bubai is a character from The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, who wields throwing needles.