In the darkness, relying almost not at all on eyesight, but purely on instinct, two flashes of sword light were sent out. They successfully drove back two S-rank assassins who were hiding in the darkness, masters of assassination, leaving a bloody hole on each of their bodies.
However, since these two bloody holes weren’t on their heads or over their hearts—those vital areas—they weren’t fatal. These two assassins, one using the “Two-Sword Style” codenamed ‘Monkey’ and the other using the “One-Sword Style” codenamed ‘Shadow’, immediately retreated after being injured. As the door that Jiang Fei had blasted open automatically closed again, the room was once more plunged into a darkness so deep you couldn’t see your own hand in front of your face.
Jiang Fei casually held his three-foot-long sword in his right hand, a faint smile on his face, and slowly began to walk forward.
He didn’t bother turning on the light. The room card had probably been taken by the two assassins beforehand, so turning on the light would be useless. As for damaging the door to let the light from the hallway in, Jiang Fei didn’t think that was necessary yet…
Two S-rank assassins—why would he need to be so wary of them?
His steps were neither too fast nor too slow, neither too heavy nor too light. Jiang Fei’s body gradually moved into the center of the suite. Martial artists have much better eyesight than ordinary people, but in this kind of completely dark environment, it wasn’t very useful. He could only rely on his perception to judge things.
Jiang Fei wasn’t in a hurry at all. He had already left bloody holes on these two assassins’ bodies. Though not fatal, they were still injuries. The longer this dragged on, the worse the situation would be for them. So, these two probably wouldn’t be able to hold out for too long; they would take the initiative to attack soon.
And sure enough, after Jiang Fei came in and stood motionless in the very center, as if waiting for someone to attack him, a full half minute passed without him moving a muscle, and someone couldn’t stand it anymore.
“Shhh!”
A barely audible sound came from the darkness. If there were light, you would have seen another figure approaching Jiang Fei rapidly, not just quickly, but with a strange, bouncing, up-and-down movement.
Originally, he was charging straight at Jiang Fei from the front. But just as he was about to reach Jiang Fei’s side, he suddenly made a sharp turn, ending up behind Jiang Fei. Finally——
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Two thin武士刀 (katana) slashed down fiercely and swiftly towards Jiang Fei’s back, vertically, as if trying to cut Jiang Fei into two or three sections, splitting him right open.
“No wonder the codename is ‘Monkey’. It’s because his footwork is so jumpy, just like a monkey. His Two-Sword Style is practiced decently, I suppose. He’s moved past the flashy-but-impractical stage and started focusing on real killing power—he’s got the basics down. But…” Jiang Fei’s body didn’t move at all in the darkness. He kept his eyes open, looking straight ahead, though he couldn’t see anything anyway.
But in the instant the two swords behind him were about to strike down, Jiang Fei suddenly moved!
It was as if he had eyes in the back of his head. At this critical moment, even though his body didn’t seem to move, he shifted half a meter to the right, causing both of Monkey’s katanas to hit nothing but air.
Just as Monkey’s heart was filled with terror and he let out a muffled, low growl, swinging both swords horizontally to the right in a fierce slash, Jiang Fei’s three-foot green-blade longsword had already earlier sliced backhanded, precisely and accurately severing the tendons in both of Monkey’s wrists!
“But your strength… Compared to the number one of your Two-Sword Style, Miyamoto Ichishin, you’re far off. And I’ve already killed Miyamoto Ichishin, let alone you?” Jiang Fei said at this moment.
Two sprays of blood burst forth. Even as a top-tier S-rank assassin, Monkey couldn’t help but let out a cry of pain at this moment.
Because both of his arms had been crippled by Jiang Fei!
Just like when Miyamoto Ichishin crippled Liu Yunduo’s right hand back then. However, Jiang Fei had crippled both of this guy’s arms. Since he used the Two-Sword Style, only by crippling both arms would he be completely unable to fight.
Monkey wanted to continue attacking with his swords, but with his wrist tendons severed, his hands had completely lost their strength. Forget killing someone—he couldn’t even hold his thin katanas steady. They fell to the floor with two loud clangs.
Jiang Fei stepped in. He didn’t stab him again. Instead, he just pressed a pressure point. This not only rendered Monkey unable to fight but also made him lose control of his body. He couldn’t move an inch, collapsing limply to the floor, his heart filled with pain and terror as he stared at Jiang Fei in the darkness.
Earlier, they had heard the commotion outside the door and knew someone was coming to cause trouble. So, they had deliberately created darkness to make it easier to assassinate Jiang Fei the moment he walked in.
As assassins, darkness was always their best tool for hiding.
But at this moment, Monkey, an S-rank assassin, felt terrified of the darkness. He felt that Jiang Fei was a great demon within it, and he himself was nothing more than a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
“One down.” Jiang Fei still held his sword, thinking happily to himself.
Yes, Jiang Fei hadn’t easily killed this Japanese Two-Sword Style assassin, Monkey. He was feeling quite pleased.
Because Japanese assassins—their cultivation methods are different from Westerners. They fall under the Eastern category, just like the people in the Chinese martial arts world.
This means that Monkey, including the other assassin ‘Shadow’ still hiding in the darkness, waiting for an opportunity, had both cultivated internal energy (Neijin)!
According to the strength classifications in the assassin world, Double S-rank (SS-rank) experts are comparable to martial artists at the Huajin level. While S-rank assassins definitely haven’t reached the Huajin level, they have still cultivated internal energy.
And since they’ve cultivated internal energy, Jiang Fei’s Northern Darkness Divine Art (Beiming Shengong) could finally come in handy————
Generally speaking, martial artists at the Neijin level don’t usually cultivate internal energy for a very long time. Most have been doing it for a few years.
Those with stronger strength might have accumulated seven or eight years of internal energy without crossing into the Huajin level. Those who are weaker might have just cultivated it for a year or two.
For example, the big guy Tian Fei, whose internal energy Jiang Fei absorbed the first time, had been cultivating for two years, which translated into 0.4 years worth of Northern Darkness Divine Art internal energy for Jiang Fei.
But regardless, since these two Japanese swordsmen are ranked as SS-rank assassins, their strength probably isn’t weaker than Tian Fei’s. In fact, their internal energy might even surpass his. The combined internal energy of both men would be enough for Jiang Fei to absorb for a while, saving him a long period of hard training.
Jiang Fei’s current cultivation progress in the Northern Darkness Divine Art had reached 14.2 years. He was only 0.8 years away from completing the first level, which would bring a qualitative change upon entering the second level!
Jiang Fei felt that these two Japanese assassins could help him fulfill that goal…
That’s why he insisted on personally dealing with these two Japanese assassins. It wasn’t because he was some angry young nationalist who had to personally kill any Japanese person he saw. It was because he wanted to absorb their internal energy!
After subduing Monkey, Jiang Fei didn’t rush to reap his ‘reward’.
You can’t eat hot tofu if you’re impatient. They were his for the taking sooner or later anyway. He planned to subdue the other assassin, Shadow, first before absorbing the energy.
“Hmm, this one called ‘Shadow’ seems a bit more impressive.” Jiang Fei stood still in the middle of the room, muttering to himself.
He wasn’t sure if it was because Shadow had seen Monkey’s fate and realized just how powerful Jiang Fei was, making this shadow assassin feel he had no chance of winning and thus dare not act rashly… But Shadow still hadn’t made a move.
And the crucial thing was, Jiang Fei realized that even when he calmed his mind, he couldn’t sense the slightest trace of this assassin anywhere in the room. It was as if he had vanished into thin air, without a trace.
If Jiang Fei hadn’t known that there were two people in this room before entering, even with his detection abilities, he might have been fooled into thinking only one person was there.
This skill at hiding was truly extraordinary. While Shadow might only be an ordinary Neijin-level expert, his ability to conceal his presence was even better than many Huajin-level experts.
At the very least, the two SS-rank assassins killed by the Seven Kills Group in revenge—Moore, the King of Firearms, and Prince William—definitely didn’t have Shadow’s skill at hiding themselves.
“Could he be one of those legendary practitioners of Japanese Ninjutsu… a ‘Ninja’?” Jiang Fei thought, quite curious.
Japan does indeed have ninjas. In many ways, they possess special, strange abilities. They can be considered natural-born assassins, with all sorts of assassination techniques that are incredibly hard to guard against. Hiding their presence so others can’t detect them is their specialty.
“Since you won’t come out, I’ll just have to force you out…” Jiang Fei didn’t wait any longer. He slowly walked towards the guest room’s floor-to-ceiling window, preparing to pull open the blackout curtain.
This shadow assassin was very skilled at hiding in the darkness, so much so that Jiang Fei could barely detect him. Jiang Fei didn’t believe that after he pulled the curtain open and the room was bright with light, this shadow assassin could continue hiding and avoid his sight!
One step, two steps, three steps…
Jiang Fei got closer and closer to the floor-to-ceiling window. Just as he felt he had reached the window and reached out to pull aside the sunshade curtain————
Swoosh!
A fast sword suddenly thrust from behind Jiang Fei!
Incredibly fast, so fast it made one’s scalp tingle, too fast to even react to.
But what made this move truly terrifying was its suddenness. Before this blade appeared, there was not the slightest trace or warning, not a single sign. It was as if the sword had suddenly emerged from a gap between spaces.
The tip of the blade aimed straight for the back of Jiang Fei’s neck, incredibly ruthless. It was clearly a strike meant to end Jiang Fei’s life in one blow.
The assassin in the darkness, the true ninja—at this moment, his skill was on full display.
This shadow assassin had been patiently enduring, waiting for his opportunity.
If Jiang Fei stood still, seeming like he was waiting to die, he was actually using stillness to counter any change. Before figuring out the enemy’s whereabouts, not moving was the best defense.
Once Jiang Fei couldn’t wait any longer and started moving on his own, the shadow assassin felt his hope had arrived.
Moving meant revealing openings, creating weaknesses for him to exploit.
There wasn’t a single speck of light in the darkness, so the back of the blade couldn’t even gleam with a cold light. This strike was perfectly timed. Even an average SS-rank assassin, if unlucky enough to fall into such an ambush set by the shadow assassin, probably wouldn’t have much chance to fight back and would be killed with that one stroke.
Unfortunately for the shadow assassin, he wasn’t facing an SS-rank assassin. He was facing Jiang Fei. A top-tier existence who could easily slaughter SS-rank assassins!
Clang!
At this critical moment, although the tip of the shadow assassin’s blade had already landed on Jiang Fei’s back, it couldn’t penetrate even a fraction further. It was as if it had stabbed into a block of steel!
“What’s going on? Is this guy bulletproof and sword-proof?” The shadow assassin was shocked, finding it incredibly hard to believe.
It’s true that techniques like the Iron Shirt (Tie Bu Shan) or Golden Bell Cover (Jin Zhong Zhao) exist in the world. If trained to the limit, they can make one’s skin and bones incredibly hard.
Maybe such techniques could block ordinary swords. But he was a ninja who had cultivated internal energy!
His weapon was already what you’d call a sharp, divine blade. On top of that, this strike of his was incredibly fast and fierce, carrying unparalleled momentum, plus the penetrative power of his internal energy. No matter how good someone’s external martial arts were, they shouldn’t be able to block this strike.
Just as the shadow assassin’s heart was filled with shock and terror, he quickly realized something was wrong and understood what was actually happening.
“What?! You blocked it with your sword!”
As Jiang Fei reached out and pulled aside the sunshade curtain, light finally flooded into the room. The shadow assassin stared in disbelief at the longsword that had suddenly appeared behind Jiang Fei’s back.
It turned out his blade hadn’t stabbed Jiang Fei’s body at all—it had stabbed Jiang Fei’s longsword. That’s how it was blocked!
No wonder, no matter how hard he tried, his blade couldn’t penetrate any further.
“How is this possible?! How did you anticipate my move?!” The shadow assassin couldn’t help but shout angrily.
The fact that Jiang Fei had used this sudden sword block against his technique meant that, actually, back then, his seemingly mysterious and well-hidden move was completely exposed in Jiang Fei’s eyes.
Jiang Fei had actually discovered his whereabouts long ago and was just waiting for him to walk right into the trap!
Jiang Fei didn’t answer. He simply turned around. His sword bent and then straightened out with force, instantly transmitting an incredibly powerful force. In the most primitive, most direct way—simple and brutal—he broke the shadow assassin’s killing strike.
Although the move was unremarkable and not at all pretty, it was precisely the most effective. Even though the shadow assassin tried to guard against it, his wrists suffered the same fate as Monkey’s moments ago.
Both wrists were severed, and he could no longer lift his weapon.
As Jiang Fei stepped forward and pressed his pressure point, the shadow assassin, like Monkey, collapsed limply to the ground, unable to move.
“You think that little trick of hiding your presence really leaves no trace at all?” Jiang Fei said disdainfully.
But then he chuckled to himself, casually tossed his longsword aside, rubbed his hands together, and finally prepared to absorb their internal energy.
