"So you can go back home now," Mu Rong Lao told me. "Your grandmother is expecting you."
"Do you really think I'll just return home?" I scoffed. "She tried to have me assassinated, and now she expects me to simply forget everything and go home as if nothing happened?"
"What you do is none of my business," Mu Rong Lao replied stiffly and waved me away. "I don't care if you go home or not. I merely want you gone from here."
"Oh, I'll be gone after you hear me out on my request…" I began, but I never got to finish my sentence. There was a sudden change in atmosphere. Raising my head, I saw that everyone had noticed the new presences too.
A bunch of hooded figures were perched on trees, walls and lampposts, their silhouettes barely visible in the shadows. Even so, I recognized their venomous qi anywhere. It was similar to the old man I had just killed earlier today.
The Du family.
Pushing my glasses up my nose, I studied them. "Seems like they are here for me."
"That shouldn't be the case." I could hear the tension in Mu Rong Lao's voice. "Your grandmother called off the hit. She cancelled her request. There is no reason for them to…"
"Oh, we're not here just for him," one of the hooded figures interrupted. "And we don't care that the Zhao hag has cancelled her request. But he's not important. We're here for you and your family, Mu Rong Lao."
"My family?" Mu Rong Lao repeated incredulously. Already, his family members had moved about to gather around him, forming a tight circle of elemental powers to combat the poison users of the Du clan. "Why?"
"Why don't you ask your granddaughter?" The hooded figure jutted his chin toward a stunned Mu Rong Shu.
"Huh? What did I do?"
"Do you take us for fools?" The hooded figure snorted. "You teamed up with that young man to kill our elder, Du Wang!"
"Now hold on a second." I raised my hand. "I was the one who killed Du Wang. Mu Rong Shu had nothing to do with that. And besides, he deserved it. He tried to kill the both of us first. I was only defending myself. You can't possibly be shameless enough to demand that I do nothing but stand still and let him kill me without fighting back, right?"
"Do you really think I'd believe you?" The hooded figure retorted. "Someone as weak as you can defeat an elder of my Du family? You're nothing but the useless, trash second son of the Zhao family. The only way Du Wang died was because you teamed up with that girl to kill him."
"I really didn't kill him…and you are underestimating Zhao Huan Shi's strength. He's not the useless trash the rumors claim to be." Mu Rong Shu shook her head with a sigh. "Underestimate him and you will pay dearly with your lives."
"Shut up!" The hooded figure yelled. "Stop lying and die!"
A few of the hooded killers from the Du famly swooped down, their daggers drawn. They headed straight for Mu Rong Shu, who resigned herself to a bitter battle and adopted a defensive stance. An eight trigrams materialized below her. The rest jumped at the recovering Mu Rong family members, who were still trying to tighten their defense with Mu Rong Lao as their core.
They never reached Mu Rong Shu.
Before they could get within a few meters of her, I stepped in, my divine dragon flaring once more. Even though Mu Rong Lao had forcibly disintegrated him earlier, as long as I had the qi, I could regenerate him back to full health and restore his true form as many times as necessary.
"You…!"
"What the hell?!"
"Impossible?!"
The trio of Du family members who tried to attack Mu Rong Shu were immediately incinerated, scorched into little more than ash and shards of bone by my bellowing divine dragon. My spirit beast left a trail of soot behind him as he lunged at the astonished leader of the Du family.
"It's true! That guy really did kill Elder Du Wang by himself!"
"What the hell is with this power?! This isn't what we heard! Isn't he supposed to be a useless trash?!"
"They lied to us!"
Flustered, the Du family members pulled back. Another one was caught by my divine dragon and devoured, unable to escape in time. Others were cut down by vengeful Mu Rong family assassins, wind blades, mountains, vines and shadow blades slicing into their backs before they could get too far.
"Don't get too ahead of yourself!" The Du family leader roared and unleashed a powerful venomous strike at my divine dragon, hurtling him back. Blood spurted from my mouth and I staggered. Even though the poison had no effect on my divine dragon, the Du family leader's attack was so powerful that raw, brute strength was enough to hurt my summoned spirit beast.
Wiping the blood from my mouth, I continued charging ahead, golden flames gathering in my hands. Jumping at the Du family leader, I unleashed the divine flames to burn away the poisonous miasma. The Du family leader swung about, extinguishing the flames with a vicious stroke of his arm before he dashed at me. His poisonous palm would have struck me in the chest, but I dismissed my divine dragon and re-summoned him around me once more.
Even though he was coiled protectively around me, the tremendous impact was still jarring. The Du family leader snarled and struck again, and despite my divine dragon absorbing the blow, we were both flung back. I coughed out more blood, feeling the tremors rage across my internal organs.
"You're still alive after taking three blows from me?!" The Du family leader gaped at me in disbelief, and then he shook his head. "You really are not trash."
"I told you, I was the one who killed Du Wang."
"Yeah, we were telling the truth." Not far away, Mu Rong Shu was battling a few opponents of her own. Using Eight Trigrams Palm, she struck the chest of one of her foes, sending him hurtling back with a shattered ribcage. Ducking under a poisonous hand, she countered by slamming both her palms into her assailant's solar plexus, knocking him out. Pivoting on another foot, she kicked the third Du family member, her foot arcing up and crashing into his neck to send him spinning helplessly to the ground before he could hit her with his poisonous palm. "So there is no reason for you to attack the Mu Rong family."
For a moment, the Du family leader was silent, staring at her. Then he burst out laughing.
"Little girl, are you really that naïve?"
"What?" Mu Rong Shu frowned, staring at the Du family leader now that she earned a little breather from defeating her foes. Then realization dawned on her. "No…you mean…"
"Exactly," the Du family leader scoffed. "I was simply using Elder Du Wang's death as an excuse to attack the Mu Rong family. I always wanted to destroy your family all along! This city is too small for two major assassin clans to exist alongside each other! Once we kill all of you, the Du family will take the place of the Mu Rong family as the premier assassination clan in Cheng Shi City!"
"You…!"
Enraged, Mu Rong Shu dove at the Du family leader, gathering qi into her hands to unleash Eight Trigrams Extreme Strikes. However, the Du family leader was far too experienced and skilled. He whirled around to face her, venomous qi emanating from him like a fog.
"This…!"
Too late, Mu Rong Shu realized she had fallen into his trap. She tried to halt, but the Du family leader closed the gap, his venomous palm hurtling toward her face. Even though she tried to dodge, she knew she wouldn't make it in time.
Fortunately, she didn't have to.
I crashed into her, sending the both of us sprawling far away from the Du family leader's miasma and attack. His palm struck my divine dragon instead, my spirit beast having followed me closely to ensure I didn't die. He roared and flailed before vanishing into thousands of glowing lights. As for me, I nearly blacked out from the backlash.
"Ugh!"
"You…! Why?!"
Mu Rong Shu clutched me while I collapsed. She gritted her teeth and gently set me down, rising to her feet to fight off the approaching Du family leader. With my divine dragon temporarily gone, there was nothing to defend us now…
"Argh?!"
The Du family leader staggered when Mu Rong Lao attacked him from the side. A massive eight trigrams formation engulfed him, bestowing esoteric power upon his attacks. Eight palm strikes lashed out, too fast and furious for my blurry vision to register. Each of them struck with the force of a meteor, igniting enormous explosions that incinerated the miasma surrounding the Du family leader and sending spays of blood into the air.
"Mu Rong Lao, you bastard! Launching a sneak attack…?!"
"Du Shen, did you really treat me, Mu Rong Lao, as not existing? Attacking the juniors of my family and bullying them right in front of my eyes? And you want to complain to me about sneak attacks?"
Du Shen watched Mu Rong Lao for a moment, and then chuckled. He wiped the blood off his mouth and stretched out a hand. Noxious fumes billowed out of his arm, saturating the air with toxins.
"You're right," he said. "There's no use complaining about morals. We are both professional killers. All that matters to us is the result."
Then with a ferocious shriek, Du Shen lunged at Mu Rong Lao.