After collecting whatever useful parts we could from the Ruby Rhino's carcass, we set off almost immediately. This deep in the Crimson Forest, it wasn't a good idea to set up camp and rest. We would be better off returning to the ruin where I had obtained the Hou Yi bow to seek shelter.
Fortunately, we were able to find a relatively safe clearing outside the so-called deep zone of the Crimson Forest. We set up camp, with Hong Yao Yao bringing her own. Damn, but we could really store almost anything in a spatial pouch. No wonder every damned cultivation story had a storage ring or device. No cultivator could leave home without it. We could conveniently pull whatever we needed out from it, as well as hoard as much treasure and resources as we wanted inside it.
We also took the opportunity to continue training in our newly acquired techniques. While Lan Bei Er focused on practicing healing with Phoenix Rejuvenation, Hong Yao Yao and I spent the time outside the tents practicing with dancing blazing butterflies or firing black arrows at trees. I had to control the power of my shots so as not to accidentally devastate entire regions of the forest.
Even though I was supposedly a villain and a demonic cultivator, I was an environmentalist type of guy who respected nature mostly…unless it benefited me not to. Like hunting spirit beasts and practicing techniques. Yeah, yeah, I'm a hypocrite, but I'm also a villain, so I guess that's perfectly fine.
"You shouldn't stay up too late," Lan Bei Er told me, emerging from her tent. Her hands still tingled with red, feathery fires, feathers of flame fluttering around her. She was panting heavily, having exerted quite a lot of qi during training. She probably realized that I was experiencing the same type of exhaustion and was concerned.
I felt touched. Even though Lan Bei Er was so tired, she still thought of me first and came out to check on me.
"Don't worry, I'm fine." I conjured a black arrow to show her. "I have plenty of reserves. I'm more worried about you, though. You look exhausted."
"Oh, yeah…" Lan Bei Er nodded wearily, and then she forced a smile. "I don't have much combat experience and I'm dragging you down…"
"No, you're not!"
"I appreciate your kind words, but I know the truth." Lan Bei Er took a deep breath and steeled herself, her expression determined. "However, I'm not going to wallow in self-pity. I'll do my best to become stronger!"
"Actually, it'll be better if you focus on improving your healing techniques," Hong Yao Yao called out from her branch. She was perched atop a tree, playing with her flaming butterflies. It might appear frivolous, but I could sense that she was actually refining her control over them, making their movements more precise. Hong Yao Yao glanced down with a smile. "Contrary to what all those trashy and nonsensical cultivation web novels tell you, strength isn't everything. Strength is useless without all the support. Cultivators still need doctors and pharmacists, blacksmiths and merchants. Otherwise who's going to heal their injuries or provide them with the weapons, gear, equipment, currency or resources? Each person has their role to play. It's not always about absolute strength or strong eat the weak, as those narrow-minded authors like to say."
"I agree. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. It's not as if society can survive on warriors alone. Who's going to feed them if there are no farmers?" I nodded. Once again, I was pretty sure Hong Yao Yao was from the same world as me.
"What's more important is teamwork," Hong Yao Yao continued. "What you lack, your partner will cover. Just like you and your husband. If you aren't good at combat, your husband will compensate for you. But he clearly isn't a doctor, so when he's injured, that's where you come in. It's like a machine, all the different gears work in tandem with each other. I'm here to provide you guys the intelligence you need. If Chi Yan and He Shan Jie are still here, they'll provide the muscle as well. And you can see from all the different battling styles that we can complement each other. He Shan Jie's golems can distract the foe and mitigate damage from the rest. Chi Yan had unrivaled firepower. And while sir Hei Ye is good at fighting, he also brings his knowledge of arrays to the table. Like the fight against the Ifrit, we all relied on each other to win. And we wouldn't have made it this far if you weren't around, Bei Er. Your medical knowledge ad healing techniques were what allowed us to survive. Without you, we probably would have died long ago."
"Exactly, so don't belittle yourself, wife." I gave her a hug. "It's not always about being the strongest in combat. It's about doing what you're good at and contributing to a team. The whole of a team is always greater than the sum of our parts. Each of us have our designated role, and without any one of us, we would fall apart."
"Yeah, but without sir Chi Yan and sir He Shan Jie, we were still able to defeat the Ruby Rhino," Lan Bei Er pointed out. "And you didn't need me to heal you that time…"
"You protected me with a barrier," I reminded her. Placing a hand on her head and pushing her toward my shoulder, I comforted her. "If you didn't delay the Ruby Rhino by a few seconds, I would have been impaled before I could fire those arrows. So yeah…teamwork is still indispensable."
Lan Bei Er was slent for a moment, but then she resolved herself. "Thank you, but I will still strive to attain Innate Realm. I feel like I'm just about to breakthrough from core formation stage and into Innate Realm shortly, thanks to Phoenix Rejuvenation."
"That's good. If there's anything I can help with, please let me know."
After a vigorous training session, supper and the darkening of night as the hours grew later and later, we went to rest. However, sometime in the middle of night, I woke up when something breached the defensive formation I had set up around our tents.
Was it a spirit beast? No…it didn't feel like a spirit beast.
I rose from my sleeping bag, taking care not to disturb Lan Bei Er, who was sound asleep. Exiting the tent, I put my glasses on and squinted into the darkness.
"Whoa!"
A blade sliced through the air, almost slitting my throat open. I immediately used Shadow Step and retreated a few paces away, emerging into the open.
"Damn it…I thought I was careful in dismantling your array, but it seems that I still triggered something to wake you up."
An assassin came to view amidst the darkness, holding a dagger. His silhouette was concealed underneath a black cloak, his head hidden beneath a hood. His face was partially concealed by a mask with only his dark brown eyes visible. There was an emblem on the front of his cloak that I didn't recognize. It was a weirdly drawn owl seen from its left profile, its wings pointed both up and down, and sporting a single red eye from the side. Set against a yellow full moon, the owl tried to look fierce, but I found it more comical than intimidating. I swear I saw that owl and moon insignia from somewhere before, but I just couldn't place my finger on where, exactly. For some reason, I was reminded of an anime about assassins and the manga it was adapted from. Did the assassin's organization really rip their insignia off from there? I raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. He sighed and shook his head.
"The client insisted that you're trash…what a deluded fool. But to think you're also an array master? You've surpassed my expectations. I knew this task would be difficult, but…following you through the Crimson Forest, having to deal with arrays…I should have asked for a million spirit stones, not the five hundred thousand they offered."
"Who offered?" I asked warily. The assassin smirked behind his mask and swapped the dagger from one hand to another.
"Oh, whoops. Me and my big mouth. Sorry, but I'm not supposed to reveal the identity of my clients. Professional etiquette and all that."
Still, the moron was babbling too much for a supposedly professional assassin.
As if he read my mind, the assassin lunged forward, his dagger gleaming in the moonlight. I dodged it and then slammed my fist into his stomach.
Heaven and Earth Strike.
The assassin's eyes widened and he retreated, but it was too late. There was a hole in his body, bleeding profusely. Despite the mortal injury, he was still hanging onto his dagger. Ah, I guess I had underestimated him. A true assassin never let go of his weapon, no matter what or how grievously hurt he was.
"That technique…what the hell was that technique?! You are…?"
"You don't need to know."
I was already beside him, having used Shadow Step. Even so, the assassin was able to sense the location where I was coming from and blocked my Abyssal Edge with his dagger. He coughed and shrank back.
"Assassinate, Dark Shadow!" he growled, placing his hand along the short blade and infusing it with qi. Within an instant, it glowed and the blade whipped out like a snake, slicing through the air and forcing me to parry it. Blood spurted into the air from my temple as the blade suddenly switched direction in midair and hurtled toward me from an unexpected direction, grazing my flesh.
"Ugh!" I cursed and staggered, trying to fend off the flexible, thrashing blade. The assassin appeared to smirk as he flicked his hand, causing the blade to fold and weave around me. Without a choice, I also showed my hand. "Darken, Abyssal Edge."
There was an explosion of black qi and the serpentine blade was forcibly flung back. The assassin staggered, his arms numb from the impact. His face turned pale from panic, and he was also aware that he was losing unsustainable amounts of blood from the hole in his stomach.
"Damn it!"
Turning, he fled, but I was not about to let him go. Drawing the Hou Yi bow from my spatial pouch, I fired a couple of black arrows after him. Despite his speed, the assassin was barely able to dodge the qi projectiles. He darted among the trees, using them as cover, but the detonations caused by the arrows impacting against the ground or trunks buffeted him, causing him to trip.
That was all the opportunity I needed.
Suddenly appearing above him, I locked my legs around his neck and twisted, causing him to yelp. In a single movement, I spun his body about and cracked his head against the ground, almost bending his neck at an unnatural angle. There was a sharp crack of bones giving way and fragmenting and the assassin howled in pain.
Stretching my right hand out to draw Abyssal Edge once more – my left hand still clutching my Hou Yi bow – I then twirled the black blade about and stabbed the assassin. He shrieked, and suddenly I was forced to jump away as the snaking blade surged upward like a living thing, trying to cut me into pieces.
Jumping to a distance, I then dropped Abyssal Edge to fire an arrow with Hou Yi bow. The black projectile seared through the air and shattered the assassin's Dark Shadow, sending metallic fragments raining down on the beleaguered killer.
Lunging through the shower of sharp shards and ignoring the pain as they cut shallowly into my skin, I kept the Hou Yi bow and retrieved Abyssal Edge before reaching the cowering assassin and slashing at him. He parried my black sword with the broken remains of his dagger, swearing under his breath.
"Why?! How?! This isn't what I was told…you're not just any ordinary person…mid Innate Realm, no close to late!?"
"I guess you can blame your client for feeding you misinformation," I said, spinning my sword about to knock his dagger aside. As he staggered, I seized the opening to deliver a kick from below, my foot striking his chin and breaking his jaw. He spun about dizzily, only for my other foot to crash into his neck and shatter the bone. As he toppled over, I stabbed his shoulder with Abyssal Edge and knelt down. "Perhaps he isn't worth your professionalism. If you would be so kind to tell me who your client is, I'll avenge you. Clearly he set you up."
"Hah…you're not going to trick me like that…" The assassin chuckled, his words somewhat distorted because of his broken jaw. "Just take my life already. Even though I've lived like this, I think it's an honor to die at your hands. But…I would like to know which sect you're really from. That first blow…it's not from any orthodox sect, is it?"
"Sorry, but I cannot fulfil that request. My secrets are my own."
"Understandable." The assassin closed his eyes. "Thank you, anyway."
I didn't hesitate to finish him off, dislodging Abyssal Edge from his shoulder and cutting his head off. Rising to my feet, I glanced at the branch upon which Hong Yao Yao was perched on.
"Enjoyed the show?"
"It was entertaining," Hong Yao Yao admitted with a smile. She placed a hand on her lips. "But I'll at least pay for the ticket. That assassin is from Night Raid, if I'm not mistaken."
"I knew I recognized that insignia somewhere," I muttered under my breath. Hong Yao Yao giggled and shrugged.
"Yeah, well… but anyway, I can only think of two people who would hire an assassin to deal with you."
"Who?"
"Either Jian Shen or Yao Guai." Hong Yao Yao rubbed her cheek thoughtfully. "They're the only ones who harbor big enough of a grudge to resort to such extreme measures."
"Thanks." I nodded. That helped narrow down the possible culprits by a lot. If I just focused on these two, it would be easier for me to find the evidence that they were behind this nonsense. "I appreciate it."
To be honest, that was pretty obvious, and I didn't really need Hong Yao Yao to tell me that. I couldn't think of anyone else who had a grudge against me. Even so, having someone else confirm my suspicions was still comforting.
"Well, anyway, I should restore the formation, and then we should go get some rest. Sorry for waking you up in the middle of the night."
"No, it's not your fault. If anything, I blame him." Hong Yao Yao pointed at the dead assassin. I looked at him sympathetically. Even though I had no qualms killing him, it wasn't as if I hated or resented him. He was simply doing his job.
No, it was the people who hired him that I should crush.
I was about to start repairing the defensive formation when someone stirred. Looking up, I caught sight of Lan Bei Er exiting the tent, looking bleary eyed as she stifled a yawn.
"Eh? What happened?" She asked drowsily, still unable to make out the assassin's corpse. She rubbed her eyes and tried squinting at him, but I quickly moved to block her view. No sense in alarming her now. I would just tell her everything tomorrow morning when she was more awake.
"Nothing," I assured her with a smile. "Go back to sleep."