The black market was bustling with people.
Ji Xun stepped out of the shop and onto the street, his pace steady and unhurried.
He knew that the enemy didn't know his appearance. Even if they had used a mysterious spell to pinpoint his location, they wouldn't immediately be able to identify him in the crowd.
Scanning his surroundings, Ji Xun quickly noticed some men in suits with hurried steps, their eyes searching the crowd.
They were positioned at both ends of the street.
It was clear they had set up an ambush.
"They must have people stationed in all the busy places in the city."
Ji Xun realized that his discovery was partly due to luck, but mainly because the enemy was casting a wide net.
Given the power of the Cao family, this was not surprising.
He also quickly deduced, "So, the mysterious spell must have a limited range..."
Ji Xun had come to the black market on a whim and hadn't been there long.
But given how quickly these people had formed a perimeter, it was evident they had been lying in wait.
This meant he had stumbled into their trap.
Furthermore, if he hadn't been caught elsewhere, it was likely because the mysterious spell had a casting range.
So as long as he left the dark rain street, he should be able to escape the pursuit.
But it seemed difficult now.
A flurry of thoughts crossed Ji Xun's mind. Instead of heading for the main road to leave the street, he moved towards the dark alleys.
As he expected, those men in suits didn't know who the target was and were still searching the crowd.
Ji Xun's calm demeanor didn't attract any attention.
He figured that as long as he reached the shadows, he could use shadow stealth and likely escape.
However, just then, something unexpected happened.
....
Suddenly, amidst the crowd, Ji Xun spotted a white-haired old woman in a black robe. Her presence was distinctly different from those around her, like a mystical fortune teller.
The moment their eyes met, the old woman's expression changed.
"Spotted!"
Ji Xun keenly noticed the old woman's pupils contract, immediately realizing he had been discovered.
He didn't give her time to react and decisively struck first.
With a swift motion, his hands went to his waist, and almost simultaneously with drawing his guns, gunshots rang out.
Quick as lightning!
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
Two gunshots echoed, and the old woman had just enough time to raise her hand and point, "It's him!"
But at the same time, two mercenaries in the crowd fell with bullet wounds to their foreheads.
Though regular armor-piercing bullets were rarely lethal to spell card masters, they were fatal to card apprentice masters with headshots.
The two precise shots killed two of the mercenaries closing in, creating a gap in the encirclement.
But the four spell card masters around the old woman reacted immediately.
The red-haired woman was especially quick, shooting several cards through the crowd that landed on the ground in front of Ji Xun.
His feet suddenly felt like they were on quicksand, causing him to lose his balance.
"[Quicksand Spell]!"
Seeing this, Ji Xun's expression turned grim, but a cold smile appeared on his lips: their orders were clearly to capture him alive.
This meant they would use non-lethal methods.
This was his greatest advantage!
With his footing compromised, it seemed he was about to be trapped.
But he was prepared.
Ji Xun raised his arm and activated the hidden mechanical arrow in his arm, aiming for the iron railing on the second floor of a nearby building.
With a swift "whiz," a thin wire shot out and hooked onto the railing. Pulling the trigger, the mechanical device retracted rapidly, yanking Ji Xun away from the quicksand.
After witnessing Chu Jiu's escape with such a device last time, Ji Xun had equipped himself with one as well.
Used correctly, it was a lifesaving tool.
In mid-air, Ji Xun didn't remain idle and fired another shot.
"Bang!" The bullet shot out from the gun.
In that instant, time seemed to slow tenfold. The bullet cut through the air, heading straight for the red-haired woman's head.
Bullets are fast. Without anticipation, it was impossible for a physically frail spell card master to dodge them.
But the red-haired woman didn't try to dodge. Her cold eyes reflected indifference, as bullets posed limited threats to formal spell card masters.
Instantly, spell power surged around her, and the bullet stopped an inch from her face.
A closer look revealed a pale yellow spell shield blocking the bullet.
But then, her expression changed drastically as she saw the second bullet and felt a chill, "Annihilation Demon-Breaking Bullet!"
She realized that the man had fired two shots, not one!
Only highly skilled gunmen could use the recoil of the first shot to assist in firing a second shot almost instantaneously, making it sound like a single gunshot.
This was advanced gun expertise!
The bullets struck the same spot on the magical shield.
The black bullet head's runes corroded the shield, piercing through with a "whiz."
Though powerful, the spell shield wasn't at full strength all the time. It required the spell card master to actively concentrate their power to create the strongest defense in a specific direction.
After the first impact, the shockwave significantly weakened the shield's stability.
Moreover, the actively released spell shield was directly tied to the caster's awareness, reacting differently to a light touch versus a heavy strike.
These two shots were deliberately deceptive.
One to mislead, the second to kill!
As expected, the [Annihilation Bullet] easily broke through the shield, hitting the red-haired woman's forehead with a "clang."
Blood spurted out.
However, the bullet didn't penetrate.
The red-haired woman's face darkened: she was actually injured? Injured by an apprentice?
In her hand, a shield card shattered simultaneously.
In just one encounter, the members of the Blackwater Mercenary Group immediately realized the target was not to be trifled with.
...
"So, it wasn't that easy to kill her after all..."
Ji Xun looked at the red-haired woman standing there, her head bleeding but not dead.
He mentally sighed, regretting his luck.
Spellcasters were notoriously troublesome to deal with. He had hoped to catch the enemy off guard with his marksmanship.
But as it turned out, against absolute power, skill and equipment could only do so much.
However, it wasn't entirely useless.
At least he had stopped the woman from drawing more cards to fight.
That was enough.
The gunshots were a momentary action, but the enemy was evidently seasoned mercenaries.
Ji Xun's decisiveness gave him a slight edge, but his opponents were not alone!
The instant Ji Xun fired, a man dressed as a ranger also drew his gun and fired.
Ji Xun, suspended in mid-air by the steel wire, saw it coming but couldn't dodge in time.
Seeing his landing trajectory align with the gun's aim, he reacted as if he had expected this, swiftly severing the wire. Instantly, he stopped moving forward and began to fall!
Almost simultaneously, there was a flash of sparks and the sound of a bullet hitting the railing two feet away.
If he hadn't abandoned the wire, that shot would have hit his thigh.
While firearms were convenient and powerful, they had a major flaw: predictability.
At short range, bullets traveled almost in a straight line and could only be fired from the barrel.
Thus, from the moment the target drew their gun to pulling the trigger, an experienced enough opponent could predict the shot.
Advanced firearm proficiency wasn't just about shooting skills but also understanding gunfighting.
Even from the enemy's gaze, one could predict the bullet's trajectory.
When Ji Xun fired, he had already noticed the ranger drawing his gun and anticipated that his opponent's shot would target his thigh.
The opponent's marksmanship was decent, at least at an intermediate proficiency level.
Without anticipation, relying on reflexes alone, Ji Xun would have been hit.
...
"Missed?"
Seeing this, the ranger was visibly astonished.
He never imagined a card apprentice could dodge his shot.
Such remarkable marksmanship!
Even though it was the enemy, the ranger couldn't help but admire.
This precise anticipation eliminated any underestimation he might have had.
A card apprentice avoiding his shot and injuring one of their own in their encirclement—this was a first.
Yet, more surprises awaited!
As soon as Ji Xun landed, without hesitation, he leaped off the edge behind him.
Jumping off a cliff!
...
The buildings in Sinless City were tall, built along the mountain, creating high drops throughout the city.
The black market's location in Dark Rain Street was not just for its remoteness but also for its complex terrain. In case of emergencies, the merchants and patrons here wouldn't be easily surrounded.
Dark Rain Street bordered a building cliff with a drop of several dozen meters.
Ji Xun had chosen this direction for his escape precisely for this reason.
He knew the enemy included several formal spellcasters and was well-prepared.
Fighting them was unlikely, and even escaping would be difficult under normal circumstances.
So, he decisively jumped off the cliff.
The four members of the Blackwater Mercenary Group were stunned.
Did he just jump without hesitation?
Normally, facing a cliff, human instinct would make one pause to assess and plan their leap.
But this guy didn't even look—he just jumped?
Was he so desperate?
What they didn't know was that Ji Xun had already scouted the area before entering Dark Rain Street.
He had mapped out several escape routes in his mind.
His mental map of the complex streetscape was like a 3D blueprint. He knew exactly where he would land without even looking.
This leap was premeditated, not desperate.
...
Seeing this, the warrior leader roared, "Third, stick to him! Don't let him escape!"
With their long-awaited target in sight, they couldn't let him get away.
The ranger, whose shot had missed, reacted quickly without any orders. Years of team synergy told him what to do. He kicked off the ground, his speed ghostly, and leaped after Ji Xun.
If a card apprentice dared to jump, how could he hesitate?
As a ranger, tracking was his specialty!
Even jumping off a cliff wouldn't let the enemy escape!
Yet, as soon as he jumped, he saw Ji Xun's rapidly falling figure turn and aim a black gun at him.
Almost immediately, fire erupted from the barrel.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
Two shots in quick succession.
So decisive!
The ranger, still in mid-air with no foothold, was a sitting duck.
"Damn it! How can a card apprentice have such superb marksmanship?"
He cursed inwardly.
The previous shots could be luck, but these tested real skill.
Firing without aiming implied he had predicted the exact spot where the ranger would jump.
Being close to advanced proficiency himself, the ranger understood the basis of anticipation.
The shortest distance between two points was a straight line. His previous position meant he could only jump from this point.
Anticipating this wasn't hard, but doing so without panic and firing accurately was another matter.
The terror of this awareness was no less than that of a master gunslinger!
They had thought they had already given him enough credit, but it turned out they had still underestimated him.
After all, he was a formal spellcard assassin. In a flash of thought, his body surged with spirit energy, and he suddenly stepped on the air, leveraging himself to narrowly avoid the two bullets.
The assassin flipped in the air, his gaze locking onto the target about to land, filled with cold menace.
...
"What a high agility attribute..."
Seeing his two shots miss, Ji Xun's expression remained unchanged.
He hadn't expected to kill the spellcaster with his gun, let alone this agile, physical-growth-oriented assassin.
As long as the bullets could delay the enemy momentarily, that was enough.
If he didn't shoot, the ranger could have leaped down twenty meters and caught up with him mid-air.
Even though Ji Xun's physical stats had soared, there was still a vast gap compared to an assassin spellcaster.
Furthermore, if he didn't want to break his legs, he needed to buffer his fall mid-descent. He shot out a steel wire from his sleeve again, slowing his fall.
For a master, this brief moment was enough to compensate for the time gap from the jump, but the two shots had widened the distance again.
Ji Xun saw that the ranger was followed by the warrior leader and several mercenaries jumping off the cliff.
Seeing this, he decisively threw a few grenades at the landing platform and turned to run.
Another dark cliff lay below the platform, and Ji Xun leaped off without hesitation.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
Three grenades exploded on the platform, the flames illuminating the darkness.
Several figures were blown away, but the leader and a few mercenaries charged through the flames.
They didn't hesitate either and leaped after Ji Xun.
If it were a free fall, Ji Xun wouldn't be afraid. But those behind him could accelerate their descent, which was troublesome.
After the second jump, the ranger, fast as a ghost, was almost upon him in two or three breaths!
Mid-air, with no foothold, and no anchor for his grappling wire.
Ji Xun could almost see the cold look in the ranger's eyes a few meters away, as if saying: Got you!
But to the ranger's surprise, Ji Xun's eyes showed no panic as they met his.
In that moment of doubt, a sneer flashed in Ji Xun's eyes as he pulled a cord on his chest.
The ranger's pupils contracted: "Flashbang!"
He never expected Ji Xun to detonate a flashbang on himself.
Was he seeking death?
Even though flashbangs weren't lethal, at this distance, wouldn't it kill an apprentice?
"Boom!"
Visible shockwaves exploded between them. Though Ji Xun wore a bulletproof vest, the blast hit his chest like a freight train, blood surging, and he fainted.
But the force accelerated his fall like a cannonball into the darkness.
The ranger instinctively defended against the blast but was blown away.
Seeing the target distance grow, he could do nothing but fire a net launcher at the falling figure.
...
The sound of water echoed.
The target fell into the underground river, vanishing.
Only then did everyone realize that from the start, Ji Xun's leap was not out of desperation but to dive into the dark river.
It was the only way for an apprentice to escape such a tight encirclement.
The warrior leader looked at the mist-covered underground river, his eyes dark.
They had thought an apprentice in Dark Rain Street couldn't escape their squad.
But the reality was in front of them.
Not only did he escape, but he also humiliated them.
Recalling the chase, they realized Ji Xun's near-superhuman calm and precise judgment.
In that intense minute, every shot he fired bought him precious escape time. Every step was calculated, leading to the only escape route.
Even detonating the flashbang in the ranger's face, Blackwater realized this wasn't just a meticulous guy but someone with an unusual madness.
A flashbang wouldn't kill but could cause unconsciousness. Bound in a net and falling into water, could he survive? Betting on the water reviving him?
Gambling with his life for a slim chance of survival, without a second's hesitation?
Any hesitation or mistake, he'd be caught!
But he didn't!
Not once!
Shooting, leaping, flashbang, precise landing.
No wasted movement, no errors!
...
The mist lay heavy on the river, visibility less than two meters, even with flares only showing fog.
The leader's face was dark as he roared, "Into the water! Find him, no matter what!"
He shed his mechanical gear and leaped first.
If the target escaped, they knew their fate.