The leader watched as two n in black blew incapacitating smoke into the room, which put him more at ease. After waiting for fifteen minutes, he quietly pushed the door open and stepped inside.
"Leader, over there!"
A figure could be faintly seen on the bed inside the room. It had to be their target, Yang Chan.
They had thoroughly investigated Yang Chan’s room before coming tonight. The only thing that caught them by surprise were all the traps along the path.
’Who could have guessed the Cyan Yuan Sect would be so devious, laying out so many traps? It was no small feat just to make it this far.’
If they had brought fewer n tonight, they might have all been taken out on the way without even laying eyes on Yang Chan. That would have been a true humiliation.
"Go. We’ll hack him to pieces, take his head back, and use it as an offering for the fallen souls of the Three Major Sects."
A cruel smile spread across the leader’s face. He would ensure Yang Chan died in his sleep.
In truth, if circumstances allowed, they would have preferred to torture Yang Chan to death. But that wasn’t an option. Hacking him to pieces and leaving a mangled corpse would have to suffice.
The n moved directly toward Yang Chan’s large bed. Just as they neared it, several crossbow bolts shot down from the ceiling beams. The two n in the lead were struck through the head. The cruel smiles were still frozen on their faces as they drew their last breath.
"The Cyan Yuan Sect is so despicable! Setting traps inside the room itself... Aren’t they afraid they’ll kill their own man?"
The leader cursed again, seeing the figure on the bed was still motionless. They still hadn’t taken care of Yang Chan, yet two more n were dead. The losses were becoming significant.
The leader was at the External Refining Steel Realm, and the weakest n he’d brought had at least grasped Power; the others were experts at the External Refining Copper Skin level. In the Three Major Sects, they were all considered elites.
But now, apart from himself, even the External Refining Copper Skin experts were wounded. This just went to show how precious the materials used for these traps were. And they were all placed in such obscure locations, a clear display of the Cyan Yuan Sect’s imnse wealth.
’If a re Basic Level Pharmacist’s courtyard is this heavily trapped, how terrifying must the residences of Interdiate Pharmacists and Elders be?’
The leader felt a surge of relief that their only target was a Basic Level Pharmacist. If they had to kill even one more person, none of them would make it back alive.
"Be more careful on your approach. Go for the head first, then dismber the body."
The two n in black crept forward. Seeing no new traps, they gripped the sabers in their hands and hacked at the figure on the bed.
CLANG!
But when their long sabers struck, they didn’t feel the expected sensation of cutting through flesh and bone. Instead, there was a sharp clang of tal striking tal. The sound was loud, and it sent a chill down their spines.
Just as they were about to investigate, a volley of Flying Needles shot out from the bed. The two n raised their sabers to defend themselves but were still pierced through. Although the needles didn’t hit any vital spots, the n swayed on their feet before collapsing to the ground.
"Leader, it’s a trap! Let’s get out of here!"
More than a dozen n in black had co to assassinate Yang Chan. Now, without even seeing him, only four were left. Three were wounded, one was not.
They were not in good shape.
"Assassins! There are assassins!"
Before the leader could reply, soone shouted from outside. They had clearly been discovered.
"Escape to where? We’ll be dead if we go back. We keep searching! Yang Chan has to be hiding in this room. Killing him is our only chance to live," the leader snapped.
Their mission tonight was do-or-die.
If they fled now, even if they escaped with their lives, they wouldn’t survive for long as long as Yang Chan was still alive. Their only chance was to return with Yang Chan’s head.
The leader drew his Long Sword and began hacking at everything in the room. The bookshelf, table, and chairs were smashed to pieces. He then saw the large bed and the dummy on it and cleaved it in two with a single strike. After the bed was destroyed, a hole was revealed beneath it.
"Yang Chan must have escaped through this tunnel! After him!"
The leader was surprised, but he quickly realized what must have happened. Yang Chan must have known sothing was wrong and escaped through this opening.
Otherwise, how could he have vanished? The intelligence he’d gathered stated that Yang Chan hadn’t left this room since entering it.
’He can’t fly, so he must have escaped underground.’
The leader leaped in first, and the other three imdiately followed. The commotion outside was too great; going out now ant being surrounded and killed. This tunnel was their only chance of survival.
...
As night fell, Yang Chan began allocating his points as usual. This was the third day since his visit to Elder Lü Zhenghai’s Qinglin Courtyard.
He had already succeeded in Refining the new dicines; for him, the process wasn’t very difficult.
The number of Potential Points gained from the Cold Fragrance Essence Refining Powder and the Golden Wind and Rain Dew Soup was about what he had expected. They each added 0.1, bringing his daily total of newly acquired Potential Points to 1.8. He was getting closer and closer to breaking the 2.0-point barrier.
He had originally planned to spend his Potential Points on his Ox Demon’s Mighty Fist to reach the External Refining Steel Realm. However, now that he had the Visualization Image for the Ox Demon Martial Seal, if he just spent the points on his fist technique, the risk he had taken would have been all for naught.
After so thought, he decided to spend them on the Ox Demon Martial Seal instead.
Reaching the Beginner level for the Ox Demon Martial Seal cost more points than other Cultivation thods. Yang Chan spent all five Potential Points he had accumulated over the last three days on the Ox Demon Martial Seal, finally raising it to Tier One Initial Glimpse.
According to the records on the Ox Demon Martial Seal Visualization Image, Tier One Initial Glimpse was equivalent to achieving Minor Success with the Ox Demon Martial Seal. This was also the absolute limit for soone at the External Refining Copper Skin stage.
The next step was to advance to External Refining Steel while simultaneously cultivating the Ox Demon Martial Seal. Once the Ox Demon Martial Seal reached Great Success, it could project outside his body and could also be used to empower his physical form, increasing his strength.
However, Great Success only granted the strength of a single ox, while Perfection granted the strength of nine oxen. The difference between the two was imnse.
After the Ox Demon Martial Seal reached Minor Success, although there wasn’t much change on his status panel, Yang Chan could clearly feel his Spirit improve once again. His perceptive abilities beca sharper, as did his mory.
’If I keep improving it, I’ll eventually have a photographic mory.’
After he finished allocating his points, Yang Chan lay down on the upper bunk of the two-tiered bed he had prepared. It wasn’t long before he sensed a disturbance.
The traps he had set in the dark corners of the T-shaped Room had been triggered, sending an alert to his location.
Yang Chan beca fully alert and carefully sensed the situation. After discovering his traps were being triggered one after another, he knew it was no accident. Soone had co to assassinate him.
’As for who sent the assassins, who else could it be but the Three Major Sects?’
He had previously discovered Poison in his food and rooted out several spies from the Three Major Sects. It seed they now knew that poisoning was useless and had decided to act personally.
The protectors Elder Lü Zhenghai had supposedly arranged were nowhere to be seen. Yang Chan knew he couldn’t be relied upon. Fortunately, he hadn’t placed his hopes on others to begin with, but had personally arranged various counterasures.
’And now, they were starting to pay off.’
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