Chapter 1741: Night Hawk

The giant hammer had a handle at least six feet long, and its head was the size of an adult’s skull. Its body was a mottled bluish-black, exuding a sense of sheer ferocity. Despite being such a heavy-duty weapon, it moved through the dense curtain of rain with eerie silence, like a thin blade slicing through water.

It was only at the moment of impact against Ming Qi’s leg that the suppressed, formidable power erupted. The shockwave shattered the surrounding wind and rain, making it look like a tidal wave had suddenly burst in mid-air!

Bang!

In the midst of the explosion, a burst of yellow light radiated from Ming Qi’s foot—the manifestation of her Earth-element defense clashing head-on with the enemy. However, within half a breath, Ming Qi was sent flying like a kite with a snapped string, propelled at an even greater speed into the endless deluge ahead.

Immediately, a thick, powerful figure appeared where Ming Qi had just stood. A cold snort escaped him.

“Trying to flee?”

His figure flickered and vanished once more into the curtain of rain.

Li Yan struck out with a punch. Above his head, a phantom shadow—the body of a Qiongqi—flickered for an instant before disappearing. His opponent was also an expert in assassination and stealth; it was only when the attack was less than a yard away that Li Yan sensed it.

The attack came from his front-left. Since Li Yan was flying forward at a moderate speed, it was too late to dodge entirely. The moment he sensed the spatial fluctuation, he also identified the enemy’s cultivation level: a late-stage Spirit Transformation cultivator.

As Li Yan thrust his fist forward, the surface of his knuckles first made contact with the countless falling raindrops. These droplets, normally mere wisps of water, did not shatter upon impact. Instead, driven by the turbulent wind generated by his punch, they were propelled forward with pinpoint accuracy!

Clang, clang, clang…

The impact between the rain and his fist produced a dense sound of clashing metal, like a volley of arrows striking home. As Li Yan’s fist continued its rapid surge, his arm and wrist rotated, sending even more raindrops flying.

Shhh, shhh, shhh…

Accompanied by a series of metallic clangs, the raindrops tore through the heavy rain, whistling through the air as they struck the space ahead. Li Yan’s warning had only just left his lips when, to his side, Ming Qi was already trading blows with her assailant.

Cling, clang… Buzz!

Li Yan’s punch had not yet connected with the physical target, but the agitated raindrops had already met resistance. A slender longsword, its tip gleaming with a chilling light, emerged from the rain!

The sword collided with the incoming raindrops. What should have been a venomous snake sliding through the rain was suddenly struck by the seemingly fragile droplets. Amidst the rapid-fire impacts, the slender sword was forced to a halt. The blade began to vibrate violently in the air, trembling until it was knocked sideways. This process was brief; with a sharp, resonant hum, the sword shattered into countless fragments in an instant.

“Not good!”

The person behind the sword was horrified. His weapon had been forged with trade-offs to achieve the perfect assassination effect; it focused on being thin, fast, ruthless, and accurate, at the cost of its own structural defense. Under the weight of Li Yan’s monstrous physical strength, how could the blade remain intact once it was knocked off-axis?

Behind the curtain of rain, the enemy felt a surge of danger rise from his heart. His ambush had failed, and he desperately tried to flicker away to dodge.

Li Yan remained calm. His fist continued its journey through the rain, and even more droplets were agitated by his punch, shooting out like a hail of arrows. Li Yan heard the gasp of surprise from behind the rain. Immediately following the gasp, a shrill, piercing scream erupted.

“Aaaah!”

The sound pierced through layers of rain, yet under the suppression of the torrential downpour, it did not travel far. Li Yan’s speed suddenly increased. Although his punch hadn’t hit a solid object, he withdrew his strength with lightning speed. With a diagonal flicker, Li Yan dove toward the rain below.

On the mountainside of a floating peak below, a black-robed cultivator lay face-up in a large crater. His chest was still heaving, but his eyes were tightly shut. His resilient cultivator’s body had smashed a hole into the hard rock, but within moments, the rainwater pouring from the sky began to accumulate in the crater, forming a small puddle.

Li Yan’s previous strike hadn’t landed fully; he had withdrawn the final force of the attack. Clearly, the enemy had underestimated Li Yan’s strength, sending only a Spirit Transformation cultivator to deal with him, resulting in a failed assassination!

However, the man was highly skilled in the art of killing. His true combat strength was likely far superior to ordinary cultivators of the same rank. In fact, if he weren’t so skilled, Li Yan wouldn’t have waited until the man was right upon him to react. But by miscalculating Li Yan’s power, this assassin had encountered a master who was even more proficient in the art of the kill.

The assassin’s cultivation path focused on the soft and feminine; while his body could smash a crater into rock, it was far too fragile compared to Li Yan’s tyrannical punch. Currently, his body was riddled with tiny, bloody holes—the result of being pierced by the raindrops Li Yan had propelled. As the blood sprayed out, it was quickly washed into a pale red by the rain, and his face turned deathly pale.

Assassins typically sacrificed physical defense for enhanced stealth and agility; their bodies were often even weaker than standard elemental cultivators. Furthermore, they didn’t maintain full defensive shields while stalking, as doing so would compromise their concealment. Consequently, this black-robed cultivator was a mess of bloody holes. Even the Nascent Soul in his dantian hadn’t been spared, pierced in several places.

The exchange had happened too fast. The black-robed cultivator never imagined he wouldn’t even be able to take one punch from Li Yan. He had fallen unconscious instantly. This was only because Li Yan had held back his strength at the last moment, sensing the strangeness of the situation and wanting to investigate the cause.

At the moment Ming Qi clashed with the other assailant, Li Yan sensed that her opponent was also a late-stage Spirit Transformation cultivator, but a stronger one. The enemies likely felt that Ming Qi’s aura was more stable and thus sent a peak late-stage Spirit Transformation expert to kill or severely wound her in one strike. Here, being severely wounded without help was a death sentence.

When Ming Qi made contact, the enemy’s attack shifted from soft to rigid in an instant, showing a mastery of the “heavy-to-light” principle. Because of this, Ming Qi’s reaction was slightly delayed. Although she blocked the ambush before her power could fully erupt, the contact with the artifact sent her flying.

Li Yan suspected Ming Qi was injured. What was truly eerie was that after she was sent flying into the endless rain, the assailant had pursued her immediately. Within just a few breaths, both of their auras vanished completely from Li Yan’s Divine Sense. This caused Li Yan’s heart to tighten.

His Divine Sense scanned the surroundings warily as he reached out with his hand, pulling the black-robed cultivator up from the puddle. As the man rose, Li Yan slapped a restriction onto him, isolating his aura from the outside world. Standing in the middle of the downpour, Li Yan began to perform a Soul Search…

He stood there for nearly half a minute. During that time, not a single person came to rescue the man or launch another attack.

Bang!

Magical power surged in Li Yan’s palm, producing a crisp explosion. The black-robed cultivator’s head burst like a melon; the man didn’t even have the chance to groan before he was reduced to a mist of blood.

‘Someone knew months ago that Xianhe Manor would be receiving a shipment of pills. However, this black-robed cultivator isn’t a direct enemy of the Manor. He belongs to an assassination organization called “Night Hawk.” They are all hired guns, and this man was merely a member; he didn’t know who the employer was.’

‘Their mission was to kill any Huangqi Valley cultivators heading to Xianhe Manor and bring back the cargo. Before attacking, they already knew the six of us were from Huangqi Valley. As for how they knew our identities, this man was just following orders and didn’t know the details. It’s possible that someone was spying outside the valley when we left, allowing them to track our path…’

Li Yan rapidly analyzed the information gathered from the Soul Search. After leaving Huangqi Valley, they had indeed encountered many cultivators, but that was because the Valley was famous, and many went there to buy medicine. It was impossible to distinguish everyone’s intentions; there could easily have been a Night Hawk scout among them. As long as they were flying toward Xianhe Manor, the scouts could use numerous methods to transmit information along the route.

Thus, even if Li Yan’s group chose different detours, as long as their general direction was toward Xianhe Manor, the enemy only needed to spot them once near the destination to set up an ambush at any point along the way. But this was only a guess…

‘…Moreover, they chose to ambush us here because it’s a bottleneck. The terrain is complex and unique. Any cultivator trying to pass through these layers of floating peaks must slow down. Even if we bypass one ambush point, the enemy has time to set up another. Eventually, we would fall into their trap.’