Chapter 67: Having Powerful Backers Feels Great
Both Scott and Nightblade were battle-hardened veterans. One was at the upper Eagle rank, the other at the upper Wolf rank. The number of supernatural beings who had died at their hands was no less than eight hundred, if not over a thousand. Their seamless cooperation stemmed from the wealth of experience earned through countless killings.
Yu Xian had been able to toy with them only because he was hidden while they were exposed. Nightblade wanted to reverse that situation. He intended to remain hidden and wait for Yu Xian to reveal himself. Once he locked onto his target, his extensive experience would provide him with a thousand different ways to eliminate the enemy.
Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye, but Nightblade still hadn't found Yu Xian. At the same time, he realized that the enemy seemed to have no intention of coming after him.
A powerful killing intent immediately surged within him. His hands tightened around the hilts of his dual blades until his knuckles whitened. Just as he was about to abandon his disguise and make a move, a powerful presence streaked through the sky overhead.
Nightblade's heart skipped a beat. Jin Dajun!
He immediately suppressed his presence and remained perfectly still. Although he had great confidence in his strength and even possessed a treasure capable of inflicting severe damage on Dragon-rank opponents, he had prepared that trump card specifically for dealing with the Perfect Lifeform. Scott was the one who had carried the weapons intended for use against Qilin's forces.
Nightblade waited out a tense ten minutes after Jin Dajun's presence finally faded from the area. But just as he rose to his feet, preparing to make his escape, a massive seagull soared past through the clouds above.
Nightblade shrank back into hiding once more. The seagull was Ou Huchen, a navy captain. He was also a formidable opponent in Tiger rank.
Nightblade worried about Scott. If Scott encountered one of the powerful reinforcements mobilized to the area, he would be doomed unless he used his trump card in advance.
The chances of completing the mission were looking increasingly slim. According to the original plan, he and Scott would launch a surprise attack. Scott would deploy a treasure capable of suppressing even Dragon-rank opponents, while Nightblade would use a Dragon-rank weapon capable of inflicting massive damage on the Perfect Lifeform. Once the creature was incapacitated, they would eliminate Qilin's personnel as quickly as possible before retreating with the Perfect Lifeform.
Instead, they had been ambushed before even reaching their destination. Worse, they had been caught in an awkward situation. Activating their treasures now would effectively doom the mission, yet without them, they couldn't quickly deal with the hidden enemy. As a result, their entire plan had fallen apart.
Another five minutes passed. After convincing himself that Qilin was unlikely to send any additional reinforcements, Nightblade prepared to emerge from hiding.
However, the giant seagull returned at that moment. Nightblade stiffened, and before he could react, a fist descended from the sky and slammed him into the ground.
Immediately afterward, a barrage of water arrows pierced through him, pinning him firmly in place. The entire attack happened so quickly that he never even had a chance to draw his blades.
A bubble appeared beside the seagull. Looking down at Nightblade, Yu Xian said, "That's him. Colonel Jin, Colonel Ou, don't let him die too easily."
Jin Dajun grinned. "Don't worry. Old Ou and I are professionals when it comes to this sort of thing."
The two worked together, delivering a ruthless and efficient beating. They shattered Nightblade's spine, pelvis, and joints, stripping him of any ability to resist.
Only after confirming that Nightblade's regenerative abilities were not particularly strong and that breaking his bones once every hour would be sufficient to keep him incapacitated did Yu Xian descend to the ground. Nightblade glared at him with undisguised hatred, as if he wanted to devour him alive. He had never imagined that he would end up falling into the hands of a mere kid.
Yu Xian, however, responded with a cheerful smile. His original plan had been to wait for the enemy to walk into his trap. Instead, Jin Dajun and Ou Huchen both arrived one after the other. Having powerful backers is truly a wonderful thing.
The moment they arrived, Yu Xian had shared all the information he had gathered about the enemy. As it happened, when Ou Huchen had flown overhead in the form of a seagull, he had actually noticed Nightblade. At the time, however, he had assumed Nightblade was one of their own. After learning that the individual could be an enemy, he promptly returned with Jin Dajun.
There was a reason people said it was good to have a mighty tree to shelter beneath. Jin Dajun and Ou Huchen had effortlessly dealt with an enemy Yu Xian had to handle with extreme caution.
In a raw and raspy voice, Nightblade asked, "Where is Scott?"
Yu Xian walked over with a smile. "If you're talking about the other guy, he's dead, of course. You didn't seriously think he had a chance of surviving, did you?"
Although he appeared to be standing very close, he remained prepared to teleport away at a moment's notice. Approaching Nightblade was merely a way to test whether the man still retained any ability to fight back.
After confirming that Nightblade was completely incapable of moving, Yu Xian revealed his fangs. Under Nightblade's disbelieving gaze, he bit into the man's neck and began drinking his blood in large gulps.
Jin Dajun laughed. "Now, the kid finally looks a little like a vampire."
Every time they had met before, Yu Xian had either been basking in the sun or on his way to bask in the sun. Compared to a vampire, he seemed more like someone who grew stronger through sunlight.
A moment later, Yu Xian withdrew his fangs and frowned. "Nightblade... I think he's on Qilin's bounty list. If I remember correctly, headquarters is offering a reward of one hundred thousand merit points for capturing him."
Jin Dajun was surprised. "He's the assassin Nightblade?"
When they captured Nightblade, none of them had actually been aware of who he was. They only knew that he was an enemy who had come to sabotage their operation. However, after drinking Nightblade's blood, Yu Xian had extracted a massive wealth of information directly from Nightblade’s memories, gaining a thorough, inside-out understanding of the man’s background.
Nightblade had originally been a martial artist, not a supernatural being. He was simply an ordinary human who had honed his blade to an exceptionally profound level. After realizing that he could spend his entire life training and still be unable to defeat even an Insect-rank supernatural being, he was lured in by a foreign organization and underwent genetic enhancement.
The procedure granted him physical abilities far beyond those of ordinary humans. Combined with his already formidable techniques, the increase in physical strength turned him into a terrifying combatant. Even supernatural beings with special abilities often found it difficult to gain the upper hand against him.
From that point onward, he started working for the foreign organization. At the same time, he became an assassin to further hone his techniques, taking on assassination contracts while carrying out missions for his employers.
Yu Xian recounted Nightblade's background in detail. The moment he finished, Jin Dajun stepped forward and delivered two brutal backhands across the man's face. "Turns out he's a traitor."
Ou Huchen said flatly, "Take him back. We're researching genetic enhancement technology ourselves, and foreign countries are far ahead of us in this field. We might be able to collect some valuable samples from him."
He stepped forward, placed a hand on Nightblade, and activated his abilities. Nightblade slowly shrank. Bathed in a soft green glow, he transformed into a pig. Terror filled Nightblade's eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but all that emerged were panicked squeals and grunts.
Yu Xian exclaimed in surprise, "That's Pangu Transmutation!"
Jin Dajun nodded. "That's right. Old Ou is one of the lucky few who awakened the Pangu Transmutation. It's an ability others would kill to have."
Ou Huchen chuckled and lifted the pig by its tail. "It's not nearly as powerful as you think. Even turning someone weaker than me into an animal consumes a tremendous amount of energy. The true purpose of this Divine Art is to transform myself, which allows me to assume countless different forms. More importantly, changing my form requires very little energy."
It was through this ability that he had transformed into the giant seagull, whose form he often assumed.