Chapter 123: Mysterious Assassin and Audrey

"Foreigners."

On the seventh layer, Lu Xun again encountered some foreigners who were hunting star-space alien species.

These foreigners, after being kept in the secret realm, occupied some cellars to breed, and then hunted star-space alien species in other cellars for food.

Those who came out to hunt were not weak; basically they all had strength at the Second Realm or above.

Upon encountering them, Lu Xun disposed of them casually.

After dealing with them, he did not deliberately seek the foreigners' gathering place, but continually collected core crystals to be able to continue downward.

From time to time, he could also encounter other students.

Most of these students formed teams, while a minority acted alone.

Lu Xun knew only a few of them; after meeting in the cellars, the two sides usually did not approach each other, but each went their own way.

"Really big."

It has to be said, the cellar secret realm is astonishingly large.

Each layer's cellar spaces probably number over a thousand.

These cellar spaces vary in size; their shape is basically circular, with diameters mostly a few kilometers, and those exceeding ten kilometers are few.

There are also some small cellars, with diameters only a few hundred meters, or even a few tens of meters, equivalent to a cave.

The entire secret realm has long been thoroughly explored by humans, with little of value left inside, so it was used to raise star-space alien species and foreigners as a trial realm.

There are also some undiscovered cellars inside; such cellars are not easy to find, and Lu Xun does not intend to waste time looking for them.

The deeper one goes, the more core crystals are needed to open the passage to the next layer; fortunately, the core crystals below are larger, and one can replace many above.

Upon reaching the eighth layer, star-space alien species of the Third Realm and above became commonplace in all the cellar spaces.

Star-space alien species are actually not difficult to deal with; students at the late Second Realm, cooperating with each other, can also kill Third Realm star-space alien species.

Besides the star-space alien species, the foreigners on the eighth layer became more numerous and harder to deal with.

The foreigners here are a new kind of demon tribe, namely the dark demon tribe that previously released heavenly demon qi.

"Humans!"

"Kill him!"

Some of the captive dark demons saw Lu Xun, their eyes flashing with killing intent as they rushed forward.

"Swish swish swish~"

Flying swords ran rampant, turning all the charging dark demons into corpses.

A dark demon lurked not far from Lu Xun and suddenly let out a terrifying howl.

Before Lu Xun's eyes appeared endless illusions, and his mind momentarily wavered.

In that brief moment, a dark demon had already sneaked over and launched a sudden surprise attack.

"Die!"

The dark demon's face showed a ferocious grin, and in his mind appeared the scene of Lu Xun being killed by his claw.

That was also his final thought.

Because the next second, intense pain came, and only then did he realize that his body had somehow been split in two.

The two halves of his body, front and rear, fell from the sky and crashed heavily to the ground.

"Psychic attack? Too bad, you're too weak."

Lu Xun sheathed his long sword.

Just as he was about to leave, suddenly—

Lu Xun's eyelid twitched, and a crimson shield instantly rose behind him.

"Thud~"

A dull impact sound exploded.

A spear-like sharp sword stabbed into the shield, and the spiritual light on the shield instantly dimmed.

But immediately, more shields appeared.

"Thud thud thud~"

The assailant's figure moved so fast it almost left an afterimage; the slender sword in his hand turned into a silver streak, each thrust as precise as a dragonfly touching water, yet as heavy as a thousand jin.

With each sword strike, a crimson-armored shield would inevitably ring out and dim, its spiritual light scattering.

"Fourth Realm!"

Lu Xun's eyes narrowed.

This assailant, like an assassin, is a Fourth Realm expert.

But he doesn't quite resemble a Fourth Realm master, nor a Fourth Realm Immortal Cultivator; he seems more like a Fourth Realm foreigner.

And this is only the eighth layer, yet there are already Fourth Realm foreigners!

Lu Xun's eyes instantly turned chaotic, and he activated his Chaotic Eye.

"Swish swish swish~"

Over a dozen small flying swords launched an attack, and the long sword in his hand also emitted streaks of sword qi.

In his second encounter with a Fourth Realm opponent, Lu Xun still chose the same fighting style as before.

But this time, his approach failed.

The assassin's figure flickered continuously, and even the Chaotic Eye could not lock onto him.

"Too fast!"

Lu Xun felt it was troublesome.

This Fourth Realm opponent is much more troublesome than the previous Captain Xiao.

The opponent easily dodged Lu Xun's attacks and kept launching offensives.

Lu Xun's Red Armor Shield was constantly being replenished, but it could barely hold on any longer.

"Go down first."

Lu Xun fought while descending.

For him now, being in the air was actually less agile than on the ground.

The assassin clearly noticed Lu Xun's movements and tried to stop him.

"Boom!"

Lu Xun unleashed his full firepower—flying sword, sword qi, and fireballs all at once—forcing the opponent back and slamming hard onto the ground.

He did not use a defensive talisman, but instead defended with the Red Armor Shield and then boldly activated Chaotic Power.

Once Chaotic Power was released, Lu Xun's attack threat greatly increased.

But this assassin was too agile; Lu Xun's attacks couldn't touch him at all.

On the contrary, the opponent kept closing in.

If this continues, Lu Xun will surely lose eventually.

Even if he used a defensive talisman, it would only buy him a little more time.

This time, however, no one came to save Lu Xun.

"How can there be such a troublesome foreigner? If anyone else met him, they'd surely die!"

Lu Xun felt something was off.

This is only the eighth layer.

The eighth layer already has such a formidable Fourth Realm—what could be in the eighteenth layer of the dungeon?

"Boom!"

"He dodged again!"

While Lu Xun just unleashed a wave of attacks, he also used an attack talisman for a sneak attack, but the opponent easily dodged it.

The last Red Armor Shield dimmed, leaving Lu Xun with no defenses around him.

The assassin flickered, his sharp sword flashing with cold light as he lunged at Lu Xun.

"Come on!"

Lu Xun did not activate a defensive talisman, and suddenly opened his eyes.

A golden light pillar shot toward the assassin.

This was precisely the Fiery Golden Eyes that made Captain Xiao vomit blood.

Meanwhile, as he unleashed the Fiery Golden Eyes, Lu Xun's flying sword silently blocked the assassin's retreat, while several sword qi struck at the assassin's left and right sides.

Above the assassin, several fireballs exploded simultaneously.

One could say that all of the assassin's escape routes were sealed by Lu Xun, leaving him no choice but to withstand the Fiery Golden Eyes head-on.

Only Lu Xun could set up such a tight killing move against a Fourth Realm cultivator while himself being at the Third Realm.

"Huh?"

But an unexpected situation still occurred, contrary to Lu Xun's expectations.

The golden light emitted by the Fiery Golden Eyes... missed!

The opponent suddenly vanished without any sign.

The golden light shot out, shattering a large stone nearby and blasting a big pit in the ground.

"Impossible!"

Lu Xun did not understand.

No matter how fast, under Lu Xun's meticulously laid net of heaven and earth, even a Fourth Realm opponent could not possibly escape unscathed like that.

"It's not speed... it's space, it's space!"

A flash of inspiration crossed Lu Xun's mind, and he understood.

What the opponent relied on was not speed, but space!

This assassin can actually shuttle through space!

No wonder he could evade Lu Xun's meticulously prepared killing move.

The next second, Lu Xun's brow twitched as a sense of life-and-death crisis rose in his heart.

He moved his body and barely avoided the assassin's fatal blow.

The opponent flickered and suddenly launched an attack from in front of him.

Lu Xun strained to dodge using the Divine Trace Step, but found his direction reversed—he had intended to go right, yet suddenly went right and collided with the assassin's sword tip.

"What a troublesome space ability!"

Lu Xun narrowly dodged again, and what awaited him was the assassin's next strike.

"This is too passive!"

Under the opponent's unfathomable fighting style, Lu Xun couldn't last long.

Of course, he still had a trump card; at worst he could escape using the Godstride Talisman.

But Lu Xun did not want to just run away like that.

At the critical moment, Lu Xun chanted that string of incantation: "Do-re-mi ka wa bi bi ne ba @#￥&（*&~".

The next second,

The assassin, who had been moving so fast a moment ago that Lu Xun couldn't even see his silhouette, suddenly froze.

Only then did Lu Xun get a clear look at his appearance.

All he saw was a figure dressed in black tight clothing, with a black headscarf on his head, resembling a night‑assassin from a movie.

His face was shrouded in a layer of mist, preventing Lu Xun from seeing his features.

「Whoosh whoosh whoosh~」

Several flying swords swooped over, Lu Xun prepared to cripple him first before speaking.

Before they could get close, the flying swords suddenly turned and flew upward.

「Huh? 」

Lu Xun clearly felt that the flying swords were moving forward.

「Is the space around him twisted? 」

Lu Xun reacted.

This assassin's spatial technique is truly formidable.

「Boom boom boom! 」

Fireballs shot out one by one, Lu Xun wanted to forcibly blast the distorted space flat.

Ripples spread around the assassin.

「Crack! 」

Something broke.

Space returned to normal.

Just as the fireball was about to hit the assassin, his eyes blinked, and suddenly he regained his ability to move.

He abruptly stepped back and vanished in the blink of an eye.

The fireball hit nothing.

「He ran away? 」

Lu Xun warily looked around, and the Crimson Armor Shield rose again around him.

After waiting a long while, no attack came.

Lu Xun stepped forward and picked up a torn piece of cloth from the ground.

He gestured, and the flying swords flew back.

On one of the flying swords, there was conspicuously bright red blood.

Although the assassin ran fast, he was still wounded by him.

This assassin is more troublesome than any Fourth Realm cultivator Lu Xun has seen, being fast and agile, and also possessing spatial abilities.

If not for the incantation provided by Bābālā, even if Lu Xun used a fifth-grade battle pill, he probably couldn't deal with him.

Battle pills may be strong, but if they can't hit anyone, what good are they?

「Even on the eighth layer, there are such troublesome fourth-realm foreign tribes... No, wait, is the blood of foreign tribes really this red? 」

Lu Xun examined the blood on the flying sword.

Along the way, he has killed quite a few foreign tribesmen.

Their blood's aura is clearly different from that of humans, and even in color there are some differences.

This blood... gives Lu Xun the feeling that it is unmistakably human blood.

Could it be... that a human wants to kill him?

「Who could it be? 」

If it's a human, Lu Xun can't think of who it would be.

Assassins basically can't get into the secret realm trial.

The He family, who bears a grudge against him, their strongest young generation He Huan has already been crippled by Lu Xun; even if not crippled, they couldn't possibly be this strong.

Could it be that the He family hired a genius from another great clan to act?

Among the students participating in this trial, there are still some at the Fourth Realm level.

「Could it be her? 」

Lu Xun's mind flashed with another figure.

Aodaili!

Immediately, he felt it wasn't her.

Aodaili is a fragile mage who could sprain her ankle just walking.

That assassin just now, however, is a close-combat warrior.

How could Aodaili's frail little frame be so formidable?

「Lu, is that you? 」

Suddenly, a clear, bell-like voice came from behind, tone brimming with uncontainable surprise and excitement.

Speak of the devil and he appears.

Lu Xun turned his head.

Sure enough, Aodaili stood gracefully not far away, her azure eyes curved like crescent moons, the corners of her mouth lifting in a bright arc.