Chapter 164: Guest Assassin!

A punch unleashed, the flame palm imprint like an enraged fire dragon, striking solidly against the black-clad man's hastily crossed arms.

Crack~!

The sound of snapping arm bones was clearly audible.

"Ahh—!"

The black-clad man let out a piercing scream, his body flung backward as if hit by a charging giant elephant, blood spurting from his mouth, his chest caved in, his body flying uncontrollably before crashing hard against a massive tree trunk, slumping limply down, barely breathing, utterly incapacitated.

Chen Mu's face was expressionless as he stepped forward slowly.

The black-clad man's eyes filled with terror and despair, gasping for air, begging, "Spare… spare my life! I'll give you money, and… "

Swish~

A flash of sword light.

The Lone Star Sword traced a cold, arcing path.

A head wrapped in a black hood shot upward, blood gushing from the severed neck, staining the ground red.

【Corpse detected. Collect?】

"Yes!"

The card in hand, Chen Mu sheathed his sword, lifted the hood, revealing the face of a middle-aged man—stranger, twisted by fear.

After a thorough search of the corpse, apart from scattered poisons, hidden weapons, and those peculiar short daggers, no item could prove his identity.

"Strange technique—unlike an ordinary rogue cultivator… Professional assassin? Or a death agent sent by some enemy?"

Chen Mu frowned slightly, his thoughts turning, yet finding no clue.

Moments later, he casually fired a flame Qi blast, reducing the corpse and head to ashes, erasing all traces.

Having finished, Chen Mu hurried away.

As he walked, he took out the newly acquired card and unfolded it for inspection.

Memory card?

"Good, good."

Chen Mu smiled faintly and activated the card.

In the next instant, he knew the name and identity of the middle-aged man who had attacked him.

Black Dragon Society assassin!

His name was plain and unremarkable: Li Dashun.

Realm: First Stage of Heaven, had been with the "Black Dragon Society" for over a decade.

His assassin codename in the "Black Dragon Society": One Plum Blossom!

His mark: a blood-red plum blossom.

These details weren't crucial—the real key was that Li Dashun's "Black Dragon Society" branch was in Hannan Dao, Xiangzhou!

Xiangzhou—where Fang Yuanfu and Fang Yuanzuo's Fang Clan resided!

"So, the mastermind behind hiring an assassin to kill me in Lingwu City… is the Fang Clan?"

Chen Mu fell into thought, a glint of cold light flashing in his eyes.

Lingwu City was nearly eight hundred kilometers straight-line distance from Xiangzhou.

Li Dashun traveling such a vast distance to kill him was far too abrupt.

Only if the Fang Clan was pulling strings behind the scenes could this be explained.

"Fang Clan…"

Chen Mu frowned.

The Hannan Fang Clan was no mere rumor.

Fang Yuanfu and Fang Yuanzuo were of average strength.

But the Fang Clan's ancestral elder was a Tiangong Realm cultivator!

Without a Tiangong Realm cultivator to hold their ground, the Fang Clan could never have left their stronghold in Changlong Prefecture, let alone become renowned across Xiangzhou and known throughout Hannan Dao.

Being targeted by the Fang Clan was a serious trouble.

"Lucky I just obtained the 'Hundred Transformations Body'!"

Change my face and physique, go to Wulong Prefecture to oversee the Peacekeeping Bureau, lie low for a while.

For now, only…

"Huh~"

Suddenly, Chen Mu halted, replaying a fragment of Li Dashun's memory.

It was a painting on a catalog Li Dashun had seen at the "Black Dragon Society" branch's exchange point while trading for pills.

The painting depicted a pair of arm guards.

The shape of those arm guards was unusual—longer than others, and equipped with gloves.

The overall form, especially the patterns, grew increasingly familiar to Chen Mu as he "looked," growing more and more excited.

"Sword Armor Arm Guards!"

"The arm guards Li Dashun saw at the 'Black Dragon Society' branch exchange point were the Sword Armor Arm Guards left behind by Duan Tianhe!"

"One of the Sword Armors—right here, in the 'Black Dragon Society' Xiangzhou branch!"

Surprised!

This was a tremendous surprise!

Since leaving Nanyun Prefecture, Chen Mu had sensed for the Sword Armors in every place he visited.

Yet he had never found any.

This time, being assassinated by Li Dashun had accidentally led him to the location of one of the Sword Armors!

In Li Dashun's memories, the sword armor bracers were classified by the Black Dragon Society's Xiangzhou branch as mid-grade spiritual weapons, requiring 3,000 integration points to exchange.

Since the bracers were defensive equipment, assassins with 3,000 points usually exchanged them for offensive weapons, so they remained at the branch's exchange point.

To get them, I must enter the Black Dragon Society's branch and accumulate enough points!

Chen Mu's mind raced.

Li Dashun had only 706 points remaining.

To reach 3,000, he still needed over 2,000 more.

"Impersonate 'Li Dashun' and take on one more assassination?"

Chen Mu's eyes lit up.

With the Hundred Forms Body Technique paired with voice mimicry, impersonating 'Li Dashun' to enter the Black Dragon Society was perfectly feasible!

But after returning, he'd lose 200 points.

That was the penalty for a failed assassination.

The Black Dragon Society's point system: assassins earned corresponding points upon successful missions and lost the same amount upon failure.

As for stealing the sword armor bracers…

The difficulty was too high!

The guard at the exchange point was a Ground Altar Realm expert.

Moreover, no one knew where the bracers were stored.

Accepting a mission and accumulating enough points was the safest option.

Thinking this through,

Chen Mu changed direction and sped off swiftly.

He wouldn't go to Wulong Prefecture anymore!

Return to Hannan Road—go to Xiangzhou!

…

Xiangzhou.

A small town built against a mountain.

At the town's northernmost end, a row of ordinary houses stood in a line.

Chen Mu, dressed in a gray long robe, dusty and weary, stopped before one of the houses.

"Oh, back already?"

Under the wall, an old man smoking a pipe greeted him, "How'd it go? Did you get it?"

"No."

Chen Mu frowned, his voice hoarse, dropped the word, pushed open the door, and stepped inside.

"Heh~"

The old man grinned with malicious amusement.

"Failed again? Another 200 points gone. Keep this up, you'll have nothing left~"

"… " Chen Mu, hearing the laughter behind him, kept his face grim, but a flash of sharp light passed through his eyes.

He was currently impersonating 'Li Dashun'!

And 'Li Dashun' had failed his last few missions.

'Plum Blossom' usually succeeded in his missions.

Lately, it seemed his luck had turned sour…

Chen Mu pondered, pushed aside a crudely made screen, descended a set of stairs, and entered underground.

Beneath the house lay a vast, hollowed-out space.

On the open ground, assassins—some wearing masks or conical hats, others showing their true faces—along with Black Dragon Society internal affairs members, moved about.

Compared to the Black Dragon Society's outpost in Yunyun Prefecture, this branch's space was several times larger.

There were more assassins, and their strength was greater.

As Chen Mu moved, he sensed over twenty Innate Realm cultivators, including five Innate Realm Late Stage!

He remained expressionless.

Chen Mu, face grim, first went to the mission office to report his failure in assassinating 'Chen Mu'—and lost 200 points.

"Tsk, Old Li, you failed again?"