Chapter 802

Shoulder wound from Xie Jueding's stab was deep, blood still not stopped, the bloody smell emanating from Hu Xiaotian's whole body further attracted the wolves to attack frenziedly, and between him and the one-eyed giant Zhao Jueding there were still five vicious wolves; when he swung this sword, the one-eyed giant Zhao Jueding burst into loud laughter, thinking Hu Xiaotian was again pretending to be mystical and bluffing, but the head of the Blue Wolf ahead suddenly fell off at the neck, Zhao Jueding stared slightly, lowered his head to look, and discovered a crack had appeared between his chest and abdomen, then his massive body collapsed with a boom, split in half, blood spraying from the ruptured cavity.

The pack of vicious wolves smelled the bloody odor, instantly lost control, each rushing forward to Zhao Jueding, tearing at his body; the scene was extremely bloody, a mess. Hu Xiaotian relied on the exquisite Dog-Dodging Eighteen Steps to evade the Blue Wolf's attack and went to Huo Shengnan's location to meet with her.

After Huo Shengnan wounded Yang Juedi, her quiver had no arrows left; she drew the sword at her waist and shouted, "Villain, where do you flee?" She took a step forward to his rear, swung her sword to stab his neck; Yang Juedi shrank his head like a turtle, arched his camel back, and used it to block Huo Shengnan's thrust; Huo Shengnan still had a follow-up move, she raised her left hand, and a hidden sleeve arrow shot from her sleeve struck Yang Juedi's buttocks.

That spot on Yang Juedi had no protection; the sleeve arrow pierced deep into his flesh, causing him to cry out in pain, his legs went weak and he collapsed to the ground.

Huo Shengnan, angry at his shamelessness, grabbed the feathered arrow still stuck in Yang Juedi's right ear, tearing off a large piece of his ear along with blood and flesh; Yang Juedi rolled on the spot like a top and fled deep into the forest.

Huo Shengnan tapped her toe, leapt over Yang Juedi's head, already ahead of him, turned, drew her bow and shot in one fluid motion; the bloodied feathered arrow struck Yang Juedi's face at close range. The Flying Camel Yang Juedi twisted his body, and his camel back exploded in that instant, black water mixed with poison needles shooting toward Huo Shengnan.

Huo Shengnan hadn't expected that he could still make such a counterattack before dying; acting on instinct, she tapped her feet and retreated hastily. Her chest ached, and her face was splattered with much of the black water bursting from the camel back. Huo Shengnan retreated several steps, hurriedly pulling off the mask on her face; by then the black water had already corroded through the mask, she was frightened pale, for if not for this human-skin mask, the black water would have splashed directly onto her face, likely already disfiguring her by Yang Juedi.

The air was everywhere filled with a foul stench; Huo Shengnan felt a wave of dizziness and headache. At that moment, a black length of rope flew out from the forest, this rope actually woven from hair, it seized Huo Shengnan's throat and dragged her toward the woods.

Hu Xiaotian arrived just in time at the critical moment, slashing his sword toward the long hair. The people in the forest were quite wary of Hu Xiaotian's external sword aura, quickly gathering up the long hair; Huo Shengnan already lacked the strength to stand, her knees buckled and she knelt on the ground. Hu Xiaotian stepped forward, reached out and embraced her delicate form, holding Huo Shengnan, he sprinted at full speed toward the direction where Xiao Hui and Xiao Hei were resting.

Behind the ancient tomb, the Black-hearted Urchin Xie Juehou walked out slowly; the surviving more than ten Blue Wolves saw him approach and scattered to the sides; Xie Juehou's gaze fell upon the one-eyed giant Zhao Jueding's body, and by then Zhao Jueding's sturdy frame had been gnawed by the vicious wolves down to a mere pile of white bones.

The corpse of the Flying Camel Yang Juedi, however, had not been violated; his whole body emitted a foul stench, even the wolves were unwilling to touch his flesh.

The blood-sucking female demon Cao Juexin also walked out from the other side of the forest; seeing the scene before her, her face had lost all color, appearing even more pallid and horrifying.

Cao Juexin said: "The boss is still waiting for us to cover the rear……"

The Black-hearted Urchin Xie Juehou bit his lip and said: "He never told us these two would be so formidable; if I had known beforehand, I would never have taken this job."

Although Cao Juexin did not speak, her thoughts were the same as Xie Juehou's; setting aside Huo Shengnan's godlike archery, Hu Xiaotian had actually already reached the stage of emitting sword qi.

Each of the Five Absolutes Hunters had his own unique skill; the mountains and forests were their most familiar turf, and a joint assassination should have been foolproof.

The Bald Eagle Zhou Juetian was responsible for cutting off Hu Xiaotian and Huo Shengnan's retreat; he did not believe the two could escape alive from the four's combined effort, but since anything can have a one-in-a-million chance, he prepared for that possibility, severing their rear route, crushing their faint hope of survival.

Hu Xiaotian carried Huo Shengnan as he ran all the way; he did not see Xiao Hui's silhouette, Xiao Hei lay on the mountain path, a large pool of blood already flowing beneath him, his eyes long devoid of the spark of life.

Hu Xiaotian bit his lip, his heart instantly becoming extremely heavy.

Huo Shengnan also saw the scene before her, she bit her cherry lip and trembled, "Xiao Hei……" As the saying goes, humans are not plants, who can be heartless? Having brought Xiao Hei all the way from Yongdu, feelings had already developed between them; seeing it die miserably there, she couldn't help but feel sorrow.

Huo Shengnan also saw the scene before her eyes, she bit her cherry lips and said in a trembling voice, "Little Black..." Who, being not grass or trees, can be without feeling? Having brought Little Black all the way from Yongdu, feelings had already developed between person and horse; seeing it die miserably there, she couldn't help feeling sad.

Huo Shengnan nodded, Hu Xiaotian set her down, his gaze fixed on Xiao Hei's corpse full of vigilance; he raised the great sword in his hand, aimed at the horse carcass, then suddenly exerted all his strength in a single strike chopping at Xiao Hei's body; Hu Xiaotian heard a faint breathing sound coming from Xiao Hei's abdomen, suggesting someone was hidden inside.

Invisible sword qi surged forth, chopping onto Xiao Hei's corpse, cleaving it cleanly into two halves; from its abdomen emerged a furry Blue Wolf, which surprised Hu Xiaotian. At that very moment, the large tree beside him suddenly moved; a bald-headed man raised his black spear, thrusting it like a venomous snake's tongue toward Hu Xiaotian's throat.

With Hu Xiaotian's current eyesight, he actually could not see clearly someone hiding in this very tree; the Bald Eagle Zhou Juetian excelled at disguise, able to conceal his movements according to the environment, like a chameleon. The art of hiding not only requires skillful use of the environment, but also knowing how to make a feint to attack elsewhere, adept at diverting the enemy's attention.

From the start, Hu Xiaotian had been drawn by Xiao Hei's corpse to absorb most of his attention; his perception was keen, he heard a faint sound seemingly coming from Xiao Hei's abdomen, originally thinking the enemy was hidden inside Xiao Hei's belly. He never expected the enemy to be so cunning, using a dying Blue Wolf as bait to occupy his attention.

The moment Hu Xiaotian made his move was exactly the opportunity for the Bald Eagle Zhou Juetian to attack; Zhou Juetian seized the opportunity with extreme precision, his black spear aimed at Hu Xiaotian's throat, stabbing with super‑speed; the high‑speed spear tip pressed the flying rain threads in the air outward, spreading like waves; the sharp spear tip tore through the humid air, emitting a sharp, harsh cry.

Huo Shengnan had always been monitoring Hu Xiaotian's every move, even every change around him; when Zhou Juetian emerged from the tree trunk to launch his attack, Huo Shengnan did not cry out, for she feared the shout would disturb Hu Xiaotian's focus; now all she could do was to impede Zhou Juetian, and even a mere disturbance could buy Hu Xiaotian a sliver of chance to survive.

Huo Shengnan's bow was still in her hand, but her quiver was already empty; she drew the long bow, the bow like a full moon, the bowstring pulled taut to the limit, she plucked the bowstring in a flash, producing successive "peng-peng-peng" sounds.

The Bald Eagle Zhou Juetian did not know that Huo Shengnan had exhausted her feathered arrows; hearing the bowstring sound, he thought Huo Shengnan was shooting at him, thus diverting some of his energy. A miss by a hair loses a thousand miles; precisely because Huo Shengnan distracted Zhou Juetian's energy with the bowstring sound, the power of this thrust was weakened a little, yet Hu Xiaotian had already seized this rare opportunity, escaping from the brink of death, shifting his body right by one cun—do not underestimate this one cun, it allowed his throat to slip free of the black spear tip's stab.

However, Hu Xiaotian's neck had not completely escaped the range of the black spear tip's stab; the spear point pierced the skin on the left side of his neck, if it thrust straight in, his left carotid artery could be severed; he seemed to feel the spear tip approaching his blood vessel; at the critical moment, the skin and muscle of his neck suddenly undulated like a wave, the spot where the spear point lay depressed, then it slipped, missing the target; although it grazed Hu Xiaotian's skin, it caused no greater harm.

When one's martial arts cultivation reaches a certain level, skin and hair can be controlled at will; Hu Xiaotian had far from reached that level, yet under the threat of death he unleashed his maximum potential. At the life‑and‑death juncture, having dodged the opponent's strike, he grabbed the black spear with his left hand, discarded the Hidden Edge Sword with his right, and threw a punch at Zhou Juetian's chest.

Zhou Juetian met Hu Xiaotian's right punch with his left fist; their fists collided, both bodies shuddered, and Hu Xiaotian's right‑shoulder wound burst open again, blood welling out.

Yet Zhou Juetian was shaken by Hu Xiaotian's punch, his qi and blood surging; the black spear in his hand was forcibly taken by Hu Xiaotian.

Zhou Juetian reacted with astonishing speed, lunging toward that large tree; Hu Xiaotian reversed the black spear, aimed at the tree and hurled it like a javelin, the spear embedding deep into the trunk; Zhou Juetian had already vanished without a trace. Assassins excel at ambush; they dislike face‑to‑face combat, and once a killing opportunity arises they flee immediately, awaiting the next perfect chance.

Seeing Hu Xiaotian escape danger, Huo Shengnan's supporting breath instantly relaxed, she went limp and collapsed to the ground. Hu Xiaotian hurried forward and lifted her up; looking around, night had quietly shrouded Gray Bear Valley, Hu Xiaotian retreated to an open clearing, seeing Huo Shengnan unconscious in his arms, he secretly worried; at that moment he heard water sounds rippling in the distance, looked up, and saw a gray‑white figure swimming toward him from the mountains—it was Xiao Hui, who had just disappeared.

Huo Shengnan saw Hu Xiaotian escape danger, the breath she had been holding to support herself instantly relaxed, and she went limp and collapsed onto the ground. Hu Xiaotian hurried forward and embraced her, glanced around; at this moment night had quietly shrouded the Grizzly Bear Valley, Hu Xiaotian retreated to an open area, seeing Huo Shengnan in his arms already unconscious, he secretly worried; at that moment he heard the sound of water stirring in the distance, looked up, but saw a gray-white figure swimming toward him from among the mountains—it turned out to be the little gray that had just gone missing.

Extra chapter seventh! (To be continued~^~)