Chapter 329

Ming Province, Jin Shan Prefecture.

Mingjia Town was located in the northwest of Jin Shan Prefecture, and going further north would enter the territory of Xiuzhou Prefecture.

Li Fei, leading Lu Wenxing and five other Dao Foundation Establishment stage experts, plus twenty-four formal martial arts masters, successfully arrived at Mingjia Town at 6:37 PM.

They came by car, having temporarily requisitioned ten sedans from Chongcheng.

Mingjia Town had received the news in advance, and the town mayor, leading a group of officials, had been waiting by the side of the highway early on.

"Respectfully welcoming all the lords."

The mayor of Mingjia Town was a man over fifty years old; after Li Fei and the others' cars stopped steadily, he was full of smiles and bowed to salute.

The mayor was also an official of the imperial court, but only a Level 10 official.

And this group of Li Fei's, besides Li Fei, the lowest rank was Level 10, and the highest was a Level 14 seat official!

Therefore, the group of officials in Mingjia Town all appeared very humble.

Under their welcome, Li Fei and the others entered the town and were arranged directly into the mayor's mansion.

This was also the most high-end place in the entire Mingjia Town.

"Lord, Mayor Zhang said he has arranged a banquet for us."

Lu Wenxing walked into the room and said to Li Fei.

He was now automatically acting as Li Fei's "secretary," communicating many things with Li Fei and also conveying Li Fei's orders.

"No need, there might be a mission tonight."

Li Fei shook his head and refused.

The National Teacher's office had sent them to Mingjia Town to intercept and kill people from Daluo Sect, so it was possible that a battle would break out tonight!

"Have you made contact with Daluo Sect?"

Li Fei asked.

When True Monarch Qingxu was defeated and died, some people in Daluo Sect who supported him chose to flee.

After Xiang Yunshu arrived at Daluo Sect, he immediately let Tai Yu send people to pursue and kill those who had fled, ensuring not a single one was left!

This was a statement, and Tai Yu could not refuse.

So in the current situation, there was a batch of Daluo Sect people fleeing, and a batch of people pursuing them from behind.

The pursuers carried Daluo Sect's positioning magic tools and could be located at any time.

Based on this, Xiang Yunshu could order the imperial court's people to intercept them in front in advance.

Besides Li Fei and the others, all other cities and towns had received orders to send manpower to set up checkpoints on all major traffic routes.

Even if these checkpoints could not stop the Daluo Sect traitors, they could at least be used to confirm the locations of these traitors.

"Contact has been made; the one we are to intercept and kill is a True Person of Daluo Sect!"

Lu Wenxing's expression was somewhat ugly.

The mission Pan Tianhao assigned to them was indeed the most dangerous.

Li Fei was very calm upon hearing this:

"Who is responsible for the pursuit from Daluo Sect?"

"It is a Martial Arts Master."

"So our mission is to be responsible for intercepting this True Person and buying time for that Martial Arts Master behind?"

"That's right."

Lu Wenxing nodded, "The intelligence says that this True Person has already been seriously injured."

In terms of a single person, the escape route seems to have countless paths, but in reality, there are mountains and rivers in many places, and there are not many routes that can be taken.

Although a True Person can cast spells and ride the wind, in a situation where they have not completely shaken off their pursuers, constantly crossing mountains and rivers not only consumes their own true power but also delays time.

Therefore, the probability of intercepting the other party on various major traffic routes is still very high.

Li Fei and the others were ordered to come to Mingjia Town because the road where Mingjia Town is located is the place where that True Person is most likely to pass next.

In other words, the probability of them encountering that True Person is very high.

"Lord."

Lu Wenxing hesitated for a moment and spoke:

"Actually, it doesn't matter even if we don't intercept that fleeing True Person; with the merit you have established before, Lord, you will definitely be heavily rewarded upon returning! Even if you request a retrial of the original case, His Majesty will agree."

He was one step away from directly saying, let's just let them go.

Li Fei understood the other party's meaning and nodded:

"Rest assured, I will not force it."

Lu Wenxing said no more upon hearing this and exited the room.

Li Fei seized the time to cultivate.

He had already triggered the core-level extraordinary ability of 【Yan Xin】 and could prepare to incorporate a fourth implant.

So he began to perform "Unity" on 【Yan Xin】.

There was not so much time for closed-door cultivation, so Li Fei still chose "partial Unity," slowly accumulating progress.

When Li Fei was cultivating, a group of strangers arrived at a village a dozen miles away from Mingjia Town.

These people were all shrouded in black robes, their appearances unclear, very mysterious.

Under the night, every household in the village had lights on.

This group of people stood on a hillside, looking at the village below.

"Boss, the target has arrived at Mingjia Town."

A black-robed person said in a low voice:

"According to the intelligence given by the employer, that Daluo Sect True Person will very likely pass through Mingjia Town tomorrow morning."

"Hmm."

The leading black-robed person looked at the lights below with dead eyes:

"The target's information is inconsistent with what we obtained beforehand; what does the employer say?"

This group of people were assassins hired by the Lu family, preparing to assassinate Li Fei!

Originally, according to the intelligence they obtained, Li Fei was at most equivalent to a Level 5 Dao Foundation Establishment stage, but in that battle outside Chongcheng, Li Fei wiped out over fifty cavalrymen of the Imperial Camp by himself.

This was already the combat power of a peak Dao Foundation Establishment stage!

Assassinating a Level 5 Dao Foundation Establishment stage and assassinating a peak Dao Foundation Establishment stage were two completely different levels of difficulty.

Not to mention that the target was followed by five Dao Foundation Establishment stage experts and over twenty martial arts masters.

"The employer said, add money."

"Add how much?"

"Double it on the original basis."

Hearing this, the breathing of everyone present became much heavier.

"Add money" was just a reference; assassin groups capable of assassinating Dao Foundation Establishment stage powerhouses no longer lacked just money, but those precious resources monopolized by major forces:

Elixirs, implants, protective clothing, strange weapons, secret manuals...

The quote initially given by the Lu family was already not low; otherwise, it would have been impossible for these people to take this job while risking the danger of killing an Imperial Envoy.

Doubling it on the basis of the original quote—if this were converted into money, it would be an astronomical figure!

And many things could not be bought with money at all.

This couldn't help but make the leader of this assassin team somewhat suspicious:

"Can the employer afford this price? What is the guarantee?"

"The other party paid two additional 'deposits,' paid through two different channels; our people have confirmed it, there is no problem."

The subordinate replied.

"Two different channels."

The assassin leader pondered for a moment and immediately saw the trick inside.

Obviously, the employer behind him had temporarily found two new employers, and their status was not low.

"It seems this number one in history has offended quite a few big shots."

The assassin leader said.

"Also, the employer wants us to borrow Daluo Sect's knife to kill as much as possible."

The subordinate raised another point.

"Hmm."

The assassin leader thought for a moment, "Execute according to the second plan."

As his voice fell, a group of his subordinates rushed toward the village below quickly.

"Xu Gou, are these people enough?"

The assassin leader asked a subordinate who was the only one still remaining in place.

"No martial artists, too little blood energy, barely enough."

The subordinate with the code name "Xu Gou" said in a disdainful tone.

Subsequently, he said very enviously: "I heard that True Monarch Qingxu of Daluo Sect blood-sacrificed hundreds of thousands of people this time! If I could blood-sacrifice hundreds of thousands of people at once, I would definitely be able to step into the 'True Spirit Realm'!"

The assassin leader sneered: "And then? Even True Monarch Qingxu died; do you think you can live long?"

"Damn it!"

Xu Gou cursed, "When can we people kill openly?"

"If you had the strength of the Old Ancestor of the Styx River, you could."

The assassin leader said casually.

The Old Ancestor of the Styx River was a famous demon in the Jianghu.

"One Supreme, Three Demons, Five True Monarchs, Seven Martial Saints"—the Old Ancestor of the Styx River was one of the "Three Demons," a top powerhouse who had stepped into the "True One" realm!

In Daoism, the "True Spirit Realm" corresponded to a True Person, and the "True One Realm" corresponded to a True Monarch.

It was just that the Old Ancestor of the Styx River was an evil cultivator and could never get the recognition of Daoism, and was notorious, so no one would honor him as a True Monarch, only calling him the "Old Demon of the Styx River."

Only people on the evil path in the Jianghu would call him an Old Ancestor.

Xu Gou curled his lips after hearing his boss's words:

"If you ask me, the number of people the Old Ancestor of the Styx River has killed in his life doesn't add up to as many as True Monarch Qingxu's blood sacrifice this time; who exactly is the real demon? Bah, does Daoism still have the nerve to call itself the righteous path in the future?"

"Whoever has the bigger fist is the righteous path."

The assassin leader said faintly.

While the two were talking, the tranquility of the village below had already been broken.

Those black-robed people who had just rushed down drove all the villagers in the village out.

To intimidate these villagers, the black-robed people even killed people, leaving over a dozen corpses!

A moment later, the black-robed people had the two hundred or so villagers in the village stand in specific positions.

Subsequently, they pasted some talisman papers on the ground and surrounded all these villagers inside.

"Start."

The assassin leader said.

Xu Gou raised his sleeve, and a blood-red light flew out, flying toward the village below.

This was a skull, with blood-red patterns on the white bone.

When this skull flew above the village, those talisman papers that had been pasted on the ground burned one after another.

"Ahhhhhhh—"

The villagers surrounded by the talisman papers immediately felt their heads splitting with pain, letting out painful wails.

Subsequently, these villagers felt their limbs go weak, losing all their strength, and fell to the ground one after another.

These villagers wailed for a full forty-plus minutes, all of them in excruciating pain, bleeding from their seven orifices, until in the end, they didn't even have the strength to wail.

Xu Gou, standing on the hillside, nodded: "You can take action."

So the black-robed people who had been guarding the surroundings took action one after another, using knives to cut open the bodies of those villagers on the ground, disemboweling them.

Blood and internal organs flowed all over the ground, and a heavy smell of blood permeated the entire village.

The skull that had been floating in the air suddenly shone with intense blood light, and then the blood on the ground below was sucked up by an invisible force, flying toward the skull in the air and merging into it.

Ten-plus minutes later, the blood of all the corpses on the ground had been sucked dry, turning them into dried corpses.

Xu Gou retracted his magic tool into his sleeve.

"How is it?"

The assassin leader asked.

Xu Gou: "Barely enough to activate the Curse Resentment Grand Formation once."

"Enough."

The assassin leader nodded.

For ordinary missions, he would not let Xu Gou do this; slaughtering an entire village was truly too flashy.

But the mission they had taken on this time was to kill an Imperial Envoy.

Since even an Imperial Envoy was killed, slaughtering a village didn't count for much.

Not to mention that hundreds of thousands of people had already died in Ming Province, so what did a few hundred more matter?

This team of theirs had a resounding name in the Jianghu—Twelve Owls!

The core members were composed of twelve powerhouses at the Dao Foundation Establishment or Possession stage!

Most of these twelve core members were evil outsiders.

So-called evil outsiders were either demonic martial artists who plundered the mature implants of other martial artists to cultivate.

Or they were evil cultivators whose arts and magic tools were mainly based on harming others.

For example, Xu Gou's "Blood Resentment Skull," whose implants all needed human blood to grow.

He had just "sacrificed and refined" the two hundred or so villagers below, absorbing these people's resentment, fear, pain, and blood, so that he could store a formation in the "Blood Resentment Skull."

The "Twelve Owls" was a notorious assassin team, but they had been able to survive until now because their strength was strong enough.

They had killed more than one powerhouse at the peak of the Dao Foundation Establishment stage!

As long as a Martial Arts Master or a True Person could appear in this team, their comprehensive strength would instantly be comparable to those major sects of the Jianghu!

Lu Wenzheng hiring these people to kill Li Fei definitely could not be considered a slight.

As for Martial Arts Masters or True Persons, Lu Wenzheng could indeed hire them, but every one of these people was a famous figure, and their backgrounds could be investigated.

Using such people to carry out an assassination would instead be easy to expose.

Killing others was one thing, but killing an Imperial Envoy required Lu Wenzheng to be careful and cautious.

"Everyone, practice the tactics again."

The assassin leader said.

There were different tactics for different targets; since the target this time might have to face a Daluo Sect True Person, this was good news for them.

Taking advantage of the time when the other party was fighting the True Person to suddenly launch a sneak attack would make it easier to take down the target!

Mingjia Town.

Li Fei stopped his "Unity" cultivation in the room.

He separated a strand of phantom thoughts and entered the Dream-Entering Token, preparing to wander the Dream World again.

Next, if he wanted to use the Dream-Entering Token to break through to the Possession Stage, he had to use this magic tool frequently.

The most suitable way was to manifest the "Gate of the Dream World," then use the Dream-Entering Token to wander the Dream World.

Very quickly, Li Fei entered the Dream World again.

Just after completing the "fixing of thoughts" and appearing in Mingjia Town, Li Fei sensed a faint sense of malice.

"Hmm?"

Li Fei was startled.

He had carefully read the secret manuals related to the Dream World.

If one felt malice in the Dream World, it meant someone was targeting them, and the distance was not far!

In the real world, malice is easy to hide, and there are various means to shield the heavenly secrets and interfere with divination.

But in the Dream World, malice in the subconscious is difficult to hide and can be felt very intuitively.

Therefore, besides being able to probe others' subconscious, the Dream World can also be used to identify enemies and detect danger in advance.

"Who wants to harm me?"

Li Fei immediately "flew" in the direction from which the malice came.

A moment later, over thirty projections of different shapes appeared before him.

Judging from the size of these projections, none were ordinary people; they were all experts with impressive strength.

Among them were over a dozen giant monsters:

Some looked like vicious wolves, some like big dogs, some like giant snakes...

Judging from the volume of these monsters' projections, they were at least powerhouses at the Dao Foundation Establishment or Possession stage.

"So many powerhouses gathered together?"

Li Fei immediately realized that things were not simple.

So many powerhouses gathered together, and they had malice toward him; this made him instantly vigilant.

He looked for a subconscious with the smallest projection area and relatively weakest strength, then quietly dived into it...

PS: Sorry, only one update today.

(End of chapter)