Chapter 201: Shadow Assassin

On the afternoon of the second day, Lei En finished several interviews, used the Soul Eye to discern truth, recruited the first batch of outstanding officials, and felt quite pleased.

Just as he returned to the study to rest, Ao Xi Li Ya appeared silently.

"Here."

She handed over several white scrolls and said, "Time is limited; I could only craft the Four-ring Invisibility Technique, only five of them. Use them sparingly."

"Five are enough," Lei En said, taking the scrolls and glancing at them.

The spell scrolls were white, tightly rolled, thumb‑wide, resembling candles, emitting faint energy ripples; their superb quality displayed Ao Xi Li Ya's masterful scroll‑crafting skill.

"Thank you," he said.

"Take care of yourself," Ao Xi Li Ya nodded slightly.

Lei En reached an agreement with the Mo Du aristocracy and revealed his connection with Master Anxi, securing his safety; thus Ao Xi Li Ya no longer needed to guard him constantly and left again.

Late at night, Lei En rose in his luxurious, spacious bedroom.

He changed into a black night‑clothing, stood before the mirror, activated the Shape‑shifting Ring, his facial muscles rippled, and in an instant he wore an unremarkable face; then he drew a scroll, triggered it, and entered invisibility.

He pushed open the bedroom door and walked out openly.

The two Extreme Warriors stationed outside heard the movement; their symbiotic link let them sense the original body's location and know Lei En had emerged.

They had already been ordered to pretend they heard nothing.

A few minutes later, Lei En left the castle without trouble.

The Four-ring Invisibility Technique scrolls last for an hour; Lei En, not wanting to waste time, immediately sprinted onto the street.

Level 7 Swiftness makes him astonishingly fast even without activating "Rapid Run."

In the night, Lei En moved like an unseen gust, covering his domain in a quarter‑hour, heading west, crossing the bridge over the Yero River, and entering Count Ate Lanke's lands.

Pi Li Nuo * Ai Deng's territory faces Gra Morgan's across the river, slightly smaller; its busiest area lies in the southwest corner of Mo Du city, adjacent to the old town, densely populated, with many commercial streets and industrial parks, called Grey Beard District.

Lei En ran along the streets, evading several patrol squads.

Shortly after, a massive manor in the bustling district appeared ahead.

"Arrived."

Lei En gazed at the luxurious manor from afar; this was Pi Li Nuo * Ai Deng's residence.

As a titled count, Pi Li Nuo also owned a castle in Mo Du's outskirts, farther away, so he preferred the city manor.

Under the night sky, many lights still glowed throughout the manor.

Lei En turned the Sound of All Things to maximum, listening to the manor's noises.

A flood of noisy sound waves entered his ears, chaotic and complex.

After careful discrimination, he heard no voice from Pi Li Nuo * Ai Deng—perhaps already asleep, or concealed by a spell, or simply absent.

He waited hidden in the dark, listening patiently for a while, still gaining nothing.

Lei En circled the manor, seeking a point to infiltrate, only to discover the entire estate shrouded by a massive Alert Formation!

The formation had no blind spots, not even underground.

"Damn!"

Lei En felt helpless; such an Alert Formation is an excellent defense against intruders, usually only set up at Wizard academies, Fu Kong Cheng, or extremely important sites.

The daily cost of maintaining the formation can only be borne by true great aristocrats.

He had previously considered installing an Alert Formation at his own castle, but after consulting Ao Xi Li Ya, he immediately abandoned the idea.

Jade Water High Castle's area is too vast; activating a formation for a day would cost over a thousand Gold Shields, unaffordable.

Moreover, a Wizard of Mid-stage or above must preside over the formation, nonstop for twenty‑four hours.

This means at least three Wizards must rotate.

Pi Li Nuo's manor is far smaller than Jade Water High Castle, reducing the formation's cost, yet Lei En estimated Pi Li Nuo spends at least one hundred thousand Gold Shields annually on it.

"Goddamn extravagant…"

Lei En muttered internally, that old fool who threw himself at the Abyssal Evil God is overly cautious.

He observed the manor from outside for a long time, still finding no flaw.

Regardless of the entry point, the formation's alarm would trigger, instantly alerting the manor's guards.

Lei En felt at a loss.

He was about to give up and return to devise another plan when his gaze fell on a distant clock tower.

The stone clock tower, seven stories tall, was the tallest building nearby, about four hundred meters from the manor, its base surrounded by extensive residential blocks stretching across most of the block.

At that distance, it posed no threat to the manor; even if someone reached the tower's top, they'd be spotted instantly in daylight.

At night, ordinary people couldn't see the manor clearly from the tower.

However, Lei En was no ordinary person.

He sprinted toward the tower; from below he heard the rooftop guard snoring loudly, sleeping soundly.

"Perfect, saves me the trouble of knocking him out."

Lei En leapt lightly, landing on the second‑floor window ledge of the tower, clinging to the outer wall like a gecko, climbing silently.

In less than half a minute, Lei En reached the top, seeing a guard asleep on the floor, cradling a long spear.

Finding it not high enough, he grabbed the tower's eave, applied a little force, flipped his body mid‑air, leapt to the highest point, and gently landed on the spire.

There were four outward‑facing wooden eaves, offering a wide view, perfect for standing.

Lei En walked to the edge of a wooden eave and was startled.

"Damn! Someone!"

A faint silhouette materialized before him: the figure wore a gray‑white half‑robe, a short half‑cloak behind, head shrouded by a hood, appearing semi‑transparent, as if merged with the night's shadows—hard for ordinary eyes to see.

At that moment, he crouched there, overlooking the direction of Pi Li Nuo's manor.

Lei En was astonished; he hadn't seen this person at all from below!

Could the Truth Will also fail to see through invisibility? Or perhaps this person just arrived, appearing as I climbed the bell tower?

What shocked Lei En most was that his Soul Eye could not pierce the other's soul, as if something blocked it.

This is his first encounter with a Soul Eye failure.

As Lei En sensed the person, the other also detected the anomaly and immediately turned around.

Lei En is currently invisible.

Yet the distance between them is less than five steps; the other's vision is extremely sharp, with red glints deep in the pupils, instantly seeing through Lei En's invisibility technique.

Both parties are startled.

It's like two blind people groping around, suddenly both feeling a stranger just within reach.

Their gazes meet, and they freeze for a few seconds.

The gray‑white figure reacts first, leaping, spreading its arms, and jumps straight off the top of the bell tower.

"You…"

Lei En steps forward two paces, about to speak, but it's already too late.

The gray‑white silhouette plummets rapidly; after falling only a few meters, its form quickly fades and vanishes mid‑air.

"Hm?"

Lei En feels a slight shift in his mind, because the person truly disappeared.

The combined effect of the Soul Eye and the Truth Will also fails to locate the other, as if the person never existed, having entered another world.

Another world…

Lei En's thoughts pivot quickly, and he immediately considers a possibility.

The Legend of the Shadow Warrior Ascension has two branches; one is called the Shadow Assassin, which requires training the "Shadow Escape" Element to Level 5, then advancing in Soul Transformation to "Shadow Traverse", or directly merging with a demon soul that possesses the "Shadow Traverse" Element.

The Shadow Assassin can enter the Shadow Plane at will, using its peculiarities to appear at any location!

This ability makes the Shadow Assassin's ambushes extremely hard to defend against.

"He's a Shadow Assassin!"

Before Lei En's thought settles, a sound behind him reveals someone appearing at his back, a razor‑sharp blade slicing the air and striking instantly.

"Sure enough, a Shadow Assassin…"

Lei En doesn't turn to look at the attacker; instead, he surges forward, moving at Seventh‑grade Swiftness, which even a Shadow Assassin cannot immediately catch.

Lei En mimics the other, leaping and jumping down from the bell tower.

While airborne, he flips to face upward, sees the pale‑white silhouette also jumping down, then it vanishes.

When it reappears, it is already right before him.

From the Shadow Assassin's sleeves, two sword tips spring out, the narrow blades pressed against the palms, both hands pressing down to stab Lei En.

Lei En's arm hardens like steel as he raises it to block.

However, the Shadow Assassin moves with extreme agility, its close‑combat experience superb; the two sleeve swords, left and right, the left pulls aside Lei En's arm, the right, like a venomous snake, slips through the gap between Lei En's arms and drives straight into his chest.

Boom!

Several bolts of lightning burst forth, and the Thorned Lightning Armor automatically counterattacks.

The Shadow Assassin's body trembles slightly, enduring the lightning; the sleeve sword pierces the Thorned Lightning Armor and finally strikes the skin.

With a ding.

The sleeve sword seems to have struck steel, sparking a trail of embers, unable to penetrate any further.

Under the hood, the Shadow Assassin reveals only the lower half of his face; a short beard frames his mouth, and a tiny scar on his right upper lip trims a piece of the beard, likely a faint mark left many years ago.

At this moment, the Shadow Assassin's mouth twitches uncontrollably, clearly startled by Lei En's defense.

Before he can retract the sleeve sword, an iron‑clamp‑like massive hand grabs his wrist; upon contact, the hand contracts inward, sending excruciating pain through the wrist, nearly crushing it.

"Sss…"

The Shadow Assassin lets out a muffled hum, activates Shadow Traverse, and vanishes entirely.

Lei En's hand comes up empty, realizing he's about to fall; he swiftly draws a rune book from his ring, triggers a Flash, shifts his body sideways dozens of meters, shedding the falling force, and lands lightly.

He cautiously scans the surroundings, yet finds no trace of the Shadow Assassin.

(End of Chapter)