Chapter 72 - The Woods

Swoop!

A short sword sliced through the air, and Xu Xiaoshou caught it.

Even though he was using someone else"s spiritual sword, he was still able to use his own Innate Sword Will to execute the Reverse Sword Style.

"The experiment was a success!

"Well, this should settle it…"

He clasped the short sword in his hand, and the blade immediately snapped in half.

Without an infusion of spiritual source, the spiritual sword was completely unable to resist his Sharpness.

He picked up the other short sword and the head on the ground, thought for a moment, then walked out of the door of his place.

"What would I do if I was the one running away?" He tried to put himself in the a.s.sa.s.sin"s shoes.

"Run!

"Run as far as I could and never turn back!

"Cough, cough…

"Okay, that seems a little too idealistic.

"Now, if I were the one running away and I had to turn back somehow. What would I do?" he asked himself, caressing his chin.

"First of all, I"d most probably check things out from afar using skills similar to Sense, and, if things weren"t in my favor, turn around and run. If things were in my favor, continue moving in with caution.

"Regardless of how powerful that guy"s Sense-like skills are, they"re no match to mine. That much was already proven back in that battle in the compound. So, if he were to find somewhere to check things out…"

He peered at that field before his compound and found a winding road before him with two patches of woods on either side of it.

"That"s a really long road. They must"ve taken that road to get to my place.

"Even if his sensory powers are indeed very powerful, he"d need to get over halfway inside the woods. If he were to set up an ambush anywhere, this place would be the best choice," he commented confidently.

Clang!

He dumped the sword he"d cut in half onto the ground.

"If that guy were here to see this, he"d definitely start panicking."

He then counted the number of Spiritual Cultivation Pills in his ring. After claiming his reward for becoming champion, he now had tens of bottles left in his ring.

"More than enough." He then walked into the woods.

If that guy didn"t turn around tonight, he would just leave him be. This bit of rain wasn"t that much of a problem.

But, if he were to dare turn around…

Hmph, they would never be able to go home.

"Wait… no," he thought.

"What if I just antic.i.p.ated what he thought, and he antic.i.p.ated what I"ve antic.i.p.ated that he thought?"

He felt his skin crawl, finding that to be very possible.

He immediately turned around, picked up the broken pieces of the sword, then headed straight into the woods.

Every second counts!

…

Swoop!

The sound of something slicing through the air rang out in the rain, and a crimson beam was seen shooting out from the Inner Yard.

Feng Kong was filled with uncontrollable rage and indignation.

Xu Xiaoshou!

That really was Xu Xiaoshou!

If it hadn"t been for that far-range telepathic message that Shao Yi sent him before dying, he would have kept waiting at the entrance of the Inner Yard instead.

Because of his hesitation and the time he"d spent waiting around, Shao Yi had bit the dust.

That guy had killed him!

"He shouldn"t have died…" Feng Kong was gritting his teeth so hard that his gums started to bleed. The rage he felt was uncontainable.

And when he recalled how Xu Xiaoshou had managed to play them for fools back at the compound, his rage went off the charts.

"A puny level niner actually managed to scare me away like this, and then wear down Shao Yi, who was at the peak of Origin Court Level, until he died. This is unforgivable!

"You"d better pray that you can run…"

"But then again, you shall spend the rest of your life living in fear!"

Feng Kong was behaving as though he were possessed. His expression was completely twisted as he moved at blitzing speeds. It took him mere moments to go all the way from the Inner Yard to somewhere near Goose Lake.

It all looked the same as before. The only difference was that now there was no longer anyone at his side.

That was indeed ironic.

The rain continued to patter on the surface of the lake, spreading ripples with every drop. The geese and fishes were startled by the terrifying killing intent from Feng Kong, and scattered all over the lake.

Bubble, bubble.

Several bubbles on the lake popped, and Feng Kong leapt over Goose Lake, then stood on the jade fence.

"Calm down!" The rainwater made him come back to his senses, and he calmed his rage.

Even though his partner had ended up dead because of his misjudgment, he didn"t see that as any reason to lose his cool.

Being a professional killer for years had given him a clear mind, and he steadied himself as he started to think.

"Xu Xiaoshou…

"The kid isn"t strong because of his powers. He"s strong because of his thought patterns, which are equal to mine."

That much had been verified from the psychological game they"d played back in that compound, yet Feng Kong had yet to admit that he"d actually lost in that game.

He deemed that he"d only been frightened due to what he"d seen back then, which had given his enemy an advantage to exploit.

At the moment, having distanced himself from that game, and now observing it from the outside, he deemed that Xu Xiaoshou had pulled little more than petty tricks.

"He indeed has smarts, yet he lacks the power to back up said smarts. At the end of the day, he"s still just an insect."

Despite this, though, Feng Kong had to take said insect seriously. "If I were Xu Xiaoshou, how would I get out of such a predicament?

"Run!

"Run as far as I could, leaving behind that compound altogether."

But Feng Kong shook his head, knowing that Xu Xiaoshou would never do that. In the first place, Xu Xiaoshou couldn"t escape the Spirit Palace. And even if he did leave the Spirit Palace, he would run into more people after his life.

"The kid is clever. He definitely knows that he could run for the time being, just not for the rest of his life.

"So… ambush then?"

Feng Kong was feeling rather uncertain. He wondered if the kid actually had what it took to pull off an ambush.

Yet, he recalled what happened to Shao Yi.

That guy had been at the peak of Origin Court Level, and he alone would have been enough to finish the mission.

"Yet, after I ran… umm, I got away for mere moments, the kid actually managed to kill Shao Yi.

"Just how did he die?"

Feng Kong was unable to truly believe any of it. He couldn"t believe that Xu Xiaoshou, even if said kid did have many tricks up his sleeve, a mere level niner, had what it took to kill Shao Yi.

Yet, he had to believe the facts at hand.

He didn"t dwell on the minor details for long, and simply went on speculating. "If he does have what it takes to kill me, and he set up an ambush, what would he do?"

The rainy night was all quiet again.

As he pondered, his killing intent lessened. The geese on the lake started to cry again, and the lake water bubbled, as if there were fishes blowing bubbles inside.

"If I were Xu Xiaoshou…" Feng Kong tilted his head and frowned. Then, his eyes lit up. "I would deduce my thoughts!

"That"s it! That"s how he would do it!

"That guy"s forte is antic.i.p.ating the thoughts of others. That much was proven back in the compound when he managed to see through all of my plans and tricks.

"If he set up an ambush, he probably thought things through from my angle..."

Feng Kong nodded solemnly, feeling that he finally knew what he would be heading into.

"He has no idea what I"m capable of, so he could probably only resort to guesses, and he definitely doesn"t know that I already know who he is right now."

"So, let"s say he deduced that I would come back to kill him. He probably wouldn"t antic.i.p.ate me going all the way to his place to kill him. He"d probably think what I would think. I would take it slow, searching meticulously and checking things out back in the compound…

"With Shao Yi already dead right now, if he"s smart enough he"d know I"d be a sitting duck if I remained back in the compound.

"There"s also only one road leading to that compound. The winding, long road in the woods…"

Feng Kong then realized something. "The woods?

"Very possible.

"If I"d gone through with what I planned beforehand, regardless of whether I went all the way or was more cautious, Xu Xiaoshou only would"ve needed to set up an ambush in the woods, and I"d have walked right into it without even thinking of the possibility.

"And the result…"

He couldn"t help but shudder at the thought, finding it terrifying.

He considered himself lucky for having seen through the situation before making a move. Now there was little else to worry about.

Vengeance was seen in Feng Kong"s eyes. He"d initially been out to kill this person because of a mission, but now he had another reason for doing it.

To vent his rage.

"The woods, huh…"

"Xu Xiaoshou, prepare to meet your doom, then."