I recognized the place as where the Blood Blades hunted down the Divine Shadow Sect. This was where I slew Gray Shadow, and where the rest of the Blood Blades wiped out so many of Divine Shadow Sect"s members, who had unwittingly used this abandoned mansion as their base. I didn"t expect to be back here after half a year.

Being abandoned, the floor was covered with dust and cobwebs, and faint traces of blood lingered, those stains that weren"t cleaned out by the cleaning crews half a year ago. The empty mansion appeared to be deathly still under the silvery moonlight.

For some reason, Blood Shadow chose not to reside inside the mansion and was waiting in the courtyard outside. He was wearing a hideous mask, probably to make himself look terrifying (though I suspected that his real face beneath the mask would probably be more grotesque and scarier than the mask), and sitting on the gra.s.s under the trees.

Nearby, beside one of the trees, both Tang Qi Hong and Lian Rou were present, tied up and bound tightly to their respective trunks by what seemed like blood-red snakes. They watched Blood Shadow in terror as he stirred.

The old man opened his eyes and stared in the direction of the entrance. He narrowed them, his pupils shrinking in a predatory manner and gleaming with murderous bloodl.u.s.t. A cold smile spread across his wrinkled face.

Blood-colored tendrils seemed to snake out of the shadows cast across the courtyard, slithering underneath the moonlight like living things.

"They"re finally here," Blood Shadow rasped, his voice thin and reedy. He seemed to melt into the shadows, disappearing from view.

Perhaps because of that, the atmosphere around the mansion seemed to grow even more frightening. However, unaware of his antics, Lang Xie"s group approached the mansion cautiously, looking out for Blood Shadow.

"This is the place, huh? I remember attacking Divine Shadow Sect here half a year ago. I didn"t think I would be returning."

I recalled that Hai Rong was part of the group detached to attack Divine Shadow Sect, but that time it was led by Elder Zhao, so I didn"t recognize her. Thanks to Blood Blades being masked and dressed as ninjas for some reason (probably because it looks cool), I wouldn"t have been able to pick her out anyway.

But clearly she had been one of the ninjdressed Blood Blades with wide bamboo hats and a cloth mask who came with me and Tong Xue to wipe Divine Shadow out from Tushan City back then. I guess none of us really knew each other back then.

Hai Rong shook her head as she calmly entered the premises of the derelict mansion. Even though she clearly didn"t like the place, she was still the first person who entered the courtyard, gesturing for me and Tong Xue to stay back.

As our instructor, she couldn"t allow us to risk ourselves and so took point. If we were ambushed, she would stand a higher chance than either of us to survive the attack.

Even so, Tong Xue and I followed behind her, staying close. Let it not be said that we shirked from danger.

While we did so, Lang Xie remained hidden. He had concealed himself in the darkness and was silently monitoring the situation. The moment Blood Shadow or any of Divine Shadow Sect members showed up, he would immediately launch his own ambush.

"So you"re Instructor Hai from Blood Blades?"

Blood Shadow"s voice hissed from the shadows. Tong Xue and I exchanged a glance and kept our eyes out, but despite my Heaven and Earth senses, I still couldn"t pinpoint his exact location.

Rather, it felt as if Blood Shadow was occupying the entire s.p.a.ce. His presence seemed to extend over the mansion, filling each and every inch with his qi. It was almost as if he wasn"t human, but a gigantic invisible monster.

Oh boy…we"re way in our heads this time…

Gulping, I kept my eyes peeled, but to no avail.

"And…what"s this? You"ve brought children with you?" Blood Shadow laughed, still unseen. "Has Blood Blades been reduced to such a pathetic state that you"re forced to rely on children to fight your battles?"

"Nah, we just thought you weren"t worth the manpower," I replied. I bet Blood Shadow was narrowing his eyes at my remark, for the next words he spat out of his mouth were dripping in a caustic tone.

"You"ll regret that."

I shrugged. "Maybe. I don"t mind taking the place of the current hostages. Perhaps you"ll find that you"ll have more leverage using me as a hostage over the girls."

"Ah…" Blood Shadow sounded as if he suddenly understood. "So you"re Fei Wu, that boy with so much promise, the one the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect pinned the hopes of their future on." He chuckled. "Well, you have s.p.u.n.k if nothing else."

"So how about it?" I asked. Tang Qi Hong and Lian Rou watched me from the trees where they were bound to, and shook their heads desperately. Apparently they had been gagged, but I couldn"t see any cloths in their mouths.

No. from both my gla.s.ses and my qi senses, I could detect their qi being clogged up and hindered by something. Blood Shadow must have injected them with something that blocked the circulation of their qi and not only prevented them from using teir techniques, but also robbed them of their ability to move or speak.

No wonder their restraints seemed pretty…loose. A single snake-like blood tendril was binding their waists to the tree trunks, but that was all. I could easily freeze and break it if I was given the chance. Knowing Blood Shadow, however, I wasn"t careless enough to rush forward and seize them. Tong Xue too was resisting the urge to dash forward as well, clearly knowing that the notorious a.s.sa.s.sin would have laid some traps.

Blood Shadow burst out laughing.

"Why trade hostages when I can take all of you as hostages?"

"Are you underestimating me?" Hai Rong snarled as she drew her Spirit Weapon, which was a short sword. "Hurt any of the children, and I swear I"ll kill you."

"Oh, but you shouldn"t move carelessly." Blood Shadow mocked, still invisible. "You don"t want anything to happen to these girls, do you?"

As if to ill.u.s.trate his point, the snake-like blood tendrils tightened around Tang Qi Hong and Lian Rou"s waists. Hai Rong stiffened, but she lowered her sword a fraction.

"If you refuse the exchange, then we"ll kill you." I turned to Tang Qi Hong and Lian Rou, who were watching me and Tong Xue, frightened and in anguish. "We"ll make sure to avenge your deaths, at least."

"Ha ha ha! You talk big for a youngster!" Blood Shadow guffawed. "Do you really think you have the ability to kill me and avenge your women"s deaths?"

"No, but Instructor Hai does."

Blood Shadow snorted. "I"m sorry to disappoint you, but your instructor isn"t strong enough to kill me. That"s why…" his amus.e.m.e.nt was audible. "I"ll be able to take all of you as hostages."

"You can try," Hai Rong snapped.

"Oi!" Tong Xue whispered urgently. "Don"t provoke the lunatic! What will you do if he really kills Lian Rou and Qi Hong?"

"As I said," I replied simply. "We"ll avenge them!"

"What use is that if they"re dead?"

"Psychological warfare, dude," I hissed back. "Just play along and hope that he calls our bluff, and we"ll all be able to get out of this alive."

Tong Xue wisely fell silent after that.

"And besides," Blood Shadow was continuing, not paying any attention to the exchange between my friend and me. "Why would I want to take a guy hostage? I would much rather take these beautiful girls hostage instead."

That was when I realized something. Glancing at Tang Qi Hong and Lian Rou, I swept my gaze across the other trees and saw that they were empty.

"Where"s Hu Mei Er?" I demanded as the coin finally dropped. "There are only two of the hostages. Where"s the third?"

"Hmm? Was there supposed to be a third girl?" Blood Shadow mocked me. "I"m sorry, but I don"t remember. Perhaps I"ve already sucked her dry?"

Tong Xue frowned. "Something"s not right. Hu Mei Er shouldn"t be…"

Thinking hard, I shook my head and decided to bite the bullet. Raising both my hands, I stepped forward and indicated that I was unarmed. Even though I couldn"t see Blood Shadow, I could feel his scornful gaze on me.

"Brat, I don"t care if you"re unarmed. Like I said, I have no intention of exchanging hostages. If you want these girls back, you"ll have to persuade your sect to surrender to the Martial Arts Alliance." He snickered. "These girls are blacksmiths and not Blood Blades, so they won"t be killed. I can"t guarantee that the fates awaiting them would be better than death, though…"

I took another step forward, and reached out with my qi. In an instant, all the blood tendrils in the area were frozen, including the ones that bound Tang Qi Hong and Lian Rou. As the ice shattered, Tong Xue darted forward and s.n.a.t.c.hed both of them.

"You…!"

Blood tendrils snaked out from the shadows to strike the three of them, but I raised a hand and froze the blood appendages into ice.

"…!"

I felt the spiritual feedback surge into me as I struggled to stop Blood Shadow"s attacks. Hai Rong was right – this b.a.s.t.a.r.d was extremely powerful. More so than Gray Shadow and Black Shadow combined. It was taking me everything just to stop his attacks in his tracks, never mind coming up with a counterattack.

"You actually stopped my attacks?" Blood Shadow sounded shocked. "A brat who"s merely at the Qi Fusion Stage?"

"That"s the problem with you guys, always obsessed with stages and realms." I shook my head. "A person"s strength cannot be quanitified or categorized so neatly. Just because I"m weaker than you doesn"t mean I automatically lose when you attack."

"We"ll see about that!"

"No." I turned to Tong Xue, who nodded. "Hurry and get out of here!"

The ice around me shattered, spraying me with frosty fragments and I quickly used Tui to retreat. Blood Shadow seemed to attack me, but noticing Hai Rong approaching, he suddenly held back and I sensed a disturbance in his qi.

"Where is Lang Xie?" he suddenly asked, as if only just remembering that we wouldn"t be the only ones sent to deal with someone of his caliber. I could feel the a.s.sa.s.sin"s gaze rest upon an unharried Hai Rong. "Lang Xie is nearby, isn"t he? I know he wants to kill me. I know he will definitely come here!"

"You flatter yourself too much," Hai Rong smirked.

"Is that so? Then you"ll pay for underestimating me!"

There was a surge in Blood Shadow"s qi and I could feel his killing intent explode. This time, hundred of blood tendrils gushed out of the shadows, streaking toward me. My qi senses told me that they were much stronger than the previous attack.

If I tried to freeze them with Absolute Zero like I did earlier, they would simply break free of the ice and stab into me, killing me instantly.

Swoosh!

Whistling sharply, the blood tendrils streaked toward me at incredible speed. There had to be hundreds of them, and I was suddenly reminded of a swarm of snakes. While the majority were aimed at me – most likely because I had been mouthing off earlier and deliberately provoking the old b.a.s.t.a.r.d – several of them detached from the main horde to strike at the stationary Hai Rong and the fleeing Tong Xue.

c.o.c.king my head to the side calmly, as if the blood tendrils were no more than a hindrance, I conjured my Snow Aegis. The barrage of blood tendrils banged against my snowflake-shaped shield with tremendous impact, causing it to shudder, but my Spirit Armament refused to break. Infusing it with qi, I then launched the mobile turrets, which separated from the core and sailed about, blasting qi beams into the courtyard.

"Ugh!"

Blood Shadow swore in pain. That was one of the weaknesses of his technique. While he seemed to be everywhere in this s.p.a.ce, it also meant that I could hurt him if I struck any spot in this place even while firing at random.

"You brat!"

Staggering, Blood Shadow came into view, his bloodied figure finally becoming visible.

"There you are," I remarked, as if I was merely observing a dinosaur exhibition in a science museum.

"I"ll kill you!" Blood Shadow"s eyes were narrowing terrifyingly on me, his bloodthirst increasing exponentially. More blood tendrils surged into the air, aiming for me, but my Snow Aegis blocked them while my six mobile turrets fired more qi beams that forced the shadowy a.s.sa.s.sin to dodge. "I swear, I"ll definitely kill you!"

"The feeling"s mutual, old man," I told him coldly.

Unfortunately, before I could say anything else, Lang Xie"s voice suddenly rang out from the top of a tall building that was stationed next to the abandoned mansion.

"Hai Rong, Tong Xue, Fei Wu! Leave this mansion and return to Nine-Tailed Fox Sect immediately!"

"Huh?"

Hai Rong turned to stare up at Lang Xie, completely shocked. Currently she was also holding back a good number of the blood tendrils with her Hundred Flower Spherical Shield, and was making good progress to help me fight against Blood Shadow.

That was why she was taken aback when Lang Xie ordered her to retreat. There had to be a mistake. There was no way Lang Xie would order her to retreat.

"What are you talking about, Lang Xie?" she demanded angrily. "Why should we…?"

"Di Shi Ju is here. Liang Yang Zu is here. Even Yuan Tian Ya is here."

Atop the tall building, Lang Xie looked down on the triumphant Blood Shadow, his voice devoid of any emotion.

"It"s a trap. They set this up to lure both you and me here so that they can kill the both of us."

"That"s…" Hai Rong gasped in disbelief.

"This can"t be good," I muttered under my breath.

"You"ve got to be kidding me!" Tong Xue growled as he turned extremely pale. He skidded to a stop when someone suddenly appeared in front of him.

"You"re called Tong Xue, aren"t you?" a middle-aged man stepped forward, a smile on his face. I recognized him from photographs on the Internet. That man was none other than Yuan Tian Ya, the sect leader of Dark Asura Sect.

So Dark Asura Sect was in league with Divine Shadow Sect! Well, we sort of knew that already, but even then it was still a little of a shock.

"You may leave. You"re from Smart Shadow Sect, aren"t you? They are a subsidiary of Divine Shadow Sect, so it"s pointless to kill you if you"re one of us."

"Hah!" Tong Xue glared at the person. "I"ll renounce my membership from Smart Shadow Sect if I have to. I want nothing to do with you Martial Arts Alliance b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! I"m a member of Blood Blades, a disciple of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect!"

"Well said!" Hai Rong shouted from a distance.

"Not that it"s going to help us much," I muttered, but I had arrived to take Tang Qi Hong from an exhausted Tong Xue. Even though he was a skilled martial artist, it wasn"t as if he could jump around while carrying two immobilized girls.

"You"re still young, so I"ll forgive you for your foolishness." Yuan Tian Ya studied the girls, and then turned away. "And we"re not in the business of kidnapping and killing children anyway."

Wow…I couldn"t believe that we caught a lucky break there. Yuan Tian Ya must be clinging to some delusion that he was from an orthodox sect under the Martial Arts Alliance and thought he was acting out of some obscure code of honor and justice, but the hypocrite had done nothing but stand aside while the girls were kidnapped without helping them or stopping Blood Shadow. If he thought this absolved him of his crime, he was dead wrong.

However, evidently the goal of the adults was to lure Lang Xie and Hai Rong into a trap and kill the both of them. So Yuan Tian Ya obviously justified their actions by reasoning that the children would never get hurt in the first place and was willing to stand aside to let us pa.s.s so that everybody present could focus on killing the two adults.

"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d…!" Tong Xue growled, but Lang Xie stopped him.

"The both of you…Fei Wu and Tong Xue." Lang Xie was staring at us. "Get out of here. Return to the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. This is an order."

"But what about you?" I demanded. Hai Rong swore at me, something that I didn"t feel comfortable repeating here.

"Don"t forget your f.u.c.king objective!" she snarled. "You"ve rescued Qi Hong and Lian Rou! Now bring them both back to safety! Don"t discard the real objective halfway! Besides…" she put on a brave smile for our benefit. "We"ll be able to handle these scoundrels. Leave this matter to the adults."

"We"ll buy you as much time as possible, and then pull back once we know you"re safe," Lang Xie told us calmly.

That was enough motivation for us to run.

"Senior Lang Xie, are you really going?"

All of a sudden, Blood Shadow"s gruff voice sharpened. It seemed to pierce our ears like knives, causing us to wince.

Lang Xie, who was about to retreat now that Tong Xue and I had ran off, paused in midstep and turned to stare at Blood Shadow emotionlessly.

"Who are you?"

We never got to hear the answer, because we moved out of earshot.

While we ran toward the direction of the sect grounds, where most of the Blood Blades were patrolling and present to reinforce us, a familiar figure stepped out from the trees in front of us.

"Whoa!"

Tong Xue skidded to a stop, tightening his grip on Lian Rou to ensure she didn"t fall out of his arms. I repeated the maneuver with a little more success, having mastered my footwork techniques a long time ago.

"You are…" I began with a frown. "Hu Mei Er? What are you doing here?"

"What do you think?" Hu Mei Er smiled glacially. Behind her, more martial artists descended. From their black, shadowy garb and the insignia on their robes, I recognized them as discples from the Divine Shadow Sect. "Taking revenge for Shao Yang."

Feeling a sense of horror curdling at the pit of my stomach, I realized that Hu Mei Er had devised a trap of her own for me.