The Silly Alchemist

Unfortunately, the best of the best were all away practising their cultivation. No one usually contacted them while they were in isolation unless it was of the utmost urgency.

“As the saying goes, a river far away cannot save a fire here. Your best fighters are not here, I have taken special care to confirm this,” the assassin mused softly. This was why he didn’t stop the guards from firing their flares.

Only one person in this room could be a threat to him and that was the chief. However, the chief was now injured and no longer an immediate threat.

“Who ARE you? Why do you want to kill me?” asked the chief again.

“You will have to ask Death himself!” The assassin did not elaborate. He would never reveal secrets even to a person he considered already dead.

As he spoke, the assassin lunged once again.

Whoosh.

Once again, they only saw the flash of a blade. They could not see where the assassin attacked for he was too fast. Even the chief could barely see the trail.

There was no time for the chief to yell, for when his mouth opened, the assassin had already sheathed his blade. He had missed the opportunity to warn his men.

“Aaaahh...”

...

Once again, a batch of guards in front of the chief collapsed in a pool of blood. They were no match for the assassin, completely defenceless against his attacks.

“Everyone MOVE! I’ll do it myself!”

The chief released a mighty roar, drawing breaths to focus his douqi and forcing his body to ignore its pain. There was no choice, he had to fight the assassin himself.

If he did not do something, more lives would be sacrificed for him!

The assassin smirked with a hint of delight as if he had won.

“Chief!” shouted the guards helplessly. They called themselves guards yet they could not protect their own leader. They watched as their chief steeled himself to fight.

Slash!

The assassin’s move was calculated to slash across the chief, his blade still invisible to the untrained eye. It was just a blade of wind.

“?!”

The chief was no ordinary man either, dodging the attack in a second. However, the guard behind him was not as lucky, literally slashed into two halves.

His heart grew colder. The enemy before him was too powerful. He could possibly drag out the fight if he wasn’t injured, though he believed he would still lose in the end.

Right now, he was injured. Even if he forced his body to fight, he knew he could not sustain much longer. He prayed for someone to arrive soon.

But who? Not many people in his tribe were better fighters than himself, and they were all outside the tribal lands.

“One-Blade Death!”

The assassin would not give him more time to think. He was in a hurry to end the fight, using one of his deadliest tactics.

At that moment, it was as if there was nothing but the assassin and his sword in the world. The rest watched as time slowed around them, clearly seeing the blade slowly inching forward towards the chief.

The oddest thing was they were slow too, still unable to stop the blade. With his injury, the chief was unable to dodge it in time. He had no choice but to take the full force of the blade.

However, what would happen if he did? Everyone knew the only outcome was death.

The outcome of the short duel seemed to be fixed in fate. This blade would reap the chief’s life!

His men could not bear to watch, they all thought, why would such an expert assassin appear here to murder our chief?

All they could do was to mutter a prayer for a miracle...

...

There was a whistle.

Before they could process the sound, a spinning spear had appeared before the chief, the tip of the spear colliding exactly with the blade.

Clang!

Although only two physical points were involved in the collision, both weapons brought with them blades of douqi which cause a huge explosion upon impact.

In a second, dust flew violently around the room, shielding both the wielder of the spear and the assassin from view. No one could see who this saviour was.

However, they could sense who it was, though they did not dare believe it. This person was a capable fighter, yes, but they never knew THIS powerful.

Once the dust settled, a tiny silhouette appeared before their eyes. They were right.

“Tai Ya?!”

“TAI YA?!” cried the chief. Who else could this be, if not his own daughter? Her stature, Tai Ya’s blade in her hand– he knew it was her.

He could not believe how powerful his daughter actually was!

From that one swift movement that saved his life, he could tell his daughter’s skills had far surpassed his...

It was unbelievable. This meant everyone present had not fully grasped Tigress’ abilities for the only thing they knew was that she fought better than her peers. They now understood she far surpassed themselves too.

We cannot blame these men, for Tigress had never unleashed her true capabilities in public. This was Ye Lang’s advice to her too. A fighter must lay low and never show the world everything they had.

He also once said an ounce of a problem should be dealt with using an ounce of strength. Any more would just be a waste of energy!

“Father, stay back. Leave this to me!” Tigress instructed the chief, Tai Ya’s blade, which was taller than herself, in one hand.

“Tai Ya, will you be alright?” the chief couldn’t help but ask. Although that one movement had proven Tigress’ abilities, as a father, he was still worried for her.

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry...”

As she spoke, she lunged forward suddenly in one swift step, thrusting her spear at the assassin. Although this wasn’t a fancy attack, her speed and power were enough to stun anyone!

“?!” The assassin dodged in surprise, then feeling a surge of relief. Any fraction of a second slower and he would’ve been skewered!