Qin Tian went white straight away from fear the moment when he felt an immensely powerful aura suddenly spring up from behind him. The feeling of death assaulted all his senses with such intimidation that his soul was starting to quake!
It had been all too sudden how this threat had suddenly popped up behind him. The only thing the man had noticed at first was the first ambusher when a second had abruptly appeared behind him!
His shock couldn’t even be quantified at the absurdness of the situation. There was actually someone that could get within arms reach of him without him noticing!
And because of how abrupt it was, Qin Tian hadn’t the time to react in time to the new danger. The only thing he felt then was a sharp pain in the back of his head. Though it was on his head, Qin Tian felt like it had been his soul that had been pierced and let out a loud cry as he flew away!
“My lord!!!”
A horrified cry erupted from the one middle-aged man that hadn’t been attacked. Deathly pale from shock, the man let out a burst of green energy from his body as he made his retreat!
He didn’t even bother to look at the man next to him as he retreated. But he didn’t have to. The slicing sound of something was all he needed to hear…
When the man was about a hundred steps away, he looked over to the other man just in time to see a ‘blood rain’ fall from the skies. It was coming from where the head of the bulky man was!!
“Drip…drip…drip…”
The bulky man’s eyes were wide open in disbelief. His face was as ashen as death itself and his mouth was open; though no words were coming out from them. Aside from the fear and despair, his eyes were also showing signs of dimming.
At the moment when Qin Tian gave his warning, the bulky man had enough time to ready his soulforce for a battle, but the ambusher had somehow darted behind his back in that time. The man had wanted to turn around to attack when he felt something cold slide across his throat—a greenish-black dagger had sliced across his throat!
It was so fast that not even an Early-stage Soul King could put up a quick enough defense for it!
It felt like his own vitality was pouring out from the gap in his throat. All the man could do was stare in dumb reluctance as he pressed his palms against his throat. He was trying to stop the flowing of the blood, but he could not. His body was rapidly losing the vital blood he needed to live.
An eerily-cold voice whispered menacingly to him. “Give up and die…remember the one who killed you. I am Jing Mingfeng! One of the last of the Jing!!”
“One of the last…of the Jing? Could it be…that Jing?”
The irises of the bulky man’s eyes dilated as the words of Jing Mingfeng registered to him. He had only enough time to ruminate on those words a moment longer before he felt pain in the back of his head as if something sharp had penetrated it. Then he knew nothing…
……
The person who had ambushed Qin Tian was finally stepping out from the shadows. It was Jing Wuying! His eyes were as cold as ice and his aura was blaring with a murderous aura after he moved to attack Qin Tian. His aura was enough to make anyone that could feel it shiver, but his person was almost like a ghost with how jarringly unnoticeable he was. He was a ghost almost with how hardly anyone could see his definite person.
“Oh? You didn’t die?” He wondered aloud at Qin Tian. “Haven’t you run far away enough?” He sneered.
He then disappeared so quickly through the skies that not even his shadow could be seen!
A short ways ahead of him was a terrified Qin Tian. On the back of his head was a bloody dent, but it didn’t seem like Qin Tian even noticed it with how focused he was in running away. He made it only another kilometer forward when he felt something directly behind him. Encasing himself in a bubble of blue energy, Qin Tian summoned all the elemental water he could to him to create a large pool of water to drown out the person chasing him!
He had to turn around in order to let loose this tidal wave of power. But…he couldn’t see anyone there to aim his attack onto! He had missed!
“Do you really think you can resist after being caught?” A harsh voice spoke from behind him. “It’s good that you didn’t die so soon. Know this when you die. I am Jing Wuying. I am here to pay a debt of blood. The massacre of my family will be repaid with the massacre of your own!!”
“Jing Wuying!! Impossible! Yo—”
Qin Tian’s eyes were as wide as they could be, but his pupils were inversely small. What words he was planning to say next were cut off by a jet of black light across his neck. A second later…his head popped off!
A powerful Late-stage Soul King had been killed practically without offering any resistance!
……
“Ah! Ah! Ahh!!!”
The scholarly man was beside himself with terror. He was frightened out of his mind and was desperately trying his best to survive. By forming several hand seals, he was seemingly using some sort of power-boosting technique to try and increase his odds of fleeing!
He was a wind-type soul cultivator, so his speed was definitely a lot faster than to be expected from someone of his strength. Flying away in a squall of wind, the man was able to travel a considerable distance to flee.
Neither Jing Mingfeng or Jing Wuying gave chase to him. They simply collected the items of the dead and stood together to watch him run away.
“Our plan goes as according. We will wait for panic to start below ground and wait for a chance to strike! Spare no mercy to anyone of the Qin!”
Jing Wuying spat hatefully as he watched the green speck of light travel further and further away.
“Yes!” Jing Mingfeng nodded obediently. His own eyes were filled a killing intent completely foreign to what Bai Yunfei would associate with the normally laughing Jing Mingfeng.
His eyes were drawn towards the south as if seemingly thinking about something.
“What is it? Are you worried about that Bai Yunfei?” Jing Wuying asked, having noticed his staring.
“Not really, but I’d like to know what’s going on over there…” Jing Mingfeng shook his head, “That Ol’Bai really does get into trouble no matter where he goes…I’d like to know how in the world he managed to kill Qin Shoufeng and Qin Shouhao…”
“It is fortunate for us he has distracted our foes. We would not have been able to kill those two so easily without his assistance. Killing a Late-stage Soul King here will make our future goals less dangerous. More of the Qin are heading for the south, that suits our purposes just fine.” Jing Wuying replied. He was looking off to the south now too, “I wonder if that Bai Yunfei will be able to fight Qin Tian. That man has been a Late-stage Soul King for a long while now. Not even he can be assassinated unless with the best of timings, otherwise, I’d have killed him a long time ago. It will be difficult for Bai Yunfei to fight him for long, but his status should help him. I cannot imagine the Tianhun School would not interfere. His life will not be in danger at the very least…”
A small smirk etched itself onto Jing Mingfeng’s face at that. “You’re underestimating Ol’Bai’s strength, grandfather. His real strength is far beyond what you can imagine. I’m actually worried that Qin Tian might accidentally die and that we won’t be able to kill him ourselves…”
“Oh? Do you believe that Bai Yunfei is strong enough to kill Qin Tian?” Jing Wuying asked. “If that is the case, then I won’t worry about that side. Let us head down to the mines for now.”
The smile died away from Jing Mingfeng’s face to be replaced with a cold frown. “Yes!”