306: Chapter 306 The Stone Gambling Shop

The lead man and the remaining assassin, who had been using Divine Sense interference, underwent a drastic change in expression.

This was no 'fat sheep' at the third or fourth level of the True Martial Realm; this was clearly a fierce dragon crossing the river in disguise!

"Run!" The lead man was decisive; seeing that things had taken a turn for the worse, he immediately tried to flee.

"Thinking of leaving now? Too late."

Ye Tian's eyes were icy as his speed suddenly increased again. He caught up to the retreating man in an instant and threw a punch, the sound of wind and thunder breaking through the air!

The man roared, swinging his blade with all his might to parry.

Clang!

Ye Tian's fist was completely unharmed, while that decent-quality short blade was sent flying upward by the impact!

The webbing between the man's thumb and index finger split open, his arm went numb, and his heart was filled with absolute horror.

What kind of monstrous Physical Body was this?!

Before he could change his move, Ye Tian shifted his fist into a claw, his five fingers hooking toward the man's throat!

The man's soul nearly left his body as he desperately leaned back.

Squelch!

The five fingers swept past; though they missed his throat, they left five bloody gouges across his chest, nearly disemboweling him!

The man screamed as he retreated.

The last assassin, who had been using Divine Sense interference, had already pissed his pants in terror. He turned and sprinted toward the alley entrance, shouting as he ran: "Help! Mur—"

But before the words could fully leave his mouth, a whistling sound rang out.

Ye Tian had casually kicked a piece of rubble from the ground. Its powerful momentum sent it straight through the back of the assassin's head!

The assassin stiffened and slumped to the ground, silenced forever.

From the moment the four had attacked to the moment they all lay on the ground, only a few short breaths of time had passed.

Ye Tian walked over to the heavily injured man on the ground, knelt down, and asked, "Who sent you? Why target me?"

Looking into Ye Tian's emotionless eyes, the man's psychological defenses completely collapsed: "It was... it was an order from Boss 'Du Ya' of the Shadow Calamity Tower's outer circle."

"He said many new faces have arrived in Crimson Flame Town recently, and some bounty targets might be mixed in using disguises."

"We were told to watch for people traveling alone, unfamiliar faces, and those with low cultivation who might be hiding their strength."

"There's a heavy reward for killing or capturing them."

"We saw you coming out of the Black Crow House and saw you were a new face, so we thought..."

As expected, it was related to the Shadow Calamity Tower. It seemed their reach had extended deep into the corners of Crimson Flame Town.

"Where is Du Ya? What is his cultivation? How many men does he have?" Ye Tian continued to question him.

"In... in the basement of the 'Stone Gambling House' in the west of town... He is at the True Martial Tenth Level Great Perfection... He has over twenty men, and none... none of them are weak..." the man answered.

Ye Tian nodded, having obtained the information he wanted.

He stood up and looked at the man no longer.

"Don't... don't kill me... I know I was wrong..." the man pleaded.

Ye Tian didn't answer. He simply flicked his finger, and a strand of Sword Qi sank into the man's brow.

He had no mercy for these hyenas whose hands were stained with the blood of the innocent.

He quickly searched the four corpses, finding some Spirit Stones, miscellaneous items, and several tokens representing Du Ya's faction. Then, he flicked out a few wisps of flame, burning the bodies and bloodstains to ash and clearing the scene.

Having finished this, he acted as if nothing had happened. He straightened his clothes, suppressed his aura again, quickly left the alley, and returned to the "Old Stone Inn."

Back in the room, Hou Xiaojie breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing him return safely.

Ye Tian briefly recounted the information he had gathered and the ambush he had just encountered.

"The Shadow Calamity Tower's people have already penetrated this far..." Hou Xiaojie's small face turned pale.

"We can't stay here long. But that 'Du Ya' is a hidden threat. He knows we might have entered Crimson Flame Town and that we came out of the Black Crow House; he might follow the clues to find us."

Ye Tian mused, "I must deal with him first, or make him 'shut up'."

"Senior Brother, you're going to deal with a True Martial Tenth Level guy? That's too dangerous!" Hou Xiaojie said worriedly.

"It's fine. It's a good chance to test my current strength." Ye Tian's eyes were full of confidence.

A bandit leader at the True Martial Tenth Level was not weak, but he was confident.

Moreover, cutting off this "Poison Fang" of the Shadow Calamity Tower in Crimson Flame Town would reduce trouble for their subsequent actions. Perhaps he could even get more specific intelligence about the deployments of the Shadow Calamity Tower and the Wanren Sword Pavilion in the Land of Flowing Fire from him.

He temporarily entrusted Hou Xiaojie and the Dragon Ape to the innkeeper, paying extra Spirit Stones. He also produced his Yanding Sect Guest Elder token, indicating he had some connection to the sect to make the owner wary. Then, under the cover of night, he quietly left the inn and crept toward the "Stone Gambling House" in the west of town.

The Stone Gambling House was a two-story stone building. The ground floor was the stone gambling hall, the upper floor contained private booths, and the basement concealed some unsavory business.

Ye Tian suppressed his aura and blended in behind a few red-eyed, swearing gamblers as he walked into the Stone Gambling House.

The hall was filled with smoke, and raw stones were piled haphazardly on the ground, marked with different prices.

Gamblers crowded around pieces of raw stone that had been cut open or were waiting to be cut, letting out cries of surprise and sighs.

Ye Tian did not linger in the hall, his gaze sweeping over a wooden door in the corner guarded by a burly man.

Behind that should be the entrance to the basement.

He approached inconspicuously. As he passed a waiter, he brushed his hand lightly, revealing half of a token engraved with a venomous snake pattern—one he had scavenged from the previous assassins—between his fingers.

The waiter was sharp-eyed. Seeing the token, he was slightly startled, then nodded and made way, giving the guard at the door a look.

The burly man understood and pulled open the wooden door, revealing stone steps extending downward.

Ye Tian stepped in calmly, and a moment later, the wooden door closed behind him.

The stone steps led down, with a few oil lamps hanging on the walls, ending at an iron door.

Two guards in gray stood at the door, both at the fifth level of the True Martial Realm.

Seeing Ye Tian come down, the two immediately grew alert and gripped their waist sabers.

"Who goes there? Do you have a token?" one asked coldly.

Ye Tian showed the Du Ya token once again.

The guard checked it and confirmed it was correct, but doubt remained in his eyes: "You're a very unfamiliar face. Boss Du Ya didn't say he was seeing anyone new."

"I just finished a job and have urgent news to report," Ye Tian said, trying his best to mimic an assassin's tone.

The guards exchanged a look but opened the iron door anyway: "Go in. The Boss is inside."

Behind the iron door was a basement hall, brighter than the passage, with torches mounted on the walls.

A stone table stood in the center of the hall, scattered with wine, meat, Spirit Stones, and some blood-stained weapons.

About twenty people were either sitting or standing around, all with unfriendly gazes. Their cultivation generally ranged from the fourth to the seventh level of the True Martial Realm.

At the head of the stone table sat a tall, thin middle-aged man with a pale face and dark purple lips, sitting in a domineering posture.

He wore a dark green brocade robe, and his long, thin fingers held two pitch-black iron orbs that made a soft clicking sound as he rotated them.

This person was "Du Ya," a powerful expert at the True Martial Tenth Level Great Perfection!

Beside Du Ya sat a man with a face full of scars and rough flesh, whose cultivation was at the Peak of the True Martial Ninth Level; he was likely his lieutenant.

In a corner of the hall, several people were curled up, beaten until they were covered in bruises and their breath was faint. They looked like unlucky souls who hadn't "followed the rules" or had "unpaid debts."

As soon as Ye Tian entered, the hall fell silent, and everyone's eyes landed on him.

"Hmm?"

Du Ya lifted his eyelids, his triangular eyes scanning Ye Tian, lingering for a moment on the cloth bundle on his back and the qingxuan ring on his waist. His lips curled into a playful smirk. "An unfamiliar face?

Where did that token come from?

Where are Wu Feng and the others?

How come they sent a greenhorn like you to report?"

His voice was shrill and unpleasant to the ear.

Hearing the name Wu Feng, Ye Tian guessed it must have been the leader of the gray-clad men he had just encountered in Crimson Flame Town.

He didn't answer immediately but slowly raised his head to look at Du Ya.

The moment he looked up, a fleeting, icy sharpness in his eyes caused Du Ya's heart to skip a beat for some reason.

"Those few are dead," Ye Tian said.

"Dead?"

Du Ya's gaze turned cold, and the iron orbs rotating in his hand suddenly stopped. "How did they die? Did you kill them?"