Chapter 416: A Real Fight

The late-stage Golden Core assassin stepped into the blood-soaked street with an expression carved from stone.The assassin drew two curved daggers from sheaths at his waist, the blades gleaming with a faint purple sheen that suggested poison.

"I am Elder Shen. Remember that name when you face death."

Liam’s expression didn’t change. "I’ve heard enough last words today. If you’re going to fight, then fight."

Elder Shen’s response was immediate and devastating.

He moved with speed that made the previous Golden Core assassins look like children playing at combat. One moment he stood ten meters away, the next his blade was already descending toward Liam’s throat, aiming to cut off his head with one strike.

Liam leaned back, the poisoned blade passing inches from his neck. He countered with a palm strike aimed at Elder Shen’s exposed ribs.

The assassin twisted mid-attack, his second blade coming up to deflect Liam’s hand while his body rotated away from the strike’s full force. Metal rang against flesh as Liam’s fingers met the dagger’s edge, but instead of cutting through, the blade skittered across his skin, leaving only a faint white line.

Elder Shen’s eyes narrowed at this revelation. But he didn’t waste a moment, as he exploded into motion, his daggers becoming a whirlwind of slashing attacks that came from impossible angles. High, low, left, right, the pattern constantly shifting to prevent prediction. Each strike was precisely aimed at vital points.

Liam blocked and dodged. And finally, for the first time since arriving in Crimson Valley, he actually had to focus. Elder Shen wasn’t just fast; he was equally skilled. Every one of his feint was designed to create an opening, every slash positioned to force Liam into disadvantageous positions.

A blade slipped past Liam’s guard, scoring a shallow cut across his forearm. Blood welled from the wound, but Liam felt no effects from the poison coating the blade. His constitution rendered toxins ineffective, but the fact that Elder Shen had managed to cut him at all was noteworthy.

"First blood to me," Elder Shen said, though his tone carried no satisfaction. If anything, he sounded more cautious. The cut should have introduced enough poison to paralyze any other Golden Core expert, yet Liam showed no reaction whatsoever.

Liam’s response was to use his telekinesis.

Invisible force seized Elder Shen from multiple directions simultaneously, attempting to crush him as it had crushed so many others. But the assassin’s spiritual energy erupted outward in a defensive burst, creating a shell that pushed against Liam’s telekinetic grip. The two forces collided in the space around Elder Shen’s body, creating visible distortions in the air.

For a moment, they were locked in a contest of pure power. Liam’s telekinesis pressed inward while Elder Shen’s spiritual energy pushed outward, neither giving ground.

Then Elder Shen did something unexpected. Instead of continuing to resist, he suddenly released his defensive barrier and allowed Liam’s telekinesis to grab him—but in that same instant, he used the momentum of the telekinetic pull to accelerate his own movement, turning what should have been a restraint into a boost.

He shot toward Liam like an arrow, daggers leading, moving faster than his own techniques could have propelled him.

Liam barely twisted aside as both blades stabbed toward his heart. One scraped across his ribs, leaving another shallow cut. The other he caught with his hand, fingers closing around the blade despite the poison coating it.

Elder Shen tried to yank the dagger back, but Liam’s grip was absolute. For a heartbeat they were locked together, close enough that Liam could see the calculation in the assassin’s eyes.

Then Elder Shen released the trapped dagger entirely and used his free hand to form a rapid series of seals. Spiritual energy condensed around his palm, taking the shape of a flower petal that glowed with concentrated power.

"Devouring Petal Strike!" He drove the technique directly into Liam’s chest at point-blank range.

The explosion of spiritual energy sent Liam skidding backward across the blood-slicked street, his feet carving trenches in the paving stones before he arrested his momentum. Smoke rose from his chest where the technique had impacted, his clothes torn and singed.

Elder Shen landed in a crouch, breathing even harder than Liam. He’d managed to create distance and land a solid hit with a true technique, not just a blade strike.

Liam looked down at his chest, then back at Elder Shen. "Good technique."

The truth was evident as Liam straightened. Beneath the torn clothing, his skin showed only slight reddening where the Devouring Petal Strike had hit. The technique that should have carved through a Golden Core cultivator’s defenses and destroyed their internal organs had barely left a mark.

"What are you?" Elder Shen asked, genuine curiosity mixing with growing concern. "Your body defies every principle of cultivation." His eyes widened slightly. "You’re not Golden Core at all, are you?"

"Does it matter?" Liam asked, and this time he didn’t wait for the assassin to initiate.

He moved forward with explosive speed, closing the distance in a heartbeat. His fist drove toward Elder Shen’s face.

The assassin ducked under the punch and retaliated with a slash aimed at where Liam’s kidney is located. Liam caught the wrist holding the dagger, and squeezed and bone creaked under the pressure.

Elder Shen’s face remained impassive despite what must have been excruciating pain. He used his free hand to strike at nerve clusters in Liam’s arm, trying to force the grip to release.

Liam responded by lifting Elder Shen bodily off the ground and hurling him into the nearest building.

The assassin crashed through the wall in an explosion of brick and timber. Dust billowed outward from the impact site.

Liam started walking toward the hole, fully expecting to find a broken body in the rubble. Instead, Elder Shen emerged from the dust cloud, blood streaming from a cut on his forehead, one arm hanging at an awkward angle, but still standing, still ready to fight.

"Impressive durability," Liam acknowledged.

"I’ve survived worse," Elder Shen said, though his breathing was labored. With his working hand, he formed another series of seals, faster this time, desperate. "Secret Art: Petal Storm Requiem!"

Dozens of glowing petals materialized in the air around him, each one condensed from his spiritual energy and rotating at tremendous speed. They shot toward Liam like a swarm of razor-edged projectiles, coming from every angle, filling the air with deadly light.

Liam’s racial aura flared to life.

The crushing pressure that had flattened so many assassins earlier slammed outward like a physical wave. The glowing petals met the aura’s edge and simply disintegrated, their spiritual energy unable to maintain cohesion against the overwhelming force of Liam’s presence.

Elder Shen staggered under the aura’s weight, his knees buckling, his working arm dropping to his side. Blood leaked from his nose and ears as the pressure threatened to crush him flat.

But still, impossibly, he remained standing. His legs trembled with the effort, his entire body shaking, but he didn’t fall. The pure willpower required to resist Liam’s aura while already injured was extraordinary.

Liam moved forward, and this time Elder Shen couldn’t react quickly enough. His hand shot out, fingers closing around the assassin’s throat, lifting him off the ground with ease.

Elder Shen’s working hand clawed at Liam’s arm, trying to break the grip, trying to form seals for one last technique. His spiritual energy gathered desperately, attempting to manifest something, anything that might create an opening.

Liam’s other hand moved in a blur, striking precise points on Elder Shen’s body. Each strike shattered a meridian, disrupting the flow of spiritual energy. Within seconds, the assassin’s cultivation pathways were destroyed, his ability to channel spiritual energy completely severed.

Elder Shen’s eyes went wide with the realization of what had been done to him. He had been crippled and his cultivation destroyed. Even if he survived, he would never channel spiritual energy again. For a cultivator, it was a fate arguably worse than death.

"You fought well," Liam said quietly, and there was genuine respect in those words.

Then he tightened his grip and there was a sharp crack as Elder Shen’s neck snapped.

Liam let the body fall to the blood-soaked street, one more corpse among the dozens littering the path to the compound.

He stood there for a moment, looking down at the fallen assassin, the he turned away and walked toward the compound entrance. The massive wooden doors had been barred from the inside, but that was a meaningless obstacle.

He raised his hand and his telekinesis seized the doors and the bar behind them. Wood groaned under the strain, then shattered completely. The doors exploded inward in a shower of splinters.

Beyond lay a courtyard where dozens more assassins waited, with their weapons drawn.

Liam stepped through the shattered doorway, his blood-stained clothes and unmarked face a portrait of unstoppable force.

He smiled, and it was the expression of a predator who’d finally reached the heart of the prey’s den.

"Let’s finish this," he said, and walked forward into the waiting storm.