121: Assassin? Deliveryman??

The night was as dark as ink.

In a dark underground hideout within the Royal Capital.

A figure shrouded entirely in a black robe was quietly wiping a blood-red short blade in his hand.

Suddenly, his movements halted.

A black jade talisman materialized in front of him, vibrating faintly.

He reached out and caught the talisman.

A stream of information flooded into his mind.

A moment later, he put down the talisman. A portrait and a line of blood-red characters appeared in the air before him.

[Target: Li Qing.]

[Mission: Assassination.]

[Time Limit: Three days.]

[Bounty: One thousand Spirit Stones, one spirit breaking pill.]

The black-robed man looked at the young, calm face. A flash of greed shone in his eyes beneath the hood.

He stuck out his tongue, licking his chapped lips.

"Heh, such a generous bounty... truly impossible to refuse."

He sheathed his short blade, his figure flickering as he melted into the darkness and vanished.

In Li Qing's room at the Tiantian Garden, the lights were unlit.

He sat cross-legged on the bed, eyes closed, his entire aura restrained as if he had merged with the surrounding darkness.

No one knew his mind had long since submerged into the depths of the Qiu River, thousands of miles away.

The massive, mountain-like Dragon Turtle Clone was slowly inhaling and exhaling the Spiritual Qi within the river water. Each breath stirred up undercurrents on the riverbed.

Fifty thousand catties of Great Strength was just the beginning.

Every evolution required a vast amount of resources.

The rewards from the Great Xia Martial Selection were merely an appetizer.

He needed more, purer energy to convert into evolution value.

At that very moment, Li Qing's eyelids twitched slightly in the darkness.

He did not open his eyes.

But a faint, almost imperceptible killing intent, like a cold breeze in the night, had silently seeped into the room.

Who?

Coming at this time?

Could it be someone from the Princess?

Li Qing thought to himself.

Through a crack in the window, a wisp of smoke, finer than a strand of hair, drifted in without a sound.

The smoke was colorless and odorless, yet contained a potent poison capable of instantly paralyzing even a Meridian Opening Realm expert.

The wisp of smoke drifted slowly towards Li Qing on the bed.

In the shadows of the room, a figure clung to a roof beam like a gecko, perfectly blending with the darkness.

He was an assassin from 'Shadow Kill,' 'Ghost Smoke.'

What he excelled at was using his self-created neurotoxin, 'Seven-Step Knockout,' to silently incapacitate his targets when they were most relaxed, then sever their heads.

He watched as the smoke enveloped Li Qing, yet the target remained motionless, as if already in deep slumber.

A cruel smile curled at the corner of Ghost Smoke's mouth.

One thousand Spirit Stones, one spirit breaking pill.

So easy.

This so-called young Prodigy was nothing but a reckless brute with courage but no strategy.

He silently slid down from the beam, his steps as light as a cat's, not making the slightest sound.

In his hand, a dagger coated with a potent poison gleamed with a sinister green light.

Three steps.

Two steps.

One step.

He had already arrived before Li Qing's bed, raising the dagger high and aiming it at Li Qing's heart.

"It's over, Genius."

He thought silently, thrusting the dagger down violently!

However, just as the dagger was about to touch Li Qing's clothes.

A hand, like an iron vise, appeared out of thin air, precisely gripping his wrist.

*Crack!*

The crisp sound of bone breaking was jarring in the quiet room.

"Ah!"

The intense pain made Ghost Smoke instinctively want to scream, but his mouth was tightly covered by another hand.

He looked up in utter horror, meeting a pair of eyes that were frighteningly bright in the darkness.

Li Qing had, at some unknown time, opened his eyes and was calmly looking at him, his gaze as if observing an insignificant insect.

"You, how did you..."

A gurgling sound came from Ghost Smoke's throat, his face filled with disbelief.

My 'Seven-Step Knockout'!

Even an Early Stage Spirit Transformation Realm expert, caught off guard, should have reacted!

How could he be completely unaffected?

"The poison is too inferior."

Li Qing released the hand covering his mouth, his tone flat.

"Not even fit to scratch an itch for me."

That terrifying Dragon Turtle Clone, bearing the Xuanming Bloodline, shared the innate talent Xuanming Divine Armor which could resist all methods, immune to most physical and energy attacks.

A toxin of this level, upon entering his body, couldn't even stir a ripple before being instantly annihilated by his formidable Qi and blood.

"Also, your heartbeat is a bit loud."

Li Qing's hand gripping Ghost Smoke's wrist tightened slightly.

*Crack! Crack!*

Every bone in Ghost Smoke's entire arm was crushed inch by inch!

"Pfft!"

Ghost Smoke spat out a mouthful of blood, his body collapsing limply to the floor, convulsing from the excruciating pain.

Looking at the youth before him, boundless terror surged in his heart.

Monster!

This is not human at all!

He had been detected from the moment he entered this area!

All his previous stealth, all his self-assumed tactics, were nothing but a laughable farce in the other's eyes.

"Who sent you?"

Li Qing looked down at him, the tip of his foot lightly stepping on Ghost Smoke's chest.

"It, it's 'Shadow Kill'..."

Ghost Smoke didn't dare conceal anything, the fear of death enveloping him.

"The mission is to assassinate you. The bounty... one thousand Spirit Stones, one spirit breaking pill..."

"Oh?"

Li Qing's eyebrow raised slightly.

The Princess is quite generous.

It almost made him want to sell himself out to collect the bounty.

After all, one thousand Spirit Stones equals one hundred thousand evolution value!

If he obtained it, he could evolve directly!

So tempting, truly tempting.

A pity they found the wrong person.

And used the wrong method.

Using money to buy my life?

Then my life must be quite valuable now.

"Hand over 'Shadow Kill's' token."

Li Qing's foot applied a bit more pressure.

Ghost Smoke felt his ribs were about to be crushed. He hurriedly, trembling, fished out a black iron token from his robes, engraved with a ferocious character for 'Shadow.'

Li Qing picked up the token, weighing it in his hand.

"Just you alone?"

"I, I don't know. The mission was issued independently..."

Ghost Smoke's voice was full of pleading.

"Spare, spare me. I've told you everything I know..."

"Hmm, what you said was very useful."

Li Qing nodded.

A hint of hope just began to show on Ghost Smoke's face.

The next moment.

*Thud!*

Li Qing's foot slammed down.

Ghost Smoke's head exploded like a smashed watermelon, red and white matter splattering everywhere.

For those who wanted to kill him, Li Qing never showed any mercy.

He wiped the sole of his shoe, as if he had merely stepped on a cockroach.

He picked up the 'Shadow Kill' token, holding it before his eyes.

The token still retained Ghost Smoke's body warmth.

"One thousand Spirit Stones, one spirit breaking pill."

A cold smile slowly curled at the corner of Li Qing's mouth.

"Such a generous bounty should be enough to buy someone else's life too, right?"

He stored the token away, glancing at the deepening night outside the window.

Since you like to play in the dark, I'll play along.

Let's see who the real hunter is.

Li Qing's figure flickered, vanishing from the room, leaving behind only a headless corpse and the stench of blood filling the space.