32: Chapter 32 gained three more fans?

The night shrouded Black Wind City like splashed ink.

This small frontier town had now transformed into a den of demons and monsters.

Wandering the streets were Wind Evil Sect Disciples with blood-red eyes, corrupted by Evil Qi, along with some hideous low-level Yao Beasts they kept.

They were the first line of defense for Black Wind City, and also the outermost one.

In the temporary command center twenty miles outside the city, the atmosphere remained heavy.

Meng Kuo, Wu Yong, and Liu Qing were facing a sand table, conducting their final tactical deductions.

"Based on our observations during the day, the patrol teams on the outskirts of Black Wind City rotate every incense stick's worth of time. Their routes are fixed, with twelve teams in total, ten people per team, led by a Meridian Opening Realm Disciple."

Wu Yong's finger traced lightly across the sand table, his expression focused.

"My plan is that at the Third quarter of the Hour of the Rat, when the moon is dark and the wind is high, Sister Liu will lead the assassination squad. With thunderous momentum, they will simultaneously eliminate these twelve fixed sentry posts. Then, Brother Meng will lead the main force to tear a hole through the West Gate, where the defense is weakest, and charge into the city, heading straight for the Wind Evil Sect headquarters!"

"This plan is excellent!"

Meng Kuo nodded in agreement. "But the key lies in Sister Liu's assassination squad; they must be flawless and not alert anyone in the city!"

"Rest assured."

Liu Qing's cold voice was filled with confidence. "The brothers under my command are all experts in stealth and tracking. Dealing with small fry won't be an issue."

The plan could be called perfect.

Professional and rigorous.

Just as they were preparing to issue the orders for the squads to begin their move...

"Report—!"

A scout responsible for surveillance rushed in, crawling and stumbling, with an expression on his face like he had seen a ghost.

"My... My... Lords! It's... it's bad!"

"Why are you in such a panic?!"

Meng Kuo frowned and said displeasurably, "Is there some movement from the patrol teams?"

"No... it's not movement..."

The scout stammered, his voice trembling. "They're... they're gone!"

"What's gone?"

Wu Yong also felt something was wrong.

"The twelve patrol teams on the outskirts... all... all of them... are gone!" the scout said with a sob.

"What?!"

The three Bronze Medal Envoys stood up abruptly, their faces full of disbelief.

"All... gone? What do you mean? Who took them out?!"

Meng Kuo grabbed the scout's collar and roared loudly.

"I... I don't know!"

The scout was on the verge of tears, his speech slurred.

"Just now, our monitoring brothers discovered that those patrol teams, while walking... suddenly fell! One after another, like wheat being cut by a sickle! From beginning to end, we didn't even see a ghost of a shadow! They... they just vanished into thin air!"

"Vanished into thin air?"

Wu Yong and Liu Qing looked at each other, both seeing deep confusion and shock in the other's eyes.

How was this possible?

Twelve patrol teams, over a hundred and twenty Wind Evil Sect Disciples, including many experts at the high stages of the Body Tempering Realm.

To be silently wiped out right under their noses?

Had Old Demon Black Wind discovered them and intentionally set an 'Empty City Stratagem'?

Or was it that... a third-party force had intervened?

"Go! Let's take a look!"

Meng Kuo made a snap decision, unable to sit still any longer.

The three of them blurred, turning into three streaks of light as they personally sped towards Black Wind City.

When they cautiously slipped into the streets previously marked as 'patrol zones,' the scene before them made them collectively gasp.

On the streets, the corpses of Wind Evil Sect Disciples lay scattered in pools of blood.

Every corpse had its throat slit by a single blade; the wounds were as smooth as a mirror, without even a trace of extra struggling.

Clearly, at the moment they were killed, they hadn't made any reaction at all.

"What a fast blade... what ruthless methods..."

Liu Qing, who specialized in assassination, showed a solemn expression on her cold face for the first time upon seeing these corpses.

"To achieve this, it must be at least a Peak True Qi Realm expert proficient in assassination! Moreover... he knows the routes of these patrol teams like the back of his hand!"

"Could it be... that some Senior from our department took action ahead of time?" Wu Yong guessed.

"Something's not right!"

Meng Kuo sniffed the air and said in a heavy voice, "Look at these corpses; the time of death is within one incense stick. In other words, the killer continuously raided twelve locations and slaughtered over a hundred people in an extremely short time! This efficiency... is terrifying!"

The more they looked, the more alarmed they became, and the thought of 'assistance from an expert' grew stronger in their hearts.

"Go! Follow and see! I want to see just what kind of sacred being is 'clearing the battlefield' for us!"

Meng Kuo barked softly, and the three of them tracked along the direction the corpses had fallen.

Soon, they caught up to the inner city area of Black Wind City.

The defenses here were clearly several times stricter than the outskirts.

Squads of elite Disciples composed of Meridian Opening Realm warriors were patrolling everywhere, and the air was thick with a tense, murderous atmosphere.

Clearly, the loss of contact with the outer patrol teams had already alerted them.

"It seems our mysterious helper is going to run into trouble."

Liu Qing said in a low voice.

However, just as she finished speaking.

*Swish!*

An extremely fast dark shadow, almost impossible to catch with the naked eye, suddenly lunged out from a shadow at a street corner like a bolt of midnight lightning.

In the shadow's hand, it was as if a crescent moon was held, drawing a brilliant and lethal arc in the air.

*Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!*

A series of soft sounds of sharp blades entering flesh rang out almost simultaneously.

That patrol team, composed of ten elite Meridian Opening Realm Disciples, didn't even see the enemy's appearance before they all clutched their necks and fell over in disbelief.

Blood gushed out like fountains.

One blade, total annihilation!

The dark shadow did not linger for a second after finishing this, turning into an afterimage again and disappearing at the end of another alleyway. The entire process was seamless and incredibly fast.

"..."

Meng Kuo, Wu Yong, and Liu Qing stood dazed on the rooftop like three petrified statues, their mouths hanging open wide enough to fit a goose egg.

What did they just see?

An elite squad of ten Meridian Opening Realm warriors... just like that... gone?

Instantly killed by a single blade?

What kind of international joke was this!

Even Meng Kuo, the strongest among the three, knew he couldn't do it so cleanly!

"This... is this a fucking... lawnmower?!"

Meng Kuo held it in for a long time before finally squeezing those words through his teeth.

The feather fan in Wu Yong's hand fell to the ground with a *clack*. The military strategies he had painstakingly studied for a lifetime seemed so pale and powerless before this simple and crude 'One-Blade Style.'

Liu Qing stared intently in the direction the dark shadow had disappeared, her cold eyes filled with shock and fervor.

As an assassin, it was her first time seeing someone perform the art of 'assassination' with such bloody, efficient, and violent beauty!

"Pursue! We must see exactly what kind of sacred being this is!"

The three of them no longer cared about hiding, pushing their movement techniques to the limit, following closely behind that dark shadow like three hounds that had caught the scent of blood.

[Critical hit multiplier increased to 90x! Gained 3,500 critical hit points!]

[Critical hit multiplier increased to 92x! Gained 6,300 critical hit points!]

[Critical hit multiplier increased to 95x! Gained 8,600 critical hit points!]

...

Lin Feng, ahead of them, was comfortably harvesting 'critical hit points' while listening to the wonderful System notifications in his mind.

He completely failed to notice that he had gained three 'fans' behind him.