The mountain forest seemed particularly cold and eerie on a rainy night. Unknown wild animals howled in the mountains, and the rain pattered on the branches and leaves.
As the night wore on, the rain intensified, turning a light drizzle into a torrential downpour, transforming the world into a watery curtain and turning the entire mountain forest into a watery wonderland.
Chen Nan had fully recovered and was now at his peak. After meditating for three hours, he opened his eyes, and two beams of divine light flashed in the darkness.
In the darkness, a terrifying shadowy figure moved swiftly through the thorns, gradually approaching the tent in the forest. Although the murderous aura had been restrained, an indescribable oppressive atmosphere permeated the entire woodland...
With a gleaming longsword in his right hand and a sharp longsword in his left, Chen Nan silently but firmly advanced forward, letting the rain pelt his body.
The rain poured down, and the sleeping people were unaware that death was approaching...
Chen Nan completely concealed his aura, striving to achieve a state of emptiness. Although he harbored murderous intent, not a trace of it was revealed.
The gleaming longsword silently sliced open a tent, blood splattering and spraying everywhere. The heads of two sleeping masters rolled off the tent.
Chen Nan retreated silently, appearing like a ghost outside another tent. With a flick of his long sword, the tent slid open, blood gushed out, and a head rolled off...
The rain poured down, and streaks of lightning flashed across the sky. On this stormy night, a sinister figure moved silently through the mountains and forests, and an aura of death permeated the entire area…
For the pursuers, it was an incredibly terrifying night, with a death-like figure relentlessly reaping lives.
Chen Nan had already opened ten tents, and twenty heads lay scattered on the ground. At this moment, he felt no pity, no remorse. Reality was cruel; if he didn't kill them all, these people would kill him sooner or later.
As he opened the eleventh tent, the two most skilled old men in the group finally sensed a trace of death and noticed the unusual atmosphere.
Two loud shouts rang out simultaneously in the rainy night, and two figures rushed out from two tents not far away. The two old men finally spotted the demonic figure in the darkness and smelled the pungent stench of blood.
With a deafening crack, a bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, clearly illuminating every inch of the forest.
The two old men finally saw Chen Nan clearly, who resembled a demon god. The gleaming longsword in his hand was stained with scarlet blood, which gradually faded after being washed away by the rain...
More than a dozen tents had been cut open, and blood was gushing out from inside, mixing with the rainwater on the ground, making the ground appear red...
The two roared in anguish.
The moment the two men shouted, everyone was jolted awake, and figures rushed out of the tents. In an instant, everyone felt a heavy aura of death, and with the help of streaks of lightning, they finally understood what had happened.
A torn tent, a human head rolling down, bright red blood...
The instant the lightning disappeared, Chen Nan vanished from everyone's sight, his murderous intent lurking in the pitch-black forest, sending a chill down everyone's spine.
Amidst deafening thunder, several massive bolts of lightning appeared above the forest floor. At the same time, Chen Nan appeared like a ghost in front of the two old men, his gleaming longsword slashing towards them like the scythe of death.
The two old men quickly drew their swords and launched a fierce counterattack against Chen Nan.
Blade flashes and sword energy clashed through the forest, dazzling light illuminating every inch of the dark space, making it impossible to distinguish between blade flashes and lightning. The brilliant light intertwined and tore at the forest floor, the sword energy and blade flashes seemingly connected to the lightning of the Tianshan Mountains. Three figures moved swiftly and charged through the light…
The lightning disappeared, but the heavy rain continued.
The battle between Chen Nan and the two old men seemed to have stopped. The forest was dark, but the aura of death still lingered in the woods.
A scream rang out, and a blinding glint of light flashed in the darkness. In the bright light, a spurt of blood shot out, and a gleaming longsword emerged from a man's chest.
In an instant, the blade's light vanished, and darkness returned to the world.
But in just a moment, the blade's edge reappeared, illuminating the woods once more, and another person screamed as they fell to the ground.
However, this time, the two highly skilled old men finally locked onto Chen Nan's aura again and quickly pounced on him. Within the forest, swords flashed and sword energy surged, and in the dazzling light, the three figures were entangled and attacked each other.
In the darkness, the well-trained experts slowly surrounded the three, showing no fear despite the heavy aura of death.
After unleashing a powerful strike, Chen Nan suddenly retreated. In the instant the dazzling light disappeared, he vanished as well, rushing out through the gap that had not yet been closed in.
"Listen to me, all of you! None of you will leave these mountains alive. People always have to pay the price for their mistakes, and death is your best destination!"
The two highly skilled old men were furious. One of them shouted at the sky, "Why did this rain have to come?! If it weren't for the continuous rain these past few days, that bastard would have been dead ten times over!"
Indeed, the continuous rain changed everything. If it weren't for the torrential rain the night before last, washing away the traces of Chen Nan left on the road, they would have found him long ago.
At that time, Chen Nan was severely injured and unable to fight back, making it the perfect opportunity to kill him. However, the sudden change in weather reversed everything. The dense fog and rain bought him precious time to heal, and after two days of rest, he had fully recovered.
That night, the torrential rain obscured everyone's senses, creating excellent conditions for Chen Nan's assassination. Even two highly skilled old men only sensed the danger at the last moment amidst the rumbling thunder, let alone the others.
This time, they suffered heavy losses, losing almost half of their men, and now only about twenty people are left alive!
The two old people almost bit their lips until they bled; they were filled with such hatred!
The young men gathered together remained silent. They were all assassins trained by the Ling family, instilled with the idea of loyalty to the family from a young age. All of them grew up in extremely harsh environments and were no strangers to death. At this moment, they already had a premonition that this time, things seemed to be going badly.
As everyone returned to their tents to sleep, Chen Nan reappeared. He stood silently in the distance, watching the dark forest, his eyes gleaming with a wild, predatory light. He was waiting for an opportunity. He wanted to kill an old man with exceptional skill; only those two old men could pose a real threat to him. If he could successfully assassinate one of them, he would be truly safe.
It wasn't that Chen Nan was cold-blooded and bloodthirsty; in the chase and being chased, killing was the fundamental means of survival. To be merciful was not even womanly compassion, but foolishness. To survive, he had no choice but to eliminate the enemy's forces by any means necessary; the cruel situation left him with no other option.
A curtain of water stretched between heaven and earth, washing away the traces of evil in the forest. Reality was so cruel that even the heavens could not conceal it. The corpses piled up in the forest, though already cold, seemed to be silently accusing the forest.
Chen Nan bypassed the pile of corpses and moved silently towards a tent. He had been secretly watching and had seen the old man in blue enter the tent ahead.
He moved like a ghost, lowering his physical functions to the minimum, without releasing the slightest aura. The blade flashed like a rainbow, its blinding light appearing in the woods. Unparalleled blade energy erupted with thunderous roars, instantly destroying the tent; the waterproof tarpaulin instantly turned to shreds.
But Chen Nan's heart sank. The instant he made his move, he sensed a fluctuation of power, but it didn't originate from inside the tent; rather, it came from a nearby tent. He knew something was wrong. The old man wasn't in this tent; he had moved to another location without anyone noticing!
A sword aura burst through the nearby tent and rushed towards him. The dazzling streak of light exuded a chilling coldness as the old man launched a counterattack!
Chen Nan hurriedly raised the longsword in his left hand, unleashing a sharp sword aura to defend, but how could a hasty sword strike withstand the opponent's fierce attack that was about to be launched!
Chen Nan felt a burst of energy penetrate his body, causing a sharp pain in his chest and abdomen. However, the pain was eventually resolved by the continuous flow of his internal energy. Although he suffered some internal injuries, they were not severe enough to render him unable to move.
"Old ginger is spicier!" he exclaimed. He hadn't expected the old man to have anticipated his return; he had been so careless!
Another old man rushed out of a tent not far away. Obviously, the tent he was in was not the one that Chen Nan had seen him crawl into earlier. The young experts also rushed out after hearing the commotion.
Chen Nan did not flee immediately. Instead, he raised his power to its limit. Golden light emanated from his body, enveloping him like a raging flame. The rain could no longer get close, as it was blocked by the golden light. He was as imposing as a golden-armored war god. He raised his long sword and slashed at the old man.
He was racing against the enemy, trying to gain time so that he could inflict some damage on the old man in front of him when everyone was closing in.
The blade, over two zhang long, illuminated the entire forest. The old man raised his sword to meet it, and the dazzling sharpness collided, bursting into a ball of light as blinding as the sun.
Chen Nan didn't stop there. He strode forward, raising his longsword once more, unleashing another blinding glint of light. The sword and saber energy unleashed by the two combatants clashed in mid-air, producing a series of clanging sounds like metal striking metal. The surging energy fluctuations devastated nearby trees, causing them to fall in droves.
Chen Nan took three large steps forward, each step causing the entire forest to tremble. He unleashed nine consecutive slashes, nine materialized blade beams that concentrated all his life's power, making them incredibly potent.
The old man in blue, whose skill was originally equal to his, was forced back five steps, and the violent impact caused him to spit out three mouthfuls of blood.
The saying "When two armies meet on a narrow path, the brave shall prevail" is perfectly exemplified in this moment!
The two clashed nine times in a row. Chen Nan had the upper hand in terms of momentum. Although his life-or-death fighting style caused him serious internal injuries, the old man in black suffered much more serious injuries because his momentum was slightly weaker at the last moment.
But that was enough. Chen Nan was self-aware enough to know that he couldn't kill his opponent, and he was very satisfied with the result. He turned around and retreated, breaking out of the encirclement the moment the crowd closed in.
All of this happened in an instant, like a flash of lightning. While everyone was roaring, Chen Nan had already rushed out of the forest.
Chen Nan was almost killed in a counterattack this time and nearly suffered a great loss. However, he managed to win at the last moment. Although he suffered serious internal injuries, it was definitely worth it to successfully cripple an opponent.
He knew that his family's secret martial art was incredibly powerful, and its healing speed was far superior to other cultivation methods. In addition, he was very young and needed to recover before the old man in blue. Therefore, he risked serious injury to severely damage his opponent.
He will definitely recover in a day or two, but at that time the opponent will only have one expert who can threaten him. In the next two or three days, he can launch a brutal attack on the pursuers, and at that time he will be the ruler.
At dawn, the heavy rain finally stopped, and the morning glow broke through the clouds, clearing the overcast sky. However, the mountains and forests remained gloomy, with a large number of corpses scattered throughout the woods, their bodies swollen from being soaked in the rain.
The carrier pigeons soared into the sky from the mountains and flew swiftly towards the city of sin.
When Ling Yun learned of the latest situation deep in the mountains, he was furious. Three powerful experts who were close to the fourth level of the realm led seventy or eighty experts to besiege Chen Nan alone, and they suffered heavy losses!
He angrily tore the note to shreds and paced back and forth in the courtyard, pondering a solution.
The morning glow bathed the mountains and forests. Meng Ke'er stood on a treetop, her emerald leaves covered with water droplets that shimmered with iridescent light in the rosy dawn, making her appear like a fairy descended to earth.
At this moment, her face was utterly calm. She had witnessed Chen Nan's confrontation with his pursuers, but she had not shown herself. Her exquisite face revealed no emotional fluctuations, nor what she was thinking. But one thing was certain: she would not let Chen Nan go.