Inside the gloomy forest, withered leaves covered the ground, and the air was filled with the smell of decaying plants and animals.
Suddenly, a dim saber light, devoid of brightness, illuminated the surroundings, and a figure clad in black matte armor, with a helmet concealing his face, appeared in everyone's sight, following the saber light.
"Young Master, be careful!"
The gray-robed elder reacted extremely quickly, shouting loudly while rapidly maneuvering his Spirit Weapon.
With a series of "clangs," a silver shield appeared in front of the young Kaxiu, and the next moment, the saber light struck!
Clang!
The silver shield appeared just in time, blocking the sudden attack!
"Brothers!" Even before the sudden saber light appeared, Bald Strong Man had emphasized to his subordinates, "Remember! We are currently on a guard mission, and the objective is to protect Young Master Kaxiu's safety!"
Having failed to land a hit, the masked man who appeared shouted, "Why aren't you attacking!"
As the masked man's words fell, the gray-robed elder and Kaxiu's four companions were startled. "This masked man has accomplices!"
"Attack?! Attack what?" Bald Strong Man, who was nearby, heard the masked man's voice and felt a surge of disdain. "I am Young Master Kaxiu's loyal guard!"
"Execute the guard mission!" Bald Strong Man first transmitted a message to his brothers, and then shouted loudly, "Protect Young Master Kaxiu!"
"The masked man's accomplice is him!" Hearing Bald Strong Man's voice, the young Kaxiu and the four gray-robed elders suddenly felt a bad premonition.
Not only was Bald Strong Man Clouds Level, but he also had eight Sky Level adventurers under him, all seasoned in combat. If they were truly accomplices, then they would be in trouble.
"Well done!" Seeing Bald Strong Man make a move, the masked man felt joy in his heart; his mission was about to be completed.
But the next scene caught him off guard, because Bald Strong Man did not charge towards the young Kaxiu, but instead lunged at him!
Bald Strong Man shouted, then, holding his saber and shield, charged towards the masked man, as if he were Young Master Kaxiu's most loyal guard.
Whoosh!
Bald Strong Man charged at the masked man, his saber light flashing, creating a considerable momentum. It was clear he was going all out!
"You!"
The masked man was furious. Bald Strong Man's betrayal was something he had not anticipated. He truly never expected a notoriously trustworthy fellow to betray him at such a critical moment!
"Go to hell!"
Bald Strong Man roared, his battle saber fiercely cleaving towards the masked man.
Because he hadn't expected his accomplice to betray him, the masked man was a beat too slow. At this moment, it was no longer realistic to dodge this attack. He could only retrieve a shield from his spatial ring and endure the blow.
Clang!
After enduring Bald Strong Man's attack with his shield, the masked man used the momentum to retreat rapidly, intending to escape.
"I can't get entangled with them anymore. They have two Clouds Level Cultivators, and one of them is a Spiritual Master."
As the masked man retreated, he thought, "If I don't escape immediately, I might never escape. My identity cannot be exposed!"
"Coming and going as you please?"
Seeing the masked man trying to escape using the momentum, the gray-robed elder snorted coldly, "It's not that easy!"
With a thought, the shield in front of Kaxiu rapidly disintegrated and reassembled into a long sword, which shot towards the masked man. At the same time, he flashed and pursued him.
Before chasing him, he transmitted a message to the young Kaxiu: "Young Master, you should first seek shelter from the Ascetic Mr. Atlas. If he is willing to shelter you, no one can harm you."
In the gray-robed elder's opinion, among everyone present, the least likely to be the masked man's accomplice was the Ascetic Mr. Atlas.
Because his strength was the strongest among everyone present. If he wanted to kill Young Master Kaxiu, he could have directly attacked, and no one else could have stopped him.
The somewhat flustered young Kaxiu, upon hearing the gray-robed elder's transmission, felt as if he had found his backbone and quickly moved closer to Ender, while saying, "Mr. Atlas, save me."
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
Hearing the plea for help, Ender also took out more than a dozen small black swords to shield the young Kaxiu in the center, to show his stance.
In his eyes, this young man was the proof of his identity, and he could not let him die here like this.
On the other side, seeing the gray-robed elder give chase, Bald Strong Man shouted loudly, "You all protect Young Master Kaxiu well!"
After speaking, he also followed in pursuit, "You can't escape!"
"Mr. Atlas," the young Kaxiu asked via transmission, "Who do you think among these people is most likely to be the assassin's accomplice?"
"Heh," Ender smiled, "That depends on how you choose."
"How to choose?" The young Kaxiu was a bit confused. "What do you mean?"
"They all chose to protect you, and there might be the assassin's accomplice among them," Ender replied. "But what if there isn't? Then your suspicious behavior will undoubtedly make them feel disheartened. Sometimes, judging by actions is more important than judging by intentions."
Upon hearing this, the young Kaxiu was silent for a moment, then, after a while, nodded thoughtfully and transmitted, "I understand. Thank you, Mr. Atlas."
After a while longer, the gray-robed elder and Bald Strong Man returned, bringing back the masked man's headless corpse.
"Young Master," the gray-robed elder said, "This assassin was quite strong and resisted to the death. I didn't hold back and shattered his head."
"It's alright." The young Kaxiu shook his head slightly, then respectfully said to Ender, "Thank you, Mr. Atlas, for your protection."
Ender put away the dozen or so small black swords, allowing the young Kaxiu to leave freely.
"I apologize, Young Master Kaxiu," Bald Strong Man apologized, "for alarming you."
"It's nothing. Thank you, Mr. Zhuomike and everyone, for your protection. Without you all, that assassin might have succeeded." The young Kaxiu said, "To thank everyone for your protection, when we return to Fengyin City, I will increase everyone's mission commission by thirty percent!"
Bald Strong Man and the others looked delighted. "Thank you, Young Master Kaxiu."
They were originally the assassin's accomplices, but the appearance of the powerful Ascetic Atlas forced them to abandon the assassination mission. They didn't expect that betraying him would result in a thirty percent increase in their mission commission. This was an unexpected bonus for them.
Hearing the young Kaxiu's words, the gray-robed elder was very surprised. He had some suspicions about Bald Strong Man and the others, believing that these nine adventurers were very likely the assassin's accomplices.
"Young Master..." The gray-robed elder had just transmitted a message, wanting to voice his suspicions, but was stopped.
"This matter will be settled according to my wishes," the young Kaxiu transmitted. "No matter what, they protected me just now. The principle of my Meyers Family is to always repay kindness!"
Upon hearing this, the gray-robed elder said no more, feeling quite emotional. He felt that the Young Master's way of doing things was very similar to the Family Head's, which both surprised and pleased him.
"Kaxiu," Ender suddenly spoke.
"Mr. Atlas, please speak."
"Can I see the assassin's spatial ring?" Ender said, "I'm interested in the Secret Technique he used to conceal his aura, and I want to see if there's any such Secret Manual in his spatial ring."
"It's a small matter." The young Kaxiu said, "Elder Lu, please trouble you to hand the assassin's corpse to Mr. Atlas."
"Mr. Atlas, please."
The gray-robed elder used his Spiritual Force to send the masked man's headless corpse to Ender.
Ender received the masked man's corpse with his Spiritual Force, then scanned his body, and finally took a spatial ring from him.
Since the masked man was already dead, the Spiritual Force imprint on the spatial ring had dissipated. He easily imprinted his own Spiritual Force on it.
He opened the spatial ring and scanned it, finding that apart from some weapons and armor, there wasn't much else inside—just some miscellaneous items, even broken shells, but no Secret Manuals.
Ender showed a look of disappointment, and said with a somewhat regretful tone, "There are no Secret Manual books in the spatial ring."
Saying that, he erased the Spiritual Force imprint on the spatial ring and sent the masked man's headless corpse, along with the spatial ring, back to the gray-robed elder.
Seeing this, the young Kaxiu asked, "Is Mr. Atlas interested in Secret Manuals?"
"Yes." Ender nodded slightly. "I'm very interested in Secret Manuals I haven't learned. My ideal is to learn all the Secret Manuals of the Blood River World, which is why I wander everywhere."
"Is that so?" The young Kaxiu forced a smile, with a hint of envy in his eyes. "That's a grand ideal."
"Since this Mr. Atlas Cultivates Secret Manuals, Young Master, why don't you invite him to the Family?" The gray-robed elder had a flash of inspiration and transmitted, "There are many public Secret Manuals in the Family."
"Right!" Upon hearing this, the young Kaxiu suddenly understood, and then said, "Mr. Atlas, why don't you visit my Meyers Family? There are many public Secret Manuals in my Family available for you to read."
"Oh." Hearing this, Ender showed a look of interest, but said, "Wouldn't that be inappropriate?"
"There's nothing inappropriate about it." The young Kaxiu persuaded, "To be able to invite a Powerhouse like you as a guest, my father would certainly be willing to open up Secret Manuals for you to read."
"In that case," Ender put on a reluctant expression, "then I'll impose."
"Then let's return as soon as possible," the young Kaxiu said with a smile. "That way, you can read the Secret Manuals sooner."
He was very happy to have successfully invited Mr. Atlas to be a guest at the Family. This was not only because of his great strength, but also because he was an Ascetic who had traveled through many worlds. He really wanted to know what the world outside Fengyin City was like.
"Mm." Ender nodded lightly, indicating his approval.
At the same time, he felt a little joyful. He had successfully deepened everyone's perception of Mr. Atlas's Ascetic persona, and had also become a guest of Kaxiu's Family, further reducing the probability of his identity being exposed.
The gray-robed elder put the masked man's headless corpse into his spatial ring, and then everyone continued flying towards Fengyin City.
...
On the way back to Fengyin City, the gray-robed elder's brows were tightly furrowed, as if he was deep in thought.
He had found two items on the masked man's body and in his spatial ring that gave him a very familiar feeling, as if he had seen them somewhere before, but he couldn't quite recall where.
After flying for a while longer, the gray-robed elder suddenly spoke, "I know!"
"Huh?"
The young Kaxiu, in the center of the group, looked puzzled. He hadn't heard what the gray-robed elder meant.
"Young Master," the gray-robed elder explained via transmission, "I know the assassin's identity."
"What identity?" The young Kaxiu asked.
"From two of the items I obtained from him, the assassin's identity might be..." The gray-robed elder said, "Someone from the Abate Family!"
"Abate Family?" The young Kaxiu felt it was very familiar, then suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "Isn't that..."
"Lady Xilubeti's..." The gray-robed elder said in a heavy tone, "Maiden Family!"
"This assassin is from the Abate Family?" The young Kaxiu couldn't help but ask, "Are you sure?"
"There's no conclusive evidence to prove that the assassin is from the Abate Family," the gray-robed elder said. "But from the items on him and his motive, he is very likely from the Abate Family."
"Motive?" The young Kaxiu was puzzled. "What motive would the Abate Family have to assassinate me?"
"There used to be none," the gray-robed elder explained, "but recently, it's different."
"The Family Head is exceptionally talented, and recently, he might be going to Yunwan World City to Cultivate. To prevent any problems during his absence, the Family Head has the idea of making Lady Xilubeti his official wife."
The young Kaxiu's pupils constricted slightly. "Official wife?!"
As his father's only legitimate son, he naturally understood what it meant for Lady Xilubeti to become the official wife. This meant that his two younger brothers would also become legitimate sons, with the qualifications to inherit the Family and his father's network resources!
Although his father was not the Fengyin City Lord, his power might not be much less than the Fengyin City Lord's.
Because his father had a World Level teacher, and this teacher happened to be the City Lord of Yunwan World City, which governed the Fengyin Territory!
"I understand." The young Kaxiu was silent for a moment, then said, "The Abate Family wants to kill me to make Father determined to make Lady Xilubeti his official wife, and at the same time, to make my two younger brothers heirs to the Family!"
"That's right," the gray-robed elder said.
"Elder Lu, why didn't you tell me about such an important matter?" The young Kaxiu asked.
"The Family Head only had this idea, and considering the deceased mistress, he didn't implement it." Hearing this, the gray-robed elder sighed, "That's why I didn't tell you, but for some reason, the news leaked."
"We must return to Fengyin City as soon as possible. It's very unsafe outside the city." The young Kaxiu transmitted, "The Abate Family can make a move once, and they can make a second move."
"Make a second move?" The gray-robed elder's expression changed slightly, and he suddenly remembered the broken shell in the masked man's spatial ring.
"Oh no! That assassin's spatial ring had a Two-Faced Turtle Shell!" He exclaimed, "His accomplices must know he's dead, and they might be waiting for us!"
"What!" Everyone's expression changed upon hearing this!
The Two-Faced Turtle is a weak desolate beast on the Blood River World, and although it is only Ground Level, it possesses a special ability.
It has two shells; unless it receives an attack beyond its limit, the outer shell will not break, but the more fragile inner shell is connected to the outer shell, and if the inner shell breaks, the outer shell will also break.
Because of this characteristic, people on the Blood River World made it into a special device to verify a person's life and death.
After a long period of flying, they were now nearing the outer forest of the Forbidden Domain Mountains, and they could see the strong sunlight filtering in from outside the forest.
Everyone flew out of the forest and immediately stopped, because what awaited them outside the forest was not brilliant, warm sunlight, but rather an overwhelming sense of malice and killing intent!