Nine Nether Dragon Emperor-Chapter 71: The Mercenary Group’s Fragile Psyche, Assassins Reign Supreme!
The entire area was stunned silent.
"With just one sword... he broke our ultimate killing move..."
"Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!"
"What kind of sorcery did you use?!"
All nine members of the Divine Arrow mercenaries couldn’t hold it together anymore. They could reluctantly accept that Ning Xuan had dodged their ultimate move earlier. But this time, he had faced them head-on and shattered their signature technique with a single sword’s motion. This, they could not accept at all!
"Thank you," Ning Xuan said, genuinely pleased. "My Impermanence Swordsmanship has improved."
"He didn’t use just one sword strike! In that lightning-fast instant, he unleashed a whole series of them!" a voice in the crowd exclaimed, unable to hide its shock.
Everyone suddenly understood. If that was the case, it made sense that the Divine Arrow mercenaries’ astonishing attack had been broken. When Ning Xuan asked them to attack again, it was to grasp the profound essence of their Nine Arrows as One technique.
Wait a minute! He only watched it twice, and he already deciphered its essence and integrated it into his own swordsmanship?
"Damn it!"
"That’s completely off the charts!"
"Compared to him, I’m just a damned fool!"
The morale of many martial artists in the crowd simply collapsed. How could anyone else hope to compete with that kind of talent? The experts who had come fully prepared to challenge Ning Xuan now recoiled, dejectedly retreating. The man’s swordsmanship was already terrifyingly profound, and now he had incorporated the mercenaries’ ultimate archery technique into it. What was the point of fighting? Even with nine lives, it wouldn’t be enough! It was time to get out of there.
"You... you learned the essence of our ultimate technique?" the nine Divine Arrow mercenaries stammered, completely dumbstruck.
The nine of them had been childhood friends, their minds long connected as one. Even so, it had taken them decades of practice to comprehend this ultimate technique. Now, this man had learned it just by watching them twice. What kind of monstrous talent was this?!
"You could say that," Ning Xuan replied, his eyes blazing with excitement. "But you all should be able to get even stronger, right? Nine Arrows as One can’t possibly be your limit. Come at me again."
The nine of them were stunned. "Get even stronger?"
Ning Xuan seemed taken aback himself. "You don’t know how?"
The nine men looked like they wanted to cry. This bastard is too much of a bully! Seeing their expressions, Ning Xuan felt a pang of disappointment.
However, his mood was excellent, having just comprehended the Impermanence Nine Swords by observing their attack. In an unprecedented act of magnanimity, he decided to spare them. "Forget it. You can go," he said. "Go back and work harder. Remember to come find me again when you do."
The nine, however, did not appreciate the gesture. More accurately, they still refused to believe that someone could surpass their decades of understanding with just two glances.
"Blood Ignition!" one of them roared. A deep rumbling echoed from within all nine of their bodies simultaneously. They were burning their blood essence, committing to a final, desperate stand!
"Release!"
Before the word had faded, arrows filled the sky. One shot followed another, their immense momentum and terrifying gleam tearing through the void. With a great roar, the arrowheads themselves ignited, releasing an aura that seemed capable of slaughtering all living things. With this attack, the nine men put everything on the line, staking their very lives on its success. Its power surpassed anything they had shown before.
Flames danced in Ning Xuan’s eyes as he thrust his sword. To be precise, he surpassed their combined effort on his own, stabbing out nine times in an impossibly short instant!
Not enough! I must be faster!
His hand moved of its own accord.
The tenth sword!
Ten strikes converged on a single point.
POP.
There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a soft sound like a bursting bubble. Yet the ultimate arrow fired by the nine men vanished into nothingness.
"The tenth sword! I saw the tenth sword!" the same observant voice from before cried out, filled with utter disbelief.
"We lost..."
"Decades of our combined effort... couldn’t compare to a few moments of his observation..."
"Hahaha, Divine Arrow? It’s all bullshit!"
"To hell with Divine Arrow! I’m never practicing archery again!"
"I’m giving it up too... but if I don’t practice, what will I do?"
"It’s better to just end it."
"He’s right. What’s the use of this useless body of mine?"
"Let us end it!"
The nine men cried and laughed, their minds completely shattered. Then, one of them grabbed an arrow and thrust it through his own throat. The other eight immediately followed suit. In an instant, the second-ranked mercenary group in all of Dong Cang had committed suicide.
Ning Xuan was numb. Are these really mercenaries? Aren’t they supposed to be hardened veterans who live on the edge of a blade? Are they this fragile? Did they really have to kill themselves right in front of me?
His head buzzed, but his actions were swift. He quickly moved to strip the Storage Rings from the nine bodies.
"Uh, I was just here to watch the show. I’ll be leaving now."
"Me too, wait for me!"
"What fine weather we’re having today!"
"..."
With the mighty second-ranked mercenary group of Dong Cang having died of shame, no one else had the courage to make a move. They all made excuses and quickly slipped away.
Soon, only Ning Xuan and nine corpses remained in the Stele Forest.
"What in the world was that about?" he muttered, still speechless as he looked at the bodies. He truly had not seen that coming.
As Ning Xuan was wondering how to deal with the corpses, the sound of sobbing reached his ears. He turned to see a woman approaching, pushing a flatbed cart. A person was lying on the cart, their face hidden by an umbrella, but Ning Xuan could see wrinkled hands, suggesting they were old. Beside the hands rested an axe.
"It was you! You killed my grandfather!" the young woman shrieked upon seeing the corpses on the ground. She trembled, then fixed her eyes on Ning Xuan in a dead stare.
Ning Xuan was completely baffled.
The girl stopped the cart and moved the umbrella aside. Ning Xuan saw an old man dressed as a woodcutter. His eyes were shut tight, his face was deathly pale, and half an arrow was sticking out of his chest.
"My grandfather was already in poor health! He went out early this morning, and when he walked past here, you... Give me back my grandfather’s life!" Tears streamed down the girl’s face as she charged at Ning Xuan, brandishing the umbrella.
Before she had even passed the cart, she turned the umbrella sideways, instantly blocking Ning Xuan’s line of sight.
WHOOSH!
A tearing sound split the air as an axe appeared before Ning Xuan, swinging horizontally at his waist! At the same moment, a steel needle shot out from the tip of the umbrella, reaching his face in a flash.
This was no grandfather and granddaughter; they were a pair of well-trained assassins! After meticulous planning, they were aiming for a one-strike kill!
BOOM! CLANG!
Ning Xuan attacked with both fist and sword. His fist slammed into the flat of the axe, while the steel needle shattered the instant it clashed with the tip of his sword. The energy contained within the large axe, however, was astonishing. Ning Xuan’s punch only managed to alter its trajectory. The sharp blade continued, heading straight for his lower body.
Luckily, Ning Xuan was prepared. He used the rebound force to retreat explosively. The axe flew back, landing in the hand of the old man, who was now on his feet. The girl held the umbrella, no longer advancing, and watched Ning Xuan with a smile.
"I’ve heard that Master Ning Xuan’s swordsmanship is divine. Having seen it for myself today, I must say, aside from that handsome face of yours, everything else is quite a disappointment to me."
Although the girl appeared young, her voice was now unnaturally seductive.
Ning Xuan’s expression changed as he staggered. "Your steel needle... was poisoned!"
"Allow me to introduce myself," Jiao Yanru said, her smile as radiant as a blooming flower. "I am Jiao Yanru, and this is my husband, Ruan Zhongtian. People in the Jianghu have given us the moniker ’High Noon.’ We are ranked tenth on the Dong Cang Assassins’ Leaderboard."
From the shadows, an odd voice spoke up. "That couple is masters of disguise and poison! Especially Jiao Yanru’s ’Beauty’s Intoxication.’ Once poisoned, death is certain. There is no cure!"
"Weren’t they said to have retired? Otherwise, their rank on the Assassins’ Leaderboard would be far higher than tenth. Who could have possibly managed to hire them?!"
