Song of Adolescence

Chapter 232 Seeking Death or Seeking Thrills

"Hidden River?" Li Fansong had naturally heard of this world-famous assassin organisation, but he didn\'t know how and when he provoked them.

Xie Xuan nodded. "Moreover, these are the ones you least want to provoke. Spider Shadows, a group of assassins directly under the Hidden River Patriarch. They are the elite of the elite. With a total of thirty-two members, their leader is named Kui and they do not follow the orders of the three Heads of Houses. They only follow the will of the Patriarch.”

"Spider Shadows? Kui?" Li Fansong had a vague impression that he’d heard these two names before.

Xie Xuan looked around, and the corners of his mouth raised slightly. "You may find their names familiar. Yes, this name shook the whole of Beili twelve years ago. That year, during the Demonic Cult Eastern Incursion, the Hidden River unexpectedly allied with Beili. They sent the then Kui and thirty-two Spider Shadows killers to represent the Hidden River. When they appeared, the scene they left behind was like the Hell of Asura[3]. Even though our opponents were the Demonic Cult and they were ruthless, they were still far from the Hidden River. Only this time, these killers are not here to help us."

The assassin was still bleeding profusely from his chest but he didn’t seem to have any intention of retreating. He said viciously, "Since you know how powerful we are, you shouldn’t get in our way."

With a loud “pah”, the assassin was slapped heavily on his face.

Xie Xuan continued to stand gracefully where he was as he gently shook his hand. Nobody saw when he made his move and when he returned to his position. He was still smiling elegantly as he said, "Didn’t I already say? You’re not qualified to threaten me."

"Then what about me?" A voice carrying a slight smile sounded.

Li Fansong and Fei Xuan looked up hurriedly and saw a man wearing a blood-red mask of a ferocious ghost standing on a tree trunk. His long hair hung loosely in the wind, giving off an indescribable horror.

Xie Xuan didn\'t turn his head. He merely brushed his fingers along the Book of Knowledge sword in his hand, flicked it lightly, and muttered, "Kui?"

The man wearing the ghost mask bowed his head, imitating the other’s tone. "Confucian Sword Immortal?"

"I have met the previous Kui. He didn’t talk very much." Xie Xuan still did not turn his head.

Kui sneered. "Every Kui is different, but there is one point I can confirm."

Xie Xuan continued flicking his sword neither heavily nor lightly, not saying a word. The atmosphere suddenly became stagnant, and after a long time he slowly said, "Are you waiting for me to ask, ‘What point can you confirm’?"

Kui was taken aback and he didn’t speak. His hand, however, tightened its grip on his sword.

"I am the Confucian Sword Immortal. I have travelled thousands of miles, read tens of thousands of books, and I never follow after another’s words." Xie Xuan pushed out his chest abruptly, and his white robes swayed without wind.

Li Fansong’s respect bloomed from the bottom of his heart when he saw this. "Mister Xie is really fascinating!"

Xie Xuan took a flying leap and in the next second, he had already appeared in front of Kui. He thrusted his sword.

Drifting clouds!

Kui retreated hurriedly and the tree trunk at his feet was chopped into splinters.

"Interesting." Kui laughed loudly, "Killing someone like you is really what I call seeking thrills!"

"Seeking thrills? Or seeking death? Are you really clear which is which?" Xie Xuan struck with his sword again, sluggish and slow but cutting off all paths of retreat.

Beasts of burden!

Kui stopped moving, his eyes filled with murderous intent.

Xie Xuan raised his sword abruptly, and it was the first stance of that sabre technique again!

Blade for killing!

Kui also raised his own sword and slashed it downwards. His move was also the Blade for killing!

The two swords collided!

Sword aura surged forth!

"You learn pretty fast." Xie Xuan stepped back and landed on a tree trunk.

However, Kui made use of Xie Xuan\'s sword power to retreat hurriedly. He swept his toes and withdrew over tens of trees away. "Taking the head of the Confucian Sword Immortal is not bad, but such a pity that my target this time isn’t you." He turned around in midair and chased after a different direction.

"One," Xie Xuan whispered suddenly.

"Two." Xie Xuan tilted his head as he watched the grass on the other side move slightly.

"Three." Xie Xuan looked to the left again. There was a tree trunk that shook a little but no one was there.

"Four, five, six." Xie Xuan closed his eyes and quietly counted the sounds he heard. Suddenly, he turned around and shouted at Li Fansong and Fei Xuan who were still standing to one side. "Look out!"

Five assassins dashed out of the grass, all of them armed with swords, and they slashed at Li Fansong and Fei Xuan who were still standing in place. They had appeared too suddenly so Li Fansong and Fei Xuan didn’t notice them at all. As for Xie Xuan who would have noticed them, he was now occupied with another six assassins.

Xie Xuan raised his sword and shot towards them, but five rays of silver light came shooting towards him.

Five small axes spun towards him violently, rolling up the fallen leaves on the ground.

Yama’s silver axes, evil spirits pave the way!

Xie Xuan stepped on one of the silver axes with his toes and leaped forward, but another silver axe slashed at his face. He rotated the long sword in his hand and repelled five of the silver axes, but he was too late to help rescue the other two.

"Don\'t underestimate us either," Fei Xuan yelled, and threw his palms outwards.

A visible air current appeared, and a huge circle appeared around the two of them. The five long swords slashed against that wall of air, but could not penetrate it at all.

Xie Xuan praised, "This is the Great Dragon and Elephant Strength of Qingcheng Mountain!"

Li Fansong followed closely with a sword move. He thrusted his sword and a hundred sword shadows appeared.

This was the Boundless Swordplay. The sword aura could become real swords, and one sword could grant all calamity!

The five assassins had struck with their instant kill move but it was immediately blocked. They were going to continue with their swords, but Xie Xuan had already broken the axes that attacked him. With a wave of his long sword, the five assassins realised they were not a match and immediately retreated.

Xie Xuan withdrew his sword and looked at them. Including the assassin who had been injured earlier but had yet to leave, there were twelve exactly. Xie Xuan narrowed his eyes slightly. "A total of twelve came. Not bad."

"Twelve of us Spider Shadows killers. Even if you’re the Confucian Sword Immortal, you won’t be able to retreat safely." The injured assassin snorted coldly.

"Abilities are average, but your talk is arrogant," Xie Xuan said with a smile. "So twenty of you, with Kui, were sent over to Li Hanyi’s side. I’m also a sword immortal, but why is the difference so large?"

"Have you forgotten? There’s also Lei Clan’s Lei Hong over there," the assassin said in a low voice.

Xie Xuan frowned slightly, and said in puzzlement. "I also have two young martial experts on my side."

The assassin sneered. "Two pieces of trash."

"Five of you launched a sneak attack but failed to kill these two youths. Aren’t you ashamed to call them trash?" Xie Xuan waved his sword slowly. "What a joke."

"Is it a joke? You’ll know soon." The assassin suddenly yelled, "Formation!" The rest of the assassins standing around him suddenly moved, surrounding Xie Xuan and the other two, and continued to walk in a circle.

"Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Hai." Xie Xuan watched them as he said in a low voice, "This is the Hidden River’s assassin formation - the Earthly Branches and Twelve Hours."