*Clink**screech*

The tip of the dagger, instead of sinking into Xuhan's back, encountered a solid block of metallic components and part of Xuhan's body tilted forward due to the incredible force behind the dagger, thus making the dagger slide forward and entirely fail to penetrate his flesh.

But Shen Kai's surprise lasted for only half a second. His body was tilted in an awkward angle. On mid air, it's extremely difficult for one to change their posture without preparation. But Shen Kai somehow managed to twist his body away from Xuhan like flying worm, trying to avoid any type of attack from Xuhan.

However, Xuhan never managed to attack him back.

In fact, Xuhan staggered forward in such an exaggerated manner that it could fit the scene of a rabbit getting hit by a warhammer. He skidded at least seven meters, spun once in the air, barely avoided the edge of the trap and hit a tree with a loud 'smack'.

By then, Shen Kai had recovered from his surprise and landed smoothly on his feet. Without any hesitation, he leaped forward with superhuman strength and landed in front Xuhan's crumpled figure.

"What did you put on your back, kid?"

Xuhan groaned and tried to sit up. He had hidden his knife sets on numerous small pockets on the back of his robe. Getting stabbed on the back through the heart is a very common way of dying. Xuhan made sure that the area behind his heart and lungs were mostly covered by double layered leather with knives sheathed inside. Who knew it would actually save his life?

However, he hadn't foreseen that his first opponent would be so incredibly powerful. Xuhan had classmates who had reached the fourth layer of physique transformation realm. He was sure that none of them could burst out with such strength and agility . Shen Kai definitely lied about his cultivation level. He had to be much stronger, maybe even stronger than Mu Ran.

Xuhan, with his second layer cultivation level, was no different from a child fighting an adult. This wasn't even a fight but more like a butcher subduing a chicken. Even if he attacked Shen Kai with all of his strength, he wouldn't be able to leave any serious injuries on him unless Shen Kai failed to put up any sort of defence at all.

"Damn, brother Shen, you're so strong! We have no grievances between us! Have I offended you somehow? I had eyes but i couldn't see mountain Tai! Please have mercy!"

Shen Kai was stunned for the second time. He never expected Xuhan to be so weak to begin with. On top of that, Xuhan looked like he was about to cry while begging for him to spare his life. What kind of snivelling brat did the Crimson Snow sect send here?

Shen Kai's eyes narrowed into slits. He knew how the Crimson Snow sect operated. They wouldn't even select a coward like this if he wasn't some sort of cultivation genius. But Han Xuhan seemed useless from every point of view...except, he had somehow survived an assassination attempt by somebody much more powerful than him. But that could be attributed to luck, right?

Xuhan, meanwhile was stammering with a painful expression on his face as he slowly inched backwards. His body ached terribly. He couldn't even muster up enough strength to sit up properly.

Despite the pleadings for mercy coming out of his mouth in a frenzy, Xuhan's nerves had become calmer. Before Shen Kai revealed his murderous intention, the enemy in his mind was something he was unfamiliar with. The unknown is always much scarier compared to enemies who had revealed themselves and their abilities. Granted, Xuhan was aware that his enemy was much stronger than he had anticipated, but it didn't mean he would just lie down and wait for death. He had yet to fulfil his chunni desires.

Shen Kai snorted at Xuhan's pleadings that resembled thickly veiled insults and advanced toward his retreating form.

"Hey, look at you. Not so high and mighty now, eh? Where did all that pomp and eloquence go?"

Shen Kai naturally wasn't willing to waste his time mocking his weak opponent. But he felt that this guy was bit of an weirdo. Shen Kai was experienced when it came to life and death battles. He knew when to hold back and when to advance swiftly. He was almost sure that this kid had some secret cards to play. The aim of his verbal abuse was to stir up Han Xuhan's anger and make him eager to attack. An eager warrior is a dead warrior when the final outcome is either life or death. And cocky youths like Xuhan were always prone to getting riled up in a verbal battle.

However, the scene he imagined didn't happen. Xuhan simply kept begging for mercy while backing up. What irked Shen Kai the most was that all of Xuhan's pleadings sounded like they had been taken out of a cheap soap opera written by someone who has never been in an actual fight.

"Big brother Shen Kai, you're a dragon among men. You're a real man! How can you hit and bully weaklings like me? Please spare this shrimp's life and you'll definitely accumulate great positive karma, enough to push even a fucking dungworm to the celestial realm! Even if you cripple my cultivation, I'm fine with that! Just don't kill me. Killing me will bring great bad karma to you-"

"Shut up, brat!"

Shen Kai had had enough of this crap. His original cultivation level was at the eighth layer of physique transformation realm, yet he had to listen to the crap this trash was spewing; it felt insulting. He knew almost no righteous cultivator whose pride could fall so low. Was this guy a dimwit? If he had any trump cards, he should have played them before degrading himself like this. Besides, what can a cultivator at the second layer of physique transformation realm do to him? Furthermore, Mu Ran was waiting for them at the other side of the portal. That guy, despite his low cultivation level, was a difficult opponent to handle. Shen Kai's instinct told him that taking care of Mu Ran wouldn't be as easy as Han Xuhan. He had to finish up the work on this side as fast as possible lest Mu Ran should suspect something.

The distance between Xuhan and Shen Kai was barely six steps. As Shen Kai stepped forward and raised his dagger like a reaper about to harvest a life, the ground underneath his feet felt slightly uneven. Looking down from the corner of his eyes, Shen Kai saw a roughly made shoe under his feet, barely visible in the dim moonlight. Shen Kai crushed it as hard as he could under his feet.

Without further hesitation, Shen Kai's body leaned forward and his right hand swung in a fluid motion. But before the dagger had reached Xuhan's throat, Shen Kai noticed a cunning smirk replacing Xuhan's pleading expression.

Shen Kai felt his nerves tighten and his hair straightening into needles.

Nothing happened.

Shen Kai waited another two seconds, standing still with his nerves strained. The moment he perceived a threat, he was going to move with every bit of explosive strength he could muster.

Still nothing.

Damned brat! It was a feint!

Shen Kai's anger reached an immeasurable peak as he growled and leaped again toward Xuhan who was scampering back with a pale expression.

BOOM!

With an unexpected, loud bang, Shen Kai felt a tremendous gravitational force pushing him forward like an arrow. Something had exploded behind him! That sudden change of expression had been used to buy more time!

About fifteen feet away, Han Xuhan suddenly stopped scampering backwards and pulled out two small knives from his robes in a practiced motion. Then he threw one at Shen Kai's unprotected face. The Whole process was beautifully synchronized with the sound of the explosion.

Even after suffering such a blow, Shen Kai recovered his bearing in mid air. He didn't dwell on the source of the explosion. He didn't need to, in such a precarious moment. Instead he pushed his arms in front of his face and shielded his eyes from the knife that was already halfway on its trajectory. The reflexes and agility of a cultivator at the eighth layer of physique transformation realm was far beyond what such weaklings could crack through.

But what hit his palm was the butt of the knife, really softly at that too. The impression Shen Kai got from that impact was that...the attacker had never practiced knife throwing in his life.

Damn it! Another false move!

Shen Kai removed his hands from his face and...saw another knife flying toward his heart. Instinctively, he pulled his hands to form a shield over his chest, knowing full well that it wasn't even a threat. But what if the first throw had been an intentional blunder?

Within these two seconds since the explosion, Shen Kai's mind had became a mess.

Predictably, the next knife also hit his hand and rebounded off like a twig. By then, Xuhan had leapt another three steps back and brought out two axes from his waist-buckles.

Shen Kai could only numbly stagger toward the kid due to the inertia. His feet were already touching the ground, skidding forward and digging shallow ditches. The axes held above Han Xuhan's head looked like two small guillotines waiting for his neck to fall under them. His hands were still clutched over his chest, and he knew he wouldn't be able to pull them back to use his dagger to block the strikes from the axes.

How did this happen? Shen Kai briefly wondered. This scene was the exact reverse to the situation that had been under his control barely four seconds ago.