Looking back, he saw a skinny figure wrapped in all black where he just was. This person’s entire body was wrapped in a black cloth and a dagger that shone with a purple glint was in his hand.

****

Their eyes were also sharp and lacked any emotion.

What really astounded Long Di was that this person was weaker than he was and yet they nearly killed him!

When Wei Yun saw who it was that attacked Long Di, her gaze turned severe.

This newcomer’s gaze then shifted to Wei Yun, causing her to stiffen in response. However, he only afforded her a passing glance before he directed his gaze back to Long Di.

“Are you Long Di?” the newcomer asked. Their voice was cold and robotic, as if they had no will of their own.

“Out of curiosity… what would you say if I wasn’t Long Di?” Long Di asked this mysterious person.

“I am from An Shalu Sanctorum…” the newcomer replied, as if saying that alone answered his question.

“L-Long Di run! He’s an assassin from An Shalu Sanctorum!”

Unexpectedly, the one who told Long Di to run was none other than Wei Yun. Despite her attacking Long Di earlier, she was now telling Long Di to run.

The assassin didn’t reply nor react to Wei Yun’s warning and simply raised a leg as if he was going for a walk.

However, once his foot fell, his figure blurred, and he disappeared from view.

Long Di’s entire body tensed and he activated his heavenly gaze, but he couldn’t see the assassin. However, he could see ripples in the air moving at an alarming rate and the trail of the ripples led to…

‘Yaomu Shou!’

Not wasting any time, he rushed over to where she was making her breakthrough as fast as he could.

Shu!

A dagger emerged from the air as if the void willed itself to destroy Yaomu Shou.

“Hm?”

He couldn’t be sure, but Long Di swore he saw the dagger slowing down ever so slightly as his own pace increased.

However, he couldn’t be bothered to think about this at the moment. He used the time this decrease gave him to give Yaomu Shou his back.

Fhwip!

Kling!

Sparks flew as Long Di used the side of his forging hammer to parry the strike of the assassin’s dagger, successfully stopping it.

‘Danger!’

Long Di’s senses once again thundered aloud in his head, prompting him to duck when another blade emerged from the shadows en route to his temple!

If this blade connected, then there was no need to think twice about it. Long Di would be dead!

Against all odds, he used the side of his elbow to slap the side of the dagger, causing it to careen to the side.

Both Wei Yun’s and the assassin’s eyes widened in surprise when they saw Long Di’s actions!

Pu Ci!

Blood sprayed as the dagger’s tip still managed to tear through the skin of Long Di’s temple when he turned his head to offset the blow.

If that was half a second slower, then that dagger would have found sound purchase in Long Di’s head!

The reason ‌both the assassin and Wei Yun were surprised at Long Di’s actions was not because of the blood that it spilt but the fact that he was willing to take such an action.

Make no mistake, Long Di’s actions were not incorrect. In fact, it saved his life.

In the heat of battle, people look for the slightest win to boost their own personal morale. Whether it be their ability to keep their footing in the most difficult terrain or… to block a sure kill move.

Making these achievements, whether big or small, would boost one’s morale and empower them to keep on fighting. Morale was important in war or battle and finding ways to keep it high, built upon the foundation of one’s skill, was an important asset to take note of.

However, there was a detriment to these small momentary accolades of mental empowerment. That is, the exact same empowerment could and very likely would allow smugness to take over, no matter how small.

As a result, this would also cause a single, fleeting moment of complacency to cloud and slow their judgement. That single moment is what the assassins of An Shalu Sanctorum live for.

This simple technique is also the most basic and elementary skill for an assassin to master before they leave the Chamber.

When the assassin saw that he failed in his assassination attempt twice, he withdrew once more. Long Di closed his eyes and extended his senses into his cultivation technique before nodding his head in satisfaction.

He looked behind him and saw that Yaomu Shou’s breakthrough was coming to a close soon. Since this was the case, he made his way back to Wei Yun.

When she saw how relaxingly he was walking toward her, she wanted to slap him in the head.

“You idiot! That assassin could be nearby still! Keep your guard up!”

Long Di’s head cocked to the side at her warning before he responded by saying, “They’re gone.”

“You can’t be sure! Their techniques allow them to hide their killing or murderous intent and it hides their presence as well!” Wei Yun appeared very wary of these assassins.

Though she was still on the ground, her tense state showed how vigilant, or better yet, cautious, she was of the entire situation.

However, Long Di showed zero concern as he made his way over to her. She truly wanted to crack Long Di’s head open to know how his brain worked. There was an attempted assassination on his life literally seconds ago and here he was walking as if he was strolling through an orange orchard.

Long Di actually didn’t have any reason to worry. This was because he was truly safe. He was still doing some fine-tuning on his cultivation technique, but another feature he was working on was the ability to feel the intent to harm.

And if there was anyone who knew what it felt like to feel the ‘intent to harm’ from friends and foes alike, it was Long Di.

This was different from murderous intent or killing intent. This particular intent was softer and much more difficult to sense. After all, you could have bumped into someone on the street and their momentary state of anger could harbour thoughts of wanting to cuss you out to thoughts of wanting to hit you back.

This could be construed as an intent to harm.

For an expert, such thoughts and the intent to do so couldn’t alert their senses, but Long Di was aware that cultivation techniques could bypass this if they were designed to.

The intent to harm was just the name that Long Di gave it, but what it really boiled down to was anyone who bore malicious means of ANY kind towards Long Di.

He wanted to be in a room and if someone farted if he smelt it, he could tell who dealt it. This was the kind of power he wanted. Sure, this kind of power was much too profound for any one man to possess, but Long Di felt himself worthy of this responsibility.

Sure, this ability might be a bit overkill in its operation, but at the end of the day, Long Di wanted to be sure that he accounted for any and all areas of danger that could find him.

As of now, Long Di could only use the passive abilities of the cultivation technique as he worked on it. The ones that relied on literally no spiritual energy lest his spiritual-based cultivation base might erupt, resulting in him being wiped out.

Long Di felt no malicious intent from his surroundings. The only intent he felt was from Wei Yun, and it wasn’t high enough to warrant his wariness. This was one of the reasons why he didn’t kill her in the beginning. Whatever she wanted, it didn’t include his life… at least for now.

Of course, Wei Yun knew nothing of this and thought that Long Di was being unduly lax in keeping his guard up.

Before long, Long Di came upon her and he reached out towards her just like he did before when he slammed her to the ground.

Wei Yun felt her body tighten in preparation for one last attack, however, her reaction was way off because of the lack of killing intent.

“Eeep!”

She yelped in astonishment when Long Di scooped her up in his arms in a princess carry.

Wei Yun, whose cheeks were now reddened, found it hard to react to Long Di’s sudden action and was even a bit flustered at first when another action of his threw her for a loop.

“Wha… What are you do… Ah!”

And just like that, much like a certain goddess we all know and love, Long Di slung Wei Yun over his shoulder like a mistreated burlap sack.

“P-Put me down!”

“Meh…” was Long Di’s sole response and weirdly enough, Wei Yun stopped struggling.

It was like ‘meh’ was somehow enough for her to understand that no matter what she did or asked, Long Di couldn’t be bothered to give a damn about it.

She didn’t know why she thought like this, but ‘meh,’ this profound character somehow apprised Wei Yun of Long Di’s character and his intention. Despite not knowing what it stood for, its intent was all that mattered.

Long Di came closer to the place where the spit was located.

Ktch!

Before he could get too close, a crisp cracking sound rang out. A hairline crack could be seen on the glowing cocoon that beheld Yaomu Shou.

P-P-P-Pling!

Not long after, the crack on the cocoon multiplied and splintered!

Whoosh!

An opportune wind came and gently blew on the cocoon, whisking away the newly formed shards of the cocoon one by one.

The form of a meditative figure slowly came into view. A purple robe adorned her supple violent skin which shone with a regal strength.

Her arms, though slender, hid within them a terrible power that could be felt from far away.

Her jet black hair possessed a violet hue which cast it in a majestic light. Her robes finally calmed down after the furious lashing of the wind brought about by her breakthrough.

Speaking of, there were now six cauldrons that orbited her, which sported a crystal core. Yaomu Shou was a six core martial adept!

A smile made its way across her face when she felt the strength of her body. Her lashes fluttered for a bit before they opened.

Her eyes scanned the scene before them when a particular sight stunned her.

So there was Long Di, with a knife in one hand and a skewer stacked with meat in the other. An ice-faced beauty lay slung over his shoulder, immobile and bloodied. Her breathing was laboured and haggard with an intense blush colouring her cheeks.

The monk and the rabbit were gone and there was an awkward as-hell silence that assaulted the plains.

Long Di chose to utter the three holy words for his opening statement.

“I can explain.”