Xiao Chen and Jiang Li walked up the stone steps side by side, and were both stunned when they looked at the empty courtyard.
"Where is Master?" Jiang Li looked around. The bamboo chair where Master usually liked to lie was empty, the vegetables in the garden were unattended, and even the old locust tree in the corner of the yard was withered, exuding a desolate feeling of "the master is not at home".
Xiao Chen walked to the bamboo chair and ran his fingertips across the surface. A faint spiritual energy fluctuation still lingered on it, indicating that his master had not been gone for long.
"Perhaps... Master went out?" Xiao Chen guessed, but he had a vague feeling that his master's departure might be related to those Shadow Pavilion assassins.
Meanwhile, in a dark valley at the border of the Northern and Central Regions.
What appears to be an ordinary, barren mountain outside the valley is actually shrouded in a massive concealment array. At the core of the array, a black wooden pavilion stands silently, with a blood-red plaque hanging from its top, bearing the two characters "Shadow Pavilion."
Inside the attic, the candlelight flickered, illuminating blurry faces.
The first seat was occupied by an old man dressed in a black robe. On the stone table in front of him were dozens of black soul tablets, one of which was shattering at a visible speed, and finally turned into dust with a "crack".
"The number one assassin's soul tablet... is broken?" The old man's hoarse voice rang out, filled with disbelief and astonishment.
The Shadow Pavilion assassins are ranked by strength. The number one assassin is the Shadow Pavilion's signature figure, possessing peak cultivation at the Integration stage. Since his debut, he has carried out hundreds of missions without ever failing, achieving a 100% success rate. He is the Shadow Pavilion's sharpest blade!
"Master, are you mistaken?" the black-clad man beside him said in a trembling voice, "The number one assassin is at the peak of the Integration Realm. Even when facing someone a whole realm higher than him, he can escape unscathed. How could this be..."
"There's no mistake." The old man slowly shook his head, a hint of solemnity flashing in his eyes. "The soul tablet is connected to the assassin's soul. If the soul tablet is shattered, the person will die. The one who can kill him is even more powerful than me..."
"But his target was just a cultivator from the Southern Region at the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm..."
Just then, a clear, cold voice suddenly came from the attic doorway, piercing everyone's ears like an ice pick:
Are you looking for me?
Everyone turned around abruptly, only to see Xiao Chen appear at the door at some point, his blue robe stained with dust, his eyes calmly sweeping over everyone in the pavilion.
"It was you!" The old man's pupils constricted sharply. "You killed the number one assassin?"
"Yes." Xiao Chen nodded, his tone calm. "Shadow Pavilion has repeatedly sent people to kill me. Today, I've come to demand an explanation."
"Arrogant!" the old man roared, slamming his fist on the stone table. "Activate the 'Myriad Shadows Soul Devouring Array'!"
As soon as he finished speaking, countless blood-red runes suddenly lit up around the pavilion, plunging the entire space into darkness! The formation was activated, blocking all light and divine sense detection. The air was filled with a dense aura of death, and countless black shadows emerged from the ground, rushing towards Xiao Chen like ghosts. Each shadow carried the pressure of a Nascent Soul Realm expert!
This "Ten Thousand Shadows Soul Devouring Array" is the Shadow Pavilion's protective array. It can devour the souls of cultivators and conjure shadow killers of equal strength to the target. Those trapped in the array are often worn down to death by endless shadows, making it extremely vicious!
"A mere trick." Xiao Chen sneered, unleashing his spear intent as he was about to break the formation when he suddenly sensed a familiar aura.
In the shadows of the attic, the old man was hiding behind a node of the array, manipulating the shadows, a hint of smugness flashing in his eyes—as long as this kid is trapped, once the array is fully activated, even someone at the Tribulation Transcending Realm will be severely injured!
But his smugness didn't last long. Suddenly, a figure appeared in front of him.
It's Lin Zhou.
Lin Zhou, hands in his pockets, lazily looked at the old man hiding in the shadows, his eyes like he was looking at a fool.
"Hide your mother, hide."
Lin Zhou didn't even use his spiritual power; he simply raised his hand and slapped him.
"Smack!"
The crisp sound of the slap was particularly loud in the dark array.
The old man felt an irresistible force strike him, sending him flying like a kite with a broken string. He crashed heavily into the stone wall, spitting out a mouthful of blood. His black robe was torn open, leaving him in a sorry state. The spiritual energy he used to control the formation instantly became chaotic. The shadows of the "Myriad Shadows Soul Devouring Formation" receded like a tide, and the dark space regained its faint light.
The Shadow Pavilion assassins inside the pavilion were dumbfounded—who...who came from? How could they move freely within the Myriad Shadows Soul Devouring Array? And even slapped the Pavilion Master away?
Ignoring the stunned crowd, Lin Zhou walked up to the old man who had been slapped away, looked down at him, and kicked him in the face: "Shadow Pavilion Master? Is this all you've got?"
The old man covered his swollen cheek, looking at Lin Zhou with fear and despair in his eyes. He could sense that the man before him possessed an unfathomable aura, more terrifying than any powerful figure he had ever encountered, as if he could crush him with a flick of his finger.
"Who...who are you?"
Lin Zhou didn't answer, but only glanced at the trembling Shadow Pavilion assassins around him.
The candlelight flickered again in the attic, but it couldn't dispel the despair in the air. Looking at Lin Zhou's sudden appearance, the Shadow Pavilion members finally understood—they hadn't kicked a steel plate, but a colossal mountain that could crush the entire Shadow Pavilion.
The Shadow Pavilion Master collapsed to the ground, his face burning with pain, but even more unbearable was the resentment in his heart. How many years had it been? Since he took charge of the Shadow Pavilion, no one had ever dared to treat him like this!
Forget slapping them, even shouting at them is rare. The Shadow Pavilion has been operating in the shadows for hundreds of years, its influence spreading throughout the four regions.
Even the Xuantian Sect had to give him some face, but now he was being beaten like a chicken, and this humiliation made him want to vomit blood.
"Tsk, that slap just now, it felt pretty good." Lin Zhou flexed his wrist, a playful smile on his face, as if he hadn't just slapped a pavilion master, but rather dusted him off.
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