Chapter 102: Night Roaming God, Mimic Skin
A finger pointed out, bringing instant peace.
Hong Yuan descended, examining the Ghost Fan Tower assassin, who resembled a wandering soul, with great interest.
The jungle was deep and dark, devoid of light, but for him, who had undergone a transformation, or even with the initial boost from his Clear Eyes and Penetrating Talent, he could see at night as if it were day.
A very ordinary male face appeared in his vision, approximately thirty years old.
Hong Yuan scrutinized it for a moment, finding the face slightly odd, as if it had been over-filtered in a short video.
A wisp of condensed Qi energy shot from his fingertip and, with a “chi” sound, sliced a narrow slit across the opponent’s face, yet no blood seeped out.
Through the feedback of the force, he felt a slight resistance, which also made one thing clear to him.
This face was genuine, not a human skin mask or the like.
Immediately, Hong Yuan’s gaze sharpened, and he saw the facial contours gradually shift from solid to blurry, a faint ripple spreading along the skin and encompassing his entire body.
The person was wearing a black tight-fitting suit, but as the ripple permeated, the surrounding light seemed to be drawn to its skin, causing the color of the clothes to gradually blend into the surrounding dead branches, fallen leaves, and the night.
Hong Yuan observed this scene, realizing that the person was not truly invisible or transparent, but their skin possessed an ability to sense or distort light, thereby mimicking the surroundings.
“A chameleon? And a passive one at that?”
Within Hong Yuan’s Net Perception, the person remained in a comatose state, yet rapidly concealed themselves after their face was injured.
“Pure sorcery, or a Gang Body?”
Hong Yuan mused for a moment, leaning towards the Gang Body being more likely.
In terms of martial arts, this person was only at Qing Lingzi’s level, a hair’s breadth away from the Microscopic Level of Force.
This Gang Body should be a modification of the skin through sorcery. While the toughness of the skin had significantly increased, it was far from being invulnerable to blades and spears like Song Yinglong’s.
The pursuit was not defense, but concealment.
Not only could it conceal their form, but also their internal energy fluctuations.
It was only because of Hong Yuan’s exceptional Spiritual Sense and Net Perception that he could see through all of the person’s actions as if looking into a fire.
The Ghost Fan Tower, known as one of the three major assassin organizations in the world, truly had astonishing capabilities.
With this person’s methods, concealing their presence and lurking silently, even a Gang Body master like Song Yinglong would be dead or severely wounded if caught off guard by a sudden attack.
While Song Yinglong’s Gang Body was strong, it could only withstand the chops and slashes of ordinary martial artists’ sabers and spears.
Of course, it would be significantly enhanced with the addition of Force.
But Song Yinglong couldn’t maintain constant vigilance and circulate his Force all the time.
This assassin had reached the near-extreme of the second level of Force Transformation, ‘Balance of Hardness and Softness’, and with a sudden sneak attack, their True Force erupting could break even metal.
First, four assassins skilled in Hidden Weapons, Sorcery, Poison Powder, and Fast Sword acted as a diversion, followed by such a powerful assassin with mysterious methods as the primary attacker. The Ghost Fan Tower clearly placed immense importance on Hong Yuan.
“Ghost Fan Tower…”
Hong Yuan spread his five fingers and abruptly grasped the opponent’s shoulder. Invisible Qi energy penetrated the body, like sharp blades, swirling and shredding everything within.
The assassin instantly felt as if their internal organs were being scorched, as if being sliced a thousand times. The intense pain made them grunt and awaken, then their body floated up as if carried by clouds and mist.
Hong Yuan, as if holding a small chick, leaped up and headed straight for the prefecture city, bombarding the captive with questions.
“What is your name?”
“What is your position within the Ghost Fan Tower?”
“What is that invisibility technique of yours?”
“How are the Ghost Fan Tower assassins ranked? How many masters like you are there?”
“Who are your handlers?”
The surrounding wind howled, mixed with cold raindrops and snowflakes. There were no lights in the deep night, and the world was desolate.
Hong Yuan took a step, covering forty feet, moving as swiftly as a ghost, like lightning.
Encountering a mountain peak, he soared upwards, traversing forests and cliffs as if walking on flat ground.
He crossed rivers in a single stride.
With his martial arts at his current level, he didn’t even need to use trees for leverage. Even a river tens of feet wide could be crossed with a leap, his Force erupting beneath his feet, stirring the currents, and allowing him to step on water.
Even while carrying a person, it caused no hindrance whatsoever.
As his figure rapidly traversed mountains and rivers, he continued to question the captive. The hand holding the assassin was also not idle; his fingers dug into the flesh like eagle claws, and Force spewed forth from his fingertips.
Under the assault of the sharp Force, the Ghost Fan Tower assassin’s insides felt as if they were being cut by knives at times, or burned by fire at others, and as if countless needles were piercing their organs.
Beneath the skin and flesh, there was itching and searing pain, even seeping into the bone marrow, making them wish for death but unable to die.
One moment they would pass out from pain, and the next, they would be tormented back to full consciousness.
The assassin’s mouth was wide open, trying to speak again and again, but each time, either strong wind was forced into their mouth, or the torment of Force prevented them from uttering a sound.
After traveling for about an hour, Hong Yuan’s speed suddenly decreased. A large amount of blood qi steamed from his body, and under the circulation of the Six Void Force, it was quickly absorbed, recovering his strength.
In this short hour, he had covered nearly three hundred li, traveling from the outskirts of Qingxu County all the way to Black Iron Town, with only about thirty li left to the prefecture city.
This was not his full speed.
If he were to discard the assassin he was holding, his speed could increase slightly.
Of course, such rapid travel consumed a significant amount of energy. Even with Hong Yuan’s Root Bone and Physique, he felt some fatigue.
As for the assassin, they were already making low “aba aba” sounds with their mouth opening and closing, their expression completely broken.
In the night, Black Iron Town was still lively, with lights illuminating the streets and alleys, and the occasional sound of armor clashing from patrolling squads.
Hong Yuan silently crossed the city wall and descended towards the direction of a patrol team.
“Who is it?”
Black Iron Town had been attacked by Song Yinglong’s Black Armored Battalion just over a month ago. Although Hong Yuan had preserved their property, they were still jumpy.
The guards immediately raised their sabers and spears, their leader looking on warily.
Hong Yuan emerged, recognizing the guard leader as the elder cousin of the vagabond he had met when forging the ‘Life-Snatching Throat-Locking Spear’ in Black Iron Town.
The firelight illuminated Hong Yuan’s face. The guard leader rubbed his eyes, his expression changing, and he quickly bowed: “Greetings, Alliance Leader.”
“No need for formalities,” Hong Yuan waved his hand, glancing at him. “What is your name?”
“This humble one is Xu Feng.”
“You have been quite steady. You have potential. Are you interested in working under me?”
Normally, when a powerful figure asks this, their subordinates, regardless of their inner thoughts, should never refuse if they are wise.
Of course, Xu Feng had no intention of refusing and his face lit up with joy: “This humble one thanks the Alliance Leader for your favor.”
Hong Yuan, in the span of just a few months, had risen to prominence, his single might subduing the great Noble Clans and intimidating Song Yinglong, his name already renowned throughout the Land of Mingzhou.
As for Linjiang Prefecture, his arrival was like thunder striking the earth, and he was already a legend among many wealthy gentry, Great Families, and Wandering Knights.
The other guards, seeing Xu Feng being favored, all wore expressions of envy.
“Give yourself three days to hand over your duties, then come to the prefecture city and begin by practicing martial arts under Qing Lingzi.”
Hong Yuan changed the subject: “Go, and call my two Shopkeepers here for me.”
Xu Feng saw that Hong Yuan was holding someone but did not ask why, immediately accepted the order, and hurried away.
Hong Yuan casually tossed the assassin to the ground, a look of admiration appearing on his face. “Truly a ruthless and emotionless assassin, with a heart as hard as iron. These bones are even harder; they still won’t speak under my torture. A true hero!”
The assassin’s throat made guttural sounds, their body twitching, looking completely broken.
After a few gasps, they regained some strength and looked up at the night sky, tears welling in their eyes.
Damn it, did he even get a chance to speak?
It wasn’t like it was top-secret information; was there any need to resist so fiercely?
The Gang Body they cultivated also involved extreme pain, but during cultivation, there were sorcery and pills to alleviate it.
Moreover, the pain during cultivation was only on the surface of the skin and flesh, but the hour Hong Yuan tormented him felt like internal and external torment, like being sliced a thousand times, like falling into boiling oil.
He didn’t know how he had endured it.
It felt as if after this ordeal, he could even glimpse a more brutal and mystical Gang Body.
And where did this stereotype come from, thinking they as assassins had no emotions?
Being an assassin was just a profession; they didn’t kill all the time and had to live their lives when not killing.
In this Life, martial arts emphasized Force Transformation. Those who could manipulate Force needed a sharp mind and the ability to control their restless thoughts.
If they were truly as cold and emotionless as a block of wood or stone, they wouldn’t be able to cultivate Force at all; such people could only be low-level thugs.
A moment later, Ou Zhenyun and Xu Jingren, their clothes disheveled, rushed over anxiously.
It was clear they had been roused from bed. Hong Yuan could only hope they were sleeping at the time and not engaged in anything else.
“Greetings, Alliance Leader!”
As soon as they arrived, both paid their respects with a grand bow.
“Mr. Xu, Mr. Ou, please rise!”
As Ou Zhenyun steadied himself, he thought to himself that he and the Alliance Leader had met first, yet the Alliance Leader had called Old Xu first. It was indeed because of that girl Qingjing, which had brought the Xu family closer to the Alliance Leader and elevated their status by one level.
The Ou and Xu families were old friends of a hundred years, and Ou Zhenyun and Xu Jingren were close companions, but they had to consider the next generation.
His thoughts drifted slightly.
Xu Jingren spoke first: “Alliance Leader, what are your orders for calling us here?”
“Find me a chain, the kind used for tying dogs.”
Not long after.
The Ghost Fan Tower assassin looked at the iron ring around his neck, connected to a chain as thick as a child’s arm and three zhang long. He could no longer maintain his composure.
He didn’t know which generation in Black Iron Town had forged this chain; it was even made of Cloud Pattern Iron. It had been stored for decades, and Ou Zhenyun and Xu Jingren had retrieved it from their inventory.
*Crrack!*
“Not good, the key is broken!” Hong Yuan held half of the key between his fingers, the other half stuck in the lock of the collar. He then clenched his fist, and the lock quickly contracted inwards.
The Ghost Fan Tower assassin’s lips twitched. He took a deep breath. “Your Excellency, what do you wish to ask? Ask away. I will tell you anything I can.”
Hong Yuan stroked his chin and mused, “Assassins like you are all ruthless, vicious, and cunning. How could you yield so easily? You clearly don’t respect me, Hong, and are still deceiving me?”
You are far more vicious than we are!
As the assassin’s face changed drastically, Hong Yuan’s Force once again surged into his body.
About half an hour later.
Hong Yuan repeatedly questioned him, occasionally using Force to torment him, and finally gained some understanding of the Ghost Fan Tower.
The Ghost Fan Tower was an extremely vast organization, with strongholds in almost all of the thirty-six prefectures in the land.
They had more strongholds in prosperous prefectures with diverse populations, while in remote and impoverished areas, they kept a few contacts.
The Ghost Fan Tower assassins were divided into four levels.
The first level, ‘Wandering Souls,’ were the most numerous. These assassins had not even truly entered the gates of the Ghost Fan Tower, merely taking on missions assigned by higher-ups.
Some had just achieved Qi and Blood, some were martial artists who had just entered Force, and some were even ordinary people.
The second level was ‘Life-Reaping Ghosts,’ which were basically martial artists who had entered Force but not yet reached the Microscopic Level.
The third level was ‘Soul-Snatching Emissaries.’ Although they were also below the Microscopic Level, assassins at this level almost all possessed one or two unique skills and were not short of individuals proficient in obscure hidden weapons, sorcery, curses, and poisons.
Those four assassins in the snowy forest were ‘Soul-Snatching Emissaries.’
Above these three levels were the true leaders of the Ghost Fan Tower, assassins with their own codenames.
Black and White Impermanence, Ox-Head and Horse-Face, Day and Night Roaming God…
And above the six codenamed assassins were the two great leaders, Blood Rakshasa and Underworld Commissioner.
This person captured by Hong Yuan was a ‘Night Roaming God’ within the Ghost Fan Tower!
According to this Night Roaming God, these codenames were established from the very beginning of the Ghost Fan Tower’s existence. They had been passed down through generations for hundreds of years, but the codenames themselves never changed.
At the codenamed assassin level, they almost all possessed the strength to threaten peak masters.
Like this Night Roaming God, although his Force had not reached the Microscopic Level, relying on his achieved Gang Body, concealment, and stealth, his assassination skills were unparalleled.
He had killed more than one or two masters of Gang Body and True Skill.
The Gang Body achieved by the Night Roaming God was the Outer Gang Mimic Skin, the core of which was to simulate the surrounding environment and conceal his Qi and Blood.
Its enhancement in frontal combat was not significant, but it was most suited for an assassin’s methods. As a result, he was able to obtain a codename without reaching the Microscopic Level, a feat rarely seen in the Ghost Fan Tower’s hundreds of years of history.
The reason the Night Roaming God revealed this information, besides being unable to withstand the torture, was that these secrets were not considered important by the higher-ups.
After all, for an organization hundreds of years old, even for a profession as clandestine as assassins, it would be fortunate to keep core secrets hidden.
“I didn’t expect you to be a rare genius of the century. My apologies, my apologies.”
Hong Yuan’s expression turned serious. While he was impressed, his hands were not slow. With a burst of Force, he struck the Night Roaming God, rendering him unconscious.
Such a rare anomaly, he had to keep it securely chained.
Ou Zhenyun and Xu Jingren were sent aside while Hong Yuan was questioning. Seeing that Hong Yuan had finished interrogating, they came forward.
Ou Zhenyun said, “Alliance Leader, it is late. Why not rest for the night at my humble abode.”
Hong Yuan had no objections.
A banquet had already been prepared at the Ou family’s Mansion. Hong Yuan, having traveled three hundred li, was inevitably fatigued and immediately feasted, then bathed and changed.
After cleaning himself up, he arrived before the private room arranged by Ou Zhenyun. Before even entering, he raised an eyebrow.
With a “creak,” he pushed the door open. The room was brightly lit, with a strange fragrance lingering in the air, a mixture of sandalwood and a maiden’s delicate scent.
On the richly adorned bed, the covers were already spread, and a figure was curled up beneath them, their lustrous hair spread across the pillow.
Trying this on me?
As everyone knows, I, Hong, am a gentleman of integrity, filled with righteous spirit, and never near women. Was I supposed to be unable to withstand such a test?
