"I didn't know, I was just guessing, but now I know." Ling Yun smiled sarcastically, "Assassins usually kill people, but you two are different. One of you is a thief, and the other has to talk so much nonsense."
"You!" The boy's eyebrows shot up, and anger reappeared on his face. He suddenly muttered something and made a strange gesture with his hands in front of his chest. It seemed that a light flashed in his hands, but it disappeared immediately.
Xiao Rou suddenly raised her slender hand, her fingers lightly tracing a perfect circle in the air. The circle flashed and transformed into a shimmering silver shield. A muffled, storm-like sound followed, and countless multicolored light darts shot out from the void, striking the shield. Strangely, the shield didn't directly block the darts; instead, it seemed to act as a spatial suction cup, silently swallowing them up. On the surface, the darts appeared to have entered another dimension.
Upon seeing this, the ordinary man finally showed a shocked expression. He had been probing the strength of the two people. As an assassin of superhumans, he naturally had relatively professional supernatural abilities to detect the strength of superhumans. The results showed that the man and woman were only slightly stronger than the young assassin, far weaker than him. That was why the man seemed so calm. Although Ling Yun's exposure of his identity surprised him, that was all.
What the man never expected was that Ling Yun's Eye of Illusion had already discovered his detection technique. Then, without making a sound, Ling Yun added incorrect information to the detection technique before calmly reflecting the detection back. The whole process was efficient, fast, and flawless. The man, with his extremely sensitive perception, didn't feel anything at all. As a result, he regarded the two of them as ordinary ability users based on the incorrect information. It wasn't until Xiao Rou easily blocked the boy's attack that he realized something was wrong.
The young man was also taken aback. The light dart attack was his most skilled and fiercest attack method. Most importantly, it was unexpected. Others would only notice his hand gestures, but rarely would they see the spiritual light emanating from his hand. Moreover, no one would expect him to attack so quickly. The light dart had an invisibility effect and would only become visible when it was close at hand, by which time it would be too late to react.
The teenage assassin had used this extraordinary ability to kill many superhumans, most of whom were on par with him, and some were even stronger.
He was confident he could kill them both instantly, but to his surprise, Xiao Rou easily broke his light dart attack with a simple gesture. She even had time to give him a cold laugh. The boy realized he was in trouble and was about to turn away when Xiao Rou gently slapped him down. An invisible force descended from the sky and slammed him to the ground. The immense pressure even embedded his small body into the ground.
Xiao Rou's fierce attack caused the man's eye to twitch involuntarily. His figure blurred and suddenly disappeared into thin air. But in the instant he vanished, Ling Yun turned his body to the left and then threw a heavy punch into the void.
Thump! It didn't feel like it hit the air, but rather like it struck a person, and a silver ripple spread through the air.
"ah!"
After a scream, the man was ejected from the void in a disheveled state, crashing heavily to the ground and rolling around. He tried to stand up and gather his mental energy field, but the silver light of his telekinetic energy kept flashing, sometimes bright and sometimes dim, and he couldn't gather it. Ling Yun's punch not only seriously injured him, but also dissipated his mental energy field, which would be impossible to gather in a short time.
Ling Yun waved his hand and grabbed the man in mid-air, saying calmly, "Who are you? Which organization's assassins are you? Why are you trying to steal the Heavenly Eye?"
This man wasn't particularly strong, at most at the level of a lieutenant. Even Ling Yun, before entering the barrier, could easily have dealt with him. However, what Ling Yun should be wary of was his unusually strange concealment technique. If Ling Yun hadn't possessed the Eye of Illusion, which allowed him to easily see through the concealment, the man might have managed to deceive everyone.
The assassin was just Ling Yun's guess. After all, such mysterious concealment techniques are often the specialty of assassins. So Ling Yun just asked casually. He didn't expect the man to be so easily deceived. He revealed his secret with just one sentence. He looked imposing, but in reality, he was just a weakling and easily defeated.
Knight Ling Yun had actually underestimated the man. Although the man was only a lieutenant, his concealment technique was enough to fool even a colonel-level expert. If he delivered a fatal blow at the right time, the assassin's power should not be underestimated. However, in front of Ling Yun, all his advantages were countered, so it was inevitable that Ling Yun would look down on him.
The man was being carried away by Ling Yunyao, unable to move at all. He was terrified. The information he had received indicated that the two boys and girls with the Heavenly Eye were of average strength, at most captain level. Although his strength was slightly inferior to theirs, the assassin didn't care. Strength was just a basic condition in combat. Assassins usually killed people stronger than themselves. As long as he used the mysterious concealment technique, dealing with these two rookie ability users who were probably new to the martial arts world shouldn't be a problem.
The handsome young man had been sent by the man to steal the Heavenly Eye, and everything seemed to have gone smoothly. As for whether the Heavenly Eye was real or fake, the two assassins, with their limited eyesight, naturally couldn't tell. However, the fake Ling Yun had hastily created was flimsy. When the man tested it with telekinesis, it suddenly shattered into pieces. The two assassins, thinking they had accidentally damaged the Heavenly Eye, were terrified. Only after piecing it back together with telekinesis did they discover that the so-called extraordinary treasure was nothing more than an ordinary glass ball.
The man and the boy, enraged, turned back to look for Ling Yun and Xiao Rou, but Ling Yun and Xiao Rou had already sailed away from the pirate ship on a ferry and entered the barrier. The vast ocean stretched before them, and despite their extraordinary assassin tracking skills, they could find Ling Yun and Xiao Rou in vain.
The two assassins were dejected, but unexpectedly, they used their assassin tracking skills to discover the traces of the powerful figure who had kidnapped Xia Lan. The two were not stupid; after some analysis, they guessed Ling Yun and Xiao Rou's intentions. Since they couldn't find the two at sea, they decided to wait for them at their destination. As long as Ling Yun and Xiao Rou continued to track the traces, they would eventually find them, unless the two wanted to hide at sea forever.
Unexpectedly, the people they waited for did arrive, and it was indeed Ling Yun and Xiao Rou, but what awaited them were two powerful individuals countless times stronger and more experienced in combat than the two assassins. With just one strike, Ling Yun and Xiao Rou easily subdued the man and the boy. Their overwhelming strength even prevented the assassin man from even considering resistance. This was definitely not the strength of a captain; at the very least, it was the strength of a major general or even higher. Although the man's strength was low, his judgment was not poor, and he roughly guessed Ling Yun and Xiao Rou's strength with just a slight assessment.
The man was forced by Ling Yun's mental force field. Although he was not yet imprisoned, the invisible force was so strong that he was almost suffocating. Not to mention speaking, even breathing became difficult. He had already cursed the person who gave him the information countless times in his heart. These were not two weak lieutenants. They were clearly two super strong people, or even super strong people who could easily wipe out a small superpower organization.
Ling Yun slightly relaxed his telekinetic power, allowing the man to breathe and speak. However, apart from these two movements, the man remained unable to move in any other way. Such subtle changes in power control are extremely difficult, but in the face of Ling Yun's terrifying telekinetic manipulation, everything was no problem.
"Speak quickly, I don't have much time to waste with you. If you want to play the hero, I don't mind using the Search for Gods Technique." Ling Yun said calmly, but the assassin couldn't help but tremble. He could tell that Ling Yun was definitely not threatening him. That indifferent tone could only be the kind of coldness and calmness that comes from killing countless people. This meant that the young man in front of him was not only powerful, but also experienced.
"I am an ability user from the Killing Soul Organization." The assassin blinked, the sharp light in his eyes dimming. He dared not lie, as the other party's mental field had penetrated deep into his body, monitoring any subtle condition within him. Even the sudden acceleration or slowing of blood flow, or the slight difference in the interval between heartbeats, would be clearly detected by Ling Yun. Whether he was lying or not was immediately obvious.
“Killing Souls?” Ling Yun repeated. He had never heard of this superpowered organization, but his face did not show any surprise. Instead, he looked at Xiao Rou.
Xiao Rou glanced casually at the young assassin still embedded in the ground, not caring whether he was dead or alive, and said to the man, "I've heard of this Killing Soul. It's said to be a very mysterious organization of assassins with supernatural abilities. This organization has very few assassins, and not many experts, but they have unique skills in tracking and concealment. Therefore, very few people know anything about them. I only know that they address each other by assassin code names, such as Assassin Zero to Assassin One, Assassin Two, etc. The ranking of strength is also like that. What number are you?"
"I am Assassin Nine, and that boy is Assassin Ten. Our Killing Soul is not weak. Assassin Zero and Assassin One are both super strong in this world. We are just the lowest-ranking assassins. Hmph, if the two of you were here, you would have died many times over... Ouch!" Assassin Nine's head seemed to be not working properly, and he actually dared to threaten him at this moment. So Ling Yun used his telekinesis to transform into a steel needle and gently pricked the most nerve-rich spot between his fingers. Instantly, Assassin Nine's face turned pale with pain, and he almost broke out in a cold sweat. He could only groan and dared not threaten him again.
"I'm asking why you wanted to steal the Heavenly Eye?" Ling Yun asked, frowning. This assassin, Nine, was being a bit unreasonable. He didn't know if he was pretending to be stupid or if he was genuinely confused. As an assassin, a calm mind and meticulous thinking are the most basic requirements. But now it seems that neither the boy who stole the Heavenly Eye nor this man has the talent to be an assassin.
"I don't know... I really don't know. I'm just a low-level assassin. I only do what my superiors tell me to do. I've never seen the true faces of other assassins. All our communication is done through telekinetic codes that require comprehension. I know nothing." Assassin Nine said, his voice trembling as he endured the intense pain in his fingers. He knew that answering like this would only provoke further retaliation from his opponent, but he truly didn't know, and he couldn't make things up, so he had no choice but to tell the truth.
Fortunately, Ling Yun realized he was telling the truth. It was normal for a low-level superhuman like him not to know the true mastermind's intentions. However, this was the first time Ling Yun had heard of the Killing Soul Organization. If even a low-level superhuman assassin possessed such a powerful concealment technique, then one could only imagine how powerful the strongest assassins, Zero and One, must be. Even with the Eye of Illusion, facing such an opponent would still be troublesome. Fortunately, Ling Yun had copied the superhuman's abilities and recorded the data when Assassin Nine used the concealment technique. With this preparation, he was no longer afraid of being pursued by higher-level assassins.
There seemed to be no more questions to ask. Ling Yun looked at Killer Nine thoughtfully, considering how to deal with him. If there was time, he could follow the trail and have Killer Nine and Killer Ten take him directly to the Killing Soul Organization to see what kind of entity they were. But there was no time now. He had to rescue Xia Lan first, no matter what. A day and a night had already passed, and if it dragged on any longer, Xia Lan might be in danger. Ling Yun had already made up his mind.
Assassin Nine, seeing the man staring intently at him, was terrified. He wasn't stupid; he immediately realized that since he was no longer of any use, the other party was probably going to kill him to silence him. Fear flashed in his eyes, and his mind raced as he tried to come up with a way to save his life. But at this point, there was no such thing as quick thinking to escape.
Ling Yun stretched out his palm and gently patted the air. Assassin Nine immediately fainted and then his body went limp and fell to the ground. Ling Yun did not kill him, but used mental control to modify his memory. When Assassin Nine woke up, he would find that he had forgotten everything, and even his experience as an assassin.
"Let's go." Ling Yun took Xiao Rou's hand, and the two quickly disappeared into the distance, not even glancing at the young assassin still embedded in the ground.
After a long while, until the sun was high in the sky, the young assassin's previously motionless body suddenly trembled eerily, then he leaped to his feet, his youthful face filled with smugness: "I'm so smart! I fooled those two ridiculously powerful guys by playing dead! Haha, Assassin Nine, you've finally met your match! I, Pan Yuling, can finally regain my real name and live the life I want! Hahaha, how carefree this life will be! I'm never going to be that damn assassin again! My little girlfriend is waiting for me in the countryside..."
P.S.: This chapter is dedicated to thanking the kind reader Pan Yuling for her help...
Chapter 365 Exploring the Forest
Ling Yun and Xiao Rou, who were already dozens of kilometers away, suddenly looked at each other and smiled. "This child is quite clever. He knows how to use the Turtle Breathing Technique to pretend to be dead and deceive us. He's much better than that Assassin Nine. I see that you take good care of him, and you haven't even erased his memory." Xiao Rou said with a smile.
“He’s still a child, and he’s not inherently bad. Didn’t you hear what he muttered to himself at the end? He probably didn’t want to be an assassin, but he was forced to join the Killing Soul Organization. As a superhuman, he has genetic abilities that no one else has, but he can’t live a peaceful life like ordinary people. He’s controlled by others. Isn’t that tragic?” Ling Yun sighed.
“Things are valued for their rarity and the potential profit involved. Even treasures are like that, let alone people,” Xiao Rou said softly. She felt this much more deeply than Ling Yun. “Superpowered individuals are so rare that in addition to training their own talent, various superpowered organizations have to do everything they can to search for other superpowered individuals. Especially those with unique talents like Pan Yuling, who are exceptionally gifted in tracking and invisibility, are priceless treasures.”
"And what about us?" Ling Yun said. "We are stronger and possess the Heavenly Eye. Shouldn't we be the kind of people that superpower organizations are vying to recruit? Why are they trying so hard to kill us?"
“Because we are difficult to control.” Xiao Rou said without hesitation. “When a powerful talent or a treasure cannot be obtained, it is better to destroy it to prevent it from becoming someone else’s and posing a threat to us in the future. This is human nature. No one wants others to be stronger than themselves. The relationship between people is like the relationship between countries, and the same applies to people with superpowers.”
Ling Yun nodded silently. He understood Xiao Rou's words. He knew that the world was cruel, but he found it hard to accept emotionally. In just over half a year, the boy had changed a lot, almost like a different person. But deep down, he was still that ordinary boy who was a little naive and kind, and longed for an ordinary life.
As they spoke, they traversed an immense distance. The wilderness was normally impassable, even for a professional off-road jeep, but for Ling Yun and Xiao Rou, it was no obstacle at all. Even the most challenging wilderness was better than walking on water, so the hundreds of miles of western wilderness ended in just half an hour. In the distance, they could see clusters of towns with a distinctly American Western style, and even a few scattered figures of Americans.
Ling Yun suddenly stopped and frowned.
Xiao Rou was taken aback, and then she also noticed the anomaly. "The traces of aura have split into two, going in two directions?" Although it wasn't as magical as Ling Yun's Illusionary Eye and panoramic view, after passing through the barrier, Xiao Rou's perception far exceeded that of ordinary ability users, so she was naturally able to notice the anomaly in the traces of aura.
The traces of their auras did indeed split into two, and in completely opposite directions. However, one of the southward-flowing auras was not left by the original powerful figure, but by another super-powerful being who appeared out of nowhere. The two powerful auras clearly intersected before separating again, suggesting that these two super-powerful beings knew each other. Furthermore, the fact that their auras intersected yet remained orderly indicates that they were working together and had been exchanging information for some time.
It's unclear whether the powerful figure who abducted Xia Lan handed her over to the suddenly appearing expert, or continued to escape with her. If they were both heading in the same direction, it would be easy to just chase after them. But now that their paths have crossed and then diverged, it's a difficult choice. Ling Yun clenched his fists, wishing he could see what had happened.
"I'll give it a try," Xiaorou said after thinking for a moment. She flicked her fingers, and soon silver light and shadow shot out from her youthful fingertips, as beautiful as fireflies.