Chapter 206: Offering: Shadow Totem

“Master Ji, please treat my fourth brother!”

Hearing Ji Ye’s telepathic voice, everybody gathered at the lobby of the inn.

Thanks to Ji Ye’s early warning, except for the few servants of the Manor of Beasts who were killed by the Shadow Assassins, everyone else was fine.

However, a wound deep to the bones had been cut on Shi the Fourth’s arm, and the blood that flowed out was purple and stinky.

Those Shadow Assassins had smeared poisons on their weapons!

“Master Ji, I…”

Holding his arm that was turning black quickly, Shi the Fourth wasn’t really too bothered by the fact that he was dying because of the poison.

Instead, he seemed more or less embarrassed.

After all, he had just boasted in the afternoon that he would kill all the Yuan soldiers who dared to come to him, yet he was almost killed by the Yuan assassins a moment earlier.

In fact, Shi the Fourth wasn’t weak at all. Because of his natural-born physical strength and his ability to control beasts, Shi the Fourth was rated as a Quasi Commander.

However, the Yuan assassins were best at assassination, and they could pose threats to targets above their own level.

Because the situation was unclear, Ji Ye would certainly rather keep his healing talent.

Therefore, instead of using the talent, he extracted the poisonous blood with the power of the Flood Dragon Blood. He then transformed his True Qi with the Nine Yang Divine Art and cleaned the remaining toxins. At last, he let Wu Qiao treat the wound with some Black Mud.

Those assassins obviously followed the rule of retreating the moment they missed their target.

Except the one who had been unexpectedly killed by Ji Ye with the Yellow Mallet, all of them were able to escape before the Rank-7 experts approached them.

On the other hand, an offering had appeared on the dead Shadow Assassin exactly like Ji Ye speculated.

[Shadow Totem]

[Level: Extraordinary Rank-5]

[Rarity: Refined (offering)]

[Description: This unusual totem has been engraved to the famous “Shadow Assassins” of the Yuan Dynasty since they were little. It allows them to perform unusual techniques related to shadows. However, it’s very hard to absorb the power of shadows. Only those with great resolve can do that.]

“What a shame. If we can acquire more of these ‘totems’ from the Shadow Assassins, we will be much better at reconnaissance than before…”

After seeing the stats of the offering, Wu Qiao was intrigued and remarked regretfully.

Same as Ji Ye, she had also realized that those Shadow Assassins were more than just killers; they were also excellent scouts!

“Those Shadow Assassins might not have really left the inn?”

Exactly at this moment, Han Meimei, with the giant panda that had put on the red-and-white battlesuit next to her, said in a low voice.

The mist array that she set up, apart from deluding the enemy, could also detect the moving targets in the mist. She didn’t sense that the Shadow Assassins had left the inn.

Clearly, the Shadow Assassins had left on the surface, but they were actually lurking in the inn.

After all, this was a fairly large inn, which was mostly covered by the darkness due to the lack of lights. They could totally hide and wait for another opportunity for assassination.

Of course, it was also possible that the Shadow Assassins were so good at hiding themselves that she couldn’t tell when they left.

As a matter of fact, those Shadow Assassins were truly great lurkers.

Even though Ji Ye had True Seer, he could not tell where they were lurking until he saw them with their eyes. It was mostly because Yan Qing’s technique had special requirements, and Ji Ye had only gained “Lesser Mastery” on it!

“I have a way to find out!”

At this moment, Chu Yin, who had been silent the whole time, opened her mouth.

…

It had already stopped raining.

In the lobby of the inn, Nie Xiaoqian, who was protected by remaining in the center of Zhou Botong, Yang Guo, and the others, strummed the guqin[1] and started playing it.

Hum! Hum! Hum!

Unlike earlier, while the strings of the guqin were moving, nobody could really hear any sound.

It was because the song was Ghost and Deity, which had been transformed from an Extraordinary Rank-5 Excellent Stone of Civilization that she obtained from the Ten-Species Competition quest.

The song had a special feature. One’s ears could not hear it when it was played, but one’s mind would be influenced by the song, and one would hallucinate without them realizing it.

The mechanism of the song wasn’t really too weird.

Actually, the song was not really soundless, but its sound was at the frequency where human ears couldn’t catch. Nie Xiaoqian could only play such a song on the special Mirage Guqin that Ji Ye gave her.

While Nie Xiaoqian played the guqin, Chu Yin sat next to her and closed her eyes, listening attentively.

Chu Yin had also acquired an Extraordinary Rank-5 Stone of Civilization. She had transformed it into a Spiritual Headphone.

This headphone, which imitated the abilities of bats, could work as a piece of radar and receive all the soundwaves that had been bounced back. Then, it could picture the source of the soundwaves in the wearer’s head.

That’s right. Chu Yin’s solution was exactly to let Nie Xiaoqian play the guqin while she detected the possible locations of the Shadow Assassins with her headphones.

Of course, there seemed to be a problem with this.

According to Qin Yueyu, one of the Shadow Assassins’ abilities was to hide in shadows and absorb any sounds, so most methods of detection couldn’t find them.

Because of this ability, they had been entering and exiting Xiangyang City at great ease. They had even assassinated many officials of Xiangyang City.

It meant that they would not bounce any soundwaves back.

That was exactly the problem!

Exactly because they could absorb soundwaves, the soundwaves that hit them wouldn’t be bounced back to the Spiritual Headphone, so Chu Yin could directly localize them.

Hum! Hum! Hum!

Besides, when the Mirage Guqin was played, certain illusions of the song were created.

Some vague images appeared in the hall, and a man and a woman seemed to be doing a romantic play!

On a closer look, it could be found that the female protagonist, who was a ghost, was very similar to Nie Xiaoqian, whereas the male protagonist apparently looked like Ji Ye!

Well, that was not the key…

“They’re truly still here!”

After the soundless guqin was played for a while, Ji Ye charged out of the lobby with the Yellow Mallet in one hand and the Jade Dragon Sword in the other.

As quickly as lightning, he dashed into the stable at a corner of the inn.

Boom, boom, boom…

Then, intense noises of battle burst out.

After that, the fairly-large stable was torn to the ground, and several shadows were flung away from the shattered stable!

Whoosh!

Those shadows, who vomited blood, couldn’t rise any more after they collapsed.

Only one of them, who was mildly wounded, struggled to soar to the sky, attempting to jump over Han Meimei’s mist array to escape.

“Roar!”

However, a mallet, which was glowing and expanding into the size of an adult, soared even faster and smashed him to the ground.

These Shadow Assassins could transform themselves into shadows with their totems, so they would be immune to most physical attacks. However, the dominance of the Dragon Aura and the destruction ability of the mysterious mallet could force them out of the shadow state.

Boom, boom, boom…

At the same time, battle noises echoed in other places too.

Everybody, except Reverend Yideng, who stayed in the lobby, took action. Qiu Qianren, Yang Guo, Zhou Botong, and Bao, who was almost Rank-7 with the red-and-white battlesuit, moved out with Ji Ye.

Their eyes weren’t as keen as Ji Ye’s at night.

However, when they knew where the enemy was, they could reveal the Shadow Assassins with nothing more than a luminous pearl in their hand!

“Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!”

A series of battle noises and grunts spread out of the inn.

Ji Ye, on the other hand, waved the Jade Dragon Sword that was covered in the white Dragon Aura and pierced at the forehead of the Shadow Assassin who had been smashed to the ground by the Yellow Mallet!

However, exactly at this moment, the shadow behind him, which was caused by the illumination of the radiating Jade Dragon Sword, suddenly stood up.

Pew!

In the next moment, the light of a sharp purple weapon appeared, cutting Ji Ye’s body apart from his nape instantly.

[1] a music instrument

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