Chapter 44: Assassins

"Who are you?" asked John as he narrowed his eyes. He had just barely detected that powerful attack in time and managed to dodge at the last possible moment.

"You don't seriously expect me to answer that do you?" responded the man with an amused tone. "Ah, well, you're going to die soon anyways, so there's no harm in telling you. I'm from the Stalking Mantis Assassin Guild. We've been tasked to retrieve an item that your group stole recently."

A shocked expression appeared on John's face as he finally understood what this was about.

'How did they find us so quickly? Did someone rat us out?'. He looked back towards the man with a serious expression.

"None of you even bothered to destroy the tracking formation on the weapon. You guys are really dumb" The masked man laughed at the groups stupidity.

'Hes middle Mist Creation huh? I guess he thinks I'm an easy target due to my age.'

The man looked at John's expression before bursting out in laughter. "Although you are a middle Mist Creation cultivator as well, I can tell you just broke through recently based on the fluctuations in your aura. As for me, I'm currently at the peak of the middle Mist Creation realm. You have no choice but to die here."

John looked at the man but said nothing. He was very confident in his ability to handle the man in front of him. Not only did John have an arsenal of powerful techniques, he also had a powerful middle Mist Creation body cultivation level. The combined power of his body and his essence attacks made him far stronger than any ordinary middle Mist Creation realm cultivator.

As the man lazily approached him, John lowered his stance and prepared to attack, taking out his Body Refinement grade greatsword. The man saw the low grade weapon and once again burst out in laughter. John's actions lowered the man's guard even more, as he was once again more assured in being able to neutralize John quickly.

'I'm going to strike out with my full power from the start. I must keep him on the defensive if I'm to end this as fast as possible. The man said he was from an assassin guild sent to retrieve the item, so I'm sure he's not the only one. I need to get back to camp as fast as possible.'

Boom!

Dust kicked up behind John as he utilized the first step of the Five Step Movement Technique to rapidly close the distance.

"Hmm?" the man opened his eyes in shock at John's movement technique. It was clearly quite profound, and was definitely better than anything he had himself. "Seems like my opponent isn't as easy a target as I thought" Thee man he struck out towards John, aiming to block his greatsword.

Mountain Crushing Sword!

John struck out with his full power, sending a powerful attack straight towards his opponent.

"Wave Splitting Art!"

The man stuck out with his own powerful attack and successfully blocked John's attack. He was about to send out his own attack to put John on the defensive when all of a sudden he lost track of John.

Five Step Movement Technique: Second Step!

John utilized the second step to quickly dash behind the man, at which point he quickly swapped out his greatsword for his scythe.

Myriad Annihilation Scythe!

The man quickly turned around to see John swinging down at him with his scythe. He opened his eyes in shock at the power of the attack and hastily sent out his own attack to block it.

The two attacks collided violently, and John was sent back several steps while his opponent was knocked back dozens of yards. Because of the explosion that forced John backwards, John was unable to execute either the third step in the Five Step Movement Technique or the second attack in the Myriad Annihilation Scythe.

"Shit" muttered John as he quickly recovered and once again utilized the first step to instantly close the distance between him and his foe. John once more sent out the first attack of the Myriad Annihilation Scythe. However, his opponent had recovered in time to once again send out his own attack and successfully defended against John's attack.

John quickly utilized the second step of his movement technique to instantly close the distance once more.

Peng!

Sword and scythe collided and locked against one another as both men came to a halt. Before the man could make any move, John let go of the scythe handle with his right hand and sent a powerful punch towards the man's chest.

"Pft, is this boy an idiot?" thought the masked man. The masked man could clearly tell that John was an essence cultivator. Since this was the case, his opponent's punch would hurt no doubt, but would fail to do any significant damage. He decided to take advantage of his foe's naive attack. What he failed to realize was that John was hiding his physical body strength in this fight, all to land a blow such as this unblocked.

"As soon as his punch lands, I'll back up and send another Wave Splitting Art attack at him. He'll still be off balance from his punch, and so I'll be able to force him back and go on the offensive from here on out. He's as good as dead." thought the man as a sinister smile crept over his face.

Boom!

A horrified expression appeared in the man's eyes as he was sent flying back violently, the sound of cracked ribs echoing out. Blood spewed out of the man's mouth as he was sent tumbling backwards.

Another loud sound echoed out as John unleashed another Myriad Annihilation Scythe on his opponent. The masked man had yet to recover when the attack landed, and so he was once more violently sent flying into the distance.

Breathing heavily from his Qi expenditure, John quickly dashed forward towards the man's tumbling body. He was about to unleash another devastating attack when he came to a quick stop.

Blood flowed from many deep wounds all over the man's body. He was lying against a tipped over tree, nearly dead from the attacks John just delivered.

John slowly approached the man and stood in front of him with expressionless eyes. The half dead man started to cackle maniacally as he constantly coughed up blood.

"You...you train in both body and essence cultivation?" asked the man.

John looked at the man but didn't respond. He put away his scythe and took out his greatsword before pointing it towards the man's heart.

The man started cackling maniacally once again. "No matter, that punch clearly revealed you're a body cultivator, and an extremely powerful one at that. But the fact that you train in both essence and body puts me at ease. I'll die knowing that you'll soon become a useless cultivator. Your death won't be long off with this path of mediocrity you've chosen."

A large smile appeared on John's face as he looked at the man. "Unfortunately, your words couldn't be farther from the truth, but it doesn't matter. Die for me." John quickly plunged his sword into the man's heart.

The masked man laughed as the sword plunged into his heart before his laughs eventually ceased.

"Even in death this man wasn't afraid" thought John with slight shock as he watched the man die.

"Austin! The others!" John suddenly remembered the rest of the group. He stored his greatsword and the man's corpse away before quickly turning around and running back towards the camp. John ran for several minutes before he finally approached the camp site.

Boom!

Two powerful attacks collided, sending one of the men tumbling violently backwards. John recognized the man flying backwards

Austin!

John quickly looked around the rest of the campsite. A wave of despair washed over his face as he noticed all the cultivators were dead, even the white haired man. He looked back towards Austin and noticed that he was wounded severely.

Austin sluggishly stood up and was about to attack once more when he noticed John out of the corner of his eye.

"John! Run!" yelled Austin as he noticed several men approaching John.

"Shit, I've been noticed,' thought John. He had stopped at the edge of the battle site and stood in the darkness behind a tree, but he was still detected by the other men.

John hesitated for a moment. He didn't know whether to help Austin or run. Austin noticed his hesitation and yelled out "There's nothing you can do. Run!" Gathering all his remaining strength, Austin sent out a powerful sword light towards the two masked men approaching John.

Boom!

The men were knocked backwards, which gave John all the opportunity he needed to run off into the darkness. One of the other men lunged forward at Austin as he focused on helping John.

"Pft!"

John turned his head around to see Austin standing there in a daze. A sword was plunged straight through his chest, piercing his heart. Austin looked towards John one last time, a regretful smile on his face as he collapsed to the ground lifelessly.