SFS Chapter 15 The Unexpected Assassin
Chapter 15 The Unexpected Assassin
"You think highly of someone who's at the Blood Coagulation Realm killing a mere Body Tempering Realm kid?"
Zhao Tianxiong sneered.
"That's fine too. It's safer."
"Can you trust your people?"
"This time I'm sending three people, all of whom are in the early stages of blood clotting."
"I've killed people in underground boxing rings, and I've also killed several disobedient small family leaders."
A sinister glint flashed in Blood Wolf's eyes.
"I told them to find a secluded place to do it, so that no one would know."
"Once it's done, leave the city immediately and won't return for at least three months."
Zhao Tianxiong remained silent.
Silence means agreement.
As Blood Wolf reached the door, Zhao Tianxiong's voice came from behind him.
"Don't make a mistake this time."
If they fail again, the Zhao family will lose the Blood Wolf Gang's support. You should think it over carefully.
Blood Wolf's figure disappeared outside the door.
Zhao Tianxiong sat alone in the inner hall.
He was the only one left in the room.
He stared at the hidden compartment in the wall, his fingers slowly tapping on the table.
Lu Yuan.
Qilin bloodline.
He had lived most of his life, seen geniuses, and killed geniuses.
But he had never seen anyone like Lu Yuan.
The more unfamiliar something is, the sooner it should be destroyed.
The next day, outside Qingzhou City.
Lu Yuan and Lao Huang went fishing deep in the dense forest early in the morning.
The two walked along the dirt road for about half an hour.
The surrounding trees were so dense that they blocked out most of the sky.
He returned to the same old spot.
By the stream.
The stream flows down from the mountain ravine upstream, makes a bend here, and carves out a small pool.
A few fallen leaves floated on the water's surface, slowly swirling with the current.
Lu Yuan walked straight to the blue stone, wiped the dust off it with his hand, and sat down as usual.
Unbeknownst to him, in a thicket of bushes in a dense forest not far from him...
Three pairs of eyes were fixed intently on his movements.
A scarred man lay prone at the front, constantly fiddling with the fragile, poisoned dagger in his hand.
Two other assassins, one fat and one thin, were lurking on either side of him.
"This must be Lu Yuan!" the lean assassin asked.
"One old and one young, the young one should be it!" the scarred man, as their leader, answered softly.
"I don't think so. Everyone says Lu Yuan has the bloodline of a Qilin and is exceptionally talented. But why is he walking with such a heavy gait all this way?"
"He seemed to have no energy at all... he even seemed a little tired."
"You don't understand, do you? This is precisely a sign of excellent control over one's own Qi and blood," the scarred man explained with a serious expression.
"Could you two walk like that without mobilizing any of your own energy or blood?"
The lean assassin and the short, stout assassin exchanged a glance and shook their heads.
Clearly, even as experts at the Blood Condensation Realm, they couldn't do that.
Having practiced martial arts for many years, subconsciously mobilizing one's qi and blood has become a habit.
"Now you understand why we say Lu Yuan is not to be underestimated!" the scarred man said.
Following their gaze, (Lu Yuan's figure came into view).
At that moment, Lu Yuan took out a fishing rod from the fish basket and cast it into the water.
The movements were fluid and executed in one smooth motion.
Then he looked down at the water and his eye twitched slightly.
"Damn it, where's my fishhook?"
The end of the fishing line was empty.
The iron hook that he had bent himself was bitten off by some animal at some point.
Only a loose thread remained, fluttering in the wind.
He remained calm on the surface, holding the fishing rod firmly in his hand, while in his mind he had cursed the thing that had taken the bait countless times.
There are no fishhooks.
Never mind, I'll just sit here for a while and then leave.
He had no idea that three assassins were watching him from the shadows.
Thirty feet away, the lean assassin's eyes widened in surprise.
"He fished without a hook!"
The short, stout assassin squinted for a moment: "An empty line into the water, not even a hook, what is he fishing for?"
The scarred man remained silent for two breaths.
"It's not about fishing. It's about tempering your mind."
"What?"
"He fishes not for fish, but to use the stream to refine his mind. He is cultivating his spirit."
The scarred man stared intently at the figure by the stream.
"No wonder he's a genius. Every move he makes is a testament to his cultivation."
Lu Yuan had no idea what the assassins were imagining at that moment.
At this moment, he was thinking... He would go back after sitting for half an hour, and if Old Huang asked, he would say that there were no fish today.
But sitting there was boring. He casually recited a few lines of Lao Tzu's writings to pass the time.
"Attain utmost emptiness, hold fast to stillness. All things arise together, and I observe their return."
His voice wasn't loud, but in this quiet forest by the stream, every word was exceptionally clear.
These sentences were not made up on the spot; they are from Chapter 16 of the Tao Te Ching, a classic Taoist discourse on the state of mind.
Although he wasn't a master of Chinese studies in his previous life, he had read Laozi and Zhuangzi several times.
He liked this sentence very much in his previous life.
However, the words he casually uttered at that moment now seem to carry a different kind of meaning.
Old Huang raised his head: "Young Master Yuan's words are too profound, this old servant does not understand."
"It's okay if you don't understand."
Lu Yuan said that his gaze never left the water.
"As the saying goes, 'The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao'... The truths that can be expressed are not the true great truths."
"So you see this stream, it flows endlessly, but it never argues with the stones about who is right and who is wrong," Lu Yuan explained casually.
Old Huang's lips twitched slightly.
He stood by the roadside, head bowed, his posture extremely respectful.
But his gaze shifted from Lu Yuan for a moment, swept across the dense forest on the other side of the stream, and then returned to his own.
That glance was so fast that no one could possibly notice it.
Then he continued to wipe his sweat with his head down.
He had long ago discovered the assassin hiding in the dense forest.
However, it seemed that Lu Yuan had not seen it at all.
Since Lu Yuan didn't speak, he naturally couldn't say anything either.
He had previously received favors from Lu Yuan's parents.
After Lu Yuan's parents died, she willingly became a servant in the Lu family, taking care of Lu Yuan's daily life.
They were just three assassins at the Blood Condensation Realm.
If Lu Yuan is no match for him.
I'll take action myself then.
He didn't want to reveal his martial arts training to Lu Yuan right now.
It was in the direction Lao Huang had been looking.
"What is Lu Yuan mumbling about?" the lean assassin asked.
At that moment, the scarred man's palms were covered in sweat.
"Attain utmost emptiness, hold fast to stillness." He repeated it. "He's reciting this."
"Attain utmost emptiness, maintain steadfast stillness... These are not words that can be uttered casually after reading a few books."
"He is truly cultivating his mind. No wonder he is a genius. He may seem to be doing nothing, or even slacking off, but in reality, he is improving in every single thing he does."
The lean assassin glanced at him, then hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.
At this moment, Lu Yuan was sitting by the stream, his back straight and his posture composed.
He looked like a master.
The stream flowed at his feet, and occasionally birds flew overhead.
He seemed to be enjoying the afternoon, like a truly carefree genius.
"I never imagined that someone so young would have such a mindset."
"Truly a genius!"