To all the assassins in Sigh City, Sunset Shadow was a relatively unfamiliar character. He was the last one who joined Sigh City and had spent the least amount of time in Mount Taibai in his daily life. He was low-key, gentle, and reticent. The only thing that impressed others was his strength at the peak of the Thunder-shocking Realm.
As his partner, Deep Dream often felt like she didn’t know him. As a top assassin who had been trusted since joining Sigh City five years ago, he spent most of his time quietly going about his business; he killed people silently, observed others silently, and learned silently. He didn’t seem cold-blooded. He laughed a lot but rarely talked. Deep Dream never denied the tacit understanding between herself and him, but it always came from his cooperation.
She didn’t know what he was thinking, what he wanted, or what he was after. He never said anything about these in their many conversations.
From the very beginning, she had always felt that his character was most in keeping with the notion of Sigh City, which focused on standing aloof from worldly affairs. But as their time together grew longer, she could clearly feel the silent obsession in her partner’s heart. To this day, she had no idea what this obsession was.
In terms of strength, she was confident that she could beat him by a hair. But she knew very well that, in Sigh City, she was a level below him.
Before Li Tianlan appeared, Tribulation was the Vice Governor of Sigh City. Cool Breeze and Drifting Cloud were claimed to be the two top assassins in Sigh City. If nothing changed, Situ Cangyue’s position as Governor would surely belong to Tribulation. The candidate of the Vice Governor, however, was not Cool Breeze or Drifting Cloud, but Sunset Shadow.
He was the only candidate.
This fact alone spoke volumes about his importance to Situ Cangyue and Tribulation.
Even if Li Tianlan had become the Young Governor of Sigh City now, Sunset Shadow would still become one of the most critical figures in Sigh City after the former experienced some changes that Sigh City did not want to see.
Therefore, when Situ Cangyue had passed the All-embracing Collection to them, she had passed half of another unique technique to Sunset Shadow alone.
That handprint was named Athanasy.
But even Situ Cangyue was unable to explore the essence and the way to exert the power of this unfinished technique. So over the years, she only mastered the half.
This half symbolized strength, status, and also the responsibility.
Deep Dream had no idea how horrible this half named Athanasy was. However, the half that even Situ Cangyue, an Invincible Realm expert who was even on the Divine List, couldn’t explore thoroughly, had a kind of power that no one dared to underestimate.
This half was definitely not weaker than the All-embracing Collection that they performed by joining hands. It was even mightier than that.
The All-embracing Collection required them to work together. Now, however, Sunset Shadow alone performed the half Athanasy Handprint. What would happen to him?
The wind and thunder surged high above.
The wind and lightning pervaded the entire battlefield, and Wind Ghost had already gone all out to attack Li Tianlan.
Li Tianlan was in the strong wind and couldn’t land. The sword of Wind Ghost and lightning met in the air. Each time he hacked, he drove thunderbolts which were able to penetrate the wind. Thunder rumbled high above, resembling the noise made by waterfalls. It swamped Li Tianlan in an instant, like divine punishment.
Flesh and blood flew in midair.
Li Tianlan had no choice but to resist in silence.
But not far away, Sunset Shadow looked more determined.
The half Athanasy Handprint had been completed. The figure of the Big Dipper was floating uncontrollably, as if he were something suspending in the vacuum. He struggled in vain, and in his sight, the body of Wind Ghost was still in midair. Millions of flashes of sword light burst forth like crazy, together with a large amount of blood.
There was a flicker of regret in Sunset Shadow’s eyes, and his emotions seemed to be somewhat complicated in a trance.
Reining Sword by Wind, the epic, unique technique of Jifeng Sword-reining School, was known as a unique technique with the fiercest and the most violent sword intent in the Dark World. Many years ago, when the last leader of Jifeng Sword-reining School fought an Invincible Realm expert, it once shone brightly.
After careful calculation, that decisive battle must have taken place more than twenty years ago. It was one of the shortest battles between Invincible Realm experts in decades. At that time, the leader of Jifeng Sword-reining School used only two moves.
The first move was the most basic one, the Chop of Fierce Wind.
After that, the Invincible Realm master was directly swept up to the sky by the wind, and then he was greeted by the move named Reining Sword by Wind.
From beginning to end, the fighting lasted less than a minute. Layers of sword intent poured down like crazy, surging like a mighty river. The body of that Invincible Realm master lost balance, and he was hacked to death in the air without even fighting back.
And that battle made this unique technique instead of the grandmaster from Jifeng Sword-reining School famous.
Of course, the unique techniques of Jifeng Sword-reining School weren’t invincible. The key was to get out of the way of the strong wind brought by the Chop of Fierce Wind. All the unique techniques of Jifeng Sword-reining School must use the wind to exert the greatest power. How could they rein the sword when there was no wind?
But now, regardless of his identity, the Big Dipper launched a sneak attack. As a result, Li Tianlan was swept straight into the air by the wind. Furthermore, Wind Ghost personally reined the sword. In such a situation, any expert under the Half-step Invincible Realm could only resist the attack forcibly.
Li Tianlan was a young Heavenly Son who was given too much hope and obsession by Sigh City. How could Sunset Shadow allow him to resist the attack forcibly? How would he be willing to let him do that?
There was a flicker of dim blue light in Sunset Shadow’s resolute and clear pupils. The half Athanasy Handprint shook in his hands with a roar.
In an instant, the world fell silent.
With Sunset Shadow as the center, a circle of air billows that were visible to the naked eye rose suddenly in the forest. The air billows spread rapidly and suddenly pervaded the forest hundreds of meters around.
The wind was still.
The lightning disappeared.
Not far away, the flames went out, and the sword light dimmed.
Deep Dream’s scream screeched to a halt. Her mouth was wide open, but no sound came from it.
The world became silent at this moment. The space within a radius of hundreds of meters turned into the purest vacuum in a moment!
No one could attack, move, or breathe.
All the movements were completely frozen, and then everything floated.
Invincible Realm!
It was not a pseudo domain, but the real invincible domain.
Both the Big Dipper and Wind Ghost had nothing but terror in their eyes.
The unique technique named Reining Sword by Wind was smashed entirely by the vacuum.
When the Big Dipper lost control of his body, Sunset Shadow approached him in his domain, quick as a flash.
His bones kept breaking in violent vibrations, like dust and powder.
His eyes, however, were still calm.
In an almost eternal moment, he glanced at Li Tianlan, with gratification, sigh, and other emotions.
His codenamed was Sunset Shadow.
But none of the people present knew that his surname was also Li.
They didn’t need to know, either.
Li Tianji.
In the last afterglow of his life, Sunset Shadow said his name silently and rushed directly toward the Big Dipper, who looked horror-struck.
The vacuum vibrated madly, and the center of the collision between the two shone with glaring thunderbolts. Wherever the light passed, everything there turned into dust.
The bodies of the Big Dipper and Sunset Shadow vanished utterly, leaving only clouds of dust floating in the air.
… Shadow!!!
Deep Dream’s piercing scream finally resounded. Since she uttered the word
Sunset
before the vacuum was formed, the last word sounded unusually sad and shrill.
The vacuum dissipated.
Li Tianlan’s body plummeted, but he ignored the blood all over his body and instantly rushed toward the space above Wind Ghost.
Wind Ghost, who acted almost at the same time as him, suddenly looked up.
The sword edge whizzed past.
The Chop of Fierce Wind.
The fierce wind whizzed toward Li Tianlan with the lifted sword.
Li Tianlan had been on his guard. His shadow flashed, and he directly switched places with it.
Dazzling light shone directly on the tip of the Human Emperor in his hands. His killing intent resembled a billow!
Wind Ghost turned abruptly, but Li Tianlan’s figure had disappeared in his sight.
There were only shadows of the sword in the world.
Infinite light danced swiftly with sparks that were compressed to the extreme. A giant sword of up to 100 meters directly formed in the light. The sword shook, and like a phantom, it approached Wind Ghost all of a sudden after crossing a distance of tens of meters.
The sword edge broke everything in its path!
Before Wind Ghost had time to react, the blade, which was several meters long, hit him directly in the chest.
The giant sword went straight through the air hundreds of meters high, carrying the body of Wind Ghost. The infinite sword intent tore his body to pieces. Sparks burst into flames, burning his body to ashes.
That was not the unique technique of the Li family.
The ultimate outbreak of power.
That was the unique technique of the Wang family of Beihai.
Sword of Emperor Path!
Li Tianlan had already landed.
His expression was still calm, and his breath was weak, but his eyes were shining brightly as never before. The extremely restrained sharpness burst forth from his body without reservation. At this moment, there was a kind of fiery and almost dazzling glamour about his movements. He was virtually flawless.
The giant sword flew through the air and then disappeared.
A sudden scream of disbelief rang out in the deep pit made by the sword in the rear.
Dongcheng Rushi’s figure shot to the sky again like a meteor.
The Sword Move of the Flying Fairy from Outer Space!
A Thunder-shocking Realm expert from Jifeng Sword-reining School stumbled out of the deep pit and fell to the ground after taking two steps.
In his chest, a dagger, crystal clear and scarlet, was quivering. The hilt, engraved with countless gold and intricate patterns, was covered with blood.
Lovesickness was stained with blood.
…
At the same time.
In the night, Changdao International Airport.
A beautiful woman in white with unknown age walked out of the airport lobby with few people.
A long white dress, a green bracelet, a long sword behind her back, and a dagger hanging around her waist.
She dressed herself up simply, but she looked as beautiful as an illusion.
The woman walked in silence, and her eyes were hollow and numb. She was like a lifeless walking dead.
The airport was heavily guarded.
Numerous soldiers and elites of Special Warfare System were patrolling cautiously inside the airport. If any suspects were found, they would intercept them as soon as possible.
The woman in white walked past a pair of special policemen as if nobody were there, and the faint fragrance on her body drifted away. The special policemen sniffed the air and looked around, but they saw nothing.
Several luxury buses were parked in front of the airport lobby, and a map of the entire East Island was on the screen hanging on the wall.
The woman stood in front of the door with her head up. Every city on the map of East Island appeared in her sight.
She stood there quietly. Her eyes wandered and then fell on Ninghu district without anyone noticing.
Suddenly, there was a different flicker of emotion in the woman’s blank, numb eyes. Like a dream, she had a kind of ethereality that overwhelmed all beings.
Time passed slowly.
The gloomy night remained the same as before.
Not knowing how long it passed, the woman then moved. She took a deep look at Ninghu district and turned silently. Her white hand, however, unconsciously grasped the dagger hanging around her waist.
It was a scarlet and almost crystal clear dagger, gorgeous and delicate. Dense and elegant golden lines spread on the dagger, looking complicated and mysterious.
The woman gripped the dagger.
Her somewhat powerless body seemed to have gained a little more energy, and she walked slightly faster.
As she walked, she took the dagger down, placed it in front of her eyes, and drew it out of the scabbard.
The fine and dense gold lines on the scarlet and transparent blade were more complicated and elegant. At the place which was close to the hilt, a traditional character, which was engraved deeply, was still clear and distinct, even after many years.
Oblivion.
Lovesickness and Oblivion…
The woman’s eyes blurred and eventually became utterly hollow and numb.
She put the dagger away and went straight ahead without looking back.
She couldn’t turn back because she had no choice.
She was in Changdao.
From the moment she set foot on this land, or even before, she already knew that in her life, she still had to say sorry to the second person a second time.
The sky was serene and full of stars.
The night was long.
When the night was dyed with the darkest color, dawn approached.
The night existed.
And the same was true for the morning, of course.
