Boom!
A dull rumble echoed from the dark, overcast sky.
A cold wind whipped up fallen leaves, ravaging everything around.
The relentless rain added a touch of melancholy to the city.
In Wuhun City, on the hill behind the Pope's Palace,
lightning flashed like a gleaming blade, piercing the dark silence and illuminating the girl's angelic, porcelain-doll-like face.
The girl clutched the hem of her clothes, her body retreating backwards.
Terror gripped her face, her petite body trembling uncontrollably.
"Who... who are you?"
Qian Renxue looked at the stern-faced young man before her, wielding twin blades.
His hair was tousled black, a blue hood slightly obscuring his eyes.
The hunting blades in his hands were dripping with blood, and the air was thick with the pungent smell of blood.
"I don't have a name."
"Only codename, Lan,"
Lan whispered.
Lan looked at the little girl before him, a moment of trance in his cold eyes.
Is this the purpose of his mission?
Lan slowly approached Qian Renxue,his footsteps drawing nearer, and Qian Renxue's breathing quickened.
"You... don't come over here.
My father is the Spirit Hall's Pope, the most powerful figure on the continent.
And my two uncles are Titled Douluo..."
The young Qian Renxue repeatedly invoked her connections, trying to scare Lan off.
But Lan didn't let that stop him.
He had been manipulating Spirit City for three months, and he knew every move and itinerary of Qian Renxue and the two Titled Douluo beside him.
Just before the mission,
Lan broke open the Spirit Hall's ten-thousand-year soul beasts' cages, causing dozens of them to riot.
Many of the Thousand Dao Sect's Worship Hall's priests rushed to suppress them. He immediately sought out Qian Xunji to investigate, and Lan also led Qian Renxue's two guards away.
The young Qian Renxue was left alone in the Pope's Hall.
But Lan knew that Qian Renxue was like a caged canary.
Her body was caged,but her heart yearned for freedom. As Lan had predicted,
Qian Renxue disobeyed her two uncles and went to the back mountain to play alone.
It was a flawless plan,taking into account time, route, and even the hearts of people.
Plop!
Qian Renxue, retreating, bumped into a tree and fell to the ground.
Her princess dress was torn, and crimson blood stained the snow-white dress.
Tears welled up in Qian Renxue's eyes.
It hurt, and she wanted to cry.
But she couldn't.
Fear had already filled her heart.
Lan looked at Qian Renxue's bruised knee and the tears in her eyes, and for some reason, he was stunned again.
Why?
As the Star Luo Empire's number one assassin, he shouldn't have felt such emotions, let alone hesitated.
His hands were stained with blood, and countless people had died at his hands.
Was he going to let her go just because she was too young, a child?
No,that's not the case.
Lan looked at Qian Renxue in front of him.
For the past three months, he could always see a certain shadow in Qian Renxue.
This shadow seemed familiar.
Suddenly, a murderous intent flashed in the depths of Lan's deep and cold eyes.
He couldn't be soft-hearted.
For an assassin,the mission was more important than his own life.
Lan raised the shark blade in his hand, and the cold light from the shark blade reflected on Qian Renxue's dirty face.
With just one swing of the knife,everything would be over.
Lan slowly closed his eyes, and just as he swung the shark blade in his hand, Qian Renxue's voice suddenly rang out!
"Big brother, be careful!"
Qian Renxue's angel martial spirit possessed her, and two yellow spirit rings slowly rose.
She rushed towards Lan and pushed him to the side.
Boom!
There was a loud bang!
A huge ghost tiger pounced over from where Lan was just, and directly broke the big tree in front of it in half!
Lan turned his head suddenly, looking at the ghost tiger that had missed its attack, then at Qian Renxue, who lay on the ground in agony. "
She actually saved me?
Why?"
He had just been about to kill her .
At that moment,Lan's inner world seemed to tremble faintly.
Under normal circumstances, he would have been unable to fail to notice the ghost tiger's sneak attack.
His heart was in turmoil.
The ghost tiger turned, its eyes blazing with murderous intent, its mouth dripping with blood, its gaze filled with hatred for humanity.
It was undoubtedly the Spirit Hall's ten-thousand-year-old soul beast.
It had escaped in the chaos because of Lan.
"ROAR, ROO, ROO, ROO!!!"
The ghost tiger roared to the heavens, and the entire mountain behind shook violently.
Immediately, the ghost tiger charged towards Lan and Qian Renxue!
The ghost tiger was a speed-oriented soul beast,and now, at the ten-thousand-year level, even ordinary Soul Emperors and Soul Sages might not be able to outrun it in terms of speed.
Lan watched the ghost tiger charging towards him and immediately regained his composure.
He turned, scooped Qian Renxue up in his arms, and quickly dodged to the side!
BANG!
The earth shook, and gravel flew everywhere!
Lan held Qian Renxue tightly in his arms, repeatedly striking down the rubble with his Shark Blade.
The ghost tiger's roar was terrifying.
Frightened, Qian Renxue buried her head in Lan's arms, clutching his chest tightly.
"Damn it! This ghost tiger must be around 50,000 years old, and I'm only a Soul Emperor."
"If we were in the sea, I wouldn't be afraid of a mere 50,000-year-old soul beast..."
Lan raced through the forest. His martial spirit was a shark, a form of unknown quality, yet incredibly powerful.
He had once killed a Soul Douluo-level sea soul master in the sea with his martial spirit and shark blade.
While Lan's attack was a sneak attack,being able to successfully defeat a soul master far superior to himself is a form of strength.
Furthermore, sneak attacks are an assassin's natural vocation and offensive method.
Gradually, Lan's strength began to wane, and his speed slowed.
The ghost tiger continued to attack him.
Shark blades and tiger claws clashed relentlessly between heaven and earth!
To protect Qian Renxue in his arms, Lan could only fight the ghost tiger single-handedly!
A Soul Emperor could battle a fifty-thousand-year-old ghost tiger to such an extent—if word got out, it would be enough to cause a huge uproar!
Qian Renxue, in Lan's arms, had already grasped the situation.
"Big brother, let me go,"
Qian Renxue suddenly spoke.
Her voice was still a little childish.
"Big brother, if I'm not mistaken, you're an assassin, right?"
Lan was stunned.
Clearly, he hadn't expected an eight-year-old to possess such intelligence.
"My death at the hands of a soul beast, big brother, should be mission accomplished, and I can return home to report."
"If big brother keeps distracting himself protecting me, we might both die."
"Rather than that, it's better to let one person escape."
Qian Renxue's eyes curved, the corners of her mouth curling up slightly in a smile.
Lan, watching the smile on the girl's face in his arms,became distracted once more.
The ghost tiger seized the opportunity and slashed at Lan with its massive claws.
Lan forcibly blocked the ghost tiger's attack with his arm.
His internal organs were shaken and shifted slightly, blood oozing from the corner of his mouth, and his body flew backward.
But there was no fear in his eyes.
Instead, a strange emotion flashed across them.
"Why did you save me?"
"I was going to kill you just now,"
Lan asked softly.
Qian Renxue raised her head, her eyes meeting Lan's cold ones.
They were clear and limpid, yet held a hint of tenderness.
"Because... I can feel..."
"Big brother and I are the same kind of people."
Lan's eyes were hesitant, and Qian Renxue saw it all.
She could sense that the young man before her was not a bad person; fate had chosen him.
Seeing the innocent smile on the girl's face, Lan's pupils narrowed slightly.
At that moment,Lan finally understood the identity of that familiar shadow...
She,imprisoned, yearning for freedom.
He, in darkness, yet his heart yearned for light.
They were each other's mirrors.
Shadows.
Only to reflect each other's appearance.
(End of this chapter)