After Li Hai's arterial spray painted the manicured gardens crimson, Ye Tian dissolved back into shadow form, becoming one with the darkness that cloaked the Mo family estate.
"Movement outside?"
Mo Shaobei's voice carried through his chamber walls—tension evident even through stone and wood. The dull impact of Li Hai's falling body had reached even interior rooms.
"Li Hai! What's happening out there?"
Silence answered his increasingly desperate calls.
"Something's very wrong."
Ye Tian sensed Mo Shaobei's mounting panic from his concealed position. The aristocrat possessed enough survival instinct to recognize danger when loyal servants failed to respond.
"Can't go outside. Absolutely cannot leave this room."
Mo Shaobei's fear was palpable—primitive awareness that stepping beyond his doors meant death. His voice cracked as he shouted for additional guards.
"Someone! Anyone! Emergency!"
The desperate calls echoed through estate grounds, inevitably drawing attention from other Mo family members scattered throughout the compound.
Ye Tian's predatory satisfaction soured as tactical reality reasserted itself. Mo Shaobei's cowardice had eliminated the patient approach. Direct confrontation was now mandatory.
"Too careful. Too frightened to provide easy opportunities."
He deactivated shadow talent, feeling the familiar drain on his energy reserves as supernatural concealment faded. Speed talent flooded his nervous system with enhancement—triple normal velocity coursing through muscle and bone.
Time for the final strike.
CRASH!
The chamber door exploded inward as eight hundred pounds of force met wooden barriers. Splinters erupted like shrapnel as Ye Tian materialized in Mo Shaobei's private sanctuary.
"You!"
Mo Shaobei's shocked recognition was instantaneous, followed immediately by horrified understanding as his gaze fixed on the weapon in Ye Tian's grip.
"Shadow's Black Shadow Knife! You killed the Shadow?"
The pieces assembled in Mo Shaobei's mind with crystalline clarity. Three days of silence. The distinctive weapon. The infiltration capabilities.
"Finally admitting you hired an assassin."
Ye Tian's voice carried ice-cold satisfaction. Ninety percent certainty had become absolute confirmation through Mo Shaobei's own words.
"You lack Yuan Force circulation—still just a Martial Apprentice!"
Mo Shaobei forced composure despite the terror clawing at his chest.
"Assassinating Li Hai through stealth is achievable, but killing me in direct combat? Impossible. One minute until Mo family reinforcements arrive. Then you die!"
His bravado masked internal panic. If Ye Tian had eliminated Shadow—a killer feared by Martial Artists throughout Linhai Base—then this peasant's combat abilities far exceeded normal parameters.
"One minute? You won't survive ten seconds."
Ye Tian moved with lethal intent.
"Shadow Kill!"
The black knife transformed into streaking obsidian death, bronze-level technique amplified by speed talent into something approaching supernatural velocity. Even early-stage Martial Artists would struggle to track such movement.
Mo Shaobei's genetic advantages manifested in enhanced reflexes—he was a genius among his generation. His sword rose to block the incoming strike with desperate precision.
But raw talent couldn't compensate for technique disparity and physical enhancement.
Steel sang against steel in a shower of sparks. Mo Shaobei's right arm separated from his body at the elbow, severed by bronze-level mastery applied through intermediate knife talent.
Before screams could emerge from his throat, the second Shadow Kill descended toward his neck.
"NO!"
Despair flooded Mo Shaobei's dying consciousness as he attempted impossible evasion. Miracles didn't manifest for aristocratic arrogance.
His head separated from his shoulders in a fountain of arterial blood, rolling across expensive carpeting with wide eyes frozen in eternal disbelief.
Ye Tian didn't pause to claim trophies. Distant voices approached rapidly—family members responding to earlier emergency calls. He sprinted from the death chamber and melted into exterior shadows before the first reinforcements arrived.
Shadow talent provided perfect concealment as he navigated estate grounds with supernatural stealth. Even passing directly beside Mo family guards failed to trigger detection—elementary shadow mastery rendered him invisible to normal perception.
But he couldn't risk extended presence. Great Martial Artists remained unknown quantities. Mental power projection could potentially pierce shadow concealment, and such monsters possessed speed that dwarfed his current capabilities.
Escape was mandatory.
Minutes after his departure, Mo family leadership converged on the scene of carnage.
A middle-aged woman's anguished wail shattered the night as she discovered her son's severed head. Maternal grief overwhelmed consciousness, dropping her into merciful unconsciousness.
"Who dared kill my son?!"
Mo En's roar carried enough force to make stone walls tremble. His aura exploded outward—mid-stage Elite Martial Artist pressure that sent lesser warriors stumbling backward in involuntary retreat.
Mo Shaobei's father radiated murderous intent that made the air itself feel heavy with violence.
"Ten Elders, please maintain composure!"
An elderly Mo family adviser attempted diplomatic intervention, but Mo En's rage transcended rational discourse.
"My only heir! His intermediate cultivation talent surpassed even my own elementary grade! Countless resources invested to reach mid-stage Elite status—my own advancement ceiling permanently blocked! But he possessed Great Martial Artist potential! He was my legacy, our family's future ascension!"
Tears mixed with blood in his eyes as paternal grief metamorphosed into homicidal fury.
"And he died within our own walls!"
Before additional violence could manifest, overwhelming presence descended like atmospheric pressure preceding a storm. Every Mo family member bowed reflexively as their ultimate patriarch arrived.
"Ancestor!"
Mo Changqing commanded absolute reverence through sheer cultivated power. Great Martial Artist aura made Elite warriors feel like children in comparison.
"I understand the situation."
His aged voice carried centuries of accumulated authority as he examined the crime scene with methodical precision.
Li Hai's corpse. Mo Shaobei's remains. Environmental evidence.
"Li Hai died to assassination—single precise strike. Mo Shaobei faced direct combat—two attacks, both lethal. Early Martial Artist strength using blade techniques. Enhanced concealment capabilities allowing estate infiltration and Li Hai's surprise elimination."
Professional analysis cut through emotional chaos.
"Shadow."
The name carried weight of recognition and fear.
Mo En's understanding ignited fresh fury. "That bastard killer!"
"Confirmed. Only Shadow possesses the specialized talents necessary for such infiltration and execution efficiency. But Shadow operates as pure mercenary—he wouldn't target established family heirs without extraordinary compensation."
Calculation replaced grief as Mo Changqing considered political implications.
"Rival families. They recognized Shaobei's intermediate talent and future potential. A second Great Martial Artist within our ranks would shift regional power balance dramatically. Several factions possess motivation for preemptive elimination."
The assembled leadership nodded grimly. Mo Shaobei's genetic gifts were hardly secret—his advancement threatened established hierarchies throughout Linhai Base.
"Investigation commences immediately. Identify which family commissioned this assassination. Find Shadow at any cost."
Mo Changqing's promise carried the weight of absolute certainty.
"I want that killer to regret every breath he draws for the remainder of his pathetic existence."
[End of Chapter 16]