The Heavens: Man Covers the Heavens, Refines Treasures to Become an Emperor

"Boom!!!"

A deafening bang!

The ground, paved with hard lapis lazuli, was as if struck by a meteorite, instantly blasting open a huge hole more than ten feet in diameter and bottomless! The violent shockwave, mixed with debris, swept outwards, causing the entire Guanchao Pavilion to shake violently. The beams and pillars groaned under the weight, and dust fell from the ceiling!

Qi Tianxing and the remaining representatives of the powerful families were terrified by this sudden and terrifying attack, but when they saw Jiang Xuan dodge in a sorry state and not be killed, their faces instantly lit up with joy!

"Reinforcements! Our reinforcements have arrived!!"

Qi Tianxing's voice trembled with excitement, as if he had grasped at a lifeline.

However, a dull, dry sound, indistinguishable between male and female, like the grinding of metal, came from outside the window, interrupting their ecstasy.

"Don't misunderstand, I didn't come here specifically to save you."

The voice paused for a moment, then announced its origin.

"Tingyu Tower, get things done."

As soon as he finished speaking, the terrifying aura that had been looming over the place outside the window receded like a tide, quickly disappearing into the rainy night as if it had never existed.

"Listen...Listen to the Rain Pavilion?!"

The ecstatic joy on Qi Tianxing and the others' faces froze instantly, replaced by deeper shock and a hint of bewilderment. Tingyu Tower? That mysterious assassin organization? Why would they make a move? Who commissioned them?
But regardless, Jiang Xuan was still alive, and he had almost been killed by an assassin from Tingyu Tower with a single arrow! This cast a shadow over their newly raised hopes, and they turned their anger and resentment towards Chang Henshui.

"Chang Henshui! Look what you've done! If you hadn't hesitated, would this scoundrel have had the chance to escape Tingyulou's ambush?!"

One of the surviving representatives pointed at Chang Henshui and angrily cursed.

Chang Henshui's face darkened, his heart filled with anger. If he hadn't intervened just now, these people would have already become Jiang Xuan's victims! But he was too lazy to argue with these terrified fools, and simply glanced coldly at Qi Tianxing, saying in a deep voice.

"Young Master Qi, this place is no place to linger! Now that Tingyu Tower has made its move, the situation has become even more complicated. I suggest we retreat immediately!"

Qi Tianxing looked at the devastated hall, littered with corpses, then at the dark, rainy night outside the window and the bottomless abyss. He gritted his teeth, unwilling but knowing that Chang Henshui was right.

He glared fiercely at Jiang Xuanfang, who had already vanished, and squeezed out a single word through gritted teeth.

"go!"

……

Outside the Guanchao Pavilion, on the street where torrential rain was pouring down.

A slender figure, like an elf in the night, silently strolled through the rain.

She wore a form-fitting black night outfit that accentuated her graceful curves, and her face was covered with a black cloth, revealing only a pair of sharp, hawk-like eyes.

In her hand she held a magnificent longbow, shimmering with iridescent light, belonging to one of the three assassins dispatched by Tingyu Tower—Guiyue.

She didn't go far, her sharp gaze fixed on the roof of a house in the distance, barely visible in the rain, and spoke in a clear, cold voice.

"You are quite skilled to dodge my 'Rainbow Strike' arrow. Why hide and fight?"

Her voice carried through the rainy night, but the rooftops in the distance remained silent, save for the torrential rain.

After waiting a moment, there was still no response. Gui Yue's sharp eyes narrowed slightly.

Just then, from the shadows behind the house in the distance, a soft laugh came, a laugh that carried an indescribable indifference and... a hint of mockery.

"A fair duel? The three of you from Tingyulou came together to kill me alone, how could you speak of fairness?"

Gui Yue's eyes turned cold, and he stopped talking nonsense.

Her figure moved abruptly, leaving a series of clear afterimages, as she rushed towards the direction from which the sound came like a ghost! Her speed far exceeded that of an ordinary Earthly Realm cultivator!
However, just as she rushed halfway, when she was still a hundred feet away from the house, her pupils suddenly shrank to the size of pinpoints!
In her sharp gaze, she saw a scene that made her scalp tingle—in the rain ahead, the air seemed to be slightly distorted, and an almost completely transparent illusory arrow, with only a faint gray light shimmering, seemed to have been waiting there, silently shooting towards her like a venomous snake!
There was no sound! No whooshing sound! Not even a trace of killing intent was leaked! It wasn't until it entered her perception range that she detected it!

"what?!"

Ghost Moon was horrified; this arrow was far too strange! She forcibly twisted her body and leaped up to the side and upward into the sky like a startled swift!
"Pfft!"

Despite her lightning-fast reaction, the illusory arrow seemed to possess a life of its own, its trajectory slightly adjusted, and it instantly pierced through her left calf!
Blood splattered mixed with rainwater! A cold and domineering aura crept in through the wound, destroying her meridians and life force!
Guiyue groaned, staggered, and fell from mid-air.

However, she was extremely experienced in combat. Despite the excruciating pain, she rolled several times upon landing and crashed into the eaves of a nearby shop. Using the building as cover, she quickly concealed her presence, her face turning deathly pale.

"What a strange arrow! Silent and unpredictable, impossible to defend against!"

Gui Yue felt a chill run down her spine. She quickly channeled her inner energy to expel the chilling aura and rapidly bandaged her wounds, her eyes filled with vigilance and lingering fear. If it weren't for her sharp intuition, which allowed her to forcefully dodge at the last moment, that arrow would likely have pierced her heart instead of just her calf!
She had just regained her balance when she heard her companion, the gray sable, shouting anxiously from not far away.

"Ghost Month! Watch out on your left!"

Without a second thought, Guiyue immediately dodged to the right!

"Puff puff!"

Almost at the same time she left her spot, three equally silent, illusory arrows, like leeches clinging to bones, precisely pierced through the wall and ground where she had just stood, leaving three bottomless holes!

Still shaken, Guiyue crashed through the wall of the shop behind her again, rolling inside and temporarily escaping the other party's direct line of sight.

However, after this incident, she never heard any further warnings from her companion, the sable.

"Sable?"

Gui Yue's heart skipped a beat; an ominous premonition washed over her. The gray sable, skilled in stealth and reconnaissance, responsible for providing support and early warning from afar, suddenly fell silent…

Ignoring her leg injury and the potential danger, she leaped from the broken wall and rushed towards the general direction from which she had heard the sable's voice. Soon, at the entrance of a narrow alley, she saw the sable lying in a pool of blood and rain, barely breathing.

The sable was also dressed in night clothes, but the black mask covering his face had fallen off, revealing a young face twisted with pain.

A fist-sized hole was pierced through his abdomen, at the vital point of his dantian. The flesh around the wound was ashen and rotten, just like the wound on his leg! His cultivation had clearly been completely destroyed by this arrow!
"Sable!"

Guiyue rushed to his side, her voice trembling slightly.

The sable opened its eyes with difficulty, saw Ghost Moon, and a hint of relief flashed in its eyes. Then it spoke hurriedly in a hoarse and weak voice.

"Quick...run...don't worry about me...that kid...is too weird...Boss Canxue...forced him to fight back...he was seriously injured too...we've already...chased after him..."

He was panting heavily when he grabbed Guiyue's hand and pulled hard.

"The rules of Tingyu Tower... If the mission fails... you will bear the consequences... Don't... don't drag yourself down with me... Go..."

Looking at her companion's miserable state and listening to his intermittent advice, Guiyue's eyes were filled with grief, indignation, and resentment. She gritted her teeth and asked.

Which direction did he go?

The grey sable struggled to raise its hand and pointed in a direction that led to a more dilapidated and chaotic area deeper in the south of the city.

"An assassin's fate... is like this... to lose... means death... Don't... don't act impulsively..."

The sable's voice grew weaker and weaker, and its eyes began to glaze over.

Guiyue clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging deep into his palms, and blood dripped down mixed with the rain.

She hated it, hated that the target named Jiang Xuan was so troublesome and ruthless, and hated her own powerlessness even more! But she knew that the sable was right, and that acting impulsively at this moment might not only fail to save people, but also lead to her own demise.

Just as her heart was filled with hatred, anger, and resentment, and she hesitated whether to pursue him relentlessly—

In the distance, amidst the torrential rain, a rough, somewhat languid voice suddenly rang out, rolling across the long street like muffled thunder.

"These little brats from Tingyu Tower are fighting and killing here in the middle of the night, keeping me up all night. What, do they think Yanxia City is weak?"

Upon hearing this voice, both Guiyue and the dying gray sable's expressions changed drastically!

……

Meanwhile, several streets away from Guanchao Pavilion, deep within an even more dilapidated and almost abandoned residential area.

Jiang Xuan hid in the shadows of a corner of a dilapidated house with a half-collapsed roof and cracked walls, leaning against the cold, damp wall, breathing heavily.

His face was as pale as paper, and a shocking bloody hole in his chest was still slowly seeping blood. It was an injury left after he was forced to fight a direct attack by the most terrifying assassin of Tingyu Tower, a powerful figure codenamed "Remnant Snow".

If he hadn't used the spiritual energy he condensed from the "Storm Millstone" to protect himself at the critical moment, and hadn't used the Black Spirit Battle Blade to deflect most of the force, that strike would have been enough to completely pierce through his chest!

He dared not delay for the slightest and immediately began to activate the secret technique he had obtained from the Blood Killing Camp—the "Dongxuan Devouring Wilderness Scripture".

This technique is incredibly powerful, capable of accelerating the refining and absorption of elixirs and spiritual energy from heaven and earth.

Without hesitation, he swallowed the last Azure Jade Spirit Pill. The pure medicinal power quickly dissolved, replenishing his nearly depleted spiritual energy.

However, the gaping wound in his chest was far too severe, still harboring a chilling, alien aura that continuously eroded his life force and hindered the wound's healing. Even with the domineering power of the "Dongxuan Devouring Scripture," he could only barely suppress the injury from worsening; repairing it in a short time was simply impossible.

"time is limited."

Jiang Xuan's eyes were icy as he calculated in his mind. His injuries were slowing his recovery of physical strength and spiritual energy, and his opponent was the most elite assassin of Tingyu Tower—shrewd, patient, and with unfathomable power. His opponent was clearly waiting, waiting for his injuries to flare up or for him to reveal a fatal weakness.

This is a deadly game of patience and strength, and Jiang Xuan no longer has the resources to maneuver. Every second of delay means increasing danger.

Just as he was trying his best to suppress his aura and merge himself into the darkness, his chest muscles twitched slightly because he was forcibly circulating his cultivation technique to suppress his injuries. This caused a very subtle, almost imperceptible fluctuation in his aura, which had been suppressed to the extreme!

It's just this tiny, insignificant fluctuation!
"call out--!!!"

A blindingly bright arrow, seemingly formed from the coldest ice, shot through the deep darkness from afar, as if it had been predicted! Wherever the arrow passed, the air seemed to freeze, leaving a clear white trail of air, its speed exceeding the limits of visual perception!

"Boom!!!"

The eaves of the dilapidated house where Jiang Xuan was hiding, along with half of the wall, shattered and collapsed instantly like paper under the bombardment of this snow-white arrow! Broken stones and wood mixed with ice shards shot out in all directions!
Just before the arrow struck him, Jiang Xuan reacted a fraction of a second earlier, thanks to his extraordinary combat intuition and soul perception! He endured the tearing pain in his chest and rolled to the side and back like a cheetah, narrowly avoiding the fatal blow. However, the flying pebbles and the icy arrow still added several new wounds to his body, making him look even more disheveled.

"Northwest corner, 1,900 zhang!"

As Jiang Xuan rolled, his soul perception spread like a spider web, instantly locking onto the approximate direction and distance of the incoming arrow! This distance far exceeded the range of an ordinary archer, and also exceeded the attack range of all the opponents he had encountered before.

But for that terrifying assassin, this distance was probably the perfect position for him to unleash his most powerful sniping skills!
"I can only use 'Boundless' one more time..."

Jiang Xuan felt a heavy weight in his heart as he sensed the dwindling spiritual energy and divine soul power within his body. The severe injury to his chest was significantly affecting the gathering and circulation of his power. He estimated that if he exerted all his strength, he might be able to draw that strange spiritual bow one more time.

This means he only has one chance to counterattack! He must find that fleeting opportunity to strike while dodging and escaping, to kill the opponent in one blow, or at least severely injure him!
……

Nineteen hundred feet away, atop a towering, abandoned clock tower.

A blurry figure seemed to blend into the night and the rain. Like a weightless wisp of smoke, he moved silently through the complex eaves and brackets of the clock tower. His speed was not fast, but each step he took carried a constant and rhythmic cadence, as if in harmony with some kind of cosmic rule.

He was the ace of Tingyulou's operation, codenamed "Remnant Snow".

His cultivation level has reached the Heavenly Gang Realm! He is one of the strongest individuals truly standing at the top level in Yanxia City! He has never failed in his missions.

On his back slung a longbow, pure white as if carved from millennia-old jade, its surface shimmering with a faint, icy glow—a top-tier human-grade spiritual artifact, the Snow Mud Spirit Bow. Hanging at his waist was an ancient quiver containing twelve uniquely shaped arrows. (End of Chapter)