I am a swordsman in a strange city

Chapter 106 The Man in the Shadows

The young man with the middle parting suddenly moved. His body was clearly visible under the streetlights, and you could see him crouching and rushing towards Pei Ju. The soil behind him tumbled up the moment he moved.

Pei Ju knew nothing about him and had no idea what his abilities were, but he knew that the video of him fighting with that ancient style character was online, and the other party must have seen it and studied it.

Pei Ju knew that from that video, anyone with a discerning eye could see that his main ability lay in swordsmanship, and that he had the ability to distinguish between real and fake clones, and that his sword was very sharp.

Therefore, later attackers will avoid close combat with themselves and avoid using fancy clone techniques to fight them.

But Ah Yong still charged towards Pei Ju, still intending to engage in close combat.

There's only one possibility: he's very confident in his close-combat abilities, and he's confident that he can counter Pei Ju's swordsmanship.

Know yourself and the enemy, a hundred battles will never end.

Pei Ju knew nothing about the other party, so he chose to avoid them.

He leaped up, like a wild goose soaring backward, soaring into the air. A gust of wind blew, and he rose even higher, leaving only a large black shadow on the ground.

However, the gambling addict A Yong had already rushed to the spot where he had just stood when he leaped up. Pei Ju was no longer there, only Pei Ju's shadow remained, so he punched the shadow on the ground.

Pei Ju felt as if he had been struck by a heavy blow; the punch hadn't hit him directly, but it felt as if it had.

Pei Ju, who was originally about to float onto a street lamp or a tree, suddenly plummeted down, like a kite that had lost its wind, or a wild goose that had been shot, falling towards the ground.

Gambling addict Ah Yong revealed a cruel smile. He looked up and saw the spot where Pei Ju had fallen with his broken wings, and rushed over there once again.

Like a hunting dog pouncing on its prey.

He likes to gamble because he often wins.

However, where there is gambling, there is cheating. He never intended to be fair. Others didn't know his abilities, but he knew theirs, which was cheating.

He had already leaped up like a tiger; before Pei Ju even landed on the ground, he had already pounced on him.

However, just as he was about to pounce on Pei Ju, Pei Ju suddenly flipped over while feeling weightless.

How can a person flip in the air? Pei Ju can. He soars into the air, as if he is luring his opponent. The prey and the hunter are always interdependent. The one who survives is the real hunter. The battle continues, and the prey and the hunter are forever changing positions.

Just as after adversity comes prosperity, and after prosperity comes adversity.

As Pei Ju flipped backward, he held the Thunderfire Demon-Slaying Sword in his hand as if it were a real sword, and slashed it towards A Yong.

He doesn't need to care about the location he's marking, or whether his hand will block it, because his target isn't his hand, his chest, his throat, his eyes, or any physical object.

This sword strike was just like the one he had swung countless times into the cave beneath the Xijiang Xionglan Peak Taoist temple. His target was the vast, deep, and eerie darkness, the will hidden in the deepest recesses.

So A Yong held one hand in front of him and reached out to grab Pei Ju with the other, but after grabbing nothing, his eyes seemed to see a ray of light, like the light of a street lamp overhead, which shone on the sharp object in Pei Ju's hand and formed a metallic gleam.

He felt a nameless fear. The ray of light detached from the metal surface and transformed into a beam of light falling from the sky, cutting through a dark patch of sky and descending towards the earth. He happened to be in the direction where that beam of light fell.

He seemed stunned, unable to escape, only filled with boundless fear—the terror born from the light of creation that had pierced through his inner world.

"Bang!" A Yong's brave body fell to the ground, his head hitting the ground and bleeding. He was like a wild beast, lying on the ground, but his body only twitched instinctively and he never got up again.

Pei Ju landed lightly on the ground not far away, turning his head to the other side.

Under that tree, in a shadow that the streetlights couldn't penetrate, the person was still standing there, but he didn't dare to move an inch.

"Aren't you going to help him?" Pei Ju asked the person in the shadows.

The person in the shadows sighed, "It wasn't enough time; you killed them too quickly."

"Oh, then why don't you run?" Pei Ju asked.

"I'm thinking about how to escape," the person in the shadows said.

“Before you run, I might ask you a question, and after you ask, I can let you go,” Pei Ju said.

"Is that so? Go ahead and ask." The shadow seemed resigned to its fate.

"Who sent you to kill me?" Pei Ju asked.

"It's just a matter of posting your name and home address on the dark web. Who knows who wants to kill you? After they kill you, they can just collect their reward there," the person in the shadows said.

"How much am I worth?" Pei Ju asked.

“Three million,” the person in the shadows said.

"It doesn't seem like there are many," Pei Ju remarked softly.

"There will be more tomorrow. The value of an assassin increases with each success, while the value of a victim increases with each successful evasion of assassination or counter-attack," the person in the shadows replied honestly.

"Have you figured out how to escape?" Pei Ju asked.

"No, I feel your gaze is like a sword. The moment I move, you can pierce through this shadow and thrust your sword into the depths of my heart." The person in the shadows spoke of their feelings.

"Hehe, you two are a duo?" Pei Ju asked again.

"No, we've only cooperated twice. To assassinate someone, if we're not confident, or if we happen to encounter someone else who has also taken on the mission, we'll cooperate," the person in the shadows said.

"So, you actually made a move just now, right?" Pei Ju said. "That guy with the middle parting, his attack on my shadow couldn't actually hurt me. The one who could really move my shadow and make me uncomfortable was you, right?" Pei Ju calmly exposed their cooperation.

"Alas, you are indeed a very difficult opponent to deal with. Your insight and judgment regarding combat opportunities are extremely keen. Most importantly, your swordsmanship has reached a terrifying level. You are worth at least ten million." The person in the shadows did not deny it.

If someone could see through the shadows at this moment, they would find that the person in the shadows is holding a doll in his hand, the doll lying in his palm. In his other hand, he holds a needle suspended between the doll's eyebrows, and his eyes are fixed on Pei Ju, motionless.

His voice sounded helpless, resigned, and honest, but his actions were extremely cautious and serious.

His gaze fell on Pei Ju's right hand again. He knew that Pei Ju was holding a small sword in his right hand. It was that small sword that had severed the life consciousness of the gambling dog, A Yong, with a single swing.

(End of this chapter)