Martial King's Retired Life

“Y-you… Why are you here?!”

Ming Feizhen hiked up a corner of his lips. “Should I have waited for you to get ready and come knock?”

“Kill him!” The leader regained commanded once he regained his composure, reaching for the iron case on his back. “He has lost his internal energy! He has lost his internal energy! Now is the prime opportunity to kill him!”

The vital piece of information was what empowered the leader to lead the group as it was something only he knew, but his iron case wasn’t there when he was supposed to have reached it. He never took his eyes off the battlefield.

The hammer user could produce hundreds of pounds of force in a single swing, yet Ming Feizhen used his own hammer to puncture his throat as soon as they were within arm’s reach. The axe user, who had once slain a tiger on his own, got caught by a flash of ember from Ming Feizhen’s left hand, went reeling and perished. Two other assassins worked together to put Ming Feizhen in a pincer attack. The swordsman and broadsworder were both respectable in their fields and had splendid chemistry, yet their opponent somehow simultaneously had the swordsman pierce the broadsworder’s throat and broadsworder separate the swordsman head from his shoulder. It took Ming Feizhen a total of five steps since entering the building to leave behind four casualties – if the archer teetering the line between life and death wasn’t counted. Perhaps the only comfort in all of it was that he made their deaths instantaneous.

The leader couldn’t tell how Ming Feizhen did it, what martial arts discipline he used or if it even was a martial arts discipline.

“You’re right in that I have no internal energy.” Ming Feizhen flashed a corner of his white pearls as if he read the leader’s mind. “You’re just weak.”

Ming Feizhen drew his broadsword from his scabbard. The leader had never seen such dominance and speed in his life. All his saw after the blade appeared was it being sheathed back in. Ming Feizhen looked over his shoulder to search for Wang Zhenyun and then said something that made Wang Zhenyun mumble with a pallor expression. After that, Wang Zhenyun’s lips looked as though they were terrified of something. Ming Feizhen didn’t move from his spot, yet his voice sounded as though it was coming from further and further away, while the leader heard his own heart beats louder and louder, until he finally felt sharp pain from all four limbs. As blood gushed from his limbs, he collapsed to the ground as though his limbs were mush.

The leader wasn’t sure if he was cut four times or in one single motion, but he knew that his limbs’ tendons were sliced when he saw the blade. Even though pain would be the primary feeling for people in his condition, fear overrode the sense of pain; no matter how close he got, no matter how clear he could’ve seen, the fear of the giant man, or monster, before him wouldn’t subside.

Ming Feizhen went back to the leader once he said what he wanted to Wang Zhenyun, pulled his face covering and asked, “Name?”

The leader bit down on his lip and lowered his head, only for the death god to tell him, “If you’re waiting for your three companions in the corridor, you’ll be here forever because I dealt with them before I came here.”

The leader looked up with his jaw hanging down. He could no longer tell if he was up against a human being or a monster. Ming Feizhen cracked a smile and voiced, “You want to kill me, but I don’t want to kill you. Some of your brothers, such as the archer and doctor, are still alive and capable. I can spare you, but on the condition that you tell the truth. Who are you people? Why are you trying to kill me?”

Who wouldn’t fear an opponent they knew nothing about? Mayhap the man with his face covered by his hoodie wouldn’t.

“Who are we? Who are we? Do you really have no recollection?”

Ming Feizhen took a close-look at the no-longer-young man, then shook his head. “I don’t remember you.”

“Hahaha, of course you don’t remember me or us. We are devils out for your life… H-how would you remember us? You’re Ming Feizhen. You’re the Ming Feizhen who murdered the heroes of the three rivers in a single night.”

Ming Feizhen was taken aback. He only mentioned the story to the few people he was close to… or old enemies, so he didn’t expect the man before him to know about it. The leader himself was aware that he was only going to have one chance in a lifetime to catch Ming Feizhen by surprise. The leader knew about the existence of “that” from the archer, but he was unable to dig up anything deeper. Nevertheless, it wasn’t the first failure to get closer to the secret, but they were happy enough to have verification that it did exist. They exchanged their entire team’s lives to confirm that Ming Feizhen was still dangerous without his martial arts skills, but their assassination operation crumbled before its full design could be implemented. Fortunately, an opportunity had presented itself. Ming Feizhen opened himself to “it”!

Like an ephemeral spirit, a human silhouette and blue eyes behind an iron mask, alongside his blue-glowing broadsword, materialised. The blade had prematurely ended many heroic tales and granted its wielder the title of League of Assassins’ top assassin.

Clang! The lethal slash grazed thin air prior to colliding with the solid ground.

“Kid, where did you learn that technique from?”

The voice would go on to become Vivianite’s most traumatic memory.

“You would dare to attack me with it?”

The moment they met eyes, Vivianite felt an indescribable sick feeling in his gut that he’d never felt before.