Chapter 2209: Attack
Xia Xing’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the old woman. "Granny Beans?"
The old woman's smile somehow became a bit dangerous. "I didn't expect anyone to still know about me."
Xia Xing's expression quickly grew ugly. "How are you here in this era?"
Off in the distance, Kui Luo was stunned by the sight. "It's her? I never expected her to show up in this era. I guess she was in cryostasis. Realmless is more capable than anyone assumed if they’re able to pull this off."
"Who is she?" Lu Yin asked.
Kui Luo’s voice dropped low, "Granny Beans is someone even older than me, and she was notorious during her time. Her favorite pastime was spreading her bean soldiers."
"Spreading bean soldiers? What is that supposed to mean?" Lu Yin was puzzled.
"She would grow parasitic beans inside people. Those beans are her innate gift, and anyone who is infected parasitized by her beans will lose all intelligence and become her puppet. Even worse, her beans eat people’s brains."
Lu Yin frowned, and he looked back at the diminutive Granny Beans far away. "Is that why you said that she likes to spread her bean soldiers?"
"I’m not at all surprised that Xia Xing can recognize her, because Granny Beans’ death was never confirmed, and it’s possible for cultivators to survive a very long time in cryostasis. As long as someone’s death hasn’t been verified, it’s always possible that they’ll pop back up later. Still, the woman’s strength isn’t that impressive. Even after all this time, she still hasn’t managed to become a Semi-Progenitor," Kui Luo explained.
While Kui Luo was speaking, Granny Beans and Xia Xing had already started fighting.
Granny Beans was a seven-tribulation expert, which surpassed Xia Xing’s cultivation. However, the man was the sect master of Shenwu's Sky, which left Lu Yin dubious about the results of this fight.
Unsurprisingly, it was not long before Granny Beans was sent flying by the Shenwu Transformation giant. She spat out some blood and then threw out a handful of beans. Each one quickly transformed into a fearless human who charged at Xia Xing. These thousands of beans were thousands of cultivators that the old woman had slaughtered and transformed into her puppets. It was a ruthless display of power.
Xia Xing’s hands kept swinging, and each slap managed to kill several bean soldiers.
Each bean soldier had been created by a person that Granny Beans had regarded as valuable, which meant that none of them were weaklings. Still, they could not compare to Xia Xing, and they were little more than ants to him. No matter what they had accomplished in life, each of them was slapped dead by Xia Xing.
Suddenly, the drumming sound returned, and its abrupt appearance instantly caused Xia Xing's heart to stop beating.
Another master had appeared. They might only be a five-tribulation Envoy, but this person’s unique ability meant that Xia Xing could not maintain his Shenwu Transformation any longer.
"The Shenwu Transformation is difficult to directly contest, but that person’s drum is resonating with Xia Xing's heartbeat, and it’s been doing so from the very beginning. Xia Xing thought that he had killed them with that sudden attack, but there was a brief opening at that moment, which weakened the Shenwu Transformation. Without that, both of the assassins would have been taken out before they could even join forces," Kui Luo commented.
Lu Yin frowned. "If this is all that Realmless is capable of, then they won’t even be able to force Xia Xing to show his full hand, let alone actually kill him."
"If Realmless is able to find people like Granny Beans, then forget about what you’re seeing right now. They’re even more capable than you can even imagine," Kui Luo said.
Lu Yin had to agree with Kui Luo on that. After all, Realmless had sent assassins after Lu Yin more than once, and he had a deep impression of their strange methods of targeting people.
Although Xia Xing's Shenwu Transformation had faded away, his Divine Martial Armor still remained. A knife appeared in his hand, and he slashed at Granny Beans. The Xia family’s blade techniques were famous, and the slash forced an ugly expression to appear on the little old woman’s face. Going after people from powerful sects was something that she feared greatly, given their strength and diverse means. While there were tremendous benefits from killing such a person, Granny Beans had to live to reap the benefits.
Why hasn't it worked yet? It should have worked.
Xia Xing’s blade dropped, but suddenly, his attack stopped, and his body fell almost to the ground.
He glanced around in shock. He had been poisoned? When?
Granny Beans heaved a sigh of relief and finally smiled. "Do you really think that it’s that easy to defeat my Realmless? Xia Xing, it's over!"
The woman then personally attacked, while the five-tribulation Envoy continued beating the drum behind Xia Xing to stop the sect master from using his Shenwu Transformation. The two assassins attacked in unison.
Xia Xing had been poisoned, and the assassins were completely confident in Realmless's poisons. As long as the poison took effect, Xia Xing was guaranteed to be rendered helpless for at least a few moments.
This was a poison made by Realmless. It was impossible to see or block, and even if someone noticed the poison and tried to dodge it, it was able to seep into the true universe and linger in the void. It was invisible to the naked eye, and it was too easy to make contact with an invisible poison that could linger in the void. It was truly impossible for anyone to avoid Realmless’s attacks.
Lu Yin felt a flicker of fear as he watched. The most terrifying aspect of Realmless was not the strength of their assassins, but rather their odd means of attacking people. All sorts of bizarre methods would be employed, and that made it impossible for people to guard against all possible attacks.
When Lu Yin had been using the identity of Long Qi, Realmless had sent assassins after him on several occasions. The most dangerous attack was when he had been escaping the Perennial World. Realmless had actually attacked the location that Lu Yin needed to use to return to the Fifth Mainland, and he had been attacked by three arrows aimed at his head, neck, and heart. At that moment, Lu Yin had been frozen, and he had truly believed himself dead.
If Liu Ye had not happened to be following Lu Yin, it was truly possible that Realmless might have successfully killed Lu Yin at that time.
As long as Realmless accepted a job, they would not give up. It did not matter whom the target was. As long as a sufficient price was paid and it was within their means, Lu Yin was certain that they would even attack a Progenitor.
Realmless was even willing to go after the sect master of an organization as powerful as Shenwu’s Sky.
Granny Beans and the five-tribulation Envoy moved closer to Xia Xing before they both attacked together.
Lu Yin watched in silence.
Xia Xing suddenly looked up, and his body abruptly started moving. His long knife swept out, instantly decapitating both Granny Beans and the five-tribulation expert who had gotten close to him.
This was the Xia family’s secret technique: Reversal. It was able to reverse anything: battle techniques, injuries, and even strengthening abilities.
After beheading Granny Beans and the Envoy, Xia Xing let out a sigh of relief. He was sweating, and blood trickled from his mouth. Still, his eyes were ice-cold. He was determined to completely eradicate Realmless after this.
He glanced back at Granny Beans' body, and then moved to leave.
Without warning, the old woman’s corpse split into two, and a smaller figure instantly appeared right in front of Xia Xing, catching him unprepared. The tiny figure pressed a hand against the sect master’s head, and he let out a scream as he quickly pulled back as far as possible. There was a bean in his right eye, and it was forcing its way deeper into his head.
Xia Xing was furious, and his knife slashed out again, but his opponent was too small and agile, and they escaped into the true universe.
From the distance, Lu Yin and Kui Luo clearly saw that the tiny figure was a miniature version of Granny Beans.
Kui Luo was amazed. "So that’s her real body. The one-meter-tall one we saw before was nothing more than a disguise. Did she really keep her true body a secret for so many years?"
Lu Yin was reminded of Elder Wu, who had also pretended to be taller than his true height. The man had nearly killed Lu Yin due to that deception, and he had not expected to see the same trick being used again.
Would Xia Xing survive this crisis?
Lu Yin did not actually want Realmless to succeed in killing Xia Xing, as Lu Yin had believed it to be beyond the organization’s abilities. If Xia Ziheng had the blade qi of a Progenitor, then how could Xia Xing not have similar means to protect himself?
However, Lu Yin had underestimated Realmless. If this bean really did manage to work its way into Xia Xing's brain, then he would become Granny Beans’ puppet, and that would cause all of Lu Yin’s plans to fall apart. The price that he had paid for Realmless to attack Xia Xing would be wasted.
Lu Yin started to get very worried.
Xia Xing let out a furious roar, and then a sharp blade qi erupted. This was a Progenitor’s blade qi, and it was the exact same power that Xia Ziheng had used before.
While Realmless had many assassins and strange methods, the organization had a fatal weakness: they had no connection to any Progenitors. At best, they had access or connections to Semi-Progenitors, but they had never managed to establish any kind of connection with the Progenitor level of power.
Once the Progenitor’s blade qi appeared, Granny Beans’ smug smile did not even have time to fall from her face before her body was destroyed, completely erased from the sky.
Xia Xing's left hand pierced deep into his eye, and eventually, he managed to yank the bean out. His eye was also removed, and blood covered half of his head.
"Realmless! Realmless–!" Xia Xing roared. His knife stabbed into the ground, and he started gasping for air. He knew that Granny Beans was really dead this time, as if she were still alive, it would not have been so easy to extract the bean from his head.
Xia Xing's hatred for Realmless rose to unprecedented levels.
Far away, Kui Luo said, "Alright kid, it's our turn now. Don't worry, Realmless has failed in their attack. They might be capable of a lot of things, but they’ve never managed to touch the true peak of power. A Progenitor’s power is enough to sweep away everything that Realmless can bring out."
Lu Yin nodded, and then stepped forward, instantly appearing right in front of Xia Xing.
Xia Xing was holding his face where his right eye had been, but his head still snapped up when he noticed that someone had arrived. He reflexively grabbed for the hilt of his knife, but Lu Yin was faster. While Xia Xing's hand reached for his knife, Lu Yin grabbed the man’s hand.
Xia Xing tried his best to grab his knife, but he could not move an inch.
This startled the sect master, but despite his redoubled efforts, Xia Xing was unable to move. Instinctively, he activated his Divine Martial Armor, as he wanted to increase his strength and brandish knife. However, it was suppressed and prevented from manifesting. No matter what Xia Xing tried, this hand was held firmly in place, and he could not budge it at all.
Xia Xing looked up at Lu Yin, and the man’s pupils instantly shrank. "Are yo- Yu Hao!"
A smile spread across Lu Yin's face. "It’s been a while, Sect Master Xia."
Xia Xing stared at Lu Yin in disbelief. "You- How? No, there’s no way you’re Yu Hao! No matter how talented Yu Hao might be, it’s impossible for him to grow strong enough within two decades to surpass me."
What was most shocking was not Lu Yin’s overwhelming strength, but rather that he had managed to suppress Xia Xing’s Divine Martial Armor. That should be utterly impossible for anyone to do.
The Divine Martial Armor was the Xia family’s greatest technique. Even if the Lu family had previously suppressed the Xia family itself, they had never been able to suppress the Divine Martial Armor, as it simply could not be done.
Despite that, Xia Xing’s Divine Martial Armor was completely suppressed by Lu Yin, and it almost seemed as if the power had somehow surrendered to Lu Yin. It completely defied the sect master’s understanding.
"Sect Master Xia, come with me." Lu Yin casually knocked Xia Xing unconscious, placed a Death Seal upon the man’s stellular energy vortex, and then tossed the man into Zenith Mountain. After that, Lu Yin raised a hand and used Lifeseizer Palm.
This was one of the Lu family's unique techniques, and Lu Yin had learned it from Xin Nü. At this moment, it was just what Lu Yin needed.
After everything was settled, Lu Yin left. As for evidence of Realmless’s battle with Xia Xing, Lu Yin did not touch anything. It was fine to let Shenwu's Sky go after Realmless.
Realmless had been given an Enhanced Netherworld River as a deposit for Xia Xing’s assassination, but even though the assassination had failed, the deposit would not be returned. Since Lu Yin had already paid for their efforts, he saw no reason to help Realmless by hiding their activities.
Lu Yin might use Realmless, but he still hated the organization’s mere existence.
OMA's Thoughts
NOTICE TO CHAMPIONS:
It's been three years since the first chapter of Star Odyssey was released on Wuxia World. Since then, we've released 2201 public chapters (you all have no idea how badly that odd number bothers us...). During at least the past two years, I know that there have been people asking for more free chapters (always great for readers) and for the VIP tiers to be changed or more tiers to be added.
We have not been ignoring those requests. For the last year, OMA and the rest of the team have been working on building a buffer for today. Starting today, each of the recently reworked, renamed VIP tiers will gain access to more, or even double, chapters than ever before. As if that weren't enough, we've even added another tier for those asking...
We hope that these changes will benefit all of you, and to be honest, I'm looking forward to cutting back on the workload a bit after today.
Translated By: OMA
Edited By: Neshi/Nyxnox
TLC'ed By: OMA
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