Chapter 21

‘What is this nonsense...’

For a moment, Gu Nansheng wondered if he had fallen into hell.

This was because six skeletal soldiers were staring at him with crimson ghostly flames burning in their hollow eye sockets.

Even he, who had lived his life with blood on his hands, felt a surge of fear.

Moreover.

‘How can a mere insect possess such aura...’

The skeletal soldier standing in the center, with bones dyed black, exuded an indescribable sense of oppression.

“Grr!”

“This is ridiculous.”

“Namu Amitabha! Namu Amitabha!”

The assassins, who had been burning with murderous intent towards Yu Xinyun, turned pale once again.

Terrified, they began to retreat step by step, their hands trembling as they held their swords.

Clack!

Clack!

The skeletal soldiers clacked their upper and lower jawbones noisily.

It seemed as if they were mocking and laughing at the frightened men.

‘This can't go on.’

Seeing this, Gu Nansheng gritted his teeth and shouted loudly at the assassins.

“Anyone who retreats further will have their head cut off by me first!”

With his shout, a cruel killing aura erupted from his entire body, pouring over the assassins.

However, in a situation where they were already gripped by greater fear, his words could not be properly conveyed to the assassins.

Gu Nansheng then took drastic action.

Swish!

“Gasp!”

Gu Nansheng rushed at an assassin who ignored his warning and retreated, slicing his back with a ghostly iron saber. The man, with a deep wound that exposed his bones, staggered weakly and finally collapsed to the ground.

Only then did the assassins, whose eyes trembled, finally hear Gu Nansheng's threat.

‘Damn! Whether I die this way or that way...’

‘Right, how strong can a bone skeleton be?’

‘It’s now or never!’

“Roar!”

“I’ll kill you!”

Swish!

Gathering their wits, they roared loudly and charged forward, trying to overcome their fear.

Now, only five assassins remained.

The black skeletal soldier, who seemed to be the leader, was left to Gu Nansheng, while the others charged at the remaining skeletal soldiers.

Clatter!

The skeletal soldiers also charged at them without hesitation.

Clang! Clang!

Soon, their weapons clashed in the air, sparks flying.

Unlike the assassins, who all wielded swords, the skeletal soldiers had a variety of weapons.

Two swords, one spear, one gauntlet.

And.

Whizz!

One bow.

With a sound that tore through the air, countless bone arrows rained down on the charging assassins like a storm.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The archer skeleton, standing at the back, was pulling arrows from a quiver wrapped around his spine and drawing the bowstring frantically.

“Gasp!”

“Ugh!”

Groans erupted from various places due to the archer skeleton's extraordinary shooting skills.

The assassins' bodies quickly accumulated large and small wounds.

While the bone spear's power was unmatched, the bone arrows of the skeletal archer cruelly targeted their vital points.

Despite their ability to cut through arrows with their eyes closed, the assassins found it difficult to deflect these bone arrows.

‘This is impossible!’

‘The internal energy in each arrow is not ordinary!’

‘How can a monster have martial arts skills!’

Each bone arrow contained the archer skeleton's internal energy, making it difficult to deflect.

Allowing even one to hit would be disastrous.

Scrape!

Thud!

“...Ugh!”

At that moment, a bone arrow pierced the skull of one of the assassins.

He had been confident that he had cut through the incoming arrow, but the shock was so great that he died with his eyes wide open.

Gu Nansheng, who had been watching the entire situation from behind, blinked in confusion.

‘No, how can that guy have such martial arts skills?’

The speed at which the arrows were fired was so fast that no one else noticed, but he clearly saw the hidden second arrow behind the first.

A technique that fired a second arrow on the same trajectory, ensuring a fatal wound even if the first was blocked.

It was the Dark Shadow Double Arrow (暗影連環矢, An Ying Lian Huan Shi).

Although the practitioner lacked the internal energy to reach the highest level, it was still a renowned technique of the Old Ji Gate, known as the Zhejiang One Bow.

Having witnessed the technique in his youth, he had no doubt about it.

‘...But it’s impossible.’

However, Gu Nansheng's expression clearly showed that he could not believe it.

It was impossible.

The Zhejiang One Bow Old Ji Gate had been buried in a cemetery over twenty years ago, after being entangled in a sudden conflict between orthodox and heterodox sects.

How could a technique that had been lost suddenly be used by Yu Xinyun's monsters?

It was absurd.

Unless they had risen from the dead.

The inexplicable unease he had felt earlier now completely enveloped his body.

‘Wait, now that I think about it...!’

As he carefully examined the skeletal soldiers fighting the assassins, his eyes widened dramatically.

Swish! Bang!

“Ugh, ugh!”

The spear of the skeletal spearman, infused with the essence of swift and deadly strikes, was like the fangs of a snake about to strike its prey.

The skeletal spearman was using the One-Hole Spear Demon's (一孔槍鬼, Yi Kong Qiang Gui) technique, the Piercing Yang Nineteen Stabs (鎖陽十九刺, Suo Yang Shijiu Ci), which was notorious for always leaving a hole in one of the opponent's limbs.

Whoosh! Bang!

“Roar!”

When the skeletal gauntlet extended its bony arm with a single punch, a tremendous wind pressure surged, striking the assassin forcefully.

After witnessing the reenactment of the Black Tiger Fist (黑虎拳, Hei Hu Quan), a famous technique of the Tiger-Leopard Iron Fist (虎豹鐵拳, Hu Bao Tie Quan), Gu Nansheng realized the undeniable truth.

‘This is impossible!’

He could no longer deny the clear truth in his mind.

Yu Xinyun's skeletal soldiers possessed the martial arts skills of first-class warriors who had once been famous in Zhejiang Province.

“Cough!”

Thud.

At that moment, another subordinate fell to his knees, spitting blood.

His body was riddled with holes and pierced by bone arrows like a porcupine.

“Ugh, we can't match them.”

“P-please, spare me!”

The assassins had completely lost their fighting spirit and were now swinging their swords mechanically, just to stay alive.

Despite possessing the same level of martial arts, the gap between the assassins and the skeletal soldiers was significant.

The skeletal soldiers were displaying a power far greater than they had in life.

Sensing the situation turning for the worst, Gu Nansheng quickly thought.

‘If I help these trash, I’ll be in danger too. Then...!’

A deep killing intent flashed in his eyes.

Boom!

Swish!

He stomped the ground forcefully and charged forward.

His speed was like a gale.

His target was one.

Yu Xinyun, who stood with his arms crossed, wearing a smug smile.

‘The fact that he’s not throwing bone spears means he’s focusing all his power on controlling these skeletons!’

He interpreted this as the reason why Yu Xinyun was not using any spells or techniques as he had before.

The best way to destroy a spell or formation was to kill the spellcaster.

‘I’ll kill him with one strike!’

Swish!

In just a few steps, Gu Nansheng reached close to Yu Xinyun and aimed to thrust the purple light on his steel claws into his neck.

Whizz!

At that moment.

‘Huh!’

As he extended his hand, Gu Nansheng suddenly felt a chill and a shiver.

‘This is dangerous!’

His instinctive sense warned him of the threat to his life.

“Ugh!”

Swish!

He quickly retracted his hand and threw himself to the ground using a technique from the Nalita School.

A moment later.

Boom!

A tremendous explosion sounded, and dust rose from where he had been standing.

“What, what is this?”

“E-even the boss...”

The assassins, too, were startled by the mysterious explosion and turned their heads.

As the dust, which had risen high, was swept away by the wind.

“Pant, pant!”

Gu Nansheng, who had narrowly survived, was breathing heavily.

His entire body, covered in dust from rolling on the ground, was a mess.

Coughing, he checked where he had been standing.

“...!”

A crater, as if struck by a stone from a catapult, was dug into the ground.

‘If I had been a little slower...’

He would have been completely crushed and unable to maintain his human form.

A cold sweat trickled down his forehead.

With trembling eyes, he looked at the one who had caused this scene.

Clack.

The black skeletal soldier was looking down at him with the dark red demon fire in its hollow eye sockets.

Despite confirming the positions of all the skeletal soldiers and acting, the black skeletal soldier had moved faster than he had anticipated and struck him with its sword.

‘...I can’t win.’

In just one move, Gu Nansheng realized that his opponent was far beyond his ability to challenge.

“Ugh!”

The pressure of being scrutinized by a deep abyss made a deep groan escape his lips.

Feeling a fear of death he had never experienced before, he could not regain his composure.

Swish.

The black skeletal soldier retrieved its pitch-black bone sword, which was embedded in the crater.

In the process.

Crack! Crack!

Black lightning began to surge from the blade.

Seeing this, Gu Nansheng naturally recognized the true nature of the black skeletal soldier's martial arts.

He muttered weakly.

“...Punishing Sword Tiger.”

Yu Xinyun, hearing Gu Nansheng's mutter, merely smiled without a word.

Gu Nansheng found Yu Xinyun's smile as terrifying as that of a demon.

When had they been deceived by this man?

To use even their deaths as part of his strategy...

‘He is truly a demon.’

All the life drained from Gu Nansheng's eyes.

“Ugh!”

Thud.

At that moment, the last assassin, who had held on until the end, met his death with a final scream.

Now, only Gu Nansheng and Jin Mihuo remained.

In contrast, the skeletal soldiers had suffered no casualties.

A chilling silence filled the air.

Clack. Clack.

The skeletal soldiers formed a circle and surrounded Gu Nansheng.

“Hah, hah.”

Gu Nansheng let out a self-mocking laugh.

‘Ha, I thought I could predict a few steps ahead. Foolishly, I didn’t realize today was my own funeral day.’

Swish!

Realizing there was no way out, Gu Nansheng began to draw up all his innate energy, the source of his life force.

The purple light at the tips of his steel claws burned fiercely, like the last flame of a candle.

Swish!

“Roar!”

Finally, he let out a bestial roar and charged.

Without any concern for defense, he charged straight at the black skeletal soldier, taking the rain of bone arrows head-on.

In response, the black skeletal soldier.

Swish! Swish!

Ignited a sword aura on its bone sword, far larger than Gu Nansheng's.

‘...Is this the last day of the Jin Family Manor?’

With that thought, Gu Nansheng's consciousness faded to white.

The martial world's reborn top-tier player.