Xie Yang was whistling in happiness while moving out of the golden woodlands when he suddenly caught the sound of a footstep.
Although It was barely audible, he had heard it.
'Huh? Is someone following me?' Xie Yang thought while turning around to look at the noise source with a scrutinizing gaze.
He thanked himself for being extra careful and suspicious because the moment he turned around, he saw a man in black rushing towards him without making a sound.
The assassin saw that Xie Yang had already noticed him and no longer felt the need to suppress his breath or silence the sound of its movement.
He pressed his feet on the ground, buckled its knees, and sprang forward.
Whoosh!
He shot towards Xie Yang with incredible speed.
Before Xie Yang knew it, the assassin's sword was inches away from his neck.
His eyes widened for a moment but then narrowed almost immediately.
A smile crept up to his face and sat on his lips as he muttered a single keyword to activate the second ability of his gauntlet instantly.
[Second Skill: Impenetrable Spiritual Skin!]
Following Xie Yang's will and desire, the gauntlet, which he had hidden under his sleeves, released several wisps of spiritual energy in the split of a second.
In that very moment, each of them swirled up to his neck, coating it in multiple layers of spiritual energy.
Bam!
The assassin's short sword landed on his neck but failed even to pierce his skin.
"What the hell?!"
The assassin's eyes widened like saucers, disbelief vivid in them.
How could the skin of a person who had just started cultivating be so powerful as to survive the sword of a bronze-ranked assassin?
Moreover, how could Xie Yang, who was just a youngster, be able to react so fastly and calmly to such a terrifying situation?!
Did that even make sense?
It didn't make sense to the assassin.
He not only failed to notice that Xie Yang had utilized the help of a spiritual object to survive his attack but also didn't know that hidden under the skin of a youthful man lay an ancient king!
"Who are you?"
Xie Yang questioned the assassin, who regained his senses, pulled back his short sword, and thrust it at his chest.
"A soon-to-be-dead man destined for the underworld does not need to know."
Xie Yang snorted in disdain as he used his will to order his spiritual object to do something for him.
The layers of spiritual energy gathered at his neck went all the way down to his hand, which he raised to grab hold of the assassin's short sword.
The assassin was shocked again by his actions, and his bewildering feeling doubled when he saw that Xie Yang was uninjured even after grabbing the sharp sword.
He blinked his eyes in disbelief, but even after opening them, the situation Xie Yang had presented before him didn't change.
The assassin, unable to believe what was happening, pushed his sword forward with all his strength, causing his muscles to bulge and his veins to throb.
However, his efforts were useless as neither did his sword manage to cut into his skin nor did Xie Yang move a step away from his place.
Xie Yang's murderous voice sounded in the assassin's ears.
The assassin looked up and met his eyes that were brimming with intense murderous desire.
'These eyes can't possibly belong to a human!'
The assassin felt like he was standing before a dragon or the greatest of the devil that had killed tens of thousands of demons to stand tall and mighty.
Xie Yang's killing intent was so immense that the assassin felt the illusion of suffering in hell for not too long, only an eternity.
The assassin felt so terrified that he sweated so much that droplets of sweat drenched his entire back.
Moreover, he pissed himself in fear of Xie Yang!
"Pathetic!'
Xie Yang stole the assassin's short sword before tilting it and stabbing it into the assassin's chest.
The assassin slumped to the ground weakly.
The pain had woken him up from his fear.
"Don't be too happy… they will drag you down to hell for me."
Before breathing his last, the assassin uttered those words to confuse and terrify Xie Yang.
However, his word did the opposite.
'They who?'
'Wait! Are there more assassins searching for me?'
"That might most likely be the case."
After hearing what he said, Xie Yang was sure that more assassins were hiding in the golden woodlands to take care of him.
'I need to be careful.'
He warned himself and then searched the assassin.
He found two things, a pamphlet, and a bronze medal.
The first one revealed that someone had set 10000 gold taels worth of bounty on his head.
The second one showed the cultivation level of the assassin and also his position in the Spades organization.
Spade and Hades were the two most strongest assassination organizations.
Having the members of one of the two targeting him was surely an honor for Xie Yang.
After collecting what he could from the assassin, he took to the higher ground.
He continued his journey hopping from one tree to another while looking out for danger.
He came to a stop when he caught four to five assassins looking for him.
As he was on top of a branch and hiding behind its lust and green leaves, the assassins failed to notice him.
"I set you in charge of spying on him because you said you were an expert at it, so how could you lose him?!" One of the assassins, which Xie Yang determined to be at the 8th level of cultivation, shouted at a level 4 assassin with immature features and a short figure.
"It's not my fault. Nature called for me, and I couldn't help but pee far away from him as to not let its putrid smell reach his nose. I only went away for a while, but he disappeared. I tracked his footsteps, but even that took me nowhere close to him."