Marcus Meng was a lover of strong drink—though honestly, few soldiers weren’t. So when Fiona Li pressed down his hand to stop him, he grumbled in protest, "Why can’t we talk business over drinks?"
Fiona Li shook her head, firm in her stance. "Absolutely not. This is way too important—and if we pull it off, it’s going to be a massive achievement!"
"Fine, have it your way!" Marcus Meng could only set down his wine glass, resigned.
"Ian, why don’t you explain?" Fiona Li turned to Ian Song.
"Sure!"
Ian didn’t stand on ceremony—he repeated everything he’d just told Fiona Li to Marcus Meng.
After hearing it all, Marcus Meng looked just as shocked as Fiona Li had been.
"Ian, is your movement technique really reliable? If it fails, we could end up stranded on the other side!" Marcus Meng asked, a bit worried.
"Why don’t we give it a try?" Ian said.
"How do we try it?" Marcus Meng asked, curious.
"I’ll let you guys experience it. Each of you, grab one of my arms!" Ian instructed.
"Alright!"
Both of them reached out and grabbed one of Ian’s arms.
"Let’s go!"
With a flicker of movement, all three vanished from the tavern’s private box. When they reappeared, they were already out on the battlefield outside the city.
Both Fiona Li and Marcus Meng were intimately familiar with the battlefield terrain. After a quick look around, they estimated the spot was about a hundred li from the tavern.
"That’s incredible!"
"Your movement art is truly unrivaled!"
After experiencing the Art of Great Teleportation firsthand, both of them couldn’t help but gush.
"Let’s head back!"
With another flash, the three appeared back inside the tavern’s private box.
“Old Meng, are you in? You want in on this?”
Having witnessed Ian Song’s miraculous movement technique, Fiona Li felt fully confident in his plan.
“Only a fool would say no!”
Marcus Meng nodded. “But there’s some real danger for Ian in this plan!”
He considered that Ian was only at early Grandmaster, and if that Shadow Devil Martial Saint made a move on him, the risk of being killed was high.
“True.”
Fiona Li had the same concern and looked at Ian with worry.
“Relax, I’m not about to gamble with my own life!” As he spoke, Ian produced a set of armor that looked as if it was bathed in flames.
“Ninth-grade spirit armor. With this, I can at least block a full-force blow from an initial-stage Martial Saint!” Fiona said.
After putting away the armor, Ian took out Purple Thunder and handed it to Fiona. “This Purple Thunder sword is also a ninth-grade spirit artifact. Use it for tonight’s operation—it’ll boost our chances of success.”
“Awesome!”
Fiona grabbed Purple Thunder, her eyes lighting up with excitement. Then she grumbled enviously, “You’re just an early Grandmaster and you’ve got two ninth-grade spirit artifacts? That’s so unfair!”
“They were gifts from my seniors,” Ian said with a smile.
“Why does nobody ever give me anything?” Fiona’s expression grew even more resentful.
Ian said, “If you help take down that Shadow Devil Martial Saint, asking Commander Lei for a ninth-grade spirit artifact shouldn’t be hard!”
“Right! Why didn’t I think of that?”
Fiona’s eyes lit up, then he suddenly thought of something. “Should we let the commander know about this?”
“Not yet. Let’s wait until we’ve killed that Shadow Devil Martial Saint—give him a surprise!” Ian shook his head.
“All right, it’s decided! Come on, let’s toast to our plan!”
"Cheers!"
That night, at the center of the Strongarm Bull Devil camp.
Inside the ten-thousand-man commander's tent, the newly appointed commander couldn't sleep. As long as the assassin wasn't caught, he couldn't rest—who knew if he'd wake up with his head still attached?
Ten elite guards stood watch around his tent. With their speed, they'd be inside the tent the moment an assassin appeared.
Dark clouds blanketed the Blood River battlefield—no sun by day, and no moon at night.
Tonight, the darkness was deeper than ever, yet not a breath of wind stirred across the land.
It was the perfect 'murder night'—just as the saying goes: when the moon is dark and the wind is high, it's the night for killing.
With a flash, Ian Song brought Fiona Li and Marcus Meng to the outskirts of the Strongarm Bull Devil camp.
To avoid slowing themselves down, both Fiona and Marcus wore light gear—no armor tonight.
With a thought, Ian left Fiona and Marcus at their position, then teleported into the camp and released his Sword Puppet.
The Sword Puppet quickly crept toward the central command tent. Ian teleported back outside the camp, where Fiona and Marcus instinctively grabbed his arms. Together, the three teleported into the camp interior.
The Sword Puppet was already in motion.
It launched a direct attack on one of the guards.
Unfortunately, the guard was extremely alert and avoided injury.
With its strike unsuccessful, the Sword Puppet immediately turned and fled.
After three days of pent-up tension, the ten elite guards were itching to catch the assassin. Eight of them instantly chased after the Sword Puppet, leaving only two to protect the commander.
Ian signaled Fiona and Marcus, then vanished and reappeared inside the command tent!
The two remaining guards stood close to the commander, acting as bodyguards.
"Spatial Stasis!"
In an instant, a small pocket of frozen space formed around them.
"Kill!"
Sword light flashed like lightning, slicing through the necks of all three targets in an instant.
Outside the tent, Morris Shade's body blended almost perfectly into the darkness.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up and he darted toward the tent like an invisible shadow.
He moved with astonishing speed, arriving at the tent's edge in an instant—just in time to witness Ian's sword sweeping through the three necks.
"So the assassin is a human Grandmaster!"
A flash of surprise crossed Morris Shade's eyes as he appeared above Ian and slammed his palm down, aiming for Ian's head.
But just then, a figure burst into the tent right behind him.
The purple sword transformed into a roaring sword-dragon, crashing straight toward Morris Shade's back.
If Morris Shade continued his palm strike, he'd surely kill the human Grandmaster—but he couldn't guarantee he'd dodge the sword-dragon.
Besides, he figured the human Grandmaster was just bait, so he dodged without hesitation.
But the moment he dodged, the tent roof suddenly burst open—Marcus Meng dropped in from above, saber light pouring down like a reversed galaxy, engulfing Morris Shade.
"It's a trap—a trap set just for me!"
In that instant, Morris Shade understood the critical point.
But understanding didn't help—in the face of two human Martial Saints, both wielding ninth-grade spirit gear, and one of them more than twice as strong as himself, he had no way out.
Bang!
Splurt!
Morris Shade spat blood and was blasted backward, his face instantly turning pale as paper.
But Fiona Li and Marcus Meng gave him no time to recover—a saber and sword struck again from two sides.
This time, gravely wounded, Morris Shade was pierced straight through the head and heart.
From Morris Shade's attack on Ian in the tent to Fiona and Marcus's pincer strike and his death, the whole sequence lasted just two seconds.
And right then, the effect of Spatial Stasis faded away.
"We did it!"
Fiona Li grinned at Ian Song.
"Pack up the corpse—let's go!"
Ian Song urged them.
"Got it!"
Fiona Li stowed Morris Shade's corpse, then joined Marcus Meng in grabbing Ian's arm.
"Let's move!"
In a flash, Ian Song brought them to intercept the Sword Puppet, recalled it into his Storage Ring, and then teleported all three straight back to the Human side of the Blood River.