Chapter 163: Don't Believe It? Feel Free to Try

Silence enveloped the surroundings. In the pitch-black night, only the rustling of leaves broke the quiet.

This bronze-tier assassin was exceptionally well-concealed; had it not been for the system prompt, Qin Chuan would have found it exceedingly difficult to detect him.

A gentle breeze swept by, carrying away a few fallen leaves that drifted slowly toward the ground. Faint footprints stained the surface of the leaves, invisible to anyone in the dead of night.

The assassin's name was Tong Jiu. He had executed countless assassination missions without a single failure.

His spiritual weapon was the Dragon Shadow Dagger, a weapon exceptionally proficient in stealth.

At this moment, Tong Jiu drifted down along with the falling leaves, his body as light as wisps of smoke, devoid of any weight.

This was due to the unique passive ability of the Dragon Shadow Dagger, known as Weightlessness.

Under the effect of this passive ability, targets within a five-meter radius would instantly lose their weight, even floating upward involuntarily.

Consequently, Tong Jiu could manipulate his own weight entirely at will.

Qin Chuan had already halted his advance. In the pitch-black darkness where one could not even see a hand in front of their face, failing to locate the enemy left him with no choice but to patient wait.

The two sides were currently separated by a dozen meters. Qin Chuan could not see Tong Jiu, yet Tong Jiu could perceive Qin Chuan's every move with absolute clarity.

Before the battle had even begun, Qin Chuan seemed to have already fallen into a passive position.

Tong Jiu possessed three spiritual skills: Phantom Slash, Shadow-Pursuing Stab, and Dragon Shadow Flash.

Phantom Slash: In the first stage, it releases three dagger phantoms to attack the target; in the second stage, the main body can teleport to the location of one of the dagger phantoms; in the third stage, the main body's next attack is guaranteed to be a critical hit. The attack range is five meters, and the secret technique "Phantom Kill" is unlocked.

Shadow-Pursuing Stab: Activated behind the target to deal double damage. Attack range: five meters.

Dragon Shadow Flash: Summons a dragon shadow to envelop the body, increasing agility by 20% and granting invisibility for 2 seconds. The invisibility effect is broken upon attacking the target.

His base stats were: Attack 3200+, Spiritual Defense 2800+, Agility 3500+.

Judging by the stats, Tong Jiu held a considerable advantage. Furthermore, his agility increased by another 10% in the darkness, soaring to over 3850.

Currently, Qin Chuan's speed value was merely 3100+, leaving a very significant gap. Moreover, in the darkness, Qin Chuan was virtually unable to anticipate the angle of the attack.

In other words, Tong Jiu's speed was a tangible, absolute advantage.

A cruel smile crept onto the corner of Tong Jiu's mouth as he quietly waited for the next wave of falling leaves.

At this moment, a breeze blew softly, causing numerous leaves to detach from the trees—a heaven-sent opportunity for Tong Jiu.

Thus, his body drifted up with the wind, landing upon a leaf and floating toward Qin Chuan.

Aided by the falling leaves, Tong Jiu had silently closed the distance to within five meters of Qin Chuan—the optimal position to launch his attack.

However, Tong Jiu did not act rashly. Instead, he cunningly activated Dragon Shadow Flash, instantly shooting his agility up to over 4550.

At such a speed, even if Qin Chuan could see Tong Jiu, evading the attack would likely prove nearly impossible.

With a single flash, Tong Jiu arrived behind Qin Chuan, directly initiating Shadow-Pursuing Stab and pouncing forward.

Simultaneously, Qin Chuan's body began to float upward uncontrollably.

"Die!"

A triumphant voice echoed in Tong Jiu's heart. He could no longer remember how many times this sneak attack had succeeded, and each time brought him a surge of gratification upon completion.

Indeed, with his attack power exceeding 3200, landing a hit on the target would deal over 6400 points of damage—a truly terrifying magnitude of damage.

Faced with sudden weightlessness, any normal person would inevitably panic.

Launching a sneak attack at such a moment yielded a success rate of nearly one hundred percent.

Yet in the next instant, the dragon pattern on Qin Chuan's back lit up, and his figure vanished along with it.

The Shadow-Pursuing Stab landed firmly on empty air, the residual fierce qi shattering a few fallen leaves.

At this moment, flames ignited on the Dragon Pattern Cold Crystal Sword, casting a bright illumination across a radius of several meters.

Qin Chuan stood leisurely five meters away, a faint smile still lingering at the corners of his mouth.

"I've been waiting for you for a long time."

Tong Jiu was supremely confident; he hadn't even worn a hood. His complexion was slightly pale, revealing a man in his thirties.

Right now, his eyes were filled with utter shock: "How did you discover my sneak attack? And why are you completely unaffected by my passive ability?"

Naturally, Tong Jiu could not fathom the reason: as long as Dragon Pride existed, any passive ability associated with dragons would be rendered entirely ineffective.

Qin Chuan smiled without a word, appearing all the more enigmatic. He calmly replied, "To defeat me, you must rely on genuine skill."

Confident—exceedingly confident.

Facing an opponent whose speed far surpassed his own, Qin Chuan still intended to defeat him in a head-on confrontation.

It was rare for him to encounter such an opponent; if he didn't seize the opportunity to hone his Dance of Death, it would simply be inexcusable.

He had only recently devised the Dance of Death, and many aspects of it remained imperfect. Only through life-or-death combat could these elements be better integrated.

Feeling looked down upon, Tong Jiu let out a cold snort. "That was just a minor slip-up. Don't think that just because you dodged once, you can do it a second time. Next, I'll show you what true speed is!"

To this, Qin Chuan merely replied indifferently, "I can dodge it once, and I can dodge it a second time. If you don't believe me, feel free to try."

"Haha, I'll make you slowly savor the true meaning of pain!"

Driven to fury, Tong Jiu laughed out of anger. With a twist of his body, he closed in on Qin Chuan, slashing out with the Dragon Shadow Dagger.

He decided to torture Qin Chuan to death slowly, making him perish amidst agonizing screams.

"Staggered Steps, Lotus Blooming!"

At an impossible juncture, Qin Chuan shifted his figure, grazing past the Dragon Shadow Dagger to evade the strike.

"Clang! Sword body damaged by 0.1%."

Before developing the Dance of Death, Qin Chuan truly would have been unable to dodge, but now it had become entirely possible.

"Hiss!"

Tong Jiu could not help drawing a sharp breath, exclaiming in astonishment, "Phantom Wushuang? No, even with Phantom Wushuang, it's impossible for someone of your level to dodge that!"

Qin Chuan calmly replied, "Didn't I already tell you? This is called Staggered Steps, Lotus Blooming."

Tong Jiu had never encountered such a situation. With his agility, missing twice in a row was simply beyond belief.

"I refuse to believe this! I'm going to hack you to pieces!"

Roaring with fury, Tong Jiu unleashed a tempestuous storm of attacks, while Qin Chuan remained like a solitary flat-bottomed boat amidst turbulent, towering waves.

The two figures intersected continuously, yet not a single collision occurred, driving Tong Jiu to the verge of vomiting blood.

"Hit me!"

"Just hit me once!"

"Can you stop dodging? If you're a man, face me head-on!"

...

At this point, Tong Jiu's demands had lowered significantly. From initially wishing to torture Qin Chuan to death, he was now merely begging to clash head-on with him just once.

Such a scenario was something Tong Jiu could never have anticipated.

As time ticked away, Qin Chuan's footwork grew increasingly proficient, the distance he opened up each time widening further, and Tong Jiu's hopes of landing a hit on Qin Chuan grew increasingly slim.

"Alright, it's time to end this. Thank you for accompanying me in practice for so long."

After executing one final evasion, Qin Chuan had widened the distance to several meters, leaving Tong Jiu dumbfounded.

"How... how could this be?"

"Sparring partner? You were using me as a sparring partner just now?!"

Realization dawning upon him, Tong Jiu let out a piercing scream, his eyes burning with a rage that seemed ready to spew fire.

To think that he, a dignified bronze-tier assassin, was actually being used as a sparring partner by someone—if word of this ever spread, it would undoubtedly become the laughingstock of the spiritual realm.

"Secret Technique—Phantom Kill!"

Consumed by blinding rage, Tong Jiu could no longer hold back. He directly activated his secret technique, attempting to slaughter Qin Chuan in a single stroke.

Three dagger phantoms flew toward Qin Chuan with a piercing hiss, followed closely by Tong Jiu himself as he flashed forward, intent on delivering a guaranteed critical strike.

The speed was indeed terrifyingly fast. However, as a bronze-tier assassin, Tong Jiu had unconsciously lost his composure and sound judgment.

At this moment, Qin Chuan had finished honing his technique. He activated a flash to secure an immunity effect, raised his hand, and delivered a single sword strike.

"Intimidation!"

This maneuver caught Tong Jiu completely off guard, and simultaneously suffering the effects of Intimidation left him utterly incapable of evading.

Qin Chuan had spent all this time dodging, only to suddenly launch an active attack out of nowhere—anyone would have been caught unprepared by such a shift.

"Clang! Triggered 60% slow effect."

Once this slowing effect took effect, Qin Chuan firmly seized the upper hand. No matter how much Tong Jiu struggled, he could no longer escape Qin Chuan's control.

"Ah!"

"Damn it, can you stop following me!"

"No, I will let you slowly savor what pain truly feels like."

"Thud!"

Tong Jiu no longer knew how to describe the agony in his heart. Going from chasing Qin Chuan down to being hunted in reverse was as different as heaven and earth.

More importantly, he still couldn't dodge Qin Chuan's attacks; every single sword strike landed solidly on flesh, making his existence nothing short of excruciatingly painful.

Ultimately, Tong Jiu met his end amidst overwhelming frustration and grievance, while Qin Chuan reaped the fruits of his training.

Qin Chuan tidied up the battlefield and remarked calmly, "Black Wind Cliff, just how many more assassins do you have? I truly look forward to it."