Chapter 96: Refined Artifact

When Yaoguang broke into Shangguan Jinlong's study, the psychic-will martial paragon did not hesitate for a single second. He fired seven consecutive shots.

The ruthlessness and decisiveness of a high-ranking noble of the Crimson Star Empire were on full display. Furthermore, the bullets in his pistol were clearly made of special materials. Their power far exceeded that of ordinary firearms; even though Yaoguang was wearing a level 5S combat suit, he had no intention of taking them head-on.

He swiftly dodged, and six bullets whistled past his body, hitting nothing. For the final, unavoidable bullet, he swung the Divine Shadow Sword straight at it. As it turned out, his judgment was correct.

Bang!

When Yaoguang struck the bullet, which he had precisely intercepted based on the trajectory and angle of Shangguan Jinlong’s aim, the high-energy explosives contained within it detonated. A brilliant flash of fire, accompanied by a blinding glare, erupted.

In an instant, the study turned bright, as if a flashbang had been detonated. The intense light made it impossible to look directly at anything.

Almost at the exact moment he lost his vision, the sound of air being torn apart reached him. Yaoguang shifted to the side. However, the dangerous sensation that followed immediately made him realize something.

It was a feint. The first sound of rushing air was merely a distraction. As he moved to avoid it, a violent jin, carrying a terrifying and murderous aura, crashed toward him.

Shangguan Jinlong was launching a frontal counterattack while Yaoguang was distracted by the flashbang.

Martial artists always firmly believed that the most powerful weapon in the world was themselves. As a psychic-will martial paragon, Shangguan Jinlong was no exception. Therefore, when faced with a sudden attack, he did not choose to flee and summon the other experts of the family to surround Yaoguang. Instead, he rose to the challenge, intending to kill this arrogant assassin on the spot with his own overwhelming strength.

This alone demonstrated the absolute confidence Shangguan Jinlong had in his power. Unfortunately, while someone as strong as Yaoguang understood that those who swam well were the ones most likely to drown, Shangguan Jinlong was so conceited that he believed his strength was enough to suppress anyone, except a select few individuals in the Crimson Star and Snowdragon Empires.

Consequently, he could never have imagined that someone could use a secret technique to construct a map and a memory palace in their mind, allowing them to accurately perceive every movement and change of every figure in the vicinity.

The incoming Shangguan Jinlong used a combat technique to push his jin to the limit, throwing an earth-shattering blow toward Yaoguang’s head. However, the Divine Shadow Sword in Yaoguang’s hand was even faster, locking onto Shangguan Jinlong with peerless precision.

He lunged with the sword, and the blade tore through the air at an extreme speed, stirring up white sword qi at its tip. With a roar, it thrust directly toward Shangguan Jinlong.

Armed with a sword, Yaoguang’s attack range was clearly greater than Shangguan Jinlong's. If Shangguan Jinlong did not dodge, Yaoguang’s sword would pierce him, killing him on the spot at the same moment his punch crushed Yaoguang’s head.

His thoughts racing, Shangguan Jinlong did not retreat. Instead, he executed a sophisticated movement art. He drifted like a fallen leaf, appearing to be lifted by the wind of Yaoguang’s sword as he swayed alongside the blade. Simultaneously, he stepped forward, and his jin erupted. He clearly intended to use close-quarters combat to kill Yaoguang in one strike.

This style of fighting was unlike what a family head's style would be, and more like that of a desperate gambler who enjoyed taking risks.

The blade that had missed its initial mark suddenly vibrated, letting out a loud sword hum as it swept horizontally, following Shangguan Jinlong’s dodging figure. At the same time, Yaoguang turned his left hand from a fist into a palm, meeting Shangguan Jinlong’s fist jin, which was aimed at his head. Core jin erupted!

Their core jin collided in the air, producing a sound like muffled thunder. The terrifying vibration caused the fragile glass and porcelain in the study to shatter instantly, sending shards flying all over the room.

Amidst the flying debris, Shangguan Jinlong’s expression changed immediately. His punch had been prepared, and carried all of his momentum. Although he had slightly adjusted his position to avoid the sword, causing a minor lag in the flow of his jin, the power of that punch was still not something any martial paragon, or even those in the psychic-will realm, should have been able to withstand.

Yet, when his fist actually struck Yaoguang’s palm, he felt a jin that seemed slightly stronger than his own. It pierced through his fist and arm like an electric shock, invading his body. Although this jin was not strong enough to cause fatal damage, it interfered with the circulation of his jin, blood, and qi with extreme precision, leaving half of his body momentarily numb.

"This technique?! The Rebirth Society?!" Shangguan Jinlong's face twisted in shock.

In the next moment, the sword sweeping horizontally took advantage of his numbed, immobile body to slash violently toward his head. The jin contained within it seemed ready to decapitate him effortlessly.

However, just as the sword was about to separate Shangguan Jinlong’s head from his shoulders, a circle of blue light exploded from his body. It actually managed to forcibly knock away the Divine Shadow Sword.

Taking this opportunity, Shangguan Jinlong ignited his blood and qi to flush out the numbness caused by the invading jin. He retreated at full speed, shouting at the top of his lungs as he went, "Assassin!"

"A repulsion shield?" Yaoguang instantly guessed what that blue glow was. A refined artifact meant for protection.

The reason the martial paragons of the Crimson Star Empire were a step above those of other nations was due to their advanced equipment, in addition to their martial skills and experience. With various advanced gear at their disposal, a Crimson Star martial paragon could often fight two opponents of the same tier from other countries. As the head of the Shangguan family, one of the twelve great noble families, Shangguan Jinlong’s equipment was even higher-level. It was only logical that he possessed such a life-saving protective treasure.

The sword vibrated as the jin at Yaoguang’s feet erupted again. His body moved in parallel with the Divine Shadow Sword; man and sword became one, shooting forward like an arrow from a bow.

As he lunged toward Shangguan Jinlong, he activated Star Ignition.

Instantly, his already extreme speed surged. He closed the distance to Shangguan Jinlong in a heartbeat. The sharp blade carried a chill that seemed to pierce the soul, leaving Shangguan Jinlong no time to react.

"Ah!" At the brink of life and death, this psychic-will martial paragon of the Shangguan family displayed unparalleled ferocity. His eyes locked onto Yaoguang, and his entire body’s blood and qi were completely detonated, causing his frame to expand and swell slightly.

He threw a fist so powerful it seemed to surpass the limits of a martial paragon, rivaling that of a heavenly being. The moment the punch was thrown, Yaoguang felt as if a towering mountain was collapsing toward him. Countless boulders weighing hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of tons seemed to come rolling down with the falling peak, threatening to crush him into dust.

Is this fist will?!

It was indeed fist will derived from pushing one’s psychic will to the absolute limit!

This kind of fist will was no longer a simple psychic-will attack; it had evolved to the level of a psychic-will secret technique. It was much like Yaoguang’s Great Solar Psyche-Suppressing Diagram. Forget grandmasters or ordinary martial paragons, even a psychic-will martial paragon would find it hard to keep their psychic mind from wavering when faced with such a fist art and secret technique, and they would inevitably reveal a flaw.

However, while Yaoguang’s psychic will was not overwhelmingly powerful, he was, after all, a genuine psychic-will martial paragon. Furthermore, he possessed a psychic-will defensive secret technique like the Great Solar Psyche-Suppressing Diagram.

Shangguan Jinlong’s earth-shattering fist will was instantly dispersed by the radiant majesty of the Great Solar Psyche-Suppressing Diagram. Not only did it fail to slow Yaoguang’s sword by even a fraction, but Shangguan Jinlong himself suffered a backlash from the Great Solar Psyche-Suppressing Diagram. It felt as if he had plunged into a flaming purgatory, his very soul scorched by endless flames.

"No!" Amidst a cry of terror and despair, his throat was pierced by the Divine Shadow Sword, and with a sudden vibration of the blade, the head of this psychic-will martial paragon was cleanly severed.

The scream came to an abrupt halt.

"Family Head!" Only now did a chorus of sharp shouts erupt from outside.

Yaoguang sensed his surroundings for a moment and detected a martial paragon approaching rapidly. However, considering he needed to leave these martial paragons alive to fuel the internal strife within the Shangguan family, Yaoguang did not kill everyone who rushed toward him.

He took out his phone and snapped several quick photos of Shangguan Jinlong’s corpse. After taking the pictures, his ears twitched. He spun around, his sword thrusting forward like a dragon. At that exact moment, two grandmaster-tier experts burst into the study. Before they could assess the situation, the Divine Shadow Sword arrived like a bolt of lightning, leaving afterimages in its wake.

Although the two grandmasters reacted with extreme speed, possessing physiques that represented the limits of the human body, Yaoguang’s sword was too fast. It was so fast that even with their full concentration, they could not clearly capture its movement in time.

The blade instantly pierced the throat of one grandmaster and continued its momentum toward the second. The second grandmaster finally reacted. With a low roar, his saber swept up like a startled swan, slashing toward the Divine Shadow Sword’s blade. In his other hand, he was holding a gun. It was a custom pistol identical to the one Shangguan Jinlong had used.

Clearly, he intended for his blade to parry Yaoguang’s sword, followed immediately by a point-blank shot. At a distance of less than a meter, even the fastest martial paragon would find it difficult to evade a firearm. Even if he killed the grandmaster, the man’s firing instinct would likely drag Yaoguang down with him.

Unfortunately, his plan was perfect in theory, but it failed at the start of execution. His blade struck nothing but air.

He believed he had seen the trajectory of Yaoguang’s sword, but in reality, that glimpse had only been an afterimage left by the Divine Shadow Sword. By the time his blade missed and he tried to raise his pistol, the world around him began to spin. His vision seemed to take flight.

𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

In a blur, he saw a cold blade sever a head from a body and continue through the air to slice off his own raised arm. At that moment, he finally realized what was happening.

"T-That is my body..." he muttered his last words.

The thud of the head hitting the carpet and the sound of Yaoguang catching the fallen pistol occurred simultaneously.

Yaoguang examined the weapon. Having undergone firearms training, he quickly judged that while the gun looked unremarkable, its power was immense. It was likely capable of blowing apart the body of a martial paragon.

"Nice gun." He claimed the weapon as his own, treating it as a trophy of war. He then searched the grandmaster's body, finding three custom magazines. Each bullet bore the marks of exquisite craftsmanship.

After stowing the items, he searched Shangguan Jinlong’s body and pulled out a jade pendant. The moment the pendant touched his hand, his [Merchant] experience began to climb. It was clearly of great value, most likely the very refined artifact that provided Shangguan Jinlong’s protective shield.

Hearing the growing commotion outside, Yaoguang packed the items away, having no time for a more thorough search. After a quick look out the window, he leaped out, crashing through the glass. Before the Shangguan family’s elites could form a perimeter, he vanished into the night.