Trang! Trang! Trang!
Right now, Shun Jin is fighting two black-clad, assassin-style men near a carriage whose horse has died.
Her movements are nimble. She avoids a mace swing, then with one swift smooth motion, she slash the opponent's neck. One dead.
After learning Mist Swordsmanship and Mist Steps from that perverted old man, Shun Jin has become even more skilled with her sword movements, making it hard for enemies to read her footwork and the direction of her sword swings.
Another man swings his sword wide from Shun Jin's side. But Shun Jin reacts first, bending both legs into the ground and sweeping out the stance of the enemy who had just slashed pass through the air above Shun Jin's head. Then Shun Jin immediately cuts the enemy's throat right after the enemy falls from the sweep.
There are three more people hesitating to attack. They circle Shun Jin warily, seeing their two companions die so easily. Joining the three corpses already lying there.
Then they speak quietly to each other as they turn to look at me, who's just standing and watching from behind the carriage.
"Who are you? Why are you interfering in our business?" says one of the black-clad men with buck teeth.
Their faces and hair may be covered with cloth, leaving only their eyes visible, but the shape of their mouths can still be seen clearly, especially the protruding buck teeth jutting out from behind the black cloth.
For a moment I thought they were assassins who had targeted me a few weeks before I met Shun Jin, but it turns out they not. Why would the demon cult hire amateur assassins like them? They're on the same level as Shun Jin. Except for the one beside the buck-toothed man. He has just advanced to the early Qi Refining stage.
Shun Jin hears the question from one of the three black-clad men surrounding her, she raises her sword forward, and asks back instead of answering.
"Who are you? Why are you killing people in broad daylight like this?" She asks with a serious look.
The three black-clad men glance at one another before all three lunge at Shun Jin together.
"Who are we?" The buck-toothed man moves first together with the rooster-head man, while the short-haired man waits behind, trying to use a trick within his sword. It is Sword Qi.
"We are the Black Wolf Assassins. You'll regret interfering our job, girl."
The buck-toothed man swings a large axe from the front while his companion attacks Shun Jin from behind with a trident.
Shun Jin swings her sword first from bottom to top, though the tip does not reach the buck-toothed man's hand as he swung the axe vertical down, Shun Jin step to the side, dodging the enemy axe. Then Shun Jin blocks the trident thrust from behind her back. And repay man with trident with several slashes clashing.
"Hah! You're swinging wildly, kid."
"Said from someone who's lost his left hand." Shun Jin then darts forward quickly toward the rooster-head man's face, trading speed in a stab, ending with her slender sword piercing the rooster-head man's neck while her enemy only manages to leave a shallow cut on Shun Jin's cheek.
The buck-toothed man, who has only just realized his left hand has been cut off so neatly, jumps back while hissing in pain. He screams when he realizes his left hand has been severed, even though he thought Shun Jin's sword had failed to cut him.
"You bitch!"
"Interesting trick!"
The short-haired man finally steps forward to replace his two useless companions. Shun Jin reflexively raises her sword to block the opponent's Qi-imbued sword swing. But she doesn't know that Sword Qi can cut stone like tofu.
Trang!
"What—?"
Shun Jin's sword shatters into pieces. After that, a straight kick drove in and smashed into her stomach, sending Shun Jin flying several steps back and crashing into the horse carriage.
Crash!
One of the carriage's front wheels came off. Inside, a girl was hiding in fear. Shun Jin hit the carriage door until the wooden door shattered.
"Ah! Are you all right?"
The girl hiding inside the carriage was shocked to see the door shattered and Shun Jin crashed inside.
"Kill him and that girl, Zian!" The bucktoothed man shouted, urging on his companion, who had already leaped high and was preparing to bring down a heavy overhead swing toward Shun Jin, who was about to get out of the carriage.
"Watch out! Get out of here!"
Boom! Wham!
The sound of the carriage breaking in two and dust billowing up could be seen. I was still quietly watching my student's fight. But it seems this was the end. What a pity.
"Hah, I wanted to have some fun with that girl before killing her. Well, amateur young martial artists seem to be interfering too much these days. Now it's your turn, the man standing there quietly."
The short-haired man pointed his sword at me. The bucktoothed man had just finished stopping the bleeding on his severed left hand and stood beside him, casually resting his axe on his right shoulder.
I pointed at myself.
"Me?" I tried to look surprised and afraid. Wow, scary, yawn..
"That girl is your woman or your friend, right? You and she are interfering in our business. It's only natural that we should kill you too." said the short-haired man while getting ready to take a stance.
I yawned, then gave a small shake of my head.
"You're underestimating that girl too much. You don't even realize she's still alive."
Then, before the two of them turned head to look at the wrecked horse carriage behind them, from the cloud of dust rising high, Shun Jin, with a half-broken slender sword, neatly sliced the bucktoothed man's neck just as he turned around and was about to swing his heavy axe, and in the same motion Shun Jin continued to slice the short-haired man's neck.
Trang!
But the man's reflexes were faster. Shun Jin's broken slender sword only scraped the back of the short-haired man's sword.
"Damn bitch! You're still alive!? Even after being hit by my Black Wolf Pounce sword technique?!?"
The short-haired man seemed very annoyed that his finishing move had failed to hit Shun Jin, rather than by the fact that his other companion had died. He took a stance and gathered Qi energy into his sword.
Shun Jin stood upright even though her cheek was slightly cut and there was a small slash scratch on the back of her left shoulder. It seemed she had managed to avoid the short-haired man's attack at the last second and pushed the girl hiding inside the carriage backward just before the short-haired man's strike landed.
"Huh, what a lousy name." Shun Jin also took a stance. "I'll show you a better sword technique than that. Mist Sword Technique First Form; Dawn Mist Slash."
The two of them charged at each other, closing the ten-step distance in an instant. A sword line flashed for a moment. Then blood dripped onto the ground that was half damp.
It was the short-haired man's blood. He was slashed deeply in the chest while his attack failed to reach Shun Jin, even though his movement was just as fast as Shun Jin's and his sword swing was faster. But just before his sword hit Shun Jin, like cutting through mist, Shun Jin was one step farther than where the short-haired man's sword should have been, and in the end Shun Jin landed a decisive slash.
The short-haired man knelt with his sword stuck in the ground. He tried to cover his deeply slashed chest with one hand.
"Surrender. Tell me what your goal is, and I'll let you live." Shun Jin pointed her broken slender sword at the short-haired man.
I walked over to them while clapping.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
"If I were you, Shun Jin, I would kill that guy right away."
"I am not as cruel as you, crazy man." She sneered at me. "You, answer me quickly if you don't want to die." Shun Jin brought her broken sword closer to the short-haired person.
"Hahahhaa!" The short-haired person laughed. He looked at Shun Jin with disdainful eyes. "Naive."
Right after he said that, the short-haired person did not surrender but instead threw something from inside his robe pocket.
It was a smoke bomb.
Boom!
And in an instant, the short-haired person disappeared, leaving only a few drops of blood on the ground.
"See? Assassins are trained to escape at any time under any circumstances, that's why you should have killed him right away, Shun Jin."
Shun Jin coughed repeatedly because the smoke bomb contained a substance that made her throat itch and her eyes water. I was not affected because demons don't cough.
"What kind of smoke bomb is this? Why does this smoke make my throat sting?"
Shun Jin stepped back while covering her runny nose with her robe sleeve. She can't stop tearing up.
Meanwhile, the little girl who had shouted for help earlier hid behind the trees after being saved by Shun Jin a few seconds ago from the short-haired person's horrible attack, and walked toward us after judging that the surroundings were safe.
"Um.. you two.. thank you.." the little girl bowed in gratitude.
Shun Jin, who had finally finished coughing and with her watery eyes back to normal, stood beside me again.
"Cough.. you're welcome. What exactly happened here? Why did they attack you, little girl?" Shun Jin asked the little girl, who seemed afraid to look at me. She turned her face away every time my eyes met hers.
"That..." The little girl hesitated to tell us. From her clothes, I could already tell that she came from some major sect or child of someone rich. She was wearing a silk robe that looked soft and expensive for a girl her age.
"If you don't want to tell us, that's fine. But will you be okay alone? You can come with us for now. We'll keep you safe until we get to a safe place." Shun Jin said with a smile. The little girl wanted to nod, but hesitated after hearing what I said next.
"We should just leave her, Shun Jin. She'll be a burden on our journey."
Then Shun Jin immediately swiped at me with a pinch, but I stepped back, so she only swiped at empty air.
"You heartless idiot, hmph." Then Shun Jin hugged the little girl while saying, "I'll take you to a safe place. Don't worry, I'll protect you. And don't listen to that crazy man's words. He has no heart."
The little girl nodded hesitantly while fearfully glancing at me.
I let out a small sigh. "Alright, you take care of the little girl, Shun Jin. I'll give you a stricter training quota than before because you failed to finish off an enemy earlier."
I walked past Shun Jin and the little girl. Shun Jin immediately pouted and kept mocking me.
"Evil stupid! Heartless idiot! Hmph!"
***