In the middle of a green forest, a new yellow-colored forest made out of rock thorns shoots out from the ground in the area of ten meters, taking out the trees from its roots.
In its middle was a fifty-year-old man rubbing his sore neck while also thanking the gods that he reacted promptly or the next year, on this day would have become his death anniversary.
Danny vanished again after seeing his attack failed. The rock forest would stay like that for an hour or so before it will slowly start disintegrating into rubbles after all the Qi used to make it dissipates into the air.
Francis jumped and stood on top of the rock lances and scanned his surroundings to find the enemy.
"Who is it? Come out and show your face!"
Cricket!
Kaw~!
Francis couldn't find or hear anyone except the scared birds and some insects making noises in the background.
"Hmph, You think I won't be able to find if you keep on hiding," Francis shouted aloud before putting his hands together. A swirl of Qi suddenly rose out of his body, and the lances in his immediate surrounding broke before rising in the air to form countless small spears.
Shua!
With a wave of his hand, Francis sent the lethal projectiles he made in every direction.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! BangBang!!!
Whether it was trees, the ground, or any poor animal, the projectiles made up entirely of rock smashed them to smithereens by exploding on impact like a grenade.
But even then, the sneak attacker didn't show itself.
'He must have escaped quite a distance the moment he failed in his first attempt.' Francis thought in his head, but he did lower his guard. A person who could get so close without being noticed is by no chance an ordinary cultivator. Only a professional assassin would strike in the dark and then hide again to wait for the next opening after he fails in his first.
An enemy like this is the most dangerous and the most annoying for Francis. Only people of that organization trains assassins of such caliber.
'But they would only move after someone puts a bounty on him and request them to assassinate me.' Francis pondered on the identity behind that of the sneak attacker. He also suspected the new enemy called Danny Glover. If he had such men under him, then things would get a little tricky.
Francis moved and went back on following the tracks of the horses. But this time, he was running at much a slower speed since investigating his surroundings diverted his attention.
'I need him to waste much of his Qi to increase my winning chances... What else should I do?... Sigh, do I really need to waste so many talisman scrolls? They are expensive and harder to fetch form the black market and shops.' Alex wasn't a miser, but the talisman scrolls are costly if he uses it in large amounts.
There is a Grade 1 enchanting Master inside the WhiteConch City, but he can't just go plundering the Master's shop even if he has the City under his control. It's bad publicity, and maybe in the future, Master with a profession of Alchemist, Enchanting, and others would open a shop in his territory.
Anyway, the attack type Talisman Scrolls are too popular; rich cultivators buy them the moment those expendables hit the market, so the Grade 1 Enchanting Master must not have a large stock.
Alex only had eight more left in his inventory. He immediately ordered one of his puppets in another city to buy as many talisman scrolls it could get and then transfer them to the inventory so that he can use it on Francis.
Alex wanted to kill Francis with money today. It's the only feasible way he had thought the whole night for increasing his winning chances upon the frontal fight.
A very crude but effective way to kill Francis even if Alex is looked down upon by him using such cheap tricks.
The puppets were moving farther and farther since Francis had slowed down his speed.
His men following him from behind also seemed like they would catch up to him after some time.
Suddenly, Francis heard something flying at him. He put his guard up, changed his direction, and immediately looked behind.
Swoosh!
An arrow shot out from behind the trees; Francis quickly took a few steps to the side to dodge it but soon regretted.
Boom!
A small blast occurred at the moment of impact when the arrow hit the ground where he was standing preciously.
Francis hadn't moved much far; therefore, he came under the range of the explosion. Immediately, a light yellow sheen of cover appeared to defend against the firs eruption.
Francis frowned. Such a low-level Talisman scroll wouldn't be able to kill him even if it hit his body straight on. Why would that person do such a stupid thing? But then immediately guessed the reason behind such wasteful action. Its to waste his Qi.
'When have assassins become so rich and broad hearted to use such means to kill?' Francis wondered if this was the new trend those assassins were following currently.
Francis conjured a few projectiles of sharp earth spears before sending them towards the direction from where the arrow had come from.
Bang!... Bang! Bang!
"... Come out! I know what you want to do, but it's not going to work anymore since I now know you want me to waste my Qi!" Francis shouted, seeing that enemy had already moved to another place. No reply came; Francis could only sigh and continue onwards where the horse's tracks were heading to.
But every time, as if to annoy him, an arrow would come to hit the places near Francis, causing various blasts of different intensity and coverage.
Even when he ate the Qi replenishing pill, the enemy would always send single or multiple arrows from time to time.
"Just you wait, when I get out of this forest, you will have to follow me and show yourself when there's nothing you can use to hide behind like a turtle. I will then peel your skin and hang it outside the Whiteconch City together with that Danny Glover." Francis roared in frustration.
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Authors Note: My new Novel is out and it's even very exciting. Please do give it a read after finishing this chapter. Its called 'The Wolf of Aragnar'. You can find the new Novels link in the synopsis or just search the name. Be sure to add it to your library, I will update it with two chapters every day.
