Chapter 421: Chapter 421: The Rain Pavilion (3)

Li Feng’s mouth twitched slightly at the sight.

He didn’t know whether he should laugh or feel annoyed.

He had never imagined he would encounter someone even more shameless than himself today.

Seeing his look, General Zhang Kuo let out a rough, tired laugh as he leaned heavily on his battle axe.

"Haha... those cowards from the Rain Pavilion are famous for being slippery. Once they realize the situation is unfavorable, they run faster than anyone. Still... you’ve helped this old man greatly today, Envoy Li Feng."

Li Feng shook his head with a helpless smile and walked over to check on the heavily injured General.

"General, let’s stabilize your condition first. You look rather beaten up. Is it poison?"

Li Feng could clearly see that this Golden Core old man was struggling.

His spiritual energy was fluctuating chaotically, and black veins were visibly spreading across his neck and arms.

"Haha, what a sharp eye you have, Envoy! And you can call this old man Zhang Kuo." General Zhang Kuo laughed roughly.

"That’s right, I let my guard down a bit and got poisoned. But no need to worry, I’m not so weak as to let a mere poison kill me. It’s because those cowardly assassins kept interrupting that this old man couldn’t properly expel the poison. Now that they’ve run away, I can finally focus on purging this annoying thing inside me."

Li Feng nodded.

He understood the powerful vitality of a Golden Core expert very well.

It wasn’t easy for them to die from poison alone.

Then he offered to help check his condition.

"I see. I am actually an alchemist so maybe I can help check-"

But to his surprise, General Zhang suddenly waved his hand frantically.

"A-Ah, no need, no need! I thank you for your concern, Envoy, but this is really nothing to trouble you with!"

Li Feng gave him a strange look, but since the old man insisted he would be fine, he didn’t push further.

Still, curiosity got the better of him so he ask.

"General, how did you even get poisoned in the first place?"

The moment the question left his mouth, Li Feng noticed something unusual.

For the first time since meeting this fierce old general, a tiny flush of red appeared on Zhang Kuo’s weathered face.

"Hmm? Is the poison acting up again?" Li Feng frowned, seeing the sudden flush.

"Ehem... That’s right. The poison is acting up a bit," General Zhang Kuo coughed awkwardly, avoiding Li Feng’s gaze. "Let this old man focus on expelling this annoying thing first. We can discuss the details later."

After finishing his words, Zhang Kuo immediately sat down cross-legged with a slightly embarrassed expression and began circulating his energy to suppress and purge the poison.

Then blackish smoke slowly rose from the top of his head as he fought against the Nine Yin Heart Eroding Fragrance.

Li Feng blinked, wondering if he had asked something strange, but eventually shook his head.

For now, protecting this general was much more important.

He could learn the details later.

Li Feng stood beside him, keeping watch over the hall.

While doing so, he couldn’t help but smile slightly as he glanced toward one direction.

_ 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

_

_

Deep within a hidden underground passage beneath the inner fortress...

The group of cloaked assassins moved swiftly through the dark tunnel, their movements silent and hurried.

"Damn it!" one of the silver-class assassins cursed under his breath.

"We actually had to use Eclipse Smoke Talisman! Do you know how expensive that thing is?! One talisman costs more than three high-grade missions combined!"

Hearing this, another assassin beside him gritted his teeth, still pressing a hand to the deep gash on his shoulder.

"And that damned envoy... the mission intel said he was just a weak Foundation Establishment alchemist tagging along with the City Lord! How the hell was he able to kill Brother Luo with one punch?!"

The group’s mood was extremely ugly.

They had been hired for what was supposed to be a relatively simple mission... assassinate or incapacitate the Great General while the plague did the rest of the work.

But not only did they fail to kill the old general, they were forced to flee because of a single young envoy who turned out to be a monster.

And that piece of information was quite significant.

It wasn’t that they were afraid of Li Feng himself, but his displayed strength proved he must be someone important... likely a great genius from the Azure Moon Sect.

So killing him would have been a sure way to completely offend a major sect.

Moreover, with both Li Feng and the General present, if they had really gone all out and fight to the death, some of them might have actually lost their lives even if they completed the mission.

And that was far beyond what they were paid for.

They were people who valued their own lives far more than pride in completing a mission.

Plus, the information they had been given was clearly wrong, giving them more than enough justification to retreat.

One of the assassins spat on the ground.

"The client’s information was completely wrong! They said the Azure Moon Sect envoy would arrive at least two days later! Heh, they really think we Rain Pavilion are easy to fool and use."

The entire group of silver-class assassins wore gloomy expressions.

They had truly suffered a loss this time.

At the very back of the group, the gold-class assassin walked silently, his presence as deep and oppressive as an abyss.

He hadn’t said a single word since their escape began or when Li Feng had appeared.

But suddenly, he stopped.

The gold-class assassin finally spoke, his voice cold, indifferent, and strangely youthful... almost static in tone,

"Enough complaining. The mission failed because the intel was wrong. Report everything accurately when we return... especially about that envoy... Li Feng. He is dangerous."

The assassins shivered slightly at his tone and immediately shut their mouths.

They knew very well when a gold-class assassin said someone was dangerous, it meant they were... truly a threat.

Soon, they continued making their way out of the tunnel.

But the moment they emerged into the forest, the gold-class assassin suddenly stopped.

Seeing the sudden halt, one of the silver-class assassins looked back and asked cautiously,

"Sir, is something wrong...?"

The gold-class assassin didn’t reply.

His purple eyes beneath the hood narrowed slightly as he glanced back toward the silent, dark tunnel they had just come from.

After a moment of silent, a low voice leaked out from beneath the hood.

"...Strange. I feel like I’m being watched."