The Modern Martial Immortal-Chapter 16: Sniping

Life-and-death combat had always been as swift as lightning.

From the moment Yaoguang suddenly burst forward with his sword, to ramming the daemon into the air while stabbing it nine times, to the two landing, retreating five steps, and him smashing his palm into the daemon's jaw to finish the execution strike, the entire sequence happened with unimaginable speed.

The instant he completed that final killing strike, Yaoguang followed with a vicious kick to the daemon's waist, sending its massive body flying several meters. Blood splattered across the corridor, dyeing the floor red. The daemon died on the spot.

Only now did the two bodyguards and the other man the daemon had entrusted with important duties finally react.

"Boss!"

"Director Xu!?"

Their cries rang out as all three moved with extreme speed. The two bodyguards reached into their jackets for their guns at once.

The other man, who had been speaking with the daemon and seemed poised to take Lei Ao's place, let out a low roar as he charged. His fist jin thundered, surging from behind Yaoguang in an attempt to kill him.

He was a martial master, but judging from the jin of his fist, he had yet to reach the mastery stage, let alone match a daemon.

Because of that, Yaoguang did not even spare him a glance. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Just as one of the bodyguards drew his gun and began turning it toward him, Yaoguang lunged.

He slipped past the martial master's surging fist jin and swung his sword with impossible speed at the armed bodyguard.

With a flash of cold light, the bodyguard's gun-raising right hand was severed clean at the wrist. Blood sprayed as his severed hand and the gun fell to the ground.

The bodyguard's eyes widened in horror and disbelief.

Before he could even scream, Yaoguang flicked his wrist, turning the blade sharply. The sword swept across the man's throat like lightning.

The razor-edged blade flashed upward, slicing open the bodyguard's throat. Immediately after, Yaoguang flung it forward.

Whoosh! A faint whistle cut through the air, followed by the sickening sound of metal piercing bone.

The thrown short sword shot straight through the second bodyguard's throat as he aimed his gun at Yaoguang.

The whole exchange was not merely fast. It flowed seamlessly, without the slightest pause.

Hum! Behind him, the jin coming from the martial master's first twisted the air once more.

The martial master had caught up, but Yaoguang still did not turn back.

Jin exploded beneath his feet as he leaped like a hunting leopard. His knee rose sharply as he slammed it into the chest of the bodyguard whose throat had just been pierced.

With a cracking sound, the bodyguard's ribs snapped beneath his knee. The man's massive frame flew backward under the combined force of the various impacts.

As the bodyguard was flung away, Yaoguang's right hand shot out with perfect precision, catching the hilt of the short sword embedded in the man's throat.

Pssch! Blood sprayed wildly.

With the body it had pierced flying away, the short sword tore free. Yaoguang twisted mid-air and slashed backward at the martial master pursuing him.

"Crap!" the martial master exclaimed.

The martial master threw another punch but sensed the danger instantly. His expression changed drastically as he tried to abort his attack.

He understood now that failing to crush the intruder using numbers alone had been a fatal mistake. With the terrifying strength this man wielded, fighting him one-on-one was suicide.

After a quick thought, he tried to retreat, but it was too late.

The short sword, purchased for hundreds of thousands in gold and sharp beyond belief, descended. Even though the martial master tried to shift his technique, his punch still came too slowly. His jin-gathering arm was severed at a slanted angle from the wrist.

The Martial Master screamed as he stared at his mangled arm. Shock overwhelmed the pain as his nerves delayed the full impact.

Yaoguang's expression did not change. The moment he landed from that backward slash, he sank into a bow stance, stabilizing himself. His body compressed like a coiled spring.[1]

The entire motion took less than a second before the spring snapped upward.

Both hands gripping the sword, Yaoguang unleashed the power in his legs, his body shooting out like an arrow. In an instant, he had closed the distance between him and the martial master.

The man roared and thrust his left hand forward, forming a sword with his finger aimed at Yaoguang's eyes. Unfortunately for him, Yaoguang had already tilted his head to the side the moment he had landed, even before the attack could fully form. Then, he slammed into his enemy.

To be precise, Yaoguang plunged his sword into the martial master with both hands, then slammed his shoulder into his chest, completely breaking the man's balance.

Before the martial master was pushed away, Yaoguang jerked the sword upward.

The martial master's entire chest cavity split open as the upward slash tore through flesh and bone. Blood, ribs, and viscera were carried upward by the force of the strike and scattered through the air.

The martial master who had been poised to take over Lei Ao's duties, responsible for transporting Dayu's personnel to Qingyu Industrial Park, crashed to the floor on his back with a heavy thud.

With his abdomen ruptured, he died instantly.

Yaoguang listened to the growing chaos outside. He could hear others rushing toward the sound of battle. He wiped the blood from his sword onto a corpse, looked down at the blood marring his own clothes, and removed his outer jacket.

Comparing his appearance with the four dead men, he stripped one bodyguard of his coat and put it on.

Then he collected the two bodyguards' pistols and magazines, loaded them, and stored them away.

Only then did he rise and head toward the final daemon.

The last daemon was in the building across from him. To be precise, it was located in the main building.

According to Yaoguang's Perception, the last daemon had already begun shifting in a small radius.

He compared the movements to the building layout he had observed...

Going downstairs? Yaoguang guessed.

Something had happened in that two-story building that served as the infirmary, and it was natural for the daemon to go check things out.

That makes things easier. Yaoguang thought before heading straight for the main building.

Several guards stood at the entrance. Inside was a guardhouse containing more than a dozen men. Everyone had rushed out, fully alert.

Farther away, more guards were being alerted and starting to spread out to increase the number of patrols.

Yaoguang made a quick estimate. The armed guards of Qingyu Industrial Park numbered at least a hundred, and every one of them carried firearms, with many having military rifles.

However, he still had not seen any heavy firepower such as machine guns or infantry fighting vehicles.

The entire industrial park had mobilized. With crowds moving everywhere, he could no longer advance as silently as before.

Yaoguang took a deep breath, calming himself, and then approached the main building from the least crowded angle.

The first floor is heavily guarded, which means...

He observed for a moment. His gaze locked onto an open window on the second floor.

That's the best way in.

The window was nearly five meters off the ground, with a bare section of wall beneath it. There was nothing to provide leverage. In theory, no ordinary person could climb up.

However, a grandmaster who had reached the limit of human physical capability could use anything as a foothold.

That was why, even though a grandmaster could not stop bullets, the deterrence they carried equaled the threat of several hundred armed men. Most fortifications could not prevent a grandmaster from infiltrating a location.

Yaoguang narrowed his eyes and focused on a spot where a brick protruded about four meters up.

He retreated a few steps, then sprinted forward. His right foot kicked against the wall as he rose into the air. The short sword in his hand stabbed into the brick, and with a twist of the blade during his descent, the brick cracked apart.

As soon as he landed, he sheathed his sword, retreated again, and sprinted forward. This time, when he leaped, his right hand clamped onto the fractured gap in the brick. Jin surged through his arm as he lifted his entire body upward, pulled himself to the window ledge, and landed inside with a flip.

He landed silently, immediately surveying his surroundings and listening for footsteps.

Suddenly, he paused.

According to the Perception secret technique, the last daemon was on the move. It was approaching the stairs.

Yaoguang instantly left the room, revealing a floor with many offices, all with closed doors.

He reached the stairs within a few steps. Footsteps echoed from above soon after. From the sound, quite a few people were coming down.

He looked around and quickly found a piece of glass. After picking it up, he placed it at an angle beside the mop and plastic buckets stored in the stairwell.

Because of the placement, those descending would not see the glass immediately. Even if they noticed it later, they would not necessarily suspect anything.

But Yaoguang could clearly observe the stairwell through the reflection.

Just as expected, less than five seconds after setting the glass, two men in camouflage uniforms carrying rifles descended, scanning the area.

These were guards, but his real target seemed to be waiting on the upper floor for the area to be cleared.

However, the most important point was the weapon the man was holding.

"Snowdragon Empire Type-11 Automatic Rifle?" said Yaoguang after seeing the weapon.

***

The two elite guards reached the second floor. One leaned forward to inspect the stairwell below while the other checked the corridor.

Their movements were professional, and their physiques were equally well-trained.

In hand-to-hand combat, they likely possessed top-tier martial artist strength.

Seeing no one, they stayed alert. One half-leaned into the stairwell and signaled "clear" with a tactical gesture.

Soon, a group of people escorted a tall man, who was over two meters in height and dressed in a suit, down from the third floor.

The moment Yaoguang saw the target appear through the glass reflection, he took a slow breath.

To avoid being seen by the guards, the distance between them exceeded ten meters.

Yet as he lowered his body slightly, his qi and blood surged. Less than a second later, he sprang forth like a predator, suddenly lunging for the kill, crossing the ten meters in an instant.

It only took one second—No, less than half a second!

The faint sound of something slicing through the air reached the nearest guard. His eyes shifted in surprise. A short sword pierced his left eye like lightning, skewering straight through his brain and exiting the back of his skull.

Before his body could fall, Yaoguang had already seized the rifle still held in the man's hands and had pointed the muzzle directly at the group coming down the stairs.

"Careful!" A terrified shout rang out.

Gunfire erupted violently in the narrow stairwell. Ratatatatat!

1. Bow stance is a foundational posture in Taichi, characterized by a bent front knee and a straight back leg, with most of the body's weight on the front foot. ☜