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20.78% Return of the demon / Chapter 57: Following the trail

章 57: Following the trail

Bai Yun stood up and quickly walked to the innermost area. As he walked, he felt two more of his marks disappear. By the time he reached the innermost area, only half of the stone seats were left.

Bai Yun had changed his appearance by then. He reached the entrance of the innermost rea in no time. Once inside, Bai Yun sat down on one of the stone seats and pretended to absorb the flames. He even pretended that he was finding it a bit difficult to do so. But in truth, Bai Yun was having all of his senses spread around the innermost area trying to find the person who took the stone seats.

Bai Yun immediately locked onto one person. He was walking around carelessly looking as if he was also trying to look into the mystery of the hell pit. But Bai Yun only smirked when he saw his acting.

According to the Assassin God, all assassins had to be good actors. Sneaking in and killing someone was only a single way to kill someone. Sometimes the easiest way to get inside a target's place of living was to be invited in. At those times you would need to blend in seamlessly, lest doubt arise. Only such an assassin was worthy of the name. Thus this philosophy, along with the ability of the Assassin God's technique meant there were lots of teachings on acting in the legacy. Bai Yun scoffed when he saw the way the person was moving. It was amateurish at best.

When the mysterious stranger faced him, Bai Yun quickly used the recording jade to capture his face. Then Bai Yun watched as he neared a stone he had marked and bent over as if to inspect the seat. People were used to this by now and simply turned away. Bai Yun was the only person paying attention to him. Thinking that no one was watching him, Bai Yun watched as he quickly replaced the stone with a stone of his own with practiced ease. The flame barely flickered when the switch was made. It was not his first time he had done this.

Bai Yun watched as he went around the room replacing the stone seats. All this time, Bai Yun was doing pretty well with his acting. Bai Yun had deduced the time the stranger would take in order to finish up and leave, and Bai Yun was acting so that he could give up and leave alongside him. He was pretending to be sweating and shaking with pain by then.

Soon enough, the stranger had finished collecting all the stones and started to leave, while pretending to be saddened by the fact that he couldn't find any clues.

Bai Yun watched as he got closer, and got up from his seat. He was sitting only a short distance from the entrance, so the stranger would have to pass through him to get to the door. Bai Yun sighed, got up and moved to the door. He was hobbling the whole time he was on his way. The two of them reached the door at the same time. Then Bai Yun pretended to stumble and fell towards the stranger. The stranger reached out to hold him instinctively.

"Thanks." Bai Yun mumbled.

"It's okay. First time here?" The stranger smiled as he looked at Bai Yun. Now that he had completed his mission, he was quite free and relaxed. He had been doing this for months and had not run into any problems. Thus his confidence had grown.

"Is it that obvious?" Bai Yun smiled.

"There are not a lot of people who cannot handle the flames here once they get used to it. You are the exception here." He laughed.

Bai Yun thanked the stranger for one final time, and the two of them quickly separated. Bai Yun took a step back to inspect the place where the closest marked stone was, only to see that it was replaced by an empty stone. Bai Yun slowly made his way through the floor and exited the hell pit. By then not only had he lost the stranger, but he had also returned to his original looks.

As he stood there Bai Yun smiled as he felt the tracking mark that he had placed on the stranger.

There was no way that the Assassin God's legacy did not have a tracking technique. The stumble and fall of Bai Yun were intentional. He had used that time to place the racking mark on the stranger. It was a complex mark that could only be placed by someone who cultivated in all three paths at the same time. There was no way that anyone at the qi step could see through the tracking mark.

But there were indeed some faults with the technique. The distance the mark could be tracked was not too great, and you needed to have physical contact to place the track, at least in the initial stages of cultivation.

Bai Yun looked at the direction the tracking mark was pointing to. With a start, Bai Yun realized that it was going to the place where one could take a clan bus. There was no way Bai Yun could allow the stranger to escape his range. So he cast wind motion and chased after the stranger.

Bai Yun reached him just as the clan bus was arriving. Bai Yun had changed his appearance and clothing by now, so he did not recognize him. Bai Yun entered the same bus as the stranger. To Bai Yun's surprise, he realized that the bus was heading towards the gates of the Bai clan. He used his soul tendril to keep track of the stranger. He saw that the stranger was heading outside the clan.

Bai Yun frowned when he saw this. This meant that whichever force was responsible for the theft of the hellfire was not internal to the clan. This did not bode well.

The bus reached the gate of the Bai clan after some time. By now dusk had fallen. Bai Yun left the Bai clan following the stranger.

Bai Yun took a slightly different route from the stranger, only to change his appearance and follow him once again. He then sped up and walked by the stranger, slightly ramming into him in the process. He had used this collision to remove the tracking mark. If the tracking mark was simply kept, then there was a chance that someone in the soul step or higher would find out and he couldn't take the chance. If some kind soul step cultivator was to warn the stranger, things would get dangerous. He could not take that chance.

Bai Yun watched as he walked a good distance, and then entered a cafe. Bai Yun changed his appearance and entered the cafe after the stranger. He then watched him from the corner of his eyes.

But after a while, Bai Yun had to leave. Both he and the stranger were pretty much the only people in the cafe that were sitting alone. The cafe seemed to be one that was frequented by the youth of Yellow City and most of them were in the qi condensation or foundation establishment realm. As Bai Yun walked past the stranger, he reapplied the tracking mark, as there were no soul step cultivators nearby.

Bai Yun then walked out and hid himself around the corner. He used both his god sense as well as the Assassin God's technique to hide his presence. Since it had gotten dark by then, there were a lot of places to hide, or cafes similar to the one the stranger was in to step in when he got tired.

After a long wait, at about an hour to midnight, Bai Yun finally felt some movement from his tracking mark. Bai Yun quickly chased after the stranger and caught up to him and removed the tracking mark once again. He then followed the stranger through the road of Yellow City, changing appearances a few times along the way. By now the traffic had gone down by quite a bit.

Bai Yun followed him to a deserted part of the city. Here the streets had long gone dark, and there was barely any light. It was now only a few minutes until midnight. Bai Yun watched the stranger enter a dark house in the middle of the street. There was nothing special about the house. It was similar to the other houses in the street. But Bai Yun was getting a weird feeling from this house. It was not only his god sense, but even his experience and perception were also giving him a warning. 'There must be something quite dangerous inside.' Bai Yun thought.

Not wanting to waste his time, Bai Yun quickly checked the house out from multiple directions. After a while, he saw no restrictions or formations placed on the house, which surprised him. It was just a normal house and not a secret hideout. This place was probably just used for this one single meetup. He saw that the house had three entrances. Not wanting to miss anything Bai Yun took out a few recording jades and placed them pointed at the house. He then hid in the shadows on the roof of the house opposite to it, having a clear view of the main gate.

Bai Yun was patient. He watched as three more people came and went into the house. Two of them were in the foundation establishment realm, whereas the third was in the core formation stage. Not a single one of them felt Bai Yun. He waited patiently on the roof. There was no movement from the house from then on.

Finally, after an hour, he heard some motion coming from the front entrance. He watched as six people exited the house. Then they all split up and went in different directions.

Bai Yun shook his head when he saw them move. You should always exit from a secret meeting separately. This will only draw attention to yourself. They must be amateurs.

Bai Yun quickly took the recording jade that was pointed at the main door and placed a new one there. He figured that he could collect the recording jades later, by which they would have captured any other information he could have missed now. After this Bai Yun followed the stranger he had followed here. Not only was he from the Bai clan, but he was also the weakest of them at only the seventh stage of qi condensation. All the others were at the foundation establishment stage or above.

Soon after they were alone. All the others had left, and the street was deserted. Bai Yun was hidden in the shadows a short distance behind the stranger. He was returning to the clan. Soon they would be back in more busy streets.

He knew that he would have to make a move if he was going to make a move at all.

Bai Yun was wondering if he should kidnap the stranger and interrogate him himself.

If he were to interrogate the person then there would be may problems. First of all, it would be very difficult to capture him silently considering his cultivation level. Next was the problem that he did not have a suitable location to interrogate him in.

But there was also a problem if he was to simply let him go. From what he saw in front of the house, this was a large operation. If he turned him in now, there was a possibility that he would be tipped off and would escape. He would also tip them off if he failed in his capture.

In an instant, Bai Yun decided on the course of his action.

He would capture him first and think about the consequences later.


クリエイターの想い
Idontknowwhattosay Idontknowwhattosay

Queue 52

章 58: Kidnapping

Bai Yun stared at the stranger. The biggest problem he would have to face would be that the stranger is at the seventh stage of Qi condensation. Bai Yun was strong enough to defeat someone at that cultivation level, but capturing him without making any noise was extremely difficult. In the Assassin God's legacy there were quite a good number of pills, liquids and gases that could incapacitate someone silently, but Bai Yun had none of them on him right now.

And no matter what, he wasn't at a level where he could fight without making any noise. Currently the stranger was walking without any awareness, but it was impossible that he would not notice him and react if he were to suddenly attack.

Bai Yun thought about his options for a moment before he chose his plan of action. Bai Yun used wind motion to run around the street the stranger was walking on. The stranger looked around when he heard the whoosh of the air that accompanied wind motion. As Bai Yun hadn't reached soundless motion yet he was unable to hide the sounds. But the stranger did not see anything and ignored the noise.

Since the streets here were quite interconnected it only took Bai Yun a short time to reach the other end of the street, even having taken the long way around. The stranger was walking towards him slowly.

Bai Yun walked in front of the stranger and started to inspect the path. He knew that the stranger would take the same path back as he had taken here, so he had to find a good location to ambush. In assassination and kidnapping, the most important thing was location after all. He was very natural as he simply walked by without stopping.

As he walked, Bai Yun analyzed the place. The street was dark, now that it was after midnight but there were still patches of light. The location the group had chosen to meet was also quite out of the way, as they did not want to attract any attention. Honestly Bai Yun would not have picked such a location for meeting, it was too remote. If something happened, it would easily become suspicious.

The path that the stranger was on was deserted for now, but wont be for long. Soon they would reach more trafficked areas, and that would be bad. He had to take action before then. Not only that he had to take action in a place without many people so that no one noticed them.

A few minutes later, Bai Yun found the perfect place. It was a small junction in the road. Two roads crossed each other. There was a small wall in the road behind which he could hide. From here he could launch a surprise attack at the stranger quite effectively.

Bai Yun stood there and looked around. Using his perception, he made sure that there were no people around him, and that the houses around him were mostly empty. He then quickly took of his robe and changed into clothes that are quite easy to move in. When striking at high speeds the resistance created by the robes could be deadly. Once he did so he changed his appearance, just in case someone did see him.

By now he could hear the stranger getting close. He peered from around the corner at the stranger who was walking towards him slowly. For a moment he watched him closely and then slinked back into the shadow of the streets.

Even though the stranger was a cultivator and at a higher cultivation level than him, the body of a cultivator was same as that of a mortal at a fundamental level. He had the same weaknesses as a mortal. Only when a person's cultivation reached a much higher step would their body lose such weaknesses. And a quick way to knock out a qi condensation realm cultivator is to knock him in the back portion of the brain at the medulla oblongata, the place where the brain joints up with the spinal cord.

And it was necessary to take him by surprise. It is easy for a cultivator to protect their weaknesses easily with qi. If he did not attack before the stranger recognizes him as a threat then he could easily knock him out. Else it would be very difficult for him to kidnap the stranger without making any noise and raise any commotion.

Bai Yun slowly took a stance behind a wall, hidden from sight. He stood a few inches from the wall and the street, facing the street. Bai Yun bend his knees slightly and took a stance. His right hand was crossed in front of his body as if he was about to draw a sword at his left hip.

Bai Yun started to take deep breaths one at a time. Each of his breaths was taken through his mouth and got progressively deeper and quieter. His heartbeat got slower and slower. He wrapped his perception and god sense around him so as to eliminate any of his presence. This was a new technique he had acquired from the Assassin God. Slowly his very existence seemed to blend into the shadows around.

Bai Yun could not use his sense to keep track of the stranger. If he did so, it could alert the stranger of his presence, and that could reduce his chances of successfully ambushing the stranger. Bai Yun used his ears to listen to the strangers footsteps to estimate his distance. Bai Yun waited until he slowly reached him.

Bai Yun focused all of his strength into just right arm. All of his qi was perfectly focused on his right hand. Due to his high skill not single wisp of qi was projected outward and no one could sense his presence. Finally he wrapped two strands of his soul around his arm to strengthen it further.

By now the stranger was only a few meters from where he was hiding. Bai Yun could hear him quite clearly. But there was still a small problem. In order to properly subdue the stranger, it was necessary to attack him from behind in surprise. But no matter how well he had hidden, the area he had hidden in was slightly lit by the star and moon light. When the stranger passed by his hiding spot, it was all but certain that he would be seen. Even though he was using the Assassin God's techniques, he was neither proficient enough nor had a high enough cultivation to hide perfectly.

If Bai Yun were to hide more perfectly, he would be too far from the stranger to efficiently attack. The sound created when he moved closer would alert the stranger and he could possibly react.

Bai Yun listened to the footsteps of the stranger getting closer. By now his breathing had all but disappeared. He opened his eyes slowly. Once he was done, he stared at the road, looking for the time to act. And the moment the right leg of the stranger came into view and fell on the pavement, Bai Yun made his move.

Bai Yun used the third soul tendril of his and slammed two pieces of wood together at the other side from where he was hiding.

Question: what would an average person do when they are walking and they hear a familiar noise.

Answer: they turn to look.

And that is exactly what the stranger did. He kept on walking and simply turned his head to the left to look at the origin of the sound. There was nothing to it. It was simply nature and instinct. The key was to make the sound common and quiet enough to simply make someone turn and not stop walking. If someone heard a firecracker go off, he would be more likely to stop walking. Thus Bai Yun simulated the sound of a door closing. The natural reaction was impossible to control without years of training. And this was simply a momentary reaction. But that turned out to be deadly in the case of the stranger.

Bai Yun waited patiently, and charged into motion the very next second. His heart thundered and his breathing became rapid. His bent knees sprung up, and the arm swung out as if he was drawing a sword. He used every drop of strength available to him and also cast wind motion at the same time.

The sound attracted the attention of the stranger, but he was too late. It only took him a second to turn his head back to look at Bai Yun. As he saw Bai Yun getting bigger and bigger in his eyes, a look of confusion appeared in his eyes, which was quickly replaced by a look of horror. But the one second of delay was all that Bai Yun needed. In an nstant Bai Yun's arm collided with the base of the strangers skull.

The stranger stumbled for a moment, and then his body fell powerlessly on to the floor. But Bai Yun did not stop moving. Before the stranger could stop falling, Bai Yun grabbed his arm, spun his body and then threw the strangers arm over him. A second later some alcohol that he had purchased earlier in the night, spilled onto both of their chest.

All three of Bai Yun' soul tendrils wrapped around the stranger. The two of them started to walk with a sway. If anyone saw the two of them right now, they would only see two drunks walking.

Once the lie was set, Bai Yun took out a small pill and forcefully fed it to the stranger. It was a simple knock out drug that he had purchased earlier from the clan. When he knew that the situation called for an investigation, Bai Yun was prepared to do some extreme measures.

Once this was done Bai Yun looked around to see if there were anyone watching. Once he confirmed that they were indeed alone, Bai Yun started to slowly walk towards the shadows. He stumbled his way to the wall, and a second later he moved into the shadows.

Anyone watching would only see two people staggering and would not look closer. But with each random step, the two of them seemed to go further into the darkness. A few steps later and the the two of them disappeared.

The street went back to its old silence, as if all that happened was only a dream.

Kidnapping successful!


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