King of Assassins
Chapter 101 - 99: Soul-Chasing Detective

Chapter 101: Chapter 99: Soul-Chasing Detective

Wei Ming harbored no prejudice against Gao Xuan; in fact, he quite admired the young man.

So handsome, excellent in swordsmanship, and with a good personality, though just a bit of a scoundrel with women.

However, men, in most cases, are scoundrels. It’s just that some don’t have the ability to be, so they think they’re pure-hearted boys. Give them three or five pretty girls, and they’ll surely want them all.

Wei Ming didn’t see this as a problem.

The natural world is like this; powerful males always get more females. In human society, having capability, money, power, talent, or even looks means obtaining more resources.

In his youth, he had more girlfriends than he could count. He wouldn’t be too harsh on Gao Xuan either.

However, the thought of him hitting on his niece was something Wei Ming couldn’t accept from Gao Xuan.

That’s how rational humans are. They make distinctions between close and distant relationships.

If Gao Xuan hadn’t saved Wei Zhenzhen and Wei Yue, Wei Ming would have already visited him to teach him a lesson.

Since they happened to meet online today, Wei Ming decided to give Gao Xuan a small lesson, to prevent him from getting too full of himself and always thinking he’s some kind of chosen one!

The dueling ground was a standard nine-meter by nine-meter swordsmanship competition arena, and both participants were barefoot. This was to facilitate applying force.

Wei Ming’s registered small account was very simple, only outfitted with a gray and white sword dao robe and a longsword. He wore a mask over his face.

He had just appeared in public a few days ago, so it wouldn’t be good if he were recognized.

A tenth-level swordsman bullying kids wouldn’t sound good if word got out.

Gao Xuan, however, recognized Wei Ming; his Six-winged Celestial Cicada could sense electronic information uniquely.

Wearing a mask was hardly a disguise for Wei Ming. Gao Xuan recognized Wei Ming’s identity just by looking at his eyebrows and eyes.

The Six-winged Celestial Cicada sensed from afar and further locked onto Wei Ming’s divine soul aura.

"Here to cause trouble."

Gao Xuan didn’t need to ask; he knew that Wei Ming’s sneaky visit wasn’t for anything good.

"This challenging friend, aren’t you going to give your name?" Gao Xuan knowingly asked.

"Swordsmen speak with their swords."

Wei Ming spun the longsword in his hand, "I’m here to teach you a lesson."

Gao Xuan smiled, "I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed."

Wei Ming didn’t hold back, advancing with light steps and thrusting his sword forward.

As a dignified tenth-level swordsman, even if his physical data was limited to level 3, his combat awareness wouldn’t be restricted.

One could say, with everyone’s physical data equal, the sword dao duels on the Battle Net were like playing chess. It depended on skill and awareness.

Wei Ming was confident he could defeat Gao Xuan in three moves. He put nine-tenths of his strength into this thrust, having the advantage of the first move. Gao Xuan would either have to retreat or block.

No matter how Gao Xuan responded, his two consecutive moves afterward could send Gao Xuan home.

A strategy, the simplest strategy. It was also a chance for this kid to gain some insight.

While Wei Ming was thinking this, he found that Gao Xuan didn’t follow the script as expected.

Gao Xuan took one step forward, with the longsword thrusting at his chest, using the sword hilt grip to block and counter-push the sword blade directly.

With both having equal data, the force of Gao Xuan’s sword hilt was naturally much greater than Wei Ming’s. Wei Ming’s sword was knocked aside, Gao Xuan’s longsword pointed, and the blade pierced Wei Ming’s throat.

It wasn’t over yet. Gao Xuan followed with a wrist turn and a sword spin, and Wei Ming immediately turned into a mass of mosaic data light.

"See you, brother."

Gao Xuan kindly bid farewell to the data light mass, then gracefully performed a sword flower before sheathing his sword. He smiled forward and said, "Next one, please."

The entire combat process was exceptionally smooth, making Wei Ming’s end no different from the previous dozens of little swordsmen.

No one noticed anything special about Wei Ming’s swordsmanship. The audience was accustomed to such instant defeats.

They merely gave Wei Ming disdainful jeers. Such a person stepping into the arena lacked any self-awareness.

Wei Zhenzhen cheered loudly, unaware that the insta-killed one was Wei Ming. Even if she knew, she wouldn’t care much.

The defeated Wei Ming directly retreated to his room, watching Gao Xuan’s live performance, falling into deep self-doubt: Where am I? Who am I? What am I doing?

As a top-level swordsman, Wei Ming had always considered his swordsmanship quite good. Maybe he couldn’t beat Bai Yuncheng, but that was because Bai Yuncheng’s sword momentum was too strong, unrelated to swordsmanship.

Wei Ming never imagined being instantly defeated by an eighteen-year-old with one strike. He refused to accept this result.

As a top swordsman, Wei Ming soon calmed down.

Wei Ming replayed the combat video several times, analyzing the cause of his failure.

In fact, he remembered that thrust vividly, but watching the video revealed more details.

At the start, Gao Xuan’s center of gravity was clearly prepared to shift back, a subtle action that misled his judgment.

Then, Gao Xuan precisely used a sword hilt to block his sword blade.

It’s worth noting that Gao Xuan’s sword hilt is square, only about three centimeters. Blocking a rapidly thrusting sword blade with such a small sword hilt is incredibly difficult.

What frustrated Wei Ming was that Gao Xuan completely anticipated his sword route. With such virtual body data, it’s challenging to adjust once a move is initiated.

The result was losing the move and being instantly defeated by Gao Xuan.

Wei Ming replayed the combat video a dozen times, ultimately acknowledging that while Gao Xuan might have had a bit of luck, overall, he performed better.

"You have some skills; I underestimated you."

Wei Ming critiqued himself, realizing he was too casual and didn’t truly see Gao Xuan as an opponent.

In virtual combat, everyone starts equally; making one wrong move left no chance for recovery.

Absorbing the lesson, Wei Ming resolved to challenge Gao Xuan again.

The dignified Ice Swordsman, falling to rise again from the same spot.

Wei Ming returned to the duel room, discovering that Gao Xuan now had 65 consecutive wins.

Gao Xuan saw Wei Ming suddenly laughing: "Here we go again, brother. This time be a bit more professional, don’t get killed instantly again. Otherwise, you won’t get the performance fee."

This kind of teasing naturally elicited a burst of laughter from the audience below.

The duel room was set to share sound, so Wei Ming could also hear the laughter. From his position, he could even see the audience in the first few rows below. He even saw Wei Zhenzhen laughing the hardest.

Wei Ming’s old face felt a bit warm. If this got out, it would really be a joke. Luckily, no one knew his identity.

"Come on." Wei Ming pointed his longsword, signaling Gao Xuan to stop wasting time.

Gao Xuan leisurely made an OK gesture to Wei Ming, which left Wei Ming a bit puzzled.

Gao Xuan smiled warmly and said: "This isn’t OK, it’s three, brother. How about dying on the third strike? Be a bit more professional."

"One."

Gao Xuan counted out loud while thrusting his sword straight forward.

This kind of straightforward thrusting sword technique is found in every style and school, and it’s generally called: Immortal’s Guidance.

However, each school’s sword techniques have different nuances, such as the angle of attack, which foot to step with, and where to place body weight, all of which can differ greatly.

Gao Xuan’s step forward was extremely fast, and his sword thrust was even faster.

With all participants having the same physical data status, Gao Xuan’s quick thrust gave him the offensive initiative.

Wei Ming didn’t want to take any risks; he stepped back diagonally, with Gao Xuan following up with another thrust. Wei Ming saw that Gao Xuan’s posture advancing was too big, so he sidestepped and swung his sword rapidly.

This swing was meant to detach Gao Xuan’s arm and shut him up.

Gao Xuan slightly shrugged his shoulder, and with a reverse elbow, slashed up, turning Wei Ming into a ball of white light.

Both sides changed moves simultaneously, leaving no chance for further variation. As a result, Gao Xuan, seemingly prescient, executed an unreasonable move change, perfectly avoiding Wei Ming’s slash and simultaneously killing him in return.

Wei Ming, restricted by his own body, watched himself getting hit and couldn’t make any adjustments.

Gao Xuan finished Wei Ming in three strikes, giving a thumbs-up to Wei Ming’s fading white light, "You did beautifully, brother."

Below, the audience couldn’t help but boo; it indeed seemed like an obvious playact. Three strikes, just as promised.

The audience felt that Wei Ming was too cooperative; both changed moves simultaneously. Who would believe this wasn’t rehearsed beforehand?

Wei Ming left the stage with a grim face, unable to laugh this time.

The audience didn’t matter, but as a Swordsman, he shouldn’t fall into the same trap twice.

Wei Ming found it unreasonable. Gao Xuan seemed to see through all his future moves. Yet he was always distracted by Gao Xuan’s body movements, leading to wrong judgments.

Even though it was just a virtual competition without using real body data, Wei Ming couldn’t accept such a failure.

For this reason, he even activated the laboratory’s supercomputer for data analysis of the two battles.

A few seconds later, Wei Ming got the result.

The Light Computer’s analysis showed that Gao Xuan’s data had no issues, and he didn’t use any cheats.

Gao Xuan’s only advantage was near-prophetic prediction and indistinguishable fake moves.

With both sides having identical data, this advantage was enough to ensure his wins.

Wei Ming pondered for a long while, thinking that either Gao Xuan was extraordinarily gifted, naturally having a special intuition for Sword Dao, always making the right decisions ahead of time,

or Gao Xuan was indeed more skilled in swordsmanship, allowing him to anticipate and adjust accordingly.

When Wei Ming decided to try again, he found the live stream had already ended.

The live stream’s victory record had reached a hundred-win streak.

Wei Ming felt immensely frustrated. He wished he could personally find Gao Xuan for a match to reclaim his dignity.

But, in the end, he didn’t have the thick skin for that and could only wait for the next live stream to trouble Gao Xuan again.

Meanwhile, Cao Xiong and several subordinates had just walked out of the flying ship terminal entrance in Mingjing City.

"Let’s grab a taxi... head to Zhongyuan Hotel first."

Cao Xiong took a sip from a silver, flat flask with floral engravings before lazily giving the order.

His features were unremarkable, with his eyes showing a hint of drunken haze, and a shiny handlebar mustache. Maybe he had drunk too much, as his nose was slightly red.

He wore a colorful printed shirt, bright red beach shorts, and wicker sandals. He looked ready for a beach holiday. Coupled with his somewhat tipsy eyes, he resembled a mildly drunk tourist.

If you hadn’t met Cao Xiong, you’d never guess he was the renowned detective.

Yao Fei curiously asked: "Boss, isn’t anyone from the Law Enforcement Department coming to pick us up?"

"Today, we’re going on the down-low, no publicity."

Cao Xiong yawned, exhaling alcoholic breath, and mumbled, "Let’s first check out the situation. This time, the assassin is quite formidable..."

Yao Fei was a bit unconvinced, hugging Yan Qingge’s arm beside her: "We even have Sister Yan. With you two top swordsmen together, how can an insignificant assassin stand a chance!"

Yan Qingge calmly retracted her arm that was embraced. She observed the bustling crowd at the terminal entrance, thoughtfully saying, "That person is indeed formidable, a strong opponent."

Yan Qingge, with short hair and bangs covering part of her brows, wore a black combat robe. Besides a pistol at her waist, a black baton was holstered on the other side.

Her large sunglasses covered half her face, concealing her true expression and creating a sense of distance as if she were a thousand miles away.

Yao Fei’s attempt to cozy up failed, leaving her slightly awkward. But this was Yan Qingge, from the Yan Family in Zhongjing City, a tenth-level swordsman. Even if she had eight times the courage, she wouldn’t dare get angry with her.

She gave a dry laugh: "I’ll go find a car."

The other subordinates stood respectfully behind, not daring to speak recklessly.

Cao Xiong sidled up to Yan Qingge, whispering: "We’re counting on you this time."

Yan Qingge turned her head slightly to avoid Cao Xiong’s alcoholic breath: "With this many people, as long as you find the opponent’s tracks, what can he really do?"

"Hard to say, hard to say..."

Cao Xiong looked at the towering skyscrapers in the distance, a hint of seriousness in his eyes: "To be honest, I’ve got a bad feeling!"