Chapter 200: Chapter 192: Matching Wits with an Opponent (3rd Update, Requesting Monthly Votes!)
A dark silhouette suddenly sprang out from the bushes behind Xiao Lin. The gloved right hand with a cold gleam in its white glove aimed at Xiao Lin’s back—fingers turned into shining brass nails. If this strike connects, it would pierce through, chilling the heart—a truly vicious attack.
The speed was astonishingly fast, comparable to the speed of a ghost.
Xiao Lin’s reaction cannot be called slow; he already anticipated the danger. Yet, he couldn’t evade the assassination attempt. Unexpectedly, the attacker had already changed direction, and Xiao Lin knew for sure the switch occurred just before his confrontation with the masked man. This individual’s mind and skill were both formidable.
Xiao Lin didn’t have time to look back or counterattack; he could only instinctively dodge to the side. However, the opponent was too fast, picking the perfect moment—precisely when Xiao Lin was unable to adjust his posture after fighting fiercely with the tiger—to ensure a one-hit kill.
Xiao Lin’s reaction speed was swift, yet the opponent was overwhelmingly strong and found an incredibly accurate timing. Moreover, Xiao Lin thought changing his position would mean the opponent couldn’t attack so quickly. Who would have expected them to silently and stealthily reach around to attack from behind?
With a slick sound, the opponent’s brass nails slashed open Xiao Lin’s clothes.
Although the opponent was fast enough, luckily, Xiao Lin sensed a dangerous aura beforehand. This time, the ambush only resulted in ripped clothes on his arm as the brass nails scraped him, leaving four bloody scratches.
In that instant, Xiao Lin didn’t feel pain in his arm but instead felt heartache. A suit worth over a million was ruined, worn only once. Far too extravagant, Xiao Lin found humor in adversity and sneered at himself for being wasteful. If his father found out about him wearing million-dollar clothes just once, he would undoubtedly scold Xiao Lin to death.
Xiao Lin was wealthy—extremely wealthy—anything money could buy, he could afford. Yet, despite his wealth, even he couldn’t justify such extravagance—clothes over a million, worn for mere hours, simply vanished. What else could he do but feel heartache?
Of course, Xiao Lin only felt heartache for a fleeting moment before sensing danger approaching again. Though the opponent’s strike didn’t succeed, they grazed Xiao Lin’s arm. Nonetheless, the white shining gloves didn’t cease their attack, sweeping across like shadows.
Xiao Lin seemed to have predicted the opponent’s move, suddenly springing forward toward the masked man. Despite injuring the masked man severely with the previous punch, Xiao Lin understood the opponent still possessed the ability to attack. He seized the opportunity to eliminate one of them first.
However, Xiao Lin underestimated the white gloves behind him. Just as he sprang up, the gloves neared his back, aiming once more at his heart.
Xiao Lin let out a sneer, his entire body suddenly leaning forward, then bending over. His right leg swept back faster than lightning. The white gloves were slightly surprised, not expecting Xiao Lin’s true target to be them, not the masked figure. The kick was shockingly swift and caught them off guard.
The white gloves had to abandon pursuit and retreat to evade Xiao Lin’s fierce kick.
Nonetheless, Xiao Lin quickly abandoned this prime opportunity for a follow-up strike and turned back toward the masked man again.
At this moment, the masked man’s fist intent was completely shattered by Xiao Lin’s previous punch; his right fist was nearly useless, unbearably painful. Even while exchanging blows, the tiger already heard the sound of bones shattering inside his fists. There’s an old saying about the connection between fingers and the heart—hurting five fingers at once. Even a tiger, who has immersed himself in martial arts for years, feels piercing pain from the strike, especially since the opponent’s strength directly impacted through the arms and transmitted to the chest, causing severe internal injury instantly.
The tiger thought he was doomed, clearly seeing the young man was immensely strong, even comparable to a lion. Surprisingly in the previous encounter, the opponent didn’t exert full strength at first. The reason was unclear—then the white gloves sneaked from behind and injured his arms in one move—the tiger understood the young man’s awareness of others around, preserving his strength for those hidden in darkness.
Just this realization made the tiger acknowledge the gap in prowess. During the brief entanglement with the white gloves, the tiger regulated his internal injuries with True Qi, stabilizing his energy flow, and temporarily easing the pain in his hand.
Yet, unexpectedly, the young man’s strategy was so precise, swiftly freeing from the white gloves. He didn’t continue his attack but turned toward him. Luckily, the tiger regained some composure, suppressing the turbulence in his chest. Though not capable of countering, he could at least dodge.
However, the tiger overestimated himself and underestimated Xiao Lin. Xiao Lin went all in, unleashing all his energy without reservation—how could an injured tiger withstand such an attack?
Xiao Lin’s speed escalated to the extreme intent on swiftly resolving the masked man, leaving no room for escape.
The iron palm struck, the tiger had no way to avoid, forced to block with his left hand. Yet, Xiao Lin’s strike channeled all his strength, exploding with palm force. Once again, the tiger flew backward like a kite with broken string.
With a cracking sound, Tiger’s arm was shockingly broken by Xiao Lin’s force, leaving him with no strength to resist. At this point, Tiger knew that even if he stayed, he had no chance of winning. Although Xiao Lin’s strike also injured Tiger, it couldn’t possibly kill him instantly. Tiger didn’t dare to pause to adjust his breath; taking advantage of the momentum, he hurriedly ran away after landing, ignoring his internal injuries. Leaving this place as soon as possible was the right path.
Xiao Lin saw the masked man falling into the distance, yet he could still run while the momentum lingered. Xiao Lin wanted to continue pursuing, aiming for a fatal blow. However, at this moment, the person with the white glove was already behind him. Xiao Lin knew it was impossible to continue and kill the masked man. But having inflicted two consecutive serious injuries, even if the opponent managed to escape and save his life, his martial skills would be essentially crippled. Even if he recovered, at most, his skills would only be at four or five levels, not worth worrying about anymore. Now, only the person with the white glove remained.
The white glove’s strength was clearly a notch higher than that of the masked man. Had this person acted together with the masked man before he was injured, Xiao Lin might not have been able to fight them off. This suggests that the white glove and the masked man were probably not in cahoots.
If this deduction was correct, considering how the masked man was bluffed by me, he was sent by the Qu Family. Meanwhile, the white glove should be someone sent by the Wang Family.
Thinking of this, Xiao Lin’s intent to kill grew. Had it been someone with lesser skills, they would have already been killed by the opponent. Unexpectedly, the Qu Family and the Wang Family were so audacious.
Xiao Lin didn’t have time to think more; the forceful wind from behind had already arrived. Without the threat of the masked man, Xiao Lin turned around and attacked with a palm strike, then transformed his palm into a claw, grabbing towards the opponent’s wrist.
The white glove had evidently anticipated Xiao Lin’s attack; initially, his claw was directly facing him, but suddenly turned over to meet Xiao Lin’s clawed hand. If this landed solidly, Xiao Lin’s palm would surely be ruined.
However, Xiao Lin wouldn’t allow him to crash into him. He stepped forward, keeping his claw aimed at the opponent’s wrist, never losing an inch.
Both moved with incredible speed. Seeing his attack on the right wasn’t getting through, the white glove suddenly changed direction and attacked Xiao Lin’s left and right.
Xiao Lin quickly dodged, but suddenly felt the wound on his left shoulder bleeding profusely, his entire arm nearly dyed red by the blood. With a fierce jump, he struck at the opponent hard. Xiao Lin suddenly changed moves, leaving the white glove’s attack futile as he dodged to the side.
At this point, the white glove didn’t rush to attack; he stood there, watching Xiao Lin’s left arm closely. If Xiao Lin got distracted trying to stop the bleeding of the wound, he would undoubtedly suffer from the opponent’s fierce attacks.
Xiao Lin indeed didn’t dare to get distracted. The opponent wasn’t a weak adversary, but by now, the bleeding wound on his left arm was almost dry, with some blood already congealed. If the left arm remained still, the wound wouldn’t tear further and wouldn’t bleed more.
"Are you sent by the Wang Family?" Xiao Lin asked in a deep voice, trying to buy some time for his injured left arm. His internal True Qi gently surged towards his arm, hoping to speed up the healing of the wound, at least to quickly alleviate the burning pain on his left arm.
"Who sent me doesn’t matter; all you need to know is that I’m here to kill you!" the white glove replied indifferently.
Now, Xiao Lin had the time to take a good look at the white glove. His face covered, eyes sharp. Judging from the eyes, the opponent was definitely not over thirty-five. Both his techniques and speed were exceptionally strong, one or two levels above the previous Middle Eastern gentleman, though Xiao Lin had not yet engaged him directly.
"With skills like yours doing such things, it’s truly a pity!" Xiao Lin sighed. He slightly moved his left arm discreetly, and the pain gradually subsided; the bleeding had completely stopped.
At that moment, the white glove moved because he noticed Xiao Lin’s left arm moved slightly, realizing Xiao Lin was stalling for time to tend to his injured left arm.
Xiao Lin moved as well. Although his left arm wasn’t as nimble as before when uninjured, it wasn’t too severely impacted.
Heavy palm shadows, scattered falling leaves.
Both their body techniques were almost equally fast, engaging and disengaging in an instant.
Xiao Lin’s left arm bled once again; he even felt the wound split and the sensation of blood flowing down his arm, feeling the warmth of the flowing blood.
This can’t be dragged on any longer! (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you are welcome to vote for it on Qidian (), your support is my greatest motivation.)