How was it done

"Where were you attacked?!"

"Where are you now?!"

Su Yu frowned slightly and held the terminal a little farther from his ear.

"I just arrived at the main gate of Jingwu University."

"Is there a problem?"

"Yes!"

"A huge problem!!!"

Nie Changkong's voice was trembling, laced with an uncontrollable panic and lingering dread.

"Weren't you cultivating at the school?!"

"When did you sneak out?!"

"I went back to my apartment for a bit," Su Yu replied, his tone still as calm as ever.

"Just needed to grab something."

"You—!"

Nie Changkong nearly choked on his own breath.

He was frantic!

Absolutely frantic!

He had completely failed to protect Su Yu!

Someone like Su Yu, a peerless prodigy who had comprehended the Manifested Spear Intent, should have been assigned a Martial King-level guardian per the highest security protocols of Jingwu.

The main reason was, Nie Changkong had subconsciously assumed that Su Yu, being a newly enrolled student, would stay on campus and grind through the resources available to him.

Staying within Jingwu's grounds, under the watch of a Martial Emperor like himself, would be absolutely safe.

He never imagined the kid would slip out of the school without a word.

And worse, he had forgotten to tell Su Yu: never leave the campus without a guardian!

"Stand right there, don't move!"

"Wait for me to come to you!!!"

Bam!

The call ended in an instant.

At the top floor of Jingwu's administration building.

Nie Changkong was drenched in cold sweat.

His heart was pounding wildly.

Negligence!

Severe negligence!

This was an eighteen-year-old freak who had comprehended Manifested Spear Intent!

If he had actually been assassinated off campus, Nie Changkong would be a sinner before the entire martial arts world of the Great Xia Nation!

Even the chancellor, Feng Wuji, upon his return from the Abyss, might just spear a hole right through his skull!

"But... wait!"

Nie Changkong, while frantically channeling the blood essence of a Martial Emperor, rapidly analyzed the situation in his head.

"Captured the assassin alive!"

"This kid has some tricks, huh!"

"After all, it's Spear Intent—the corporeal Manifested Spear Intent—with devastating lethality."

"I wonder what realm the assassin came from?"

Nie Changkong's figure flashed, directly shattering the floor-to-ceiling window of his office.

Transforming into a black streak of light that tore through the night sky, he sped straight toward Jingwu's main gate.

"An initial Grandmaster?"

"Or a peak Grandmaster?"

"Either way, a freshman with one thousand blood essence points being able to capture a Grandmaster-level assassin alive—that's quite an achievement."

"It can't be a Great Grandmaster, right?"

"Those are monsters with a hundred thousand blood essence points and above. Their protective Qi could blunt even the Manifested Spear Intent. Capturing one alive would be nearly impossible!"

"Still, this is extremely good news!"

Nie Changkong let out a long breath amidst the night wind.

"He's not dead, thank god!"

"He's still alive!"

"Otherwise, my career as vice chancellor is over!"

...

Outside Jingwu's main gate.

Su Yu stood under a streetlamp.

Less than ten seconds after hanging up.

Buzz—!

Before him, space rippled violently with no warning at all.

A pitch-black figure, radiating the overwhelming pressure of a Martial Emperor, stepped directly out of the void!

It was none other than the anxious Nie Changkong.

"Su Yu!"

The moment Nie Changkong appeared, his Martial Emperor-level mental power swept over Su Yu's entire body like a radar.

No wounds.

Steady breathing.

Not even a single hair out of place!

"Phew..."

The heart that had been lodged in Nie Changkong's throat finally fell back into place.

He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and glared at Su Yu with exasperation.

"You reckless brat!"

"Who told you to wander around at this hour?!"

"Do you have any idea what you are right now? A special-grade freshman! Countless eyes are watching you in the dark!"

"And when you ran into the assassin—why didn't you call for me immediately?!"

Su Yu looked at the furious Nie Changkong.

He raised his right hand and gave the black-clad man he was holding a slight shake.

"Because there was no need."

"He's too weak."

Too weak?

Nie Changkong blinked.

Only then did he turn his gaze to the limp black-clad figure in Su Yu's grip, slung around like a dead dog.

"Let me see which clueless faction had the audacity to send a Grandmaster to assassinate someone from Jingwu—"

Nie Changkong said offhandedly.

And at the same time, with the casual air of a Martial Emperor, he extended his perception into the black-clad man's body.

Then—

The moment his senses touched the suppressed blood essence within the assassin—

Boom!!!

A thousand thunderclaps seemed to detonate inside Nie Changkong's skull!

The expression on his face froze solid.

His already wide eyes bulged even further, as if they were about to pop out of their sockets!

"Th-this..."

Nie Changkong's voice trembled violently.

He sucked in a sharp breath of cold air.

His feet, uncontrollably, stumbled half a step backward!

What had he sensed?!

Six hundred thousand!

A full six hundred thousand points of blood essence!!!

This was no mere Grandmaster!

This was a pinnacle Great Grandmaster with six hundred thousand blood essence points!!!

And within the black-clad man's body, Nie Changkong also caught a faint, hidden wisp of an Abyssal presence—nauseating to the extreme.

Plus, in his stomach, there was a mass of deadly poison, sealed away by some remarkably powerful mental force, unable to spread!

"The Abyss Cult..."

"A poison-wired death soldier..."

"Six hundred thousand blood essence..."

Nie Changkong swallowed hard.

A name, infamous in the underground world of the capital and synonymous with a chain of blood-soaked horrors, flashed through his mind!

Three years ago, this man infiltrated the heavily guarded Southern Defense Line, killed three military Great Grandmasters with forty thousand blood essence each in a single night, and escaped scot-free!

Last year, even while hunted by a peak Martial Spirit, using his bizarrely deceptive stealth techniques, he slipped away right from under his pursuer's nose!

He was the Abyss Cult's ace assassin!

A shadow that kept countless human prodigies awake at night!

"Shadow Blade?!"

Nie Changkong cried out in shock. He stared, frozen, at Su Yu.

His gaze filled with utter horror, bewilderment, and the utter despair of a man whose worldview had just crumbled.

A top-tier assassin who could escape from a peak Martial Spirit!

"You..."

"You captured... Shadow Blade alive?!"

Su Yu looked at Nie Changkong's ghost-face expression.

And replied with a plain nod.

"So his name is Shadow Blade?"

Silence.

A deathly silence.

Outside Jingwu's main gate, the only sound was the rustle of leaves in the night breeze.

Nie Changkong stood there, feeling like the entire world was spinning around him.

A pinnacle assassin with six hundred thousand blood essence!

Even he, as a Martial Emperor, would have to exert considerable effort to capture this man alive—and even then, there was a chance the assassin would seize an opening to swallow his poison!

And yet now.

This infamous ace killer of the capital.

Was just dangling there, like a plucked chicken, held effortlessly by a freshman with "one thousand" blood essence points?!

Even his last option—death by poison—had been forcibly stripped away?!

Nie Changkong's throat went dry. He looked at Su Yu as if he were gazing at a monster beyond all comprehension.

His voice came out trembling.

"You...?"

"How in the hell did you do that?!"