Chapter 258: You Owe Me Something

Chapter 258: Chapter 258: You Owe Me Something

Yuan You didn’t make a sound, still maintaining her posture of Sitting and Cultivating.

Zhang Yun felt helpless and could only ignore her for now. After all, there was only one person outside; he could handle them no matter what. If it was really a villager—whether it was Zhang Long, Jin Lu, or anyone else snooping around out of curiosity—it would be highly inconvenient for them to see Yuan You here.

Zhang Yun locked his eyes on the dark figure. Waiting until the shadow approached the front hillside, he abruptly kicked the door open and charged out!

The lights were on inside the cabin, but it had been dead silent. The dark figure assumed it was safe to creep closer, completely unprepared for Zhang Yun’s sudden ambush. The intruder quickly glanced around, likely searching for a place to hide. However, Zhang Yun gave him no such chance. In the blink of an eye, he closed the short distance between them.

"Who are you? Why are you following me?"

Now only a few meters apart, Zhang Yun could see the man clearly despite the dim lighting. He didn’t recognize this person at all; it was definitely not a villager.

"I have business with you," the dark figure was surprisingly calm, straightforwardly admitting that he was here for Zhang Yun.

"What kind of business?"

Zhang Yun stopped about two or three meters away from him. He could faintly make out that the intruder was a middle-aged man wearing a baseball cap, though his eyes were obscured in the gloom.

"You owe me something," the shadow said, his tone still perfectly composed.

"What thing?"

Zhang Yun’s mind raced. An ordinary person wouldn’t say such a thing. There was only one group he could think of that would claim he owed them something! The Donghuang Sect! It had to be about that Blood Demon Blade of unknown origin!

"Your life!"

The moment the word left his mouth, the middle-aged man’s murderous intent erupted. A massive sheet of faint white light flashed out instantly, completely enveloping the space around Zhang Yun. As soon as he realized the Donghuang Sect had come for the Blood Demon Blade, Zhang Yun had gone on high alert. No matter how they had tracked him here, the person they sent was bound to be much stronger and of a higher rank than the previous ones. But he never expected the man to completely ignore the Blood Demon Blade and go straight for the kill!

Zhang Yun reacted incredibly fast, immediately retreating backward, yet he still suffered a slash to his arm! That sheet of faint white light was actually the gleam of a rapidly dancing blade!

The middle-aged man’s earlier slow approach was merely an attempt to launch a sneak attack, not a sign of sluggishness. Now that he had burst into action, his speed was not the slightest bit slower than Zhang Yun’s! After all, charging forward naturally held an advantage of momentum over retreating backward. Zhang Yun’s nerves were stretched taut. The small wooden cabin was right behind him, only a few steps away. Even if he managed to retreat inside, the flashing blade was pressing so closely that he wouldn’t have time to shut the door. Besides, calling it a wooden cabin was a stretch; it was essentially just a shed. Even with the door closed, it couldn’t withstand a fierce kick, let alone rapid, violent slashes.

If Zhang Yun were alone, this would be much easier to handle. He could just hide in his Personal Space, grab a gun, and blow the guy away while he was caught off guard. Even scoring a headshot wouldn’t be difficult. But Yuan You was currently inside the cabin! She was still in the middle of Sitting and Cultivating. If he let this enemy inside, she would be completely defenseless against the slashes. Zhang Yun couldn’t blame Yuan You for holding him back, either. After all, neither of them had anticipated this. The enemy was here for him, and Yuan You was only in this state because she had handled his Divine Master Card.

"I’m flying!"

All these thoughts flashed through Zhang Yun’s mind in a fraction of a second. With no time to think carefully, he suddenly let out a dramatic, goofy yell, actively drawing the enemy’s attention! Leveraging his intimate knowledge of the environment while retreating, he abruptly leaped into the air and grabbed a tree branch extending in front of the cabin. Like a gymnast, he swung himself up and over, tracing an arc to dodge the flashing blade, and dropped down behind the middle-aged man.

Before Zhang Yun even hit the ground, he noticed the middle-aged man swiftly spinning around to pursue him! This immediately gave him two layers of analysis: he had successfully shaken off the middle-aged man on the ridge earlier, and even though the man had tracked him here, he hadn’t noticed Yuan You. Alternatively, the enemy was solely focused on killing him and hadn’t considered using Yuan You in the cabin as a hostage. This put Zhang Yun’s mind somewhat at ease. If the man was only after him, things would be much simpler.

Oh no! Before he even had time to breathe a sigh of relief, Zhang Yun realized something was wrong! He had just grabbed the branch, swung in a full circle, and successfully flown over the man’s head. However, he couldn’t accelerate his swinging speed, nor could he speed up his parabolic descent. Meanwhile, the middle-aged man had turned around with blistering speed, thrusting his blade right into Zhang Yun’s face! It was no longer a broad sheet of flashing light, but a single white dot closing in rapidly. Still two feet in the air, Zhang Yun was completely incapable of retreating.

The middle-aged man’s Experience was extremely rich. Earlier, he had swung his blade rapidly for wide coverage, preventing Zhang Yun from dodging left or right. Now, seeing at a glance that Zhang Yun couldn’t evade mid-air, he abandoned complex maneuvers and aimed straight for a vital spot!

Zhang Yun was startled, but he didn’t panic. The enemy’s adaptability exceeded his expectations, but he had a trump card. No matter how fast the man was, he couldn’t outpace Zhang Yun’s mind. Forget a few feet away—even if the blade were inches from his face, he would still have time to escape into his Personal Space. Was he really going to have to expose his secret? Then again... as long as he killed this enemy, it wouldn’t count as being exposed. Since the man had come all this way to kill him, he should be prepared to be killed in return!

Just as Zhang Yun was about to enter his Personal Space, the blade in front of him suddenly reversed direction with lightning speed!

CLANG!

A piercing metallic clash rang out, sending a shower of sparks flying. Zhang Yun saw it clearly—the middle-aged man had reversed his blade to slash behind him, blocking another blade that had come flying at his back! Although he couldn’t see it clearly in the dark, he knew exactly where that blade had come from. It was a tool he had left in the cabin, a sickle used for cutting grass to feed the fish. The only person who could have sent a blade flying from the cabin at this moment was naturally Yuan You!

After the metallic clang, Yuan You also darted out of the wooden cabin, joining the now-landed Zhang Yun to form a pincer attack against the middle-aged man.

"So you lured me here because you had an ambush waiting. Fine, I’ll kill you both!" the middle-aged man sneered. Ignoring the newly arrived Yuan You, he raised his blade and locked his eyes back on Zhang Yun!

Zhang Yun grinned. "Come catch me!"

He abruptly dashed off at a slant. As the middle-aged man gave chase, Zhang Yun leaped off the hillside, plunging straight into the Shantang. The massive commotion in the dead of night startled a large school of fish, sending a massive splash of water into the air.

The pursuing middle-aged man hesitated for a split second. He had never encountered a target who willingly threw themselves into the water! However, given the environment, he was keenly aware of the pros and cons. Once someone jumped into a pond, it would be difficult for them to escape. But his target was highly familiar with this terrain, knowing exactly where the water was deep and where it was shallow, whereas he knew absolutely nothing. Add the darkness of the night to the mix, and one careless move could spell his doom!

"Who are you?!" Yuan You had already followed close behind. Leaping gracefully into the air, she launched a swift kick at his head.

"Get lost!" The middle-aged man hastily swung his blade at her, forcing Yuan You to engage her core and forcefully twist her body mid-air to dodge.

After a slight hesitation, he chose to jump down into the pond as well! Just from the sickle thrown from the cabin earlier—which had forced him to abort his attack to save himself—he could tell by its sheer force and precision that this woman was immensely powerful. Compared to fighting her, taking care of the guy in the water seemed much easier. He would just stab the brat to death and leave him to feed the fish!