Chapter Seventy: The Alpha Shinobi Assassins (Part Two)

In the country of Wa, aside from its infamous assassins, it is renowned above all for its sumo wrestlers. Their faces are painted with bold colors, their loins covered by a simple cloth, bodies broad and muscular, figures massive and imposing—each movement brimming with the strength to lift a tiger. When pirates acquired them, clad in armor, they became unstoppable in storming cities and breaking through defenses.

As the battle escalated, evolving from cannon fire into close-quarters combat, the fog grew thick, and shouts and cries of violence resounded from every direction. Lin Su’e’s beautiful face was pale and terrified. Behind her, a monstrous brute drooled with lascivious glint in his eyes. His grotesquely oversized body granted him formidable power, but also twisted his personality into something depraved.

Their favorite pastime was to brutally tear women apart after their vile acts. The sumo wrestler before her had set his sights on Lin Su’e, his loincloth barely containing him; if not for his sluggishness, he would already have pinned her to the ground.

Lin Su’e’s mind was in utter chaos. She could not understand how she ended up bound here, nor why a battle had erupted. She only wanted to find the one who had saved her life.

Suddenly, immense force gripped her neck, making it impossible to breathe, her mind growing blank from the pressure. Was she about to die?

Through the haze, she caught sight of two ferocious eyes, devilish and wild, filled with evil intent. Without pity, she was pressed to the deck, the monster’s hands fumbling at her waist, intent on violating her. Lin Su’e’s mind emptied; instinctively, she tried to bite her tongue to end her own life.

Then, a broad blade pierced from the back of the wrestler’s skull, a flash of blood spurting from his mouth. The sumo choked and gargled, his massive hands flailing wildly. After a brief struggle, he collapsed lifelessly, his mountainous body crashing down and shaking the entire deck with a thunderous boom.

If it were a contest of fist and foot, even the most skilled fighters would struggle against this armored brute. For storming fortresses, he was unmatched—but in a fight for survival, his sluggish movements were his fatal flaw.

“How did you end up here?”

Lin Su’e’s mind spun in confusion, then suddenly a familiar figure appeared before her. Her clear, round eyes lit up with joy. The brush with death had emboldened her, and she sprang up to embrace him.

Warmth and softness pressed against him, but Kou Li’s rising desire was swiftly replaced by helplessness. He sighed, “Weren’t you supposed to be with Senior Yue?”

“I was worried about you, so I took advantage of the chaos to come over. Thank you for saving me again,” Lin Su’e replied shyly. Though the customs in the Yue region were more open, it was still uncommon for a woman to openly embrace a man. Yet she refused to let go.

He gave her a sense of safety she had never known.

“So, your way of thanking me is to deliberately come and be my burden?”

“……”

Kou Li took a deep breath, knowing this woman’s mind worked differently from most—a hopeless case of naive sweetness. He pulled her along; such a commotion would surely attract the Wa assassins.

He wasn’t clear how ancient naval battles were fought, but it didn’t matter—he could see the situation well enough. The Shui Long Gang’s fleet was like chunks of fat fallen among sharks, one ship after another bursting into black smoke and flames.

The three enormous ships, clearly larger than the rest, formed a triangle, enclosing their two vessels and steadily shrinking the space on the sea. At this point, it was impossible to remain uninvolved; his best course was to find the three from the Burning Martial Hall and plan the rest together.

Who could have guessed that such a deadly arena would even draw the pirate ships under Zhu Baozai’s command?

His enhanced hearing and vision were even more valuable now than his martial skills—at least he could spot incoming cannonballs early. No matter how skilled in martial arts, no one could catch a cannonball by hand.

Yet recalling Lin Xianshi uprooting trees and hurling them at people, Kou Li reserved judgment on that assumption.

With his sharpened vision, he could see vague silhouettes through the mist. Suddenly, a black shadow tore through the fog, shooting toward him like a cannonball—left hand forming a grasping palm, right hand a chopping palm, the grasping palm like an explosive, the chopping palm thunderous.

The winding-arm chopping palm of Tongbei Fist!

Kou Li’s heart tightened; he instantly assumed the “Sleeping Dragon” stance: the crown of his head and perineum aligned vertically, nose tip and navel forming a straight line, hands raised in a “Five Flowers Sitting Mountain” framework to intercept—this was called “Dragon Coiling, Tiger Lurking,” perfectly countering the opponent’s chop.

Dragon’s aura and Tiger’s structure fused seamlessly.

At the moment of impact, several thick tendons bulged on Kou Li’s body, as though struck by a battering ram. His feet sank, and a tremendous sound burst from the deck, splintering the planks within a radius of two yards.

The opponent, chest withdrawn and back arched, turned and grasped with force, energy coursing through his forearm and palm’s outer edge, snatching at Kou Li’s upper arm. This was the “Monkey Hanging Branch” move from the White Ape variant of Tongbei Fist—stealthy and nimble. If it landed, half a thigh could be ripped away.

Fortunately, Kou Li’s body instinctively responded: dragon transformed into tiger, upper body collapsing with the chop’s momentum, then tiger pounced with claw, hooking the opponent’s forearm, fingertips flashing coldly.

The other man shook his arm lightly, turning it as if ten powerful bows were drawn and released at once. Kou Li’s claw was deflected, as if struck by a steel whip, his palm split open, and his chest constricted, almost knocking the breath from him.

He had exchanged over a dozen fierce blows with Diao Fengsheng in the death arena, but nothing like this had occurred.

This was the advanced skill of tendon refining, one of the Four Great Refinements. Human strength comes from the tendons, and here the opponent’s single tendons equaled the sum of the body’s twelve major tendons.

Yet Kou Li did not retreat. Instead, he roared, inhaling as though filling ten lungs, the massive influx of air activating his heart, then all three major and nine minor centers emitted a whip-crack, tiger’s roar and dragon’s song—a single whip with nine powers, Sitting Mountain Single Whip!

It was as if thunder god’s whip struck from the heavens, qi and blood surging like the sun at noon, the air reverberating with explosive booms.

This strike forced the opponent to respond; he growled, skin instantly bulging with hundreds of worm-like blue veins. Human strength does not come from flesh, but from the great tendons beneath it. The longer the tendon, the greater the strength. In tendon refining, the twelve great tendons are awakened, drawing out all the body’s latent and unused sinews.

Through this refinement, hundreds of “worms” are trained, increasing strength immeasurably.

Stepping forward, drilling fist—penetrating bone, whip fist clashing. The explosion was louder than cannon fire, dispersing the fog in a ten-yard radius and revealing a wide area.

Both men’s feet sank half a foot into the deck, which was reinforced with layers of iron plates, now cracked by the force. Lin Su’e, closest to them, was knocked unconscious immediately.

The opponent’s true form was revealed at last: the grand fist master Jin Xing, Huo Jundong of the Twin Huo branch of Tongbei.

“You said anyone wanting to fight or kill you could come find you anytime!” Huo Jundong shouted, murderous intent blazing.

After that fierce exchange, Kou Li, already exhausted, staggered, sweat pooling beneath his feet, his body limp and drained. He was near his physical limit.

Yet he glanced sideways and suddenly smiled. “Of course. I said so.”

Huo Jundong’s hair bristled, sensing imminent danger. Without hesitation, he activated his tendons, hips, and back, leaping more than ten yards in two steps. But a chill seeped through half his body.

Huo Jundong’s body was partially encased in crystalline ice, skin wrapped in a thick layer, and he crashed heavily to the ground. Seeing the seal Kou Li held in his hand, Huo’s gaze narrowed and he gritted his teeth, “You’re from the Immortal Dwelling!”

‘Immortal Dwelling?’ Kou Li’s eyes flashed. He was about to speak when footsteps rang out—two Wa assassins charged, blades drawn, unleashing the New Shadow Draw Sword technique!

Assassins always target the wounded prey first.

Normally, Huo Jundong would dismiss such crude dan-tian sword strikes, but now he could only avoid fatal wounds. He was slashed in the chest and back, screamed, and with half his strength, spun and struck—grabbing and pounding, he knocked both attackers overboard.

“You can go down too!”

With his qi and blood sealed, Huo Jundong could not dodge. Kou Li pounced like a tiger, shoulder, waist, hip, and back all colliding at once, smashing the railing and sending Huo crashing into the sea.