Chapter 16: Ever-Shifting

Watching as the flying assassin descended from the sky, Wang Liang instinctively forced himself to forget about Marco, who was sprawled atop the chest. He raised the Blade of Life and Death in his hand and struck at the airborne assassin with a single, decisive slash.

Ever since he had independently slain a Yellow Sands bandit soldier, Wang Liang had come to understand where his unfamiliarity with the blade technique lay: he hadn’t fully utilized all his advantages.

This time, he would not repeat that mistake. With the vital Innate Universe Technique at his disposal, he did not neglect to use it. The muscles in his arm hardened, his strength surged, and the muscles at his waist twisted in ways no ordinary person could manage, driving power through his legs. This was precisely the marvel of the Limitless and Unfixed Universe—his agility and strength rose to their peak.

As the flying assassin dropped, Wang Liang stamped forward and brought the blade downward in a mighty arc. He unleashed all his power in that strike; the assassin had no chance to react and was cleaved in two on the spot.

Wang Liang then stepped forward and kicked the chest that was being hoisted away. Marco, who was still clinging to it, nearly toppled off. He was about to curse when, by chance, Wang Liang’s kick sent the chest colliding with a kite soaring above. The two flying assassins controlling the kite lost their grip, and the kite dove headlong toward the ground.

Those two assassins didn’t try to regain control of the kite; they simply abandoned it and leaped down. Meanwhile, three other flying assassins hurled darts at the chest, stabilizing it as it continued to ascend.

The two assassins who leapt from the sky shifted direction midair—one lunged directly at Wang Liang, his eyes betraying no fear of the deadly blade poised to strike him at any moment. The other leaped backward, landing on the far side of the chest, clearly intent on protecting the rising cargo.

Both those fighting in the sky and the paladins encircling the camels witnessed these movements.

Yet, their initial plan had gone awry. After two sudden assaults from above, the tightly clustered camels had fallen into chaos. The paladins, weighed down by heavy armor, could neither charge in on horseback nor move swiftly enough on foot to offer any rescue. In that moment, only Wang Liang and his companions could rely on themselves for survival.

Faced with the circumstances, Wang Liang took a step back, unable to spare a thought for Marco still atop the chest. With his retreat, he opened up a gap, which the descending assassin exploited, spinning in midair and lunging straight at Wang Liang. As he pounced, his arm flicked up—four throwing knives shot toward Wang Liang from four different angles.

Wang Liang sensed that no matter which way he dodged, the knives would find him. Instinctively, he stepped forward; there was no time to gather strength. He brought the Blade of Life and Death down toward the assassin.

The airborne assassin, having observed Wang Liang’s combat style, showed no fear at the incoming strike; instead, he charged forward. His right hand flicked up, and from his sleeve sprang a hidden, spring-loaded dagger.

But the assassin could not have guessed that Wang Liang’s blade technique was honed on the battlefield. He favored direct, forceful slashes not out of ignorance, but habit—a habit formed from facing enemy cavalry head-on. Seeing the assassin’s response, Wang Liang twisted his grip, transforming the slash into a thrust, spearing the blade toward the assassin’s waist like a lance.

At that moment, the assassin had yet to touch the ground. Wang Liang’s thrust caught him just as his power was at its weakest, midair. The assassin, trained to suppress his instincts, didn’t even try to dodge; instead, he pressed his left hand against the blade’s edge, using it as leverage to propel himself toward Wang Liang.

Wang Liang loosened his grip, twisting his body downward like a coiled spring unleashed. In the instant of collision, his muscles tensed, his body crashing into the assassin like a falling mountain. The airborne assassin, still not yet landed, was sent stumbling back several steps.

Then, in a motion impossible for ordinary men, Wang Liang’s body twisted midair, allowing him to snatch up the Blade of Life and Death from the ground. With a horizontal sweep, he slashed at the assassin’s waist.

At first, the assassin, knocked back, assumed Wang Liang was simply a brute—such men were usually stiff and unwieldy. He never expected Wang Liang to recover his blade so swiftly.

He thought Wang Liang would resort to a flurry of punches, the kind of attack the assassin could endure until an opening appeared for the kill. But once Wang Liang reclaimed his blade, the situation changed entirely. The unfamiliar blade was a long weapon, designed to cleave enemies in two with a single stroke on the battlefield. Wang Liang’s was a masterpiece among such blades—deadly in the extreme.

The assassin pushed off with the tip of his foot, retreating just in time to collide with a camel. But Wang Liang’s blade caught him at the waist, opening a deep wound from which blood spurted uncontrollably.

Wang Liang would not waste such an opportunity. He reversed his grip on the blade, crouched low, and charged forward, the blade trailing along the ground—a technique known as the Dragging Blade. Rare among unfamiliar blade techniques, it took advantage of speed to strike. While it was most effective on horseback, in this moment, Wang Liang relied solely on his own momentum.

As he neared the assassin, Wang Liang twisted his wrist, and with the force of his charge, the blade swept upward, slicing through the assassin from below. The assassin, realizing escape was impossible, lunged forward in a final, desperate bid to take Wang Liang with him.

But Wang Liang was quicker. As the blade arced up, he transitioned to a leftward slash, cutting a shape like a backward '7,' severing the assassin’s upper body and sending it flying.

The force of the attack was so great that the camel behind them had its belly split open, its innards spilling out in a torrent of blood and viscera, nearly blinding Wang Liang.

When he finally wiped the blood from his face, he saw Marco—his newly acquainted friend—already seized by another flying assassin. That assassin gripped Marco’s throat with one hand, while with the other, he withdrew a hidden sleeve blade from Marco’s temple.