Assassination System

Chapter 269 - Stalling For Time

After the roar of the female disciple rang out. In an instant, all eyes landed on the trail of Lightning that soared deeper into the cave. All defending and attacking disciples, stiffened and rage surfaced on their eyes.

"We've been duped! That bastard stole the Chrysanthemum away! Chase after him!"

At that moment, dozens of Core disciples with their Divine Soul cultivation chased after Dan who held the Chrysanthemum close to his chest. Floating at the side of his vision was the blaring red system notifications from the system, informing him of the approaching imminent danger.

[Warning: Detected dozens of hostile auras targeting the host!]

[System Evaluation: Run as far as you can, but don't surrender the Chrysanthemum!]

"Yeah, I sure will run as far as I can, System. You're job is to invoke a minimap at my peripheral vision so I'll know where I can go..." Dan lightly smiled and ordered the system. Using the minimap floating at the side of his eyes, he deftly maneuvered around inside the cave despite not having any stable light source.

"How in the hell is that guy flying around so fast and not hitting any stalactites? Could it be that he could extend his Divine Sense farther than us?" A curious disciple asked. His expression looked sour.

"Don't be stupid, that bastard's cultivation is lower than us, could it be that we, at the peak of the Divine Soul Realm cannot defeat someone that's lower in cultivation than us? Just keep chasing and we'll definitely catch him!" A senior disciple scolded and that disciple turned silent, feeling convinced as he continued his chase.

Senior Brother Gin and that female disciple stared at each other for a moment before the latter coldly snorted and scoffed in disdain, "To think that you would exert so much effort, even burning your blood essence for someone else to benefit. Ha ha ha, what a joke..." She harshly turned around and flew towards the direction where Dan escaped.

"You're saying that to me as if you weren't even duped by that bastard. Much worse, you actually thought of him as trustworthy! Are you actually feeling glad when you had it worse than me? Ha ha ha, as expected, you're a masochist!"

The female disciple trembled for a moment. But she didn't turn back. Floating in the air, she flew towards the distant cave path where her subordinates chased after Dan. Senior Brother Gin clenched his fists and gnashed his teeth. Carving Dan's image into his mind and heart. He gloomily rotated his cultivation base and chased after him.

Just when Dan was in the middle of escaping. He wondered, weren't they within a virtual world? Since this was a virtual world, meaning everything within this world wasn't actually real, yet why were they fighting all-out for the sake of this Chrysanthemum that they weren't even sure if they could carry it back to the real world.

Of course, Dan knew that he could bring the Aurora Chrysanthemum back to the real world so he would definitely try his best to snatch it away from anyone's eyes. After all, he managed to bring that Chimera Flame away from the virtual world, so the current situation should be the same.

But do these disciples had the same experience and knowledge as him? If not, then why would they fight for the sake of this Aurora Chrysanthemum that they weren't even sure if they could bring it to the real world? There's no other explanation than the fact that these disciples knew it from the start.

Suddenly, his figure stopped and he lifted his head to stare at what's ahead of him. All that he found was a boulder that blocked the entrance that was supposed to be open according to the minimap. When the chasing disciples saw that he stopped and found the reason why, they all lifted comical smiles on their faces as one of them screamed out.

"There's nothing that you can run to, you bastard. Hand the Chrysanthemum to us and we will spare your life!" The fierce roar rang out and the dozens of disciples behind him were attracted to the source of the voice. When they saw the lone Dan standing before a boulder that blocked his one and only escape route, murderous smiles leaked on their lips.

"Bastard, we finally found you. Think you're so smart just because you stole the Chrysanthemum away from us?" A male disciples that Dan recognized as someone within the barricade earlier, shouted in a venomous tone.

The female disciple and Senior Brother Gin soon caught up and saw the commotion. Seeing the trapped mouse, the two of them lifted smiles on their faces as the female disciple approached and said, "We don't want no trouble, although you betrayed us earlier, you still helped us on attacking that barricade so as long as you return that Chrysanthemum, I swear that I won't touch even your hair and will definitely let you escape."

Dan looked terrifyingly calm, it was as if he wasn't facing the collective anger of these disciples, but was just casually strolling through his backyard. He wasn't even rotating his cultivation base. He just stood there with his arms holding on the Chrysanthemum on his chest.

His calm demeanor and stabilized breathing perturbed these disciples who chased after them. No matter how calm someone could be, they should at least feel flustered under the collective anger of these Divine Soul experts, right?

Some disciples started wavering, their breathing turned ragged as their hearts were gripped by the fear of the unknown. Afraid that Dan may have something beneath his sleeves that he could use to turn the tables around and screw them up.

The female disciple also noticed this peculiar change but she merely smirked. As if he could do something outrageous before the eyes of dozens of Core disciples! Senior Brother Gin had the same expression, but he was more alert than anyone else around him.

"Hand over the Chrysanthemum to all of you?" Dan lightly smiled, his gaze furtively landed above him as his cultivation method silently rotated. Facing these bunch of disciples, he said in a carefree voice, "If I really did hand over the Chrysanthemum, at whose side should it belong, to your side? Or to the other side?"

Dan's eyes gleamed in amusement as he stared at Senior Brother Gin and the female disciple. Everyone who heard what he said stiffened for a moment and the bunch of disciples abruptly became separated into two halves.

The female disciple and Senior Brother Gin was taken aback by the changes. Just when the two sides were about to attack each other, the female disciple roared out and said.

"You stupid bastards! Do you really think that what he's saying is true?! He's merely manipulating your mind, making us fight each other so he can make his escape! Don't you realize that he's stalling for time and searching for an opening?!"

"Junior Sister is right, that man is indeed cunning and venomous. He knows where to hit us where it hurts and he's using it to stall for some time that he could capitalize to escape. I propose that we temporarily make peace with each other and deal with this damned bastard first!"

Senior Brother Gin unsheathed his sword, the inhibited might within his body manifested and those who stared right into his figure felt prickly sensations within their eyes. Staring long enough might make their eyes bleed so they averted their gazes away from him.

"For the first time, you're finally using your mind, Senior Brother...Gin~" The female disciple unsheathed her soft sword and rotated her cultivation base and method. The disciples coming from both sides came to a temporary truce as each and everyone of them summoned their might and prepared to attack their target, Dan.

Dan swept his gaze at their direction and calmly smiled in amusement. Revolving his cultivation base, he sucked a mouthful of cold air as his expression abruptly turned solemn.

"Blessing of the Lightning God, Fifth Stance: Lightning Beam of Annihilation..."

As soon as his words fell, Thunder rumbled within his body and an intense spark of Lightning temporarily robbed everyone of their sense of sight. Just as they recovered, they saw Dan holding both of his hands parallel to each other as a ball of concentrated Lightning fluctuated in between his palms.

"Attack!" The female disciple and Senior Brother Gin knew that there was no time to waste nor to hesitate. Exploding with all of their might, they hurled all of their attacks at Dan's direction. But who knew that instead of throwing the ball of Lightning at them, Dan would actually do the unthinkable!

Amidst the stunned gazes of everyone and Dan's sly and accomplished smile, he hurled the ball of concentrated Lightning towards the ceiling, just above their heads!

Bang! Rumble!

A deafening roar rang out as every disciple that attacked him staggered backward from the shock wave that came from Dan's attack. However, when they saw that they weren't injured, they all rejoiced and glared back at Dan as if he was an idiot that never knew how to aim his attacks right.

"Look out! The ceiling is collapsing! Everyone, move out!"

Senior Brother Gin solemnly screamed, his voice rang loud and clear for everyone to hear. Unfortunately, the disciples noticed it too later for the stalactites and stones above the ceiling, all collapsed and crushed them down, turning them into meat pastes.

Dan perfectly calculated where the rocks and debris would fall so he remained unscathed. Staring right into Senior Brother Gin and the female disciple's eyes, his eyes flashed with the light of mocking before he burst open the boulder with a slap of his palm and escaping to the darkness.

Senior Brother Gin clenched his fists tightly until his nails dug deep into his palms. The female disciple looked green in anger and black in fury.

Her shoulders kept trembling as she tried her best in suppressing her anger. Never in her entire life did she experience such a humiliation! Not only her target escape, he also escaped unscathed and even stole something that she fought for with her dear life!

"Senior Brother Gin, are you just gonna stand here and let that bastard run free with what was rightfully ours?" The female disciple harshly turned to look at Senior Brother Gin. Her eyes shone in a light of madness that made the latter gulp a mouthful of saliva. He had never seen such a venomous expression on such a beautiful face.

"Of course, I'm not gonna let that bastard go... But what else can we do, the road ahead of us is blocked and my brothers are exhausted with their morale at an all-time low... Really, that bastard did us good... I'll make sure that he won't live a good life once we're back at the Academy..."

Senior Brother Gin possessed quite the influence so everyone knew that he could easily do what he said. Even to an Honorary Disciple. His declaration made the female disciple nod her head in confirmation. Holding her soft sword, she blurted out.

"I'll open a path for us to chase after him, we shall not let him escape." She coldly declared as a blast of invisible wave punched a hole through the fallen debris and rocks.

Senior Brother Gin was taken aback for a moment, but he soon calmed down. Bringing with him his remaining brothers, he went through the hole. But before he could even exit, a rumbling sound rang out as the rocks and debris above him collapsed. He and his brothers couldn't even scream before they were buried alive.

"Fools, do they really think that I'll let them have a share of my rewards?"

The female disciple coldly scoffed in disdain, turning behind, she dashed at the exit behind her and chased after Dan using an alternative route.