Black Feathers Shuyu was the only son of Pangu that didn’t inherit a unique ability or dragon-scale armour. It didn’t even possess the vitality of its brothers, for that matter. Had Ming Suwen slashed it instead of Wazi, she had a 30% chance of instantly killing it. In terms of offensive attributes, Baidizi could squash it effortlessly. Its only saving grace was its ability to navigate the sky at will. For the aforementioned reasons, it was the biggest coward among its siblings.
Though only about five-times the size of a falcon and as tall as bear when standing upright, Black Feathers Shuyu’s sharp fangs could tear pretty much anything apart. Whilst its physique shared similarities with Wazi, it was closer to a dragon-snake hybrid. Its wings made him similar to a heron. Physically, it wasn’t impressive if juxtaposed with it brothers. Perhaps these were the reasons it was bequeathed with an ability that would be universally voted as a dangerous ability.
Black Feathers Shuyu possessed the ability to camouflage itself in the environment, allowing it to sneak up on enemies. Not even other evil beasts would be able to detect its presence with their heightened senses if it refused to disclose its whereabouts. As such, it hunted differently to its siblings. Similarly to wild beasts, it’d wait for his prey to lower their guard and then strike the unsuspecting prey in one fell swoop. Should it fail in its attempt, it’d thereupon withdraw as fast as possible.
Black Feathers Shuyu was an assassin.
Overarching Heaven’s wielder was out of commission; the iron was hot and ripe to be struck. Although Abels and Moyan Luohou were in the same boat as Ming Suwen, Black Feathers Shuyu was sure she was more dangerous than Wazi’s two makers.
Tianfeng Xuanyuan suddenly jumped in between Black Fathers Shuyu and Ming Suwen. As opposed to stopping the beast, though, he threw himself into Black Fathers Shuyu’s gaping mouth. Since Black Feathers Shuyu couldn’t fight its own momentum, it clammed down on Tianfeng Xuanyuan, planning to making it quick so that it could move onto Ming Suwen; however, it couldn’t pierce the guy.
“Finally showed yourself, coward.” Ming Suwen cast white qi down her sword held overhead.
Although Black Feathers Shuyu tried to flee right away, Tianfeng Xuanyuan tugged it back down. Before Black Feathers Shuyu had time to try something else or resist, Ming Suwen had cut open its gut the same way she gashed open Wazi. Black Feathers Shuyu yelped and spat unscathed Tianfeng Xuanyuan out, then levitated.
Ever since he was assigned the honourable mission, Tianfeng Xuanyuan hid underground near Ming Suwen to defend her from Black Feathers Shuyu’s assassination attempt. He would’ve leapt out to succour during Shadow Lady’s assault had Ming Suwen not told him to stay hidden using Voice Transmission.
“Grandaunt, are you okay?”
Ming Suwen chucked up blood again, so she took twenty breaths to steady herself again. She opened her eyes and smiled. “I’m good. Just overextended myself a little.”
Ming Suwen looked over her shoulder to find Moyan Luohou barely breathing but bleeding a lot and Abels in no shape to cop another hit against someone on his level. While Shadow Lady couldn’t kill Ming Suwen, she made her stance clear when she cut up Moyan Luohou: even though I’m hurt, I can still kill them while they’re under your protection. I’m only walking away because those were the terms we agreed on.
Ming Suwen heaved a long breath. She definitely felt Shadow Lady’s flush blow, and she didn’t gasp blood for show. There was no such thing as a lucky survivor when going up against Shadow Lady; Ming Suwen was glad she made the right decision. As for slaying Black Feathers Shuyu, that was an impromptu decision despite knowing her progress with a sword would plateau. Nevertheless, it was too late for regrets.
“Master Ku.”
“Present.”
“I have a request for you: I implore you to please slay that creature.”
“Miss Ming, you forbade this one from intervening and are now hurt. You are making things hard for him. Should this one leave your side now and he asks what happened…”
Ming Suwen shook her head. “I was the one who ordered you to stand down, so the fault does not lie with you. My condition can’t get any worse, and few in Nieyao can endanger me, but the creature that just flew off is one. That one comes and goes. It can completely erase its presence once it hides, and it’s a coward. I don’t know how far it ran off to now that it’s been scared off. If I didn’t hurt it, we’d probably need State Preceptor Lai to calculate where it is. Even though it’s bleeding now, only you can locate it.”
“…” Master Ku saluted Ming Suwen. “Your noble feelings are admirable.”
Ming Suwen’s motivation never changed irrespective of whether it was slaying Wazi or requesting League of Assassins’ aid in hunting Black Feathers Shuyu. She had no idea where Ming Feizhen was, if he could make it back and, in the event he could, what shape he’d be in. Just imagining him returning to them, her about to tell him what she did to protect the world, only for the creature in hiding to get him from behind, scared her stiff. She wanted to reduce the probability of such an event down to zero even if it was only in her head.
Nobody would believe Ming Suwen could blush until today. She was usually the one who’d read people, not the other way around. “Geezer, if you keep dallying here, I will dob you in.”
Master Ku saluted Ming Suwen again. “This one shall go now.”
Following Master Ku’s departure, the trees around rustled as other assassins mobilised.
Pangu’s sons weren’t easy to take down by any stretch of the imagination, much less slaying them, yet Master Ku’s tone conjured the image of Black Feathers Shuyu going on the run.
The only concern left was where Ming Feizhen as well as what he was doing. Ming Suwen gazed to the stars. “… I’ve done what I can and forced myself to do what I can’t. All I ask is that you return to me… You must come back.”
