The Way of Restraint

Chapter 143: Retreating in Disgrace

At night, Su Jie was sleeping in Odell’s small courtyard room.

He had just fought against “Punishment” Kong Dian, facing numerous dangers, yet deep within, he felt as relaxed as if he were solving a simple problem. He was no longer afraid of life and death, not even a trace of worry crossed his mind.

Offending a killer like this, one would expect even ordinary people, let alone the powerful and influential, to lose sleep over it. But Su Jie continued to eat and sleep as usual, showing no signs of discomfort.

His mental resilience had improved significantly compared to his experiences in war-torn areas, gradually approaching a state of perfection.

As he switched between the “Great Corpse State” and “Infant Curling” while sleeping, a shadow appeared outside the courtyard.

This shadow moved lightly, resembling a raccoon, and reached the base of the courtyard wall, effortlessly flipping over without any visible effort. If someone had recorded it, they would have exclaimed that it was indeed lightness skill in action.

The shadow entered the courtyard, listened for a moment, and pinpointed which room Su Jie was sleeping in.

It stealthily approached the door, pulled out a piece of iron wire, and with a slight twist, the lock clicked open.

The door was pushed open without a sound.

In the darkness, it could clearly see that Su Jie was sleeping on the bed.

The shadow moved its hand.

A few cold flashes shot out, revealing hidden blades aimed at killing Su Jie.

But in an instant, Su Jie moved with the speed of “Teleportation,” rolling out from under the bed and lunging at the shadow.

“So it really is a killer, coming to kill me,” Su Jie realized it was “Punishment” Kong Dian. This guy truly lived up to his reputation as a high-level killer, a brother of Gu Yang. His assassination skills were nearly impossible to defend against; if Su Jie hadn’t been sharp-eyed and quick-witted, sensing the murderous intent approaching in an instant, he might have been successfully assassinated.

Clang!

A flash of cold light appeared in Kong Dian’s hand, and a dagger reappeared, clashing against Su Jie.

The two daggers had already broken during their earlier confrontation, but as a killer, one could never have just one. Su Jie was also prepared, hiding a defensive weapon on him.

The two engaged in a dagger duel in the pitch-black room once again.

Su Jie became even more cautious, knowing that the opponent’s dagger could cut through his veins at any moment. In their exchanges, he couldn’t afford to show any weakness or distraction.

Swish, swish, swish!

The two wielded their daggers, each unleashing their full martial arts and techniques, pouring their Qi into the blades.

Su Jie utilized his skills from playing with the Crystal Ball, making the dagger in his hand transform like magic. With each battle, his technique improved a notch.

This was the benefit of real combat, unlike the “feeding moves” style of training.

Competing against a real killer was far more thrilling than the training Odell had put him through.

After all, being hunted down and undergoing simulated training were vastly different experiences.

‘Fortunately, I played with the Crystal Ball for so long, integrating that agility into my dagger, allowing me to withstand Kong Dian’s assassination attempts,’ Su Jie thought at that moment, feeling as if the dagger in his hand had transformed into a Crystal Ball, translucent and seemingly glowing, illuminating the surroundings, making every movement of Kong Dian fall into his “sight.”

To be precise, it wasn’t falling into his “sight” but into his “heart.”

Even with his eyes closed, Su Jie could sense Kong Dian’s movements, predicting where he would attack. It was a remarkably magical sensation.

It was like someone who had been blind for a long time, eventually being able to simulate what the world looked like deep within their soul. Through continuous exploration, the world they simulated in their heart became increasingly close to the real world.

Uncle Mang was like this.

To put it in more mystical terms, it was about “seeing the world with the heart,” becoming clearer and more aware.

In scientific terms, it was the mental simulation highly overlapping with reality during the exploration process.

Su Jie’s mind became sharper; even without his senses, he felt he could simulate what the real world was like.

In a daze, he began to understand the realm of the “Living Dead.”

Pfft!

The daggers clashed again.

Su Jie accurately blocked “Punishment” Kong Dian’s dagger, then, without a sound, spun around, using his footwork and body technique to slice through Kong Dian’s clothing.

Although he didn’t injure the opponent’s flesh, Kong Dian was still startled.

He retreated sharply, dashed out the door, and disappeared over the wall, arriving quickly and leaving just as fast.

Seeing him leave, Su Jie didn’t pursue; he closed the door and continued to sleep, as if he had just chased away a mouse, feeling relaxed and carefree.

The next day.

Su Jie found Kong Dian in another remote farmhouse.

Kong Dian was no longer staying at the high-end hotel, seemingly afraid that Su Jie would find him again. After two encounters, he had begun to fear Su Jie.

The two exchanged no words and engaged in battle once more.

The perilous fight began again.

After dozens of rounds, rolling and tumbling, Kong Dian suddenly let out a muffled groan, launching numerous hidden blades that nearly injured Su Jie.

Su Jie didn’t continue to waste time and immediately left, with Kong Dian unable to catch up.

Half a month passed, and it seemed like Su Jie and Kong Dian were mortal enemies, either seeking each other out or being sought out. Especially Kong Dian, who seemed to have ignited a real fire, looking for opportunities to assassinate Su Jie several times, but each time, Su Jie managed to evade, and he sensed that Su Jie was becoming increasingly adept at dodging his assassination attempts.

He simply couldn’t do anything about this “sticky candy.”

Fortunately, Su Jie had no intention of killing him.

That night, Su Jie was sleeping as usual.

Kong Dian arrived outside the door, not climbing over the wall but directly kicking the door open, stepping into the courtyard: “Kid, today we will truly have a contest. If you can kill me, then I will leave here and not trouble Gu Yang.”

“Alright!”

Su Jie stepped out from the room, staring at “Punishment” Kong Dian, not daring to relax even a little.

He sensed that today’s “Punishment” Kong Dian was different from usual; the murderous intent had reached its peak, with only a slight change remaining. The man was unnervingly calm, like a vengeful spirit finally making a decision to take the life of his enemy.

Kong Dian’s murderous intent had reached its limit.

He was fed up with Su Jie.

If he didn’t eliminate Su Jie, he wouldn’t be able to complete his mission.

A disciple taught by Gu Yang was playing him for a fool; how could he deal with Gu Yang?

Kong Dian looked at Su Jie, his dagger sliding into his grip.

Without even looking, he sprinted towards Su Jie.

During his run, cold flashes shot out, and the hidden blades were already in front of Su Jie.

This was a true killing technique, with speed and power significantly enhanced compared to before.

“Wait, his speed and power have both increased. Over these days of fighting him, I’ve sensed he hasn’t been hiding his strength; he couldn’t have improved so much all at once. That’s it, he must have taken stimulants,” Su Jie thought in an instant, a flash of insight hitting him.

As the blades approached, he quickly dodged behind the fish tank in the courtyard.

The blades struck the fish tank.

Sizzle… the entire large ceramic fish tank was embedded with blades, cracking extensively, water gushing out from the cracks, causing further damage, and then it shattered with a loud crash.

The goldfish inside flopped onto the courtyard floor, struggling and wriggling.

At that moment, Kong Dian’s dagger reached Su Jie again.

Pointing, prodding, stabbing, poking, slashing, and scraping, all techniques flowed seamlessly, blocking all of Su Jie’s escape routes.

Su Jie’s body surged, the dagger carrying a cold light, like a firefly, flashing and disappearing.

He accurately intercepted all of Kong Dian’s dagger attack routes.

Through these days of combat and training, he had indeed improved a lot. The pressure from Kong Dian’s assassination attempts had led to a genuine transformation. Before this, even if he had mastered his Martial Arts to the point where his body resembled the “Golden Body” described by Uncle Mang, he still had no confidence against Feng Hengyi.

But after half a month of “training” with Kong Dian, Su Jie felt that now, even facing Feng Hengyi, he had some confidence, though not in defeating him, but in having a chance to protect himself.

“Kill!” Kong Dian let out a long howl, his dagger shooting forth like a comet striking the moon, reminiscent of the legendary assassin Jing Ke attacking the Qin emperor, his momentum unyielding, forcing Su Jie to retreat fiercely.

As a killer, one should ideally kill silently, without making any noise; otherwise, if outsiders were alerted, even if the assassination succeeded, escaping would be difficult. But now he actually began to howl, indicating that even if he died here, he would take Su Jie with him.

Like Jing Ke, knowing that regardless of success or failure, death was inevitable.

Su Jie felt the intensity of it all.

Yet his heart was calm.

Like a frozen lake, without any ripples.

As the dagger approached.

He crouched, spiraled, and raised his hand.

Once again, he executed the “Hoe Technique.”

The dagger spun like a lightning bolt, shooting through the air, silver snakes dancing, a thunderous crash.

Clang!

He knocked Kong Dian’s dagger away, then swung down, pointing it at Kong Dian’s eyes; with a gentle push, it could pierce deep into his eyeball.

But Su Jie did not stab down.

“Very good, very good!” Kong Dian’s body retreated rapidly, leaving through the main door without saying a word.

He knew he couldn’t kill Su Jie.

After Kong Dian left, Su Jie picked up the goldfish from the ground, filled a basin with water, and placed them back into the pond outside, allowing them to return to freedom, while he began to clean up the shattered fish tank.

At that moment, Gu Yang walked in, nodding with an appreciative look: “Kong Dian’s assassination skills are exceptionally high, and his abilities are among the best of many killers, yet he couldn’t kill you and was even counter-killed. He knows that if this continues, he won’t be your match, and he finally left. However, I must admit that I’ve caused you a lot of trouble; in the future, there may be more people like Kong Dian or even stronger ones coming after you. You must be vigilant at all times.”

“Coach, how strong are you really?” Su Jie asked curiously. “How do you compare to Zhang Hongqing and Odell?”

He understood that Coach Gu Yang must know about these two figures.