He licked his lips as a Red flash passed through his eyes, a savage aura started leaking from his body, the assassins hearts trembled slightly as they felt the shift in his aura.
Ding!
Influence+10,000
Ding!
Influence+10,000
Ding!
Influence+10,000
Ding!
Influence+10,000
Ding!
Influence+10,000
Ding!
Influence+10,000
(Emotion provoked: Fear)
"Hahahahaha" a brutal laughter escaped Jin Yu's mouth as he saw the 'Fear'
His laughter hadn’t fully faded when he vanished again—
Crack!
Pop!
Crack! Pop!
The sounds echoed in the mist, grotesque and rhythmic like some deranged melody.
Three assassins dropped to their knees, clutching disjointed arms that now bent in directions no limb should. Their muffled groans were swallowed by the black smoke.
"Ugggh!"
Peng!
A dull, heavy thud followed—a kick square to one man’s back, launching him into a tree trunk with a nasty crunch. He crumpled, twitching but alive.
Jin Yu reappeared, lips curled into a grin that didn’t quite reach his eyes.
"Where’s all that courage now?" he whispered, stalking toward the nearest one.
The assassin tried to retreat—
Too slow.
Jin Yu grabbed his ankle and twisted it—
Crack!
"ARRGGHH—!"
The man screamed, only for a palm to slap across his mouth.
"Shh," Jin Yu said softly. "You’ll ruin the atmosphere."
Then he moved again. A shoulder dislocated here, a wrist shattered there. He danced among them, not to kill, but to break. To ruin.
Their eyes were wide now, trembling not just with pain, but confusion.
They were elite. Killers. Shadows.
But this man—this boy—was playing with them like prey.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Ding!
Influence +20,000
(Emotion provoked: Despair)
“Good,” Jin Yu muttered, voice thick with something not quite human. “Give me more.”
He stepped on one of their chests, applying just enough weight to make breathing a torment. The man writhed beneath him.
"You attacked me for fun, didn’t you?" he asked, tilting his head. “Well, now it’s my turn.”
Another stomp.
Crack!
The man’s ribs gave way, a wet gasp escaping his mouth.
The rest were too afraid to move.
They weren't enemies anymore.
They were his entertainment.
One man tried to crawl away.
Bad move.
Snap!
Jin Yu’s foot crushed his calf bone like dried twigs underfoot.
"ARRRRRRRHGGG!"
The assassin shrieked, rolling over, but Jin Yu was already on him, crouching low.
"You want to leave?" Jin Yu asked, his voice soft, almost kind, deceptively so. "You came to hunt me. And now you run? At least pretend to enjoy this."
He grabbed the man’s jaw and twisted it sideways, Pop! then held his chin up to meet his eyes. "No? Still nothing clever to say?"
The man could only groan, blood bubbling from between clenched teeth.
Jin Yu let go and stood, gaze sweeping across the survivors. Six were left alive, all broken in some way, arms bent, legs twisted, faces bloodied and smeared with soil and shame. Not one dared move.
Ding!
Influence +10,000
Influence +10,000
Influence +10,000
Influence +10,000
Influence +10,000
Influence +10,000
(Emotion provoked: Terror)
He took a slow step forward.
They flinched.
He grinned.
Then, in a burst of movement, he spun mid-air and lashed out—Whack! A spinning heel cracked across another man’s temple, sending him tumbling into the mist like a kicked doll.
"Don’t pass out yet," Jin Yu muttered, walking toward the next. "We’re just getting to the good part."
He crouched beside a man trying to crawl away with just his elbows.
"Tch," Jin Yu clicked his tongue. "Still trying?"
He brought his palm down—Bang!—square into the man’s spine.
The assassin’s eyes rolled back, but he didn’t die. Not yet.
Jin Yu took a breath. His voice was low, as if addressing the night itself.
"Don’t send flies to eat a tiger."
And then, one by one, he continued: kicks to the knees, stomps to the elbows, palms to the ribs, taking care not to kill. Just enough to ruin.
A slow orchestra of pain.
A playground of agony.
Even the shadows seemed to shrink back.
The robed man’s face twisted in silent rage as he caught sight of Jin Yu’s brutal performance.
Ding!
Influence+10,000 (Humiliation)
Ding!
Influence+10,000 (humiliation)
Ding!
Influence+10,000 (slaughtering will)
Ding!
Influence+10,000 (slaughtering will)
Enraged, he launched a sudden flurry of strikes at the escort, forcing a gap in the man’s defense, just enough.
With a flick of his wrist, he threw a black object straight toward Jin Yu.
Half-possessed by madness, Jin Yu caught it without a second thought.
The object wriggled the moment it hit his palm, and burrowed deep into his flesh.
Ding!
Poisonous bug detected!
Absorbing....
Progress bar: 45.7%....50.1%....55%.... 62.2%....
The progress directly spiked.
Jin Yu froze, pupils dilating, then burst into a wild, spine-chilling laughter.
“Hahahahahahaha... thank you.” he muttered, eyes locking onto the robed figure with something beyond human.
He vanished.
His voice came next, low and lethal, from directly behind the man.
“Then die.”
Just as his sword pierced halfway into the man
Poof!
The man vanished into a smoke.
Gone.
The smoke hissed and swirled where the man once stood.
Jin Yu’s sword cut through empty air, stopping just short of a thick tree behind. The bark cracked from the force, splinters flying like shrapnel.
He stood still for a second, chest rising and falling, eyes narrowed at the fading trail of black mist. His wild grin gradually faded into something colder… quieter.
“Coward.” he muttered.
Ding!
Influence +10,000
(Emotion provoked: Terror)
The escort landed beside him with a hard thud, dust kicking up beneath his boots. His clothes were slightly torn, sleeves scorched from the fierce exchange.
He looked at the remaining assassins, none left standing. Just broken bodies twitching on the forest floor, many still conscious, unfortunately for them.
The escort glanced at Jin Yu, gaze lingering on the eerie calm that had returned to his face.
"You handled them." he said, neutral.
"No," Jin Yu said, eyes still on the smoke trail. "I played with them."
The escort didn't respond. He simply turned away and unfurled the scroll he'd tried to reveal before the ambush. This time, no one interrupted. The moment the scroll opened, golden runes shimmered across its surface and began to burn.
The space ahead twisted. The forest trembled.
A gate shimmered into view.
It was a spiral-shaped construct formed from shifting strands of Qi, deep black at its core, pulsing gently like a sleeping heart. A faint hum buzzed in the air, neither welcoming nor warning, just... watching.
Spiral Gate.
Jin Yu kept his sword, eyes never leaving the gate.
“I take it that’s the door to the Spiral?”
The escort gave a slight nod. “From here on out, no rules. No saviors. No turning back.”
Jin Yu gave a half-smile, low and dangerous. “Perfect.”
Without waiting for another word, he stepped toward the swirling gate, one foot forward, then the next—, until the shadows of the Spiral swallowed him whole.
The escort closed the scroll, and the portal collapsed behind Jin Yu.
The forest fell silent.
The tortured bodies still writhed in the dirt, the night still thick with blood and smoke.
But Jin Yu had already crossed the threshold.
Whatever waited on the other side…
He was ready to meet it.
