"Do not try to cross a line here," Yoriichi told the man, his calm voice dropping an octave, carrying a sudden, chilling weight. "There are consequences you cannot bear. I hope we can all forget this matter, turn around, and be on our own ways."
The man spat hatefully, clearly getting irritated. Seeing the youth constantly calm, showing absolutely zero fear or emotion in the face of certain death, deeply insulted his pride as a Da Dou Shi.
"You think you can stop me?!" the man barked, his solidified green aura flaring violently. "You are just a weak, pathetic Dou Zhe! I am two entire realms higher and stronger than you both combined! I will take whatever I want!"
The man paused, a twisted, sadistic idea forming in his degenerate mind. He wanted to break that calm, stoic face. He wanted to see the red-haired boy scream in despair.
"Yes... I have a great idea," the assassin grinned maliciously. "I will take you both back to my spot in the caves. I will do something very, very bad with that little girl right in front of you. I will take my time. I will see if you can continue your little stoic act then. Hehehe..."
The man took a slow, menacing step forward. "Come here, little girl. Big brother will be gentle... and very caring."
Yoriichi sighed internally.
It was a profound, deeply weary sigh. In his long, ancient life, he had encountered many beings who had completely surrendered their humanity to their base desires. He had learned the hard way that one cannot expect to turn a degenerate person back to the light with mere words. Some creatures were simply demons hiding in human skin.
And demons needed to be eradicated.
Yoriichi let go of Xiao Yu's wrist. He inhaled deeply, drawing the oxygen violently into his lungs, and then exhaled slowly.
Haaah...
A visible, scorching red aura, like a plume of solar flame, formed from his nose and mouth. The ambient temperature of the waterfall cove spiked instantly. He took a wide, grounded stance, lowering his center of gravity, and gripped his katana with both hands.
"Sun Breathing," Yoriichi whispered.
The assassin's eyes widened slightly. For a split second, a sudden, inexplicable chill ran down his spine despite the rising heat. He felt the primal instinct of a predator warning him of mortal danger. Annoyed by his own momentary fear, the man roared and rushed toward them, his daggers glowing with lethal intent.
Yoriichi also exploded forward, the ground cracking beneath his boots.
"Twelfth Form..." Yoriichi whispered, his blade igniting into a roaring inferno of crimson-gold fire.
The man tried to dodge, his instincts screaming at him to avoid the blazing blade. But Yoriichi's Transparent World had already predicted the exact trajectory of the man's evasive footwork.
"...Flame Dance.."
It was a devastating, continuous two-strike combo. Yoriichi poured nearly eighty percent of his total Dou Qi reserves into the attack, betting everything on breaking the solidified armor.
The first vertical slash crashed into the assassin's crossed daggers. The sheer, purifying heat of the solar flames melted the dark-green Dou Qi coating the weapons, violently forcing the man's arms apart and shattering his guard.
Without a millisecond of delay, Yoriichi spun his body, using the centrifugal force to deliver a horizontal, blazing arc directly through the man's torso.
FSSSHHH!
The attack was on the mark. The Sun-Steel blade, supercharged by the primordial heat, bit deep into the Da Dou Shi's solidified armor. The crystal-like Dou Qi cracked, shattered, and melted under the blade. The katana carved a deep, horrific gash across the man's front chest, and the kinetic shockwave of the flames burst out of his back, tearing his clothes to shreds.
Yoriichi landed heavily on the ground a few paces away. He stumbled to one knee, feeling incredibly weak, his chest heaving violently as he gasped for air. The Twelfth Form had practically emptied his Dantian cyclone.
But Xiao Yu was not idle.
Seeing the man's armor shattered and his chest laid open, she didn't hesitate. She channeled every single drop of her remaining pale blue Dou Qi into her whip.
"Fourth Form: Striking Tide!" Xiao Yu screamed.
She unleashed a rapid, flowing sequence of multiple harsh strikes. Her azure whip carved through the air, violently lashing into the exposed, bleeding wounds on the assassin's chest and face. The man shrieked in agony as the water-infused leather tore his flesh.
Having exhausted her entire reserve, Xiao Yu also felt weak. She staggered backward, her vision blurring, using her whip to prop herself up.
The siblings looked at the man, expecting him to collapse. The combo had been perfectly executed and highly effective.
But the silence of the cove was suddenly broken by a wet, bubbling sound.
The assassin was laughing.
He was on his knees, blood pouring down his chest, but he was laughing through the agonizing pain. With a trembling hand, he reached into his robes and pulled out a thumb-sized, scarlet pill.
Yoriichi's eyes widened in horror. 'A Tier-3 Blood Rage Pill!' Yoriichi desperately lunged forward to stop him, but his exhausted muscles betrayed him. It was too late. The man crushed the pill between his teeth and swallowed it.
Instantly, the man's eyes rolled back, entirely replaced by a network of bulging, blood-red veins. The deep gashes on his chest stopped bleeding, violently knitting together as an unnatural, berserk energy flooded his system.
"You both are good... especially you, boy," the assassin hissed, his voice now a demonic, distorted growl. He slowly stood up, his dark-green Dou Qi reigniting with a violent, blood-red hue. "I know you are special. A Dou Zhe breaking my armor... I can only imagine how much reward I can get for your head in the Black-Corner Region. And maybe... before I kill you, I can torture the secret of that fiery technique out of you."
The assassin's muscles bulged unnaturally. He was no longer a rational human; he was a berserk monster driven by pure greed, pain, and lust.
He rushed toward them, his speed nearly doubled by the pill.
"And you, girl, be ready on serving me!" the man screamed wildly, saliva flying from his mouth. "I will enjoy you thoroughly before I snap your neck!"
Yoriichi gritted his teeth, forcing his screaming legs to move. He tackled the incoming attack, stepping directly into the path of the crazed assassin.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Yoriichi was forced entirely onto the defensive, relying purely on his swordsmanship to deflect the berserk attacks. He used flowing, defensive parries, but the sheer physical weight of the blood-enraged Da Dou Shi was too much. Every block sent jolts of agonizing pain up Yoriichi's arms, pushing him further and further back toward the edge of the waterfall.
It was getting harder as each second passed. His vision was swimming, his Dou Qi was completely gone, and he was fighting purely on adrenaline and ancient instinct. Behind him, Xiao Yu could only watch in absolute, helpless horror as her brother was slowly, inevitably beaten down by the berserk monster.