Nightmare’s Call

*Uff!*

The man blocked his blade with a single hand as he raised his right leg to do a roundhouse kick.

At the same time, Lin Sheng lifted his leg to strike too.

As their legs collided, Lin Sheng grunted before he pulled back.

“Flash Riposte!”

Lin Sheng resumed his form and became silent.

In a flash, a bolt of serpentine silver lightning shot out at a speed far beyond his previous strike. It targeted the man’s neck.

“Not bad.”

The man took a quick step back and avoided the slash.

“Bull Rush!”

As the slash faded away, the man stomped on the ground with his right leg, kicking up a minor quake. He then charged forward, using his entire body strength to ram into Lin Sheng.

*Bam!*

Lin Sheng managed to dodge the attack, and he crashed into the cement wall.

A large piece of loose cement collapsed under the impact and dust as well as debris were sent flying all over.

Some of the debris shot out and struck the arm of one of the girls, sending her screaming.

Only then did the girls who were watching the fight realize that it was real. When they saw Lin Sheng and the man exchange blows again, their faces turned pale, and they quickly ran away.

Lin Sheng held his sword, his face cold as he swiftly launched strike after strike.

He had faced many foes in the dream world, and all of them had the same killing intent. However, the one before him was not as strong as the ones in his dreams.

He was just not used to fighting in such a style of brawling without weapons.

As blade and gauntlet clashed, the din of battle rose and fell.

Above them, cars sped across the bridge, and the rumbling masked the noise of their fighting.

*Bam!*

A sudden grunt later, Lin Sheng took a few quick steps back, his sword hand shivering violently.

Meanwhile, a bleeding cut slowly appeared on the man’s arm.

“Interesting…” The man looked at his arm. “Based on swordsmanship alone, I have not faced a foe like you for a very long time.”

“Are you sick in the head?” Lin Sheng’s expression was cold as he tried to stabilize his shivering hand to avoid showing weakness.

He was pretty sure that he had not crossed anyone.

If it was the White Tarots, they would not move against him so boldly.

That aside, even though the man before him may be screwed in the head, his ability was real. He was a real professional.

Ever since he had trained with his sword in the dream world, this was the first time Lin Sheng had met someone who could fight toe to toe with him in reality.

“Heh, acting dumb, eh? As long as there’s a good enough price, a good enough target, I’ll take the contract.”

The man retracted his hand and relaxed his fingers. “That’s that then. I never thought I would run into such a surprise.”

“You mean someone’s placed a bounty on my head?” Lin Sheng was stunned.

“Yep, not much though, ¥200,000. Better than nothing.” The man grinned.

“If the bounty hadn’t stated that you could take down five people with your sword in five seconds, I wouldn’t have taken such a crappy bounty.”

“What now?” Lin Sheng straightened his back. While his opponent was no longer in an offensive stance, he remained on alert.

“Now, I give up. You’re free to go.” The man shrugged.

“You’re not using your gun?” Lin Sheng was astonished as he looked at the handgun on the railing.

“Are you mocking me, kid?” The man’s expression turned cold as his gaze changed slightly. “Seems like your teacher hasn’t taught you about our rules.”

He gave Lin Sheng a final glance before he grabbed a hold of the cement wall and leaped back up to the bridge in under one second.

After he picked up his handgun and jacket, he turned away, disappearing from Lin Sheng’s sight.

Lin Sheng stood beneath the bridge and remained there in silence. After he was certain that he would not be attacked again, he finally walked slowly to pick up his sword case.

The black case was slightly dented on the side, and the sheath had slid out, falling not far away.

Lin Sheng looked over and saw that his sword sheath was in the arms of one of the girls from earlier.

Her face was pale, and her forehead was drenched in sweat. Her arms shivered as she clutched the sheath.

Seeing that Lin Sheng was walking over, she quickly got up and handed the sheath over with both hands.

“Your… stuff…” She found that even her voice was trembling.

“Thank you.” Lin Sheng took the sheath and slotted the slightly bloodied blade in before he placed it back in the sword case.

He then turned away and left, leaving the girl there to look at him in a stupor until he was out of her sight.

…

“My leg’s swollen…”

Lin Sheng calmly placed an icepack on his calf. Upon checking, it was the part that met the man’s kick.

If not for the protection given by the Ashen Seal, that kick would have broken his bones.

“Hmm, if not for the Ashen Seal, I wouldn’t have blocked the kick with one of my own. In the end, my strength’s just too weak, and my body’s just too frail.”

Lin Sheng then recalled the battle earlier.

His strength, as well as speed, were much weaker than that of his foe, and in every exchange, he had to use many techniques to overcome the man’s powerful advantage.

That limited his ability to fully utilize the strength of Blackfeather sword techniques.

Sitting in the bathroom, Lin Sheng took the ice pack away and looked at the swollen part. The wound was starting to feel numb.

“The bleeding should’ve stopped by now.”

He then took some ointment and rubbed the ointment all over the wound.

The entire bathroom was filled with the musky scent of medication.

After he applied the ointment, Lin Sheng pulled down his rolled-up pants and placed everything back.

“Luckily, we have ointments at home, or else I’d need to go and buy one.”

The chance encounter had some unexpected twist, and thankfully, his foe seemed to follow some sort of rule and did not use his gun.

“I’ve meditated on the Ashen Seal for so long now, and its effect just seems a little stronger than when I was at the park. Seems like it has plateaued and I’ve hit the ceiling.”

Lin Sheng sighed and went back to his bedroom.

“If I had run into a shooter… I probably would’ve been unable to block anything and died right there.”

He then carried out a test. The protection given by the Ashen Seal was probably equivalent to an encyclopedia with a few hundred pages at most.

Since he did not have anything else to test it out, he had to use his study materials for comparison.

“Now… who the hell placed a bounty on my head?” The White Tarots?” Lin Sheng frowned.

“I never did cross anyone before, so why am I being targeted? If this is about that amateur tournament, isn’t it a bit excessive?”

He had to know.

But, he did not realize that the goons from the White Tarots had wanted to beat him up from the beginning.

It was not to the point of broken bones or gaping wounds, of course, but just a light wound to scare him.

However, they never thought that they had, instead, forced Lin Sheng to act, and he took all of them out in a single go, forcing the goon’s leader to draw his concealed pistol.

“I have no information at all. Who’s behind this… Damn it!” Lin Sheng was frustrated.

Even if he wanted revenge, he had to find out who his target was.

Right then, he did not even know who was targeting him.