On the day Gamma kidnapped Li Yun, Fenki watched it unfold from afar. He knew something was amiss as soon as the stranger forced Li Yun to enter a car.
“Hey, looks like boss got himself kidnapped,” Fenki called Wen Sho as he rush to his own car. “I’m going to follow them from behind.”
Wen Sho, working from his office in Yide, tapped on the desk. He knew Li Yun was being followed. If the Blue Moon didn’t get their answer, it was a standard tactic to gather information.
“How far back are you?” Asked Wen Sho. “There may be someone from the distribution team surveilling the area.”
“I can follow from a mile out. They took out his cellphone, but I’m tracking the bug the boss implanted on that compass.”
“A compass?” Wen Sho didn’t know the history of the compass, but Li Yun had likely placed the bug in it knowing he was being followed or he had it in case someone stole the compass. From what he had gathered, the compass was a rather important item for the boss. The operatives had likely checked the contents of Li Yun's medical suitcase and decided it was cleared. "Can you hear their conversations?”
“Yes, but typical moonies, they are quiet.”
“Keep on alert. Do you have a backup in case you need to extract him?”
“I can call a few people, but the boss usually likes to keep a low profile. Do you think he’ll be all right?”
“Maybe?” Wen Sho knew Li Yun could be resourceful. It will be interesting to see how the boss handles this situation.
Fenki ended the call and rented a motorbike as soon as it looked like the car was headed into a wooded area. He tracked down the location with a cabin in the middle of the forest. With his monocular, he surveyed the surrounding area for any movement. Listening in from the earbud, he could hear statics and whispers from the operatives. Fenki yawned, surveillance was 3% interesting and 97% boredom. There had been no movement for hours. The operatives waited until nightfall before waking Li Yun up.
Fenki heard them questioning Li Yun. He transcribed their conversations and sent them to Wen Sho. He then saw Gamma leaving the cabin. There was a soft thud before a brief moment of silence.
“Fenki, it’s safe to enter the cabin,” Li Yun said.
Fenki was unaware of what had happened, but it seemed like Li Yun had taken care of the two operatives. Luckily, he never had any intentions to double cross Li Yun. He never met anyone who was as deadly as Li Yun, even from within the organization. Fenki quickly threw his bag over his back and headed toward the cabin. Inside, he saw Li Yun still tied up to the chair with his face covered with a bag, but two of the operatives were down. The only possible explanation was some sort of poison, but was it possible to release poison tied up in a chair? Fenki found the key and unlocked Li Yun from the chair.
“There should be a cleanup crew coming in, do you know the protocol?” Li Yun asked.
“They typically confirm by codename,” said Fenki.”If we don’t know who’s coming in to clean up, they will report it.”
“The person coming in is Sparrow,” Li Yun said, he heard it from Gamma’s phone. “Can you take over as Gamma?”
Fenki looked at the operative on the floor. He had some makeup on him to alter his facial feature. As long as he was masked up, Sparrow shouldn’t be able to recognize him.
“But how are you going to provide a body?” asked Fenki. “Should we use one of them?”
"Give me fifteen minutes, I need to test out something," Li Yun said as he pulled out the compass from his bag and then the golden elixir.
Fenki waited fifteen minutes while Li Yun took a nap. He had heard about Li Yun's strange napping condition, but he always thought it was to mess with his manager Hun Lun. Once Li Yun woke up, he took the strange medicine. Fenki had heard there was medicine in this world that could temporarily disable the body's function. He wondered if Li Yun was going to use such a method. What happened next almost gave Fenki a heart attack. Li Yun took Gamma's knife and punctured himself in the chest.
"Boss! Are you insane?" Fenki reacted while going to his backpack and searching for a first aid kit.
"I might be a little," Li Yun clutched onto his bleeding chest.
Fenki saw the blood seeping out of Li Yun's chest. The stab wasn't in a fatal area, but the amount of blood loss was scary. What's scarier was Li Yun's reaction, he smiled.
“Tie the two of them up and put them into the trunk of the car," Li Yun said.
Fenki looked suspiciously worried but complied. He was too busy to see Li Yun stabbing himself four more times as he loaded the car with the two operatives.
****
“You’re here at an odd time,” the Queen Mother commented on Li Yun's arrival.
“I didn’t think you would understand the concept of time,” Li Yun replied. “That said, I need to bounce off some ideas with you.”
The Queen Mother chuckled. “I saw what you did with your body. Poison release is an interesting ability."
"Thanks, I got that idea from this cultivation novel. You know after every stage advancement, the body excretes this black and poisonous waste?"
"You humans have silly ideas of the enlightenment." The Queen Mother knew all too well that Li Yun’s poison was intentionally created. It wasn't a byproduct of any sort of advancement, but it meant Li Yun had progressed beyond the man-made stages. "I admit, this is rather impressive."
Li Yun nodded. After creating the anti-venom, he attempted to create other substances within his body. It was still difficult to create complex substances, but the body was a working laboratory that was constantly producing chemicals, many of which were poisonous in high concentrations. It surprised him that the system didn't ding as though it had gifted him an ability. Was he advancing too fast for it?
“Are you ready?” Li Yun gripped his iron sword and stood in a guard stance.
“Isn’t that my line?” The Queen Mother moved her right arm to deliver her special attack. The icy air blade descended like a guillotine. Blocking the attack was the only way to avoid death.
Like before, Li Yun blocked the attack with the iron sword. The icy air blade scattered the iron sword, rendering Li Yun defenseless for the remainder of the fight.
“You’re too unprepared to handle me. Without any other weapons with you, do you think your poison will work on me?” Queen Mother taunted.
“What is the point of a weapon if nothing from Earth can harm you?” Li Yun asked.
The Queen Mother swiftly attacked, but Li Yun parried and dashed out of the way. “You can continue running, but you know this strategy won’t work on my Ice Deathblade.”
“That move has a name?” Li Yun jokingly asked as parried her attacks. He wondered if ancient folks liked naming moves to be showy or poetic.
She attacked again in response, but he had grown accustomed to her attack patterns and knew she can’t attack any faster. He could parry her attacks for a long time. However, they both knew that as soon as the Queen Mother regain her stamina to perform another Ice Deathblade, it would be over for Li Yun. After several rounds of attacks, Li Yun felt the time ticking closer to the end. The Queen Mother could use her Ice Deathblade at any moment.
“I’ll give you a warning this time,” the Queen Mother warned as she prepared her attack.
"Thanks, that's very atypical of the last boss."
"Last boss?" The Queen Mother chuckled.
She suddenly disappeared from her spot and reappeared from behind Li Yun. The icy blade sliced through Li Yun, severing him in half.
Thank you! I wish it could keep going forever, but such is life