Chapter 008: Deceptions

Du Fan sighed again after hearing this. The dark and thin boss spoke calmly, but without his own experiences, it was hard to grasp the underlying implications. Perhaps this seemingly plain man had once had a fascinating past, but at this moment, he was merely a hotel owner.
Du Fan waved his hand casually and instructed him to prepare food, thinking of giving the boss a few more gold coins when they left the next morning as a token of gratitude.
Before the food was ready, several dull thunderclaps were heard outside, followed by heavy rain that made the air extremely humid.
The cavalry outside hadn’t been ready in time and were quickly drenched.
Just as Du Fan wanted to say something, Joshua had already ordered them to take shelter in the hotel from the rain. Since the hotel was already reserved, it didn’t matter.
However, Du Fan’s group was quite large—around 500 people in total, including those from the Northern Legion and the Holy Church. Only about a hundred could fit inside the hotel.
With no other choice, Joshua ordered the rest to stay at the local barracks, while the remaining hundred took turns keeping watch at night.
After everything was arranged, Du Fan and Joshua exchanged a glance and sighed in relief.
As they ate the fairly tasty food brought by the boss, Du Fan sighed slightly and said, “Lord Joshua, it’s unclear how long this rain will last. By the time it stops, who knows how much time will have passed. It might be better if we rest and continue our journey overnight.”
Joshua shook his head slowly. “Traveling at night isn’t advisable. Let’s set off early tomorrow morning, no matter the weather. After all, the capital is not far away, so there’s no need to rush now.”
Du Fan nodded slightly but didn’t say much.
He took the time to check on Ling Yin and Chen Chen in their carriage. Seeing that they had already gone to bed, he returned to the hotel reassured.
After chatting a bit more with Joshua, it was already midnight. They exchanged goodnight greetings and went back to their respective rooms to rest.
Lying on the relatively clean bed, Du Fan felt uneasy for some reason. He was afraid Joshua might suspect Chen Chen and Ling Yin in the carriage. In the middle of the night, he got up and peeked through the window crack. Only when he saw that it was still the people from the Northern Legion guarding the carriage did he feel relieved.

But even so, he still felt a strange sense in his heart and couldn’t fall asleep no matter what. Helplessly, Du Fan could only stare at the black ceiling and think about his own matters. Everything around was quiet—aside from the sound of rain and the footsteps of the night guards, only his own heartbeat and breathing could be heard. It wasn’t until the latter half of the night that Du Fan began to feel slightly tired. He turned over, ready to fall asleep, but suddenly… “Crack—” It sounded like some old, rotten wooden plank had burst. Startled by this sound, Du Fan’s heart skipped a beat. He had felt uneasy all day, and hearing this noise made his entire body tense instantly. He sensed something strange, but couldn’t figure out what it was right away. Du Fan listened intently for a while. As a magician, he had extraordinary mental strength, his senses far sharper than ordinary people’s. But upon closer listening, he found no sound at all. Sighing slightly, he thought it was probably due to the fast pace of his life these days—after just a few days of comfort, he had become somewhat hypersensitive. Du Fan turned over again, ready to sleep, but just as he relaxed, something unexpected happened! With a loud “boom,” the ceiling above him collapsed entirely. Instantly, a brilliant streak of combat energy shot down from above, aiming straight at where Du Fan was sleeping! The strike was fast and fierce—clearly delivered by a top-tier expert. With such overwhelming force, it seemed they intended to pin Du Fan to the bed with a single blow. Du Fan shouted loudly, but there was no time to react. Fortunately, he was still a skilled fighter. Before he could decide what to do, his body reacted instinctively, rolling toward the edge of the bed! But the opponent had been preparing this strike for a long time, hiding in the ceiling just to attack Du Fan. Their determination and resilience were far beyond those of second-rate killers like Xue Lan. Although Du Fan managed to dodge instantly, the combat energy brushed past his back, tearing his clothes and causing him to break into a cold sweat. Without thinking further, he rolled under the bed. But before he could even express his relief, he heard another “crack”—the entire bed shattered into pieces!

Vaguely, it seemed as though a figure was diving down from above. The figure was blurred, but the sharp combat energy emanating from the long sword was striking. It seemed the attacker hadn’t expected to miss with his first strike, yet his second strike was even more fierce than the first!
At such a life-or-death moment, Du Fan didn’t dare to do anything unnecessary. With a casual gesture, he sent a surge of combat energy toward the opponent, while simultaneously slapping his right hand, causing the magic scroll hidden in his sleeve to fly out.
The magic scroll instantly transformed into a fire dragon, which rushed toward the figure along with the combat energy. The figure swatted away the combat energy with his sword but didn’t dare to confront the fire dragon head-on. Instead, he rolled aside to avoid it!
Immediately afterward, with a loud “boom,” the entire room lit up. Only then could Du Fan see clearly who his opponent was—a figure in black, wielding a sword with one hand, with only a pair of cold eyes visible.
Seeing himself exposed, the killer’s murderous intent grew even stronger, now completely unhidden.
Although Du Fan was skilled, he still felt a chill sweep over him. As the opponent charged, he began retreating frantically.
The attacker seemed to know Du Fan well, not giving him any chance to reach his storage ring. His sword remained fixed on Du Fan, and though Du Fan wanted to pull out a magic scroll to fight back, he never got the chance. He could only keep retreating, inwardly cursing himself: He had always relied too much on magic scrolls in battles. It was fine when he was prepared, but in emergencies, his weakness became apparent!
Yet despite his complaints, Du Fan had nowhere left to retreat. He reached the wardrobe in the room. As the opponent’s sword neared his forehead, Du Fan fumbled behind him, seemingly finding some clothes. Without hesitation, he threw them at the attacker!
It was unclear what those clothes were for, but as soon as they were thrown, the assassin snorted. With a “tear” sound, the clothes were cut in half!
After doing this, Du Fan lamented even more. Telling himself to use the wardrobe behind him as a weapon was pure absurdity.
The assassin, clearly seeing through this, let out a cold laugh. The combat energy on his sword surged as it pierced toward Du Fan’s chest!
Du Fan gave a bitter smile, inwardly sighing. Who would have thought that Du Fan, who had always outwitted others, would be outwitted today? It was like always hunting geese, only to have their eyes pecked out today!

But Du Fan would never let himself die like this. With no way to avoid it now, he couldn’t care about anything else. He rolled around on the ground, and soon a surge of combat energy flared up. He turned around and slapped, already hitting the assassin. Two sounds rang out at the same time—“slap”—“thud.” The assassin’s sword sliced through the inside of Du Fan’s arm, causing blood to gush forth immediately. But almost at the same time, Du Fan’s palm struck the assassin’s chest. The assassin seemed unprepared for Du Fan’s desperate counterattack and became careless. Hit by Du Fan’s palm, he felt a strange combat energy surge into his chest. His entire body was filled with combat energy, and he could only let out a groan before being thrown several meters away. Du Fan thought to himself that he was lucky—although magic scrolls were useful, it was still his own skills that truly saved his life in critical moments! Just then, the door to the room was flung open, and Joshua entered. Seeing the assassin in front of him, he let out a groan and swung his sword. Although the assassin was also a skilled fighter, he was already injured. He could only raise his sword to block, but was Joshua’s skill really something to be underestimated? With a “whoa,” the assassin spat out a mouthful of blood, his sword snapped in half with a “clang,” and his body was split in two! After doing all this, Joshua glanced at Du Fan and said gravely, “Is everything okay?” Du Fan forced a smile and said, “Lord Joshua, don’t worry. I’m not going to die!” Joshua nodded slightly and said, “That’s good. There are assassins outside. I’ll protect you and get you out!” Before he could finish speaking, sounds of fighting—“clang, clang”—along with noise, the clash of metal, and screams of the dying came from outside almost at the same time! In the darkness, it was impossible to know what was going on outside, but one thing was certain: he had fallen into their trap!