One person: Starting with the Snow Drinking Blade

Chapter 198 A Net of Heaven and Earth?

Nie Lingfeng pulled Chen Duo to her feet, no longer looking at the man in the gray jacket, nor deliberately searching for any other possible surveillance. Like a pair of ordinary diners who had eaten and drunk their fill, they strolled slowly along the flow of people toward the other end of the night market street.

But his senses, like the most acute radar, had quietly locked onto several previously overlooked and extremely subtle "lines of sight".

A light emanated from behind a window on the second floor of a building across the street that displayed a "Internet Cafe" sign; it seemed someone was constantly leaning against the window "smoking."

About twenty meters behind them came a thin old man pushing a cart selling "roasted tofu." His seemingly cloudy eyes would occasionally sweep across their backs like those of a hawk.

There was another one... coming from directly above them, at the top of a lamppost, from that inconspicuous, hemispherical traffic camera! The camera's lens seemed to be slightly tilted, pointing directly in the direction they had left.

"Good heavens, what a tight net!" Nie Lingfeng thought with a cold smile. It seemed the other side was taking them far more seriously than expected. Not only had they sent ground personnel to keep watch, but they'd also deployed aerial and electronic surveillance. These were resources that no ordinary force could easily mobilize.

Has the Yaoxing Society been operating in Guiyang for many years, with its influence deeply entrenched? Or... are some local forces in Guiyang also involved, or have they infiltrated and bribed them?

Whoever it is, now that the other party has made a move, he should respond. Being constantly monitored and passively reacting is not his style.

"Chen Duo," he said, pulling Chen Duo into a relatively quiet, dimly lit alley filled with debris and trash cans left behind by night market vendors after they closed. He lowered his voice and whispered quickly in her ear, "Wait a minute, no matter what you see or hear, don't make a sound. Stay close to me."

Chen Duo nodded immediately, her small hand gripping his tightly. Her emerald eyes, in the dim light, shimmered with a mixture of trust and eager anticipation. Although she disliked fighting, she would never back down when it came to protecting Nie Lingfeng or dealing with those "bad guys." (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

Nie Lingfeng led her to a corner deep in the alley, piled high with old cardboard boxes and discarded tables and chairs. There were no lights here, only a faint glow coming from the distant night market street, barely enough to see anything. The air was thick with the sour smell of garbage.

"This is fine." Nie Lingfeng released Chen Duo's hand, turned around, facing the alley entrance, and a cold smile appeared on his lips.

"Aren't you tired after following us for so long? Why don't you guys come out and have a chat?"

His voice wasn't loud, but it had a strange penetrating power, clearly echoing in the quiet alley and reaching the ears of the few "tails" outside the alley entrance who thought they were well hidden and were preparing to follow him in to continue their surveillance.

At the intersection of light and shadow at the alley entrance, several blurry figures appeared. There was the man in the gray jacket, the thin old man selling grilled tofu, and a tall, thin man in a black hoodie with the brim pulled low, who hadn't appeared before. The three of them formed a triangular shape, blocking the narrow alley entrance, their gazes coldly fixed on Nie Lingfeng and Chen Duo deep within the alley.

An invisible killing intent began to permeate the air.

The alleyway was narrow, and the shadows cast by piles of garbage fragmented the moonlight. The air was thick with the stench of decay, creating an eerie contrast with the faint clamor drifting from the distant night market. Three figures blocked the alleyway entrance, like three frozen silhouettes, almost completely obscuring the faint light filtering in from outside.

The man in the gray jacket (now clearly visible, an ordinary-looking middle-aged man, easily lost in a crowd), the skinny old man selling grilled tofu (now straight, his back no longer hunched, his eyes sharp as an eagle), and the newly appeared tall, thin man in a black hoodie (half his face under the brim was pale, his lips thin, exuding a chilling aura). None of the three immediately made a move; they simply stood there silently, their icy gazes like scalpels, scraping and assessing Nie Lingfeng and Chen Duo.

"Not bad. You actually managed to detect 'Fragrance Guide'." The one who spoke was the man in the gray jacket. His voice, like his personality, was unremarkable and devoid of any emotion. "Unfortunately, you discovered it too late. The marking is complete. No matter where you run, you won't escape our sight."

"Fragrance Guide?" Nie Lingfeng understood immediately; it was indeed a tracking mark. He remained impassive, his dark golden power flowing silently within him, confirming once more that neither Chen Duo nor he himself possessed any residual abnormal energy. The other party clearly didn't know that their mark had already been instantly purified.

"Someone from the Yaoxing Society?" Nie Lingfeng neither denied nor admitted to discovering the mark, but calmly asked, his gaze sweeping over the three people. "Or perhaps, someone from Guiyang... who is it?"

The tall, thin man in black let out a short, cold laugh, like the scraping of metal: "A dying man knows too much, it's useless."

"So there's nothing to talk about?" Nie Lingfeng shrugged, his tone still calm, as if asking, "The moonlight is nice tonight," but deep in his eyes, a wisp of dark golden light had already begun to slowly rotate.

"Talk?" The skinny old man cackled twice, his voice dry and grating. "Come back to the 'research institute' with us, and we'll have plenty of time to 'talk' slowly. President Qu misses you all very much." As he spoke, his seemingly withered fingers were already moving subtly and imperceptibly, with faint grayish-white, dust-like specks of light emanating from their fingertips, merging into the dim air around them and quietly drifting towards Nie Lingfeng and Chen Duo.

Is it poison? Or some kind of control method?

Nie Lingfeng didn't even bother to distinguish them. In the face of absolute power and control, these underhanded tricks were nothing but laughable acrobatics.

"Chen Duo," he said softly, turning his head slightly to Chen Duo, who had been standing quietly behind him, "close your eyes and count to ten."

Although Chen Duo didn't understand, she had absolute trust in Nie Lingfeng, so she immediately closed her eyes obediently and began to count softly: "One, two..."

The moment Chen Duo closed her eyes, Nie Lingfeng moved.

No, using "movement" to describe it might not be quite accurate. It's more like... the flow of time in the space he was in suddenly changed.

The man in the gray jacket only saw Nie Lingfeng's figure blur for a moment, as if it were just a visual afterimage. Before he could even react—draw his gun, form a hand seal, or retreat—he felt an indescribable, terrifying force, a mixture of heat, heaviness, sharpness, and a chilling will that seemed to freeze the soul, descend upon him as if by teleportation!

There was no earth-shattering sound, no dazzling light and shadow effects. Nie Lingfeng simply took a step forward, his right hand seemingly casually extended, and a tiny, dark golden point of light, no bigger than a grain of rice, yet seemingly containing terrifying energy like the birth and death of stars, was gently touched to the center of the gray-jacketed man's brow by the tip of his index finger.

"puff."

A muffled thud, so faint it was almost negligible.

The expression on the man in the gray jacket froze instantly. His previously cold, assessing eyes widened abruptly, reflecting Nie Lingfeng's calm yet imposing face. The protective energy surrounding his body, disguised as ordinary but actually refined and restrained, shattered silently like paper before this dark golden light. An irresistible force, possessing supreme purification and annihilation properties, like the most precise scalpel, instantly severed all the nodes of energy circulation within his body, destroyed the connection between his consciousness and body, and branded a cold, domineering will deep into his soul—absolute suppression, a judgment of life and death, an absolute crushing force originating from the level of life itself, utterly preventing even the thought of resistance!

Before he could even groan or feel any pain, his body completely lost control. Like a skinned husk with its bones removed, he slumped backward with a thud against the greasy wall behind him, then slid to the ground. His eyes were wide open and unfocused. Only the slight rise and fall of his chest proved that he was still alive, but his consciousness had already sunk into the deepest, forcibly suppressed darkness.

The entire process, from Nie Lingfeng lifting his foot to the man in the gray jacket falling to the ground, took no more than 0.1 seconds.

The skinny old man's poison powder had barely drifted half a meter away when the tall, thin man in black hadn't even completely wiped the sinister smirk from his face.

Time seemed to be stretched and distorted at this moment.

The moment the man in the gray jacket fell, Nie Lingfeng's figure appeared like a ghost to the left of the thin old man. The old man's expression changed drastically, his cloudy eyes flashing with utter horror. His withered hands displayed agility far beyond his years, his ten fingers like hooks, creating a piercing whistling sound and releasing an even denser cloud of grayish-white poisonous mist as he viciously clawed at Nie Lingfeng's throat and heart! His fingertips were jet black, clearly coated with deadly poison!

However, in Nie Lingfeng's eyes, his movements were as slow as a slow-motion scene in a movie.

Nie Lingfeng didn't even dodge. He simply raised his left hand, spread his fingers, and gently clenched them against the approaching poisonous claws and the pervasive poisonous mist.

"Buzz—!"

An invisible force field, shimmering with dark golden light, spread out instantly from the center of his palm! The sharp claw wind and deadly poisonous mist, upon colliding with this force field, vanished without a trace, like mud oxen entering the sea! Not even a ripple was stirred.

Immediately afterwards, Nie Lingfeng's left hand fell down smoothly, as if swatting a fly, and gently patted the skinny old man's crown.

"Click."

A slight cracking sound. The old man shuddered violently, his eyes instantly dimmed, and he spat out a small mouthful of foul-smelling black blood. He collapsed limply to the ground, as if all his energy had been drained, losing consciousness just like the man in the gray jacket. The grayish-white poisonous mist he had emitted was rapidly decomposed and purified by the aftershocks of the force field, disappearing completely.

At this moment, Chen Duo counted down: "...five, six..."

The tall, thin man in black finally realized what was happening. But the cold smile on his face had long been replaced by boundless fear and horror! What had he seen? Two highly trained B+ level operatives, skilled in assassination and special techniques, hadn't even lasted a single move against that gray-haired youth, like two real flies, easily swatted unconscious?! How could this be?! Even if the target was an elite of "Dawn," a powerful figure who had handled the Luodong Village incident, he shouldn't be this ridiculously strong! This completely exceeded the limits of intelligence assessment!

Escape! We must escape! Send the intelligence back immediately! The target's danger level must be reassessed! No, activate the highest alert level immediately!

Without any hesitation, the man in black abandoned any thought of attack or defense. He abruptly retreated, his right hand flashing into his robes as if to pull out a signal transmitter or communication device. His movements were incredibly fast, like a cat blending into the shadows, instantly reaching the edge of the alleyway, about to disappear into the dim light and crowds of the night market outside.

Once you leave the alley and blend into the crowd, you'll have a chance...

However, his hope, in the next instant, burst completely like a fragile soap bubble.