Chapter 140: The First Hitman Assignment

After seeing the doctor, not only did he refuse to pay, but he also beat the doctor up. Ever since arriving on the Continent of Magical Beasts, when had Chu Tian ever been bullied like this?!

Climbing up from the ground, he took a deep breath and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Stop him! This bastard didn't pay!"

The moment the words left his mouth, Chu Tian regretted them. If that bald man could scare away the ninth-rank magical beast Barbara, he must undoubtedly be a ninth-rank powerhouse as well. Relying on the people in the courtyard, not only would they fail to stop him, but they would likely suffer harm.

Chu Tian's reaction was simply too slow. "Ah!" Several miserable screams echoed from the courtyard.

"Hmph! Just you lot actually think you can stop me?!"

When Chu Tian rushed out anxiously, the mercenaries in the courtyard were already lying all over the ground in sprawling disorder. Furthermore, quite a few structures at Chu Tian's mercenary headquarters had collapsed.

Praise the Goddess of Life! Chu Tian's teeth were itching with anger. He didn't pay, he beat people, and finally he wrecked the house. This bald man was simply challenging Young Master Chu's limit of endurance!

"Andy, hurry and check on big brother!" Julia called out to Chu Tian anxiously. Earlier, in order to protect his younger sister, Locke had been beaten unconscious.

"It's nothing! He's just knocked out." Chu Tian inspected him and confirmed that Locke had merely been rendered unconscious by a heavy blow. However, seeing Julia's worried expression, Chu Tian still took out a pellet of golden sore medicine and had Locke swallow it.

"The Protection of the Holy Priest?" Alun, the priest standing nearby, cried out in alarm. "Commander, how do you have the Protection of the Holy Priest?"

"Barbara gave it to me." These medicines indeed came from Barbara, though she hadn't given them willingly; rather, Chu Tian had embezzled them during the surgical procedure.

"Alun, I'll leave the others to you!" Chu Tian pulled out a few bottles of low-grade medicine and handed them over to Alun.

***

Beep, beep! Just as Chu Tian was leading his men to clear out the ruins of the mercenary corps, his communication stone suddenly rang. It turned out to be Kevin. "Brother Andy, do you have any time recently?"

Chu Tian was actually looking for Kevin right now. If he wanted to track down that bald man in the West Coast, he would probably still need to make use of Kevin, the gang boss. "Big Brother Kevin, what is it?"

"Sigh! Come over to my place for a bit. I have a favor to ask of you," Kevin said with a heavy sigh.

"No problem, I'll be right over!" Chu Tian agreed decisively. On one hand, he wanted to know what Kevin needed from him; on the other hand, he wanted to borrow tens of thousands of giant wolves from Kevin to settle the score with that bald man!

Inside a luxurious wolf den deep in the mountains, Chu Tian met a rather haggard-looking Kevin.

"Big Brother Kevin, what happened to you?" Chu Tian was astonished to find that Kevin, who was always so high-spirited, looked completely disheveled at the moment, his eyes bloodshot as if he hadn't slept in ages.

"Sigh, Lusina has been captured!" Kevin sighed. "Brother Andy, big brother can only rely on you to rescue him back!"

"In the West Coast, someone actually dares to capture Lusina?" Chu Tian frowned.

"The locals of the West Coast certainly wouldn't dare capture Lusina," Kevin said with a bitter, frowning expression. "The one who captured Lusina is an external ninth-rank magical beast!"

"Big Brother, don't panic. What on earth is going on?" Chu Tian urged.

"A few days ago, a ninth-rank magical beast suddenly broke into my territory. His strength is too terrifying; tens of thousands of brothers couldn't stop him, and even I was defeated by him. In the end, that ninth-rank magical beast abducted Lusina and gave me a deadline of ten days to recruit the Holy Priest Vladino for him, or else he will kill Lusina!" Kevin paused, then added, "It's not just me; many faction leaders along the West Coast have had their loved ones abducted as well."

"Praise the God of Death!" Chu Tian's eyes narrowed. So he was actually coming for me! "Big Brother Kevin, you want me to rescue Lusina from the hands of that ninth-rank magical beast?"

"I previously looked for your teacher Shadow, but he isn't in the West Coast right now. However, Shadow mentioned that you have also become an eighth-rank assassin." Kevin grabbed Chu Tian's hand and pleaded, "Brother, please help your big brother out. Big brother only has this one successor..."

"Alright, I agree!" After pondering for a moment, Chu Tian consented. Although rescuing someone from the hands of a ninth-rank magical beast would be extremely difficult, Chu Tian was even more eager to find out just who had been hunting him all this time.

"That's fantastic!" Kevin patted Chu Tian's shoulder. "How many brothers do you need to bring? I'll have all the wolf tribes of the West Coast listen to your commands!"

"First tell me about the situation regarding that ninth-rank magical beast, and then I'll decide how many men to bring." Chu Tian remained very cautious. When dealing with a ninth-rank magical beast, sheer numbers were not necessarily useful.

"I don't know what his true form is. That fellow defeated all the experts of the West Coast while in human form." Kevin recalled and said, "His human form is very tall and thin, and he mainly uses magic. Moreover, he can cast lightning and fire dual-element magic simultaneously!"

A dual-element ninth-rank magical beast? Chu Tian somewhat regretted agreeing so quickly. His own magical pet, Apache, was a multi-element ninth-rank magical beast, so Chu Tian knew very well that such fellows were extremely troublesome to deal with.

"Where is he now?" Chu Tian asked.

"He's waiting for my reply in the mountains to the north." Kevin hesitated for a moment before saying, "Big brother also knows that a ninth-rank magical beast is not to be trifled with. If you truly have no way, brother, helping big brother recruit the Holy Priest Vladino would also do."

"If even big brother can't find the Holy Priest, where on earth am I supposed to look for him? I might as well just go rescue Lusina directly." Chu Tian chuckled inwardly. *Hehe, the Holy Priest is right in front of you, it's just a pity you don't recognize him.*

"When do you plan to go?" Kevin asked. "Today is already the seventh day. In three more days, that ninth-rank magical beast is going to kill Lusina."

"I'll make some preparations first. I'll go tonight!"

***

Actually, Chu Tian didn't need to prepare at all. Other than invisibility spells, he practically didn't know anything else, and the props required for invisibility were all carried on his person. Thus, his request to prepare was merely a stalling tactic to contact Shadow.

"Teacher, Kevin has asked me to rescue someone from the hands of a ninth-rank magical beast. Do you think my strength is up to the task?" Although Chu Tian had narrowly defeated Shadow last time, he knew very well in his heart that his own strength was still far too lacking.

"An assassin must always have confidence in himself!" Shadow's cold voice came through. After a long pause, he added, "You cannot lock onto the aura of a ninth-rank magical beast, nor can you break through their defenses. However, your magical-idiot talent and your invisibility spell can ensure that the ninth-rank magical beast cannot discover you!"

"Praise the God of Death! Thank you, teacher!" Chu Tian smiled and closed the communication stone. Shadow's words just then essentially amounted to: *Disciple, you can't beat him, but escaping with your life shouldn't be a problem!*

Having made contingency plans for escape beforehand, Chu Tian set off.

***

The red moon hung high in the sky. Deep within the vast, boundless mountains, the wolf butler who had received Chu Tian last time led him to the base of a peak. "Mr. Andy, that ninth-rank magical beast is up there."

"I know, you can head back!" Chu Tian dismissed the wolf butler.

"You... are you really not bringing a single brother with you?" The wolf butler looked hesitatingly at Chu Tian, then pointed at the several hundred giant wolves following behind him. "These are all experts among the resistance. You should bring a few along!"

"Praise the God of Death!" Chu Tian smiled arrogantly. "To deal with a ninth-rank magical beast, just myself is enough." With those words, Chu Tian suddenly vanished from sight right in front of the hundreds of giant wolves, leaving them gaping in admiration.

As he climbed the mountain, Chu Tian cursed inwardly: *I'm just going up to see who wants to hunt me down. After taking a look, I'm bolting. Damn it, if I brought a bunch of people with me, how on earth would I have the face to run away?*

Taking a lesson from his previous duel with Shadow, Chu Tian regulated his breathing and heartbeat the moment he reached the midpoint of the mountainside. Only when he was certain everything was prepared did he continue climbing toward the summit.

"Untie these chains right now!" As soon as he reached the mountaintop, Chu Tian heard Lusina's voice. "Hurry up and untie me. These chains have already messed up my fur!"

"Hmph!" The response to Lusina was a disdainful, cold snort.

"Hey, did you hear me? You can kill me, but you cannot ruin my fur!" Even though death was imminent, Lusina was still struggling to maintain his image.

"Ah~~" Suddenly, Lusina let out a miserable shriek.

Hearing the scream, Chu Tian's heart tightened, and he hurriedly quickened his pace.

There were a great deal of loose rocks on the mountain. To avoid making any noise, Chu Tian scrambled onto a large boulder and began surveying the scene at the summit. The first thing he saw was a figure in black viewed from behind, followed by Lusina—formerly the continent's most handsome wolf, though Lusina didn't look the least bit handsome right now.

It appeared he had been subjected to quite a few grilling sessions; Lusina's sleek black fur had been scorched into patches of baldness, and his neck and limbs were all bound with magical chains, leaving him casually tossed onto a large rock. At that moment, a small flame was nibbling away at the very last remnants of his fur right at his rear end.

"Just kill me already!" Lusina was practically pleading. "My fur has been burned to this state by you. It's over, my entire wolf life is ruined. Just give me a swift end and send me to hell!"

"You're not afraid of going to hell? Ha-ha." That ninth-rank magical beast suddenly laughed. It was the first time he had ever heard of a magical beast not being afraid of going to hell.

"Nonsense! I've wanted to go for a long time. I heard the guys in hell are all very ugly; once I get there, I can be the most handsome wolf again! No, I'll be the number one hunk in all of hell." With that, Lusina burst into wild laughter. "Ha-ha, how could those ugly freaks in hell possibly compare to yours truly?"

*Crack-snap*—A flash of lightning swept across, causing all the remaining fur on Lusina's body to stand rigidly on end. "Hell is not what you imagine it to be!" As he spoke, the ninth-rank magical beast stood up and kicked Lusina fiercely.

Finally, Chu Tian caught a clear look at the ninth-rank magical beast. Just as Kevin had described, he was tall and thin with an ordinary face, yet he radiated not even a sliver of living aura. However, what surprised Chu Tian the most was that there were actually no pupils in his eyes!

"Hell isn't what I imagine? Screw it! Have you ever been to hell?" Lusina was still arguing stubbornly. "Once yours truly gets to hell, I'll definitely be the most handsome wolf. If you don't believe me, accompany me down to hell and see for yourself!"

"Heh-heh, once I find Vladino, I'll send the two of you to hell to have a look," the ninth-rank magical beast sneered sinisterly. "However, I won't be going. Having managed to escape from that place with such difficulty, how could I bear to go back..."