The penetration power of those two flying daggers was terrifying.

The Air Blade's trajectory indicated that they were angled from top to bottom.

The Chaos Wave Group members who leaped high, their conical hats comparable to wooden shields, were directly pierced, the flying daggers shot into their scapulas, bursting into blooms of blood.

Then they tore a large gash in the abdomen from the front of their bodies.

The Air Blade on the flying dagger probably mangled the fragile tissues inside his body into a pulp.

After piercing through an entire person, the force of the flying daggers was not diminished to the point of being negligible.

The two flying daggers with the Air Blade caused the deaths of three Chaos Wave Group members and injured two others.

A dozen ninjas surged towards Black Conical Hat Li, but half of them were cleared mid-air by the two flying daggers!

Black Conical Hat Li even felt as if the sky suddenly brightened.

That was the unconscious Chaos Wave Group members being knocked away by the power of the flying daggers.

A sudden whistling wind sounded above, an immense sound suggesting that a giant boulder was about to fall.

But what was falling wasn't a stone; it was a tall person.

"Boom!"

"Uwah!" *2

Two leather boots with external armored plates stepped on two airborne Chaos Wave Group members, smashing them to the ground!

The sound of flesh and bone being crushed into pulp was like hand-making beef balls.

It was a texture of flesh becoming 'sticky'.

The figure resembling a dwarf gourd turned into a 'flattened gourd'.

And in Lann's dynamic vision, everything before him unfolded at just the right speed.

He stretched his left hand backward, forming a hand seal.

[Alder's Rune]

A fan-shaped transparent shockwave blew a group of Chaos Wave Group members, who were using [Light Body Skill], off the cliff edge.

Lann's right hand already rested on the knife hilt at his waist.

In front of him, the remaining few Chaos Wave Group members had a position and height, vaguely forming a straight line through them.

That line could be used to draw the knife.

"[Iwami Cross Slash·Half]."

The clear blade and the steel mouth of the scabbard produced a slight but pleasing friction sound.

The air on the blade was compressed and entwined by finely controlled force.

A straight horizontal Air Blade line perfectly overlapped with Lann's aiming line in his field of view.

The blade at his waist had been raised by his right hand to his side, but the high-density milky-white Air Blade in mid-air slowly dissipated half a second later.

On the Air Blade's path, the ninjas of the Chaos Wave Group had their backs bursting open.

The swift blade slices open skin, flesh, and bone, while the chaotic airflow blade pulls out blood and pulp, splashing them outward.

Any school possessing [Qi Blade] techniques often had bloodier battle scenes than other schools.

This was knowledge imparted by Iwami Yixin.

The original [Iwami Cross Slash] consisted of two blades: the horizontal Iaido slash, often used to break defenses, followed by a vertical chop with an uplifted arm to end the battle.

However, Lann and Mentos planned the battle's direction beforehand, and with his perfect execution, the second blade wasn't needed at all.

Therefore, it was just a technique, [Iwami Cross Slash·Half].

In the blink of an eye, less than three seconds had passed.

Three seconds ago, there were fourteen Chaos Wave Group members slurping grain porridge by the fire.

Three seconds later, only two people were left standing on this small platform between the cliff.

Black Conical Hat Li maintained a stance gripping his little knife, ready at the spot.

Lann flicked the blood off his blade and boots, walked to the cliff's edge, and glanced down.

"Your Chaos Wave Group is falling thirty meters without a foothold; they shouldn't survive, right?"

When he said this, Lann's tone was very calm.

However, Black Conical Hat Li still shuddered violently.

From his perspective, this foreign warrior who should have been thrown far away suddenly appeared.

When he jumped down and stomped two Chaos Wave Group members to death, Black Conical Hat Li couldn't even see his entire being, only realizing a silvery-white glint flashed before his eyes.

When he came to his senses and just reframed the sight of Lann landing, he saw the guy seemingly didn't even cushion the landing, "clang" a scary Qi Blade Iaido Slash!

... That was fourteen Chaos Wave Group members!

Three seconds!

Black Conical Hat Li was silent for a long time, shaking his head slowly.

"They can't survive. Even I wouldn't survive in such a situation."

His calm tone slightly surprised Lann.

"Looks like you've figured something out? Earlier, you seemed a bit afraid looking at me. But now you're so calm."

"Your skills could make most people afraid. Too efficient, too perfect."

He nodded slightly under the black conical hat.

"But I'd already prepared to die. If I'm not afraid of death, I'm not afraid of your skills."

"Tsk, that's a bit troublesome then."

Lann sheathed his blade at the waist, tilting his head slightly, looking at Black Conical Hat Li with those cat-like eyes.

"You're the leader of this trafficking gang; I was counting on squeezing some information from you."

"If it's about that, you don't need to threaten me; I would have talked anyway."

The dry hand beneath the black conical hat waved dismissively.

Lann's lips curled slightly, seeming a bit intrigued.

"Because they betrayed you? Or did you want to atone after figuring something out?"

"Atonement? Talking nonsense?"

Without any reservations, not caring about life or death, Black Conical Hat Li spoke casually. Yet in those words, loneliness and melancholy felt like streams underneath ice.

Invisible but audible.

"Having committed such sins, no amount of good deeds can redeem it. I'm very clear about that myself. But precisely because I understand, I still want... no matter what, to do something."

Lann looked at him, this malformed man now openly meeting Lann's gaze.

On that ugly face, there was no fear or guilt, just desolation.

After a long silence, Lann nodded silently.

"Then go on, let's hear it out. I only overheard a bit earlier. Why did you abduct and lure children?"

This small platform on the cliff was now covered in limbs and gore, yet neither of them cared, due to their professional backgrounds.

"Have you heard of... 'Undying' power?"

Black Conical Hat Li pondered for a while, Lann could tell he was contemplating where to begin.

But the next words from his mouth made Lann's brow furrow deeply.

"If you intend to fool me with obscure folktales, my advice is to think twice."

In the Eastern cultural sphere, the concepts of 'eternal life' and 'undying' are distinct unless deliberately confused.

Lann's Demon Hunter mutation, the Female Warlock's corruption from chaotic energy... these entities living for hundreds of years and remaining youthful are termed 'eternal life types'.

Elves are inherently eternal life types.

But 'undying'?

Even in the world of magic, it seems only certain demon spirits, cursed creatures, these beings, tortured by curses and negative emotions, can't die even if they want to.

However, Black Conical Hat Li's expression and tone told Lann—

He was serious.

"Whoa..."

Lann's mouth slightly opened, letting out an involuntary sigh of amazement.