The Magu Highlands lie in the southeastern part of the Empire's territory, surrounded by endless ranges of towering mountains. Aside from a single official road, there are no other paths passable for carriages.
Lox drove the bumping carriage along the road, while inside, Ye Yu was wincing and grimacing from the jolts.
Having been in this place for so long, the modern man, long accustomed to the mechanized and computerized life of his past life, still had not fully adapted to such hardships.
"If only I had a phone or a computer to pass the time," Ye Yu thought, rubbing his head after it had just bounced up and hit the carriage roof out of sheer boredom. He glanced out the window. "Then again, with this much bumping, I wouldn't be able to play with anything anyway."
Three days had passed since Ye Yu and Lox left Sanshui Town. Ever since entering the Magu Highlands, two full days had gone by without managing to get out.
As Ye Yu sat dazed, the carriage gradually slowed down until it came to a complete halt.
Without opening the carriage curtain, Lox pulled on the reins and surveyed his surroundings. Years of survival experience told him the environment was far too quiet, save for the sound of the wind rustling the leaves.
Along the entire way, they hadn't even heard the chirp of an insect. When they first entered the Magu Highlands, there had still been birds calling and beasts roaring. Sensing a hint of danger by instinct, Lox said grimly, "Master, something is wrong."
Scratching his head, Ye Yu stepped out of the carriage and stood beside Lox. They were currently in an open clearing, where the grass swayed gently in the breeze. Glancing all around, Ye Yu said in a low voice, "Two people."
No sooner had Ye Yu finished speaking than a sun-baked, dark-skinned man and woman stepped out. The woman looked at Ye Yu with a sharp gleam in her eyes, licked her lips, and said, "I didn't expect us to be discovered just like that. Lox, the brat beside you is quite interesting."
Ye Yu looked at their unusually slender, elongated figures. Both of them wore very little clothing, and they weren't even wearing shoes, stepping directly onto the ground with bare feet.
In a place of towering mountains and rugged ridges like this, anyone without a certain level of skill who dared to dress like that would likely have been poisoned or pricked to death by venomous insects long ago."From the Imperial Fist Temple?" Ye Yu glanced at Lox's solemn expression and spoke to the two figures. He hadn't expected to encounter top experts from the Imperial Fist Temple so early.
The strongest echelon of the Imperial Fist Temple should be those selected as the Four Rakshasas. At this point in time, Ye Yu wasn't certain who currently made up the Four Rakshasas, but Akame's master, Gohzuki, probably hadn't retired from the Four Rakshasas yet.
"Oh my, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Luo from the Imperial Fist Temple, and this is He. We are here for the bounty to take Lox's head. Even though his appearance has changed, I could never forget his scent. Little brother, I hope you'll step back a bit; later on, I'll play some fun games with you~"
The woman calling herself Luo never took her eyes off Ye Yu, sending a chill of goosebumps all over his skin.
He was only seven years old right now. Glancing down at his own lower body, he was utterly speechless. He hadn't expected this old woman to actually have a thing for young boys.
Ye Yu stretched lazily and said calmly, "Lox is my butler, so nothing can happen to him. Besides, I'm not interested in older women."
Watching the woman's expression gradually turn angry, Ye Yu's smile took on a playful edge. "Lox, leave that man to you. I'll personally send this old hag to the netherworld."
"Understood, Master, please be careful. Although neither of them became members of the Four Rakshasas, they did participate in the Four Rakshasas selection trials." Lox nodded, taking up his stance and staring intently at He.
"To actually let a brat make you angry, how disgraceful, Luo." He tilted his head from side to side twice. "Let's finish this quickly. I don't want to sleep out in this wilderness again."
"Hmph!" Luo let out a cold snort and bolted toward Ye Yu with the speed of a leopard.
He let out a laugh and charged at Lox as well.
Ye Yu said nothing, quickly dodging away and retreating from the side of the carriage. This was his property, after all, and he didn't want it senselessly ruined—the destructive power of hand-to-hand combat in this world was quite formidable."Don't run!" Luo gave chase relentlessly, weaving through the woods right behind Ye Yu. As for traps, she hadn't even crossed them off as a possibility.
A naive little brat—she was a veteran of countless battlefields, and he simply couldn't rouse an ounce of caution in her.
Using a few large trees to shield her movements, Ye Yu vanished into the forest.
Luo came to a halt, scanning her surroundings cautiously. Her speed had actually failed to keep up with that brat; it seemed she had grown careless. Could some alchemist be posing as a kid out here? How disgusting—she'd make him squeeze every last drop out until he dropped dead!
At this thought, Luo's body grew hot once again. Licking her lips, she thought, *I've already memorized his scent!*
Looking down at Luo, who had suddenly raised her head, Ye Yu realized that despite his elaborate twists and turns to get above her for a sneak attack, he had been exposed just like that.
A shock went through his heart. The people of the Imperial Fist Temple were truly formidable; he had no idea what method she had used to pinpoint his exact location.
"Could it be the scent?" Ye Yu muttered to himself from high in the tree.
Yet there was no time for Ye Yu to ponder this deeply. Luo had already reached his back and lashed out with a whip kick, holding back none of her force.
Ye Yu hurriedly flipped over and jumped down from the tree. The whip kick swept across the tree's main trunk, snapping it clean in half with a single blow.
Rolling across the ground to absorb the momentum, Ye Yu stared at the scene before him and clicked his tongue in secret. If his current little physique took a kick like that, he'd be sent straight to the heavens.
Luo leaped down from the tree right behind Ye Yu, her movements seamless. She launched a downward axe kick straight at Ye Yu's face, accompanied by a fierce whistling of wind. The irresistible force left Ye Yu with no choice but to roll aside; he didn't dare take it head-on.
"Little one~ Didn't you want to send me to the netherworld with your own hands? Why are you scurrying around hiding like a rat?"
Seeing Ye Yu's disheveled state, Luo's mood finally improved once more.
With a wicked grin, she continued, "As long as you surrender to big sister, big sister will show you just how wonderful the adult world can be."
Ye Yu ignored her, brushing the dust off his body of his own accord. Luo didn't press the attack either, watching his actions with a beaming smile, as if she had already won him over.
Suddenly, Ye Yu shifted his footing and charged straight at Luo, throwing a punch directly at her lower abdomen.
The smile on Luo's face did not waver, but her figure twisted with eerie flexibility like a snake, causing the attack to miss completely. Ye Yu flew right past her on his own momentum.
"This is my escape route."
Ye Yu flew into the bushes and vanished once more. Glancing back at Luo, who was standing frozen in place for some reason, he couldn't help but marvel at that impossibly contorted figure.
"The way the Imperial Fist Temple trains the body is truly perverted."
As he ran, Ye Yu frantically grabbed handfuls of grass, crushing them up and smearing the juices over his body and face to prevent the enemy from tracking his position by scent.
Estimating that he was far enough away from Luo, he vaulted up into a tree to observe her movements.
"That brat's scent has faded?" Luo frowned, glancing toward Ye Yu's direction before looking back toward the area where Lox and He were.
Suddenly, countless stones flew toward her from the direction Ye Yu had fled. She hurriedly raised a hand to block them, but one still struck her across the face.
"If that idiot He can't even beat an old man, then let him die. As for this game of cat and mouse here, I'm going to make sure that brat learns what it means to beg for death in vain."
The pebble reignited Luo's fury, and she bolted in pursuit of the direction Ye Yu had fled.
Watching Luo give chase, Ye Yu finally dropped the stones he was holding, changed direction, and carefully circled back from the flank.
Right now, Ye Yu's physical capabilities were not enough to withstand even a few blows from someone who practiced body refinement like Luo. He was practically no match for her at all; taking a few heavy strikes would essentially send him straight to the netherworld first.Therefore, Ye Yu prepared to draw Luo away, then quietly slip back and take care of He first.
"Assassination is my true profession."
At this moment, Luo did not realize that she was getting further and further away from her prey. The longer she chased, the more anxious her heart grew, as there was completely no trace of Ye Yu to be found. "Damn it, it's a trap!"
With that thought, Luo, burning with anxiety, immediately turned back and rushed toward the spot where He and Lox were. But even at her speed, the distance would take a full ten minutes—and ten minutes was more than enough time for a lot to happen.
The fight between He and Lox was not as uneventful as the one between Luo and Ye Yu, where they had traded blows for ages without laying a finger on each other.
Right now, the clothes of both He and Lox were stained red with blood. Several throwing daggers lay on the ground by He's feet, still smeared with blood.
Three bloody holes had been gouged into Lox's arm by something unknown.
Lox tightly clutched his remaining throwing daggers, keeping his guard up against He's movements. He stared at the daggers in Lox's hands and rasped, "Lox, isn't swordsmanship your greatest strength? Since when did you learn these underhanded tricks?"
This was not the first time He and Lox had clashed. Back when Lox still held an official post in the Imperial Capital, He, as a member of the Imperial Fist Temple, had frequently crossed paths and sparred with him. When Lox became a wanted criminal, He was also the first person to move against him.
"You're no saint yourself," Lox replied coldly. "By now you've trained your Soft-Bone Technique all the way to your fingertips, yet you still rely on the exact same old tricks of playing the ambush."
By now, the mental states of both men had reached their absolute limits; a single moment of carelessness could mean dying at the other's hands.
"How about we call it quits this time—" He poured his entire focus into Lox. If they kept fighting, it would likely end in mutual destruction.
*Why hasn't that woman Luo come back yet? Taking out a mere brat is taking so long—she's a total disgrace to the Imperial Fist Temple.*
Before He could even finish speaking, Lox's gaze sharpened. He hurled all six throwing daggers in his hand straight at He—these were his very last ones.
He dodged three and deflected three with his arms, then suddenly stretched out his arms and fingers like dough to stab straight at Lox, who managed to dodge aside just in time.
"Hahahaha! Your throwing daggers are all gone now! How do you dare make a move?"
He never expected that Lox would throw away the very daggers that had kept him in a stalemate and preserved his life. Without his daggers, how could Lox possibly block his attack?
He was bordering on frenzy, incapable of rational thought. Perhaps the other man, feeling he could no longer hold out just like himself, was ready to make a desperate, final gamble.
"What is this idiot so happy about?" Ye Yu walked out from behind him, his face covered in grass residue and stained green with plant juices.
Seeing Ye Yu walk out, He's mind completely seized up. *When did he get over here? How dare he get this close to me? Did he kill Luo?*
With his mind in absolute chaos, He entirely failed to notice that his heart, the back of his head, and his throat had already been pierced from behind by the throwing daggers Lox had just tossed out.
He collapsed to the ground, dying without ever knowing how he had been killed.
While He and Lox were deadlocked, Ye Yu had relied on the stealth footsteps honed from his past life's assassination training and the scent of grass on his clothes to silently circle behind He.
He had completely failed to notice that his one-on-one fight had turned into a two-on-one, and had simply stood there foolishly waiting for Luo to return.
At that moment, Lox had spotted Ye Yu and, without a moment's hesitation, hurled his daggers at He.
Guessing that He would dodge most of the daggers, Lox had deliberately created an opportunity for Ye Yu to acquire weapons.
Ye Yu did not let down Lox's trust. He casually caught three of Lox's throwing daggers and immediately hurled them back toward He's fatal spots.
He's mental state was already at rock bottom, to say nothing of the fact that Ye Yu's twenty years of professional assassin skills left zero room for error. Having thrown the blades, Ye Yu had confidently walked over toward Lox.
"Old Lox, you okay? Recover as quickly as you can; the other one should be here soon." Ye Yu sat down on the carriage and said to Lox.
"It's nothing, Young Master. Luo's strength is much lower than He's; I won't even need throwing daggers to deal with her." Lox flexed his wrist, unconcerned about the impending fight.
He's strength far surpassed Luo's by a wide margin; Luo's partnership with He was essentially Luo riding on He's coattails.
"Fine, as long as you're confident. Oh, and from now on just call me Young Master; 'Master' sounds a bit weird." Ye Yu said, tilting his head back.
The drifting clouds in the sky swept past Ye Yu's eyes with the wind, leaving behind a vast expanse of azure and a sun pouring out its energy to the fullest. The wind brushed across Ye Yu's face as if whispering something in his ear.
Drawing back his gaze, Ye Yu looked toward a large tree, watching its canopy sway and dance in the wind, and shouted loudly, "Aren't you going to try and save your partner?"
Hiding in the bushes, Luo felt as if her heart had been grabbed by a giant hand. Before her eyes lay He, sprawled on the ground with his life or death unknown, and Ye Yu standing in the wind—yet she saw no sign of Lox.
Her breathing abruptly skipped two beats. *When did they notice me?*
She realized she had been exposed.
Before she even had time to think, her body was already propelling her backward in a run.
She had to escape this place. That brat was entirely abnormal—he was probably some alchemist playing the pig to eat the tiger.
As for He, she had long since abandoned any thought of saving him. *If he dies, he dies.*
Seeing the movement in the woods, Ye Yu did not give chase alone. Instead, he hopped down from the carriage and stretched lazily with a relaxed expression. "Hah, refreshing!"
With a cheerful, light sigh, Ye Yu rolled his shoulders and worked his arms. At that moment, Luo came flying backward out of the woods, tumbling across the ground several times before landing right in front of Ye Yu. Lox slowly walked out from the forest behind her.
Looking at Luo, whose limbs were all broken and who was half-dead, Ye Yu squatted down beside her and picked up a throwing dagger that Lox hadn't retrieved yet.
Meeting Luo's pupils, which flickered with terror, he asked with the innocent, unblemished smile of a child, "Who are the current Four Rakshasas?"
Luo's mouth gaped wide, emitting a rattling *gurgle* sound. Tears and mucus streamed all over her face as she gasped heavily, her chest rising and falling violently, but she could not manage a single sound.
"Young Master, the current Four Rakshasas are Gohzuki, Sirom, Lie, and Cresci," Lox stated respectfully, standing upright behind Ye Yu.
Ye Yu twirled the throwing dagger in his hand, and under Luo's horrified gaze, drove the blade straight into her throat, then swiftly pulled it back out and tossed it to Lox.
"Old Lox, go ahead and collect your daggers, then bury these two bodies and we'll get moving." Ye Yu clapped his hands together and glanced at the older man.
*This efficiency is too high. How could someone with talent like this get persecuted to such a state by that Prime Minister bastard?*
He wasn't very familiar with this generation of the Four Rakshasas; Gohzuki was the only one he had a slight impression of from appearing in the original prequel.
Ye Yu climbed back onto the carriage, resting his cheek in the palm of his hand as he boredly dangled his legs. The current timeline was one where Gohzuki hadn't retired yet, and the Four Rakshasas he was familiar with hadn't even taken over those positions.
What surprised him even more, however, was that Shuten hadn't become one of the Four Rakshasas yet either. By all rights, Shuten could still be considered half a disciple of the Prime Minister.
"That means I still have time to maneuver and properly build up my own sphere of influence?" Ye Yu glanced out the window.
It seemed he didn't need to go searching for Esdeath immediately; raising his own strength was the proper priority right now.
"Sigh, it's hard to cozy up to big shots."
A short while later, after Lox had finished handling everything, he gave Ye Yu a report and once again hoisted the reins, driving the carriage forward on the road toward the Empire's Imperial Capital.