Chapter 323: Chapter 278: Rebellion
This man in a suit and leather shoes was around 50 years old, well-dressed, wearing a blue and white striped tie, donning gold-rimmed glasses, and holding a golden pistol in his hand.
Although Yang Xiao had been knocked down, the part where the bullet hit him ached but did not bleed, clearly thanks to the Drama Robe. He quickly took a magazine from his body and threw it at the man; taking advantage of the moment the man dodged, he sprang up and rushed forward.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to use the Resentful Eye, but after being blown up by Granny Hong, the Ghost Bodhisattva and the horsetail whisk in his hand had all vanished, and the psychic power provided by the Drama Robe had been withdrawn.
Just as the man finished changing the magazine, Yang Xiao had already reached him, pressed down on the man’s gun-wielding wrist with his left hand, and swung his right fist fiercely, striking the man’s abdomen. While the man was unsteady, Yang Xiao pulled him forward, stepped to the side, raised his right arm crosswise to his chest, and delivered a ruthless elbow strike to the man’s chest.
Worried that the man still had fight left in him, Yang Xiao seized the gun, then delivered a groin kick between the man’s legs.
A series of movements fluid like drifting clouds, the man in the suit was knocked down, screaming in agony on the ground, his body curled up like a shrimp. But even then, Yang Xiao didn’t let him off, kicking him wildly and knocking his gold-rimmed glasses flying.
"Speak! Who are you?" Yang Xiao stood on the man’s head with the golden pistol in hand; it was heavy, leading him to guess that it was partly made of pure gold with an ivory handle. Rather than a weapon, it seemed more like an expensive piece of artwork. This person’s identity must be no simple matter.
"Stop...stop hitting me, it’s a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!" the man wailed and begged for mercy. "You’re from the Patrol Defense Bureau, right? We’re family."
"Who the hell is family with you!" Yang Xiao kicked the man’s behind fiercely, thinking it seemed necessary to resort to harsher measures to get him to talk.
"I...I am the vice-president of the city’s chamber of commerce, named Linghu Guishan, and I’m well-acquainted with the heads of your Patrol Defense Office...who are you?"
Surprised to hear that the man was from the chamber of commerce, Yang Xiao asked, "You say you are the vice-president of the chamber of commerce, how can you prove it? And, why are you mixing with heretic cultivators?"
"Young man, if you hand me over to your superiors...won’t you know everything?" the man cried, snot and tears streaming, without a trace of his earlier arrogance. "I am also a victim; I was kidnapped by these heretics, they...they forced me to do it."
Yang Xiao almost laughed in exasperation and raised the muzzle of the gun, firing with a "bang" that shattered the man’s leg. "Were they also forcing you when you shot at me?"
The man didn’t look like a kidnap victim with his pampered appearance; moreover, Yang Xiao had heard the conversation between him and Granny Hong crystal clear—they were obviously in a cooperative relationship, and this self-proclaimed vice-president of the chamber of commerce, Linghu Guishan, was helping Granny Hong look for someone.
Yang Xiao stepped on the wounded spot of the man’s broken leg and pressed down slightly; Linghu Guishan writhed in agony. "Don’t test my patience. What does Granny Hong want you to find for her?"
"I don’t know, I don’t know what you’re talking about." Linghu Guishan clenched his teeth, stubbornly refusing to speak.
The more he refused, the more curious Yang Xiao became. Unfortunately, he couldn’t use the Soul-Capturing Mirror right now; otherwise, if he trapped the man in the Mirror World, even if he were a wily turtle in a shell, Yang Xiao had ways to make him talk.
"You’ve got a tough mouth." Yang Xiao suddenly smiled, and with the sound of a gunshot, Linghu Guishan’s shoulder exploded into a burst of blood.
"Ah! Ahhh!!"
Listening to Linghu Guishan’s screams, Yang Xiao picked up a shard shaped like a spoon from the ground. He toyed with it in his hand; it felt just right. The next second, a cruel smile spread across his face, and in Linghu Guishan’s eyes, it appeared as if the devil had descended to earth, "What...what do you want to do?"
"Nothing much, have you ever tried looking at yourself from a different angle?" Yang Xiao crouched down, holding Linghu Guishan’s head with one hand while the other slowly brought the spoon-shaped shard closer to his left eye. "I’m going to gouge out your eye so you can take a fresh look at yourself. Please bear with me."
Finally, as the shard touched the corner of his eye, Linghu Guishan broke down. "Don’t dig it out, stop, stop, please, I’ll talk, I’ll tell you everything!"
"I really am the vice-president of the chamber of commerce. I’ve only known Granny Hong for a short while, and she’s from the Yu Yuan Sect. They came to Rongcheng to find a renegade from Yu Yuan Sect who escaped 10 years ago, killing two Venerables and stealing one of the sect’s most precious treasures."
"Is this person in Rongcheng?" Yang Xiao asked.
"Yes, the Yu Yuan Sect has tracked him down to Rongcheng, but apparently he’s hiding within the Patrol Defense Bureau, so they dare not barge in and search openly. They could only ask me to investigate, and they’ll take action once everything is confirmed," Linghu Guishan responded.
"Hiding within the Patrol Defense Bureau?" Yang Xiao suddenly had an ominous premonition. "There are seven offices in Rongcheng. Which one is it?"
"Lin’an...the Lin’an Patrol Office!" Linghu Guishan confessed.
His ominous feeling confirmed, Yang Xiao’s voice dropped, "What is this person’s name?"
"I don’t know the exact name, only that he’s...he’s a cripple. He has been keeping a low profile for years, so much so that even the staff inside the Lin’an Patrol Office know very little about him. I haven’t been able to find out more information yet."
Hearing this, Yang Xiao’s heart skipped a beat, and the image of a face corroded by strong acid came to his mind—Lu Youdao. He immediately thought of him and of that strange collection room, deeply hidden underground and rarely entered."
Suddenly, rustling sounds came from afar, and Yang Xiao knew that the reinforcement troops dispatched by the Bureau Chief had arrived.
"Have you heard of Yang Xiao?" Yang Xiao suddenly asked.
Linghu Guishan shook his head cautiously, replying, "No... no, Granny Hong and the others came for that traitor, I haven’t heard them mention anyone else."
"How many people like Granny Hong came, and did anyone escape?"
"Three in total, with Granny Hong in the lead. She’s a Venerable One of the Yu Yuan Sect and holds significant sway. Of the other two, one is a peculiar character wearing a mask and a red dress, and the other is a short man with braids and a Resentful Eye hairpin, ambiguous in gender," recalled Linghu Guishan.
Yang Xiao roughly thought about it and knew that this person was likely not deceiving him. Granny Hong had been killed by him, the peculiar character with the mask had been stabbed in the back by Wu Zhengwu, and while Yang Xiao had not seen the short evil cultivator, he had seen a Resentful Eye hairpin in Wu Zhe’s evidence bag, said to be seized from the evil cultivator after they were killed. If nothing was amiss, it would be this gender-ambiguous cultivator.
The footsteps were getting closer, and Yang Xiao looked at Linghu Guishan with a strange smile on his face, slowly backing away to widen the distance between them.
Linghu Guishan was startled, then suddenly realized what was happening. He twisted his head, mouth agape, wanting to cry out for help loudly to those in the distance, but before he could make a sound, Yang Xiao’s gun fired.
"Bang!"
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
One shot to the head, one to the heart, the rest were fired wildly. Linghu Guishan lay on the ground, bleeding profusely, his eyes wide open, dying with eyes unclose.
After doing all this, Yang Xiao quickly took off the Drama Robe he was wearing, stuffed it into his backpack, then took a deep breath, turned the gun on himself, aiming at his left arm.
"Bang!"
The bullet pierced through the clothes, tearing skin and flesh, and blood instantly gushed out. Yang Xiao dropped the gun, staggered backward, and finally leaned against the wall, slowly sitting down.
Moments later, the reinforcement troops arrived, "Captain!" Accompanied by cries of joy, Beibei rushed forward first, followed by the main force with many unfamiliar faces. Leading them was an elderly man with grizzled beard, exceptionally burly, and clearly out of the ordinary.
"Cough... cough cough..." Yang Xiao wasn’t pretending; indeed, he was feeling very weak.
"Where’s Granny Hong?" The elderly man with the grizzled beard asked in a booming voice. There was something peculiar about his eyes—their pupils were not white but a strange shade of gray.
As he spoke, the old man’s gaze swept around. But when he lowered his head to look at Yang Xiao, Yang Xiao suddenly felt as if he had been seen through entirely, sending shivers down his spine.
"I was lucky to kill her," said Yang Xiao, lifting his arm, showing a smile that seemed laborious. Professional medical personnel had already arrived to examine his wounds.
"Elder Yang." At that moment, everyone at the scene looked toward the old man as if seeking confirmation.
"Mhm, indeed, I can no longer feel her presence. She could deceive others with her tricks, but not me," nodded the man referred to as Elder Yang.
Upon hearing this, the looks people gave Yang Xiao changed—some showed appreciation, some confusion, and some envy, but most of all, admiration.
"Captain, Elder Yang is the Deputy Team Leader of the Provincial Patrol Office’s Investigation Team, invited by our Bureau Chief as reinforcement. Elder Yang’s abilities are especially effective against Granny Hong," Beibei reminded on the side.
"Elder Yang," said Yang Xiao, as he was helped up, nodding to the old man as a greeting.
"Young man, well done. I have heard all about it—your willingness to stay behind to protect your teammates shows commendable courage; killing a Venerable Level Heretic Cultivator is indeed a great achievement. I will definitely report this to the Provincial Office and commend you for your actions," the old man said, patting Yang Xiao’s uninjured shoulder, his eyes softening considerably.
"It’s a collective effort. Granny Hong was already at her limit, I just took advantage of the situation; I dare not take all the credit," Yang Xiao understood the ways of the system. Besides, Wu Zhe and Wu Zhengwu Beibei had all contributed, with the first two being seriously injured.
"What’s this with the body?" Elder Yang asked Yang Xiao after being briefed by a subordinate, referring to Linghu Guishan’s corpse.
Among the various peculiar corpses, only this one had been shot dead, and the body was very fresh. Elder Yang and his group had even heard several gunshots on their way here.
"I don’t know who he is. After I killed Granny Hong, he came out with his hands behind his back, deceiving me by saying he was kidnapped by evil cultivators. He unexpectedly shot at me when I was off guard. I was prepared, so I wasn’t hit in a vital spot. During the fight, I took his gun and killed him instead," Yang Xiao didn’t completely fabricate the story; a tale that was half-true, half-false was more deceiving.
