Chapter 561: Chapter 488: City God
Yang Xiao and the Head of the Wounded Door from Yu Yuan Sect were indeed old acquaintances. Although they had never met, they had become enemies because of the Soul-Capturing Mirror. Not long ago in Rongcheng, the latter had set up Tong Han, lured the tiger away from the mountain, and used a borrowed knife to kill, the real purpose of which was to target Yang Xiao himself. For this, the Head of the Wounded Door had even been sought out by Mo Daidai to answer for his crimes, losing one of his fingers in the process.
"How small the world is, to unexpectedly run into them here," originally, Yang Xiao still hesitated a bit, considering that the other party consisted of two experts of the Li Generation. But once he heard that they were underlings of the Head of the Wounded Door, they certainly could not be allowed to leave tonight.
"What big deal are they here to discuss?" Yang Xiao pressed on.
At this moment, Hao Laojiu was like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered, ready to say anything to save his life, "They came to the hotel for a transaction, a high-level transaction personally set by the Sect Leader. They brought two chests for this, trading two pieces of Resentful Eye from the hotel for one treasure."
After a pause, Hao Laojiu whispered, "I... I overheard Mr. Qin mention while I was preparing the food and drinks, that the two treasures up for the trade are extraordinarily valuable. One is genuinely a top-grade item of Fierce Level, and the other is even on the brink of reaching Ghost Level."
"Oh?"
Yang Xiao’s eyes lit up, a top-grade item of Fierce Level, another nearly at the threshold of Ghost Level—such precious items being traded two for one indicated the immense value of the acquired treasure. For the sake of the common good around the world, he could not let this item fall into the hands of Yu Yuan Sect.
Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Yang Xiao cautiously inquired, "This Mr. Qin you mentioned, who is he?"
"He is one of the two respected Li Generation Venerable Ones, a young man wearing a black suit, white shoes, and a blue and red striped tie, but I don’t know his title, I only know to address him as Mr. Qin." Hao Laojiu cooperated fully with Yang Xiao, leaving nothing out, "The other Venerable One is known as City God Master, a burly elder nun."
Having been chosen for such a mission, the strength of these two individuals should not be underestimated. After some thought, Yang Xiao continued to ask, "Why are there no mirrors in the rooms of the courtyard?"
At this, Hao Laojiu was also in the dark, unable to explain, only saying it was the order of City God Master, who seemed to have a strong aversion to mirrors and even lost her temper because of it.
Facing two Li Generation experts, Yang Xiao also felt the situation was problematic. A direct confrontation was not advisable; better to stick to old habits and go for a surprise attack first.
After leaving the Mirror World, the two returned to Hao Laojiu’s office. Yang Xiao attached a mirror to the back of a black briefcase and then planned to have Hao Laojiu knock on the door, while he himself, disguised as an assistant, would follow behind carrying the briefcase.
With the situation inside the room uncertain, he planned to take out one Venerable One with the first strike, or at least inflict a severe injury, to ensure his victory.
Before the action commenced, Yang Xiao pinched Hao Laojiu’s shoulder and pulled him close, whispering a warning, "You’re a smart man, I advise you not to play any tricks, or else you’ll end up like those two just now."
Recalling the two splayed corpses, Hao Laojiu’s face turned pale as he nodded repeatedly, "Understood, understood!"
After changing into an assistant’s clothes, Yang Xiao followed Hao Laojiu out, making their way to the largest room in the courtyard. The guard recognized Hao Laojiu and turned to knock on the door. The moment the door opened, Hao Laojiu rushed in, simultaneously yelling at the top of his lungs, "Enemy attack! Save me, Venerable..."
Before he could finish shouting, Yang Xiao made his move. He whipped out the horsetail whisk, instantly turning the guard at the door into a puddle of flesh and blood, while Hao Laojiu’s upper body was obliterated, leaving only his legs to stagger forward a couple of steps before collapsing.
Meanwhile, Yang Xiao had a clear view of the room’s layout; it was an ancient-looking room with curling wisps of smoke still emanating from the incense burner on the table. A wide wooden bed occupied the center, on which sat a black-robed old nun cross-legged.
The old nun, like Yang Xiao, never showed her true face to others and wore a mask bearing the Chinese character "Li". At the moment, she was rising from her seat.
This person had an exceptionally burly figure, with shoulders wider than those of Yang Xiao’s team member Da Xiong, and a belly so swollen that it protruded outward significantly.
Yang Xiao guessed that this person must be the City God Master. He hadn’t seen the mentioned Mr. Qin; only the old nun was present in the room. Yang Xiao rushed over and struck at the old nun with his horsetail whisk; the sudden attack caught her off guard, and the blow was solid.
"Success!" Yang Xiao thought with a surge of joy.
The power of the horsetail whisk tore through the old nun’s kasaya, sending her flying, but the next second, Yang Xiao was stunned. The expected scene of flesh and blood did not occur; instead, beneath the black kasaya was a deformed body dressed in blue funeral clothes.
The blue funeral clothes clung tightly to the body, with buttons strained, warping the body into an abnormally wide torso with a narrow waist and broad base. The large body he had seen before was actually bolstered by bamboo splints and other support materials, and slung across the waist was a drum with a white face and red sides.
Considering it blocked a strike from the horsetail whisk, these blue funeral clothes were no ordinary item; they were quite a decent protective magical artifact.
The nun, swiftly getting to her feet from the corner of the wall, immediately began beating the drum at her waist. With both hands drumming, the eerie drumbeats poured down like torrential rain, and in an instant Yang Xiao felt the world spinning around him.
One protective funeral garment plus the waist drum meant that this City God Master possessed two magic artifacts, indeed no ordinary person.
The commotion here had alerted others, with footsteps from all directions hurrying towards this spot. Yang Xiao dropped the box in his hand and took out the Soul-Capturing Mirror, intending to pull the wily nun into the Mirror World for a one-on-one duel.
However, after attempting, he found it distressingly difficult; the strength of the City God Master surpassed all expectations, far stronger than Granny Hong with her Staff Killing Elder.
He could manage to pull someone into the Mirror World, but the spiritual power required was great, and the cost was not worth the gain.
As the bizarre drumming accelerated, a multitude of black mist began to emerge in front of the old nun. The black mist expanded gradually, and soon after, an ancient building resembling a temple emerged from within the fog—none other than a dilapidated City God Temple.
The temple gate burst open, and a sculpture-like City God entity, two Zhang tall with a majestic mustache, charged out from within. In its left hand was a blade, and in its right, a gold-plated hammer; each step weighing heavily, shaking the ground beneath.
The City God charged straight at Yang Xiao, the pressure immense like a mountain. With one slash of its blade, Yang Xiao barely dodged, but a pawnshop clerk behind him was not so lucky and was cleaved in two. Several others who could not dodge in time were crushed beneath the rampaging City God entity.
Amid cries of fear and sounds of combat, the scene instantly devolved into chaos. Shortly after its charge, the figure of the City God faded and finally disappeared into the night.
However, as the drumming grew even more frantic, the vanished City God re-emerged from the City God Temple. This time, its stature towered over three Zhang, with speed and strength not just doubled but far more formidable than before.
