Chapter 711: Chapter 549: It’s Here
Worried that the woman wouldn’t die, Yang Xiao had continuously slashed more than ten times, decapitating her head until at this moment, he finally confirmed that she was indeed dead. He didn’t believe anyone could survive after being beheaded.
The headless body thudded to the ground as a pendant resembling dried tree bark slipped out from the torn clothes—without a doubt, this was the Protective Magical Artifact the woman relied on, and it was because of this thing that he and Qu Muzhi almost faced total annihilation.
Clutching the wound on his abdomen, Yang Xiao roared, gathering his strength to pull the fishing rod that had pierced his abdomen. Blood flowed, staining the ground beneath his feet red, and due to the excessive blood loss, a feeling of dizziness caused Yang Xiao to stagger backward a few times, almost causing him to collapse.
With his current strength, battling a Ghost-level Apostle was still too forced. Fairly speaking, his Magic Artifact was not inferior to that of the Xiu Sect Master, but because his spiritual power was not strong enough, he was constantly suppressed. If another Apostle of the same level fought the Xiu Sect Master with an unchanged Magic Artifact, they could completely dominate the battle. He was still too young.
However, no matter what, this battle was nearing its end. He, Yang Xiao, had won, and it was also the first time he had personally killed a Ghost-level Apostle, who was a Sect Leader of one of the Eight Gates of the Resentment Sect—a good start.
Of course, Qu Muzhi also contributed to this. After this battle, he gained a deeper understanding of Captain Qu, who was known as the Demon Rakshasa. In the hospital, they helped each other, and fighting the Xiu Sect Master was a matter of life and death together. This person was good; despite appearing cold, he was loyal.
After the feeling of dizziness slightly eased, Yang Xiao bent down and tore off the Xiu Sect Master’s mask. Underneath was the face of a woman around 40 years old, with eyes full of terror and astonishment. Clearly, she also didn’t expect to die at the hands of a Fierce Level Apostle.
Casually throwing away the mask, Yang Xiao shook his head and, clutching his abdominal wound, walked towards Qu Muzhi.
"The Xiu Sect Master, not a match for a single blow."
After checking Qu Muzhi’s injuries, Yang Xiao finally breathed a sigh of relief—the man was not going to die, at least not immediately, just exhausted and passed out.
Yang Xiao sat next to the unconscious Qu Muzhi, leaning against a broken tree, and tore open the discarded backpack. He rummaged inside for bandages and such to dress and stop the bleeding of his wounds. It was very inconvenient to do this with only one arm remaining.
This battle was undeniably brutal—his abdomen was pierced, and one left arm was lost; his left leg was also injured, and there were over a dozen wounds of various sizes on his body. Some wounds had already scabbed over, and even a slight strain would cause them to burst open.
First, he ensured he wouldn’t die from blood loss, then took care of Qu Muzhi. It took him a moment to wrap Qu Muzhi like a dumpling; it might look ugly, but as long as it saved his life, it didn’t matter. He would never be as handsome as him anyway.
After this battle, Yang Xiao could not confirm whether he or Qu Muzhi was the pinnacle of combat power among the captains of Rongcheng City, but he was certain—it was he, Yang Xiao, who was the face of the Rongcheng Patrol Division.
Leaning against the tree, Yang Xiao gazed at the separated corpse of the woman from a distance, feeling a secret relief. Fortunately, it was he who had won; otherwise, based on his appearance, if he had fallen into the woman’s hands, the consequences would have been very undesirable.
Slowly closing his eyes, all he needed to do now was wait—for the mission to end and for this world to shatter.
"Crack—"
"Crack—Click—"
Half a minute later, Yang Xiao suddenly heard a cracking sound, like an eggshell being pecked open from the inside, but when he opened his eyes and looked towards the night sky, he found the world was still pitch black; the sky had not split, nothing had changed.
At the same time, the noise continued, and following the sound, Yang Xiao witnessed a horrifying scene. Dao Character No. 22, who had been killed by the Xiu Sect Master and had turned into a stone statue, was now cracking open. In the next second, the outer stone shell burst loudly, and a figure emerged from the burst dust. When the dust settled, Dao Character No. 22 was unharmed, sitting cross-legged.
"Not dead?!" Yang Xiao was shocked.
"Hehe, finally I’ve been waiting for you..."
As a familiar hoarse voice reached his ears, Yang Xiao’s scalp tingled instantly, and his limbs grew cold, as if thrown into an icy pit. This voice... This voice belonged to the killer who had slain two elders inside the Academy!
But... how could he appear here?
Could it be that he was also one of the participants?
Within a few breaths, Yang Xiao figured it out—this guy wasn’t a participant; he had only killed the real Dao Character No. 22 and taken his mask. He came here to kill himself to silence him!
This person was not ordinary—with the knowledge that there were powerful protectors around him, starting something within the Academy would only alert the enemy. So, he stole the mask and disguised as a participant, coming to the mission world to kill him. This way, even if he died here, people outside wouldn’t link his death to this man.
If facing the Xiu Sect Master he still had a chance to fight, against this guy, he really had no chance at all, not even in his peak form. This person could kill two Academy elders in a short time, facing two opponents—his strength was unfathomably deep.
The Xiu Sect Master was far from his opponent as well; his transformation into a stone sculpture was merely to avoid exposing his identity—just faking death to deceive the eyes of the Xiu Sect Master was enough to indicate that this man’s strength was far above the Master’s.
A wise man does not eat losses right in front of him; Yang Xiao lowered his stance and, facing the slowly approaching old man, bowed his hands, "Senior, we have no grievances; I also accidentally entered the battlefield earlier and inadvertently witnessed Senior take action. But, I neither knew Senior’s identity nor did I disclose the news to the Academy; ignorance is not a crime. I hope Senior can spare my life."
The approaching "Dao Character No. 22" had an invisible face, but the gray hair coiled on the top of his head showed he was also an old monster, "You’re right, ignorance is not a crime. You’re just a junior; I don’t wish to trouble you too much."
"Thank you for your forbearance, elder!" Yang Xiao’s attitude became even humbler.
"You should end it yourself, and quickly." The old man lifted his chin, urging him in a tone of contempt as if discussing a trivial matter.
"Elder, is there really no other way?" Yang Xiao knew he had no hope of winning and could only hope to stall for time. At the same time, he made the worst plan and secretly took out the Soul-Capturing Mirror, ready to escape into the Mirror World at any moment.
Unexpectedly, the old man easily saw through his little trick, "I have given you a chance. Since you do not appreciate it, do not blame me for bullying the lesser. Today, you must die."
"Wait!" Yang Xiao loudly called out, "Elder, meeting you is my misfortune, but I hope you will let me die with understanding."
Facing this junior who had escaped from his hands once before, the old man also showed rare patience. He slowly nodded, his voice hoarse, "You are also commendable among your peers. With a bit of guidance, becoming Ghost-level wouldn’t be difficult. I had no wish to oppress the younger generation. Today is my fault. Fine, you may ask, and I will answer three questions."
"Who exactly are you?" Yang Xiao asked.
The old man shook his head, "Cannot say."
"Hiss—"
Yang Xiao took a deep breath and asked his second question slower, "When you killed Liu and the other two elders, you mentioned that in no more than a month, Ru Lin Academy would be erased from the world of martial arts. Why is that?"
At these words, the old man grimly smiled and tapped the ground with the tip of his foot, "It’s because this place has nurtured a formidable ghost."
It was almost exactly as Yang Xiao had suspected—the old man indeed planned to use the Daoist robe old ghost to destroy Ru Lin Academy.
Of course, relying on a single ghost might not be sufficient; there must be other arrangements, but the old man certainly would not reveal more about those.
"There is one last question," the old man said with his hands clasped behind him, his voice cold and full of an expert’s confidence—a sign of his complete confidence in his own abilities.
Seeing Yang Xiao not speaking, the old man scoffed, "Trying to delay time?"
"The final question." Yang Xiao lifted his head, neither servile nor overbearing, "You once told Liu and the other two elders that destroying Ru Lin Academy is the price for your mistakes. What does that mean?"
Upon hearing this, the normally composed old man lost his cool, visibly agitated, "That was their disgraceful act. They actually disregarded the ethics of the martial arts world, setting a trap specifically to lure the headmaster of Yiling Academy here and arranged for masters to assassinate him on his way back. They deserve to die! All the people of Ru Lin Academy are hypocrites and should be killed!!"
"You are from Yiling Academy?"
Yang Xiao had heard of this name. Among the prestigious Upper Three Bookshops, there were three academies: Ru Lin Academy, Lingxi Academy, and Yiling Academy, each occupying a place of its own without clear superiority as each focused on different strengths. Ru Lin Academy was renowned for mastering the Yin and Yang Secret Technique in their missions; Lingxi Academy focused on training Apostle’s spiritual power; Yiling Academy was known for its appraisal and identification of Magic Artifacts.
This news truly surprised Yang Xiao. He hadn’t expected the person before him to be from Yiling Academy and, from his power, it was clear that his position within Yiling Academy was not low. He had unfortunately become entangled in the grudge between two academies.
"Alright, the hour has come. It’s time for you to depart," the old man waved his hand impatiently, signaling Yang Xiao to hurry up with his end.
Unexpectedly, after a moment, Yang Xiao did not move to commit suicide; instead, he held a kitchen knife, facing the old man cautiously.
"Interesting, have you not given up, wanting to test my depths?" The old man suddenly laughed, "I am not that worthless woman. Are you really sure?"
"Please enlighten me, elder!" His life was his own to control; Yang Xiao could not come to terms with being forced to end it himself.
"Not bad, you have courage, but it’s a pity." The old man finished speaking, abruptly gestured with his hand, and a flash of yellow cloth disappeared in a blink. In the next second, several points of light flashed, and a strong sense of danger came over him. It was an extremely thin silver line cutting diagonally toward him at such speed that Yang Xiao could barely see it, let alone dodge it, which was nothing short of a pipe dream.
He had seen a similar tactic before; the old man had used it when fighting Liu and the other two elders, but that show was much more dramatic than what he faced now. Then, the yellow cloth whipped out, countless points of light shot from the cloth like a reversed net, sealing the surrounding space, and the final result was the two elders being killed in the net, their bodies torn apart.
The Soul-Capturing Mirror had activated quickly, but it was still a beat slower compared to the silver line’s cutting speed. It wasn’t Yang Xiao’s fault, but under this powerful threat, even the little spiritual power he had left was greatly suppressed. In front of Yang Xiao, the old man was like an insurmountable mountain, and at this moment, all that awaited him was death.
His journey... had come to an end.
Just as the silver line had closed in within 3 or 4 meters of him, Yang Xiao suddenly heard a clear snapping sound, as if... a string had snapped.
And the next second, the incoming silver line vanished, and the oppressive force that had gripped him was also inexplicably dissolved.
More shocked than Yang Xiao was the old man, who suddenly took a step back and looked towards the spot in front of Yang Xiao with full fear, "Who, who is there?!"
