Chapter 242: A Strange Ending; The Delusion of the Poisonous Hitching Post (1/2)
Chapter 242: A Strange Ending; The Delusion of the Poisonous Hitching Post
Translator: TransnEditor: Transn
”It's our misjudgment this time.”
”No kidding.” Junior Leopard's smile became even wider as he used his twin big hammers to prop him up from the ground. ”I would've been done for if you three didn't attack me that way.”
”You're right. But who thought that you can restrain the Hollow Magic Carpet?” The man smiled bitterly.
Junior Leopard returned his smile, but there was a great reluctance in it.
”Looks like the Cool Breeze Gang is destined to end.” Junior Leopard's face twitched as he struggled to keep his smile. He didn't look very well. Inside, he was feeling a heavy sense of helplessness.
First, it was the Hollow Travel. Then it was poison. Had he known that it would be so easy to deal with this gang, he wouldn't have put so much thought into it.
This guy thought himself to be clever, or perhaps he truly was smart. He tried to distract Junior Leopard by talking as he released an invisible and colorless toxic gas. If the Poison-absorbing Green Bead on Junior Leopard didn't activate, he really wouldn't have discovered it at all.
The poison that the man used couldn't be ordinary judging by the reaction of the bead. It might even be deadlier than the Green-scaled Venomous Tarantula.
That was why Junior Leopard's expression was so ghastly and he was having such a hard time smiling. He couldn't even hold his hammers firmly.
But the smile on that man's face became even brighter.
”We shouldn't have resorted to unnecessary tricks. Your combat capability may be high, but you wouldn't stand a chance if the five of us teamed up against you. What a pity the Mansion Master and the First Elder disagreed.”
”Elder Cui, you…!”
The man who was crouching on the ground and checking on the First Elder looked up with a darkened expression. ”You!”
”Mansion Master, I once told you that we're assassins, not prostitutes. Why do we need to make ourselves known to the world?” Elder Cui said, smiling gently.
Realization dawned on Junior Leopard. His grip slacked and his twin hammers fell to the ground. ”You used poison!”
He clutched at his chest, trying his best to recall the expressions and moves he saw on television. Anger flushed his cheeks.
”Correct! Of course I did!” Elder Cui's smile turned even brighter. With a wave of his sleeves, a fragrance drifted toward Junior Leopard and made him dizzy again. Fortunately for him, his Poison-absorbing Green Bead was fully activated. A watery airflow flowed through his tendons and meridians, helping him recover.
”Cui Hailong, what are you planning?!”
Lan Wu's voice was loud and full of anger. On the other side, Junior Leopard was finally feeling better.
”Not much. But don't you think you're not suitable to be the Mansion Master of the Cool Breeze Gang anymore?” Cui Hailong turned his head after seeing Lan Wu had also fallen. ”If it wasn't for you, our gang wouldn't be reduced to such a state!”
”Are you rebelling?!”
”Why not?” Cui Hailong lifted his head and said calmly, ”Is there a better opportunity than now?”
”You...” Lan Wu was fuming even as his body went limp and numb. Cui Hailong had always hidden his strength all these years, having entered Level Seven for more than a decade. When he first joined, Lan Wu kept his guard against him but soon realized he seemed to harbor no interest in authority. His interests seemed only to be fiddling with his venomous insects and rearing some odd creatures in his room. What was more, it was he who helped the gang when they got into trouble in the past and his solutions had always been perfect.
Hence, his distrust of Cui Hailong gradually eased.
To be fair, he wasn't familiar with any of the Elders in the gang. The existence of certain Jianghu rules meant it was troublesome for them to make a Level Seven expert an assassin. They could only ask them to assume personal command. But they could be considered as impregnable and secret as possible. There wasn't anyone like Junior Leopard who had ever broken into their nest. Secondly, they would be even more persistent in their pursuit of power after entering Level Seven compared to the average person. They would never show up unless it was necessary. He wouldn't see Cui Hailong, who practiced the Heavenly and Earthly Poisons Technique, around for months at a time. He didn't expect him to rebel at such a critical point, leaving him no time to prepare.
”There's no benefit for you to betray the Cool Breeze Gang!”
”I've never said that I'm betraying the gang. I just think you're not fit to be the Mansion Master anymore, so I'm replacing you.”
”Replace me? I've never expected you to hide such wild ambitions!”
”There are even more things beyond your expectations.” Cui Hailong snickered. ”But you don't have to think too hard about it anymore.”
”You...” A heavy sense of exhaustion clouded Lan Wu's mind. He tried to operate his Internal Qi to resist the poison but failed. His limp body fell on the ground, where he twitched and foamed at the mouth. He finally went quiet after a while and huddled up at last, losing all his vitality.
”You gave us different poisons?”
Junior Leopard slowly propped himself up with his hands as he watched the dramatic scene in front of him.
”Of course. There's nothing about the gang that is a secret to me, but you're different. You must be hiding a great secret to achieve Level Seven at the age of 17! How can I let you die so easily?”
”What if you go for wool and come home shorn?”
Cui Hailong burst out laughing and said, ”Do you know what you're poisoned with?”
”Don't you know I have a Green-scaled Venomous Scorpion on my hands?” Junior Leopard's lips curled and revealed a strange smile.
”What?” Cui Hailong was struck dumb, not grasping Junior Leopard's words. While he was still confused, Junior Leopard swiped his twin hammers at him as rapid as lightning.
”You…” Clang! Thud!
A scream was followed by a low sound, finally ending with the ear-splitting sound of hammers knocking down a body.
Junior Leopard didn't give Cui Hailong much time to think. He picked up his hammers from the ground and bashed Cui Hailong's head. He hadn't expected Junior Leopard to be untouched by his poison, so he didn't put up his guard. With just one hit from Junior Leopard's hammers, his head exploded like a crushed watermelon.
”I thought it's me who wanted to end the Cool Breeze Gang but looks like it's the God who wants to end it. He's just doing it through my hands.”
Junior Leopard didn't feel any happiness at killing the final expert of the Cool Breeze Gang. Rather, he felt as if his actions were controlled by an invisible hand.
The battle that he had been anticipating ended without any fanfare. Junior Leopard silently killed the most powerful Level Eight expert just like that while he was controlling the Hollow Magic Carpet, leaving him no chance to demonstrate his true strength. The unlucky Lan Wu didn't have any chance to fight either, having been poisoned by his partner. Cui Hailong, on the other hand, was so confident in his poison that he didn't even put a guard and was smashed to death.
This was so easy that Junior Leopard felt like it was something right out of a movie.
The Cool Breeze Gang had many departments and assassins, but their true strength lied in their four experts and a master with an expert's combat capability. The First Elder, a Level Eight expert, was particularly powerful. Yet they were inexplicably killed. The remaining assassins, the tiny fish who had escaped Junior Leopard's net, were too insignificant to care about.
In the past 300 years, how many people had the Cool Breeze Gang assassinated or offended?
Now that their most powerful assassins were killed in one clean sweep, the influences and schools who had their men killed would definitely not give up this chance to kick them while they were down.
Having considered this point, Junior Leopard slowly walked toward the bodies of Lan Wu and the First Elder. He raised his head and a ball of golden flame flashed, reducing Lan Wu's corpse into ashes. He didn't dare to treat the First Elder corpse lightly and carefully controlled the remaining undamaged Demon Devil Needles. He pierced the First Elder's head with the needles to make sure that he was truly dead.
He didn't dare to burn him with fire for the Hollow Magic Carpet was still on the First Elder's body.
Now that he confirmed the First Elder to be truly dead, he lifted his hand and retrieved the Magic Carpet that helped the First Elder to travel in the void. He felt a familiar spirit the moment he touched it. It was the Flickering Light Evil Qi. However, it seemed to be too heterogeneous. It was no wonder there would be a tremendous space fluctuation each time the carpet was used.