Chapter 124: Saving Someone? Or Being Saved?

The landlady?

How could that pig-stupid landlady be a master of the Laughing Tooth organization? And a master of concealment at that?

The main hall was now deserted, and the guest rooms upstairs were empty. After such a commotion, ordinary people dared not linger to watch; getting caught in the crossfire would be a disaster.

Lei Xiang slowly stood up, flashing a grin that revealed his small canine teeth. He held his Immortal-Shooting Gun, its dark muzzle aimed directly at the plump landlady. "No matter who you are, killing me won't be so easy."

The landlady laughed, her rolls of fat trembling with the movement. "Kid, what circle are you from? There’s a path to heaven, yet you refuse to take it, choosing instead to wade into these muddy waters. While that piece-of-junk gun of yours is powerful—rumored to finish an opponent the moment it's raised—we assassins of the Laughing Tooth are different. Do you dare bet that I can wipe you out of existence within three moves?"

"Ha!" Lei Xiang let out a loud, reckless laugh. As he did, a wisp of white smoke emerged from the barrel of the Immortal-Shooting Gun, and a faint white light streaked toward the landlady. "Boom!" The Heaven-Crystal Bullet exploded instantly, but there was no one there. The landlady had vanished in that split second. It was unbelievable.

This was the first time the Immortal-Shooting Gun had missed!

Without a moment to dwell on it, Lei Xiang gripped his Nine-Treasure Lotus Rod, his eyes flashing with blue light as he scanned his surroundings. Nothing! There was no trace of her. Lei Xiang felt a surge of foreboding.

Suddenly, a fluctuation of spiritual energy rippled above his head. A massive, fleshy bottom descended like a small mountain. Lei Xiang hurriedly held his Lotus Rod vertically above his head, but the moment he raised it, the landlady's weight crashed down. The Nine-Treasure Lotus Rod, a product of a meteor shower, was sent flying ten yards away.

Fortunately, Lei Xiang used that brief fraction of a second to slide away on his Wind-Thunder Boots, escaping the area. Shaken, he looked toward the opposite side. The landlady's massive frame was revealed, and she looked at him with disdain. "Kid, that was only the first move. The next two won't be so simple. It’s not too late to surrender."

Lei Xiang helplessly acknowledged the gap in their abilities. He was no match for this fat woman. While the Nine-Nine Immortal-Shooting Gun had immense lethality, the landlady’s "Laughing at the Heavens" technique was masterful; the Heaven-Crystal Bullet couldn't even graze her. It seemed he had to find a chance to escape. Thinking this, he recalled the Lotus Rod into his storage pouch, and while doing so, secretly slipped out Lan Xi’s "Hundred-Change Fantasy Eye," preparing to seize an opening.

Unexpectedly, the landlady didn't use her concealment technique this time. Instead, she charged straight at him, her white, chubby hands reaching out. Lei Xiang retreated rapidly while loading another Heaven-Crystal Bullet, but before he could fire, her hand struck. He only managed to shift half an inch, narrowly avoiding a fatal blow.

The palm smacked his left shoulder, landing just half an inch from his heart. "Slap!" Lei Xiang was sent flying over ten yards, his back slamming heavily against the courtyard gate. If not for the protection of his Universe-Origin Pouch, that blow would have ended his life. The difference in strength was too great; she had nearly killed him without even using a magical artifact. Her cultivation level must be at the peak of the mid-stage Core Formation realm.

However, even so, Lei Xiang could no longer lift his left arm. After enduring for a long moment, he spat out a mouthful of stagnant blood. He popped two pills into his mouth. The landlady watched him with a smile, making no move to stop him, as if Lei Xiang were a dying rat and she the cat waiting to toy with him to her heart's content.

Seeing the playful look in her eyes, Lei Xiang gritted his teeth and threw a glittering golden artifact toward her. It flew sluggishly. The landlady sneered—did he think such junk could hurt her? Unexpectedly, Lei Xiang used his only functional right hand to steady the Immortal-Shooting Gun. A white light flashed, and a Heaven-Crystal Bullet roared out.

The landlady hurriedly summoned a golden bell-shaped artifact, wary of the legendary power of his gun. But the bullet didn't aim for her; instead, it intercepted the sluggish artifact, colliding to trigger an explosion. A cloud of white mist erupted, obscuring her vision. The landlady paused, cursing Lei Xiang’s cunning under her breath. She retracted the bell and took a deep breath of innate spiritual energy, then blew it out.

The cyan air turned into a gale, instantly blowing the mist away. But when she looked toward the gate, Lei Xiang was gone.

The landlady was incensed. The Laughing Tooth organization had dispatched an elite team, yet they hadn't even managed to capture a mere Lei Xiang, and she had lost one Core Formation cultivator and two late-stage Foundation Establishment assassins in the process. How would she explain this? Looking at the two diverging paths outside the gate, she made a quick decision. She fired a flare into the sky to signal the team to pursue toward the northwest, while she herself headed southeast. This way, no matter which way he ran, they would catch him.

After she left, the massive inn felt exceptionally empty. There were no human sounds, and even the wind seemed to have died down.

After a long while, the gate creaked open without a breeze. A halo of light flickered, revealing Lei Xiang’s figure. At the moment of life and death, he had used the bullet to create the mist, then deployed the Hundred-Change Fantasy Eye to hide in plain sight right under her nose, appearing as nothing more than a common wooden door.

Stowing the eye, Lei Xiang calmly flew to the second floor and returned to his original room. The most dangerous place was the safest; he understood this logic. Since the landlady had left, no one would be guarding the inn, so he could meditate and heal here.

As soon as he stepped inside, the door slammed shut behind him. Lei Xiang whirled around, but there was no one there. His hair stood on end. He quickly drew his gun and loaded a bullet, stepping cautiously inside. Suddenly, a cold wind jabbed at his left ribs. With his left arm immobile, he could only dodge a yard away, leveling the gun’s dark muzzle at the air.

Strangely, he didn't fire. He just shouted sternly, "Come out!"

The space distorted, and a middle-aged man appeared out of thin air. He stood as straight as a javelin, his face as cold and unyielding as granite, devoid of any smile.

Lei Xiang lowered his gun, flashing his canine teeth. His voice was filled with excitement. "It really is you! You’re alive! I suspected it when you used that Cold-Yin Finger to ambush me. I didn't expect it to be you. How did you escape?"

The man was Dugu Yixiao, the one Lei Xiang had set out to rescue.

Dugu Yixiao shook his head silently, his tone remaining flat. "This is no place for conversation. The reinforcements from the Laughing Tooth will arrive soon. Follow me, Lei Xiang."

"Leave? Didn't the landlady and her team chase after me? Who else could come here? This is the safest place."

Dugu Yixiao grabbed Lei Xiang’s right wrist. "That landlady is named Qianqian. She’s old enough to be your great-great-grandmother. Do you think she’d let you slip away so easily? She is notoriously difficult to deal with in the organization. I saw her send a message to adjust her forces—some went northwest, but a small group is returning here to wait for you to walk into the trap."

Mountain winds howled.

They were at Phoenix Mountain, a hundred miles outside of Phoenix Market. White clouds swirled around the summit, and Lei Xiang and Dugu Yixiao were spiraling upward through them. The biting mountain wind nearly blew them off course, but the Universe-Origin Pouch kept them steady; otherwise, they would have been tossed into the abyss long ago.

"We're here!" Following Dugu Yixiao’s brief words, he struck the air with a column of cold energy, revealing a small, silver-white building. Lei Xiang followed him inside. The furnishings were extremely sparse. Lei Xiang sat on the only stool and looked at Dugu Yixiao. "I didn't think you’d actually be hiding out here for a summer retreat. I’ve been looking for you for so many years! What happened to the guy who kidnapped you? Did you kill him, or did you escape on your own?"

Dugu Yixiao’s answer shocked him. "No one kidnapped me. I slipped away myself."

Lei Xiang’s eyes widened. Was his entire analysis in the Eastern Yue Kingdom wrong?

Dugu Yixiao seemed as though he hadn't spoken to anyone in a long time, and though he was usually a man of few words, he now opened up. "Lei Xiang, first, I thank you for traveling thousands of miles to save me. But I knocked out the guards and fled the capital of the Eastern Yue Kingdom alone. I didn't want you to be implicated, as I had discovered that members of the organization were present in the capital. It was only a matter of time before they found me."

"I admit that in my early years, I served as an assassin for the Laughing Tooth. Our organization is divided into three branches: the Tooth, the Kill, and the Plunder. I was a member of 'Kill Seven.' You know that once you enter this trade, you don't expect to leave alive. The consequences of betraying the organization are unimaginable, but I managed to slip away back then, all because of this." As he spoke, Dugu Yixiao untied the blue cloth bundle he always carried and held it out on his palms.

Lei Xiang’s gaze was immediately drawn to the bundle. He had always found it mysterious. Back at the Hongji Foundation Establishment Academy, no one—including him—had ever been allowed to see what was inside. Everyone privately speculated that it must contain shocking treasures, perhaps even Innate-level spiritual artifacts or immortal pills.