Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 308: Old Woman, You Will Face Retribution

When Xia Chichi came to Kunlun, it was very different from when she had gone traveling before. This time, she did not bring a large group of elite subordinates.

However, to say that she did not have any support from the Four Idols Cult here was also not factual, and this went on to show that Lady Three had not been telling the whole truth.

Well, it was also possible that Lady Three was not that involved in the affairs of the Four Idols Cult, and so she was just unaware of how much effort Vermillion Bird had put into expanding their influence.

It was difficult for any organization to avoid traitors. It appeared that after betraying the Four Idols Cult, the brothel madam fled to Kunlun. Vermillion Bird, having a lot of matters to attend to, did not have the time to waste going around searching for these traitors. Therefore, she had sent her trusted general, Earth Deer of Liu[1], to act as a vanguard in Kunlun and collect relevant information.

Even Tang Wanzhuang had sent people to infiltrate the city. She had even gone so far as to create an entire persona of a notorious criminal to allow them to fit in. Of course, a demonic cult like the Four Idols Cult had it much easier; half of their members did not even need a persona like those of the Demon Suppression Bureau, as they were already wanted criminals. Sending a trusted member to scout out Kunlun was a logical move.

The Earth Deer of Liu, an expert at the ninth layer of the Profound Gate, had established a base here for the Four Idols Cult.

A city would always require various living necessities, trade, and production. With the cult’s resources supporting him, the Earth Deer of Liu gathered a group of people and set up a business that sold fabrics. He controlled the business to be moderate—not too large so as to attract envy, but big enough to support his people and let them live fairly comfortably.

Even now, his subordinates did not know that their boss was a part of the Four Idols Culy.

But correspondingly, such a model only allowed him to establish a presence and be somewhat informed about what was going on in the city. The base he had set up was enough to host visiting cult members. As for gathering intelligence, he could only investigate specific key matters secretly. He was unable to organize a comprehensive intelligence network like Ying Five did.

Nevertheless, even though it was slow, it was sufficient.

It took the Earth Deer of Liu several years to finally discover that someone who had betrayed their cult was running a brothel in the eastern part of the city. He reported this to Vermillion Bird a few days ago.

This information was what had brought Xia Chichi out west.

From the beginning, she aimed to kill that madam. Unable to get close initially, she had to spend five to six days acting before finally succeeding today.

The traitor had become complacent. She had not expected the cult to still be out to get her after so many years.

Xia Chichi knew that the entire street of brothels likely had a common boss behind them, but even Earth Deer of Liu had not identified who it was. Who would have thought that the mastermind would personally be working as a prostitute and be the very one Xia Chichi happened to pick!

The level at which she hid her identity was simply extraordinary.

What initially seemed like a simple assassination mission suddenly became immensely more complicated. At first, she had not even realized it.

It was not until the third day of contact that she suspected the brothel girl she was with to be stronger than herself. Yet, she showed no fear, pretending not to know anything. She continued to play along and acted according to plan until she ultimately managed to complete her mission.

After all, she was also hiding her identity, and the other party merely thought that she was someone from the Yang Clan who had come to seek revenge on Yang Qianyuan. Both had biased perceptions, so she still had a clear shot at successfully carrying out the mission.

And in the end, she succeeded.

But no matter how carefully she calculated, she never expected the brothel girl to actually be Tarantula, a master of poison.

Xia Chichi had already been very cautious. She had not eaten anything, nor had she drunk tea or wine. By doing so, she made it difficult for common poisons to take effect. However, pretending to be a man as she visited the brothel, it was inevitable that she would make physical contact. Who would actually expect the prostitute they were with to be laced with toxins herself, and ones of extremely high level at that? The poison that Tarantula had on her skin was extremely slow-acting and hard to detect, and it gradually seeped into Xia Chichi’s body with every touch.

It could only be said that the evil in this place was truly without reason. It was simply unimaginable anywhere else for a prostitute to use her body to spread a slow-acting poison, purposely ensuring that everyone who slept with her or even just touched her would eventually die.

This irrationality ultimately caught Xia Chichi off guard. During the subsequent battle, although the pink mist had been scattered away by her true qi, a minimal amount still made contact with her, triggering the latent poison within her.

As Xia Chichi stealthily moved through the alleys, she arrived at the back entrance of the Liu Fabrics Shop. just as she leaped over the courtyard wall, she stumbled and almost fell.

A gust of wind brushed past her and she directly fell into a familiar chest.

Xia Chichi smiled faintly, leaning comfortably against the familiar chest.

Zhao Changhe whispered, “You’ve been poisoned? I didn’t see you injured or get poisoned just now. When did you get poisoned?”

Just as Xia Chichi was about to reply, footsteps sounded in the courtyard. Earth Deer of Liu led a group toward them. Earth Deer drew his sword and pointed it at Zhao Changhe. “Who are you? Let go of him!”

Xia Chichi said, “Stand down.”

Earth Deer of Liu: “?”

Enduring the strange sensation within her body, Xia Chichi looked up with a playful smile at Zhao Changhe, who had returned to his original appearance. “Not bad, Boss Zhao. You’ve learned to frequent brothels after all these years in the jianghu, huh?”

Zhao Changhe watched as the bewildered Earth Deer of Liu retreated, his face stern. “Same to you.”

Xia Chichi smiled and said, “I was on a mission”

Zhao Changhe retorted, “So was I.”

“Oh? And what mission were you on?” Xia Chichi teased. “What kind of service was it that you asked for? Something along the lines of someone playing the flute?”

Zhao Changhe was amazed. “You still had the attention to spare to listen to what was going on next door?”

Xia Chichi smiled and said, “Someone entered the room next to mine and did nothing while the girl he was with simply played the guqin. Do you really think your senior brother is a complete idiot? Did you think I wouldn’t have found it strange?

Zhao Changhe said sincerely, “You really are amazing.”

Not only was she vigilant and sharp, but more importantly, this showed that even though Xia Chichi had not broken through to the Profound Mysteries just yet, she was already at the doorstep. She was just one step away from breaking through. Otherwise, she would not have such keen hearing.

His cultivation had advanced quickly, but Xia Chichi, with the resources of the Four Idols Cult supporting her, had not fallen behind either. Even after having advanced so fast, she was still stronger than him.

No wonder she was able to escape from the grasp of someone on the Ranking of Man without much effort... Speaking of which, Tarantula didn’t seem to have broken through to the Profound Mysteries. The fact that she’s ranked fifty-eighth is probably due to her poison techniques. Her cultivation doesn’t seem to be much better than those at the bottom of the Ranking of Man; at the very least, it’s much worse than Hu Lie.

“It’s just that I didn’t realize it was you,” said Xia Chichi. Her eyes gradually became hazy, and her voice turned into a murmur, “Do you know how surprised I was when I saw you flash by in the alley when I was struggling to escape? Was it fate that brought you to me from across the world to save me right when I was in danger?”

Although he had come here under the suggestion of Lady Three, the fact that they ended up in the same place did seem like fate. It seemed to be even more so with how he saw Chichi entering a brothel as soon as he arrived. Because of that, he had even gotten to witness her current prowess, which was even greater than before.

Zhao Changhe couldn't help but feel a bit emotional. He whispered,”Yes, this is the fate between you and me, it seems.”

“Then...” Xia Chichi’s eyes became even hazier, and her cheeks flushed as she leaned against his body and began to writhe around slightly. “Would you like me to blow your flute...”

Zhao Changhe: 凸

Xia Chichi chuckled. “Look at you... I’m still dressed as a man, yet you got so excited.”

Damn it! Do you think I’m excited because of that?!

Zhao Changhe suddenly said, “The poison in you must have an aphrodisiac!”

“Yeah,” Xia Chichi replied nonchalantly. “Originally, it would have been quite troublesome to deal with. With it being a poison from Tarantula, I’m afraid it would have been hard for me to resolve, but heaven just so happened to send me a human antidote, hehe.”

She stood on her toes and kissed him directly. “With such a good excuse, even the venerable would have to let us be. We must really thank Tarantula when we see her again, hehe.”

Zhao Changhe kissed her back passionately, silently thanking Tarantula.

As they kissed, Xia Chichi murmured, “Take me inside, to the room on your right.”

Zhao Changhe swiftly lifted her in a princess carry and kicked open the door to the room she pointed out. As soon as he entered the room, he practically leaped onto the bed.

Bang!

Unfortunately, what met them was not the softness of a freshly-made bed, but a transparent yet unbreakable wall of qi.

The couple slowly slid to the ground.

Feeling dizzy from the impact, they looked up only to see Vermillion Bird, masked and with arms crossed, sitting on the edge of the bed. Her voice was devoid of any emotion as she said, “You guys had quite the plan, huh?”

Xia Chichi was fully under the effect of the aphrodisiac, but she almost felt it dissipate from the shock she felt from seeing Vermillion Bird. “V-v-venerable, why, w-why are you here too?”

“What? Are you annoyed that I’m interrupting your perfect excuse?”

Xia Chichi stammered, “...I, I’m really poisoned.”

Vermillion Bird leisurely took out a bottle of medicine. “Do you really think that the pathetic poison of a pathetic wannabe spider can match up to our holy cult?”

Xia Chichi deflated completely.

Zhao Changhe exclaimed in frustration, “Old woman, if you disrupt the heaven’s arrangements, you will face retribution!”

1. This is the representative for the mansion of Liu, which is one of the seven mansions of the Vermillion Bird. The species of deer referred to here is the water deer. ☜