Chapter 643: Assassin

"Look, if you release her now and turn yourself in to the authorities, it can still be considered a surrender," Lu Yang said, re-entering the room and earnestly advising the killer.

This was clearly the woman's room next door. The assassin had climbed in through the window, intending to kill her, and had been caught in the act.

"You're going to die too!" The black-clad man, dagger in hand, saw Lu Yang return. A cold glint flashed in his eyes, but Lu Yang quickly pinned him to the ground.

"I suppose you won't surrender," Lu Yang said, calmly subduing the black-clad man with one hand.

The black-clad man looked utterly incredulous; he hadn't even seen Lu Yang's movements before being overpowered.

"Foundation... Foundation Establishment stage?!" He, a formidable ninth-level Qi Cultivation assassin, had been instantly subdued. His opponent could only be a grand cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage!

Things had come to this; suicide was his only option!

Lu Yang grabbed his head and pulled out two of his front teeth, which concealed a deadly poison. He then picked up a rag from the floor and stuffed it into the man's mouth to prevent him from biting his tongue to commit suicide. He also tapped several points on the man's body, sealing his meridians and rendering him immobile.

The black-clad assassin despaired. Who was this uninvited guest? Was he a bodyguard hired by the target? How could he be so familiar with methods of suicide prevention?

What the assassin hadn't realized, however, was that he had smeared a slow-acting poison on his dagger. It was undetectable until it took effect, and once it did, even immortals couldn't save the victim. His target had already been stabbed and didn't have long to live.

Even if it were detected, it would be useless; his poison was exceedingly rare, and he himself didn't possess an antidote.

From his identity jade token, Lu Yang produced a pill and offered it to the still-shaken woman.

"You've been poisoned. His dagger has 'Azure Ghost Entangling Soul Poison' on it. It takes effect in three days, and then the Azure Ghost claims your life. It's not a particularly rare poison; my antidote pill can cure it." He added, "These are just leftover poisons from Dan Ding Peak."

"Oh? Oh, thank you," the woman said blankly, taking the antidote. It felt cool and comforting, and her heart settled considerably.

After calming herself, the woman looked gratefully at Lu Yang. "Thank you, benefactor. My name is..."

"Stop," Lu Yang interrupted smoothly. "Don't tell me your name, where you're from, your identity, or why an assassin would target you. I'm just a guest from next door and I know nothing. I can see you have cultivation. I've crippled the assassin's cultivation, so you can take him to the authorities yourself."

Having navigated the martial world for many years, often by stirring up trouble, he could tell at a glance that this was a complicated situation, likely involving numerous hidden schemes.

"Haha, Old Lu, I heard some commotion from your room and knew something was happening here too!" Meng Jingzhou's hearty laughter echoed from behind Lu Yang.

Meng Jingzhou entered the room, and his smile froze.

The scene in the room was clear and concise; it was obvious what had transpired.

Why was this brat playing the hero again?

"Miss, what trouble did you run into to be hunted down?"

Just as Lu Yang was about to intervene, he heard the woman introduce herself:

"My name is Fuling, and I've come from Xuancheng, the city next door. My family operates a textile business, and I'm here to expand our family's ventures.

"From a young age, I displayed remarkable business acumen. My father often considered entrusting the entire family business to me, but my stepmother always thwarted him.

"My stepmother believes the family business should be inherited by her son, so she has constantly made things difficult for me. Fortunately, I've managed to resolve each challenge.

"This assassin must have been sent by my stepmother. Thanks to your timely intervention, young master, I, Fuling, was able to escape this ordeal."

Lu Yang gently shook his head. "This assassin was likely not sent by your stepmother."

Fuling looked very surprised, her eyes reflecting her confusion.

"Young master, why do you say that?"

"Since you came here to expand your family's business, your stepmother would surely wait until commercial routes in this city were established before eliminating you. Killing you this early would effectively mean abandoning the business here."

Fuling considered this carefully, acknowledging the possibility.

"Could it be because I visited the black market?"

"How so?"

"You might not know, young master, but there's a black market not far from here. I visited it tonight and saw a twenty-year-old spiritual mushroom that looked promising, so I bought it. Is it possible I stumbled upon a hidden treasure, and what I bought wasn't a spiritual mushroom, but something else entirely?"

"Can you show it to me?"

Grateful for his life-saving assistance, Fuling trusted Lu Yang wouldn't harm her and retrieved the spiritual mushroom she'd bought from the black market.

The spiritual mushroom was palm-sized, dark red, with concentric rings on its cap.

"Miss, you were half right. This is indeed a spiritual mushroom, but not an ordinary one. It's a three-hundred-year-old Thunder Tribulation Spiritual Mushroom, struck by lightning. Because it endured such a great calamity, its appearance is vastly different from a typical three-hundred-year-old spiritual mushroom."

"It seems you're quite lucky, miss." As a friend of the Young Medicine King, Lu Yang had acquired extensive knowledge of plants from them.

"However, this is still not the reason for your assassination attempt."

"Why is that?" Fuling's eyes darted with confusion.

"This assassin had poison hidden in his front teeth, clearly indicating he's a professional, not someone acting out of sudden greed. He broke in through the window specifically to take your life."

Fuling thought for a moment, then added, "I have a childhood sweetheart who cares deeply for me. He's very outstanding, and there's a female disciple from a sect who fancies him. However, my sweetheart rejected her, explaining that while she was wonderful, he might have fallen for her only if he hadn't met me first."

"It's possible this sect disciple sent an assassin to kill me."

Lu Yang pondered. This was certainly a possibility, and for the moment, he couldn't find any immediate flaws in her reasoning.

"Which sect is that female disciple you mentioned from?"

The assassin squirmed on the ground, his mouth still gagged by the rag Lu Yang had stuffed in, unable to utter a sound.

After listening to Fuling and Lu Yang analyze for what felt like an eternity, he finally managed to spit out the rag.

"Um, can I say something?"

All three simultaneously looked down at the assassin.

The assassin, feeling guilty under their gaze, nevertheless spoke, "Miss Fuling, right? My apologies, but it seems I've targeted the wrong person. My actual target is in the room across the hall; her name is Kong Que."

Fuling was speechless.Lu Yang was speechless.

Hearing the assassin's words, Meng Jingzhou looked as if a mystery had been solved, an expression of sudden realization dawning on his face. "So that's it," he murmured.

Lu Yang asked, surprised, "What do you understand?"

"I encountered a rogue cultivator in my room. He was well-hidden, but I still found him. After I subdued him, he confessed that he was planning to steal a spiritual mushroom."

At that moment, Shi Chan also approached. "Hmm, this monk was just about to look for you two senior brothers in your rooms. Why are you both here?"

"What is it?"

"Well, I met a woman in the corridor named Kong Que, who is staying here. She said an assassin was targeting her and, seeing that I have cultivation, she asked me to protect her. I wanted to ask what your opinions are, senior brothers."