"Who knows whose hands the deer will end up in!"

"What sharp eyes you have!" Xiao Lin admired the bloodshot eyes, suddenly becoming very interested in the face beneath the human skin mask: "You're known as Granny, are you one of Lao Jiu's people?"

"Enough chit-chat!" She attacked Xiao Lin's smiling face, the barb stopping just a centimeter from his skin, the longsword pressing against his stomach.

"This is the second time! If you don't show some real skill, it's going to be troublesome." Dissolving the attack, his sword flicked sideways to deflect the barb, a spin brought it into his hand: "You'll die at your own hand before you kill me."

"What do you mean?"

"Lion has two people skilled in poison and the Gu Technique under him, you should have experienced this. Who would spare the one who killed their brother for the sake of business with their brother's murderer?" Xiao Lin tossed the spike to the person in front of him, the game was about over, he didn't want to waste any more time, Lian should have already started on her end, they didn't have much time.

"You think by being colorless and tasteless you can poison me unwittingly? It just shows your intelligence network isn't advanced enough, although you know I have a weakness, your updates are slow, you've been attacking my left side all this time, using both hands, merely because you know there's a flaw there. Now, have you confirmed the inaccuracy of this information?"

Granny tightened her grip on the spike, the mischievous expression disappeared from her face, she might have underestimated this man a bit.

"Overconfidence will be your downfall." Xiao Lin tore his clothing to wrap the fabric around his left hand, where a black mark from a snake bite had faded halfway, better not to have an open wound before it's fully healed. "To call someone like you Granny, I really can't bring myself to do it, leave a name for the future, so I can have a memento." His arrogant tone irritated Granny's nerves, Xiao Lin chuckled: "Borrowing someone else's weapon, handling it pretty well?"

"How did you know?" Granny discarded the barb in her hand, spreading her fingers.

"I just asked Consort Ling if you were the one who hurt her, there was a slight confusion on your face, you don't know that person." The longsword was drawn out sharply, with the hilt resting on the windowsill.

"A sixty-centimeter blade provides protection in long-range attacks, just right for offense and defense, but it has this drawback in close-range combat."

"Flame Swallow, remember this name, so you'll know who to seek revenge on in the afterlife."

Flame Swallow had no weapon, strictly speaking, his weapon was a mass of fire, and inside the flames was a Nail Spike only fifteen centimeters long. Xiao Lin stared at the flames igniting in his hand, turning from blue to orange, following the combustion pattern of the flames, a very rare form of internal martial arts. He raised his head to look at Flame Swallow, letting out a roar, swinging the longsword.

With a clang, as the longsword slashed toward Flame Swallow's left shoulder, he dodged, gripping the blade with one hand, a metallic screech resonated, his swift figure disappeared before Xiao Lin's eyes.

Letting go, the sword hilt slipped out of his palm, Xiao Lin leapt up, and under a gust of wind, his body slanted, shifting to the opposite side of the blade, lightly lifting the blade tip, the longsword flipped in the air and fell back into Xiao Lin's hand. The soft metal bore deep scratches from its contact with the hard metal.

Xiao Lin frowned unpleasantly, hardly used it and it was already damaged, the keeper would definitely have a word with him about it.

"You damaged my sword!"

His left hand flickered with sword flowers, pressing toward Flame Swallow's face, a seemingly simple move that struck in the middle, only Flame Swallow knew the hidden danger behind the sword flowers. He gathered the flames in his hand, counterattacking the moment the sword flowers extinguished.

When his left shoulder was stabbed, the flames erupted on the sword, Flame Swallow used his body to gain an advantage. He forced Xiao Lin to give up his sword for self-preservation, otherwise the flames on the blade would harm him. He chuckled wickedly at Xiao Lin.

"This is interesting." Xiao Lin refused to relinquish his weapon, as a fighter, he would never easily give up his weapon at any time, knowing this, Flame Swallow dared to use such a method to draw Xiao Lin into his trap.

It was expected that Xiao Lin wouldn't let go of the longsword, but what surprised Flame Swallow was that his flames stopped halfway on the sword, unable to advance. His grip trembled, a surge surged toward him, hurriedly letting go of the blade tip to dodge, but was still grazed on the cheek by the surge.

"Dragon Soul True Qi?" The flames flickered to blue between his palms, the low-temperature flames blinking. With a toe push, he evaded Xiao Lin's longsword, launching an attack from above.

As the disappearing figure felt the heat of the fire, Xiao Lin crouched down and countered Flame Swallow's palm strike. With a loud bang, the glass partition beside them shattered into dust. This was a direct confrontation between two people, leaving a numbness after the wrist pain subsided.

Flame Swallow retreated to the corner, panting, as the surging blood from his chest overwhelmed him, making it difficult to bear. The flames on his palms disappeared, revealing the Nail Spikes burning in the fire.

"When did the Underground City start risking lives for others?" Xiao Lin slowly approached Flame Swallow. The opponent was formidable, more challenging than dealing with a nightmare, and required some time, but it was not impossible to handle. "Someone sold you intelligence about the Liger Gang to create a false impression. Is this a case of killing two birds with one stone?"

The oppressive aura constricted in range as Xiao Lin approached. In such an aura, Flame Swallow was not supposed to have a chance to resist. However, he deftly dodged beneath Xiao Lin's sword, spitting out a mouthful of blood onto the carpet.

"Don't blame me for not warning you, the poison within you will gradually seep into all your meridians with every breath you take."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Flame Swallow widened his eyes in disbelief and turned to glare at Xiao Lin.

"You'll know if it's nonsense by trying to take a breath," Xiao Lin said, holding his long sword with the blade pointed downward. In the backlight, Flame Swallow couldn't see his expression and discreetly took a breath. A surge of heat rose inside him, causing him to vomit another mouthful of blood.

"The Miao Family are masters of poison; you were too careless."

"Damn woman!" Flame Swallow cursed, sitting cross-legged and igniting flames with his right hand, pointing them at his own abdomen.

"How about we make a deal?" The long sword dragged on the ground, scattering fluff along the carpet, leaving a straight line in its wake. "Every poison in this world has something it fears. The same goes for poisons created through alchemy. If I can save you, will you do something for me?"

"It's impossible to extract any information from me."

"Ah! I've already learned from the 'Black Crow' members that the assassins in Underground City represent 'Black Crow'. Their trained professional ethics are commendable. Even if you plan to commit suicide with poison, I see no point in negotiating to save you." Xiao Lin reached out as if to touch his hair, which didn't belong to the person, but quickly dispelled the notion.

The flames on his right hand changed from a pale blue to a fiery red. Standing before Flame Swallow, Xiao Lin felt the scorching heat and shook his head: "Using Inner Strength to control flames may temporarily suppress the poison inside you, but it also depletes your True Qi, causing the poison to rebound and enter your bloodstream even faster. No matter which way, you will die very miserably."

"What do you want?" As long as he could live, he suddenly recalled a question from Xu Ce. As long as he could live, it was enough reason for him to choose to kill Lion, so he was careless. Now, he made a choice again, as long as he lived, he could do many things, including killing the person in front of him.

"Take me to see 'Black Crow'." Xiao Lin thought for a moment; this was the best approach. The Underground City survives by relying on 'Black Crow', and Dragon Soul would indulge it, inevitably allowing 'Black Crow' to be a world-class assassination organization. Killing this person now would be easy, but he couldn't cut the root cause and would only face more unexpected adversaries, trapped in an endless cycle, exhausted. He remembered someone once said, in any conflict, the best breakthrough is to face it simply.

"Impossible!"

Ah! Xiao Lin couldn't help but sigh slightly, grabbing a handful of Flame Swallow's hair and pulling him down. "How many human skins are on your face?" Beneath the Lion's appearance was a face full of wrinkles, which could crush a mosquito, just like the old woman he first met under the bridge. The stacked-up skin drooped down, lacking meat. "There's no need to answer me so soon. You don't want to become a betrayer like Consort Ling because you fear 'Black Crow's' retribution?" Xiao Lin tutted, feeling it unworthy to belittle courage.

"You don't need to provoke me. A character like that isn't worthy of being compared to me." Retracting the flames from his hand, Flame Swallow remained seated cross-legged.

'Black Crow' has a strict hierarchical system. The information learned from Consort Ling was limited. In 'Black Crow,' his position only addressed low-level assassins, barely making it to middle-upper levels. However, there was still a significant gap from reaching the 'rescuing' rank and climbing to high levels.

Not to mention that Underground City is an independent institution, it seems that 'Black Crow's' internal structure isn't as simple as it appears. Under the guise of an Underground City branch, could other unknown organizations exist? This is just within the country, while the overseas system might differ. If 'Black Crow' could be recovered, it would offer a promising prospect.

"I do hope you reconsider." Xiao Lin hesitated, curious about what the face beneath all those wrinkles might look like.

His hand was mercilessly slapped away, and Flame Swallow slid from the ground, retreating to a distance and leaning under the window: "There's nothing to reconsider."

Such decisive and resolute attitude was indeed a headache. "Should I kill you or let you live?" Xiao Lin glanced at his wristwatch; thirty minutes remained until the agreed time. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for it with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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