Time flowed like water, and five days passed in the blink of an eye.
A strange, pungent cold aura permeated the residence.
A fly worm drilled into the room through a crack in the window, but as soon as it entered, it fell straight down, landing on the ground motionless.
At this time, the window sill was already covered with fallen moths and fly worms.
Inside the room, Lin Sheng's eyes were tightly closed, and his skin was an indigo blue color. His entire person looked quite strange.
His brows were tightly furrowed, and a trace of pain appeared on his face.
If someone were in the room, they would feel a significant difference between the temperature inside the room and outside.
It wasn't until more than half an hour passed that Lin Sheng's tightly locked brows slowly relaxed. The temperature in the room gradually returned to normal, and the indigo blue skin regained a hint of blood color.
"Hoo... The cold poison of this Cold Condensing Grass is indeed extraordinary. It's much stronger than the cold poison-type poisonous plants I've swallowed before. If it weren't for the powerful Physique amplification of the Blood Demon Centipede, I definitely wouldn't be able to withstand the degree of cold amplification from the Green Spotted Python."
A look of sighing appeared on Lin Sheng's face.
This Cold Condensing Grass was the most expensive poisonous plant he had purchased in the past two days.
Just one plant cost five hundred taels of silver, but its toxicity was indeed commensurate with its high price.
After completely digesting this Cold Condensing Grass, his Three Corpse Soul Severing Palm had made further progress.
Among the three strange poisons: Corrosive Poison, Stagnant Poison, and Cold Poison, Cold Poison was now the strongest.
Moreover, the poisonous blood circulating throughout his body had completely transformed his hands, legs, and a part of his torso. If there were sufficient poisonous materials supplied, within about a month, he would be able to integrate the poison with his entire body's Qi and blood.
The power that this Cultivation Technique, Soul Severing Palm, could display in his hands now far surpassed what the technique itself indicated.
Not only did the toxicity of the poisons exceed what the creator of the technique had imagined, but the amount of toxins condensed within his body was also far greater.
However, as this Cultivation Technique became more refined, the requirements for toxins were also increasing. Primarily, he felt a bit strained by the targeted toxicity amplification of his three types of poisons.
Fortunately, the powerful Physique of the Blood Demon Centipede could compensate for this, and there wouldn't be much impact in the short term. However, it was also time to start paying attention to some poisonous exotic beasts.
After all, among the three exotic beasts, the Black Tiger Ape, Green Spotted Python, and Human-faced Spider, only the Human-faced Spider's Stagnant Poison amplification was level 2. The other two were still level 1 and needed to be improved as well.
Thinking of this, Lin Sheng suddenly felt that there were still many things he needed to do.
"Forget it, let's finish the mission first, get the money, and then make other plans..."
He exhaled, adjusted the Qi and blood within his body, and soon the indigo color around his body completely dissipated, returning to his normal skin tone.
He simply washed his body, put on a loose, sturdy outfit, and then pushed the door open and went out.
"Big Yellow, watch the house."
After glancing at the large yellow dog basking lazily in the sun in the courtyard, Lin Sheng finally left.
Half of the one-month deadline for the mission had passed, and it was time to go meet the so-called client.
...
Wanhua City North District, Shuixiang Street.
Wanhua City's four major districts—East, West, South, and North—each had their focus. The North District was mostly concentrated with various businesses.
Shuixiang Street was just an inconspicuous small street in the North District. Because of its location at the innermost part of the North District, not many people came here on weekdays.
This also resulted in not many shops on the entire street.
In the middle of the street was a duplex building. The plaque hanging at the entrance on the first floor had been covered, and a thick layer of dust had accumulated on it. It was clear that the original shop had been closed for a long time.
In the small courtyard behind the second-floor building, two figures, one male and one female, one big and one small, were present.
Cao Ying stood in the courtyard wearing a green gauze dress. Her beautiful eyes rested on her younger brother, Cao Luan, in the courtyard. Her willow-leaf eyebrows furrowed, and a trace of sorrow appeared on her beautiful and charming face.
This was a petite and slender delicate beauty. Although she looked delicate and beautiful, she was a rather resilient woman on the inside.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have brought her young brother and drifted tens of thousands of miles from a distant land to reach here, accumulating a considerable amount of savings.
However, facing the series of drastic changes, she, who had always been strong and able to turn misfortune into good fortune, now felt a bit helpless.
At this moment, the young boy in the courtyard was panting heavily, his body drenched in sweat. However, he still didn't stop, swinging the steel saber in his hand with all his might, chopping out strike after strike.
"Xiao Luan, stop practicing. If you keep going, you'll hurt yourself."
Cao Ying looked at her younger brother's face, which was flushed and red from intense exercise, and quickly spoke.
But the young boy seemed not to have heard, continuing to swing the saber repeatedly.
No matter how Cao Ying tried to persuade him, he ignored her. However, it didn't last long. After just ten-odd breaths, the steel saber in the young boy's hand flew out, and he knelt weakly on the ground.
Cao Ying quickly ran over with a pot of water. The young boy took the water pot and drank large gulps, but soon began coughing violently again.
"Xiao Luan, don't push yourself so hard. Although I don't understand martial arts, I know the principle of 'too much is as bad as not enough'. If you keep going like this, you'll only damage your Foundation..."
Cao Ying patted her younger brother's back and said softly.
"Sister, I must Cultivate. If I don't Cultivate, how can I avenge Father? If I don't Cultivate, we will still be bullied in the future. I don't want anyone to bully us anymore!!"
The young boy's somewhat childish face was full of determination as he replied in a deep voice.
"Xiao Luan, you are still young. I will find someone to avenge Father's death. Don't put too much pressure on yourself..."
"You mean the Dark Star Organization!?"
Cao Luan wiped the sweat from his face, pouted, and said coldly.
"Sister, in my opinion, this Dark Star Organization is completely unreliable. They've failed to deal with that Red Haired Ghost twice already, and even lost their own lives in the process. Now that Red Haired Ghost must be on guard, killing him will undoubtedly be even more difficult. I think we should find a way from other angles."
Hearing her younger brother's words, Cao Ying was somewhat silent.
She naturally knew this. The reason she knew about the Dark Star Organization was from a conversation with a business partner while doing business before. The other party had revealed it, saying it was a very powerful assassin organization with many experts. As long as you could afford the price, you could hire experts from within to take action.
Therefore, after encountering the drastic change, she found a way to contact the Dark Star Organization, spent a high price to post a mission, hoping to use the hands of the Dark Star Organization to help her get revenge.
What she didn't expect was that the mission had been posted for a long time but still hadn't been completed, and had even failed twice in a row.
She understood that it wasn't because the Dark Star Organization was weak, but because the reward she offered wasn't much, and it simply couldn't attract the powerful experts within the Dark Star Organization to take action.
Although she understood this, she had no other options. Although their business had been doing reasonably well before, they had suffered a drastic change and had already spent a significant amount of money. They had very little wealth left and now couldn't afford much. Being able to post this mission with the Dark Star Organization had almost exhausted her last savings.
She wanted to increase the reward, but was powerless to do so.
"Xiao Luan, don't worry. Since the mission has been posted, someone will eventually accept it. I think this time, if someone accepts it, they should be an expert."
Cao Ying was silent for a moment, then said softly.
Hearing his sister's words, Cao Luan snorted.
"I hope the one who accepts the mission this time will be an expert. Don't be like the previous two, who were arrogant and mysterious but ended up not even harming a hair on that Red Haired Ghost."
"Don't worry, Xiao Luan. Someone from Dark Star sent a message before, saying that our mission has been accepted."
A smile appeared on Cao Ying's face.
"Sister, half a month has passed, and we haven't even seen a ghost of that person. I wonder if they've regretted it..."
Cao Luan stood up from the ground and picked up the steel saber that had flown out.
"Relying on others is never as good as relying on yourself. Sister, I will definitely become an expert in the future. By then, no one will dare to bully us..."
Dong dong dong!!
As the two were talking, a knock suddenly came from outside the door.
"Who is it?"
Hearing the knocking sound, the siblings stopped their movements and looked towards the door. Cao Ying asked with a hint of vigilance.
"Red Hair."
After a moment of silence, only two words came from outside the door.
Their hearts trembled. They exchanged a look. Cao Ying stepped forward and, through the gap in the large door, saw only a tall figure wearing a bamboo hat.
After a slight hesitation, she lowered the bolt and opened half of the door.
"You are... Your Excellency Ghost Face..."
Cao Ying looked at the figure and spoke softly.
The message the Dark Star Organization had previously sent her was that an assassin code-named Ghost Face had accepted her commission.
"That's right."
The figure with the bamboo hat directly pushed the door open and walked into the courtyard with imposing strides.
"Let's talk. You insisted on meeting face-to-face, what do you want to say?"
The figure with the bamboo hat was none other than Lin Sheng, who had hurried over.
When accepting the mission, the middle-aged woman had said that the client wanted to meet face-to-face. Although he didn't know why they needed to go to such trouble, he still chose to come and see.
"It seems you are Ghost Face."
Since Lin Sheng entered, Cao Ying's gaze had been on him. The person in front of her wore a bamboo hat, making their face unclear, but their body was tall and straight, giving them a certain imposing presence.
It just seemed that compared to the previous two people, he appeared slightly more ordinary.
Despite this, Cao Ying still led Lin Sheng to the stone table in the courtyard, invited him to sit down, then went into the room to make a pot of tea and brought it out.
And Cao Luan in the courtyard also kept his gaze on Lin Sheng. Soon, as if he remembered something, he quickly ran into the room and came out shortly after, holding a round jade ball the size of a child's fist.
He held the jade ball tightly in his hand, walked closer to Lin Sheng, and then kept his gaze on the jade ball.
"Your Excellency Ghost Face, this humble girl's name is Cao Ying. The reason I wanted to meet with you is to discuss some information about the Red Hair Bandits and tell you in detail."
Cao Ying also sat down, parted her cherry lips slightly, and spoke slowly.
"Oh? Tell me about it."
Lin Sheng's gaze fell on the other party, and he spoke indifferently. During this time, he had also collected some information about the Red Hair Bandits.
However, there wasn't much information about the other party. After all, in Linjiang Prefecture, where experts were as numerous as clouds, a group of bandits whose strongest member was merely a Blood Transportation Warrior was truly insignificant. Moreover, although the Pingshan County where they were located was not as remote as Tongzhi County and Lin'an, it was still quite a distance from Linjiang Prefecture City.
"The number of this group of Red Hair Bandits is around eighty. Their strongest leader, Red Haired Ghost Luo Hu, is a Blood Transportation Late Stage Martial Artist. He is skilled in saber techniques and hidden weapons, and is proficient in both close combat and ranged attacks. He has rich combat experience, and his mind is cunning. To kill this person, you must not give him any chance to catch his breath...
Besides this Red Haired Ghost, there are also five leaders among the bandits. Although they are Forging Tendons Late Stage Martial Artists, it is said that they are proficient in combined attack techniques, and when several of them join forces, they can face a Blood Transportation Warrior without being at a disadvantage..."
Cao Ying relayed all the information she knew to Lin Sheng in one go.
Lin Sheng couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement.
He hadn't expected that the other party knew such detailed information about the Red Hair Bandits. It was much, much more detailed than the information he had previously asked Wang Dehai and Lao Zhou to collect.
This immediately made him feel that he hadn't come in vain.
This information was indeed valuable and would be of considerable help to him in this mission.
How could he know that the reason Cao Ying knew so much information was because she had spent a large amount of money and time to gather it? Some of the key information was even obtained at the cost of human lives.
"Alright, thank you for your information. In that case, if there's nothing else, I will take my leave."
Lin Sheng picked up the teacup on the table, took a gentle sip, and spoke slowly.
Cao Ying, on the other hand, picked up the teapot, refilled Lin Sheng's teacup, and then continued speaking.
"Your Excellency, please wait. That Luo Hu is cunning. After two failed assassination missions, he is likely prepared. Even if he is still within Pingshan County, he may have already hidden himself. Finding him might not be easy."
"In that case, does Miss Cao have any methods?"
Lin Sheng looked at the other party and asked softly.
A smile appeared on Cao Ying's face.
"Your Excellency Ghost Face, please wait a moment. I have something that might help Your Excellency find Luo Hu's whereabouts."
After speaking, Cao Ying had already turned and walked towards the room.
"You're not a Blood Transportation Warrior!!?"
At this moment, a childish voice mixed with anger had already sounded from the side.
Hearing this, Lin Sheng spoke indifferently without turning his head.
"That's right, I am not a Blood Transportation Warrior."
"Then why did you dare to accept this mission? Are you perhaps playing with us?"
Cao Luan clenched the dull reddish jade pendant in his hand and glared at Lin Sheng with a face full of anger.
"You haven't even stepped into the Blood Transportation Realm, how dare you come to see us!! Bastard! Are you wearing a bamboo hat because you dare not show your face?"
At this moment, Cao Luan's heart was burning with rage. The anger made his face completely red, and he even wanted to swing his fist and fiercely smash this man who didn't know death from life.
"Hmm!?"
Lin Sheng turned around, his gaze falling on Cao Luan.
Cao Luan immediately felt an unspeakable sense of crisis. But before he could do anything, a large hand had already gripped his neck.
He only felt his body become light, and he was lifted up like a little chick.
"You..."
Cao Luan's eyes were wide open, and his hands and feet struggled wildly, but it was completely ineffective.
He only felt the sense of restraint on his neck becoming stronger and stronger.