Who Let Him Cultivate?! (WX)-Chapter 654: Killer

“Umm, you, if you let her go now and turn yourself in to the authorities, it might still count as voluntary surrender.” Lu Yang said earnestly as he walked back into the room to admonish the murderer.

This is obviously a case of a woman staying next door, an assassin climbing through the window to assassinate her, and me stumbling upon it.

“You shall die too!” The man in black wielded a dagger. Seeing Lu Yang reenter the room, his eyes glinted coldly, but he was immediately pinned to the ground by Lu Yang.

“I guessed you wouldn’t surrender.” Lu Yang suppressed the man with one hand, his tone calm.

The man in black wore an expression of disbelief. He hadn’t even seen Lu Yang’s movements before being subdued. “F-foundation Establishment Stage?!”

To have instantly subdued an almighty Level Nine Qi Training assassin like me, he must be a Foundation Establishment great cultivator!

Now that things have come to this, suicide is the only option!

Lu Yang grabbed the man’s head and pried out two of his front teeth, which concealed lethal poison. Then, he picked up a rag from the floor and stuffed it in the man’s mouth to prevent him from committing suicide by biting his tongue. Finally, he tapped several acupoints on the man’s body, sealing his meridians and rendering him powerless to move.

The assassin was plunged into despair. Who is this uninvited guest? Is he a bodyguard hired by the target? Why is he so familiar with suicide methods?

But this person hasn’t noticed I’d smeared slow-acting poison on the dagger. No one can detect it until it takes effect, and once it does, even an immortal would struggle to save the target. Since I’ve already scratched the target, she doesn’t have long to live. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Besides, even if he does detect it, it’s useless. My poison is exceptionally rare; even I don’t have an antidote.

Lu Yang took out a pill from his identity jade tablet and handed it to the woman, who was still shaken from the incident. “You’ve been poisoned. His dagger was coated with a poison called ‘Cyan Ghost Soul-Entwining Poison,’ which acts up after three days. A cyan ghost will claim your soul, and you will lose your life. It’s not an extremely rare poison; my detoxifying pill can cure it.”

This is just leftover poison from what the Pill Cauldron Peak plays with.

“Ah? Ah, thank you.” The woman woodenly consumed the antidote. It felt cool and soothing, calming her heart considerably.

After her heart had settled down, she looked at Lu Yang gratefully. “Thank you, savior. My name is...”

“Stop! Don’t tell me what your name is, where you’re from, what identity you have, or why an assassin is after you. I’m just the guest next door. I know nothing. I see you have cultivation; I have crippled the assassin’s cultivation, so you can take him to the authorities yourself.” Lu Yang interrupted the woman’s introduction with familiarity.

I have roamed the jianghu for years by relying on my ability to stir up trouble. I can tell at a glance that this is trouble, likely entangled with many more matters behind it.

“Haha, Old Lu, I heard noise from your side and knew you had something going on here too!” Meng Jingzhou’s hearty laughter came from behind Lu Yang.

Meng Jingzhou entered the room, his smile freezing.

The situation in the room was clear. One could tell what happened at a glance.

Why does this grandson get to play the hero saving the damsel in distress again?

“Miss, what matter did you encounter to have someone trying to kill you?”

Just as Lu Yang was about to stop her, the woman introduced herself. “My name is Fuling.[1] I’m from the neighboring Xuan City. My family runs a cloth business, and I came here to expand our family enterprise.

“Since childhood, I’ve shown extraordinary business acumen. My father repeatedly considered handing the entire family business over to me, but my stepmother always obstructed it. She believes her son should inherit the family business, so she constantly makes things difficult for me. Fortunately, I’ve overcome those difficulties one by one.

“This assassin was probably sent by my stepmother. It’s all thanks to your help that I escaped this disaster, Young Master.”

Lu Yang shook his head gently. “This assassin probably wasn’t sent by your stepmother.”

Fuling was surprised, her eyes flickering with confusion. “Why do you say that, Young Master?”

“Since you came here to expand the family enterprise, your stepmother would at least wait until the trade routes here are established before getting rid of you. Eliminating you this early is tantamount to abandoning the business here.”

Fuling pondered it seriously. Indeed, that’s possible. “Could it be because I went to the black market?”

“Why do you say that?”

“Young Master, you may not know, but there is a black market not far from here. I went there tonight and saw a twenty-year-old lingzhi mushroom that looked decent, so I bought it. Could it be that I got lucky, and it’s not a lingzhi but something else?”

“Could you show it to me?”

Since Fuling owed Lu Yang her life, she trusted he wouldn’t harm her and took out the lingzhi she purchased from the black market.

The lingzhi was the size of a palm, with a dark red hue and concentric circles on its cap.

“Miss, you guessed half right. This thing is a lingzhi, but not an ordinary one—it’s a three-hundred-year-old Lightning Tribulation Lingzhi that was once struck by lightning. Due to the great tribulation it endured, its appearance differs greatly from a normal three-hundred-year-old lingzhi.

“It seems you have pretty good luck, miss.”

As a friend of the Little Herb Kings, Lu Yang had learned much botanical knowledge from them.

Lu Yang continued, “However, this still isn’t the reason for the assassination attempt on you.”

“Why is that?” Fuling’s eyes glimmered with bafflement.

“This assassin hid poison in his teeth, which clearly points to him being a professional, not someone acting on a whim for wealth. He climbed through the window to take your life.”

Fuling contemplated and shared, “I have a childhood sweetheart who cares for me. He is very outstanding. A female disciple from a sect likes him, but he rejected her, saying that while she is a great person, if he hadn’t met me first, he might have liked her.

“It’s possible that this female sect disciple sent the assassin.”

Lu Yang mulled over it and reckoned it was possible. For the time being, he couldn’t find any other suspicious points. “Which sect is this female disciple from?”

The assassin writhed on the floor, unable to speak due to the rag Lu Yang stuffed in his mouth. After listening to Fuling and Lu Yang’s analysis for a long time, he finally spat out the rag. “Umm, can you let me say something?”

The three looked down at the assassin simultaneously.

The assassin felt guilty under their gazes but still said, “Miss Fuling, right? Sorry, it seems I got the wrong person. My target is in the room opposite. She’s called Kongque[2].”

Fuling, “...”

Lu Yang, “...”

Hearing the assassin’s words, Meng Jingzhou seemed to have solved the mystery, looking like realization had dawned upon him. “So that’s how it is.”

Lu Yang was stunned. “What did you understand?”

“I ran into a plundering cultivator in my room. He hid well, but I still found him. After subduing him, he confessed he intended to steal a lingzhi.”

Just then, Shi Chan also walked over. “Hmm, this poor monk was planning to head to your rooms to find you, senior brothers. Why are you here?”

“What is it?”

“Here’s the thing. I met a woman in the hallway. She stays here, and her name is Kongque. She said an assassin is after her. Noticing I have cultivation, she asked me to protect her. I wanted to ask you for your opinions, senior brothers.”

1. Fuling is the name of a common TCM ingredient and is a type of fungus. It is used for various symptoms and diseases. Its common properties are reducing water retention, calming the mind, improving digestion, and more. You may also find it in food and drinks for yangsheng purposes. ☜

2. “Kongque” means peacock in Chinese. ☜