Chapter 34 Fight to the Death: Does Lord Xiao perhaps have homosexual tendencies?

The light in the Joyful Hall was dim, and the Silver-Faced Venerable spoke in a sinister tone. The finger he drew behind Feng Tan resembled a venomous snake with its forked tongue flicking out, which made goosebumps rise on Feng Tan's arms.

The chilling aura startled Feng Tan. She flipped over and kicked him in the chest, but he easily deflected the kick, grabbing her ankle in return. Feng Tan then used her other free leg to slash across his jaw. He quickly retreated two steps, released her ankle, and laughed merrily, saying, "I didn't know you had such good lightness skills."

Feng Tan had already reached the center of the main hall when she discovered that the Taotie's corpse was no longer where she had been lying. She frowned, wondering if what had just happened was her illusion or an illusion used by this person.

The stinging pain in her arm kept Feng Tan increasingly clear-headed. She raised her eyes calmly and said to the Silver-Masked Venerable, "You've been waiting for me here all along?"

The Silver-Masked Venerable seemed to be deliberately using a voice changer, saying, "No, it's just that I sensed your inner energy just now, so I turned back to take a look."

To be able to sense another person's inner energy, one must be at least a seventh-rank martial artist. Feng Tan didn't believe his other nonsense and asked, "What was your purpose in stealing fifty million taels of silver?"

“Rebellion!” The Silver-Masked Venerable lunged forward, his dangerous breath brushing against Feng Tan’s ear. He whispered in her ear, “What am I going to do? You’ve discovered my treasure trove. You’re going to make me commit more murders.”

Feng Tan gave a cold laugh, and his blood-stained dagger swiftly pierced the man's throat. The Silver-Masked Venerable chuckled and retreated without a second thought. Feng Tan didn't linger in the fight either, and flew away.

The Silver-Faced Venerable took two steps through the air to catch up with her, and with his iron-like hand, he grabbed Feng Tan's arm and pulled her hard, throwing her to the ground.

Feng Tan's brows furrowed from the force, and she groaned in pain. As the Silver-Masked Venerable attacked again, she used the strength of the temple to leap back, gripping her short sword tightly and keeping a close eye on the Silver-Masked Venerable's movements.

The silver-masked venerable man's eyes turned cold, and the light smile on his face was replaced by a sinister look. "Is this all you've got? You dare to come to the King of Hell's Palace alone with this little bit of skill?"

His words were disdainful; having had his fill of playing cat and mouse, he flashed in front of Feng Tan and launched a fierce attack. The Silver-Masked Venerable's movements were as fast as lightning; this was his true strength.

Feng Tan leaned back and flipped, narrowly avoiding the killing blow. She fled in a disheveled state from the Silver-Masked Venerable's attack, and gradually realized that although this man seemed to be using killing moves everywhere, he was intentionally leaving her some space to escape. He did not want to kill her, which further confirmed Feng Tan's guess that what he really wanted was her husband's weapon.

Feng Tan now realizes that the two scenes just now were one real and one fake: the weapon that "Empress Xiaoxian" wanted from her was real, while the Taotie was an illusion used by a strange person to bewitch her mind.

This man first used the gray-red smoke to confuse her and make her lose her mind. Then, when her defenses were weak, he used her mother, whom she cared about most, to trick her into revealing the whereabouts of the weapon. When the first plan failed, he withdrew and used the Taotie to lure her into taking out the weapon to fight back. When the second plan failed, he personally took action and forced her to take out the sniper rifle.

In other words, this person has seen the gentleman's sniper rifle, he is indeed an old friend, and he has always harbored rebellious intentions... He is an old friend, and also a powerful figure in the current government, so who could he be?

Feng Tan's eyes deepened with suspicion. This man had orchestrated such a grand scheme, using unorthodox methods to judge "evil spirits" for decades, then imprisoning them on Evil Spirit Island for officials' amusement, all to consolidate his power. This was no small feat; he had spent at least a decade laying the groundwork. Moreover, he had secretly stolen a large amount of silver from Da Huang's heavily guarded treasury. He stole the silver to incite rebellion.

Soldiers, weapons, provisions, warhorses... money is absolutely essential to launching a war. He used those girls to amass wealth, and then used his influence in the court to further enrich himself. He played such a grand game over the corpses of those girls, paving the way for his ascension to the throne.

So, who is he?

Feng Tan was exhausted and was struck hard on the left shoulder by the Silver-Masked Venerable. She heard the sound of her shoulder blade breaking and coughed up a mouthful of blood. Her tattered clothes were covered in blood, and she was at her last gasp.

The Silver-Masked Venerable grabbed Feng Tan by the neck and said in a harsh voice, "What, is that all you've got?"

Drawing her weapon would only hasten her death, Feng Tan ignored his provocation. Seeing her stubborn and unyielding demeanor, the Silver-Masked Venerable smiled indifferently, "Yongle, you're just like Feng Sangrou, stubborn to the extreme... I've almost beaten you to death, and you still won't compromise... You clearly know what I want, are you sure you want to keep arguing with me like this?"

Feng Tan gripped his neck tightly with both hands, her mind racing. Who was it? Who was he about to beat to death? Was he referring to her or her mother?

"Who...who are you?"

Seeing her miserable state, the Silver-Masked Venerable tore off the human skin mask that Feng Tan was wearing, revealing the girl's true face, and coaxed, "Yongle, hand over your master's weapon to me, and I promise to let you leave, hmm?"

Feng Tan hesitated, then asked, "Do you guarantee you'll let me leave?"

“Yes, I promise,” the Silver-Masked Venerable said gently as he looked at Feng Tan’s face, his eyes filled with admiration and fascination. “You really look like her. How could I bear to kill you, as long as you hand over your weapon.”

Feng Tan said, "Okay, I'll get it for you."

The Silver-Faced Venerable slowly removed the hand that was holding Feng Tan's neck, looked down at Feng Tan as he took two steps back, and then leaped away!

Ah, I knew she was cunning.

The Silver-Masked Venerable sighed inwardly, and once again grabbed Feng Tan's arm as she flew away, but this time, he broke her leg.

Extreme pain spread through her limbs and bones. Feng Tan tilted her head back and forcefully stifled the cry of pain. In her blurred vision, the Silver-Masked Venerable gently wiped away the thin layer of sweat that had appeared on her skin from the pain. His movements and tone were very gentle. "If you don't speak up, I'm going to break your remaining leg."

"If I hand you a weapon, will you really let me go?" Feng Tan asked.

The Silver-Masked Venerable brushed aside her damp hair, revealing her face completely before him, and said softly, "Of course, how could I bear to hurt you?"

What utter nonsense! On the way here, he used every deadly move he could think of. Finding Evil Spirit Island was a testament to his skill. Now that they've found his treasure vault, he wants to abandon it, which is why he's set his sights on this deadly weapon.

Feng Tan summoned a subsystem, took out a grenade, pulled the pin, and handed it to the Silver-Masked Venerable, saying, "Here you go."

"What is this? This is not what I want." The Silver-Masked Venerable frowned as he looked at the small, spherical object in his palm, then looked up and saw a fierce killing intent in the girl's eyes.

Feng Tan plunged the short knife in his hand into his chest, and then used the force to leap backward with his other intact leg. Then, with a loud bang, smoke filled the entire palace, and the smell of gunpowder was everywhere.

After the smoke cleared, Feng Tan raised her blood-stained eyelashes and looked at the tall, upright figure standing behind the smoke.

Her eyes were filled with obvious sarcasm as she stared at Xiao Yinshi and said, "Lord Xiao, you must be disappointed that you failed to capture him."

There was no blood splattered on the ground after the explosion, so Feng Tan concluded that the Silver-Masked Venerable had escaped using the smoke. As expected of a martial artist of the seventh rank or above, he was able to disappear without a trace in an instant.

Feng Tan was covered in sticky blood, her shoulder blades were shattered, her leg bones were broken, and her bare back was marked with the claw marks of a "Taotie". Her arms had several deep knife marks from the cuts she made to keep her conscious. The pain brought her to her senses, and only when she saw Xiao Yin did she realize that this was a game within a game.

The Silver-Masked Venerable would not easily let them find where he hid his silver. He devised a plan to lure Liang Baoquan into a trap, causing them to perish at sea under the attack of Japanese pirates. Xiao Yinshi turned the tables on them, using himself as bait to make the Silver-Masked Venerable believe that they were outnumbered and powerless to turn the tide. Little did they know that they had fallen into Xiao Yinshi's trap.

On the boat, Xiao Yin said to Feng Tan, "I'll lure you into a trap." Feng Tan originally thought he meant he was going to fall into the trap himself, but it turned out he meant to lure the enemy into a trap.

What nonsense about sacrificing himself to save all the soldiers, what utter rubbish about being a gentleman! This man is clearly black to the core!

During the time the two were separated, Xiao Yinshi must have already directed Zhu Qi to cut off most of the troops on the island, and he should have even dealt with the explosives buried on the island.

"With a flick of the finger, clouds and rain are turned; skin, flesh, tendons, and bones are all broken..." Feng Tan slowly recited the doggerel circulating in the streets, then looked up at the man standing in the hall with a complicated expression, and said, "This doggerel is still a bit inferior; it fails to capture Lord Xiao's ruthlessness... Your only oversight is that I didn't capture the Silver-Masked Venerable, did I?"

Xiao Yinshi knew that Feng Tan possessed a deadly weapon with bullets that shot at lightning speed. Feng Tan could easily snipe the target. He calculated that Feng Tan could escape here. However, he overlooked the fact that the Silver-Masked Venerable was an old friend of Feng Tan's and had used extremely low-level methods to bewitch Feng Tan's mind. He coveted this weapon and would stop at nothing to seize it. Once Feng Tan took it out, Feng Tan's skills would be insufficient to deal with it.

Xiao Yinshi knew that Feng Tan had already guessed most of it. Behind him, Zhu Qi led his soldiers closer. "Sir, the warships are in position. Shall we move the silver now?!"

Xiao Yinshi raised his hand and waved it lightly. Zhu Qi glanced at the mess in the hall, nodded in understanding, and led everyone out, thoughtfully closing the hall door behind them.

Xiao Yinshi walked through layers of light red gauze curtains, past pools of blood on the ground, and stopped half a step away from Feng Tan. He lowered his eyes and spoke in a low, cold voice, "Feng Tan, I never use any means necessary to achieve my goals. As long as I can achieve my objectives, none of these things matter."

Feng Tan tore off a strip of cloth and tied it around her bleeding arm. "Feng Tan understands the lesson."

Xiao Yinshi's eyes darkened, and his Adam's apple bobbed slightly. "Are you angry?"

That's a strange statement. Feng Tan looked at Xiao Yinshi with suspicion. How did he come to this conclusion?

“You’re joking, sir,” Feng Tan raised an eyebrow slightly, her voice gentle and emotionless. “I just think that when working under you, one must be extremely careful.”

However, we should keep our distance from him in the future and never provoke him again after returning to the capital. This man's scheming and ruthlessness have been forged in the power struggles of officialdom, making him as deep as the ocean and as ruthless as a demon. He is truly a born bad guy.

Xiao Yinshi's gaze slowly swept over Feng Tan's blood-stained cheek and lame leg. He half-squatted down and gently touched her kneecap, asking in a deep voice, "Your leg is lame?"

Feng Tan hummed in agreement, then couldn't help but exclaim, "Ah!"

Without saying a word, Xiao Yinshi actually straightened her fractured leg bone with one hand! Feng Tan was so pained by this that she broke out in a cold sweat and leaned forward, shoving Xiao Yinshi violently.

As she suddenly leaned forward, Xiao Yinshi saw the large patch of torn skin on her back. Several claw marks from a ferocious beast were visible on her snow-white skin, making her look pitiful, yet it aroused the man's sadistic desires.

Feng Tan pushed away Xiao Yinshi's large hand, now genuinely annoyed. "Lord Xiao, even if you're going to set my bones, could you at least give me a heads-up first!"

Xiao Yinshi's gaze shifted upwards, landing on Feng Tan's watery eyes. A dark fire surged within his dark eyes, gripping Feng Tan tightly.

The man's handsome face was dimly lit, outlining a strong and sculpted profile. Seeing that he remained silent, Feng Tan pulled the gauze curtain behind her to cover her exposed back and said in a cool and indifferent tone, "Lord Xiao, could you please do me a favor and ask my Uncle Meng to bring in some new clothes?"

As Xiao Yinshi was about to extricate himself from that lustful state, his Adam's apple bobbed. "Feng Tan, if I hadn't touched you with my own hands... I would have almost thought you were a woman."

Feng Tan paused, then a smile slowly bloomed on his blood-stained face, and his usually cold eyes suddenly became affectionate, "Lord Xiao, could it be that you have homosexual tendencies?"

Xiao Yinshi felt a tingling sensation as he was enveloped by those amorous eyes. His fingers touched Feng Tan's prominent Adam's apple, his gaze darkening, and he asked, "Is homosexuality good?"