Chapter 176: Defeat

While looking at Xuan Jiu's body shoot towards the crater like a meteor, Ling Yun chuckled icily before walking to Xuan Qi with the blade in his hand. One word that best described the look on Xuan Qi's face was 'poignant'.

She had a certain sadness to her beauty and due to the strong punch by Ling Yun on her left breast, she as suffering an internal bleeding which caused her to spit out mouthfuls of blood. Her sexy lips were covered in fresh blood and the two cuts on her shoulder were still oozing blood which ran down her chest to her stomach. Her chest that got hit was slightly deflated, with four bruises shaped like fingerprints imprinted on her skin. Furthermore, it was starting to swell at an alarming rate, making it undesirable.

Ling Yun looked down at her with a grin before grabbing her head and dragging her to a pile of rocks. He then let go of her hair and proceeded to sit down on the rock.

"Do you want to live or die?" He asked with a small crooked smile. Honestly, comparing Xuan Qi and Yao Rou, both had nice bodies and charms. However, between these two beauties, Ling Yun would gently cover Yao Rou with a blanket but not to Xuan Qi...

"You...you are too harsh!" Xuan Qi angrily spat out as she lifted her right hand to wipe the blood off her mouth without a care for her dignity.

"I'm not that harsh, am I? At least you're still alive, so tell me, do you want to live or die?" Ling Yun replied calmly. After a long period of silence, he continued impatiently, "Alright, I will ask you some questions then. I will ask a question and you will give me an answer. If you answer slowly or wrongly, I will stab you, clear?"

"Why don't you just kill me now!" Xuan Qi replied coldly. She knew that killers, especially those in the organization would face imminent death if they were to fail in their missions, so she would rather Ling Yun grant her a quick death.

"Oh? Looks like you really want to die. Is it alright if I carve some lines onto your face first before killing you?" Ling Yun asked casually.

"You...!" Even after she had undergone training to be cold and ruthless, she had never thought that an 18-year-old student would be so evil!

Mercy? It is alright to be merciful but the question is to whom? If it was to women who want to harm him, then it was definitely not Ling Yun's style. "Why? You aren't even afraid of death but you're afraid of getting disfigured?" Ling Yun chuckled while brushing the tip of the blade along her face.

Xuan Qi quickly replied in fear, "Ask away, I will reply!" Ling Yun was right about women not being suited for this business. He had not done much but she was already so scared. There were many females who were not afraid to die but there were few who were not afraid to become ugly.

"What's your name?"

"Xuan Qi..."

"Your real name!"

"Xiao Meimei!"

"Who sent you?"

"Assassins Organization!"

"What is that?"

"It is an international group of killers with many members and extreme security."

"Very good. First, tell me more about this organization!"

Xiao Meimei raised her head to look at Ling Yun before replying, "The Assassins Organization is one of the three international assassin companies and has many headquarters in most of the developed countries. Each of these headquarters has three to nine famous Heaven-ranked killers as the leaders to complete missions. But for the boss of the company, no one knows who he is..."

Ling Yun interrupts her, "What kind of killers are those that are Heaven-ranked?" This was the most important question as he had to do a comparison of his skills to know where he stood.

"They are the masters that have reached the peak of Houtian Realm Level 9 and above..."

"What level are you at?"

"I'm at the peak of Houtian Realm Level 2..."

"What about the man that died?"

"He was at mid-stage of Houtian Realm Level 2..."

Ling Yun silently contemplated his options. He himself was at the peak of Physique Tempering Stage Level 3 which was enough to kill Xuan Qi but he was unable to determine his relative strength as they were too weak.

Truthfully, if he hadn't used all the abilities today, he would still have been able to battle the two of them. However, his style was just so valiant, resulting in their crushing defeat.

"Continue telling me about this organization. What other ranks are there?"

"The killers in this organization are categorized into the Heaven, Earth, Black and Yellow ranks. We from the Black ranks and the Yellow ranks are in charge of the killing of ordinary people. For more troublesome cases, the Earth ranks are deployed and lastly, the Heaven ranks are used for the toughest cases. However, the Heaven-ranked killers rarely appear and they usually deploy us..."

"Have you ever fought with a Heaven-ranked or Earth-ranked killer? How is it if you compare my skills with theirs?" Hearing this, Xiao Meimei started to laugh but before she was able to stop, Ling Yun stomped his feet onto her stomach. She cried out in pain as cold sweat poured down her head.

"Before acting pretentious, think about your situation first. Now, speak!" Ling Yun uttered. Xiao Meimei breathed heavily with blood running down between her breasts like a red snake.

"With your abilities, I would say that you're at the peak of the Black rank but as you're fast, you should be able to escape from ordinary Earth-ranked killers. As for the Heaven-ranked, they would definitely kill you." Xiao Meimei blurted out her opinion.

"What level are those at the peak of the Black rank at?"

"Houtian Realm Level 4!" Xiao Meimei answered while wondering why Ling Yun's master had not told him when he himself was at the Level 4. However, she dared not ask and just answered honestly.

Ling Yun now knew that his strength at the peak of Physique Tempering Stage Level 3 could be compared to those at Houtian Realm Level 4. "Then, what about the Earth-ranked killers?"

Hearing his question, Xiao Meimei panicked and glanced around her before answering, "Those at Houtian Level 5 to 9 are considered Earth-ranked but the difference within the rank is quite large."

Feeling satisfied with her cooperation, Ling Yun finally asked again, "How much money do you have now?"

Xiao Meimei was surprised by his question but she immediately replied, "17 million dollars!"

"How many people have you killed?"

"39."

"Do you know who is paying for my life?"

"No, we only take the money and kill the person without any questions."

"Are you a virgin?"

"...No..." Ling Yun had assumed correctly that she was not a virgin.

"Okay, you can answer me now, do you want to live or die?" Ling Yun had asked enough and wanted to end this so that he could go back to his training.

"You...you would let me go?"

"Stop dreaming. Letting you live doesn't mean letting you go so just answer the question!" She was a killer and she had killed many people. If Ling Yun was to kill her, she would be unable to stop him but now that he gave her a choice, she obviously wanted to live!

"I...I want to live..."

Ling Yun grinned, "That's right, you're still young. Isn't it sad that you haven't spent the money you've earned after killing so many people? If you want to live, it's easy. After this, you will follow me everywhere. Your money, your life, your everything will be mine, do you understand?"

Xiao Meimei was not stupid and she crisply answered, "Understood!" For Xiao Meimei who had failed the mission and spilled all the secrets of the Assassins Organization, she would face a terrible fate even if Ling Yun was to release her. If she was going to die no matter what, it was the best choice for her to follow Ling Yun. At least he would not kill her on the spot, allowing her to live slightly longer. The main reason for his mercy was to understand the secrets of the hidden world so that he would no longer be left in the dark.

"Are you able to stand?" Ling Yun asked. Gritting her teeth, Xiao Meimei struggled for a long while before collapsing on the ground and shaking her head. That one punch had been too much for her to even stand.

Ling Yun fished out nine gold needles from his leather pouch while smiling lightly. This action was not surprising to Xiao Meimei but rather a blessing as she knew that Ling Yun knew how to do acupuncture from the report she had read. Ling Yun quickly transferred some spiritual energy into the needles before placing them into her body. After all, he had agreed to take Xiao Meimei under his wing, so he should treat her well.

Finishing the procedure, Xiao Meimei sat up and pitifully pointed towards her naked chest, asking, "Can you..."

Laughing, Ling Yun said, "Relax, I have already treated you. It should be fine after a few days. I can assure you that they will be the same size." Then, Ling Yun stuck some needles into her major acupuncture points across her body.

"I am still unable to trust you for now so I took a small precaution. Your movements and abilities will not be affected but if you don't see me for 24 hours, you will die a painful death, got it?" Xiao Meimei nodded with a pale face. She understood better than anyone else that she was not much different from a slave. It was all her fault that she had wanted to kill him but was weaker than him, so she had no other way out but to be taken advantage of.

Disregarding her expression, he called out, "Let's go down the mountain. We will kill everyone that you brought here!"