Sure enough, after clashing palms with Poison Scorpion Woman, he saw the Jade Silkworm Ice Silk Gloves turn a faint purple for a fleeting moment before returning to their original translucent state.
At the same time, he felt the true qi within his body suddenly fluctuate, as if it had seized something, condensing in his palm without dispersing.
He thought to himself that it was indeed poisonous. It wasn’t just that black mass on Poison Scorpion Woman’s hand that was toxic; her internal energy was also laced with poison, which she had tried to surge into his body during the palm strike.
However, he had been prepared. That poisonous internal energy had barely reached his palm before it was seized by his own energy and blocked right there.
Once he dealt with Poison Scorpion Woman, he would only need to circulate his energy for a full cycle to neutralize this toxic internal force.
Poison Scorpion Woman spat out another mouthful of black blood. Lian Li quickly twisted his body to dodge, raising his arm to shield his face with his sleeve. The mouthful of black blood sprayed entirely onto his clothing, not touching his skin.
Simultaneously, his other hand moved slightly, and a sharp dagger emerged from his sleeve. With a few flicks of his fingers, the dagger was propelled by internal energy and shot toward Poison Scorpion Woman’s abdomen.
At this moment, Poison Scorpion Woman had just spat out the last of her poisonous blood. She was in that vulnerable gap where her old strength was spent and new strength had yet to rise. Despite her efforts to dodge, she failed.
The dagger plunged into her abdomen.
Clutching her stomach, she retreated, swaying unsteadily as black blood continuously seeped from her mouth.
Yet, she stubbornly refused to collapse and die. Seeing her persistence, Lian Li sighed inwardly, then lashed out with his whip, coiling it around Poison Scorpion Woman’s neck.
With a surge of internal energy, the silver wires on the whip instantly transformed into a series of extremely sharp, tiny blades.
The finishing blow was complete.
Seeing that Poison Scorpion Woman’s neck was not only a mangled mess of collapsed flesh but also twisted at a distorted angle, Lian Li finally breathed a sigh of relief.
This person had finally been successfully found and killed.
However, before he could dwell on any further thoughts, an extremely foul, fishy stench suddenly rushed into his nostrils.
Caught off guard by the fumes, Lian Li nearly gagged.
He looked down and saw that this nauseating, bloody stench was emanating from the blood Poison Scorpion Woman had sprayed onto him.
He retracted his whip and held it in one hand, while the other began to unfasten his belt.
It was so stinky and poisonous; he couldn’t keep these clothes.
After taking off his outer robe, Lian Li cut away all the clean sections. He then lightly flicked his whip to hook Poison Scorpion Woman’s weapon over, placing it on the clean fabric he had just cut to wrap it up, intending to bring it to the Martial Arts Alliance branch to complete the mission.
Just as he finished this, he suddenly heard an extremely faint movement behind him. He immediately turned around, entering a state of full alert, and demanded, “Who is it?”
The noise grew louder, and soon a dark figure emerged from the woods, landing not far away.
The figure’s speed wasn’t fast—not the kind of speed used for an attack or an ambush. Nevertheless, Lian Li did not relax, still watching the other party warily.
It wasn’t until the person stepped forward a few paces, emerging from the shadows of the trees, that he saw clearly: the person scaring him was Yun Huizhou.
He looked at Yun Huizhou, his lips twitching, and then he let out a heavy sigh.
Yun Huizhou walked up to him with a grin and said, “Nicely done.”
Lian Li also began to smile, boasting, “Of course. Who do you think I am?”
Yun Huizhou leaned in, wanting to give him a hug, but Lian Li pushed him back with both hands while retreating. “Don’t hug me. Poison Scorpion Woman sprayed poisonous blood on my clothes; it stinks to high heaven. I just threw the clothes away, but I was wearing them for a while, and now I feel like I stink too. It feels like the smell was so strong that even in that short time, I’ve been marinated in it.”
Yun Huizhou felt helpless and tried to get closer again, but Lian Li retreated even faster.
“You’re not allowed to come over. If you come any closer, I’ll kick you,” Lian Li said fiercely to Yun Huizhou from five meters away.
Seeing him like this, Yun Huizhou knew that Lian Li truly felt he smelled and had no intention of letting him get close. Thus, he could only stop his approach and turn toward Poison Scorpion Woman’s corpse.
Lian Li didn’t know what he was planning to do and stood where he was, watching.
Yun Huizhou walked to the side of the corpse, drew his blade, and made a sweeping motion toward her neck.
The blade didn’t touch her, but the sharp blade qi directly severed Poison Scorpion Woman’s head.
!!!
Lian Li asked, “What are you doing?”
Yun Huizhou pulled a large piece of cloth from his chest, wrapped the head, and held it in his hand. He then said to Lian Li, “To prevent someone from showing up after we leave and taking her head to falsely claim our reward.”
Lian Li blinked and whispered, “But, didn’t they say just bringing the weapon was enough?”
Yun Huizhou continued to explain, “But weapons can be lost, can’t they? During a long pursuit, who knows when a weapon might be misplaced? It could be picked up by someone else. And… how can just having the weapon prove that you were definitely the one who killed them?”
“If someone brings the head and insists that you just found the weapon while they were the one who did the killing, the proof of the head is much more useful than the weapon.”
“That happened to me once back then, and someone else made off with my reward. After that, I always take both the weapon and the head.”
After hearing this, Lian Li nodded, realizing that Yun Huizhou was passing on his experience.
And he was doing it secretly, teaching him behind their Master’s back.
When they had taken Yun Huizhou out for training back then, the Grandmaster and Master surely knew about cases where rewards were stolen. If they had told Yun Huizhou about such possibilities, he certainly wouldn’t have let his reward be taken.
Yet it had happened anyway, which proved that the Master and Grandmaster hadn’t told him anything at all, letting him experience everything for himself.
So, this was essentially Yun Huizhou giving him a private lesson on the side.
Sure enough, after finishing, Yun Huizhou paused and added, “Don’t tell Master that I’m the one who taught you this now.”
Lian Li nodded like a chicken pecking at grain. “I know, I definitely won’t say anything. If Master asks, I’ll say we learned about it when we were out before.”
Because Lian Li refused to get too close to Yun Huizhou no matter what, Yun Huizhou had no choice. The two of them could only travel back to Shuize Town while maintaining a distance of three meters.
There was no Martial Arts Alliance branch in Shuize Town. Originally, Lian Li had planned to set out tomorrow for the nearest city to turn in the mission, but since Yun Huizhou had brought the head, Lian Li didn’t really want to stay at the inn for a night before leaving.
He knocked on the South Island Master’s door. When the Master opened it, he said, “Master, I plan to rush to the nearest city overnight to turn in Poison Scorpion Woman’s mission.”
The South Island Master looked down and saw the head-sized cloth bundle in Lian Li’s hand. He gave a slight nod and closed the door.
Yun Huizhou had already led out two horses. Seeing this, Lian Li raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re going too?”
