"Alright, I've finished treating Ghost Elder's wounds. The rest... you can handle yourself." Xu Ke said. "Medicine and poison are two sides of the same coin. You should be able to handle it, right?"

Inside the clinic, Xu Ke was still oblivious to the storm brewing outside. After retracting the needles, he turned to look at Poison Elder. He was surprised to see her standing frozen in place, completely dazed. She was like a statue.

Xu Ke blinked. "What's wrong with her?"

"She's been like that ever since you started using the Tenro Thirteen Needles," Tang Yingchang said with a smile.

He could understand Poison Elder's reaction very well. The first time he saw Xu Ke perform the Tenro Thirteen Needles, his own reaction wasn't much better.

Poison Elder finally snapped out of it. She stared at Xu Ke and murmured, "Just who are you?"

The question seemed to be for Xu Ke, but her eyes betrayed her disbelief. She's clearly guessed something.

As a grandmaster of poisons, Poison Elder wanted to find the Medical Saint more than anyone else. Her toxic body had hit its final bottleneck, and only he could solve it.

"It's not important."

Xu Ke smiled faintly and produced an antidote. "This is for the Shitian Elixir. Give it to Ghost Elder, then get out of Tianhai immediately."

"The Assassin's Alliance and the Tianhai Martial Alliance will both get involved. You'd better leave quickly."

Even without knowing the current situation outside, Xu Ke didn't need to be a genius to know what would happen. Both the Tianhai Martial Alliance and the Assassin's Alliance would be coming to hunt down the Ghost and Poison Elders.

Poison Elder took a deep breath, accepted the antidote, and helped Ghost Elder up. Ghost Elder swallowed it immediately, without a moment's hesitation. They no longer had any doubt about whether the antidote was real.

While Ghost Elder absorbed the antidote, Poison Elder gave Xu Ke a long look, a bitter smile on her face. "We've really been brought low this time."

Her words carried a hint of the desolation of old age. Two people who had spent a lifetime assassinating others were now the ones being hunted.

"Consider it a small punishment for trying to assassinate me. You should have expected this day would come when you entered this line of work," Xu Ke said nonchalantly.

He had no sympathy for these two assassins, whom he had used as tools to kill Kang Chenghua. From the moment they harbored the intention to kill him, sparing their lives was already an act of great mercy.

"Aren't you afraid we'll gather our forces and come back for revenge after we leave Tianhai?" A flicker of hatred appeared in Poison Elder's eyes.

Xu Ke smiled. "By all means, try. Let's see if the Assassin's Alliance and the Tianhai Martial Alliance find you before you can find me."

They can't even save their own skins, and they think they can harm me?

Poison Elder's expression fell. She looked up at Xu Ke. "I had planned to find a way to deal with you again after Ghost Elder recovered."

"Unfortunately, you've now become my only hope..."

Hearing this, Xu Ke's smile vanished, and he paused for a moment. "What hope?"

"You can produce the Shitian Elixir and use the Tenro Thirteen Needles... you must be his disciple, right?" Poison Elder asked, not answering his question.

Tonight, she finally understood the question that had been nagging her and Ghost Elder for the past two days—what kind of great power could possibly cultivate someone like him?! Only that person could produce such an individual.

Xu Ke raised an eyebrow, pondered for a long moment, and then smiled. "It's not important."

He knew why she was asking, which was precisely why he wouldn't answer.

Poison Elder understood. Her face fell once more as she said, "Then... I hope I'll have the chance to get the answer from you one day."

"Take care."

Xu Ke raised his hand, signaling that they were free to leave.

After absorbing the antidote's effects, Ghost Elder sighed and turned to leave with Poison Elder.

After the two left, Tang Yingchang was utterly baffled. Seeing his confused expression, Xu Ke smiled. "Elder Tang, did you have trouble following our conversation?"

Tang Yingchang nodded, his expression expectant. He was dying to know what riddle they had been speaking. Their conversation seemed to have neither a beginning nor an end. Now that Xu Ke had brought it up, he was surely about to explain, right?

But to his surprise, Xu Ke just laughed it off. "You'll find out eventually."

Tang Yingchang: "..."

If you weren't going to explain, why even ask?

「Several days later.」

The Tianhai Martial Alliance launched a full-scale investigation into Kang Chenghua's murder, and the six major families were required to cooperate as usual. After all, the assassination of a Family Head from a first-rate family was a vicious incident of the highest severity. It was a completely different matter from the "legitimate and compliant" disappearance of Ye Fan and his men that Xu Ke had arranged. A large-scale investigation was only natural.

The Huang and Ye Families had wanted to investigate Xu Ke immediately. He was, after all, the prime suspect; one look in his direction was all it would take. Then, they could pin Kang Chenghua's murder on him.

However, once the Assassin's Alliance released a bounty notice stating that the Ghost and Poison Elders had turned on and killed their own client over a pricing dispute, the Ye and Huang Families lost any justification to go after Xu Ke.

Xu Ke had gotten away scot-free, which naturally made their teeth itch with hatred. Unfortunately, they had to let the matter drop.

...

A few days later, once the matter had mostly died down, Chen Xiong came to see Xu Ke.

"Grandpa Chen, you've had your hands full these past few days," Xu Ke said with a grin the moment he walked in.

Chen Xiong just shook his head and chuckled. "And whose fault is that?"

"Now, you can't say that," Xu Ke laughed heartily.

As the Martial Alliance Leader, Chen Xiong was, of course, officially "unaware" of the murderer's identity. But privately, he knew exactly what had happened.

Yuan Shang, standing to the side, piped up excitedly, "Who cares if he says it? It's not like they can do anything to you anyway."

In fact, it wasn't just Chen Xiong. Nearly every family in the Tianhai Martial Alliance had a good idea who the real mastermind was. But without any evidence, what could they possibly do to Xu Ke? And that was precisely why the families who despised Xu Ke were hopping mad.

Of course, the angrier they were, the more thrilled Yuan Shang felt.

Xu Ke laughed heartily. Yuan Shang is being so childish. That cool, aloof demeanor from when we first met has completely vanished.

"He's always like this," Chen Xiong said, shaking his head and letting out a sigh. "You've really run me ragged lately. Between the Peng Hetong situation and the Kang Chenghua affair, I've been too busy to even catch my breath."

"The capable are often tasked more," Xu Ke complimented.

Chen Xiong waved it off. "I'm about to retire, no more hard work for me!"

"Anyway, back to business. I called you over today to settle two things."

Xu Ke asked, "What's that?"

"My promises to you," Chen Xiong said with a smile. "First, you won the top three, so I'm taking you to the Tianhai Martial Alliance's treasury to pick something out."

"Second, there's the apology for that useless grandson of mine, Hai Ming, offending you. I still owe you for that, so you can pick out something for that, too."

"So, how about it? Are you free today?"

Hearing this, Xu Ke's eyes lit up.