Chapter 438 - 204: Go On, Run!

He glanced down to find that the girl’s pretty, murderous face was gone. Her eyes were now glistening with moisture, and her complexion was an unnatural, flushed red.

’So she was hit with an aphrodisiac?’

Realization dawned on Jiang Ran.

He also understood Bai Xichao’s intention.

’Choose between a beautiful girl, brimming with lust and desperate for pleasure, and a lecherous fiend?’

’It was hardly a choice. For any other man, it would have been a no-brainer.’

But Jiang Ran had never been one for taking tests.

He took a small vial from his robes, popped the cap with his teeth, and poured the contents into the girl’s slightly parted mouth.

He didn’t care how much he poured in. It wasn’t like the medicine was lethal.

Jiang Ran had concocted this stuff himself.

It was his greatest tool for self-preservation over the years.

The reason was simple: ever since he was fourteen, some old drunkard had been hell-bent on dragging him to a brothel.

Jiang Ran had strongly resisted...

In their battle of wits, Jiang Ran had ended up consuming more aphrodisiacs than most people had even seen in their lifetimes.

The only reason he had managed to preserve his innocence to this day was thanks to the very medicine in his hand.

For Bai Xichao to think he could use this to slow Jiang Ran down was nothing but wishful thinking!

He probably never would have dreamed that someone had actually created a specific antidote for this sort of non-lethal "poison."

After feeding the girl the antidote, Jiang Ran found a spot on the nape of her neck and gave it a light pinch.

The girl went limp without so much as a whimper, her head lolling to the side as she fell unconscious.

This saved Jiang Ran a lot of trouble. He immediately grabbed the girl by the back of her sash and pushed his Celestial Nine Steps to the limit, leaving a trail of afterimages as he resumed the chase.

Bai Xichao’s plan had been to use the girl and the drug in her system to distract Jiang Ran, hoping to muddle his mind with lust.

Forced to save her, Jiang Ran would have no choice but to let him go.

Then he could sprint away, find a place to recover some Inner Strength, and change his appearance. He would have escaped this disaster.

Who could have guessed that Jiang Ran wouldn’t play by the rules?

At this point, he couldn’t afford to look back. Estimating he had run far enough, he spotted a patch of reeds below.

He aimed for a patch of solid ground and dropped down from the air.

He hid himself among them, about to sit cross-legged and circulate his energy.

But just as he sat down, a shadow fell over him. He looked up, and his soul nearly fled his body.

"You... Y-you-you-you..."

Bai Xichao stammered, the words catching in his throat.

He stared at Jiang Ran as if he had seen a ghost!

Jiang Ran let out a savage laugh.

"Run, you bastard! Why’d you stop running?!

"Come on, let’s go for another hour."

Bai Xichao glanced at the girl, who was being carried in Jiang Ran’s hand like a sack of luggage, then back at Jiang Ran.

"You... You just disregarded her life!

"And you call yourself an Assassin? You call yourself a man of justice...

"You’re a monster! You treat human life as if it’s worthless!

"That’s no ordinary drug she was given! If her yin and yang aren’t... balanced, her life will hang by a thread!

"Do you think knocking her out negates the drug’s effects? That’s impossible... Check her breathing! I bet she’s... she’s already dead!"

"That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!"

Jiang Ran sneered.

"Who do you think was the one to poison her in the first place?"

Bai Xichao said with righteous indignation:

"So what if it was me? You’re the one who killed her!"

"I’ve seen plenty of shameless people in my time, but you take the cake."

Jiang Ran grinned, and with a flick of his wrist, several Cold Moon Nails shot out with a series of SWISHES.

Bai Xichao saw them coming clearly. Gritting his teeth, he tried to throw a few of his own flying needles to counter them.

But when he tried to summon his inner breath, he found his reserves were completely empty. He couldn’t execute the move.

In that moment of hesitation, a sharp pain shot through his shoulder, and an unnatural cold spread through his meridians, coursing throughout his entire body.

In the space of a single breath, his face had turned a frozen, deathly blue.

"Wh... What did you do to me?"

"Don’t worry about what I did to you."

Jiang Ran pointed a finger.

"Go back the way you came. You run, I’ll chase. If you don’t run, I’ll take one of your arms."

"Hahaha, you think..."

Before Bai Xichao could finish his sentence, a golden light flashed.

It was followed by the sound of a blade being sheathed.

Stunned, he felt a sudden lightness in his shoulder. He turned his head to look and saw blood gushing out uncontrollably.

His blood was already pumping from the frantic chase, and now, with an outlet, it surged out like a bursting tide.

Bai Xichao’s face went pale.

’He really did it!’

Forgetting that his inner reserves were empty, he hastily reached up to press his acupoints and stop the bleeding.

His face was a mask of shock and fury.

"You’re a madman... an absolute lunatic... Aaargh, my arm!!"

Only then did the pain finally register.

But Jiang Ran ignored him.

"I told you to keep running. Are you going to run or not? I’ll give you one more chance!"

"I’ll run!!"

Bai Xichao finally understood what kind of man Jiang Ran was.

The man kept his word. If he said he’d cut you, he’d cut you, without a moment’s hesitation.

Gritting his teeth, he scrambled up from the ground.

He staggered back the way he had come.

He had only taken a couple of steps when his foot suddenly sank. Mortified, he thought that the man, that Evil Ghost, had cut off one of his legs.

But when he looked down, he saw that he had simply stepped into the water.

Although it was snowing, the surface hadn’t frozen over yet; the water was just bone-chillingly cold.