1164 Woman Furnace

"Kobu Yamashita, the President of Jinlan Society, single. Allegedly controls Japan's largest shipping company in secret and two other large security companies…

"Taro Harano, the Vice President of Blacksnake Group, single. Supposed to have thousands of subordinates managing a large number of entertainment establishments covering the four occupations in culinary, drinks, prostitution, and gambling…

"Ki Kitagawa, a butcher with four apprentices, married with a son and a daughter…"

After reading the information on these three men, an odd expression covered Tang Xiu's face. The power and control shown by Kobu Yamashita and Taro Harano didn't surprise him, but he felt that the last person was rather ridiculous. A Chess Piece of Joyous Palace, yet he was only a butcher in his real life. He even married and had children. That was totally strange. Even the content written on the document said that the guy was honest and never cheated nor went to the red light district and was far from gambling. He was pictured as an honest and simple guy who was often oppressed and bullied by his Boss…

Is he some kind of masochist or something?

He then threw the documents on the table and spoke to Kuwako, "I'm handing over the machination against Kobu Yamashita and Taro Harano to you. I'm going to handle this Ki Kitagawa guy myself."

"Understood!"

Kuwako picked up the document and read it, and then left the room directly afterward.

Tang Xiu got up and indifferently said, "An, keep your eyes on alert. I got a hunch this Ki Kitagawa guy is far from simple. Don't alert him if you find any peculiar things."

"Copy that."

Tang An didn't appear, but her voice passed into Tang Xiu's ear.

Tomoda District, inside a certain mansion.

The place was rather remote with many courtyards. In one of them, a tall and burly man sat on a wicker chair. In front of him were four young men in black night suits and black mask standing still like statues.

Whoosh…

A hazy figure flashed from afar, barefooted and holding a string of beads. After seeing the burly man on the lounge chair, he hummed coldly and spoke with a hoarse voice, "Ki Kitagawa, you dare not greet this honorable self visiting your house?"

Ki Kitagawa abruptly got up and joined his palm and slightly bowed in salutation. "Your Honor Sage Yin Buddha, your subordinate has limited strength and never thought that you'd appear before me directly. Please forgive me for the neglect, Your Honor."

Yin Buddha remained indifferent and said, "You have my forgiveness since you were unintentional. Then speak, what's your report for proactively contacting me?"

"An accident has befallen the Inada Society and Daikura Sakuragi was killed," answered Ki Kitagawa.

Yin Buddha's complexion changed with eyes turned fierce and fiery. Then, he asked in a deep voice, "Daikura was one of the 72 Chess Pieces and someone killed him? Have you investigated who the killer is?"

"The investigation yields nothing yet." Ki Kitagawa shook his head. "Also, there's no response from the shadows I've sent. They all just disappeared. I suppose they have been neutralized."

"Members of the Shadows are Ninja experts who have been trained secretly by the Sect. Each and every one of them has a power that can't be fathomed. How could they just be neutralized like that? Do you think some mysterious sect is involved?"

"I have no idea about that." Ki Kitagawa shook his head. "But there was also another man who was killed along with Daikura, Ozawa Manzo. But I don't know about his identity."

Yin Buddha's expression sharply changed and fiercely replied, "Ozawa Manzo is also one of the Chess Pieces! Dammit, who killed them? They killed two Chess Pieces of my Joyous Palace at the same time? Completely investigate it. I don't care if you have to handle it yourself, but you must find out where that beast is! Or you can expect harsh punishment from me!"

"Understood!" Ki Kitagawa respectfully complied.

This Sage Yin Buddha was unaware, however, that a chilling light flashed in his eyes with a wisp of killing intent burning inside.

Yin Buddha pondered for a while and slowly said, "I need to inform Miyaji since this enemy is unknown. Kitagawa, I give you two days to find out the enemy's identity and their whereabouts. I'll confer you a reward if you handle it handsomely. But you can expect to head into the Dark Prison and suffer there if you fail!"

Ki Kitagawa silently nodded and then said, "This subordinate will definitely give his best!"

Suddenly, Yin Buddha's brows furrowed and he instantly turned to look at the back but saw nothing unusual. With his alertness to the max, he shouted, "Who the hell are you, sneaking bastard?"

It was all quiet, however. Nobody answered him nor was there any man's shadows.

After a few minutes of silence, Yin Buddha secretly shook his head and immediately spoke a sentence to Ki Kitagawa and directly left.

10 minutes…

Half an hour…

2 hours…

2 hours had passed by and Yin Buddha came back a few times but didn't find anything strange in the courtyard. Ki Kitagawa himself made several calls and then sat back on the recliner and silently fell into his train of thoughts.

Have my senses failed me or something?

Yin Buddha paced back and forth for a while before leaving unwillingly. But a few minutes after he left, a figure then appeared in front of Ki Kitagawa out of the blue.

"Who are you?!!"

The faces of Ki Kitagawa's four disciples dramatically changed and they instantly drew the long blades sheathed on their backs.

Tang Xiu just shot them an apathetic look and ignored them. He looked at Ki Kitagawa instead, who had abruptly stood up at the moment, as he shook his head and sighed. "You know, Joyous Palace is really unfair. The rest of the Chess Pieces became rich and powerful people or high-ranking officials, yet you're just a butcher with little power and wealth. That's truly unfair."

Pacing back a few steps, Ki Kitagawa stared daggers at Tang Xiu. Watching Tang Xiu vigilantly, he asked, "Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter who I am as the more important is you who don't know who you're right away." Tang Xiu sneered. "You know, Grandma Meng can make you forget all the karmic ties you have in your past life, so I hope you're also qualified to enter hell, Japanese man."

"The Joyous Palace seems to be facing some very formidable adversaries now, at least so formidable that even I'm somewhat afraid." Ki Kitagawa heavily said, "Was it you who killed Daikura Sakuragi and Ozawa Manzo?"

"They were like ants to me. I just got them butchered after using them." Tang Xiu nodded. "Anyhow, it's you who made me rather curious, Kitagawa. What's your rank among the 72 Chess Pieces? To think you can even contact that one particular guy directly rather than a Mistress."

"It seems you've investigated the Joyous Palace very clearly," said Ki Kitagawa coldly. "Not only do you know the Mistresses' existence, but you also know the existence of Chess Pieces like us. But I might as well tell you on this one. I'm ranked at 72."

"Pfft… the last in number?" Tang Xiu couldn't help laughing. "I thought I caught a big fish, it turns out that you're just the last in the Chess Pieces' ranking. You have no use to me, so I won't talk much with you. Choose between two options: submit to me now or die!"

"Yield to you? Death?" Ki Kitagawa jeered. "You wanna kill me relying on your strength?"

Tang Xiu nodded slowly.

Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!

Four sword images appeared out of the blue and instantly beheaded the heads of Ki Kitagawa's four disciples. The moment after, the immortal sword appeared out of thin air and swiftly and powerfully shot towards Ki Kitagawa's head.

The man's complexion drastically changed. He instantly drew the long blade on his waist as overlapping layers of sword images swayed like a waterfall, showing off a female in a black robe that appeared out of the blue and made him tense up. He could sense that this black-robed woman, a mysterious assassin, turned out to have the strength that was on par or even slightly above him.

"What the hell are you, people?" Ki Kitagawa loudly shouted.

Tang Xiu coughed and replied without being salty, "An, that Yin Buddha fella is for you to follow. And you, Ki Kitagawa, your Joyous Palace has met its dead end as they will be completely exterminated this month at most. If you don't wanna end up dead, do submit and pledge your allegiance to me and help me remove some of the top brasses in the Joyous Palace."

"I agree!" replied Ki Kitagawa aloud.

"I don't really care what you said is false or not, though," said Tang Xiu. "You only need to answer some questions. I can spare you if your answers satisfy me. I can even give you some benefits, too."

"What do you wanna know?" asked Ki Kitagawa in a deep voice.

"Who's that Yin Buddha, exactly?" asked Tang Xiu.

"He's the Vice Palace master of the Joyous Palace, but he rarely stays inside and keeps traveling around for inspection and control over 72 Chess Pieces. His status is higher than those of the Mistresses in the Palace, albeit faintly. He's also the one the Palace Master most trusts."

"Well, he's likely to be a Buddhist cultivator given his attire," commented Tang Xiu.

"Heh, you guessed it, but I don't buy it." Ki Kitagawa sneered. "You dare to become enemies with the Joyous Palace... the Miyaji and Vice Palace master will definitely destroy you completely. Unless… you hurry and escape as soon as you can."

"Nah, no worries about that!" Tang Xiu shook his head. "Besides, I'll do nothing to the Joyous Palace, mind you. The people I've been waiting to do the job have yet to arrive, either. Well, let's cut the talk, shall we? Nothing else I can ask from you, so you can go accompany your disciples down there! Do remember to tell the King of Hell that the man who killed you is called Tang Xiu."

"Hold on…"

Ki Kitagawa raised his hand and shouted, "I'll exchange my life with a cauldron! How about it?"

"A furnace? What cauldron are you talking about?" Tang Xiu knitted his brows.

"It's a cauldron made of jade. Rumors have it that it belonged to a female Pill Master in China who spent 3 years to manufacture it," said Ki Kitagawa in a deep voice. "This jade cauldron is also known as the Woman Cauldron which seems to be Miyaji's favorite object."

"Just take it out and let me see it," said Tang Xiu with furrowed brows.

Shortly after, a fist-sized jade cauldron appeared in Ki Kitagawa's hand. Just as Tang Xiu was about to receive it, his pupils suddenly shrunk sharply. A strong gust of wind suddenly blew and the lid of the jade cauldron opened all of a sudden, followed by a burst of black smoke that instantly filled every inch of the courtyard.

"Be careful. It's poisonous!"

Tang Xiu suddenly shouted as he discovered that Mo Awu and the rest had caught up from the distance.

Whoosh…

A hazy figure flickered and bolted from the distance to appear in the middle between Tang Xiu and Ki Kitagawa. The person wore a veil, looking graceful with tight clothing that vividly described her perfect figure.