Unavoidable

Even though her martial arts were formidable, they weren't enough to easily defeat Young Master Yun. Moreover, the distinguished young master was clever enough not to engage her in a one-on-one fight, instead using his subordinates to tie her down. Lin Xiao clearly saw a hint of anxiety on her face.

As assassins, their greatest strength was in sneak attacks; direct combat was inherently a disadvantage, especially on enemy territory.

As more members of the Great River Gang arrived, hundreds of people had already surrounded Tianxiang Tower. Lin Xiao could tell from the expressions on the faces of Yin and Yang Sha that they were considering a breakout. He decided to distance himself from Tianxiang Tower without a trace, to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.

"Boom!"

A deafening sound could be heard even from four buildings away, followed by a cacophony of shouts from outside. Lin Xiao poked his head out from an alley four buildings away from Tianxiang Tower and saw that a corner of the three-story building had collapsed and tilted, looking like it would fall imminently.

Just then, a figure burst out of a window. Someone shouted, "Kill!" The dozen or so Great River Gang members closest to the figure immediately drew their sabers and attacked. But the figure twisted nimbly in mid-air, landed, and with a turn, an explosion of energy rippled outwards. The surrounding thugs convulsed and spat blood, flying backward.

It was the female assassin. She easily dealt with the surrounding low-level thugs, then casually grabbed a few sabers from the ground and threw them back into the dilapidated Tianxiang Tower, shouting:

"Old Yang, split up and escape! Meet at the usual spot!"

Without waiting for a response, she turned and leaped over ten meters to the second floor of an adjacent two-story building, leaving behind the old man playing the erhu who was being besieged inside. But before she could steady herself, a bald, burly man walked out of the furthest room on the second floor and roared with laughter:

"Su Youyu of the Great River Gang has been waiting for you for a long time!"

He raised his palm and struck down. This expert from the Great River Gang had been waiting there.

Yin Sha remained calm in the face of danger. With a wave of her hand, she met his palm, directly using his force to propel herself away. With her unparalleled lightness skill, she actually changed direction in mid-air and circled around to the back of the small building.

But at that moment, a long cry echoed from the rooftop. A cloaked man leaped from the roof, holding a drawn bow, and shot an arrow downwards, striking Yin Sha squarely in the chest before she could react, piercing straight through.

Yin Sha let out a scream and fell. Below, a group of Great River Gang members, eager to earn merit, waited with their sabers drawn for her descent.

However, even an injured master is not easily harmed by low-level thugs. She kicked off the wall, using it as leverage to spring to a protruding wooden stake on the wall of another small building on the other side of the alley, and then used that to propel herself like lightning towards the back of the street.

But at this time, the Great River Gang's experts were gathered in full force. Su Youyu, the head of the Elite Hall and the man who had attacked from the second floor, rushed from the front to the back of the second floor, shattering the rear window with a palm strike and pursuing. The archer on the roof, Zhuang Jing, the head of the Great River Hall, slowly drew an arrow, nocked it, and aimed at the fleeing silhouette, slowly drawing his bow but not shooting.

It wasn't until Su Youyu, like a roc, swooped out from the second floor and struck with a palm that Yin Sha was forced to turn and fight. At that moment, Zhuang Jing shot an arrow. The young woman twisted her body in a strange way to evade it, but just then, three members of the Elite Hall in black rushed forward.

Those who could join the Elite Hall were basically outstanding geniuses, vigorously cultivated by the gang, and each possessed considerable strength. Furthermore, these three worked well together, advancing and retreating in unison. They struck while the young woman was exhausted from evading the attacks of the two hall masters, adding three sword wounds to her body. The longest one sliced from her lower abdomen, cutting through her skirt and revealing her smooth, flat lower triangle, with a hint of dark hair faintly visible.

The young woman screamed and spun around violently, sending out a cloud of white dust. Fearing poison, the three immediately retreated. Su Youyu descended from the sky and struck with a palm. The young woman was forced to parry with her own palm. With a dull thud, she was sent flying back over ten meters as if struck, spitting a mouthful of blood in mid-air before crashing into several Great River Gang members who had just emerged from between two buildings behind her.

Seeing this, the few thugs rejoiced and swung their sabers to attack. The next second, they all screamed and fell to the ground. The young woman charged forward between the two buildings. Just as she passed, an arrow embedded itself deeply into the ground where she had been.

"Chase her, we can't let her escape."

But this young-looking Yin Sha's lightness skill was too superb. Even though she was injured, she forcefully escaped from the hands of two Great River Gang experts. Su Youyu could only pursue her retreating figure from afar, while Zhuang Jing leaped from rooftop to rooftop, tracking her. Soon, they arrived a few hundred meters from the battlefield. Beyond that, away from the main street, were low-rise residential areas. Once she disappeared into them, she could hide in any house and be difficult to find.

But they had no choice. Their arrival was hasty; they hadn't known in advance and planned this ambush. In their haste, not only were the gang's experts not all present, but they hadn't mobilized more subordinates, and even their members within Linshui City hadn't all arrived. With the opponent's superior lightness skill, catching up was too difficult.

Just then, Yin Sha, who had fled to a large alley at the boundary between the commercial district and the residential area, happened to encounter a patrol of Great River Gang members passing by. Su Youyu immediately shouted:

"Block her!"

A small squad of Great River Gang members immediately drew their sabers and surrounded her, but she knocked them down in a few exchanges. However, during this brief obstruction, Zhuang Jing was the first to arrive. From a distance, he shot an arrow and shouted loudly:

"Old Yu!"

Su Youyu, who had just arrived, understood. He raised his palm and struck towards the young woman. But as their palms met, he suddenly retracted his power, changing his palm strike into a claw and grabbing her hand tightly. The young woman was startled, twisted her wrist, and quickly broke free. But in that instant, Zhuang Jing's well-planned arrow struck her right shoulder. She grunted, her body tilted backward, and Su Youyu seized the opportunity to pounce, striking her chest with three consecutive palms, sending her flying. Coincidentally, behind her was a dark alley in the residential area. A figure was hidden in the alley. Looking up, he saw the figure flying towards him. Lin Xiao cursed inwardly:

"Damn it, can't even hide here?"

To avoid being caught in the residual waves of the experts' attacks, he had deliberately retreated far away, but he hadn't expected that even after retreating so far, he still couldn't avoid it, and she had been sent directly to his doorstep.

The young woman was sent flying by Su Youyu's three palms. In mid-air, he could still see the young woman's face filled with a tender and pitiable expression, which couldn't help but stir his desire to protect her. The young woman's soft and pleasant voice echoed in his ears:

"Young master, please save this humble one. I am willing to pledge myself to you and serve you."

Her voice carried a hint of seduction, giving one an impulse that made their blood boil. If it were a young man, he might have agreed on the spot.

Lin Xiao was also a young man, especially since the young woman's skirt was badly damaged, and her upper chest had been directly shattered by Su Youyu's three palms, revealing a large, round, and full bosom, which added several times more temptation.

His face showed a look of utter infatuation, his gaze frequently scanning her body, especially her upper half. With a dazed expression, as if he had been moved, he said:

"Quick, come with me. I know a safe place in the city."

After saying that, he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the back, acting as if he was very familiar with the area.