Kill The Enemy

Daisy didn't care whether the person inside the armor was the old ghost or not; debts have owners, and she left the Silver Samurai to the Wolverine to deal with.

The White Tiger amulet instantly maxed out her tracking and hunting skills, dispatching two individuals attempting to impede her pursuit on the way. She disabled a red-clad ninja attempting to attack her with a sword, leaving them incapacitated. Daisy chased after the bloodied ninja, who was fleeing through the castle, and finally spotted Madame Gao in the distant forest.

The sounds of battle in the castle were left behind, as the night settled in the deep mountains. Moonlight filtered through the trees, occasionally accompanied by rustling sounds overhead. Both Daisy and Madame Gao moved swiftly, causing the forest animals to let out brief protests, quickly silenced by the intense aura radiating from the two.

"Madame Gao, only the two of us remain! Let's settle this in a battle to the death!" Daisy activated the White Tiger amulet to its full potential, her speed outmatching Madame Gao's, and it was only a matter of time before she caught up.

Madame Gao seemed to ignore her, focused solely on escaping.

As the distance between them closed, Daisy's internal warning system activated once more. She cursed under her breath at the old woman's cunning, sidestepping just in time to dodge Madame Gao's counterstrike.

Seeing the opening, Daisy swiftly seized the opportunity and threw a serrated dagger at Madame Gao's face. While she hadn't learned much from Hawkeye's archery skills, her proficiency with throwing knives was impressive. The dagger, made entirely of adamantium alloy, was a weapon from the Serpent Society, coated with potent poison.

Now severely injured, Madame Gao was in a weakened state, lacking the energy to respond effectively. With her remaining eye obscured by blood, she could barely make out the incoming threat. Misinterpreting it for another shockwave, she reflexively gathered her remaining energy and tried to block the attack with her hand.

Upon contact between the dagger and her palm, she realised her mistake.

A cry of agony escaped Madame Gao as her right hand was severed halfway, the pain from the wound intensified by a highly corrosive toxin that quickly spread through her battered body.

Struggling to maintain her balance, Madame Gao managed to take two more stumbling steps before her blood began to flow back, and her body gave out. Emitting a pitiful howl, she collapsed onto the forest floor, her body facing the sky.

"You old hag, could you have ever imagined this fate for yourself?" Daisy taunted as she cut off the old woman's other hand.

Daisy was now filled with a sense of satisfaction. Finally, this wicked woman who had tormented her for over a year had been defeated. Despite her four centuries of martial training and cunning, she was now lying on the ground, howling like a beaten dog. How much more noble was Daisy than all the people this woman had harmed, who had lost their eyes at her whim?

Gazing down at her long-time adversary, Daisy's feelings of revulsion grew. This person, who had once treated her with disdain as though she were nothing, was now begging for mercy.

"Spare me... I promise I won't trouble you any longer..." Madame Gao's voice trembled weakly, her words barely more than a whisper.

"Spare you? How many of our fellow countrymen had their eyes gouged out by your whim? Did you spare them?" Daisy's disgust for the old woman only deepened. Living for such an extended period had warped Madame Gao's psyche beyond recognition. In Daisy's eyes, ordinary people were treated like pigs and dogs, deemed inferior and unworthy of consideration.

The old woman continued pleading for a couple more sentences. Seeing her efforts were in vain, she couldn't resist playing her last card: "The Hand, they will kill me... The Hand won't spare you."

Daisy chuckled softly, aiming her gun at the woman's head. "You talk as if The Hand would spare me. We're already mortal enemies. Whether I kill you or not makes no difference. Don't you understand that, old lady? Time to go."

"Wait! I have more to say! Viper is the ni..." Her words were cut short as Daisy pulled the trigger.

The bullet left a bloody hole in her forehead. Without her Qi defence, Madame Gao was no different from an ordinary person. Her legs twitched a few times before she finally became a lifeless body.

"Trying to sow discord even at the brink of death?" Daisy knew exactly what she was about to say. This old woman wanted to lure her into the clutches of Hydra and get her killed. Daisy had calculated every possibility, but she hadn't anticipated that Daisy would be aware of this scheme.

Ignoring the gruesome sight of the shattered skull, Daisy began to search the old woman's body.

It turned out that the portrayal of villains carrying their life's knowledge in written form with them was nothing but fiction. Madame Gao had no martial arts manuals or training guides on her, nor any miraculous items that would instantly boost her skill by eighty years.

Nevertheless, Daisy's keen eyes caught something unusual—a peculiar frequency emanating from Madame Gao's finger.

The old woman wore a ring with an ancient design, seemingly carved from wood. The face of the ring depicted the head of a menacing dragon, with its body coiling around the band, forming the complete ring. The craftsmanship was exquisite, every muscle and whisker of the dragon vividly portrayed, creating a mesmerising allure upon closer inspection.

Engraved on the back of the ring were two characters in ancient seal script: "K'un-lun."

Elder K'un-lun's ring? Drawing this conclusion wasn't difficult. However, Daisy was curious as to why Madame Gao would carry this ring with her.

Reflecting on the passage of time, Daisy found this notion somewhat far-fetched. She felt a touch of irony; if Madame Gao were so nostalgic, why had she left in the first place?

The ring likely didn't possess any tracking function; otherwise, they would have been discovered by Kun-lun's experts long ago.

Could it be some kind of curse? Once worn, it couldn't be removed?

Daisy conducted a few experiments with the old woman's corpse. The ring could be easily removed, without any locking mechanism.

Rather than impulsively trying it on herself, Daisy approached the matter with a studious mindset. She used her seismic sense to analyse the ring.

K'un-lun existed in an alternate dimension, only entering Earth every decade. Daisy decided to delve into this unique frequency.

Before she could fully explore it, the ring seemed to initiate a verification process. Initially resistant to Daisy, it seemed to sense a familiar aura within her frequency, hesitating.

Just as Daisy was preparing to sever the connection unilaterally, the ring captured a trace of her frequency and then fell silent.

Daisy scratched her head, her mental state gaining new information. The ring appeared to have established a connection with her, acknowledging her as its new owner.

Thoroughly examining the preserved information, Daisy found that the ring didn't possess any enhancement capabilities. Inside, there was no old man accompanying her. It seemed to be more of a symbol representing Elder K'un-lun. Nonetheless, she joyfully slipped it onto her finger.

As an elder of the secretive organisation K'un-lun, the ring was imbued with a kind of mental defence shield, protecting the wearer from mental manipulation. The unique energy on the ring could resist psychic control to some extent.

Of course, nothing was absolute, and the ring was inanimate, whereas humans were living beings.

If faced with someone like Professor X wielding a mind-control device, the ring might not hold up. Nonetheless, it was far superior than the anti-psychic patches S.H.I.E.L.D provided. Coupled with Daisy's own psychic abilities, it could ward off most forms of mental intrusion.