The curtain fluttered close and the wind fleeted past.

For that split of a second, ZhengYi thought that the man who bid for the YaoRen looked somewhat familiar.

 

“Going once! Going twice! going thrice! Sold to the gentleman for 7000 golden pearls!”

The crowd cheered and applauded. 

Like the passing wind, the young scholarly man turned around and disappeared from the balcony almost immediately.

 

ZhengYi instinctively walked out of the room and rushed towards the man’s room. Their room was opposite each other and was rather far apart. However, ZhengYi was quick on his feet. He was about to make a turn on the corridor towards the room when he bumped into a young girl who was carrying a child in her arms. As he was about to apologize, he noticed who these two were.

 

The young maiden who he met earlier outside the city’s gate and the YaoRen, who is now wearing a disguise. The disguise on the YaoRen child is of high quality and may fool most people. However, he is not most people. The young man himself had disappeared without a trace.  Indeed, when one purchase such high valued items, one ought to be careful. There is no shortage of people who failed bidding who waited outside to ambush the rightful owners. It seems that the buyer had decided to split up with the young maiden and entrusted her with the safekeeping of this ‘item’ he had purchased while he himself may act as a decoy to lure away potential thieves.

 

He threw a cursory glance at the empty room behind the two.

“Young lady, may I ask where the gentleman had gone to?”

The girl looked up at him and frowned.

“What are you are talking about?”

 

“The young man who bid for her.”, ZhengYi pointed at the human panacea.

The girl frowned in displeasure.

 

“My Apologies, but if I may be so impolite, it is none of your business.”

The young maiden had seems to recognize the young man in front of her. Not only had this man bothered her outside the city, but he had also seen through the YaoRen’s disguise at one glance. If he harbors evil intentions, it is best to make some distance between them as soon as possible.

 

“Now if you may excuse us.”

ZhengYi was about to ask some more questions when the young maiden just shoved him aside and walked away. He instinctively grabbed her arm. He had not calibrated his strength properly and had held her too fast and too tightly, causing her to stagger backward as she had to carry the child in one arm too. As she steadied herself, a jade token fell from her sleeve.

The token reads: ‘QingHai Sect – Senior Disciple’

ZhengYi picked the token up and was about to hand it over when the maiden yanked it and shoved it back into her sleeves. She was staring daggers at him.

 

“You are from QingHai Sect?”

“Indeed. If you bring trouble to us don’t blame me if our elders seek you out for payback.”

Since her identity is out anyway, she might as well use it as protection.

 

“No, on the contrary, I’m actually heading there. I am looking for someone in QingHai sect too”

Hearing the young man’s response, the maiden hugged the little girl in her arms tighter and glared at the man warily.

Conmen often tries to build familiarity before launching their attack. Since this conman had pretended to be familiar with her sect, it wouldn’t hurt to ask for more. Let's see how familiar he is with his lies.

 

“Oh? Who are you looking for?”, the young maiden asked coyly.

ZhengYi let out a thin smile. If she is from QingHai sect, it is unlikely for the YaoRen to be in danger. As far as he knew, the sect has righteous people and follows principles and ethics. 

Even if he is worried now and asked if the young maiden in front on him indeed has evil intentions she would also not admit it readily. He can simply send his spies to investigate further if he is concerned about the YaoRen later.

 

“I am looking for Elder FanXing’s disciple QiuRan.”

Suddenly, the maiden’s face froze. Black lines covered her forehead as she stared icily at the man.

 

“This Young master... Why are you looking for our Shixiong?”, she quipped – her tone full of deliberation and her eyes judging.

ZhengYi considered for a while before answering, “This, I'm afraid it is a personal matter that I could not disclose just to anybody. I hope you understand.”

The young maiden looked at him from head to toe and sighed.

 

“Shixiong is in secluded cultivation. No need to take the trouble to go over. If you have any message I can pass it to him. He had only seen and will only see his own peak’s fellow disciples.”

ZhengYi recalled the face of the man he glimpsed inside the auction room earlier and was convinced he indeed looked 8 parts similar to QiuRan. He weighed the expression of the young maiden in front of her and concluded that she may have been instructed to not bring unwanted guests to the man. After all, the man had disappeared almost immediately the moment he secured the YaoRen. 

QiuRan is also known to be very introverted is it is not strange for him to shun visitors and strangers like him.

 

“Mn. I understand. Then, I will journey there by myself to seek an audience”

 

“Do as you wish. But I have informed you that it is a fruitless affair.”

The young maiden nodded his farewell and wanted to rush off.

 

“May I know your name ? “, Zheng Yi stopped her right before she walked past him.

 

“MoYu¹see footnote below”, the young maiden replied without looking back.

 

She held the little human panacea in her arm as she walked out – leaving behind the scent of jasmine and myrrh.

 

- - -

That night, Zheng Yi was in his room in the inn when he noticed two shadows – one tall and one short – leap out from the window above his room. Her movement is stealthy and quiet. She had multiple barriers and concealments set up about her and the child but it couldn’t hide her movements from him. With one peek from his window, he noticed these are the two from the auction house.

 

These two seem to be planning to leave in the dead of the night to avoid unwanted eyes.

 

However, the dark of the night can be either a friend or a foe. In the dead of the night, shadows may conceal oneself or conceal a dagger aimed at one.

 

ZhengYi was not inclined to follow strangers or perform good deeds. However, he had an inexplicable nagging in his mind and felt compelled to ensure their safety. 

Without giving it much thought, ZhengYi decided to follow them. He had brought nothing and need not pack anything and so he leaped out of the room into the shadows, trailing them from afar. Their destination should be the same anyway– QingHai Sect.

 

On their way to the city’s gate, ZhengYi noticed that the young maiden had handed a jade charm to the child. They were far apart but ZhengYi had excellent senses.

 

While handing the jade charm to the child, the young maiden said:

 

“Just in case anything happens, break this charm. I can’t take care of you and fight at the same time if it comes to that. When you break this, it will bring you to my house and you will meet a lot of JieJies. Tell them my name and they will make sure that you are safe, do you understand?”

 

The little child received the jade charm with both of her hands and stared at it for a while before lifting her face. She clenched the jade charm and looked at the maiden, looking concerned and afraid.

 

“What about you, JieJie? You use this too.”

 

The maiden put a gentle smile on her face and shakes her head. She then patted the little girl head softly.

 

“This charm can only carry one person. You cannot fight but I can. Don’t worry about me.”

Watching them from the shadow, ZhengYi praised the maiden actions inwardly.

 

The jade charm that was given to the little child is the kind which is only reserved for emergency uses during expeditions to dangerous secret realms or hunting events for disciples. It cannot be bought and can only be made by one who had reached the Body Fusion level of cultivation. The reason being one can only attain the skills to manipulate space/dimension when one reached the Body Fusion stage. Even at the Body Fusion stage, making this kind of charms requires a lot of time and energy, which could otherwise be utilized to further one’s cultivation instead. As such, elders usually only make this kind of charms in the exact amount needed and only for their own disciples.

 

Since ZhengYi had reached the Tribulation stage, he can easily make one now.  He has a higher cultivation base and he can see the young maiden’s cultivation level. She seemed to be at the Out-of-Body stage and couldn’t have made this by herself. As such it must have been given to her by a senior or teacher.

 

‘Giving such a rare and precious item to a child, this young maiden seems too kind.’

 

As they traversed through the forested landscape, ZhengYi,trailed behind, hidden amongst the trees’ shadows .

 

The night sky was dark. Two pairs of shimmering eyes, unlike that of beasts’, flitted across the forestry and the young maiden traveled fast with her QingGong while carrying the little child in her arms. She had layered a cat-eyes spell over their eyes to allow both her and the child to see through the darkness. ZhengYi had no need for such spell as he was born with such eyes. He shadowed them silently.

 

The girl traveled speedily and efficiently. However, the distance between NanJiang city and QingHai sect is neither far nor close. They were barely one-tenth of the way when ZhengYi noticed that the young maiden had stopped in her tracks. ZhengYi naturally stopped as well and remained in the shadow as he reached further out with his spiritual sense to scan the surroundings.

 

Leaves and bushes rustled noisily as throngs of armored men walked out from their hideouts.

 

Glossary:

MoYu - 摸魚,to be lazy on the job; lit. to rub fish. it's a name QiuRan invented on the go because he's too lazy to be bothered. 

 

9 Stages of Cultivation : 

 

1) Qi Condensation

 

2) Foundation Establishment

 

3) Core Formation/ Golden Core

 

       - can fly

 

4)Nascent Soul

 

       - can condense primordial soul

 

5)Out-of-Body

 

       - can force primordial soul out of the body

 

6)Body Fusion

 

       - can open up space/dimension

 

7)Calamity Passage/ Tribulation

 

8) Mahayana (大乘/ Da Sheng)

 

9) Immortal Ascension/ Deity Transformation