Crunches and bites, chewing and swallowing, patting one's stomach, and burping out of happiness with a full stomach, are one of the best memories a human will ever have. 

 

All of those were what Yu Jiao had done with but one expectation. 

 

Burping was unbecoming of Lady no matter the society or the world of said society. 

 

Therefore what she did was try the silent one, where you hold a hand before your mouth, urge your stomach for tiny ones, and hope people do not notice it.

 

Done with those she motioned with her hand for her servant to pay for the meal and stood up. 

 

Once Yu Jiao stood up she stretched her arms and back, and when Tao Fang returned, alongside the guide that had guided them all morning, they made their way through the marketplace.

 

“ Miss. ” Tao Fang said. “ How will we catch that rat? ”

 

“ The ‘how’ will come after we find him first. ” Yu Jiao replied. “ You have seen the little thing, I have shown you. That will be our guide. But first, let's give the culprit a few moments to recover. I want to see where he will run off to. ”

 

“ How much. ”

 

“ Well, if what I sensed was right, then the culprit was a Foundation. ” Jiao replied. “ Our meal plus a bit of looking around should be enough time. I did rip a good chunk of his Divine Sense, in that confrontation. ”

 

“ Alright, Miss, what should we be looking for, now? ”

 

“ Ah, I have had a suspicion about something for a while and now I want to confirm it. So when I saw the ingredients for those dumplings it reminded me of it. ” Jiao said. 

 

“ Chang, lead the way to the Spiritual Herb sellers. I don't care which. ”

 

“ Yes, Miss. ” He said and immediately began to guide them.

 

Not long after they reached a certain part of the marketplace. The shop in question wasn't big but it wasn't small either. Its name thought is what brought Jiao a ‘should have known’ look on her face.

 

The name of the shop was Spiritual Herb Garden. 

 

But it was not the name of the shop that made her roll her eyes but the sign that was below it.

Neither was it the sign that proclaimed its recognition with the Alchemy Guild.

 

It was the one below that one that said that the owner of the store was associated with the Heavenly Jade Merchant Association. 

 

The building was pagoda style, as a lot of buildings of this size were, and from the looks of it had three floors. Jiao nodded to the guide and made her way inside with Tao Fang following dutifully behind.

 

The first thing that popped into Jiao’s head as she observed the first floor were the guards that were stationed right after the entrance. One on each side of the entrance. 

 

Then there were two more near the stairs for the next level of the pagoda and finally, there were two more before an entrance that led somewhere else.

 

The other thing is the counters that were stacked with some simple herbs and seeds. Behind the counter were lots of tiny drawers with square shapes. 

 

In those she assumed were more valuable herbs but all this screamed to her that there were no Spiritual Herbs on this floor. No, this looked far more common in her mind. 

 

Therefore she made her way to the stairs. 

 

Before she stepped on those stairs, she saw the two guards titan their grip on the swords by their hips. They ignored the other customers in favor of focusing on her as she approached them. 

 

Only when they noticed the green hanfu that she wore did their grip lighten and only when they looked her in the face, did they immediately relax.

 

Seeing that Jiao nodded to them, and made her up the stairs while thanking the obvious recognition that she received everywhere she went. It made everything so much easier to navigate in her mind.

 

On the second floor, more guards stood, but the immediately reduced number of presented herbs made it look far more elegant than it was. Not to mention that there were a lot of Jade boxes behind the counters and the drawers on the cabinets.

 

Just those alone made it seem more exclusive as Jade wasn't that cheap, after all. 

 

Noticing all that, Jiao looked at the sales clerk and made her way to him. Once there she did not try to introduce herself. 

 

She looked him in the eyes and just straight on gave a demand. 

 

“ Show me a few examples of Spiritual Herbs of every element. ”

 

When the clerk looked at those Jade green eyes, he noticed an intensity in them that told him he better do as he was asked off. 

 

He shrugged off the feeling, with his years of being stared at by nobility. 

 

He gave a bow and spoke the usually customary lines that he gave to each person that came into the shop.

 

“ Welcome to the Spiritual Herbs Garden, Young Lady. ” He said with a practiced smile on his face. 

 

“ Your request will be done, but before I do that, Young Lady, could you please tell this lowly worker, of what rank the herbs need to be? ” The clerk questioned. 

 

“ The Qi Gathering ones. ” Jiao replied. “ Those should be the most numerous, right? ”

 

“ Indeed they are. Give me a second to gather them. ” 

 

With that said the clerk turned around and looked at the numerous Jade boxes behind the counter and the numerous drawers in the cabinet. 

 

Long used to the order in his workplace, he picked a few boxes on the left. 

 

They were the ones that were the most common and the most flashy as they belong to the fire element category. 

 

After Picking a few of those, he picked up Jade boxes one by one and laid them on the counter before the Young Lady with the Jade green eyes. 

 

The size of the Jade Boxes depended a lot on the herbs placed inside but none of them were bigger than 30cm in both length, width, and height. 

 

Once all of them were placed on the counter, the clerk spoke and pointed at a particular Jade box. “ Young Lady, before I show them to you I must first say one thing. These Jade boxes were processed by the Formations Guild, therefore all herbs placed inside will not wither as they would under normal circumstances. Due to that the Qi dissipation that the plants experience as they wither is reduced by a lot. Therefore when I open these boxes for you to take a look, may I suggest that you reduce your observations as much as possible, to reduce any impact upon them? ”

 

“ Sure. ” Jiao answered.

 

With the agreement gotten, the clerk began opening the boxes one by one. 

 

Jiao on the other hand observed the herbs that appeared in her eyes. 

 

Immediately she realized one thing. ‘ I hate it when I shoot myself in the foot. ’

 

Still, even after that realization came upon her, Jiao began observing the herbs. 

 

The most common thing about that was that they were green at the stem and brown at the roots. Everything after that began to show off various colorizations. 

 

But the thing that made Jiao realize that she had shot herself in the foot, was that she recognized not one of the herbs. ‘ I guess spending my time on watching plants grow through Time Lapse videos does me no good here. ’

 

Shaking her head, Jiao spoke. “ I am sorry that I got in over my head at this. Pack these up and place them back. ” 

 

The clerk did as instructed, but inside he was flustered. Only a bit though, since something like this happens from time to time. 

 

A Young Master or Young Lady comes from time to time and wants to show off. 

 

Now the only difference was that this Young Lady admitted it.

 

Once he was done, Jiao spoke again. “ I want to see the fruits that grow on Spiritual Herbs, do you have those? ”

 

“ For that Young Lady, you will have to move to the third floor. ” The clerk replied. “ The fruits grown by Spiritual Herbs are where the Majority of the Qi they gather in their lifetime is stored. Those are very valued by the Alchemy Guild and those of higher stages in cultivation, therefore are much harder to acquire as most of them are bought by the Alchemy Guild. Those that are left are kept on the third floor. ”

 

“ Alright, the third floor, it is then. ” Jiao said and made her way to the stairs. Yet before she even placed one foot on the steps showing her way up, a feeling arose in her.

 

She raised her left hand and atop it, a small strange little thing appeared. She looked at the thing for a second and then at the stairs leading up. 

 

A few more times switching her gaze between them, Jiao sighed. “ Tch. Looks like I will be visiting Second Uncle sooner than expected. Fang, let's go. There is a rat to catch. ”

 

“ Yes, Miss, but what is it that you hoped to find out? ” Tao Fang obeyed but questioned her Mistress a second later.

 

“ I will tell you once I have it confirmed. ” Jiao 

 

***

 

Lin Fu was not a good man, but he wasn't a bad man either. 

 

When he was young he lucked out and met a certain man on his journey. That man recognized his talents and had him join his organization.

 

There he received training on all the less recognized actions that were done in the shadows of the light that was the Empire. 

 

There he received the Mantra that had defined him so much his whole life. 

 

All his life, he thought that even if he never became the strongest or fastest or toughest, he could at least become somebody that had the firmest mind of others 

 

At least in his cultivation stage and maybe some of those a stage higher if they had not cultivated a Mind Mantra.

 

But today that was proven otherwise, or was it, he wondered in his mind.

 

Pangs of pain echoed across his mind. Like a bell, they announced their presence. 

 

When it happened, he lost every single perception of the outside. 

 

Lin Fu had no idea how long ago that was, but when he came to, the world around him was blurry. It kept wobbling as if he was drunk.

 

Painfully it took minutes before Lin Fu found his bearing and stood up by gripping the side of the building that he had originally leaned on. 

 

Only once he has done that, did he try to remember what was going on. 

 

Searching his memory, he went by the closest ones that were devoid of pain. He had been called for a job. It was a simple information-gathering mission. 

 

Simple as it was, the mission had been commissioned urgently and with a hefty price on it but even that was not uncommon in his profession. 

 

It happened fairly regularly, especially in the last 3 years.

 

If there was anything special about it was the target. 

 

The target was the youngest daughter of the Yu Clan Lord and the only child of the main Yu bloodline.

 

Confirming it in his mind, he went over everything that he had done concerning the mission. 

 

He waited at the Yu Clans compound until he saw the target leave in the morning. 

 

After that, all that was needed was to keep a good distance between the target and him and observe her. 

 

Not much happened until the spawn of nobility ordered dumplings at a vendor for workers.

 

Observing everything around the place, he noticed how the workers at the vendor had an interest in the young lady. 

 

It was then that an idea formed in his mind and he began to execute it. 

 

It wasn't the first time he had done this and neither would it be the last, so using a Divine Sense Art that he specializes in, he took root in that worker's mind, which became an unconscious pawn in the game of the Clans.

 

Using said art, he nudged the worker to approach the young lady and with a bit of finagling, he got the answer. 

 

Yu Jiao confirmed the rumor that was going around her. 

 

Problem was that it was not enough. She could be lying, after all, so despite that he took a slight risk and sought more answers. 

 

Only he didn't expect the unconscious resistance from the pawn he used. Even if the target noticed something was off, nothing ever happened before. 

 

It was in between that thought that he felt the pains regain in intensity.

 

Thinking for a second about it, a dread settled in his gut. Lin Fu looked around and saw nobody paying attention to a worker that had collapsed in between two buildings. 

 

If there was somebody that noticed it, they paid no attention and focused more on themselves than others.

 

‘ Phew. Looks like nobody noticed me. Best I get out of here for now. ’ Lin Fu thought and escaped the marketplace. 

 

Once he was outside it, even though his head protested, he used an Art that would hide him from the Divine Sense of cultivators. 

 

After that, he began using the maze that was the alleys between the buildings.

 

A few times he even switched clothes to blend in even more. Ultimately, he had found himself in a hidden building sandwiched between three others and made his way inside.

 

Once inside, he found a few people sitting around round tables, drinking and eating to their heart's desire. 

 

They all had turned silent when he opened the door but when they saw a familiar face, they returned to their tales. 

 

Lin Fu on the other hand ignored them and made his way deeper. Bypassing the barkeeper who wondered why the man returned so early from his mission but when he saw the grumpy face he said nothing.

 

Behind a door, Lin Fu found stairs that led down below. 

 

A few more rooms appeared and he went to the last one. 

 

Opening that one he found a room illuminated with a few Illuminations tones embedded on top of the ceiling. 

 

The contrast that one found a room illuminated with light below the earth was an interesting thing to contemplate but he had grown used to it, and a headache made any such thought a nightmare to ponder about.

 

Inside the room, he found an old man that looked about 40 to 50 if compared to a mortal. 

 

He was stationed behind a low-ground desk with lots of scrolls on it. 

 

The old man looked at the newcomer and spoke. “ Lin Fu, weren't you on a mission? ”

 

“ I was Grand Master. ” Lin Fu replied. Next, he closed the distance between them, only to kowtow to the ground, as an apology. “ But I failed my mission. ”

 

Hearing that the old man's eyes opened wide. “ You failed? How were you noticed? ”

 

Being questioned by his Grand Master, Lin Fu, began his tale. 

 

It wasn't a long one but when he came to the most important part, he hesitated for a bit. “ After that, I barely noticed what happened. On my way here, I have tried my best to remember but all I see and feel is pain. Aside from that the only thing that I have recovered from my memories was the impression that something big was pressing and severing me. The only reason why I am able to report… ”

 

There Lin Fu stopped, as something tickled his ears. It was very faint but it was there. 

 

As if in disbelief that such a thing should be possible, he turned his head towards the door but most importantly he sharpened his ears to listen to the sounds that came from upstairs. 

 

It was only the doctrine that he had been trained with that prevented him from using Divine Sense, damaged as it was, to see what was going on upstairs. 

 

His Grand Master, on the other hand, had fewer reservations around that. This was his place, and he did with it as he pleased. 

 

Yet, even his experience as a Grand Shadow of the Empire was found wanting, as his Divine Sense saw a young girl around age 16 had kicked the door, only to pounce around the entrance as if his place was hers, to do as she wished. 

 

Still, that was not what had bothered him. No, such behavior was very common when it came to Young Masters and Young Ladies. 

 

Here it was the recognition that his Divine Sense had been sensed. 

 

The young girl smiled in return and moved her mouth as she spoke. “ Looks like I am in the right place. Now then where would the little rat be hiding? ”

 

“ You have been followed, Lin Fu. ” Stated the old man to his disciple. 

 

“ Impossible! ” Lin Fu said. “ Even if my head was plagued by headache after headache, I have followed every protocol that you have taught me, Grand Master. ”

 

As if in confirmation, the old man saw the young girl raise her left hand, and upon it, a little ball of something appeared. 

 

She waved the thing around for a bit when her eyes settled on the ground. 

 

“ We can ponder later on how it was done. Right now we have an uninvited guest. ” Grand Master Zi declared for his disciple, but his Divine Sense kept observing the situation above.

 

The Young Lady nodded and moved inwards only to be stopped by the guards that were always pretending to be customers. 

 

They all began to draw their weapons. 

 

With small swords being the main weapons they barred her way and shouted. “ Stop there little girl. Another step and you will be going home in a coffin. ”

 

“ Is that so? ” The girl's smile only widened in return. “ Very well, I was hoping for some action. Come, I will give you the first move. ” She stated, with supreme confidence, and took a stance with her legs slightly bent and fists pushed forward.

 

For a few moments Grand Master Xi considered just getting rid of the girl, but he knew the identity she possessed, and if that happened, only trouble awaited them. 

 

“ Don't kill her. Knock her out instead. ” He ordered the guards, through his Divine Sense, but deep down he had a feeling that it was a useless order.

 

The seven guards nodded and inched towards her. They were careful as they did not know anything about the girl in question, bar two things. 

 

Her stance proclaimed her as a physical fighter and that she had no obvious weapons that she used. 

 

A few moments passed as they all seized each other up and the first guard on the left of the girl made his move. 

 

With a step forward and a slash of the sword from side to side, he displayed a bodily speed that only Body Mantra users could exhibit, but Grand Master Zi immediately noticed that it would not be enough.

 

The young girl reacted immediately and with confidence that no normal bodily cultivator would have, her left hand intercepted the sword palm first. 

 

She grabbed the sword by the edge as if it was a blunt instrument instead of a sharp tool, and held it in her hand before her other hand hit the man on the face and propelled him into the wall.

 

Bam

 

The force of the blow only said one thing, the Foundation Cultivator that had received that punch would need a doctor soon if he was to live. 

 

Still, the first move was made and the other guards jumped on her. What followed was a carefully choreographed dance of the young girl, dodging, blocking, and punching his guards one by one.

 

She was never the fastest but somehow she was always able to be in the right position and at the right time to dodge, block, deflect and punch at the same time. 

 

It took but a few moments that only 3 guards were left behind. The others had followed the first one's example, by being done with only one hit. 

 

Throughout that fight, there was one thing that bothered Grand Master Zi. ‘ I don't remember the users of the Heavenly Jade Mantra being able to shrug off attacks like that without at least using the Jade Skin Armor. ’

 

Puzzled over that fact, Grand Master Zi, paid more attention when the girl made contact with a weapon, and when the next guard attacked he noticed it. 

 

At the moment when the sword and fist connected, his Divine Sense noticed something appear over the skin of the young girl. 

 

That something gave him a familiar feeling but was very different from the Jade Skin Armor that he had seen and felt in the past, as a field operative.

 

Three punches later all his Foundation Guards were gone. Most of them required medical attention, yet even then, they would be unusable for quite some time.

 

Seeing all that happen, Grand Master Zi stood up and made his way up. 

 

His disciple who had midway used his own Divine Sense had a shocked expression. ‘ Looks like the damaged Divine Sense did more than just rattle him up a bit? ’

 

Opening the door that displayed the front of his establishment, his eyes noticed the bartender/chief guard barring the way of the girl.

 

“ Oh, looks like I have finally caused enough trouble for the manager to come out. ” The Young Lady of the Yu Clan declared.

 

“ Yu Jiao, Young Lady of the Yu Clan. That you have done undeniably. ” The old man stated. “ Are you prepared for the consequences of said action, is what I am curious about? ”

 

“ Even if I was, I doubt they would amount to much. ” The girl replied with a smile. “ At most I will just complain to my father that somebody has been snooping around his daughter's secrets. ”

 

“ Hmph, That is implying you can leave here at all? ” The Grand Master of the Shadows said and deployed his Soul Stage Suppression. 

 

“ Oho, are we getting serious now? ” The girl replied with the same smirk on her face. “ You can remove the Suppression, it simply does not work on me. Still, your Soul Creation stage does give you some credibility, how about you answer a few questions of mine for daring to snoop for the secrets of the Yu Clans' main bloodline. ”

 

Hearing the offer from the Young Lady before him, who was at least two hundred years younger than him, made him feel quite old in this case. ‘ That aside, there is something weird going on. How is she hiding her cultivation when in combat? Moreover, how is she ignoring Suppression backed by a Mind Mantra? I doubt she has a higher cultivation stage than me, and even if it wasn't, the full Heavenly Jade Mantra still can't ignore the Suppression like this. Could that be true? ’

 

“ Some secrets they are, if you pronounce them to the whole world? ” The Grand Master Zi replied.

 

For a moment the old man saw a baffled expression on the young girl's face. 

 

“ Haha. ” He heard her laugh at his observation. “ Old man, I don't care if people find out I am a Reincarnator. In truth, I want people to know that fact. ”

 

“ You do? ” Now it was the old man's time to be baffled. 

 

“ Yup, although why that is so, will stay my secret. ” Yu Jiao confirmed. “ Either way, we have not found ourselves in this situation because of that. How about you tell me who you are? Who do you work for? Who paid you to spy on me? I mean, I have a feeling I know who it was but best to be sure. ”

 

“ And why should I tell you that, little girl? ” The old man questioned. “ Under what circumstances do you consider yourself to be in the position to make demands of me? ”

 

“ We can find out. ” Yu Jiao said lightly. Her smirk never left her face. “ After all, I fear the least from Mind Mantras, and my gut is telling me that you belong to that category. Am I right, old man? ”

 

Hearing the young girl speak, tickled his nerves like nothing before. 

 

There was just too much unknown about her for his likes. ‘ Everybody knew that the greatest weakness of the Heavenly Jade Mantra was the Mind, it's for that reason that everyone who cultivates has undergone rigorous training to overcome such a weakness, or at least to not let it be the thing that dragged them down. ’

 

Yet, observing the smirking young woman before him, told him otherwise. ‘ I have no idea how Reincarnation works, what if she has a way to compensate for its weakness? ’

 

“ Hmph, you could be lying. ” The Grand Master said. “ Still, it's not like there is no way for us to have a talk. But only under one condition? ”

 

“ Please, I may be young in this world, but I am not stupid. ” Jiao remarked as she rolled her eyes around. “ You want to test my Mind while your Core Guard there chops me into sashimi. No thanks. ”

 

“ Hmph. ” Was the only thing the old man replied with.

 

“ So what will it be, old man. ” Jiao stated. “ A fight to the death or you spilling the beans about what I want? ”

 

Considering it one last time, the Grand Master replied. “ We are the Shadows of the Empire, a Sect that operates in the shadows as an information-gathering specialist. ”

 

“ Such an imposing name, Shadows of the Empire? ” Jiao questioned. “ Let me guess, you are the Emperor's secret spy service? Or could it be that you deny it only to laugh at others if they believe such an obvious lie? ”

 

“ Hmph, think what you want. I am sure your father won't mind explaining it to you. ” The old man said. “ I doubt we have not come under his attention before. ”

 

“ Alright, no need to be a grouchy old man. ” He heard the young lady say straight to his eyes, without looking away, all while sporting a never-ending smirk on her face. 

 

“ Either way, and the other things I asked you? ”

 

“ Who I am is not important. ” The old man said. “ As for who paid us to spy on you. As you probably guessed, it was the Xia Clan. In this case, specifically, it was the Prime Minister's servant that sought us out. Who the final decision maker was, we have not bothered to check. They pay and we deliver. ”

 

“ And what was to be delivered? ” The girl pushed on.

 

“ Anything that we could find about you. ”

 

With that said, the young girl went silent for a few moments. Even her smirk vanished but returned soon after. 

 

The old man immediately noticed the emotion it was delivered.

 

“ You said Pay and Delivery, right? Would the same apply for misinformation to be sent a certain Clan’s way? ” Jiao asked the old man.

 

“ No. ” Came the denial. “ We pride ourselves on the Truth that we deliver. ”

 

“ Truth? ” Jiao murmured. “ Huh. Fine, think of it like that, but I am sure you won't mind keeping something for yourself, for now at least. How about this? I will forgive your transgression of spying on me. In return though, I will expect you to keep my strength a secret for a bit longer. One more thing, I will allow your spy to… well spy, but he will refrain from manipulating innocent people around me. In return, he will slip a few things for the Prime Minister's son, for me. ”

 

“ So you want to set him up? ” The old man asked but in his mind, a different thought emerged. 

 

‘ Could it be that the rumor of him trying to kill her has some truth in it? ’

 

“ We have a score to settle. ” The girl replied. “ I am not sure of the details as of this moment, but I will slip your spy a bit of my schedule in the next few days. Meanwhile, I will condemn the Prime Minister's Son's actions in public. So when he is aggravated enough, he will have no choice but to confront me, and I want it to be public when he does. ”

 

“ Hmm. ” Hearing it, the old man began to stroke his beard in intrigue. “ So you're putting faith in us that we won't be selling your plans to them? ”

 

“ Of course not, I am not stupid. ” The girl replied. “ Although everything that you relay to them will be the Truth and it won't be going against your doctrine. I will even pay you for the job if you want, but what I am putting my faith in is that your fear of the Yu Clan is greater than the repercussions that will happen if I snitch on you to my Father. ”

 

“ So how about it? Do we have a deal? ”

 

“ What about my guards? ” The old man said, to buy himself a few more moments to think about what all this meant. 

 

“ Them? ” Looking them up for a moment, Jiao replied. “ Legitimate self-defense. It's not my fault they are so squishy as to go down with only one hit. I trained with Qi Gathering Cultivators tougher than them. ”

 

“ Hmph, fine we have a deal. ” 

 

“ Alright, do use the one behind you to spy on me. ” She said. “ This way I will at least know that somebody is doing his job and I am sure he won't mind being the middleman between us. Right? ”

 

“ With that said, I will be taking my leave then. ” Was, all the girl said. Then she turned around without any fear and left the place.

 

“ Sigh. Looks like things are changing in the near future. ” The Grand Master of the Shadows of the Empire said before making his way downstairs, but not before speaking another line. 

 

“ Take care of the wounded. ”

 

“ Yes. ” The guard that pretended to be the barkeeper acknowledged.

 

Once he was back in his own room, he sat down and faced the disciple that kowtowed again before him. 

 

“ Lin Fu, this is not your fault. The same would have happened no matter who I sent. ”

 

“ Thank you Grand Master for your generosity. ” Lin Fu replied, still not raising his head.

 

“ It's fine. ” The old man said. “ Just like she asked, you will be the middleman between us. ”

 

“ Understood, Grand Master. ” 

 

With that acknowledged, Lin Fu raised his head and looked at the man that had given him so much. 

 

“ Grand Master, I know I should not be asking this, but why did you give the girl so much leeway and agree to bend the Truth, even if slightly? ”

 

“ Too many unknowns about her as of this moment ” The old man replied. “ Lin Fu, when you heard her words about snitching us on to her Father, it may have sounded like a joke. It was anything but that. In her words, I sensed that the Yu Clan is preparing for war and not just a skirmish as we first imagined. I don't want to irritate them now. The guards were knocked out and Min won't talk either way, that leaves only you. Keep this for yourself”

 

“ Understood Grand Master. ”

 

“ Good, go rest as much as possible. You know what you need to do tomorrow. ” 

 

“ Yes, Grand Master. I will not disappoint you this time. ” 

 

“ Good, go now. ”