"Who’s there?" Lin Xuan Qi stood up and asked.
No one answered.
There was only silence in the still of the night.
Drip.
The sound of water dripping down from his body into the bathtub could be heard.
He stepped out of the bathtub and grabbed his long jacket that was by the side.
After covering himself with it, he walked towards the door of his room.
As he got closer, he heard a soft whimper.
Thud.
Before he could react, the door was slammed open, and a figure came into his room.
He wanted to shout for Lee He Song, but the figure dressed in black clothes and with the face covered in a mask tried to stop him.
The figure brought up the index finger to where the lips were.
Gesturing for him to keep quiet.
With the flickering candlelight in his room, he could see that the figure was a woman.
The tight black clothes wrapping closely to her body, showcasing the chest and waistline, were unmistakably a woman’s.
He nodded his head and tried to see what she was up to.
But she stumbled a few steps to the side, leaned on the wall and slowly sat down.
Cough.
She gave out a few coughs.
She was hurt, Lin Xuan Qi thought.
"Do you need help?" he asked.
The woman shook her head and gestured for him to keep quiet again.
"Where did she go!"
"Hurry! She couldn’t have gone far."
"All of you will be dead if you don’t find her soon."
Shouts of men could be heard in the distance.
He walked over to the door as he glanced at her.
Her eyes also trailed his every movement.
When he was at the door, he closed the door of his room.
The ruckus continued outside as he stood where he was.
"Are you a thief?" Lin Xuan Qi pointed at her and asked.
Her eyes opened wide at him, and she gave him a long and cold stare.
Cough.
She had to stop after a few moments.
Her anger at him triggered her wounds to get worse.
"Huh, a robber then?" Lin Xuan Qi shook his head and said, trying to make her lose control so that he could gather some information out of her.
She coughed a few more times and she wanted to slam her fist onto the floor but stopped herself.
The woman dressed in black clothes reached into her shirt and took out something from it.
She threw the item at him.
Lin Xuan Qi grabbed it with his hand and brought it closer to him on his palm.
The item was a jade pendant, which was carved into the shape of a peach with two kids holding onto the peach below it.
He could feel the warmth of her body still lingering on the jade pendant.
And it gave out a pleasant-smelling aroma.
Lin Xuan Qi took a whiff of the aroma, trying to figure out what it was made of so that he could use it for his soap.
But when the woman dressed in black clothes saw what he did, she gave him a disgusted stare.
This man was vile and lecherous, she thought.
If not for her dire situation, she would have sliced him into pieces.
She gave out a sigh, sat in lotus position, closed her eyes and quickly tried to make use of her Spirit Qi to heal her wounds.
As she did so, Lin Xuan Qi glanced at her in awe.
He could sense something was going on in the surroundings but couldn’t pinpoint what it was.
Finally, when she was done, he could see that her body gave out a white glow that engulfed her.
The woman dressed in black clothes was a cultivator.
She opened her eyes and stood up a few moments later.
Listening intently to the sounds, she walked towards the door after she made sure that the men after her were gone.
She gave Lin Xuan Qi a last stare before she opened the door.
"That’s it? Thanks so much." Lin Xuan Qi shrugged and said.
He dangled the jade pendant at her and tried to keep it but couldn’t.
There was no pocket for him as he was only wearing a long jacket.
The woman dressed in black clothes realized it, and her eyes opened wide when she saw him not wearing anything underneath.
Worse, he was standing tall.
She didn’t wait a moment longer before she ran out through the door.
Boom.
And with a leap, she disappeared into the night and out of his sight.
Lin Xuan Qi quickly closed the door and shook his head.
She was the one intruding into his room and that was on her.
He quickly dried himself with a towel and changed into a set of new clothes.
All he wanted to do was to go to sleep as soon as possible.
He didn’t know who she was, but one thing for sure was that he didn’t want to be involved in matters that had to do with the cultivators.
After a long hard day of work, he fell asleep within moments after he lay on his bed.
...
Next day.
After breakfast, a few men came to the mansion.
They were the five men that Old Shao had introduced to join Lin Xuan Qi.
"Master Lin. I’m Song and these are Heng, Lim, Lee and Tang." The leader of them, a tough burly man with a short beard, bowed to him.
The other men followed suit.
Lin Xuan Qi glanced at the other men, and they were just as burly and tough as Song.
"Has Old Shao told you about the remunerations?" he asked.
"Yes, Master Lin. One tael of silver for a year." Song nodded and said.
"Great. Here, take it." He stretched his hand to the table, gesturing for them to take the five taels of silver that were on it.
"Are you sure?" Song was surprised at being paid up front.
He nodded at Song and said, "Take it and spend wisely."
Song glanced at the other four men with his eyes opened as wide as he could, and they were just as excited as him at the prospect of getting the tael of silver.
"However, ..."