“I hope you have a safe trip,” the youth smiled as he bowed to Li Fen. The carriage was parked just behind them.

Butler Yu and his wife, Li Wanyu the Third Elder were exchanging words.

“Don’t use too much Ice Qi,” Li Wanyu nagged.

“I’ll only use as much as I need,” Butler Yu smiled.

“You never listen to me!”

The youth turned his head back towards Li Fen. She smiled at him and came close to him. She reached over to his ear and whispered, “If you still feel uneasy, don’t worry. I sent a letter to Chyou`er four days ago; with her here, no one would dare pull anything!”

“I see…” the youth gave a perfunctory reply. Sure, the sects had better modes of transport like the Flying Spirit Boat, but other factors would still slow down Li Chyou’s arrival. The time it takes for the letter to reach the sect and then to her, the matter of getting approval to leave the sect, authorization to use a Flying Spirit Boat, and other things like these would eat-up time.

He calculated her ETA in his mind. Immediately, he sighed. Chances are she’ll arrive tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. The former is if the Mistress expressed her urgency in the letter. But looking at Mistress’s attitude, this is unlikely.

For reference, by using a Flying Spirit Boat, one can shorten the 10-day journey from Huangye Town to Goldleaf Town down to a mere few hours.

After a few more exchanges, Li Fen and the others boarded the carriage. The Li Clan members saw the carriage slowly drive away. Once it was far enough out of sight, they started dispersing.

The youth turned around and looked at two small girls. One was a teary and pouty mess while the other spared no effort to console her.

“Come on, Young Miss,” he beckoned the sad Li Daoyun. “Let’s leave.”

“Umu!” she nodded.

“You as well Cui`er!”

“Yes, Big Brother!”

The youth walked alongside them back to the Patriarch’s house. Halfway there, he stopped in his tracks.

The two girls looked back at him. The youth clapped his hands as though he remembered something, “Ah yes! Second Young Miss, the Mistress asked me to take you to see the Young Master from Wang Clan!”

“What? Why?” Li Daoyun asked childishly.

Isn’t she 11 or 12 years old this year? Contrary to his thoughts, his mouth churned out something else, “It was partly to foster a stronger bond between the two clans, to make you focus on something else and also because the Patriarch’s House will be undergoing some renovations!”

“Really?” she narrowed her eyes in suspicion, “Why don’t I know of this?”

“Second Young Miss,” he smiled, “As bad as it sounds, do you really think people will tell you about work things? Since the First Young Miss is already set to become the Patriarch, you are just here-” The youth paused. “The others will only dote on you!”

“You-!” Li Daoyun angrily looked at him. But looking at his smiling face, she can tell that he wasn’t lying. There truly wasn’t any need for her to know about the clan’s happenings.

“And when I say ‘work things’,” the youth continued, “I mean trivial things like the renovation. You’ll always be informed of the important things.” He grinned, “I’ll be the first one to inform you.”

Li Daoyun looked away and meekly thanked him. The youth nodded and said, “Then shall we get going?” He started walking but stopped after a few steps again, “Ah! Cui`er, I’ll ask your mother to go with you!”

“Why?”

“There is no way in Heaven am I letting two children go unsupervised!”

“What?” Li Daoyun pouted, “I’m big enough!”

“Indeed,” he nodded and got her hopes up. But immediately dashed them by saying, “But not big enough to be unsupervised!”

“I’m not talking to you anymore!” she angrily stomped the ground and turned around.

“Oh, then you don’t want to go to the Wang Clan?” he raised his eyebrow.

“…no.”

“Are you sure?”

“…”

“…3.” The youth started counting down.

“2,” she started fidgeting.

“O…..n-”

“Fine, I’ll go!” Li Daoyun relented.

“Excellent!” he smiled. He turned and looked at the both of them, “Cui, take the Second Young Miss to her room and pack for a day’s worth of stay! I’ll come back after informing your mother.”

“Yes!” Qing Cui hurriedly nodded and took off with Li Daoyun. The youth stood still and watched them leave. After they were far enough, he relaxed his shoulders. He took out an envelope from his robe. I’m going to have to use this, right about now…

He turned around and looked towards the shadow. He grinned and asked, “What’s there to spy among clansmen?”

“Heeh~” a voice sounded from the shadows. “How long did you know?”

“From the very beginning.”

“Shouldn’t you have tried to hide better?” A figure walked out from the shadows.

The youth smiled, “Would it matter? Elder Li has been eyeing me for the whole time we bid the others goodbye!”

“Oi, enough chit-chat!” Li Wanyu bared her teeth at him. “Why are you making Daoyun go to the Wang’s?”

“To keep her mind occupied? Would you believe that?”

“Cut the bullshit!” she unsheathed a dagger from her waist and held it at his throat. A drop of blood rolled down his neck onto the blade.

“Is there really a need for this?” he sighed.

“Slitting the throat of a cheeky little shit like you? Certainly!” Her gaze became more menacing.

The youth looked at her. He sighed and stopped grinning. Bringing out the envelope in his pocket, he handed it over to her. “It’s a letter from the Mistress.”

She took the envelope with her free hand while keeping the dagger on his neck. She ripped the envelope open with her teeth and took out the letter before reading it. As she read it, her face changed; from menacing, to pale and finally red with embarrassment.

She took the blade off his neck. The red slit mark on his neck now had another cut of going diagonally. She looked away and pushed the letter into his hands.

“I see that you were indeed telling the truth,” she told him whilst hiding her face with her sleeve.

“Is something the matter?” he grinned and pressed her.

“N-Nothing,” she pushed him away and ran away. After seeing her run away, his grin wiped off and was replaced with an aggrieved look. Why aren’t any of the women in my life normal…?

It was night. He walked towards Li Daoyun’s room. Qing Yanyan, Qing Cui’s mother was following behind him. Although he looked calm, his mood was less than ideal. With the stress of tomorrow, the stress of taking three people to the Wang Clan safely as well as the nerve-racking exchange with Li Wanyu, his day has turned sour.

“Ah, sir!” Qing Yanyan called him from behind.

“Hmm?” he replied but didn’t stop walking.

“How long are we to stay there?”

“No more than 2 days!”

“And why do you have your bow and arrows?”

“For things.”

After getting an answer, she did not ask anything else. The youth took her to Li Daoyun’s room and knocked on her door.

“Second Young Miss, it’s me!”

“Come in!” her pubescent voice reached his ears. With a push, he opened the door and led Qing Yanyan inside.

He saw both Li Daoyun and Qing Cui inside. They were standing in front of an open closet.

“Are you done packing?” he asked.

“N-Not yet!” Qing Cui stuttered.

“Why not?”

“It’s because I can’t pick which clothes to wear!” Li Daoyun whined.

The youth sighed deeply. He strode over to the closet, picked the black dress, and handed it over to her. He talked roughly, “Place it in your Space Ring. Pack your dudou[1] and panties as well!”

“But-” before she could say anything else, he glared at her. She quietly placed it in her Space Ring.

“Since you’re done, let’s depart!” with that, he walked outside the door followed by the other three.

After a while of walking, Li Daoyun narrowed her eyes and asked, “Isn’t this the way to the side exit? Why are we going this way?”

“Because-” he took the letter from his robes and pointed towards it, “-I want you too.”

“What!?” Li Daoyun asked in shock and snatched the letter from his hands. Just like Li Wanyu, the more she read, the more her expression changed.

“So, I have to listen to everything you say?” she stopped reading and looked up at him.

He turned around, smiled, and took the letter from her hands, “That’s what the Mistress says.”

“…fine,” she sulked.

“Do you understand what I said before now?” the youth continued walking.

“What does that have to do with this?” she asked grumpily.

“As long as you are a child, you will be treated like one!” The youth smirked. “The First Young Miss was given a quarter of the affection you receive. She can’t rest. Even now, she might be fighting for her life.”

“Then should I try to enter a sect as well? Should I aim for the heir’s position?” she yelled at him.

“No,” the youth shook his head. The four of them walked through the halls. “Isn’t this fine?” he continued, “Be loved, fall in love, get married, have a child, get old, see your children be married, play with your grandchildren; is there anything more lovely than that?”

“Will that be all I amount to?” she spoke in a quiet voice. There was sadness in her voice.

“Shouldn’t the real question be, ‘Do I want to amount to just that?’ But nothing should ever be ‘just that’. Living a mundane life is fine if it fulfills you. What we want to achieve in life is the fulfillment of ourselves. So whatever fulfills you, do it! If you want to travel, go ahead. If you want to cultivate, go ahead. The first thing that stops you from doing something is yourself and the external factors come later.”

Li Daoyun pondered over his words for a long time. As they were reaching the side exit, she asked, “Then what do you want to do?”

The youth stayed silent. As he reached the exit, he turned around and said, “…I want to-”

“Why take this exit then?” this voice was familiar to him. And hearing it at this point had thoroughly incensed him. He scratched his head as he let out a rough voice, “Ah, this shitty hag!”

Li Daoyun looked at him with her eyes wide open and jaw agape. Qing Cui and Qing Yanyan had the same reaction but for a different reason.

“What did you say?” Li Wanyu exploded.

“What do you want?” he enunciated the ‘you’ a bit forcefully.

“I just asked why you were taking them through-”

“Shut it!” the youth rudely interrupted her, “Are you stupid or just pretending? Haven’t you felt the air in the clan?”

Li Wanyu opened her mouth and closed it. Just like he said, she did feel the tense atmosphere in the clan these days which seemed to ramp up the more days passed.

The youth continued to berate her, “And you want me to announce that I’m taking the Second Young Miss by using a damn carriage! Is your brain waterlogged?”

“I-”

He once again cut her off, “Stop making excuses! Tell me, how many people are spying on us?”

“T-Three.”

“Then why are you sitting around? Take care of them!” he looked at her like she was an idiot.

“O-Okay!” she disappeared and after 10 minutes came back again. “I knocked them unconscious!”

“Where are they?”

“Behind that tree!” she pointed towards a nearby tree. He went there and found three people in masks sitting while unconscious. He took a bottle out of the pouch from his waist. He took off their masks and opened their mouths before putting one drop of liquid from the bottle into their mouths.

He came back and rejoined their group.

“What did you do?” Li Wanyu asked.

“Fed them some poison.”

“You killed them!?”

“No, just poisoned them. They’ll be in deep fever and won’t be able to do anything much less talk for the next three days.”

“O-Oh, why?” she asked only to get glared at again.

He went back to Li Daoyun’s group and said, “We’re leaving.” He walked out the side exit followed by them.

After a while, he turned around, “Why are you still standing around?”

Li Wanyu looked around before pointing at herself, “Me?”

“Yes, you! Is there any other dumbass standing there?” he said in an annoyed tone.

“N-No? Wait!”

“Will you hurry the fuck up?”

“Yes!” she hastily walked towards them.

“Um…” Li Daoyun raised her voice. “If there isn’t a carriage, how do we get there?”

“Aren’t you a Cultivator?” the youth asked, “Run there!”

“B-But me and my daughter aren’t Cultivators!” Qing Yanyan protested.

“Well, would you look at that?” The youth sneered at her words. He looked at Li Wanyu, “We have a Tendon Transformation coolie right here!”