29 Strange

Qinghai stopped and looked from right to left and vice versa as he waved his bamboo fan with a pondering look; he knew what had happened as he was aware of some of Xingtian's techniques and abilities. Therefore, he was a bit unhappy as it will be difficult for him to know where he went, at least, not until he used his soul sense or spread his people around but he didn't want to do so; aside that it would be impolite as this Empire wasn't his playground and neither a stranger ones but his friend place, the area that covered that move of Xingtian's was rather wide. Though he didn't know the exact range, Xingtian could have appeared quite far away along with those nasty people, meaning that he would have to exert some strength which could arise some uninvited eyes and ruin his stay here.

Whatever his reasons might be, as Qinghai was about to shoo all of them away along with his care, a familiar sweet and fragrant aroma wafted to his nose, "Hehh…" He closed his fan and an interesting smile was drawn on his charming lips as his eyes radiated a funny knowing light.

He stood in place for a bit more time before disappearing like the wind, chasing away the rich fragrance to its origin; with his nose being as perceptive as it ever had been, it hadn't been difficult for him to locate the site.

The sweetness with a bit of metallic flavour on it he smelt came from a dark alleyway not far from where Huan Meirong was; it was just around a hundred meters away so Qinghai arrived in few seconds.

"Hey!" Qinghai exclaimed when he saw Xingtian's back, "How…" he was about to joke around in a nagging manner at how he was left behind but he could just say a word before seeing the complete panoramic view of the place; there were pieces of bodies lying around Xingtian with blood splashed here and there.

"Ohh… No wonder my nose could perceive this sweetish fragrance this quick," Qinghai said while approaching to Xingtian, adding as he opened his fan, "Tsk, tsk, where have your clean and perfect cuts gone? Could it be that you have lost your touch with just this bit more of a year's time of vacation?

That can't be, right?" As they were apprentice brothers, he knew Xingtian was someone who did clean kills while he, Qinghai, was the one whose known businesses ended in a rather gruesome manner.

Though Xingtian had heard him, he didn't answer; all the words Qinghai had uttered was nonsense to him. Therefore, he just turned around and went pass Qinghai to leave the alley without bothering to even look at Qinghai's direction.

"You…" Qinghai was left with words in his mouth, though it wasn't a surprise to him so he gave a chuckle before turning around to say as he saw the disappearing back of Xingtian, "Hey! Hold on, who is going to clean your mess?"

But yet again, Qinghai didn't get a reply.

"Tsk, that's why you should let your people follow you around," he grumbled and did a motion with his fan before leaving to not lost sight of Xingtian.

When Qinghai vanished from the alley, two men clad in a tight purple robe and with a simple silver mask on their faces appeared. Both waved their hands, making a white jade bottle came out; they opened the lids before spilling over the bodies and blood some transparent liquid that looked like water. But it wasn't water at all; as soon as it made contact with the flesh and bones of the body, they dissolved entirely while the blood evaporated like boiling water. They also burned the clothes and took their belongings before finding and wiping the tracks left behind by their companions to join their ranks again.

…

Huan Meirong was still waiting but she wasn't sitting anymore, she was standing with her front body facing the back of the alley; it was an alley without exit. From all the plans she had come with to deal with her current situation, the best one was made them approach her with their guards lowered as they will probably belittle her; that way, she will be able to kill them quickly before they could use their strength. If they were to use their power and velocity from the start to get her, then, she was doomed as she couldn't enter the space of the marquis-shaped black stone because it could rise suspicions; it wouldn't be wise.

Either way, she was only hoping for the best but the longer she waited, the weirder she felt and it wasn't because of anxiety.

"…" She furrowed her brows in wonder. It was strange, the time to cover the distance those people were keeping from her had already passed and even if they had slowed down their pace, it wouldn't take this long for them to reach this place unless they had bumped into something which she felt it was quite unlikely.

'Hmm?' She raised her head to the sky and furrowed more her brows, thinking. But before she could conjecture something, Zhi'ers agitated voice came to her ears; he was out of breath.

"Eldest miss, Zhi'er… bought the many delicious things for… e-ldest miss to enjoy the fastest Zhi'er could.

*Cough*

Zhi'er didn't make the eldest miss wait much, right?" He asked with some anxiousness as he had seen her standing and nor sitting.

"Umh? No, Zhi'er was pretty fast." She shook her head with a laugh before saying, "Let's go back, we need to be back before the afternoon meal."

"Aye," Zhi'er replied as he got closer to his miss.

"Oh, it smells wonderful. Zhi'er surely picked the most delicious ones," she praised and then said as Zhi'er led with a bit of difficulty her hand to his shoulder.

"But of course," he nodded with smugness, he was proud of his choices.

Huan Meirong laughed with his action before waving her free hand to keep the things in her first golden qiankun bag.

"Huh?" Zhi'er who was looking at the front and was about to walk forward got startled with the things sudden disappearance; he was about to panic but Huan Meirong said, "Here, let's eat these candies on the way back."

"Ah?" Zhi'er took the presented little bag of candies and unconsciously nodded. He opened it with confusion and they were one of the candies he had bought, 'Oh, right! Eldest Miss has a treasure that stores things too.' Zhi'er hadn't seen a qiankun bag before as people usually kept them out from the eyes of other people so he was clueless about the fact that he had touched one of those bags that he regarded as treasures.

*Sigh* He was relieved when he remembered that and began to walk with a slightly upped pace; his miss wanted to go back quickly.