3 Chapter 3: Liquor City (1) 

Before Lin He knew it, he was on a trip with the con-lady.

Xuan Yi has been prancing before him while holding onto the paper for the past few hours or so, gloating at her successful trickery on him. On the other hand, Lin He had a dark expression on his face as he followed her. Although he didn't say it out loud, he was cursing and screaming in his head. How did he end up answering a prayer for a con-lady? Why did the Celestial Court assign her prayers to him instead of any other gods?

Why him?!

He wanted to run away and get rid of her for good, but he couldn't. Wei Yong had said that he would have to complete the prayer assigned to him before he could get assigned another. So, he's stuck with her for now.

Worst of all, he had to pretend that he feared the 'wrath of disobeying her contract' and help her out.

He would gladly run around town butt naked than to help someone who abused the use of spells on others.

Regardless, he still had to find out whatever she had prayed for. It was so chaotic back there, he couldn't register what her exact intentions were.

Lin He relaxed his facial expression to try to make himself look friendly before clearing his throat. "Oi, you. What's… what was the agreement again?"

She stopped in her tracks and spun around, her brows were knitted as she stared at him. "First of all, my name's Xuan Yi and I'm your creditor. Secondly and most importantly, our agreement is that you would help me with my promotion by catching demons for me. Thirdly… Alright, there's no more." She said with a smile while twirling her hair with her fingers.

So, this promotion thing was likely what she had prayed for. But it was something he had not heard of for a Slayer.

"What is this promotion… thing?"

She spat out the piece of wheat she had been chewing on the whole time. Her eyes grew wide, clearly surprised by his words. Xuan Yi spun around Lin He, examining him before nodding her head. "You're said you're a Slayer and it seems to be right. So, how could you not know about the term 'promotion'? Have you been slacking during class?" She questioned.

Lin He rubbed his nape awkwardly. It seemed like the Mortal Realm had changed a lot while he was locked up for 300 years.

"Well… I-I don't train under a Sect." He lied, hoping she would accept his answer and get over with questioning him.

He could not expose his real identity to a mortal and expect nothing to happen to him. He'll probably get another sentence added to his current one for breaking the Celestial rules.

Xuan Yi eyed him suspiciously before she snapped her fingers. "Ah! So you must be one of those independent Slayers who self-learn. Hm, then it's possible that you have not experienced this." She rubbed her chin while nodding her head, as if agreeing with her own logic.

The truth was Lin He was once part of a prestigious Sect - Yi Sect, one of the largest and famous Sect back in his days. It was a very long time ago and Yi Sect was long gone because of him.

Xuan Yi clapped her hands loudly in front of his face. "Hey, hey. Are you listening to me?" she questioned sternly.

"Sorry. Please, continue." He quickly said, directing his attention back to hrr.

"Where was I? Right! Like I've said just now, a promotion is when a Slayer moves up from a lower rank to the next. For example, I'm currently a Junior, the lowest rank, and I'm trying to move up to Senior. To get promoted, we have to go through a major promotion exam. For my promotion exam, I have to kill ten demons." She explained before rolling up her sleeves.

Lin He took a closer look at her arm that was dotted with black circles, a total of eight sat on her forearm in rows of two. It was a bizarre sight for him. During his time, they did not have such 'promotion' exams nor these… dots?

"What are these dots?" He questioned while pointing to them.

Xuan Yi lets out a huff. "Dots? These are not dots! These are my victory scores! It's a special spell from my Shifu that helps to keep track of my kills. One for a demon I've slayed. I would have gotten one more if you didn't interrupt me earlier."

She just had to go back to the point where he took down the Snake Demon, huh?

Lin He rolled his eyes and ignored her comment. "So, two more and we are done with each other?"

"Yes."

"Great."

"What's your name again?"

"Lin He."

=

It took them almost three days to reach Liquor City, the nearest city to the previous village they were in. The city was bustling with activities as people flooded the streets, either as sellers or buyers or simply visitors.

According to Xuan Yi, Liquor City has been a popular town for the last few decades for the exact good embedded in the city's name - liquor. Its City Mayor, Mayor Jiu, was the founder of Liquor City's most popular business and the main reason why this very city had flourished and expanded rapidly. People from all over would travel long distances to the East, just to have a try of its famous liquor made from Mayor Jiu's secret recipe.

The duo stood in front of the city's notice board, looking out for any possible notice for Slayers or warnings about demons in the area. It was a common thing for people to put up demon bounties or notices for Slayers patrolling around the vicinity where their Sect served to protect.

"This board has nothing." Lin He commented after scanning through the notes stuck onto the board.

Xuan Yi lets out a small sigh, catching the attention of Lin He.

"Are you that eager to be promoted to a Junior Slayer?" He asked, amused by her desperation.

"Of course she's eager!" A voice announced loudly from behind them, garnering the attention of the people walking by.

The duo turned immediately to the source of the voice, only to come face to face with a young lad with a smug grin on his face and his eyes fixated on Xuan Yi. He was not alone and had about several others standing behind him, all dressed in the same set of clothing - a white robe with blue silhouettes of flowers decorating around the ends of their sleeves.

Lin He recognised those patterns, they belonged to the famous Lan Sect.

Lan Sect and Yi Sect were close allies in the past and were well known for being one of the largest and powerful Sects. They had also helped the Yi Sect in a lot of matters, both thriving with each other's aid that people had once thought they were the same Sect. Nonetheless, it seemed like Lan Sect's legacy had continued on well, unlike Yi Sect's.

"She's finally getting promoted after… How many years was it? Three? Everyone else did it in one year." He said before bursting out laughing along with the others.

"You-" Xuan Yi was about to tackle him down but Lin He quickly held her back.

It was not wise to start a fight in the middle of the streets and on someone's land. Besides, something interesting was brewing with regards to this con lady's background that he didn't have a chance to ask about.

"What a loser, tarnishing the great reputation of the Lan Sect. Don't go around telling people that you're part of the Lan Sect." The young lad scoffed before leading his troop away from them.

Lin He took a glance at her and noted how a permanent frown had etched on her face and her hands were curled up into fists, ready to take them down.

"Who are they?" He questioned cautiously while watching the young lad and his friends gloating.

She lets out a huff before crossing her arms, her gaze continued to be fixed on the group of youngsters as they disappeared among the crowd.

"Xiao Long and his dogs. Disciples of my Sect. We are batch mates. That son of a-" Xuan Yi quickly stopped herself from letting out a string of curses. "Ignore him, he just has an unhealthy obsession with me."

=

He stared at her as she gulped yet another cup of liquor down her throat, amused by her behaviour.

This Lan Sect disciple was the one who said that Xiao Long had an unhealthy obsession with her, but it seemed like she was the one with the unhealthy obsession, drinking and cursing at him continuously for the past two hours after the sun had set.

"That bastard, just because he's one of the best Slayers of my Sect… How dare he look down on me like this." She took another cup down. "Disgusting fella!"

"Well, it seems like you are the one with an obsession with him." Lin He let out a small chuckle but went silent immediately when she glared at him.

He cleared his throat quickly before snatching her cup away. "It's amazing how you are not drunk after drinking so much. But please, stop drinking."

Xuan Yi frowned. "Why? Just because you are the one paying for everything? I'll treat you the next time around!" She exclaimed before grabbing her cup back from his hands.

Lin He stared at the number of jugs sprawled across the table and muttered a curse under his breath. He has been paying for all the expenses during their journey because she had "coincidentally" lost her money pouch, which he believed was another one of her con acts but he didn't have evidence to prove otherwise. At this rate of her spendthrift lifestyle, his money reserve for three months will disappear within two weeks.

Oh, how he desperately wished that demons would drop down from the sky and free him from the grasp of this money sucking lady.

"Greetings, Slayers," A mysterious man appeared at their table out of nowhere and greeted them with a bow. "My Lord would like to see you."

Lin He eyed him suspiciously, noting how this mystery man was dressed in prim and proper clothing and had a few servants behind him. He had noticed a few unknown figures following them around in town after their morning's walk-in with Xiao Long and his friends but he wasn't planning to do anything unless they were perceived as threats. It looked like the mysterious figures were them.

"What for?" Xuan Yi questioned angrily as she poured another cup of liquor. "I'm kind of busy at the moment, go away."

"My Lord, Mayor Jiu," The mysterious man took a quick scan around the tavern and noted how there were not many customers. "He has encountered a demon and requires immediate assistance."

Well, that's half of Lin He's wish granted.