Rescue Mission

Agate Pavillion, Li Manor

Jun Ru brought a cultivation manual to Li Sihan.

"What is this?" Li Sihan raised her eyebrows.

"Senior Xi Yun's gift to the Young Miss. She recently went on a treasure seeking trip with her disciples in the Upper Prefecture. This cultivation manual was the most valuable thing they brought back,"

"Oh," Li Sihan said in passing, "thank Little Yun for me,"

Little Yun was the Grand Chief's nickname for Flaming Spear Xi Yun.

"Little Bun," Li Sihan cradled the baby, "your nice sister Xi Yun sent this to you," she waved the cultivation manual in Little Bun's face.

"Bun Bun yeet it?"

Jun Ru's eyelids twitched. Li Sihan frowned.

"Why is it you think of nothing else but food?"

Jun Ru:....ask yourself that, Grand Chief!...

"Look at you," Li Sihan continued, "you're so fat," she pinched her cheeks, "aah-- but you're so cute!"

Jun Ru and Tao He:....this won't end well, Grand Chief!...

"Bun Bun hungry!" Little Bun cashed in on Li Sihan's distraction, "Bun Bun starfing," she had even upgraded her vocabulary!

"Tao He,"

Tao He couldn't cry. From being the renowned 'Sword Saint' of Phoenix Empire, to becoming the disciple of Storm Sword after joining the Si Lak Mercenaries -- he was now Little Bun's exclusive chef! How much worse could his life get!? The-- the Grand Chief would surely not also put him and Jun Ru in potty training duty for the Young Miss, right!??!

"Yo, Tao He, everyone has been giving gifts to the Young Miss-- what are you going to give her?" Jun Ru asked Tao He in Agate Pavilion's kitchen.

"Ahh-- don't bother your head, young one. This old man will shock you guys!"

"Who are you calling 'young one'? If not for the fact that you're preparing the Young Miss' meal, I would have whipped your butt," Jun Ru scoffed.

"Hah," Tao He smirked, "we shall know whose butt shall be whipped! I've never really pitted my strength against yours, have I?"

"If I catch wind of you two duelling here in the Li Manor--" a cold voice suddenly sounded behind them and they jumped, "I will kill you both!"

"Forgive us, Grand Chief!" Tao He and Jun Ru couldn't breathe in the face of Li Sihan's pressurising aura. Damn! Did someone offend their Grand Chief?!

Yes, someone did. After finally making sense of the Banquet Day's events, Consort Ruang and her son and daughter had come wailing at the Li Manor gates. How blind they were!!! The greatest bigshot of all time was actually their near kin! They needed to seize the chance!

Unfortunately for them, there was no chance whatsoever to be seized. It had been decided already, once Li Zhenming had failed to introduce them as family. The result: they got kicked out of the Li Manor!

"Anyone that has ever treated my family unjustly," Li Sihan had declared, "and anyone that wants to from now on-- shall face the wrath of the Grand Chief of the Si Lak Mercenaries!"

Certainly no one in their right senses would ever think to annoy the Li family from that point on! Their eldest daughter was basically the Grand Chief! The Grand Chief! It took Phoenix Empire a long while before they could accept this fact.

Tao He respectfully served the Young Miss her meal. The baby had developed a huge liking for this jolly faced uncle and gugled happily whenever she saw him.

"Bun Bun like Tao He!"

Silence. Li Sihan raises her eyes. Tao He sweated through all his pores.

"I have half a mind to send you back to the Headquarters for this. Since when have you and I been sharing my sister's affection?"

Already seeming to be in dire straits, Tao He appealed to the Young Miss through his mind link with her.

"No!" Little Bun grabbed Li Sihan's hair aggressively, "Tao He not go! Tao He stay! Tao He stay!"

Li Sihan extricated her hair from the baby's grip with surprise and a little alarm. She held the baby at arms length and examined her thoroughly.

"What's wrong with-- aah?" She stopped mid sentence, becoming visibly enraged as she seemed to have discovered something, "Tao! He!"

Jun Ru lit a candle for the dumb Tao He in his heart.

"How dare you," Li Sihan spoke slowly now, but her voice was filled with raw anger, "place your imprint on Little Bun without my approval?!"

Tao He knew at that moment that he was done for. He immediately went down on one knee. Damn! He'd only been in the Mercenaries for six years! And it was a whole lot of hard work that enabled him to become a Vanguard in such a short time!

"Do you think your mediocre strength is enough to protect her? Do you think I didn't have my reasons for only placing Xi Yun, Gu Yan, Fei Ning, Hao Ren and Jun Ru's imprint on her?"

Tao He's eyes widened as he was learning the names of the other three Seniors of the Mercenaries for the first time today! He didn't even know his Senior Master Storm Sword's real name all these years!

Little Bun sensed that something was wrong. Her domineering big sister was angry at the lovely uncle Tao He who made delicious meals and snacks!

"Big sis-- big sis--" she started clamouring for Li Sihan's attention, "Bun Bun good. Bun Bun like 'oo. Bun Bun like Big Sis!"

Li Sihan sighed in exasperation before finally waving Tao He away.

"Visit the Boiler for a week,"

This Boiler again! When they'd all first arrived in Phoenix Empire, she had punished all of those who came, (if not because of Senior Xi Yun and the others' stupid clamouring, Tao He thought angrily) with a stint in the Boilers! He would definitely do that punishment whenever he returned to the headquarters, be it a hundred years from now. Now another entire week was added to his own punishment! What a life! What a world!

"Tao He has received your order,"

***

Gaizhong Residence, Hushai Province, Tian Empire

Tian Empire's second prince, Ru Ziyan, sighed heavily as he rose from a study table and walked a short distance to the window, arms behind him, as he started ruminating on the highly detailed letter he had just finished reading. The letter was from his sweetheart, and contained all that had happened over at Phoenix. Even before it had arrived, he had heard news that the Si Lak Mercenaries had visited the Phoenix Empire, but he had no idea that the situation was like this!

He hissed in annoyance, wishing to crush something to expend his current frustration. His future mother in law was so dumb! In fact, as he saw it, all of Phoenix Empire royalty was dumb and they all needed a good brain resetting slap! Imagine if it was Tian Empire that these prodigies visited! How, how his heart bled!

And now, the Grand Chief of the damn Si Lak Mercenaries itself turned out to be his stupid sweetheart's cousin! And she couldn't-- she couldn't get one step close to her! That was why it was important to maintain good relations with your family members no matter what! Even though he was currently engaged in a "battle for the throne" with his brothers, it didn't mean that they wanted to slit one anothers throats! Tian Empire was innately different from the other empires on the mainland in this respect. Their emperor was a monogamist, so even with that, the princes, no matter how much they could come to hate each other, would never kill themselves. Otherwise, how would they explain to their mother?

Ru Ziyan turned a second lap around his study. He seriously considered calling off his engagement with the eighth princess of Phoenix. If she was this stupid and dumb, wouldn't she only cause endless troubles for him if he married her?

Now he wanted to visit the Phoenix Empire, but he couldn't travel under the identity of the fiance of the eighth princess. What to do?!

He returned to the table and sat down on his chair with a soft sigh. He glanced at the sheaves upon sheaves of parchment and Xi Huan's light graceful calligraphy. He put all the pages together and put them to one side.

"Who's out there?"

An aide entered, carrying a sword loosely at his waist, and bowed.

"Si Hang, your highness,"

"Tell me," Ru Ziyan crossed his fingers and rested his chin on them, "how can I get into Phoenix Empire without anyone knowing I'm the second prince of Tian-- or Princess Xi Huan's fiance?"

The aide thought for a minute.

"Your Highness can just become a simple young master of an imaginary noble family,"

"Hmm," Ru Ziyan murmured, "I suppose I could. Very well then. Prepare. We're leaving tonight, if we can,"

"Yes, your highness!" Si Hang bowed and left the room immediately.

Ru Ziyan straightened out a clean parchment and dipped his quill in ink. He paused for a while as he did some quick thinking, then put the brush to the paper and wrote a short message to his royal tutor.

I think I might be able to get a BIG support this time. Remember to keep an eye on the others for me. Ziyan.

***

Imperial Capital, Phoenix Empire

The four flamboyantly dressed madams approached the gate of the Li Manor nervously after descending from their respective carriages. After the capital had caught wind of the fact that the daughter of the Li family herself was the Grand Chief of the Si Lak Mercenaries, everyone gave the manor a wide berth. They simply did not want to offend the yama existences and meet an untimely death while at it!

These madams came on invitation to Madam Li's tea party but that did not relieve their tenseness. Of course, their husbands and their families had encouraged them heartily! This could be the only avenue yet to form a connection with the Si Lak Mercenaries! That was why they even plucked up the little courage to come. Otherwise, they would just send a decline letter stating some excuses! But wouldn't the scary bigshot mercenary be offended that her mommy's friends didn't come to her mommy's party? What to do?!

They were led inside and escorted to a lovely gazebo with a picturesque scenery, where, to their horror, Madam Li was seated with her two daughters, expecting the guests!

Their eyes flew to the two silent sentries behind the Li family's eldest miss and they shuddered.

"Ahh," Ren Ziming, who had become accustomed to the Mercenaries and did not notice anything amiss in this happy setting, rose, beaming, to welcome her friends, "you're here!"

They returned weak smiles, already loosing feeling in their legs, which were fast turning into jelly. Li Sihan got up suddenly, causing the four to jump at least three feet into the air!

"Mother, Silan and I are going to the garden,"

Madam Li glanced at her daughter quizzically.

"Alright, go on. Be careful, and don't expose yourself to the sun,"

"Tao He, Jun Ru,"

"Yes, Grand Chief," the two mercenaries packed her things; Little Bun's rocking cart, Little Bun's bucket of snacks, Little Bun's tub of ice cold drinks; and followed the pair of sisters. The madams shivered and jumped out of the way as they approached.

"Sit down, sit down!" Ren Ziming beamed at her guests. Now that the pressurizing aura had lifted, they started to relax, and sat down around the table in the gazebo. These ladies were not nobodies! The madam of the Nangong family a big mercantile conglomerate, Wu Meiyu; the madam of the Han family, bigshots of silk and textile, Qin Jiajia; the madam of the Ren family, a highstanding ducal family, Lan Yifei; and finally, the madam of the Wei family, the only other paramount business mogul in the Imperial Capital, Xiao Anrou. These were Madam Li's friends.

The servants of the Li family served this small party, and, now in their element, the ladies began to banter. Madam Li received the latest gossip from these ladies-- the ministry of rites was preparing for the coronation of Xi Zimin.

"Aah," Ren Ziming had put her hand over her mouth, "what will now be the fate of Consort Ruang and her children?"

The madams immediately supplied her with the information. Li Ruang and her son and daughter had been banished by the Empress about to be Dowager. The trio had gone to seek asylum in Tian Empire with the eighth princess' fiance.

After exhausting the juicy tirade on the royal family's matters, the talk turned to the Madam Li's flourishing personal enterprise. They eagerly asked if their daughters could come and 'learn a few things' from Ren Ziming. With her consent, they were over the moon!

Li Zhenming returned home early in the evening. His business had stabilised again, as, before, huge deals had come in from various neighbouring empires, rocking them and almost getting out of control. But, to his surprise, his daughter had sent for someone called Gold Spirit from the Si Lak Mercenaries to help him. In no time, Li Zhenming had become an even greater bigshot that he already was!

"Welcome, my lord," the butler greeted him respectfully.

"Where are the madam and the children?" Li Zhenming asked as his outer robe was taken off him.

"In the Heilan Pavilion, my lord,"

The scene was as he expected; Ren Ziming being waited upon by two maids, Li Sihan feeding her sister; the two sentries from the Si Lak Mercenaries standing guard.

"Hubby," Ren Ziming rose, smiling hapilly. Li Zhenming smiled back at her dotingly. This was the life, wasn't it? He had all he wanted, a happy wife, and two beautiful (and insanely powerful) daughters!

The Lis enjoyed a heart dinner. Just as the butler and the servants were clearing the table, the air fluctuated, and a grainy image of Flaming Spear Xi Yun appeared.

"Grand Chief," she went down on one knee, "we are under attack. Charming Leopard and I are in Yulian Empire-- tracing a lair of the Scorpion Hall. However, they've cornered us. We're on the east peak of Mt. Guobei,"

The atmosphere changed as killing intent surged into Li Sihan's eyes.

"I will come," she said, and Xi Yun's image disappeared, "Tao He, Gold Spirit--" Gold Spirit appeared on the spot, "you will stay here and guard Li Manor. Your Seniors, Jun Ru and I will go save Xi Yun and Charming Leopard,"

Li Zhenming was worried, but he had seen how powerful his daughter was. Besides, nothing he said would stop her from going.

"Be careful, Sihan," was all he said. Li Sihan glanced at him, and then nodded.

"Sure,"

She rose, handing her sister to her mother. Before the perplexed eyes of the onlookers, she drew a pattern with her fingers in the air.

"Si Lak Mercenaries," she intoned, and with a bright flash, she was gone,"