10 The Armoury (I)

Xiao Ling, for the longest time peered at Xieren who was kneeling to her height. He had a contrite smile on his face and gently placed his hand on her head, gently moving through her silky smooth hair.

"I'm really sorry, Xiao Ling. But I have to go now" He spoke in a soft tone, hoping it would help the little girl cope with the current situation.

"But... But... you promised me..." Xiao Ling's eyes were turning red, her cheeks puffed up, trying to hold in her sobbing, which only seemed to make Xieren feel guiltier.

"How about this? I will give you a cultivation scroll for which you must follow and, start collecting Qi. By the time everything is over, I will check on your progress and if it is good enough, we can go somewhere together" He suggested, Xiao Ling's eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Will Big sis Akagi come with us too?" She begged him, her pupils enlarged as Xieren felt a glob of blood reaching his throat.

"What do you think Akagi?" Xieren asked suggestively and looked at his fiancée who had undone her veil.

She looked as though she was a goddess that had graced the mortal plane in all of her divine beauty, otherworldly and untainted.

Akagi's eyes were of a darker shade of red, one could say it was maroon, and coupled with her thin sharp eyebrows made her seem so distant.

With her buxom figure hidden under the robes she had worn, Akagi was the embodiment of a true Yamato nadeshiko...

Despite giving off a cold appearance, she acted like a maiden in love when Xieren suggested that she come with them.

"M-Milord, are we not taking things a bit too fast?" She asked him, and for some reason, the disturbing book she had read in the carriage seemed to keep flashing in her mind constantly obstructing her speech when conversing with the man...

"Are we? Last time, you were very assertive when holding hands" Xieren teased her forcing the lady to lightly glare at him playfully.

"Milord, it was courtesy in my eyes" She replied to him in denial as Xieren walked over to her side forcing her to shift about uncomfortably.

He sat next to her, slowly inching closer and stopped.

"Is it fine if I hold you?" Xieren asked her softly forcing her to give into temptation.

She nodded quietly, her face was red in shame and embarrassment, both towards herself.

He then wrapped his arm around her lithe figure and brought her closer to him, giving a small peck on her flushed cheek, Xieren stood up to get the scroll, Xiao Ling followed behind him and giggling over what just happened...

Akagi went into daze and covered her face with her slender hands and moved side to side shyly with a very womanly inaudible squeal of bashful delight.

•••••

"Before I go, Xiao Ling, make sure to keenly follow all instructions in the scroll. If you don't understand anything, ask my father, mother or both. Don't go out for a while and make sure to obey any order and report on anything you find suspicious of, got it?" Xieren asked his cute disciple.

"Un!" She nodded seriously, it seemed weird when glancing at, because Xiao Ling's body was that of a twelve year old girl eventhough she was really just eight.

He then walked upto Akagi who looked down coyly which incited the secret wrath of Mei.

"Take care of yourself" Xieren took the initiative.

"Y-You too Milord" She stuttered and mentally criticized herself over such behaviour.

"Thank you... hearing it from you certainly makes me feel better!" He chuckled and caressed her head gently.

"I-I see Milord..." She nodded, mustering her courage.

"Well... I'll be going now, bye!" Xieren waved his hand at both Akagi and Xiao Ling, both looking solemn.

'Just do it!'

"Milord!" Akagi's voice halted Xieren in his steps as he turned around, confused.

She leaned forward and touched her wet red lips on his cheek and vanished from the spot immediately.

"Did that just... happen?" One of the members in his group had his jaw dropped.

The floor around Mei cracked as she seethed in envy.

"L-Let's go!" Xieren ordered them with his eyes closed, his face was dusted in a pink hue which only added more laughter among the several guards that saw the scene.

It was always wholesome to see people get together merrily in times of distress...

That was what Xieren was thinking to stop himself from wringing their necks.

Calming himself down, Xieren pretended as if he could not hear the comments and walked away silently.

'Everything is going to be alright if I don't respond!' He chanted.

Until of course, one smartass decided to ruin everything for him.

"Young master, there is lipstick smeared on your face!" The guard shouted.

"What?!" He shouted and rubbed his face with his hand furiously, hoping no one else would see it.

"Pfft" The guards snickered with even more vigor, even elbowing one another to stop themselves from blowing up with laughter.

"hehe, he fell for it" A female cultivator from his group giggled and stared at Xieren who breathed heavily.

"... let's go" He spoke tiredly and left with the group.

•••••

"Dude, I was holding in this shit for like fifteen hours and when I let it out, it felt as if I was enlightened, you know that feeling right?" A soldier spoke to one of his colleagues who nodded understandingly.

"Like when you have a stomach and you take a dump and it's gone" His friend responded.

"Yes! That!" The soldier shouted in agreement, as the conversation went on for a few hours until their guard shift was over.

"...I did not just here that" Mei said with disgust laced in her voice.

"He was talking about some real things though... you ladies wouldn't understand it, isn't that so Young Lord?" A male cultivator replied with a shrug.

However, getting no answer from Xieren he turned to his friend.

"Geez... fine" His friend said and walked upto Xieren who did not notice the man behind him.

"The kiss felt good right?" His friend said, his voice becoming tones lighter, as if it was one with nature forcing Xieren to nod.

"...Yeah" Xieren replied.

"Wait! Wait! Wait a minute!" He shouted almost as immediately as he said that.

"I meant the previous statement!" Xieren grumbled.

"Thanks buddy!" The male cultivator smiled at his friend gratefully and turned to the ladies.

"See" He said smugly.

"Ugh, that is so disturbing" The female cultivator said and shook her head.

"Young Lord was tricked!" Mei said harshly.

"He would never say anything like tha-"

"Mei, I'm so sorry but I need to intervene into this conversation. I just saw several masked cultivators enter the armoury!" Xieren announced getting the attention of all of his temporary subordinates.

"Now, this means that our mission will be even harder! soldiers are one thing and we can escape from them, but not cultivators... there was a total of eight, five in Saint Emperor realm, two in Celestial rebirth realm and one in Celestial sword realm" He said gravely.

Several gasps left from the group.

"I'm only in the Saint Duke realm..." The man who talked to Mei, Qiu Dong, whispered softly.

'I've only reached the Saint Emperor realm two days ago...'Mei looked down shamefully.

'Why am I so inadequate?!' She clenched her fists tightly, her nails digging into her flesh, almost wounding herself in the process but was stopped short by Xieren who smiled at her gently.

"Blaming yourself is never the answer... and besides, you need to remember that you are younger than me by two years..." His soothing voice helped her open up her fists.

"Young Master..." Mei grit her teeth and looked away.

She hated the feeling of weakness and having to be looked after for...

"Anyway, for now we rest" Xieren concluded and walked away...