Black Fragment

***

(MC POV)

I went back to the Grand hall like normal and headed for the records room once more.

'Yi Feng, Yi Feng let's see when you were admitted.'

Starting from the most recent records of new Inner Disciples I scanned through the names, yet none matched. I looked through the next few forms too and still I found no match.

I was a little puzzled, had she been here for that long and I simply didn't realize? It wasn't too far-fetched a thought, but truly a little odd considering the amount of times I walk through the sect.

It wasn't like she would blend into the rest of the crowd with that scar across her face nor with that gradient style hair of hers. At the very least they would have stuck in my memory a little longer than the generic person with brown or black hair.

'Huh? What's this? Did someone make an error?'

As I was checking records for her name I made it to the records 7 years ago again. This one was a lot later in comparison, but nonetheless it had a similar description.

It was a private test, but this one didn't even have the tester's name written down.

'Did I miss this last time I was checking for Li Daji? W-wait, there's more?'

After a bit more scouring I found that there were another 3 private tests all of which also didn't have the tester's name written down. The only difference between the 4 was the fact that the date between their testing was different, the closest one being within a month of each other.

'Were the records forged? No, if they were then there was no need to put nothing down for their own names. Hmm, what was the point of even putting this down if no name was put in? The whole point was so we could verify if someone was part of the sect.'

I searched a little more before I seemed to have finally found Yi Feng's name. It also happened to have been a private test though and was around 3 weeks after Li Daji's own test.

'She's been here 7 years? I find that a little hard to believe, but I guess she was sitting depressed about her scars in the park that day. Perhaps she became just a little bit more courageous that day and decided to check out the moonlight. It just happened that I stumbled upon her that day too.'

I returned the record with a slightly odd expression before I went back to my work room.

***

(Yi Feng POV)

I quickly went back to tell Li Daji I would go out. It wasn't like I was some kind of slave asking their master for permission to leave though. I could have simply left without a word, but decided that I might as well inform her about it.

I told her that I would head out to get a few treasures that would help our fight against that demon and she gave me some advice on where to potentially look.

I left the sect through the route we entered and started to explore my surroundings. The man's sect has expanded by quite a bit after I had died after all.

After a short bit of examining the surroundings I finally found some spots that still looked familiar to me and from there bits and pieces started coming together. A little later I finally realized the topography of the area, at least I think, and started heading for the nearby city.

But I didn't want to attract too much attention with the robes I wore so I quickly switched into a set I had prepared beforehand. The sect robes were probably the most famous and recognizable clothing you could be wearing in the nearby Baohu city, especially when I wore a set of Inner Disciple robes.

The new robes I had taken out to wear were black with red cuffs and lapel. Compared to the robes I was wearing earlier, this one was a little more revealing, but I liked to think more about the fact it improved my movement in comparison to the skin it showed.

The sleeves ended just passed the elbows and the skirt was just below the knee with slits on the sides. It was like a mix of Hanfu dresses and a Cheongsam in a way.

I probably wouldn't have cared for the color in the past, but now that I was a little more conscious of my looks I wanted to reflect upon it a little, so the fact that the color scheme already went with my looks was a deliberate choice.

When I entered the city people would occasionally look my way, but after a moment or two of "admiring my beauty" they would go back to their own tasks.

It felt a little awkward for so many people to stare at me. It wasn't like I wasn't used to stares, after all in the past I was quite widely known, at least I think so. It's just that those stares used to be full of admiration, worship, and just a tad bit of fear. Now, those have been replaced with ones of desire, lust, and slight wicked madness.

I was currently in the outermost section of the city, Li Daji's advice was to steer clean of this place for anything that would actually be useful to me. The "Treasures" some venders will try to sell will either be overpriced garbage or maybe it wouldn't even be real in the first place.

The best place to look would be somewhere in the middle section as the last section was a little difficult to get into at times.

As I made my way over to the middle section my eyes swirled curiously around at the vendors and stores on either side of my sight.

The entrance to the middle section was in sight and I was quickly approaching when something in the corner of my eye caught my sight.

A vendor was desperately trying to sell some trash to a man who looked intrigued at the object he was holding. But what caught my eye was a metallic black fragment on his stall's display.

There was something about it that I felt was resonating with me. It was similar to when I had first picked up that scythe.

In fact, the more I was looking at it the more I realized it wasn't me that it was resonating with, but the scythe that was in my spatial storage ring. The fact that they could feel each other's presence even through the spatial barrier clearly meant it had a strong connection with one another.

Internally I was surprised at finding this, but outwardly I just had a face of indifference.

After waiting a few moments for that random man to get scammed I walked up to the stall. The worker who manned it was still counting the coins he received from the previous purchase before he realized another customer actually walked up.

He looked up and his face showed a little shock as he rapidly scanned my body. Only after I furrowed my brows a little did the man straighten up.

*Cough!* *Cough!*

"Ah, sorry Ma'am! Welcome to my humble little treasure store stall! Do you see anything you like?"

He put down the pouch of coins he got earlier and looked at me with a faux smile.

I pointed at the black fragment that caught my eye earlier.

"How much?"

I spoke without any change in my facial expression and it seems that the vendor was a little offended as I noticed the slight twitches at the corner of his lips and eyelid.

'Did I do something wrong? Why does he already seem angry?'

"Ah! Let's see, this treasure that I've obtained took quite a while for me to acquire. Hmm… let's see how much I should sell this for… how about 5 gold?"

'5 Gold? That doesn't seem like… wait, do I even have money?

O-oh, oh no. Damnit, I don't have any coins on me. Well it's not too bad, I just simply didn't expect to buy from mortal vendors that's all. I still have around 150 Unrefined Low-grade Spirit Stones though. If memory serves me correctly then the ratio of gold to Unrefined Low-grade Spirit Stones should be a 1 to 1 or 2 to 1.

Oh, wait a minute, didn't that other guy only pay in a low amount of silver? Although I didn't listen to the deal I did still watch it after all. Why is my price in gold?'

"5 Gold? Didn't the other man pay in silver?"

"You see he was simply looking for a gift to give to others, the treasure that you've picked has some use to it. I might not know what it does, but that doesn't mean I'm completely ignorant of it. Perhaps you could even use it as a strengthening material for an Intermediate-grade Human treasure for all I know."

'Well, this vendor is ignorant of the true uses of the fragment, but I guess so am I. I won't be arguing with him though, I'll just look reluctant to buy it for a little while before I get it. I wouldn't want him to believe I want this so desperately that he increases his prices to an exorbitant amount after all.'

"But still, 5 gold is quite a bit for a person isn't it? Especially when your other items are only priced in the silver range."

"I won't be budging, this price is final, if you can't buy it then you'll have to just leave."

I stared at the fragment like I truly wanted that object, but was in a tough spot for a few moments. After enough time had passed and I felt that it had been long enough I brought out the correct amount of spirit stones to buy it.

At least that was the plan. Suddenly just before I could pull out my pouch of Spiritual Stones a young man's voice sounded behind me.

"Is this lady unable to purchase that black piece of metal? Don't worry, this Young Master will buy it on your behalf. Vender! Wrap it up for her!"

A small pouch was flung onto the vendor's counter and when he opened it there was even an extra gold coin tucked away inside.

When I turned back to face the random man who "saved" me I spotted a man in a green robe who had two people standing behind him on either side. Clearly, the man must have some sort of status, especially since he just proclaimed being some sort of young master.

I blankly stared at him for a moment before returning back to an indifferent look. The man in question was posing with his eyes closed and a smug smile looking like he was waiting to be praised for his actions.

'Well, I guess he did pay for my stuff.'

"Thank you." My speech was monotone as I did a slightly angled bow.

"Here you go Ma'am!"

I grabbed the mediocrely wrapped black fragment and in a quick flash it disappeared into my spatial ring. For a moment I was worried it would immediately start some kind of reaction with the scythe, but that didn't come to it.

Just after I took a single step away I heard that young man's voice again.

"Hey! Where are you going? Damn woman, you're ungrateful!"

I stopped and turned back.

"Ungrateful? I said thank you, even with a bow."

"Tch, do you not know how to greet people, or are you simply too ignorant to even know who I am?"

"Am I supposed to know you?"

"Why yo-... Well in that case, let me introduce myself. My Surname is Hao, I'm Young Master Hao Chin of THE Hao family. Well What do you think now?"

'Ok and? Why should I care? I guess I shouldn't act like this though, I'll just accept it and move on.'

"Nice to meet you, Young Master Hao." I spoke in that monotone voice and he didn't like that.

"Y-you! You're truly ignorant of this city, aren't you?"