Invitation of Gratitude

- After School -

Finally...school was over for the day. I packed up the few belongings I had and prepared to leave the room. I was going to see the principal, to find out what exactly was his motive behind changing the Advancement Exam system so abruptly this year.

"Hang on, Xuan Kai," Yu An Xue called out from behind me and grabbed my sleeve gently just as I was about to exit.

I turned around. "What is it, Yu An Xue?"

"Um...my father asked me to give you this..." she murmured quietly with a blush on her face, as she took out an envelope from her uniform breast pocket and handed it to me.

I took it from her and inspected the object. The envelope itself was exquisitely designed and made of high quality materials. With white as its primary color and golden linings as decoration, there was no doubt it fit in with the Yu family's royal theme.

"What's this?" I asked, rotating the envelope so I could see the backside as well. It was similarly designed to the front.

"It's...an envelope?" she mumbled uncertainly.

I glanced at her like, 'seriously?', but seeing her innocent look I quickly looked away. No shit, it was an envelope - I was asking what was inside of it. But then again, if she had responded with 'a letter', I would've facepalmed with the damn table.

I sighed and sat down once more. Opening the envelope with ease, I looked inside. As expected, it was a letter. I took it out, and began reading. The Yu An Yan, Qing Yue, and Feng Mian also came over to see what was going on.

The letter wrote:

*****

Dear Mr. Xuan,

My name is Yu Ao, the Yu family patriarch. I believe we have met before.

This letter is to formally invite you to the Yu family manor in honor of your gracious self. Not only me, but the entire Yu household owes much to you. Thus, we are planning on using this opportunity to express our deepest gratitude.

We hope you accept our sincere invitation.

May we meet soon,

Yu Ao

*****

"Er...this is...?" I began. The rest of the girls seemed to have finished reading as well, and blinked a couple of times in surprise.

"I didn't even know about this..." Yu An Yan muttered. "An Xue, you never told me!"

"W-Why would I tell you? Father asked ME to give this to him," Yu An Xue replied smugly.

"Yeah, and I bet you're very happy about having an excuse to talk to him!" Yu An Yan shot back.

"W-What are you talking about?! You want to be the one to do it for the same reason!" Yu An Xue argued, now blushing furiously.

"H-Huh?! What do you-"

"Stop fighting," I cut in. Having two girls scream at each other right beside me was not healthy for my ears. Didn't know what they were arguing about, but it clearly wasn't something important.

They both looked apologetic and averted their gaze, still blushing.

I changed the topic - or rather, brought the topic back on track. "They mentioned something about gratitude in here," I said, skimming over the letter once more. "I don't remember doing anything worth their gratitude though..."

"Sure you did!" Yu An Yan cut in. "You saved me, remember?" she said as her cheeks turned pink.

"Eh...like I said, it was the principal who defeated Ghosteye..." Luckily, no one else was in the class, since if anyone heard this it would cause quite a stir.

"Well, that may be so, but you were the one that came up with all the planning," Feng Mian said. "Wait, speaking of, you STILL haven't told us just what you did!"

Uh...may as well get this over with. "Fine, I'll tell you," I replied. "Basically..."

*****

- Flashback: The Day Xuan Kai Investigated The First Lair -

"Okay...let's hope this works," I muttered under my breath. I had more or less thought up a plan after getting a brief idea of the evil man's strength (the one who captured Yu An Yan eight years ago).

I stood in front of the Yu family residence front gates, and the guard waved at me. He probably recognized me from the last time I was here together with the others. "Good evening. Do you have business here at the Yu family residence?"

"Yes," I replied. "Please inform the patriarch that I wish to see him."

The guard nodded. "Your name was...Xuan Kai, yes?"

"Correct."

"Well then, please wait here for a couple of minutes. I will be back soon," he said, turning on his heels, and began heading in the direction of the main manor.

"Much appreciated."

*****

After a few minutes, the guard came back and invited me inside. He retreated back to his duties after leading me to the main manor, and I knocked three times on the door.

"Come in," a familiar deep male voice said.

I complied and pushed opened the door. The room had not changed at all since the last time I had been here. The same royal atmosphere surrounded the room, and I felt an air of grandness. No one else was in the room, since if I was visiting it surely was for something related to his daughter's disappearance and his own brother's evil acts.

"Speak, boy. What brings you here today?" Yu Ao, the Yu family patriarch, asked, sitting on his throne.

"I have come today to request your assistance, patriarch," I answered truthfully.

Yu Ao raised an eyebrow. "Assistance, you say? What kind?"

"It is concerning the man that captured your daughter years ago. I need help in defeating him," I replied.

"...I see. You want me to fight him?"

I made a thinking gesture, and then asked, "Do you have the ability to?"

Yu Ao shot up from his seat, eyes ablaze with anger. I stared at him head-on, not a trace of fear in me. We stood there, gazing at each other for a while more, before he retreated and slumped back into his throne.

"Normally I would have you punished for insulting my strength, but..." he sighed. "The truth is, even back then, I was probably only his equal, not stronger. I may be a Golden Monarch, but only an early-stage one. Someone able to take down all the guards and elders in the Yu family must've been a Golden Monarch or higher, after all. And as for now..."

"Now, you may not even stand a chance against him," I finished for him.

The Yu family patriarch looked infuriated, and balled his fists up tightly. "I hate to admit it, but you are right. I haven't been focusing on my personal cultivation much for the past few years. Instead, I was busy sorting out family and business affairs."

I nodded. "A Golden Monarch Stage, huh..."

"I am sorry. There's no way I can help you in this matter, if you want me to fight that man. As much as I want to take revenge with my own two hands....I have the family to worry about. If I were to die..."

I quickly shook my head. "No need. I have someone else in mind," I said. "All you have to do is provide me with a certain object."

"An...object?" Yu Ao asked, and frowned in confusion.

"Correct. I need something that can store a person within it for an extended period of time," I said.

"Something that can hold a person? I don't believe I have any artifacts that can-" he began, but I cut him off.

"The Space Locket."

"But that's for storing things, not humans!" he yelled.

I sighed. "Have you ever tried to store a human in it?"

"That's-! That's absurd!"

"I'll take it as a no. So, it remains a possibility. Now then - do you agree to lend me the Space Locket for the time being?" I asked, getting to the main point.

"Definitely not! This Magic Artifact is a Yu family treasure passed down from generation to generation, and it is filled with the Yu family's prized possessions! How can I trust an outsider with it?"

I walked closer to him, leaned in, and stared at him directly in the eyes. Beads of sweat began forming on his forehead as I slammed the armrest of the throne loudly with my palm, but I ignored them.

"What are you-"

"Do you value those so-called treasures more..." I interrupted. "...Or your daughter' life more?"

I stared into his eyes as if piercing his soul while saying these words cold and menacingly. Yu Ao, after a while, couldn't take it anymore and closed his eyes. I backed away, knowing my plan had succeeded.

"Fine. I don't know what exactly you mean by my daughter's life, but..." he trailed off as he took out a pouch from the inside pocket of his shirt.

"Take good care of this. If you lose anything within it, I will never forgive you. And don't even think about taking this and running away either - as long as you are on this planet, I will hunt you down and kill you. Do you understand?"

I nodded, and took the pouch from his hands. It looked just like any ordinary pouch, but I could sense the powerful aura radiating from it. Just as I turned around and was about to leave, however-

"Hold it, boy. Who was the 'someone' you had in mind to defeat the bastard that took away my An Yan?" Yu Ao asked.

I smirked, and glanced behind me slightly, hands shoved in my pockets. "Someone stronger than you, old geezer."

"You-!"

"Oh, and one last thing: don't tell anyone about my plan. Or else it won't succeed," I added before darting out the room quickly, lest he change his mind about lending me the Yu family's prized treasure, and headed off to my next destination.

*****

- Present Day -

"...And that's how it went," I concluded. The four girls around me seemed shocked, especially the two sisters.

"No way...my father didn't tell me anything..." Yu An Xue muttered.

"Well, yeah. I told him not to tell anyone," I replied like it was something obvious.

"But that was a lie, right?! There wasn't ANY harm in telling us!" Feng Mian argued, and crossed her arms in a cute pouting gesture.

"Uh, mostly..." I trailed off.

"What do you mean, MOSTLY?!" she yelled.

"Okay, okay, fine! I'm sorry, alright?" I raised my hands up as if surrendering.

"Hmph!" she still seemed angry, and looked away. But at least she wasn't screaming anymore, and that made my ears happy.

"But still...to think you were able to make The Dragon of Shenzhen listen to your demands and accept to help you..." Yu An Yan murmured in awe.

"Er, we...kind of have a past," I explained. I would leave it at that and not say anything more.

"Heheh, that's my Big Brother Xuan Kai for you!" Qing Yue beamed, jumping up and down happily before throwing her arms around me.

"You're not mad, Qing Yue?!" Feng Mian asked in shock. "Last time, you had us stay up the entire night without dinner for not telling you anything!"

Ah...right. That happened. Not a pleasant memory...why did she have to bring it up again?

Qing Yue, meanwhile, still had an innocent smile on her face, like an angel.

...But her next words were akin to the devil himself's.

"Oh, don't worry, Feng Mian. That part will be coming, VERY soon~♥"