Jia Pangzi: 三

(currently, Pangzi and friends are on an 8th rank mission to kill the former emperor. They were mysteriously blinded by Pangzi's master after they hoarded supplies from the outer court kitchen. Pangzi felt nostalgic.)

"so 'this' is the Caodi Realm?" asked Pangzi, who still could not see anything but white.

"it's so... white?" muttered Selan.

"oy, ya country bumpkins! Get outta that shrine, will ya? M' men need to get o'er to the Jia's city to trade!"

Someone must be getting yelled at by what seems to be a rich businessman. He's probably a snob.

"oy, don't ignore me! I'm talking to you, kid!"

I look in the general direction of where the sound came from.

"yeah, you, kid! Ya feelin' a lil' happy just 'cos ya get t' see the Caodi Realm? Not like a country shit like you will know anything." he said before making a spitting noise.

Not long after the side of Pangzi's cheek felt a little cold. That was when he realized — the man was talking to him. He spat on his face, both literally and figuratively.

After getting out of his little state of shock, his vision returned. Except right now, the last thing on his mind was admiring the sky he hadn't seen in what he remembered to be ever.

Instead, he was too busy trying to figure out a way to beat that man's face in without getting into too much trouble. That was when it hit him — he did not have to avoid trouble. It might cause inconvenience later, but he would rather do it than lie down and ask for a beating while someone insulted him.

After giving the stout, fat and round man a punch on the nose and a kick on the stomach, he ran into a narrow alley that was nearly impossible to get in and out of. It made him question the awful infrastructure of the place. The fat man created a huge scene and had all his men find Pangzi. Of course, the men knew where he was, but for some reason, they did nothing. After understanding this, the people's morals were called into question as well.

After he felt the commotion died down, or rather, after the fat man was chased away, Pangzi came out of the little alley and went to see his team. Normally, it would be 'friends', but on a mission, it would be 'team'.

"little fatty... I can't see anything. I think I went blind..." wailed Selan.

"your vision will come back. Mine is already better." said brother blonde.

"mine as well." said Pangzi and Neixin in sync.

After a while, even Jiao'er's vision had fully returned. After another minute or so, Selan started to see colour as well.

"woah... what the hell is that blue gemstone in the sky? It looks so pretty... but there seem to be impurities inside it?"

"that's not a gemstone." said Pangzi. "I think it's called 'heaven'."

"isn't that where you go after you die?"

"I think you go up there after dying..." muttered Pangzi, as he looked up at the sky.

"how did you know that?" asked brother Wen. "none of us have ever been to the surface..."

"I think it's because of my master. Great venerable Si said he altered my memories, so he should be able to add his own into mine as well, I think? But the more and more I try to think about 'sky', the less and less I know."

"sky? I thought... oh... never mind. What do we do now?" asked brother blonde.

"the best thing to do is find a place to stay. In a new place with new people and new laws, we can't expect everything here to be the same as home..."

"yeah, you're right, little fatty. But how do you know this? It's as if you are used to moving worlds?"

"no? I think this is also because of my master. Anyways, there is one thing I have to help us. I snuck it with me in case master wouldn't let me bring it, but since he did nothing, let's exploit the 'physician' token." he said as he showed his jade token with his name — Jia Pangzi.

"why does it say 'Jia'? Isn't your name 'Jiu'? The two characters look nothing alike! How could a mason have made such a simple mistake?" asked Selan.

Neixin seemed to think the same thing, but unlike her, he said nothing about it.

This 'mistake', however, is something Pangzi actually knew. He still knew his real name was 'Jia' and 'Jiu' as an alias given by the recruit.

"leave it. We can use this token to stay at an inn for free, and if we can't do that, we'll sell it to someone for a high price."

"one problem. Those kinds of tokens cost 50,000 Rin. No ordinary family can afford that. We're better off trading it for something of commercial value." said brother Wen.

"it's expensive, but... rather than commercial value, how about we sell it for less than what it's worth. It'll be a bad deal, but it might be safer..."

"ok, let's go with your plan."

After discussing their first course of action, they went up to the nearest person and asked where the nearest inn was. He said it was in the slums, so they asked for the nearest inn, which was not in the slums.

He pointed at what seemed to be a random direction. After bidding the man farewell, they went off in that direction. Surprisingly, there really was an inn there. It seemed as if that man was pretty experienced in giving directions?

As he did in the southeast inn, Pangzi went to the receptionist and asked for a room. Instead of fifty 'Rin', she asked for three 'taels'. He felt a sense of déjà vu. Why was he shocked when he heard 'Rin' at the southeast inn, and why didn't he find 'taels' odd, but found 'Rin' odd, despite it being the currency he was using for all his life?

He yet again, snapped out of his state of shock and showed her his jade insignia.

"Shen... yi..."

The woman started sweating bullets and looked at Pangzi and his friends.

"g-give th-these honored g-g-g-guests the b-best r-r-r-rooms w-we h-h-h-have..." she said to the person next to her.

"mother, are you ok? Take a break, I will lead them to their room."

"what a filial child." whispered Selan.

True. Normally, I wouldn't agree with Selan on anything, but... I can't deny him his filial piety.

"come with me, honored guests." he said with a smile, after sending his mother to the back.

After leading everyone through a rather large hallway, he led them outside through a door at the very end of the hallway and welcomed everyone to a very large courtyard. There was a house big enough to fit eight people in the middle of everything with three ornamental pools and even a moat filled with coy fish.

The back had a hotspring and a mud bath as well. It was basically a spa on its own.

"this room will cost ten taels of gold."

"can you please waive the payment for us, Mr..?"

"call me Jin. And unfortunately, I can't do that without my mother's consent."

"I guess we can ask her, then?"

"can't. She's very sick, so I don't want people talking to her. She's getting old, but she just won't sell the place and live somewhere comfortably. Really unfortunate, you know?"

"brat! When you went to that bastard Jin Mo, did you learn to talk behind my back?!"

"sorry, mother, but... father—

"I don't care what that bastard says! Who cares if he's the head doctor of the Jia's anti plague group?! I will never sell this place! Ever!"

Soon enough, the man went on his knees and started hugging his mother's leg. Not long after, Selan completely ruined the horrible atmosphere by asking to waive the payment.

"huh? Didn't I already waive it for you?" she asked.

"no? Your son said it was—

"stop. Don't say anymore. I might die from shame at this rate." she said with sigh. "son, come with me. You need some education."

"ok, mother." he said with a grin.

"and wipe that grin off your face!"

"ok, mother." he said with an even bigger grin on his face.

Not long after, she hit his head and closed the door behind them.

"this inn seems very high class. Makes you wonder how much ten gold taels are worth?" muttered Neixin. "any ideas, Pangzi?"

"unfortunately, I don't know anything about gold taels. But I think it is just a tael of gold."

"a little genius, aren't you?" said a sarcastic Selan. "your 'brother Wen' asked how much it's worth."

"how should I know everything here? Maybe I should just eat the medicine great venerable Si gave..."

"don't. Master asked me to make sure you never eat the medicine until she says you can."

"when did she tell you this? When she gave it to me, she said to not eat it unless I doubt my life."

"but you don't. The situation doesn't call for it. Just wait for a few days, then eat it."

"fine." compromised Pangzi. "but at the slightest hint of doubt, I'll eat it."

After he said that, a long silence followed. Pangzi and Zhujiao weren't the type of people to fight each other. It was always Pangzi and Selan, or Selan and Pangzi. Sometimes there were minor arguments between Selan and Zhujiao, but they usually solved it between themselves.

"c'mon, guys! Let's explore this huge mansion-like place! I'm sure we'll find treasure if we dig deep enough! Who knows how much Rin will be there?" yelled brother blonde.

"don't you mean gold taels?" said Pangzi in a provocative tone.

"they don't use Rin here." followed Zhujiao in the same offensive tone.

Both were looking sad, but were angrier than sad.

"why are you guys directing your anger at me? I'm innocent!" screamed brother blonde.

"well, it's easier to shed off my anger onto you guys than Jiao'er."

"same reason for me as well."

"go get a room!" shouted Selan.

"there should be a double room somewhere in the mansion." followed brother Wen.

"... ok, c'mon Jiao'er. Let's go find a double room and show those singles who's boss."

"..." she stared at him for a while. "ok, sure."

The mansion had five single bedrooms, and no bedrooms accommodating multiple people. There was no toilet in the house, but rather, a somewhat smaller shed-like toilet on the outside. Behind the house was a hot spring, as well as a mud bath. The mansion had two floors, with the second being where all the bedrooms were. It also had a balcony on it.

On the first floor was the dining room, the main hall as well as the kitchen. It seemed like a house, rather than a place you would rent for a while. There were all sorts of preserved meats and vegetables in the pantry. There was also a small infirmary on the bottom floor. It was odd, but it would be very convenient if and when patients come, like they did in the underground city.

After everyone moved their food stockpile into the kitchen pantry, which was already almost full, they went to their bedrooms and changed into the complementary outfits that came with the mansion.

Pangzi, being the first one to find the outfits, as well as being the fastest to change into heavy and hard-to-wear outfits, decided to wear the fancy white and gold one with a really nice blue belt. He then went off to explore the sixth room on the top floor.

Each of them had taken one bedroom, and the floor had six rooms in total. One in the middle, just in front of the double stairs leading up, two on the left and three on the right. It looked like three on the left, but the third door on the left led to the aforementioned balcony, which was pretty sizeable.

[balcony / nothing / room 1]

[room 2 / nothing / room 3]

[room 4 / stairs / room 5]

[ room in front of stairs ]

In the sixth room had a beautiful rug with coloured screens covering the walls. In the middle was the rug, and at the very back of the room, there was a small table with two cups of tea and a teapot. There were then two chairs on the left and right sides of the table facing towards the door he came in from.

Being the mischievous brat he was, he quickly ran down into the kitchen and took some seaweed. He didn't know what it was, but it was perfect for his plan.

He then put some water on his chin and stuck the seaweed on. It started falling off, so he took a little string and used that to fasten the seaweed on properly. He took thinner pieces of seaweed and stuck it over his eyebrows. Now, he had an odd, crusty-looking mustache and frumpy eyebrows.

The quickly ran up the stairs, only to see the back of Jiao'er in her casual dress.

"damn you Jiao'er! Why did you have to wear your casual dress!"

"fatty? What are you doing—" she stared at me for a while. "what the hell is wrong with your face?"

"quickly, Jiao'er! Forget you ever saw me like this and get everyone to go into this room!" he said, pointing at the nice room with the chairs and table.

She herself didn't see anything inside the room, as he came right as she was about to go into the room.

After she left him to his own shenanigans, he quickly made a dash for that room as poured himself a cup of cold, and most likely expired tea. He quickly patted himself down and straightened his now rough clothes and got ready to greet his visitors.

For some reason, Jiao'er did exactly as he said, and led everyone into the room.

"why hello there, juniors. I am divine physician (Shenyi) Jia Pangzi, but you can call me lord fatty."

After finished his 'refined' speech, one of his seaweed eyebrows fell off. He didn't and couldn't use string to fasten it on properly, since he deemed it (a) troublesome, and (b) a waste of time.

"yeah, right. What kind of Shenyi has cancer? Your eyebrows are falling off! And if you look carefully, even your beard if falling! My. Dear. Shen. Yi. How can you cure anyone like that? And let's not forget that you're not even of age. What kind of Shenyi is that short, and doesn't even have their token on them."

At the end of Selan's mockery, he looked at his waist and saw that he did actually forget his token.

"come here and let this grandpa show you your place!" he said while lunging at her.

"kya~ don't touch me, you pedophile." she 'screamed' while posing in a weird... position?

"ew, gross. This grandpa decided you're too gross to be worth his time."

"no. That pervert decided he was too weak to take me on."

In a second, Neixin and brother blonde were trying to keep Pangzi away from Selan.

After that, no minor little problems like that occurred again. If you exclude Pangzi turning himself into a 'mud ghost' and scaring the literal shit out of Selan. She was furious. Mostly because it was Neixin that cleaned up her... accident. Well, at least it was outside the hotsprings..?

The very next day, when Pangzi and co. (company) went outside, they saw everyone dancing on the streets, and hanging streamers across the road. The main road — which was were all the decorations were — seemed cleaner than yesterday.

"hey, kid." Pangzi called out to a six year old carrying streamers and handing them out for other's to hang.

"don't call me kid. And besides, you don't look much older than me, kid."

A nerve burst in Pangzi's head. "listen, kid." he said, this time, while flashing his jade token. "what the fuck is this for? Parades at this time of year? Did someone important die or what."

"listen, kid. I don't know how to read, so that token looks like shit in my eyes. And yeah, someone important DID die. Five years ago, the plague demon cult kidnapped the eldest child of the high commander. Now, the high commander is coming here with that dead guy's brother and his fiancé."

"wow... so she became a widow before even getting engaged? And why come here. Can't those rich fucks just go somewhere... I dunno, richer?"

"my thoughts exactly, but ya shouldn't say that. You'll have your head cut and hung to greet them richies. And they're coming here cos apparently, he was kidnapped here while going to the Jia's city."

"poor guy, getting his life cut so short... glad I'm not him."

"haha, same. Apparently, his fiancé is recognized as the smartest person in their generation. Of course, he was said to be the smartest, until he died."

"that's nice and all, but why do you keep saying 'dead'. If he was kidnapped, shouldn't he be alive? Wouldn't his family look for him?"

"well, y' see... After he was kidnapped, the kidnapper left a letter... it said: 'we, the plague demon cult have kidnapped your eldest son. He will return to you in six years time. Don't let his precious Ruan Gao turn into a widow, ok? But if he doesn't come, assume he's dead.'. And then the high commander said that if he couldn't survive, then he wasn't worthy of the surname 'Jia'."

"wow... now I really don't want to be him."

"you and me both, brother."

"oye, wimp! Get yer ass over 'ere! 'm runnin' outta streamers!" screamed out a man who finished hanging up a streamer.

"shut it, old coot! I might kick yer fuckin' ladder if y' ain't careful with yer words!" shouted back the kid.

"oh yeah? Try me, ya little sunova bitch!"

"fuck you, old coot!"

"no thanks, whore-spawn!"

As the two went howling abuses back and forth, Pangzi separate himself from the general area of their conversation and headed to where his teammates were — far away from the kid and old dude.

"can you believe these surface dwellers?! They called our sect a cult! Apparently, some guy was even kidnapped by us! I swear, they're just making up this shit just because we poisoned a few people!" screamed Selan in frustration.

"don't be so loud. Since we are a cult on the surface, it'd be sensible for the followers to be killed as well..." whispered Pangzi. "first, we go somewhere safe. Then, you can say whatever."

"little fatty is right. Up here, we are evil. But down there, we are good. Think of us as bandits and the surface dwellers as righteousness. The second we came up here, our position was reversed. We have to he careful when doing everything. We cannot endanger the sect because of this."

After ending their conversation at that, they went back to the inn, where they saw some people trying to book the most luxurious room.

"apologies, but I am afraid the best room is already occupied by a group of five."

"can't you talk them out of it? Give them compensation or something. We'll pay ten times the original rent."

"sorry, sir. I cannot do that — the guest is an imperial title holder." said Mr. Jin.

"fortunately for us, we are also imperial title holders. Where is this person?"

"it's me." said Pangzi.

Honestly, he didn't know nor care when or how he became an imperial title holder, but it was good thing for him.

"imperial title holder? Bullshit. Never you at the capital." said a random thug-like knight, as he spat on Pangzi's face.

"honestly, the people here are barbarians. Is the only thing you can do spit?" he said before showing his token.

"th-this is... captain, is this real?" asked the guy who on his face .

The 'captain' guy took his jade and inspected it carefully.

"I did not know a Shenyi would come to a backwater town like this? Can senior please give up his room?"

"unfortunately, I cannot. But may I ask, why do you need it so badly?"

"well, it is embarrassing to say, but the emperor ordered us to do it. Apparently, they need face or something. The princess and the previous emperor do not care enough to meddle in the emperor's business, so we cannot turn to them for help."

"ah, I get it. You either get the room or lose your heads."

"well, yeah... even as the vice-captain of the dragon knights, I am at risk of losing my head, which is the embarrassing part... haha."

"well, why do they call you captain? Infighting, prehaps?"

"do not overstep your boundaries, Shenyi! I am merely the captain of their division, and the vice-captain of the dragon knights."

"ah, I see... well, back on topic: I do not think I can give up the room — I have my friends to thank for that. Instead, how about cohabitation? The princess, emperor and previous emperor can have one room, the girls will have another, and we will have another. Simple as that."

"well, I personally do not mind, but..."

"it's up to the emperor, eh? Just tell him he will have to share the inn with a few other guests. It is not a lie in the slightest. And remember, keyword: inn."

"haha, you cunning brat. I'll do as you said."

After the group of knights left, Mr. Jin collapsed, and the five of us went back to the room to discuss strategies to kill the emperor.

"remember, when the imperial family come here, it will be impossible to discuss anything about the cult safely at home. Which is why we have to get everything off our chests as quickly as possible. They are coming tomorrow, aren't they?"

"brother Wen is right." said Selan. "but I think it'd better for us to have a secret code, just in case something happens."

"no. None of that is necessary. The soundproofing in these rooms is good enough so that if I were to shout, you wouldn't hear anything from the outside. Instead, we close the doors and shutters properly, and we can discuss whatever."

"I agree with Jiao'er — we don't need to be that careful. But I'm still up for the secret code. It might be useless. But rather than an entire language, I think a few necessary words like 'help', 'come here', 'run' and such might be fine."

After some more discussion, they ended their talks, played in the mud bath, reenacted Selan's accident, and so on.

The next day, everyone went out to prepare for the welcome as well as the after party, hosted at night. By everyone, it was everyone in the city, and not just Pangzi and his team/friends.

The people in the Caodi Realm City did not really know when the imperial family would arrive, but according to some unknown sources, also known as rumors, they were expected to come around the afternoon. Of course, everyone was waiting there since morning. Some were practicing the praises they would sing, others were giving beggars proper clothes to make them look barely presentable, others were rehearsing for the play they wanted to hold about the Caodi Realm's history and so on so forth. Even Pangzi and co. was waiting till the afternoon.

By the time the sun was high in the sky, scorching everyone and cooking them alive, the imperial family arrived. More accurately, they used the shrine to get there. No one thought they would arrive from the shrine, so few decorations were in that direction.

What was worse was the lack of deodorant. With the scorching sun and the sweaty people, as well as the surplus of garlic and garlic bread as a result, the crowd was on the verge of fainting. Not from awe, but rather, from the fumes produced. Even the war horses pulling their carriage looked like they were going to pass out. It was a surprise that the driver was still conscious with all the fumes going his way. Even the royals closed the window to the carriage, and some knights had to ride on another's horse due to the smell. It was a scene never before experienced. Not even the dirtiest slum dweller experienced such fumes. Not even the person who drinks laundry water experienced such fumes. The smell of over a thousand sweaty deodorant-less humans was not something one could easily bear with. Especially when the wind was not with you.

"looks like a new war tactic has been founded today." whispered Pangzi, who was a safe distance away from the crowd.

"you got that right. Not even the worst dumpsters in the Shensheng Diguo smell like this!" said brother blonde, who was suffering the most, due to his unnecessarily sensitive nose.

"you got that right." said Jiao'er with a small laugh.

"Shenyi! Shenyi!" someone came yelling. "please! You have to greet the imperial family, now! The parade is almost done!"

"huh? Since when did I have to greet them? Don't you have more important people to greet them?"

"no! The more important people are in the entourage, and to be fair, being a Shenyi is a very very very big deal! Please!" he continued begging.

"fine. I just have to greet them, right?"

"yes!"

Pangzi motioned to the stinky man to lead the way.

Right now, Pangzi was wearing the really nice white and blue clothes, because he found them (a) really suitable for doctors and (b) really nice looking.

After going the end of the line, Pangzi waiting at where the entrance of the city was — the complete opposite direction of the shrine.

It kind of looks like a farewell instead of a welcome, Pangzi thought with a snicker.

"greetings, child. Who are you?" asked the man he assumed to be the emperor.

"I am someone whose name is not worthy of you, but you may call me Shenyi."

"hmm?" grumbled the man before looking at his waist. "very well, Shenyi. I hope we get along nicely."

"I as well, Mr..?"

"Jia... Jia Yi..."

"very well, Mr. Jia, I hope we get along."

After greeting Mr. Jia, a few more people came out of the carriage.

"this is my son, Jia Shuaiqi De Mingzi. You two seem similar in age, so I hope you get along. Shake his hand, Shuaiqi."

"yes, father." he said while taking my hand in his and shaking it up and down.

I guess it is a sort of custom on the surface?"

I was just about to step away from the scene, when three more people came out of the carriage.

Are you kidding me? How many people are going to come out of there. I swear, it's like Selan trying to eat whole cow. She may have managed to it, but it shouldn't have fit in!

"hi." said one of the trio.

She seemed very casual and unbothered by both the smell and the greeting.

"hi to you as well." I said.

"greetings, Shenyi." bowed the older man in the group.

"father! You shouldn't bow! Who knows when your back will give in and you will live as a hunchback forever!"

Wow... he sounded so caring and filial at first... I guess he is the 'foolish king' and the old man is the previous emperor and our target...

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, he parted with them and went back to the inn, completely forgetting about what he said to the vice-captain of the dragon army.

After going back to the inn, he went to their 'room', which was more of a mansion, and bounced straight onto his bed, not long before regretting it.

"damn it. I forgot how hard this wooden block is."

"touche, fatty." said Jiao'er who came from the room next door while rubbing the of her head. "go shower. You're stinking up the house."

"ok. Just don't blame me when the hot springs turn green!"

"gross. I don't care, though. We won't be staying here much longer, anyways."

"true. Anyways, I'm gonna go bathe."

"okay. Don't slip, fall and break your neck."

"keep an eye on your neck as well." he said before stripping on the spot.

"oh yeah. I forgot to tell you, but we're going to be having some guests soon. I suggest you bring at least a towel with you. A boy without a fiancé and approaching his adulthood should not recklessly show a woman without a fiancé his naked body."

"nice joke."

"thanks. But I wasn't talking about me."

"Selan?"

"she's all over Neixin. What chance is there she'll ever fall for YOU?"

"didn't have to emphasize it so much."

After walking past her, he went down stairs and went out the backdoor to the hot springs. He was about to jump in as usual, but then he saw the faint silhouette of Selan.

He immediately jumped into the mud bath and crept behind the screens hiding the springs.

Like on the first day, he scared her. But this time, not so hard that she... accident-ed...

After seeing him in the bath, as well as smelling him, she immediately left for her room. Now, he had the bath all to himself.

As always, he stained the hot spring in mud, and made it look like some sort of illegal dump for toxic waste. Still, it cleaned him, so he did not mind it too much. Especially since there was a somewhat clogged up filter trying to filter out Pangzi's body mass of mud out of the pool.

After a long two three hour bath, he went out and sat on one of the stools you sit on and wait for someone to wipe your back. Of course, there was no such person for Pangzi, as he scared Selan out, and she never would have done it for him in the first place.

He did not go into the mansion after finishing the bath, because the first time he did that, Neixin came hollering to him all day about how the water would get soaked into the floor boards, weaken it and crack into the basement, and then they would have to pay for it. After that, Pangzi started to genuinely care about wood and water getting mixed together.

He went into his room, only to find out everyone else there as well. He asked them what happened, but they did not answer him, so he got dressed up. Of course, he only wore the bare minimum — undergarments and a little slip-on robe. The robe was a unique convenience found nowhere else.

"so, now that I'm dressed, what are you guys doing here?"

"well, fatty... did you really forget about what you said to the vice-captain of the dragon army?"

"vice-captain? Since when did— oh! Did the imperial family move in, already?"

"what do you mean by 'already'? It's been two hours since they kicked us out of our rooms!"

"oh... I didn't know I was bathing for that long... well, whatever. Sleepovers are nice, aren't they? I remember we had tons of fun after the second inner court exam."

"uh... you still realize you're the only one who remembers that? From what I remember, we did have fun, but you weren't there. It shouldn't have been even possible to fit you in there..." trailed off brother Wen.

"Neixin!" screamed Jiao'er. "sorry, Pangzi."

"no, it's fine. To be honest, I'd like to know more about my past as well..."

*bam*

A loud thud came outside their room door.

"hey, can you open the door?"

"who was this again? If I remember right, it was... Jia Shuaiqi... De... Ming... Zi? What a long name." muttered Pangzi, who was still blocking the room door.

"fatty! Move your ass out of the way! The boy wants to talk to us!" screamed Selan.

"sure, sure." he said before sliding to the side and letting Shuaiqi in.

"so... my... uh... father wanted me to... WILL YOU COME TO MY BROTHER'S FUNERAL?"

"you're going to make us deaf before we can attend..." sighed Pangzi.

"so you'll come? Thanks! I'll tell father and godfather!"

After he left, Pangzi shut the door behind him and sat down again, blocking the doorway.

"now, onto our secret code." said Pangzi in a low whisper.

"cough once for help, cough twice to run, cough thrice to come, and Jiao'er, if you approve the medicine, sneeze."

Everyone stared at him for a while, until Selan broke the silence.

"what happens if we really need to cough or sneeze? Then what?"

"my dear Selan, how smart of you. But the answer is quiet simple: say you've been getting a cold as of late. If you want to disguise the cough, say something else after it, if necessary. As long as you hint to being sick, it means that it's a real cough."

"ok, but I still have my doubts. Just don't know what they are." whispered Selan.

"now, for the real important talk." said brother blonde. "our sleeping arrangement."

"ok, here's what we do." said Pangzi. "Selan sleeps on the floor, everyone else take the bed."

"I don't think that's fair?" argued brother Wen.

"you're right. Selan sleeps in the basement, you sleep on the floor and everyone else takes the bed."

"ok, now I'm not in favor of this." sighed brother blonde.

"then another simple solution. We take the extra pillows from the basement and put them on the floor to make it a huge bed. The two puppy lovers — Neixin and Selan — can sleep together in the basement, while sharing body heat and whatever shit they want to do, if you know what I mean, and the rest of us can sleep either (a) on the bed or (b) on the bed-floor."

"or how about we do the bed-floor thing and everyone shares the room?" sighed Jiao'er.

"waw~ Jiao Jiao is so smart~" whispered Pangzi into her ear in a flirtatious manner.

"shut it. You planned for this in the beginning, didn't you?"

"eh~ what is Jiao Jiao talking about? Well, whatever. Who cares if I planned it all along. I was bored and I needed some fun. Selan and Neixin are fun to play with. Brother blonde makes some funny comments as well."

After another long silence, they went down to the basement, brought the extra pillows up and used them to cover the floor. They even brought some extras to bury Pangzi in. Of course, he liked soft; claustrophobic spaces.

After a while, everyone fell asleep. Pangzi was under a mountain of pillows, with Selan on top of it, muttering 'I slayed the beast.'. Brother blonde was in the corner, hidden beautifully by the pillows he was hugging, and Neixin was lying down neatly on the bed. Jiao'er, on the other hand, was rolling around everywhere and occasionally bumping into walls.

The next day, Neixin woke up, early as usual, and made breakfast for everyone. Both Pangzi and Jiao'er wake up earlier than Neixin, but neither of the two know how to cook, and both are too lazy to learn how to, so they bathe, dress up or play games.

Even though the imperial family and the high commander moved in, neither party came out of their rooms, at least from how everyone else saw it. Pangzi assumed the imperials were stuck up brats that could not stand the thought of living with commoners.

After knowing each other for years, they were close enough to make borderline sexual harassment jokes, and still being able to laugh about it later. It was not like that for only Jiao'er and Pangzi — it was like that for everyone.

Pangzi, when waking up, completely forgot Selan was on top of him, and basically flung her onto the floor. She did not wake up, for whatever reason.

He stripped on the spot, and as usual, with no regard to where his clothes go, he threw them around the room. This time, however, he actually DID care about where the clothes landed. More specifically, near Selan. Otherwise, it was unacceptable.

After he finished throwing his clothes at Selan, Jiao'er woke up as well. She, also with no regards to her clothes, threw them all over the room and looked at Pangzi.

"let's go bathe. I feel filthy."

"ok. Just one thing before we go," he said while neatly picking up her clothes and throwing them at Selan.

"she'll hate your guts."

"doesn't she already?"

"yeah, whatever. Let's go."

"onward, my noble steed!" he said while climbing onto her back.

"you're heavy, get off!" she grunted.

Despite complaining, she did not resist too much. Pangzi took it as her resigning, but how wrong he was.

The second they got to the stairs, she took a big forward and sent him flying down the stairs. Luckily, he was able to react fast enough, and avoided a fatal injury. Of course, he still scraped his knees and elbows, but it was not something in need of immediate attention.

"that'll teach you."

"teach me what?" he said before sticking his tongue out.

He then limped over to the hot springs and took a soak. Soon after, a somewhat guilty Jiao'er followed.

"Neixin should be awake." she said.

"half an hour. He'll be done by then."

"what if he wants to serve the imperials and the uninvited guests."

"he isn't a suck up. He hates them, after all." she commented.

"you're right, but if you live long enough, you'll eventually become what you hate."

"where did you learn that saying?"

"thing is, I don't know. Maybe someone famous quoted it, or it was written in a book?"

"An Du shop?"

"wait, you know about the An Du shop?"

"yeah, of course I do. I'm master's disciple, after all."

"do you have any senior brothers or sisters? Another disciple taken in around the same time as you."

"no, I only have junior brothers and sisters — I am the eldest."

"Jiao'er... who are you, really?"

"what's that supposed to mean. I'm Qianzai Zhujiao, the first disciple out of four from the great venerable Si. What else could I be?"

"tell me truth... were you great venerable Si's disciple before the inner court exam? Before going to the tests? Before going to the elder hall?"

"..."

"I'll take that as agreement." Pangzi said with a sigh.

"can you at least tell me how you knew?"

"well, first of all, when I first arrived at the underground city, I accidentally found the real An Du shop, and used your name, or rather, 'the new disciple of great venerable Si, also known as Mrs. Bai.'. This was four days before the inner court exam."

"then, I started to question you. I don't know why, but I just did. I can't remember it right now, but for some reason, I was convinced that you were definitely great venerable Si's disciple before the test. So I just used this moment to confirm my doubts."

"you're smarter than I thought? Why don't you act like this all the time? I dunno, act your age, or something."

"haha, that's because you'll act both of our ages for me." he said while giving her a little pat on the head.

"anyways, I'm burning up. Let's get out."

"it hasn't even been half an hour yet." she complained. "we'll have to wait for food!"

"my. Dear. Jiao'er. There is a magical place in this high-class inn known as... 'the bar.'."

"isn't just a place to drink and stuff?"

"nope, it's also a place with food that will be delivered, as long as we go in, water, then milk, and then threaten to destroy all the expensive bottles without paying, unless they give us food."

"isn't that extortion and blackmail?"

"no. It's what a beggar does every day."

She looked at skeptically.

"we're begging for food, but in a more aggressive way."

"psychopath."

"I guess we'll be waiting here for food."

"who said I didn't want to do it?"

"c'mon then, let's go!"

"HALT!" came a booming voice.

"I do NOT permit underaged drinking, and unauthorized sexual acts between unmarried adults."

"oh, Mr. Emperor. There's actually something wrong with what you said. Jiao'er is 18, and I'm 15, turning 16, so I'm not even an adult!"

"so, this Jiao'er person is a pedophile? Well, worry not, for I will save you!" he declared while letting the towel around his waist fall.

"ARGHIKGNHJSHSIM!"

"c'mon, Jiao'er. Let's leave him to it..." I said with a cough.

Jiao'er didn't seem to have any complaints, either, seeing as she obediently followed behind me.

When we went into the house, I smelt the beautiful aroma of brother Wen's date cakes.

"see," I whispered. "if you live long enough, you will become what you hate."

"I can't believe it! That hypocrite! C'mon, let's go eat the cakes before he can become a licking dog!"

"onwards!" I screamed.

"do NOT. Jump on me."

"got it." I whispered.

We crept over to the kitchen, only to see him cooking with the princess and Shuaiqi.

"shit, Jiao'er, retreat! He's got them right there!"

"what the fuck, we're naked!"

"shit! Let's make a dash for it, before brother Wen notices us."

"oye, Pangzi! Zhujiao! Get over here. I made my famous date cakes. I'll let you each have one, before Selan notices. She's still out cold after Pangzi threw her onto the floor."

"you what?!" screamed Jiao'er.

"hey, she was on top of me, and I accidentally threw her off when I woke up..."

"can't you guys just come here? I'm being really nice and giving you the cakes without having you brawl for it with Selan!"

"uh... *cough cough cough cough cough*"

"Pangzi, are you sick?"

"of course not, bastard! I'm fit as a bull!"

"do NOT call me a bastard." he said angrily. "if anything, it's you whose family doesn't exist.

"but my name is Jiu Pangzi?"

"don't lie! Grand elder Jiu is my master, and he said he has no children! And besides, Grand elder Jiu is the only person with the 'Jiu' surname in... 'there'."

"oh, not Jiu as in grand elder Jiu. Jiu as in elder Jiu shi Jiu."

"bullshit! Elder Jiu Shi Jiu doesn't exist! Well, not anymore. He was KIA. Apparently a 10th rank mission. Besides, you don't even know that your so called grandfather died."

I guess even brother Wen has some buttons you shouldn't push...

"brother Wen, I'll just come out and say it." I said in defeat.

"shut the fuck up, fatty! You might not mind, but my pride won't allow it!"

"compromise?" I asked.

"sure." she whispered.

Soon after, both ran for the hills more specifically, the pillow hills.

We ran over the stairs, leaving a trail of water, and jumped over the still unconscious Selan.

I wore the most comfortable outfit, and waited for Jiao'er to finish. After a few seconds, we went down stairs and ate our date cakes.

"so... were you guys doing the usual?" asked brother Wen.

"... nyes." sighed Jiao'er.

"I... see... I thought you guys would have more shame, knowing we had guests."

"more like pillagers." muttered Pangzi.

"haha, true." laughed Jiao'er.

"hey, it's your fault for giving my father that kind of deal. Be glad Shuaiqi is such a daddy's boy and stays in the same room as his father, otherwise, you wouldn't even have a room to sleep in!"

"thanks, daddy's boy."

"no problem, fatty."

"don't call me that. I don't know you well enough."

"o... okay..." he said, looking hurt.

"Pangzi! Don't be rude to him!" snapped Neixin.

"suck up." muttered a sulky Pangzi.

"dog licking." muttered a sulky Jiao'er.

"murderers." snapped back Neixin, in disgust.

"I'm a certified Shenyi!" Pangzi said.

"and I'm a certified physician!" followed Jiao'er.

"yeah, a physician that's too poor to afford the jade token."

"shut up. It's a work in progress. Speaking of which, Pangzi, how did you afford your token? Most Shenyi don't have their tokens because of the exorbitant prices."

"oh, I just did some odd jobs here and there. Actually, it was just one job... still, the blacksmith who made my token hates my guts. He told me never to go near him or his family ever again, after I came in to collect the token... not that he can be blamed for that, haha..."

"hey, Pangzi." asked the princess.

"call me Jiu. We aren't close enough."

"fine. Where did you live as a child?"

"I... don't... know? But I *cough cough cough cough cough*"

"hey, Pangzi. I think you're really coming down with something." said Neixin, in his concerned-mother mode.

"no. I'm telling you, I'm fine."

"well, if you say so..."

"ohh..." groaned Jiao'er. "haha, c'mon fatty. Let's put you to sleep. Who knows what will happen if Selan wakes up, haha."

"thanks, Jiao'er."

"whatever. Just follow me."

"wait!" called out the princess. "what are your names?"

"well, I'm Jiu Pangzi, she's Qianzai Zhujiao, he's Neixin Wennuan, sleeping upstairs is Selan, and god knows where brother blonde is. Well, god knows what his name is, too."

"thanks..?" she said, flabbergasted. "to think I had the impression of you guys being inseparable friends..."

Yeah, me too. But thinking about it from an outsider's viewpoint, it would seem so. It seems my lack of understanding familiarity with everyone minus Jiao'er has become a problem... it seems that I have not been truly accepted into my friend circle.

The rest of the day passed with nothing interesting happening. After that, both Pangzi and Zhujiao started bringing towels, and occasionally clothes, whenever they went to bathe. Sometimes, they would forget to bring something with them, but with someone else's help, usually Neixin's, they can safely get back to their room.

According to the princess, the toxic fumes of the people had nearly everyone in the royal escort dying, and it was the same story for them as well. Apparently, it was the reason they did not come out on their first day there.

The next day, around dusk, it was time to go to the high commander's son's funeral. It wasn't meant to be a funeral, but at some point, everyone just started calling it a funeral. It was also the first time they had such a big party for his kidnapping anniversary, since for all the previous years, everyone was too busy and scared of the phase of plague. They also wanted to avoid casualties.

In the previous year, disease control managed to spread the cure, but there were still too many infectees and potential carriers. The phase was much less lethal than the other times, but still had numerous symptoms and a 35% death rate. The special thing about this phase was its adaptations mutations as well as its infectivity. It was a sort of break for the plague demon followers, since most of the previous phases focused purely on lethality. They realized it was a problem after the previous phase killed all the carriers within a month. The casualties for that phase was 59m, and the casualties for this phase was 358m. It was a significant portion of the world's population, but 358m was a sum easily replaced by the Shensheng Diguo's unnecessarily high birth rates and lack of 'protection'. Accidents were commonplace.

~at the funeral~

"Pangzi, try to see if great venerable Hao's 'help' is here. It might be a poison, for all we know." whispered Neixin.

"got it. And, brother blonde, try seducing the princess. She seems lonely and will prove useful. Put your handsome face to some good use, will you?"

"poor guy," muttered Selan. "getting kidnapped by the plague demon cult..."

After hitting her head, Neixin gave her a death stare.

"where do you think we are from? Heaven?"

"no, but... since he was taken by us, shouldn't he be there? I mean, we are in the inner court, so we wouldn't know about the outer court, but..."

"leave it, Neixin. We don't have to bother. Just have fun, and no matter what, do NOT drink. A slip of the tongue is all it takes to lose our heads." whispered Jiao'er, cautiously.

We all agreed with what Jiao'er said and separated. Brother blonde went to seduce the princess. Even though it was not working, they got along well enough for her to try defending them, in case of being caught, just not under the condition of being a lover.

Pangzi simply went around eating whatever he felt was good. One time, he gagged really badly, but quickly suppressed his vomit after seeing the head chef give him a death stare. Instead, he went to the third floor balcony, and secretly spat out the food he was hiding in his mouth.

Even though one seemed to be down there, after he spat it down, someone started shouting.

"what the hell?! Who did this trick?! If I don't find you before dawn, my name is not Jin Mo!"

"shit. Boy am I glad there isn't anyone else here, haha..." he sighed in relief.

Pangzi looked around carefully and sighed again. There was no one else there.

"aren't you letting your guard down too soon?" came a voice.

"a ghost?" he asked.

"nope. A living human in the flesh. Look down."

When he looked down, he saw another balcony. There was someone on the second floor.

"and you are?" he asked.

"Jin Mo's daughter."

"well... that went from 1 to 100 really quickly."

"true. Anyways, you got some cash?" she asked.

"blackmailing me?"

"possibly. Remember, I only accept in gold."

"not paying."

"I know what your voice sounds like, and my father is the owner of this place. When the guests are coming out, someone is sure to sound like you. I'll be greeting them, after all. I can then tell father you're the one who spat on him. I'll say I was watching you from the second balcony. And let's get this straight. He knows I'm here, so he'll realize it came from the third floor. He's probably on his way there as we speak. If you pay, I'll help you out."

I smiled.

"... well, if you help me, I'll remember this favor?"

"sorry, I prefer material gain."

"ok. Help me jump down to the second balcony, and I'll pay you later. Three of gold."

"deal." she said.

After hearing her agreement, he jumped down and tried catching the second floor balcony's ledge. Of course, it was risky, but the second and third floors was only two Chi away.

When he jumped down, he didn't do it elegantly and smoothly. He had no experience jumping from balcony to balcony.

When he got down, he barely managed to hang onto the second floor, and even when he did, one leg was hanging mid-air.

"grab my hand." she said.

Luckily, he was pretty light for his age. Thanks to that, she was able to lift him up relatively easily.

"thanks." he said.

She was still holding her hand out. He did not know what she wanted, so he put his hand in hers.

"not your hand! Money! Gold! Riches!"

"oh... see, I don't have any money on me."

"any expensive accessories?" she asked while examining my clothes.

"nope." I replied.

"then... I'll... rat you out."

"uh... how about I give you a free check up or something? I may not look like it, but I am a certified Shenyi that... didn't bring his token with him."

"as much as I'd like to reject your offer, Shenyi or not, I actually am in need of a doctor."

"great!"

"yeah. But this offer will only be accepted once your position as a Shenyi is guaranteed."

"fair enough. Anyways, I have to go. I've been with you too long."

"agreed. Too much fresh air is bad for your health, after all." she said.

"inside air, outside air, fresh air, old air, it's all air. What's difference?" I asked.

"the difference is that inside air smells like perfume, and if you smell carefully, a tinge of sweat. Whereas outside air smells like trees, and if you smell carefully, a tinge of shit. Old air smells like crust and new air smells cold."

"... yeah, I'm going."

"bye."

"yeah."

After parting ways with the daughter of Jin Mo, I went and gathered my friends. The high commander seemed to be giving a speech, but I came in just as he finished. Then, his son went out crying. Same story with the princess.

After I finished rounding up everyone, the host went on stage. He said his name was Jin Mo, and he introduced the person I talked to on the balcony with as Jin Yao. It was apparently the day of her social debut.

My friends seemed pretty worried, after I came. Maybe it had something to do with the commander's speech? Well, it probably won't matter too much... hopefully.

"oh yeah, I forgot to tell you guys, but while I was talking with the princess, she told me that there will be a parade. Maybe in a week or so. It's for when they leave."

"so a time limit... I can work with seven days..." muttered Pangzi.

"no, I want you to poison him in the parade." whispered brother blonde.

I went silent for a while. The others didn't anything either.

"won't that be risky?"

"no. If you poison him at the inn, we are clear suspects. In the parade, everyone in a suspect. Besides, you're a Shenyi. You can cure him."

"why would I cure him after poisoning him?" I asked, infuriated.

"because you'll have an alibi. You're the Shenyi. The only person that can cure him. With that, some suspicion will be shed. Say was poisoned by an unidentified poison. Blame it on the sect. Just get out with your head on your shoulders."

"got it."

His plan makes sense. The surface-dwellers hate our sect, so there's no reason for them to deny it being the sect...

"blonde. There's a problem with your plan. I need the right materials to make an untraceable poison. There isn't an An Du shop here in surface, as far as I'm concerned."

"about that... I have no plans for that part." he sighed in disappointment.

"how about I help?" asked a familiar voice.

"oh, money grabber." I called out. "help with what?"

"the poisoning. I can help you get the materials for any poison you want!" she said, cheerfully.

"why should we trust you." I asked.

"because I'll expose your scheme and have you executed."

"fair point. New question: why help us?"

"because there's someone I want dead. If I help you, you'll help me, right? And besides, that doctor thing I told you about. I need it really badly."

"so you scratch our back and we scratch yours?"

"exactly. But I'd never let you touch my back, or touch your backs, for that matter.""

"otherwise, you'd be a pedophile." I whispered with my arms crossed over my chest.

"since when where you like this?" she muttered.

"you know me?" I asked in shock.

"nope. You just remind me of someone I... looked up to for seven years."

"sad."

"it's not."

"I know."

As promised, she gave us her full support in the poisoning. It was probably because she actually didn't know who we were killing. Anyways, as for the person she was killing, it was her fiancé. I didn't ask her why she wanted him dead, but she probably had her reasons. After all, most people don't kill without reason.

After the funeral, the first few days passed without anything other than the usual happening.

Thanks to the materials provided by Jin Yao and her unknown source, Pangzi was able to make a slow acting poison. It first spreads throughout the body, and then started attacking the nervous system.

After I finished making the poison, I created another one for Jin Yao. Don't get me wrong, this isn't for Jin Yao. It's FOR Jin Yao. There's no guarantee that she would keep her word after the job was done. When the previous emperor collapses, she'll know it was us. Then, it won't be long till our heads drop... just a precaution. Nothing too lethal, of course. I don't bite the hand of the person that feeds me.

The poison I made for her only silenced her. Literally, and not in a dead kind of way. The others don't know what I'm doing to her, though. Hopefully, they won't find out, either.

On the fifth day, I put the same poison I made for Jin Yao in all the wells in the city. Most of the citizens should be unable to talk during the parade and maybe even before that. Jin Yao's symptoms should be less suspicious because of that.

The poison I gave for her, and not FOR her wasn't administered secretly into her drink while she wasn't looking. It was the same poison I made to kill the previous emperor.

She obviously used it, seeing as there was a huge commotion on the sixth day about his death. It was also that day when she asked me to examine her. Unlike in the underground city, people didn't just come where ever they hear a doctor is. Still, some very desperate people came to ask for help every once-in-a-while.

After examining her, I found out that there was actually a foreign object inside her. Not like a knife or arrow head or something she swallowed by mistake. It was poison; it was eating away at her from the inside. Of course, it worked so slowly that she wouldn't even notice anything, unless she checked her strength and weight every week, for a year. There was no cure for it, but she seemed accept it relatively easily.

The seventh day was when I slipped the poison into her drink. Her part of the deal was done, and so was ours. We had no debts between us. She must have thought we betrayed her... of course, I made sure she didn't receive a lethal dose. I even took her decaying body into account.

We were all in the parade. The florists made tons of silver from the amount of flowers bought for either perfume or throwing on the road. A repeat of eight days ago was something no one wanted.

Before they departed on the parade, I had brother Neixin make some date cakes. We gave each of them two cakes and a dozen or so for the road. I made sure to lace the previous emperor's one with an extremely lethal dosage. Luckily, I was able to remove discoloration, unlike in the underground city, since this poison was made, taking into account that I would be putting it onto the date cakes. I made sure the previous emperor ate the right one. All I had to do was hug his feet and beg him. Fool.

The parade was ongoing. Everyone was there cheering. Correction, everyone that COULD cheer was cheering. Of course, it was only around 14% of the entire city's population, which was a lot, but not enough to make up for the even more people that couldn't say anything. The imperials knew about the recent epidemic, so they didn't mind the lack of enthusiasm too much. Actually, they didn't mind it at all. They might have even preferred it, if anything at all.

The imperials were in a carriage, so neither me nor my friends could tell whether the previous emperor started reacting to the poison.

We silently followed them throughout the crowd.

Suddenly, the carriage door burst open, with the commander yelling.

"PUT THE ENTIRE REALM ON LEVEL 9 LOCKDOWN! BRING REINFORCEMENTS FROM THE DRAGON ARMY BRIGADE FROM THE NEXT REALM! AND BRING THAT SHENYI OVER HERE, NOW!"

All the soldiers in the escort started running frantically to the gates of the town. They were probably trying to keep the suspects, ie: the bystanders, in place, so that the culprit could not run away amidst the chaos.

I made sure to burn all the evidence inside the campfire, when we lit it in the backyard. Luckily, no one noticed that there was somethings other than the wood in the campfire, though slight discoloration of the flame and an awful stench was evident.

Within a few seconds, Pangzi was dragged from the crowd by the dragon army soldiers, and thrown into the spacious carriage.

"if you cannot save him, you will have to start looking for your head." said the high commander, as he pointed a sword at my neck.

I grabbed his wrist to check for a pulse. But there was a problem...

"he's... dead." I said in shock.

He wasn't supposed to die so quick? Maybe something went wrong with the poison? Was it too lethal? Did he have something else in his system? Did someone else poison him as well? Did his age take a huge toll on his body?

"you can keep your head."

"why?" asked both Pangzi and the emperor, in sync.

"because he did not have anything to do with his death. Since he was dead the moment... Pangzi... checked his pulse, it means that... the divine physician did nothing wrong." he sighed. "get out."

Without saying a word, I jumped off the carriage and went silently back to the inn, along with my teammates.

"what do we do now?" asked a worried Selan.

The imperials weren't there. Neither was the high commander and his son. They were probably dealing with the aftermath.

"we don't do anything." I sighed. "I've been temporarily cleared of suspicion, but we can't escape the city. And even if we could leave the city, we don't know the way back to the sect. The only thing up here that we actually know is the city's layout. But even then, it's just a rough idea."

After hearing this, everyone looked down, thinking what to do and cursing our situation.

Before we could start discussing our next course of action, a loud bang was heard from the first floor.

I went down along with brother blonde and Neixin. Jiao'er followed behind, and Selan stayed in the room.

"we are here under the order of high commander Jia and the emperor! Any resistance will be seen as treason and you will be executed on the spot!"

We all went down and sat on the chairs provided for guests, on the first floor.

As the guards were searching the upstairs rooms, the high commander and the princess came in.

"where's Shuaiqi and the emperor?" asked Selan.

"Shuaiqi is comforting father, and he is mourning for grandfather."

"what of you?" asked Selan in a spiteful tone.

"I came here with godfather to make sure you criminals don't escape."

"innocent until proven guilty." retorted Selan.

"it's actually guilty until proven innocent."

"if so, why are you the one searching for evidence? Shouldn't it be us trying ti prove our innocence?"

"..."

"leave her be."

After a few minutes of Selan and the princess giving each other death stares, the guards came down.

"sir! We have found nothing incriminating, sir!"

"then let's go."

"sir! We have found two suspicious items, sir!"

"well, show them!" demanded the high commander.

"this is the first one." said the guard. "it seems to be some sort of squishy bead. We found it in a bottle."

"it's not a squishy bead!" screamed an infuriated Pangzi. "it's my medicine!"

"oh... we'll see if it is harmless and give it back to you after confirming it."

"what if it loses potency?" asked Pangzi.

"it won't. As long as they don't dissolve it in water or crush it, nothing bad will happen to it." corrected Jiao'er.

"ok. Then you can take it." sighed Pangzi.

"then the next item?" asked an impatient commander.

"it's... well, brace yourself before looking at it..." said guard before giving the high commander Pangzi's jade token.

"Jia... Pangzi... 600 SD, 11, 26..."

"wh-what?" screamed the princess.

"what? Do you guys know me or something?" asked Pangzi.

"know you? KNOW YOU?! *sighs*" the commander took a deep breath. "why did you introduce yourself as Jiu Pangzi?"

"because I always do. Even to my friends."

"it's true. I've had my doubts before. Especially after seeing his token..." sighed Neixin.

"then... doesn't that mean these people are plague demon followers?" asked the princess.

"yes... you are probably right." agreed the commander.

"uh... what are you two talking about?" asked Pangzi.

The princess burst into tears.

"don't cry. I'm sure he'll remember." comforted the commander.

"I... okay..."

"Pangzi. Eat the medicine."

"Jiao'er?"

"eat. It." she said. This time, with more force.

I looked at the commander, expecting him not to give it to me. Surprisingly enough, he gave it.

I immediately ate the medicine, but nothing happened.

"is something supposed to happen?" I asked.

"two days, and you'll remember everything. Trust me." reassured Jiao'er.

After she said that, the commander had his soldiers drag the others out of the inn.

Pangzi wasn't able to think straight. Right after he ate the medicine, he started feeling faint and nauseous. He wobbled upstairs and fell down onto the bed of the nearest room.

Around two days later, I woke up. I went into Ruan Gao's room to wake her up. She wasn't there. I was kind of confused, since I didn't really remember much about what happened for the past few years.

Then, it hit me. I was kidnapped by the plague demon cult, attended my own funeral, and I... killed... godfather.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Pangzi, you here?" called out a familiar voice. "I bought you some meat buns."

"soft cake..?" I called out in a weak voice.

"what, did you think I was a ghost?"

"the plague demon followers... where are they?" I asked.

"they're in prison. The city is still on lockdown, but you won't get killed anymore, if you leave the realm, since the plague demon followers were found. Do you want to see them?"

"yeah, I do."

"I'll tell father."

"thanks."

"don't get your hopes up."

"I know." I said while smiling glumly.

A few minutes later, she came back, telling me that I could visit them. I immediately got dressed up and followed her to the jail.

When we got there, we were led by an escort of five knights. We went three floors into the basement before coming out at a musty smelling cell. It had Neixin, brother blonde and Selan in it.

"traitor. Look at you, coddling up with that whore." sneered Neixin.

"I liked you the first time I saw you. I liked how sharp your tongue was. I was deceived. I hate you. You aren't the type of person I get along with. I hate people like you. Anyways, where's Jiao'er?"

"not her, genius." spat out Selan. "she's hiding under that bastard high commander's tail coat. Apparently, she's some hotshot on the surface."

I looked at soft cake for confirmation. Apparently, it was true. But if she really was a hotshot, I'm sure I'd know. After all, we were in the plague demon cult for the same amount of time, and we're similar in age, so her name must have gone over my head a few times, at the very least.

"what's going to happen to them?"

"they'll be executed for killing grandpa. Thankfully, neither you nor Qianzai has done anything wrong. Otherwise, it might be hard — proving your innocence."

"what?"

I looked back at them. They were all smiling at me.

Suddenly, Neixin broke out into a coughing fit.

*cough cough cough cough cough cough*

"Gongzi, Jia, please go back up quickly. You might catch a disease."

I silently followed the escorts back up. I swung a final glance at my friends. They were glaring holes through me. Was it just a coincidence? Were their smiles a lie? They probably were... best leave it at that... *sigh*

A few days after that incident, I met up with Jiao'er.

"why didn't they tell the truth?" I asked.

"because they are loyal to the plague demon cult. To them, we are outsiders. My first time appearing in front of them was in the inner court test. They didn't like me from the start. The four others with me were sent by master. She was, as you guessed before, my master, long before the inner court test. At the second part, they saw you. From their reactions, it was clear they didn't trust you, either. Especially after the second test."

"the second..? oh... yeah..."

"anyways, I tried befriending them, just as you did, but it seems neither of our efforts bore much fruit. Of course, it can be seen as a good thing — their pride not allowing them to call us one of them. Even though we played an active role in this, from what they said, we are innocent."

"I can't believe they won't drag us down with them, just for their pride."

"neither can I, but it's in front of us." she sighed.

.

.

.

"we're going back to the cult" she declared.

"no. I'm not going."

"please. Those three will executed, and we still have to complete the mission."

"is the mission all you think about?! I killed godfather, tricked soft cake, betrayed Jin Yao and poisoned half the city, just for this?!"

"you… I can't. Sorry, I shouldn't have. I'll go back on my own, is what I'd like to say, but... ## ##### #### # #####."

My head was ringing. It hurt a lot. I remember I was in the middle of something? I think it was a mission of some sort?

I opened my eyes after the ringing stopped, and I saw Jiao'er. We seemed to be on the outskirts of the underground city.

"hey, Jiao'er. Why are we here?"

"because we completed the 10th rank mission. Still, we lost the others..."

"oh, that's... sad?"

"you don't have to pretend. I know you don't care about them. Especially after your fake memories with them were erased."

"that's... true, but I still remember my real memories with them."

"of course you do. The medicine makes you forget all the memories created by your master."

"I... I see. Anyways, why don't we go to the sect and register the mission as complete?"

"yeah, let's do that."

We went into town and followed the sign to the sect. We didn't take long to get there — only about 10 minutes.

When we arrived, we passed by the current year's entrees, fighting for a position among the 10,000 followers. Luckily, killing followers within the sect was banned. Otherwise, there would be a bloodbath whenever disciples walked around the entrees.

After confirming things with the receptionist, we went to master to get him to say the mission was complete. According to Jiao'er, he was the person that sent us there from the kitchen.

When we arrived at the Hao residence, we went into master's room, but he wasn't there, so we assumed he was greeting guests and went to the main hall.

When we arrived, great venerable Si was there.

"master? What are you doing here?" asked Jiao'er.

"I'm here to ask this buffoon why he ruined my medicine." she said angrily.

"Pang Pang, don't listen to that whore, she knows nothing! Believe in your master 24/7 like the stupid dumbass you are."

"that makes me want to believe you less... and what did you do to great venerable Si's medicine? According to Jiao'er, it worked — I forgot all the memories created by master."

"no, the medicine wasn't supposed to do that! It was supposed to get his poison out of your system. Your memories coming back depends on yourself, but this fucker did some shit, and now the poison concentration in your blood increased!"

"don't call it poison, it's my precious 'essence', baby~ *kiss*"

"gross..." muttered all three of them, in sync.

"anyways, yes, I tampered with your medicine, but, so what? He's my disciple. I do what I want with him. Simple as that! Anyways, c'mere child. I'm gonna cure you right now."

I went closer to him, but I was very skeptical. But there isn't much he could do with Jiao'er and great venerable Si there, right?

Anyways, he did something or the other, and I pretty much remembered my entire life.

So, basically, I was a slum dweller. The poorest of the poor. My only family was my mother. Even with her help, growing up was hell. She was a prostitute that was constantly scammed out of her money. To make things worse, she was too naïve. Always taking up those 'give me three Rin now, and I'll give you ten Rin tomorrow' scams. Honestly, I got sick of her after her prostitution business started going into deficit — with all those makeup, clothes and inn costs. She couldn't bother finding a good job, could she? Anyways, I killed her and sold all of her makeup and clothes. I did a lot of odd jobs after that, and I somehow got a chance to become a follower of the plague demon. I was overjoyed. I mean, how could I not? The plague demon sect was the one protecting the underground city, and also the one calling the shots, too! I was only three, and could barely walk.

Anyways, I took the test and somehow passed with flying colours. Great venerable Hao took an interest in me. Of course, he saw me as nothing more than a somewhat valuable pawn. He somehow decreased my age to the age of three, but it was only my body. My mind was the same. I was swapped out with the eldest son of the high commander, Jia something. Anyways, I got along with my fiancé, Ruan Gao, and I seduced her pretty well, if I say so myself. Anyways, I tried figuring out the secrets that I felt shrouded my life, but nothing bore any fruit. Probably because great venerable Hao hid it from me. Then, after ten years of such a life, I was brought back on great venerable Hao's order. He then altered my memories so I could fit in with those people, and even made me seem pitiful, to garner Qianzai Zhujiao's pity, and thus, friendship. After that, he gave this mission to me, so I could complete my purpose."

"I see... so what to do now? Jia Pangzi still exists, doesn't he?"

"he does. Which is precisely why I want you to live as him for as long as you can. In a year or so, something interesting will happen. There will be people who know of its arrival. When the time comes, Jia Pangzi will prove very useful."

"I see. Anyways, what happened to the actual Jia Pangzi?"

"I killed him today."

"today?! How did you hide him for 12 years, without anyone knowing?!" I asked in shock.

"I didn't. I killed him right now, in front of you and them." he said while pointing at Qianzai and great venerable Si. "of course, you will hate me once you realized how I killed him," he said with a snicker.

"Hao, you bastard!" screamed Qianzai.

"Zhujiao! Do not attack him." shouted great venerable Si. "we will come back later." she said with a glare.

I looked at them go away.

"send me back. Who knows how many people are looking for Jia Pangzi, now?

"haha, you're right..."

"go home, my first disciple, Yang Cheng."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tael: it's a unit of weight and not money.

Chi: not a cultivation manhwa, Chi is 3,3 ft, aka 1 metre.

This is where the prologue ends. There are many ways in which you could translate the end, but I won't tell (unless asked) what the right way is. It'll get pretty confusing if you don't know the right way, but it's pretty obvious.