Intrusion

"Alright, let's go." Chen Huang stood next to me as we said our temporary goodbyes to the rest of the group. For our departure I followed Chen Huang as he had told of a secret path he had found out about.

Apparently it was the least guarded part of the area's perimeter and as long as we could sneak in through there we would have passed the first obstacle. They only had a single perimeter consisting of a dozen or so guards spread out with a good distance between each. The hard part was acting like we belonged there with those other Grey Hound disciples.

It was a good thing that these robes had hoods and a number of the participants below wore them as well, else we would stick out like a sore thumb. That was the most natural way we could kept our faces hidden while still blending in, that we could think of in at the time.

The hoods didn't completely cover our face, but they would have to be focusing on us while in our line of sight to see the portion we couldn't cover. The hood came down just to my eye level where they wouldn't be able to see much of the identifying parts of my visage, but I could still see out well enough to not have tunnel vision.

We had contemplated wearing a mask before realizing that we would of looked too different from the mass majority of others if we did. Besides the shade produced from the hood interior might change their perception of our lower face if only a little.

After all, it would be extremely suspicious for a sect member to fully cover their head while in broad daylight. It wasn't like they were a secret organization, a assassination one, nor any other which would need their identity kept secret.

As we reached the bottom of the cliff from the side just ahead was one of their sentries they've posted around. He showed no expression as he lazily scanned the surroundings with only his eyes. While leaning against a tree he held a spear leaning it on his right shoulder.

The foliage around us hid our silhouettes from him, but his sight was mostly in our direction.

I turned toward Chen Huang and saw as he made beckoned for me to come over. Leading me toward thick tunnel made of shrubbery. "Conveniently" it led us directly past the single guard which would have stopped us.

And now we were at the outer most edges of the ceremony. Casually we began walking over to the crowd like nothing was wrong. Everyone within it was just casually chatting with one another like it was their get together.

Then a lone man comes out from the crowd before suddenly spotting us. He gave a slightly confused look before walking over to us.

"Where did you two come from?" he asked as he looked at each of us.

'What was our story again? Wait, did we even discuss one? Oh shit what do we say?!'

Just as I was about to speak out some gibberish to buy time and time like "We.. um.. ah.." Chen Huang spoke up.

"We just came from going to urinate."

"Hnn? You both went together? Awfully weird that you both had to go at the same day and time too... well see you at later! Have a good day." He gave a small wave before leaving.

'Damn I got to stop thinking so much! This isn't like a movie or something of the like where everyone is suspicious of each other all the time for no reason. It's perfectly normal to just give a little small talk to each other. This definitely isn't just my brain trying to rationalize what just happened.'

"Alright, so let's get over to that tent over there where they're keeping him. But let's split up, they might think we're up to something if we're going together." He pointed to the tent we saw people throw him into.

I gave him a nod in response and then we split up. He immediately walked along the edge of the crowd to get to the other side. I on the other hand took a bit of time to scan the area for my options.

Oddly from where we entered the ritual area the tents just happened to be directly on the other side of the crowd. There was no way I was going to go through that crowd and bump each and everyone around to get through.

I could potentially just follow behind Chen Huang since he only wanted us to be apart, but if someone notices I'm tailing him they might get suspicious of my actions. My final option would be to just go and follow the edge of the crowd like he is, but going the other way instead. The only problem is that it has to pass the near the front of the crowd where the alter is.

I'll just go with the last one. Just because I have to pass the front of the crowd doesn't mean anything. It's not like they'll just start staring at me for going near the front right?

Walking around the edge I made it over to the front and nothing happened, like the nothing that should. It wasn't a difficult task at all and by the time I reached around halfway I looked into the crowd. They acted just like they did when we entered.

Looking up towards the ledge of the nearby the cliff I saw the four small heads of the people up there. They were unnoticeable unless you were really looking for them up there. It's no wonder they didn't spot us up there, if fact it took me a minute to even find the general location of where they were.

Everything was going pretty smoothly actually, then something finally happened. I felt a tug on my sleeve which for a second froze me. Turning around I saw a girl holding onto my sleeve and not too far away in the distance I saw a group of girls looking over and mumbling to each other.

She was a little bit shorter then Yao Ya and wore the same robes that the rest had. Though she tried to look cute by tilting her head a bit to the side and forward with wide eyes, She even tried showing her appeal by puffing out her chest slightly

"U-Um... Senior Brother, do you have a girlfriend?" The girl spoke as she let go of my sleeve.

The question shocked me for a few moments before I remembered that Yao Ya was probably watching me from atop the cliff. I regained some clarity before coming up with a calm response.

"I'm sorry, I already have a girlfriend."

She seemed saddened by the response for a moment before a new fire seemed to be lit in her eyes.

"Who is she? I bet I'm better then her! I'll show you who you should be by your side!" She puffed out her chest even more as she scanned the crowd.

'Whoa, what's with the sudden change? This kinda reminds me of "Nice girls," but not exactly. Anyway how far has Chen Huang gotten?' Looking to the other side I see as he has made it around 80% of the way there. I on the other hand was only around the 60-70% mark. 'Oh, I have to hurry up, what can I say to get out of this situation?'

As I thought of something to say she turned back to me and out of nowhere sprung on me giving me a hug. Although I wasn't ready for that nor did I expect it, I reacted quickly.

I tried to push her off me, "Please, stop this Junior Sister!" I glanced at the cliff's ledge and saw as one head protruded more than the others and I knew for a fact that was Yao Ya. Seeing her reaction I tried even harder to shove her away from me.

Knowing that she saw me being hugged by another woman made me scared. Who knows what she'll do to me after this is over but she understands right? It wasn't my fault that she did this!

"No! I want you to take me to your "Girlfriend" and then we'll see who's better." She spouted as she hugged me even tighter.

At this point the group of girls from earlier began to move towards us as well.

"Please let me go, I have somewhere to be! Could you please help me?" I asked one of those women.

"Young lady what's wrong here? Is he not accepting your confession?" One of the women from the group spoke up.

"I didn't even get a chance to confess to him! He says he already has a girlfriend we'll see about that!" The lady who tightly hugged me responded.

'What!? Is it possible!? A young master in a form as a girl?! What is this witchcraft?! Why does she even want me to be her boyfriend? Is it because of my face? Does this hood do anything to hide my face? She shouldn't be able to see what I look like! It can't be just because of my face right? It's not like my face is that stunning to look, is it?'

While pushing her I finally felt that I was coming loose from her grip.

"Guards! I want this man!" She said to the women around who started to slowly surround me as she felt her grip loosening.

Finally I got loose and started running into the crowd.

'Damn it! Why am I the one being chased? Shouldn't it be Chen Huang? I even had to go into the crowd.'