Colors In A Clear Pond

However, the man's words didn't quench Lily's heart, as she replied with a pensive gaze. "But why can't I get rid of the feeling that something is wrong with him? I get the feeling that he is hiding something."

"Miss, you are overthinking. Or are you perhaps…" The man didn't finish his sentence, yet Lily understood what he meant.

Lily brought back her cold face. "I am giving you a warning. Do not ever mention something like that again or you won't see the light of this world."

"Forgive me, miss."

"Well, forget about it. Now tell me, when can I return? I can't live like mortals anymore." Lily urged in annoyance. 

"Sect master has ordered you to wait till the next inner sect exam."

"Inner sect exam..." Lily went into a deep thought before saying. "I will do as my father said. You can leave."

The man in the black cloak vanished, leaving Lily alone in her room once again.

…

Three days went by in the blink of an eye.

Everyone has been distributing their sect advertisement flyers, with the inner sect exam being the main focus.

For the past couple of days, Yu Jing felt his life was very peaceful. They also didn't need Victor and Mo Xhou's protection, as no one wanted to offend their sect.

In the meantime, Yu Jing learned about his sect's name too. It was called the Reverence Sect, and it was a tier-2 sect. 

So, now Yu Jing understands why most of the people here didn't try to offend two outer disciples. Yu Jing felt a bit whimsy, as he was so out of touch with the world he didn't know the name of the sect he was in!

The sun began to set, and they also began to prepare to leave for their hotel.

At that moment, a loud banging noise echoed through the town, catching everyone's attention.

Yu Jing looked to his right and saw a bright color of red and blue occupying the night. He sent his spiritual senses deep into the forest and arrived at a ruined site. He saw a purple vortex in the middle of it, which was probably the source of this incident.

Yu Jing began to sweat as he felt this scenario was familiar. 'Oh no, is this where a random treasure spawns, which leads all the surrounding sects to scramble and fight to death to get the treasure? But, if I remember correctly, the only ones who win in the end are the protagonists. I do not know who the protagonist of this one is; however, I know it isn't me. Because there is no way I am fighting for something like this, risking my life while having one of the best cheats.'

With that thought in mind, Yu Jing headed towards his hotel in a carefree mood. The others followed behind him, as they also didn't want to be involved in this.

All of a sudden, Yu Jing stopped in his tracks and glanced behind. He saw Lily frozen in her spot. 'This girl is probably scared seeing something like this for the first time in her life.'

Yu Jing asked cautiously. "Lily, are you okay?"

Lily came back to her senses and said it to Yu Jing in a hurry. "Yu Jing, I left something behind. You guys hurry back to the hotel; I will be back."

Lily ran away without looking back at him.

Yu Jing's eyelids twitched as a frown grew on his face. 'What is wrong with her? The place will be in a mess now, and she is running away by herself—a cowardly shy girl like her?'

However, Yu Jing didn't think further and led the others back to the hotel first, as their safety was more important.

Coming to the hotel, everyone went to their rooms while Yu Jing came to Lily's room after a long while as he had been sleeping in the lounge for the past few days.

Sitting on the bed, Yu Jing said with a deadpan face. "Traces of Spirit Qi of cultivators are in this room, in the room of a mortal. Who the hell are you, Lily?"

Yu Jing's suspicion of the past days was finally true. He was suspicious of Lily from the first time he met her. He didn't know anyone like her in his memory, so he was skeptical of her, but maybe because of his overly cautious tendency, he chalked it off. However, upon arriving here, the constant spying of someone on him and Lily recently not talking to him made his previous suspicions surge up.

"Did someone tamper with my memory? Anytime I try to remember the past after I came to this world, it becomes fuzzy. Did she do it to hide something?" Yu Jing was in a dilemma as he didn't know what to do. "Also, where are our protectors? Where did they go? They didn't even tell us."

After a while, he crossed his legs and was ready to cultivate. 'Only cultivation can bring peace to my mind.'

A couple of hours later, Yu Jing suddenly opened his eyes as he felt something in his spiritual senses. He was a man in a black cloak, crouching on the window edge, looking at him with a pair of wide eyes.

The man uttered it in shock. "You-"

He couldn't finish his sentence as he felt a pair of stings on both of his legs. He looked down and saw that his legs were cut in half.

"AGG-!" The man also wasn't able to scream as Yu Jing choked his throat tightly.

Yu Jing closed the window and asked with a pair of cold eyes. "Who are you?"

"Agghghh…aghhhh…" Yu Jing calmed down his emotions and loosened his grip on the man's throat.

"Please let me go! I didn't do anything. I was just passing by. Please forgive me." The man begged for his life, yet there was something else going on in his mind. 'No, I have to escape and report this to Miss. No matter what happens, she has to know.'