Inconspicuous Shadow Elder

Chen Li, who was watching the young master of the Yao family from the shadows, muttered with a low voice. "This f*cker isn't going to make this easy…"

The Yao family young master, the 2nd prodigy of the Twilight Thunder Sect, was a 15-year-old boy in Qi Condensation realm. His 6th stage cultivation was far higher than Chen Li at that age. So was his excessive pride, of course.

"Are you not giving me face?" Young master's face darkened. Chen Li cursed in his heart once again and considered how he would defend the boy.

'There are 2 Core Formation experts in hiding…' Chen Li thought as his eyes searched through the shadows. 'They should be elders from the Blood Oath Sect, probably Early-Stage, but let's assume they're in the Late-Stage…'

Blood Oath Sect used borderline unorthodox techniques. Borderline was the operative word, because they were still considered to be an orthodox, just like the Twilight Thunder Sect. Which meant that Chen Li couldn't kill them too ruthlessly.

However, that didn't mean that he could leave them alive.

'Yao family's 3rd uncle should become the next deacon of the 5th peak. This kid is his nephew, at least officially. But… Considering how I was the one that got assigned as his shadow protection, their relationship shouldn't be simple.'

The mentioned 3rd uncle of Yao's had a long memory, and a petty personality.

While Chen Li was considering the reaction of the up-and-coming deacon, the young master he was assigned to had already started beating up the opposing young master.

The fuse was already lit. Soon, a sequence of events that Chen Li had seen more than a hundred times before, would happen once again. Thus, Chen Li made the least risky decision.

To kill the Core Formation guards, just before "his" young master attempted to cripple the opposing young master.

Both of them were young masters, so someone was going to crippled either way. This was just the way this Xianxia world worked, Chen Li had stopped questioning these affairs 12 young masters ago.

With his late-stage Nascent Soul realm cultivation, Chen Li carefully repositioned himself behind the opposing young master. The shadow guards would generally be around 200-meter radius, but always stay behind the young master they were assigned to.

'Looks like one is really at the early stage, but the other one definitely isn't. His spiritual waves are too clear to be in the early stage of the Core Formation realm, but I can't really see through his real cultivation. Probably at the late stage, or maybe half a step into Nascent Soul?...'

After 15 moves, the Yao family young master got the upper hand, and started cornering his opponent. According to Chen Li's judgment, he had 5 to 8 moves left before the opposing shadow guards would intervene. That meant that he would strike after the 4th move.

1st move, and the young master's finger strike grazed his opponent's face.

2nd move, young master stopped the counterattack with his bare hand, and smiled while suppressing the minor internal injury he received while posturing.

3rd move, young master's finger strike landed on his opponent's leg, just north of the 65th meridian. It was just pure luck, but that shaved of at least 2 moves from the eventual victory. Chen Li calmed his mind and prepared his own attack.

4th move, opposing young master tried to misdirect, but the Yao family young master used a shackling talisman. Chen Li's silent sword qi traveled through the void space and directly turned the brains of the guards into a mush.

Having a higher cultivation base was really convenient when it came to shadow protection missions!

5th move, Yao family young master raised his chin with a sneer. Yes, Chen Li also considered this as a martial arts move, because it's effectiveness across wide variety of young master types was unrivaled!

"Junior, stay your hand…" Said a Foundation Establishment elder of the Blood Oath Sect. Him, and the two others finally revealed themselves to the younger generation.

Meanwhile, Chen Li was only paying 70% of his attention the scene. The remaining 30% was doing a cost benefit analysis.

Since the 2nd layer of guards were already dealt with, he could afford to relax!

'The energy I used was in the Core Formation realm. The Blood Oath Sect will "publicly believe" that they died through the use of a spatial treasure. In secret, they will know that a Nascent Soul cultivator took action, and reconsider their retaliation methods. 3rd uncle of Yao's will definitely recognize their reluctance and shouldn't be able to find any faults me.

Even if the Blood Oath Sect's young master was more valuable then I calculated, the deaths of those elders should-'

Yao family young master's attack interrupted Chen Li's thoughts. This final strike was meant to kill. Chen Li calculated the speed of the three Foundation Establishment elder, and realized they wouldn't be able to intercept the attack on time!

The opposing young master was going to die! In less than 0.2 seconds!

This development gave Chen Li a pause!

'F*ck, this kid is really going to be the end of me! Why the f*ck would you strike to kill?!'

0.2 seconds was plenty of time for a Nascent Soul expert! So Chen Li immediately entered crisis contemplation mode and started evaluating his options!

'First layer of guards aren't fast enough, I already killed the second layer, and there shouldn't be any third layer protection. If there was, the cultivation of the second layer guards wouldn't have surpassed the first stage of Core Formation realm.

Our side shouldn't have a third layer as well, which means I'm the most senior as far as the sect guard's are concerned. If I don't intervene, the kid's death will be on me.

But if I intervene, that will be a silent disapproval in that 3rd uncle's ability. It wouldn't affect his chances to become a deacon, but that f*cker is a petty little sh*t…'

Chen Li not doing anything would mean that he tacitly trusted the 3rd uncle of the Yao family to deal with the consequences of his nephew's actions. Usually, this would mean the Yao family would accept the responsibility, because shielding their workers from the wrath of a sect would elevate their reputation.

What if Chen Li hadn't killed the Core Formation guards?

They would've saved their young master of course. But in Chen Li's experience, this wasn't a good development!

The Twilight Thunder Sect valued their prodigies only when they went through some mud!

The entire reason they let the kids run amok was to give them experience. Then, they would review everyone and select the one's that met some esoteric criteria.

By directly intervening with the young master's actions, Chen Li would be considered an influencing party by the sect. If the young master eventually turned out to be a failure, Chen Li would be affected as well.

Thus, he had to consider all sorts of possibilities when protecting a young master. The kids' personality, the sect's intentions, the affiliated family's intentions, the interested higher up's intentions if there are any… Protecting a young master was a balancing act involving many obvious and hidden parties.

With 0.1 seconds left, Chen Li came to a conclusion.

'The Blood Oath Sect can find out I was the second layer protection, but I'm >95% sure that their young master won't be worth the effort. Meanwhile, if I do save that kid, I would have to deal with the Yao family's pettiness. That's way worse than hiding out for a few decades…'

Yao family young master's sword slowly penetrated the opposing young master's body. The opposing first layer protection realized what was going on only after the sword had already punctured the heart. If the sword strike didn't have any Qi, they would be able to save the kid with some lifesaving pills, but everyone watching the spectacle knew that wasn't the case.

Mere seconds later, another young master bit the dust.

Soon, the 3rd uncle of the Yao family would make a public spectacle of bravely standing in the way of the Blood Oath Sect, and would receive a small reputation boost in the process. Meanwhile, Chen Li would spend the next few decades in seclusion. To make sure that he wouldn't face retaliation from a grieving parent.

Though the kid that died was young, Chen Li's conscience was clear. Because after all, the kid was a young master. The kind that would "find" servant girls to play with, the kind killed mortal families just because they didn't look down while he was passing on a public street.

This wasn't Chen Li's first rodeo. Though he didn't know the kid's family, he had already researched the kid's exploits!

He shook his head and let the first layer protection defend the Yao family young master. Obviously, the three opposing guards of the Foundation Establishment realm had already attacked to avenge "their" young master.

'Why couldn't I transmigrate into a modern world… Why did it have to be a Xianxia…' Chen Li complained in his heart out of habit.

Yes, Chen Li had transmigrated into this world over 700 years ago. At first, he was excited, and waited for his cheat, his golden finger, with bated breath. But no System ever appeared. Nor did he chance upon a heaven defying treasure.

He simply cultivated in a low-key manner, and eventually became an elder. Not because of his accomplishments, but because he stayed alive long enough.

As such, being a low level elder, he had to accept missions from a variety of people up in the food chain. Over time, his stable results ended up with him being a popular choice for protecting prodigies. Not because of his amazing results, but because he only did the bare minimum.

'If I had known I would become a professional shadow guard, I would've made some fuss in my younger years…' Chen Li shook his head once more while stroking his white beard.

Though he was in Nascent Soul realm, his cultivation speed was quite slow compared to others. As such, his hair and beard were pure white, and his face was filled with wrinkles. Physically, he was completely fine, well within the Nascent Soul realm specs, in fact. But, due to entering Foundation Establishment realm in his 90s, the effect of aging could not be hidden!

Though Chen Li couldn't complain. His elderly appearance had saved his hide many times! Sometimes his life was spared before he even became aware of the danger!

The world of Xianxia was fraught with dangers! There was always someone that was willing to take offense. There was always someone that was willing to increase his cultivation by 0.01% by absorbing unborn fetuses and their parents.

Chen Li watched the first layer elders push back the elders of the Blood Oath Sect. Since this was an incident worth reporting, he didn't waste any time, and sent a message with his communication jade. A response came after a few minutes confirming the dispatch of Yao family elders.

4 hours later, Chen Li handed over a video copy of the events to the Yao family elders. After returning to the sect, he would hand over a copy to the mission archives, then hide four different copies in hidden locations. Originals, he would always keep them in his person! Jades used in recording were cheap and didn't take too much space. The cost of this type of insurance was surprisingly low!

The Yao family elders were taken aback at first. Upon viewing the contents, their leader nodded. "You must be elder Chen Li. Thank you for your service, we will take over the protection from here."

Chen Li gave them a martial salute and didn't say a word. The cultivation of these people was clearly higher than himself; it was best not to linger!

'Looks like I made the right choice by letting their young master run amok.' Chen Li secretly thought. The Yao family elders weren't from the Twilight Thunder Sect like he was. The fact that they knew his name, meant that the 3rd uncle was paying special attention to his nephew.

However, Chen Li also noticed something odd.

Five high-cultivation elders were dispatched in just four hours. Wasn't this… a bit too extreme? This was just an idle thought. Normally, Chen Li would never think of the matters involving aristocratic families.

Unfortunately, this idle thought had stirred his curiosity, just for a moment! And in that moment, he evaluated what he knew about the Yao family.

'The kid is the son of the family leader, and the heir of the Yao family. The 3rd uncle is the son of a concubine, which is why he is seeking rank in the Twilight Thunder Sect rather than in his own family. But, how did he convince the Yao family elders? Why is the official heir of their family a member of the Twilight Thunder Sect?

Is he an illegitimate child or something? No, he really looks like his mother and father.' Chen Li froze for a moment. 'He… really looks like his father, but doesn't this kid cultivate the Severing Moon Scripture?'

Being a son of a concubine, the famous 3rd uncle also cultivated the Severing Moon Scripture. Mostly due to his slightly different physique inherited from his maternal family.

'F*ck, stop thinking about it. His uncle probably transferred some of his Qi as a protective measure. Yeah, that's it. The boy cultivates the Yao family scripture. Nothing fishy about. None whatsoever!'

There was no way the 3rd uncle could secretly knock up his brother's wife. Chen Li specifically didn't even consider the possibility!

No way!

His mission was over! Over! He had no business with the Yao family anymore!

A day later, after making a thorough report to the sect, Chen Li was granted the permission to enter seclusion. Since he had video evidence of the entire mission, there wouldn't be any need for him to get involved in any further proceedings.

"Finally…" Inside his cave abode, Chen Li stroked his beard in a profound manner. This time, he could stay in seclusion for a little over four decades!

In these four decades, he would be not only be able to lay low from the Blood Oath Sect, but he could also enter half a step into the Spirit Origin Realm!

"Normal people would be able to breakthrough in a year or so. I should be able to manage in four decades." Chen Li suppressed his excitement and started cultivating.