…Here they are."
At first, nobody could tell what it was.
Two wet spheres resting in my open palm and the next instant, fat man's scream tore through the room.
He knelt on the floor, both his hands pressed against his face and blood oozed through the gaps between his fingers.
His subordinates stumbled back from the table, chairs scraping as they tried to get away from us.
I set the two eyeballs down on the table and stood up from my seat.
Right then— from the chaos, I noticed the same young girl who was related to the fat man had not run. She pushed forward against the flow of people and stopped in front of me, lowering her head in a quick, genuine bow.
"I apologise on his behalf." she said, her voice steady. "I did not know they were disturbing a cultivator. Please forgive this discourtesy."
Around us the fat man was still screaming and one of his subordinate crouched beside him, doing nothing useful. While the rest of the tavern had gone very still, everyone watching to see what would happen next.
I looked at her bowed head.
"Heh." My voice came out easy. "For mere mortals to scare my little sister..." I paused. "Even death would be a mercy to them."
Her head came up as if she understood what I meant. Relief crossed her face and was about to open her mouth.
But I raised one finger and pointed at the fat man. "However," I said, "I am merciful."
She gave me a confused look.
Time seemed to pause.
Then the fat man's head slipped from his shoulders and dropped to the floor. The body remained kneeling for one impossible moment, then fell sideways into the blood.
SILENCE
With her wide and horrified eyes, she looked at the headless body, then back at me.
Then I raised two more fingers and moved them slightly. Instantly one man's arm left his body, and another lost a leg.
"Aaaakh" Both of them screamed as they hit the ground, others scrambling backwards, pressing themselves against the wall.
BANG!
Then all of a sudden, two men burst into the tavern through the thick doors.
Their eyes moved as if finding someone and in the same momentum both pulled their arms back and blades left their hands in rapid succession, crossing the tavern toward me from opposite angles.
I raised one hand.
The spiritual essence already flooding and building on my skin.
ESSENCE PALM.
Both blades struck it, making a sound like metal hitting stone, their tips flattening slightly and they fell to the floor.
"Hmm." During this assault, one of these men had come to the girl already and pulled her back, now standing inbetween the girl and myself..
"Miss, are you hurt?" The man asked with concern without breaking his eye contact with me.
She shook her head, and stood straight, though her knees were still shaking a bit.
She looked back at me. However, her expression twisted into shock with her pupils shrinking as if she had seen something beyond her expectations.
Shortly, more footsteps followed as a bunch of guards barged into the tavern with a young man leading them.
"Young Master Feng, stay back," one of the men warned. But the young man ignored him and stared at me like everyone else was before stepping forward.
"Please forgive the disturbance. I believe that someone with such..." he paused, searching briefly, "...heavenly appearance must also possess a generous heart."
"Mm?" I paused thinking about what he just said, subconsciously my hand moved to my face.
Shit.
The scarf was gone, fallen somewhere without me noticing.
Irritation clear on my face, I picked up Yue Lian, who still hadn't emerged from my robe and showed no interest in doing so, and walked toward the stairs at the back of the tavern.
"Wait, may I know your name?" the young man called after me. To that, I gave no answer and went up the stairs.
Behind me, I could sense the guards beginning to move through the tavern, understanding their task without being told.
After an hour we returned down.
Тhe tavern had been cleaned up and the remaining diners sat again with careful stillness.
We reached the staircase and everyone froze for a moment, only to quickly return to their business.
Yue Lian was back to herself, walking beside me with her outer robe straightened, her earlier mood apparently restored during the hour upstairs.
Stepping outside the tavern, two men stood to one side with their hands clasped and their eyes forward. Between them stood the same young man and the girl.
The young man smiled when he saw us and stepped forward with the others.
"Allow me to properly introduce myself," he said, "I am Bai Feng, grandson of the Bai Village head. This is my sister, Bai Xia." Bai Xia lowered her head in a quiet bow.
Yue Lian looked at both of them with her head slightly tilted and then drew herself up to her full height. "I am Yue Lian." She looked at Bai Feng with the expression of someone delivering important information. "And you have already met my big brother."
Again this useless confidence..
Bai Feng laughed. "Of course we have, hahahaa."
I let out a slow breath. "Is that everything?" and turned to leave. Behind me, Bai Feng's composure skipped half a beat before recovering.
"Wait, if I may ask…" His voice carried a hint of impatience. "What brings you to Bai Village?"
I stopped but didn't turn around. "What do you think?"
A short pause.
Bai Xia's voice came. "The crack, near our village."
"You're right," I replied.
In quick steps, Bai Xia came around to my side. Her earlier composure was fully back in place. "I can tell you exactly where it is. And there are things about the surrounding area you should know before you—"
"No need." I rejected her.
"But…"
At the same time, a villager appeared at the corner of the street, running towards us with my horse, leading it by the reins. He held the reins out toward me with both hands which I took and placed half a spirit stone in his open palm.
He looked down at it as his entire face changed.
I mounted and pulled Yue Lian up in front of me.
"At least stay for tonight," Bai Feng said, moving alongside the horse. "My grandfather is hosting a banquet this evening. We would be honored if—"
The horse moved forward.
"Another time."
...…..
We left the village. The road out was quiet at this hour, merchants and farmers heading toward the gate while we rode away from it,
Yue Lian shifted in front of me and looked back at the village. "Why didn't we stay?" she asked. "That banquet sounded good."
I didn't answer. My attention was already on the forest ahead.
After a moment she sighed. "You always leave when things start getting interesting."
The village slowly disappeared behind the trees. Yue Lian looked forward, then glanced back once more at the shrinking rooftops before finally giving up.
The path through the forest was narrow and uneven. I slowed the horse so it could move carefully over the roots and broken ground.
The trees thinned ahead, and the path opened into a small clearing.
The crack in the earth came into view, but someone was already standing at its edge.
Yue Lian said, "It's them."
Bai Xia turned at the sound and looked with an expression that had clearly been waiting for us.
I dismounted from the horse and Yue Lian slid down beside me. Together we walked to the edge of the crack and looked down into it.
"It's so deep, what are we going to do?"
"There are also traps throughout the descent," Bai Xia said, closing the distance between us. "My uncle mapped them but there are things the map doesn't show, If you'll allow me to—"
Not waiting for her to finish, I picked up Yue Lian and jumped straight into the crack.