Chapter 903

“Ok... so can you explain to me why we spent basically the entire fortune we got from selling the carcass on those three pills? I wasn’t really paying attention,” asked Kat as they left the auction house, bounty in hand. The pills were in a lovely looking glass jar, but they were just simple black beads that didn’t benefit from the fancy rainbow coloured glass the jar was made from.

“Yes, we noticed,” bit out Yang.

Xiang sighed and answered before things could devolve. Even though Yang had been a bit nicer to Kat and Lily recently she was rather annoyed at having to listen to their clapping for about half a day. Yang would swear, if asked, that she could still hear it at this moment, despite the fact Lily was in Memphis form at the moment. “These are going to be our ticket to escaping pursuers,” said Xiang.

“Right... but there’s only three of them. How do they even work?” returned Kat.

“I can answer both of those with just one explanation. What they do is temporarily distort your cultivation. It’s a little painful but thankfully no permanent damage will be done. They just disrupt your Qi enough to keep it constantly fluctuating and making you nearly impossible to track without visual line of sight or using normal scent tracking. We can easily deal with both of those with cheaper materials. Does that answer your question?”

“I think so? I assume there’s one for you, Xuena, and Yang. It wouldn’t work for me and Lily because neither of us have Qi right? Suggested Kat.

Xiang nodded, “That’s exactly it,”

.....

Kat nodded as they continued walking back towards the inn. “Are we staying the night?”

“I... I think so?” said Xiang as he cast an unsure glance over at Yang.

“Yes, I think we are,” said Yang.

The inn was in sight soon and they all moved to their rooms. Yang and Xiang went to sleep easily, and Lily was happy to curl up on Kat after being so active during the day. Coordination lessons were rather tiring, both mentally and physically. That just left Kat... and she couldn’t help but feel like there was some reason to stay up. She slipped into meditation instead.

The water was rough, rougher then normal but nothing stood out as inherently strange. There was a large number of people moving around even though night had fallen. The auction was just finishing up and people were still heading home. There were also a few stalls selling snacks and drinks to these late-night wanderers. The problem for Kat, was with all this activity it was really quite difficult to isolate any single bit of movement. There was a constant stream or ripples being spread across her mental pond. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.

So Kat kept up her meditation, trying to sort them out and watching for anything suspicious. It wasn’t relaxing in the slightest, and Kat knew she’d be paying for it if she needed sleep every day. Luckily, the last few days were almost exclusively relaxing and even that spar with Yang wasn’t too demanding. Honestly playing pattycake with Lily was tougher, but Kat had just abused her increased mental speed so she didn’t need to worry too much.

When Kat saw a ripple explode into her view and then quickly run somewhere else, Kat’s eyes shot open. She gently deposited Lily and followed them... right onto the roof. Where Yang was cultivating. Dammit. Kat wanted to stomp and complain. She’d been on edge all night. Finally found something weird and it was just YANG WAKING UP. Kat held it all in though. Yang was cultivating, and Kat knew enough to know you didn’t interrupt people while they were doing so.

Kat hopped back downstairs through the window in her room and snatched up one of the pillows before walking into the closet and shutting it. Hoping that the noise wouldn’t wake Lily this way. Then Kat screamed. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH. WHY! I WAS SO SURE SOMETHING WAS WRONG. I WAITED FOR IT ALL NIGHT AND IT WAS JUST YANG!”

What Kit missed while she was relieving all the tension she’d built up over the night, was another figure, that had been watching their group flicker away as soon as she disappeared, surprised that Kat had noticed something was off at all. Still, Kat did miss it and simply flopped back onto the bed and bundled Lily up into her arms to calm down, believing she’d wasted a bunch of time on high alert.

Kat sunk deeply into her meditation, focusing only on roughly where Xiang was until she noticed the cultivator in question stirring. Kat got up at that point and went down to the lobby. Yang was actually the next one to arrive and took up a seat next to Kat, until Xiang stumbled his way downstairs. “Xiang have you topped up on supplies?” asked Yang.

Xiang glared, “I’m pretty sure that was your job, you know, considering you have the money,”

“Oh? But you’re carrying the supplies aren’t you?” asked Yang trying to get a rise out of the guy.

Xiang, unlike Kat, had just woken up from a wonderful sleep. They had a good way to grab Xuena and escape. The snake head had been sold. They weren’t carrying around a tonne of money and likely to be robbed. He also knew one more little detail. He’d spotted Yang doing the shopping for the supplies she was trying to get him to admit to not purchasing, or insist he forgot but had bought knowing he was useless.

So, he just smiled and said, “Why would that matter? Sure I’m carrying the supplies but I know you were kind enough to buy things for everyone, even if it was my job. So thank you for that!” Xiang said with a bright, but predatory smile.

520

Yang’s eyes went wide and she looked at Xiang like he’d just grown a second head. Sure she wasn’t all that careful about buying the supplies, and it WAS her job... she just didn’t expect to be called out on it so clearly. Yang wasn’t sure if she should have dressed more provocatively to distract Xiang, been a bit more direct when she suggested it was Xiang’s responsibility... or perhaps there really was no way for Xiang to be mislead at the moment. Still, this did raise Yang’s opinion of him. He still wasn’t ideal boyfriend material, and it was a chance to indulge in a bit of his power by staying close... but the fact he managed to trip her up like that. Well...

Xiang couldn’t help but lean back just a slight amount as instead of anger, or submission, or just... something normal as an answer to being caught out in a lie that was obviously an attempt to start an argument now he thought about it... instead... instead he was face to face with Yang’s smile. If it could be said that his own was predatory just moments ago, Yang now wore the face of a predator that eats other predators. Her eyes were shining and her teeth seemed to be sharper for some reason. Xiang couldn’t help but think that while he won the battle here in this moment... he’d just set himself up to lose the war.

Kat looked on in confusion, until Lily, who for once Kat hadn’t noticed getting up because it was during her panic, and then proceeded to just pretend she was asleep for a bit chimed in. [Yang apparently finds this quite appealing. I’m not sure if she’s more attracted because he’s shown a bit of intelligence, sneakiness or some other quality. Alternatively she might just like having her plans foiled. Not sure but... there’s a good deal more lust in her gaze for Xiang now.]

*Why can’t I seem to tell? I mean I should know by now what lust is right? I can feel it in your thoughts. Then again... I don’t know if I’ve ever properly recognised it by just looking at you. The mental connection really does let me cheat in that regard.*

[Well that could exactly be it. It’s not an emotion you experience. The fact you can only really get an inkling of it from me through the link might mean that your mind has associated it with just me and the link. I know you’re away other people can feel lust and you’re the odd one out... but maybe part of you disagrees with the idea? Thinks that more people are like you then what statistics would suggest?]

*Perhaps... it’s impossible to tell really. What I do want to know is... what does this mean for us? Is Yang going to start aggressively flirting with him?*

[Um... huh... yeah I have no idea. I can only barely understand her thought process at all Kat. Sure I’m a bit closer to understanding then you because I have some context but like... pretty sure Yang isn’t a normal example of a girl in love either.]

*Fair.*