"Who is that? Was there a person like that in the Moon Lily faction?"
"If there was, we would have heard about them, he doesn't look that old… where was this genius hiding?"
"Could it be a hidden disciple of the Moon Lily Elder?"
People started whispering among each other after seeing an unknown man slapping away a half nascent soul master like it was nothing. They tussled for a moment but the person from the Sun Lily faction was promptly disposed of. It looked like a little tap but he was sent flying in the same direction the other guard was and joined him for a swim.
'Shit, it became harder to control my strength after the recent advancements, I just wanted to push that guy away…'
Zhang Dong was wallowing in self-pity after showing off his might. His intent was to remain hidden away and watch people without them becoming guarded against him. If they knew that he was the Golden Dragon or some hidden master they would quickly change the way they treated him. Already at this moment the people from the Sun Lily side were backing away and lowering their heads. They all knew that this amount of power wasn't normal and that only a nascent soul master would be able to contend with it.
"Hey Sun Ling, do something about this, we have to go… figure out an excuse and lets go!"
He sent a hidden message to the granddaughter that was supposed to lead him through the city. The young lady was just standing there with her mouth open and was quick to jump back after hearing his voice. It was a bit funny to see the girl panicking and not knowing what to do but finally she raised her voice.
"I just remembered something, we were supposed to meet up with my friend at the Tea Palace, we should depart promptly…"
"T-that's right, it's my fault for not reminding the young miss about it!"
"It's fine, that happens, we should go…"
The guards that were with them got the intent rather quickly and everyone started to back away. Zhang Dong was quick to turn around and follow after the departing group he was with. Luckily the people from the Sun Lily faction were smart enough to not call out to them. They did lose a bit of face but they clearly didn't want to lose even more.
…
"Please appease your anger senior, if it's enough you can have this Sun Ling's head…"
"What the hell are you talking about? Just stand there for a moment… here this should be enough…"
The group had retreated to a more secluded area of the city and into an empty alleyway. The guards along with the young miss were quite fidgety. It looked like they would be receiving a thrashing from Zhang Dong for failing their mission. Instead however he just used his disguising technique to change his appearance yet again.
His previous persona's deed was already spreading through the entire sect and thus to remain unnoticed he needed a new face. They might look for the hidden master among the Moon Lily faction but they would not find him.
"This should do but remember, if they ask about that little incident just say that I left or something."
"O-of course, Senior."
"Stop calling me senior, now wasn't there a tea house that we were supposed to visit?"
Sun Ling covered her mouth as it was ingrained into every fiber of her being to properly refer to seniors. Zhang Dong went against the norm, no one here understood what he was actually doing as any other elder would have just demanded a tour through the city from someone at their level. It was actually deplorable to have core formation juniors lead a nascent soul grandmaster like him through the city.
Unfortunately for them, it seemed that they were under the boot of an eccentric and would need to adhere to the plan he prepared. Thus they departed towards the next destination, the place was a famous tea house where various experts liked to relax and discuss the Dao.
'Is this supposed to be a tea house? Looks more like an area for a picnic."
They passed through a gate that had the writing 'Tea Palace' on it. However, instead of a large castle-like structure, they ended up at something that looked more like a park. It was an open field covered in high-quality spirit grass. Trees were spaced out at equal intervals which led him to believe that they were planted this way on purpose. Up in the air he coils see ladies in flowy robes swishing on swords, in their hands they had trays filled with tea.
"Let us relax under the cherry tree."
Sun Ling called out without looking behind her where Zhang Dong was standing. All of the people around him were quite stiff but they needed to remember to act the part. He was still only a lowly guard so Sun Ling couldn't interact with him normally. His job was just to stand there and answer her orders. Thus for the time being he leaned up against the large cherry tree and started looking around.
'It does look peaceful here, maybe I should make one of these in my city… but it doesn't look like kids are allowed, they would certainly make this place a lot louder.'
What he saw was mostly elderly people sipping on tea and meditating. It was a peaceful place with a nice atmosphere and everyone was talking in a hushed tone. That is almost everyone, there was a certain group of people that was just sitting there and practically shouting.
'Are they putting alcohol into the tea or something?'
Most people didn't have the keen eye that Zhang Dong did but he certainly saw one of the people adding something to the teacup. Afterward, he served over to one of the women from their group that instantly became flushed in the face. It was another group of young cultivators.
'It's not the Sun Lily Faction this time around… it looks very similar but the lily is green?'
When looking at the others gathered here these people were taking up a lot more space. Everyone else had made way and cleared out. It was possible that these people were trouble or at least their leader looked like another young master type. This one had a more gentle look and demeanor. His gentle smile was deceiving as Zhang Dong could see his eyes darting towards the spiked drink.
'He might have been the one that ordered the other person to spike the drink… the girl that is with him is probably a target, there are more with them too…'
Now, this was another predicament, there were about ten men within that group and three girls that looked to be in their twenties. On the outside, it looked like they were having fun and were laughing but he was willing to believe that they didn't consent to the thing getting put into their drink. While he wasn't that close to the scene of the crime he could somewhat discern with this spirit sense what they were working with.
'Looks like it's an aphrodisiac mixed with some other recreational drugs…'
His brain was already filled with all possible herb combinations that there were in this world. Just by the faint smell and spirit qi fluctuations, he was somewhat able to tell what would be the result of drinking the tea. The woman was already showing early signs, she was becoming less guarded and laughing. Probably after twenty minutes or so she would be ready for whatever they were planning here.
'So this is the young generation of the Heavenly Crane Sect?'
First was the young master that was trying to pick a fight with them after seeing their Moon Lily insignia. Now it was another one attempting to drug an unsuspecting junior. It was clear that the leader of the group was interested in the lady but probably didn't have the patience to pursue her in a regular fashion. It was quite strange to see, the man clearly had it all, looks, status, and a nice smile. Still with all of that he decided to hasten the process through underhanded means and probably had already walked over others to get to this spot.
'Another psychopath that thinks that they are above others…'
"Sun Ling, who is that person?"
"That person?"
Zhang Dong motioned with his nose toward the group that was sitting in the middle of this tea park. They were quite easy to spot as they were sitting at exactly the center stage of this place that was up on a little hill.
"That's… the Sage Lily Faction and that person is the grandson of their leader, Elder Jia Yong, his name is Jia Yang, is there a problem senior?"
'There is something, do you know any of those girls that are with them?'
"Not in particular, they seem to be part of their faction."
It would have been easy for him to just go over there and yank the girl away but then he would be giving himself away as always. Sun Ling was the better option but if it was possible for her to intervene was up for debate.
'The young lordling there seemed to have mixed something into the tea, would it be possible for you to do something about it without rousing suspicion?"
"Senior Jia Yang did?"
"So he is a senior to you? That complicates things."
This was troubling, if Sun Ling was lower on the totem pole than this young man then it would be hard for her to do anything about the situation. Even if she had his word it would be unbecoming of her to just go there and accuse Jia Yang of drugging the junior. The people around them would probably sweep it under the rug and no one would say a thing due to the difference in status.
'Think I might have become a little disconnected with how things worked around this world.'
With how Zhang Dong was at the apex of his sect he forgot how the people below him usually operated. Status and power were still supreme and even when he informed Sun Ling about a potential rape scenario she couldn't just act. Normally he would expect everyone to make a scene but instead, they buried their heads as if this was not something worth getting involved in.
'Even if they help the girl, the young master will probably inform the elder backing him about this disgrace… they could lose a lot of status or even their lives depending on the mood of that elder.'
He pondered, there were many ways of taking care of this situation but what would be the best? Just giving the young man a slap on the wrist for something as dastardly as this just felt wrong but time was of the essence as the group was probably going to leave soon...