Xiao Li grew nervous when he heard this. But, seeing her focused gaze on him again, he found himself unable to voice his concerns. He thought for a bit before nodding his head, "This one understand, master..."
Lotus smiled and nodded her head, "Thank you, Xiao Li. When I return, I'll make barbeque for everyone and I would also like to see what is Crystal's preference for food too. It would be a great chance to get to know her better this coming New Year."
Hearing this, Xiao Li looked up to her with light shining in his eyes again as he nodded his head cheerfully, "Yes! I'll let the others know about it!"
"Mh." Lotus laughed, "They'll certainly be looking forward to it."
Before Xiao Li was going to enter the ring again, he paused in his tracks before turning back to Lotus and said nervously, "Also... I know master has been working very hard. But please take some time to rest when you can. It would be harmful to you otherwise."
Lotus looked to him in surprise before she regained herself and nodded her head with a small smile, "Mh. I'll keep it in mind. Don't worry too much about it."
With a nod, Xiao Li returned into her ring feeling a little more at ease.
However, Lotus fell back onto her bed looking up to the room where the light shined so brightly. So brightly that it hurts her eyes to such an extent...
With the back of her hands, she shielded her eyes from the light and laughed bitterly, "Ha... ha... How ironic..."
To think that a doctor, such as herself, hadn't even realized her own situation.
.....
"Master! Master!"
Lotus's eyes snapped open in surprise and saw Zhang Li's panicked face before her.
"Zhang Li?" She got up just in time to see Zhang Yong walk into her room as she frowned, "What happened?"
"Huo Wei notified us that the leader of his group is attempting to send someone to notify their -vice-sect leader." Zhang Yong reported grimly.
Hearing this, her groggy head instantly cleared up as she turned to him in surprise, "He's sent someone to call for back up?"
The twins nodded their head with stern expressions on their faces.
"Should we kill him off?" Zhang Li suggested hesitantly.
"No." Lotus responded bluntly with a frown, "Even if you went, you won't be able to stop them."
"Then, what do we do?" Zhang Li looked to her brother in confusion.
Sending out her butterflies to gather information, Lotus thought to herself quietly before she sighed in disappointment, "You can't defeat him, but you can guide him. I remember that it is normal for human cultivators to have beasts. Is it still the same as before?"
Zhang Yong nodded his head, "It is. By the age of fifteen, most would have their first spirit beast by then. This person should be a little over fifteen with his own beast."
"However, the beast was a fast one." Zhang Li added, "Huo Wei said that his beast is the main reason that guy was sent."
"Fine." Lotus nodded, "You two will go to fight the beast. Create an instance where you can separate the beast from his owner and force that cultivator into his direction. Don't act hastily. Your main priority is the beast. I will call out my beasts help me, so I'm not alone. Your priority is to support one another. A fast beasts isn't that smart, but it should still have tricks up their sleeves. Therefore, you two need to work together. Do you hear me?"
"Yes, sir." The two nodded their head.
"Go."
At once, the two figures before her vanished through the suddenly opened window. Lotus heaved a heavy sigh out of irritation. It's always one thing after another... Can't she just have sometime for herself to practice alchemy?!
She scowled knowing that she really can't blame anyone, but herself. Still, she sneered as she used magic to create a heavy smoke in her room as opened the door releasing the smoke to spread into the halls. A voice softly echoed in the room as her lips curved slightly upward with a light tinge of malicious tone drifting out of her parted red lips, "Still, it's not as though I can't vent my anger on them."
.....
In the dark and vacant room, Jade opened his eyes and sat up from his bed. He turned on the screen on his phone and saw the numbers depicting time.
Twelve.
The room he was in was free of dust and clean. It was definitely better than it had been when he last arrived to inspect the rooms. However, he recalled that there was some rooms which he could not enter and recalled Azul say, "Find out where he gets his information from. I don't doubt that they are accurate. But, he was able to obtained his information faster than our own network. It can't be a simple matter. See if you can find out where he's getting his information from..."
Jade looked around the room with a wide smile and quietly opened the door. The door creaked quietly into the dark corridor as he looked down the halls in confusion and surprise, "Oh? There is nobody here?"
He recalled that the nurse had specifically instructed Lotus to keep an eye on him for the night. So, where was the guy?
Almost at once, Jade was starting to grow curious as he sneered. For someone as dedicated to their work as her, it was hard to believe that she would not stand guard by his door as he rests. So, where was she?
Thinking this, he turned to walk down the rickety hall. As the winter wind blew, the snow continued to drift by the windows as the building continues to creak a little. As he walked down the dark corridor, he could easily see through the darkness with ease, but he can't say the same for the strange feeling he was getting from his surroundings. After looking around, he was surprised to see that snow had somehow gotten into the halls. Following the wind that blew in, he found that one of the windows had been left wide open. Jade wondered why the windows had been unlock when there was a huge storm coming in from outside and quickly went over to lock it.
"Hm?" He looked down at the window frame with a look of surprise, "There's no lock? No wonder it was opened... Huh? This..."
He magically lit up the stone on his pen and examined the wooden frame of the window sill in confusion. There was a piece of wood that seemed to have been forcefully torn out from the frame. the holes from the nails could still be seen under the light of his pen.
"The force must've been fairly strong enough for tear a large chuck of wood from the frame..." Jade noted to himself hesitantly as a foreboding sense of worry came, "The building is rather old and the majority of the windows have been blocked already, but this one isn't and have also been cleaned..."
Suddenly, a loud thud sounded from below as his eyes widen in surprise.
"What was that?" Jade looked to the staircase with a look of surprise, "Downstairs?"
Curious, he quietly hurried to the steps and quickly walked down the set of stairs. Once at the foot of the steps, another crash sounded nearby as his eyes widen in surprise and he whispered quietly to himself, "In the lounge?"
Quietly, he looked to the dorm's door only to find that it was tightly jammed and the hinges have been locked together! He looked to the window, but the only window that could be accessed was in past the lounge! He frowned and thought carefully to himself when another thud could be heard. He thought of going back to where he came when he noticed a white light coming over to his direction. A ghost?
No, ghosts don't glow white!
At a loss for words and ideas, his only thoughts continued to circulate to the lounge. Should he or should he not? As the glow grew closer, his confused expression finally grew firm as he reached over to the door and opened it!
The moment, he walked in a white puff of smoke blew past him as he shielded himself from the impact. It was then that he noticed something bright shine past him!
Cautious, he looked up ready to strike when he noticed the light took the form of a white butterfly that flew past him. Following its path, he found his eyes land upon a small black bundle that was illuminated by the radiant light of the butterfly in the darkness of the dorm room. It only then did he noticed it. The illuminating pair of eyes that shown in his direction like a set of purple jewels shining in his direction.
Along with them, the glowing butterfly landed on the piece of glowing red hairpin decorated with the spider lily in their long glossy red hair that shown like fire. It was a small girl with pretty clear skin and in a pretty black brocade with a short skirt hemmed in red.
From her bare shoulders down, a pair of black sleeves was embroidered with red spider lilies along with her skirt that fluttered softly from the tiny gust of wind. She sat on a blue bundle of cloth with both legs wrapped around her arms. Her turn of the head caused the strands of red and gold flow past her as her pretty and mysterious purple eyes gleamed in his direction.
Mesmerized and initially at a loss for words by the sight before him, a voice accidentally leaked out of his mouth as he whispered in shock a word he didn't think he'd hear coming out of his own mouth, "Beautiful- Guh!"