"My lord, pardon my rudeness. There is an urgent report," a shadow guard suddenly emerged on the corner of the room. He gave a customary bow and carefully looked at the food on the table that had turned cold. 'The aura of my lord earlier and right now seemed to be different?' he made a mental note.
After Qin Shan Rou removed the barrier in his room, this shadow guard did not hesitate to go enter. He was anxious about the report for he think it was important.
After a while, his gaze shifted slowly to Qin Shan Rou when he did not get any response from his master. His saw the mess on the bed and only blinked a few times of the scene.
For about a minute, silence had dominated the room before Qin Shan Rou exhaled a deep sigh and asked, "What is it?"
By the time the man stood from his seat and turned his attention to the shadow guard, there was no longer any trace of emotion left on his face. He had completely calmed himself.
"My lord, there are sightings of those... ehem... those b-banished citizens near our shore. They seemed to be searching for something in all coastal areas around the mainland," the shadow guard quickly reported.
Banished citizens were actually just a mild term he used. What he meant was the members of Hui Yin Shi's reverse harem.
'Of course, they would look for their leader,' Qin Shan Rou thought. A chilly air suddenly brushed past them and he closed his eyes to maintain his composure. "If they trespass our territory, then there is no need to show mercy," he finally stated and the shadow guard nodded his head before he left the room.
~
A group of soldiers quickly surrounded the seashore, preparing to fight against the potential trespassers. Their hands held tightly at their weapons as they look at the figures on the sea who were hovering like birds searching for a fish to catch.
The group of soldiers could not wait for these figures to enter their territory. They want to teach them a lesson for following Hui Yin Shi.
But, Hui Yin Shi's men were smarter than they had expected. The men had a tacit understanding that even if they are strong, that even if they could take all soldiers despite in few numbers, still, they must avoid clashing with them. Fighting won't do good for them.
Their priority is to find for their lady!
After half an hour of anticipation, the soldiers on the seashore became angry. For some reason, they felt as if Hui Yin Shi's men were playing at them.
"What are those weaklings searching for? A pearl for their witch master? If they stayed in that distance, then, we cannot do anything against them!" one of the soldiers complained.
"It must be some important object. There are actually many of them who are looking. Hehehe, let's see..." another soldier said. Then, he inhaled deeply and shouted, "HEY!!! WE HAVE FOUND THE OBJECT THAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR! COME AND GET IT!"
Hearing the loud and clear message of their comrade, the other soldiers instantly understood what he want. And they could not help but secretly snickered. Then, one after another, they started to shout too...
"HERE IS THE OBJECT! WE WILL GIVE THIS TO YOU NOW!"
"Wait, they are ignoring us? Are they deaf?" a soldier commented when the men did not even spared a second to look at them.
"COME! WE ALREADY HELPED YOU FIND THE OBJECT YOU ARE SEARCHING FOR! WE WILL NOT ASK FOR ANY COMPENSATION."
The soldiers continued to shout when Qin Shan Rou arrived at the shore.
'Object?' His eyebrows subconsciously twitched after he overheard what his men were shouting.
When the soldiers noticed his arrival, they finally stopped shouting nonsense and turned silent. Then, they bowed at him before they returned looking at the other people on the sea.
"My lord, those useless weaklings are just littering around and are ignoring us. They have not entered our territory yet. Shall we make the first move and attack them?" the leader of the soldiers asked in a respectful tone.
"No need," Qin Shan Rou stated. Then, he waved his hand, and a strong yet invisible force swept towards the sea, going in the direction of the men.
One of Hui Yin Shi's men finally took notice of the invisible force that was coming to them. He immediately apprehended the figure that was coming to them. "QIN SHAN ROU, what are you doing? We are not here to fight you! We have important matter to attend!"
All of them managed to dodge the force easily.
Qin Shan Rou leaped in the air and a sword came up flying below his feet. He calmly stood on his weapon and went towards the men. Whether he would engage in the battle, he did not say anything at them yet.
But such action of him had forced the men to stop searching and become alert. All of them turned into a fighting stance.
"Don't be so arrogant, Qin Shan Rou. Between our master and you, your power is not even half of hers!" another subordinate of Hui Yin Shi exclaimed in annoyance. It was obvious that he did not see the man as a master. Rather, in his eyes, he was just a nuisance to them.
"So Hui Yin Shi did not teach you of basic honorifics? In front of me, a respected master of the entire mainland... yet you act so disrespectful calling me by my name!? How bold!" Qin Shan Rou calmly said.
"There is no time for your honorific nonsense! We have urgent matters that is more important than your honorifics!" the man yelled loudly.
"Our lady Hui Yin Shi is the only master that deserves our respects!" one of them also retorted.
'Your lady? She is mine!' a thought suddenly snapped on Qin Shan Rou's head while glaring at the men one by one. Whether if it was a feeling out of jealousy or something else, he was not aware of such. He did not also dwell of the thought and just maintained composed in front of the men.
On the other side, Qin Shan Rou's men became excited. Their master actually took the initiative to attack personally. Then, they began speculating.
"The lord must have hated the faces of these useless weaklings!"
"An embarrassment of us men. Who would follow and willingly obey orders to a woman?! So shameful!"
Qin Shan Rou stopped just a few meters away from the men. He raised his hand once more and then mumbled to them, "Tell your master, from now on... her life is mine! And I have my ways to claim her."
After he spoke another invisible force instantly gathered this time, it was more powerful than the first attack... then, the force completely pushed the men away...
They men wanted to retaliate but their bodies started to move before they could even respond. And with the power forcing them to drift farther, they realized that it was impossible to fight back.
The figures of the soldiers in the mainland could no longer be seen. The men wanted to resume their search yet, a familiar figure suddenly emerged on the side.
That invisible force had actually pushed them back to their island waters! And Hui Yin Shi was watching them above a cliff with her hands folded on her chest.
"My lady! We... we thought something bad had happened! We were waiting for an entire night yet, we did not see you!" the men instantly approached Hui Yin Shi and had forgotten about the invisible force.
"I've just returned. Come, let's play!" Hui Yin Shi casually said and turned her back to start walking. However, after she had taken a few steps farther, all of her subordinates rushed forward to stop her.
"AHH... wait! my lady, we searched you near the mainland."
"My lady, just now we met the strongest harem master of the mainland. He... he actually said that your life is ---"
They trailed and had lost the courage to speak the last word.
No, this lady was their master. To think that someone was too bold to claim that her life belong to him, they did not know if it was appropriate to report such boldness.
"Ohh... did you mean lord Qin?" the lady paused with a small yet subtle smile appearing on her lips. She tilted her head and looked at the sky as if she was thinking of something.
"It was indeed Qin Shan Rou. Unexpectedly, we almost trespassed his shore," one of the subordinates answered.
"Lord Qin... Hmmm, I did owe him. Our paths crossed last night. Yet, he did not recognize me until this morning. It was a pity that he was ignorant about my existence. If all men had recognized me, then, this world would be full of happy gentlemen, right?" Hui Yin Shi's smile widened revealing her perfect set of teeth. Her eyes sparkled and her face showed a deep sense of contentment.
"My lady is right! We are happy gentlemen!" the subordinates supported her.
"Good, good! I believe that happiness must be men's priority more than anything else. You, my followers are in the right path! Hehe... Anyway, did lord Qin make some nonsense claims when you meet him? Something like... I belong to him?" she had already guessed what the man had told to her subordinate.
"Indeed, it was something like that, my lady!" they answered.
"HAHAHA... In his dreams!" Hui Yin Shi's laughter resounded to the entire island while she continued to walk towards her palace. The subordinates could only look at one other and shrugged their shoulders before following behind her.