Hua Yan raised her hand to motion her subordinates to a stop. She stood balanced on a tree limb, eyes closed. The breathing of her teammates, slightly labored, slowly returned to normal, and once the distraction had stopped, Hua Yan extended her qi sense outward, to the entire area. Truthfully, she could have done it with her eyes open, but with her subordinates nearby, she could not show them the true extent of her cultivation. Only those in the foundation realm or above could use qi-sensing without meditating and circulating their qi through their meridians.
There are twelve people in the meeting place, Hua Yan thought. Good, he followed the agreement not to bring more than eleven men with him. Looks like…they're tense, all except for that one. Strange…his presence feels different than any that I've felt before. Not to mention, even I can barely sense it. Must be him. It seems that it's true he is very, very skilled. I also cannot see through his cultivation, which must mean that he is in the same realm or higher than me.
Hua Yan opened her eyes, squinting slightly in the bright dawn sunlight. Making the signals for "presences", "all is well", and "proceed", she landed on the ground without a sound and headed forward. It irked her a little that they had arrived before she had, but they had been delayed slightly avoiding a group of hunters that had come to hunt in the wilds. She would have to tell her informants to increase the scaremongering about these mountains in order to ensure that no one dared to go in them anymore.
The other group was already seated around the wooden table in the open air, and only the one in the middle was completely unsurprised when she stepped out of the trees into the clearing. He sat back in his chair, one leg crossed languidly over the other, and his head leaned on his fist. Arrogant prick, she grumbled inwardly. Of course he has to be handsome too, from what I can see of him.
Striding forward soundlessly, Hua Yan took her seat at the other end of the table, and her subordinates took up positions behind her chair without further instructions. Min Ling served her tea using the supplies she had brought, using her twin's fiery yang cultivation to heat the water as Hua Yan leaned back, crossing her legs, and folding her hands in her lap. She met the eyes of the assassin known simply as Huli, or the Fox. He wore a fox half-mask, the source of his name, and like her, was dressed in elegant but comfortable clothes.
He smiled at her, white teeth flashing, and leaned forward. "Well then, shall we begin the meeting?"
Hua Yan stared back, not returning the Fox's smile, and finally dipped her head in assent. The Fox laughed aloud. "It seems Ye Meigui, the Night Rose, lives up to her reputation! All business, eh? Well, I like that kind too." He leaned forward and flicked a parchment across the table to her as one of his own subordinates served him tea as well. Hua Yan's hand shot up and caught it automatically, and she could feel the Fox's sharp gaze on her, analyzing her skill level just as she was analyzing his.
Unfolding the paper with gloved hands, she scanned it quickly. "Is this information reliable?"
The Fox leaned back, throwing up his hands in mock despair, and kept smiling that fake smile. "You don't trust me, darling? I'm hurt."
Hua Yan snorted. "You can drop the fake personality, Huli. I'm well aware neither of us likes the other, and we're only considering working together because of the situation."
The Fox stared at her for a moment, but his expression did not change. "Sorry, darling. It's a bad habit at this point. To answer your question, the information is not exactly reliable, but it isn't unreliable either."
She sent him a sharp gaze, unsurprised that his demeanor did not change. The Fox was a man who could put on and take off personalities like clothes, just like her, but from all accounts he preferred the one he wore now. "And so?"
"To clarify, it was given to me by a drunk, but a reliable drunk."
Raising her eyebrows so high they brushed above her silk mask, Hua Yan asked sarcastically, "Does such a thing even exist?"
He waved a hand dismissively. "I know how it sounds, but he's never been wrong before."
Hua Yan continued to scan the papers, choosing to take him at his word. She plopped the bundle on the table and steepled her long fingers in front of her face, leaning her elbows on the wooden surface. "If this information is all true, it means you and I will soon have a big problem. The emperor deciding to hunt down our hidden sects means cultivators of all strengths, affiliations, and talents coming after us. I'm not worried for myself, since most of them would never be able to defeat or even capture me, but my people are in danger."
Huli pursed his lips, golden eyes pensive as he mulled over the implications. "Yes, my people, too, are in danger. In this instance, it appears the only thing to do would be to…" he grimaced, seeming to force out the words through clenched teeth, "…join forces and defeat whoever comes after us."
Hua Yan was silent as she acted as if she was forcing herself to think about it carefully, but her subordinates were not nearly as calm, muttering and shifting their weight as they glared at Huli and his underlings with dislike. Something about the way Min Ling looked at them bothered her, but she couldn't put her finger on it until she took another sip of the tea.
Keeping her face carefully the same, but at the same time feeling a great pain in her heart, she studied Huli without making it obvious. Perhaps it was not what she thought, but she had no illusions about the kind of trouble that was about to rain down on her head either way as she subtly felt her own pulse.
Only Huizhong and Zixin were silent, remaining with their hands behind their backs. Sighing, Hua Yan lifted a hand in a sharp signal. Even Zixin, who was always calm, looked at her askance. "Master, please let us stay!"
Hua Yan turned a cold eye on her subordinates. "Back off. Are you questioning my orders? I need to speak with Huli."
Zixin subsided, but the eleven of them moved slowly in their retreat, glancing back at Huli's men and gripping their weapons in a silent threat. Hua Yan blew out an annoyed breath at the way they were acting and stood up. "Let's take a walk."
Huli looked surprised for a moment, but he quickly capitulated, raising his own hand in a signal very similar to her own. His subordinates backed off as well, drifting over to stand by hers. A quick, almost imperceptible glance that was exchanged between Min Ling and a tall, handsome cultivator at the foundation stage one made Hua Yan's heart sink even more. She began to stroll in another direction, Huli quickly catching up to her.
She chatted with him about the information, making sure he picked up on the fact that she was acting out of character, and waited until they were out of range of a crossbow bolt before she stopped. Keeping her expression closed but relaxed, as if merely discussing the details, she spoke very softly, knowing they were out of earshot of all except for Huizhong, whose ears were sharper than the rest, but the quiet tone she spoke in ensured even he wouldn't be able to hear them. "Huli. Try calling your spiritual qi or heavenly energy."
Huli's sharp eyes had been cataloguing her every word and move ever since she had told her subordinates to back off. They narrowed even further now, and though his posture did not changed, his smile took on a dangerous quality. "Are you threatening me, darling? Asking for a fight?"
She studied him, but he did not seem to be trying to misdirect her attention or provoke her into a fight. A knot inside her loosened. Maybe the situation was not quite as bad as she had thought. "Just do it. Please," she ground out.
He finally acquiesced, and there was a moment's silence where nothing happened. A sliver of surprise entered his posture, and then he seemed to freeze. She could tell he was preparing himself to fight for his life, wariness oozing from every pore. She raised a hand, as if appeasing his anger, putting on a show. "Calm down, it wasn't me. My meridians are sealed too. It appears that some or all of our subordinates have betrayed us and are conspiring together," she said bitterly, unable to keep all the hurt out of her voice.
Huli's demeanor still didn't relax, and she realized he didn't believe her, was still thinking that she was also conspiring against him. Unfortunately, the only way she was proved to be telling the truth was when a deadly qi arrow swished towards her. Dodging in a nimble backflip, Hua Yan straightened up, meeting the cold, hatred-filled eyes of Min Ling.
All traces of the butterfly-like petite woman had disappeared. The person standing before her was a complete unknown. Zixin was now occupied trying to fend off three cultivators, one of them being Lan Mei, and Huizhong was staring at his twin sister as if she was a stranger, all traces of apathy gone. "Min…Min Ling? What are you doing? Why did you just attack Master?"
Min Ling let out a frosty laugh. "Oh come now, little brother. You're smarter than that. Obviously it's because I'm betraying her!"
Huizhong shook his head uncomprehendingly, his face twisting with pain and confusion. "Sister, why? Why would you betray our master? She's treated us so well! She saved us!"
Min Ling let out a puff of highly amused laughter, sounding unhinged. "Hmph! As if she could ever be more powerful or offer me more than the emperor himself could! He's taught me and Gao Tai so much, and all we have to do in return is take care of the Night Rose." She smiled adoringly up at the tall foundation cultivator from earlier as he slipped his arm around her waist.
Huli was staring at them, his face unreadable. "Gao Tai."
Even Hua Yan was hard-pressed not to shiver at the murder in his tone, but Gao Tai just laughed. "Are you about to threaten me, leader? Unfortunately you and the Night Rose don't have any power to threaten with. After all, Min Ling and I poisoned your tea, and you guys have your meridians sealed now! Even if you're both golden orb cultivators, you're just like regular mortals now, and you'll die in seven days! There's no way you can cure yourselves! Ahahaha!" The cultivator laughed wildly, just as mad as Min Ling.
Hua Yan studied the evil, demonic qi that was drifting around the pair, and shook her head. "You two are blood cultivators? How could you?! That method requires you to sacrifice newborn babies every month in order to raise your cultivation level!"
Min Ling smiled, her eyes crazed and full of greed. "How could we? It was quite simple, actually! Even satisfying after the first time! That feeling of killing such weak little bugs, wriggling around all over the place, it's the best! I'm so thankful to His Majesty for teaching us!"
Unable to believe what she was hearing, Hua Yan shook her head uncomprehendingly. Her eyes fell on Zixin, who had been subdued and was in bad shape, and then her eyes fell on Huizhong. He was still standing there looking at his sister, an expression of utter betrayal on his face. He turned his eyes to Hua Yan, the broken expression in them as if his soul had just been ripped out, but he gave her the tiniest of nods, which spoke a myriad of things.
Hua Yan blew out a breath, feeling the color of her hair and eyes turn to their true color in front of someone else for the first time in over twelve years, since her meridians had been entirely sealed and the qi circulating through her body could not be accessed. There was silence for several long moments, where she knew everyone was staring at her and realizing the truth, and then she spoke. "If I survive this, Min Ling, I will never let you go." Each word was deliberate, spoken softly but with clear threat. Then she leaped forward, and her swords were already drawn and had pierced through the neck of Ding Zexian, her former subordinate, who had been smirking at her plight as he hung behind Min Ling.
Within the space of another second, she had managed to move quickly and unexpectedly enough to take down one of Huli's men who was obviously on Min Ling's side, since he had not been immediately subdued or killed like the few loyal subordinates Hua Yan and Huli had brought with them. As Min Ling snarled and leaped for her, sword swiping down in a deadly, qi-filled swing, Hua Yan leaped backwards, turning her back on all of them. As she dug her toes into the sod to propel herself forward in time to avoid the swing, she sheathed one of her swords, reached out and snatched Huli's hand where he was stabbing toward one of his traitorous men.
She caught a glimpse of the surprised expression on Huli's face before she dashed for the treeline, dragging him with her. A split second more, and he recovered from his surprise and followed her. They sprinted side by side together, employing every shadow step movement art and every trick they knew in order to lose their pursuers and delay them.
Hua Yan kept gripping Huli's large hand as tightly as she could, knowing that it would spell death for both of them if one of them fell behind. They needed each other, Hua Yan for her peerless medical skills that could cure their poison, and Huli for his prodigious strength even without qi—not that Hua Yan was by any means weak without her qi, but taking on some of the magical beasts that guarded the rare herbs that they would need to cure their poison alone and without qi would be foolhardy to say the least. Another point to consider was that they had no idea who they could trust, and so could better survive together since they could not make use of their connections.
The two of them were completely silent as they dashed through the woods, trying to lose their pursuers. What followed was a cat and mouse game with their lives on the line. By the time the sun had long gone below the horizon, Huli and Hua Yan were exhausted. Running, hiding, and climbing for an entire day without qi had taken its toll even on their golden orb stage bodies, and the wound in Hua Yan's side from a qi bolt was slowing her down. She glanced over at Huli, her breathing ragged, and suddenly felt a sense of deja vu. The dream....yes, it was that dream! It must have been a premonition, for she found the actions and events that were happening currently was exactly like what she now recalled from the dream.
The same events, the same words, they all happened as if they had been planned out beforehand, until Hua Yan found herself smirking into Min Ling's face and saying, "See you again, you dirty traitors!" as she jumped off the cliff with Huli.
Air whistled past her ears, and she grabbed onto Huli's waist to ensure they would not get separated when they hit the water below the Yin Hu cliffs. Though she had gone through many life or death situations, Hua Yan could not help a bit of fear as she closed her eyes and held her breath. There was an enormous impact, and then....nothing.