"Master, they are holding the children hostage."
"What?"
Ikasa blanked out for a second. Then with an urgent voice, he asked,
"Who are they? How many of them are in the mansion?"
"I don't know who they are. But one of them is called Yin Ying. There were ten people inside the mansion, all dressed in black. If there are any outside the mansion, I don't know about them."
Ikasa rubbed his nose bridge as he tried to think of a solution.
"Master, we should hurry up. They said they will… they will kill the kids and my family if we don't return within an hour."
"How dare they threaten the kids?" Xin Ruo exploded with rage.
She seemed ready to storm into the mansion and unleash her wrath upon the perpetrators.
Ikasa gently embraced her and rubbed her back to calm her down. He whispered in her ears, "Contact your father."
He then said in a louder voice.
"Calm down. They are after my manuals. I will go and check the situation."
"I will come with you." Xin Ruo insisted with concern in her eyes.
"No, it is too dangerous. You won't be able to help much anyway."
Then he turned to Caretaker Han.
"Let's hurry back to the mansion."
On the way back, Caretaker Han filled in Ikasa with all the details he could remember. The more he heard about them, the more he felt this was the handiwork of a scion from one of the prestigious families.
'Maybe it is Li Fan. I crossed paths with him earlier today. He must be here for revenge.'
He remembered his previous meeting with him, the one at the Auction house. If he had to define Li Fan in a phrase, he would use, 'boastful yet calculating'.
A plan took form in his mind as he thought of how to resolve this situation.
Unbeknownst to him, they had already walked through the city and arrived before the mansion. He sent Caretaker Han in first while he took his time to prepare himself.
Once he was ready he leisurely stepped inside.
"Welcome, Ikasa! We were waiting for you."
As soon as Ikasa stepped foot into the hall of his mansion, Li Fan's voice sounded in his ears. He saw Li Fan lying on his favorite couch, his head resting on a woman's lap.
When Li Fan saw Ikasa standing stiff, he joked.
"Please, take a seat and make yourself comfortable. Treat this place like your home!"
It garnered a round of laughter from his subordinates. The reaction they expected, the outburst of rage, it never came.
Ikasa did not show them any reaction on his face. Under his robe was a different story. He had clenched his fists to the point where veins in his forearm bulged.
'Chill, Ikasa. Just act as you had rehearsed on the way here. Feng Yan will be here soon.'
Without a change in his expression, he took a deep breath and unclenched his balled fists. With confidence oozing from his every step, he went ahead and took a seat on the one-seater beside the couch.
This sudden change in demeanor caught Li Fan off guard. His subordinates cracked knuckles to intimidate Ikasa. But he was having none of that.
He poured himself a cup of tea. Then as an afterthought, he offered the beverage to his uninvited guests.
"Tea?"
Li Fan sat up, gobsmacked at his behavior. He looked up to check whether his men saw the same thing he did. And indeed, his men were also showing varying degrees of confusion.
Ikasa sipped the tea and put the cup down. Then he folded his hands and leaned back into the sofa. His actions were the embodiment of relaxation.
He acted as if people he cared about, though tied and unconscious, were not a few feet away. No hostile intruders were surrounding him. His actions disregarded the face and coercion of one of the most powerful heirs in the City.
"Ikasa, it looks like you don't care about them at all! They are suffering, yet, you have the leisure to drink tea and relax."
Li Fan snarled, annoyed by the man's calm face that did not have even the slightest hint of panic.
'Good, I riled him up. Time to make him doubt himself.'
Ikasa schooled his expression to prevent Li Fan from picking up the tiniest bit of clue.
"I am calm because I know their identities. And you had the guts to harm them."
Ikasa clapped mockingly. Then he leaned closer to Li Fan and whispered.
"Do you know as a consequence of this, the Li Family might cease to exist by tomorrow night?"
The minions of the Li Family did not take kindly to this threat. A goon standing beside Ikasa held him up by his collar.
"With your puny Initial Path Forging Realm cultivation base?"
Ikasa smiled at Li Fan and ignored the grunt.
"Are they all this dumb?" He asked Li Fan with nonchalance.
His calm spooked Li Fan. He second-guessed himself.
'Do they really have a special identity? Am I making a mistake? No, even if the kids are special, this bastard has to pay!'
Li Fan was barely holding back his fury. He motioned the goon to put Ikasa down and also asked him to release the kids.
Ikasa smirked as he realized his plan was working.
But Li Fan's words took the wind out of his sails.
"Wipe that smirk off your face. The kids have a special identity. Not you. I know your history like the back of my hand. After all, I was your largest customer back then."
'Shiit! There goes my plan of bluffing my way out of this mess.'
He cursed. He thought hard, trying to remember everything about Li Fan. He tried to recall the names of the books he copied for him.
'Brother, take me to Bed'?
'My Younger Brother is Super Handsome'?
'I want to spank you, Dear Brother'?
'Damn, I was copying such books for this pervert! Wait, why do all of them sound incestuous?'
Ikasa looked at Li Fan with suspicion.
Li Fan ignored Ikasa's gaze. Instead, he held Ikasa by his collar.
"Now, let's talk. Are you willing to divulge your secrets or should I pry them from your mouth?"