Chapter 12: Chapter Title at the End.
"We're indebted to you aunty." Zed and Lan'er bowed their heads in gratitude towards Mu Lin after they ate breakfast at her eatery.
"Don't mind it. Adults are supposed to take care of children."
Zed thought of repaying her with money, but he was aware that the person took care of them out of kindness, and paying her money would only be an insult to her good intentions.
Mu Lin waved her hand and asked the two siblings to raise their heads. She leaned down and hugged the two.
"?"
Zed and Lan'er were surprised by her actions but didn't push her away.
Mu Lin rubbed the two children's small backs and said in a gentle tone, "You two were born with an unfortunate fate but as long as you two are together, you will never be alone. Remember, you are each other's fortune."
As she finished saying that, she released them from her embrace. The two siblings were confused by her actions but appreciated them nonetheless. They waved their hands goodbye and returned home.
Mu Lin remained smiling as she sent them off.
Making sure that they had left, Mu Lin's warm and gentle expression turned cold. Her eyes contained a sharp glint before returning to her shop.
As soon as she did so, the customers rose and kneeled towards her. One man with thick log-like arms kneeled directly in front of Mu Lin. The latter remained quiet while glaring at the man.
"Well?" She asked in a cold voice.
The man trembled in fear, but proceeded to speak.
"U-um... We've confirmed that our brothers were not in the house. There were also no signs of fighting nor any buried corpses in the yard. It's as if they never went there in the first place."
Mu Lin's eyes squinted. "But you're sure that they went to those children's house before disappearing, right?"
"Y-yes, Madame!" The man answered with respect and fear.
He was worried that he'd be the one to be blamed for their failure. He closed his eyes while waiting for Mu Lin's next words that decided his life and death.
"You know... I've seen that girl without her mask and I was right."
The man remained quiet while Mu Lin trembled in excitement.
"She was, really, really beautiful! Sigh... I want to keep her... I want to make her mine. Her brother's face isn't too bad and I could tell he'll grow up to be a handsome man but his body is filled with disgusting scars. We'll auction him to rich perverts." Mu Lin said.
She had a completely different attitude when speaking to the children. This was her real personality as she was the ring leader of an underground organization.
Her subordinate's gaze glinted as they hid their faces and thought, 'Our Madame has a sick taste in little girls.'
Mu Lin snapped out of her reverie and spoke. "We'll send our men tonight. If you fail your mission then kill yourself or I'll do it for you. Make sure not to harm the little girl. I want her body without single damage. Move!"
"Yes, Madame!"
Multiple men answered at the same time and exited the eatery.
-
While Zed and Lan'er walked back to their house, Tang Xiurong appeared beside Lan'er while looking in the direction behind them.
Lan'er wasn't surprised by her Master's appearance, since she learned that only she could see her Master.
Didn't properly elaborate on how she could still appear after her death and Lan'er simplified it as identifying her as a ghost that only she could see.
If Tang Xiurong heard Lan'er's thoughts, she would reprimand her, since it would be insulting for an Immortal like her to be compared to a measly existence like ghosts.
Lan'er noticed that her master was looking behind them.
'What's wrong, Master?' She mentally asked.
Tang Xiurong answered without looking at her. "That woman feels unusual... I could smell the scent of unscrupulousness and treachery. I'm sure she's planning something, that's why she helped you and your brother."
Lan'er was shocked to hear her Master's suspicions and couldn't help but doubt her. After all, this is the first time that someone earnestly helped them out of kindness.
Tang Xiurong didn't bother explaining as she had already been observing, that Mu Lin person from the very start, and her years of experience tells her that Mu Lin was planning something but she masked her intentions perfectly.
Tang Xiurong also found men investigating the surroundings of their house during Mu Lin's stay who offered to help and teach Lan'er.
Zed suddenly spoke. "It's confirmed."
The master and disciple turned to the boy beside them, as his eyes glinted with a dangerous light. His face remained expressionless as anger stormed into his head.
"What's confirmed, Brother?" Lan'er asked.
Zed glanced behind them and explained. "Mu Lin is the one who sent those men to capture you last week."
"Gasp...?" Lan'er was in disbelief. If her brother and master had the same suspicions, then it must be true. She felt sadness in her heart as she remembered vivid memories of Mu Lin's kind attitude towards them.
Lan'er didn't doubt her brother, since she knew what her brother was capable of. It had been that way since she was young and she was sure it was still the same until now.
Tang Xiurong raised her brow while looking at Zed in interest. 'Did he use his strange martial arts again? But when? I didn't notice it at all.'
Zed had a grim smile as he turned to Lan'er. "It's true."
Lan'er made a sad smile that was hidden behind her mask. Zed could sense her change in spirit, but he could only comfort her. He wrapped his right arm around Lan'er's shoulders.
"It's alright... you still have me and I'm sure you'll meet other trustworthy people. It's just that we're unfortunate for meeting a wicked two-faced person like Mu Lin."
Lan'er sighed and asked her brother. "But Brother, I don't think I can trust anyone else since Aunty looked very trustworthy and yet it turns out that she had bad intentions towards us..."
Zed felt like Lan'er hated herself for trusting Mu Lin and her trust in humanity decreased.
"Well at the very least, Just know that not everyone is evil. Some of them are worth trusting just like how you and I wholeheartedly trust each other." Zed said before walking at a faster pace with Lan'er still tucked around his arm.
Lan'er could only mildly nod as she agreed with what he said. She remembered when she thought that her Master had tricked her. She thought it was ironic that the seemingly evil one remained true to her words. Meanwhile, their Aunt Mu Lin turned out to be a pretender.
Noticing her brother's hastened pace, she decided to clear her mind and focus on the present. She was released from her brother's arm and started running alongside him. "What's happening, Brother?"
"We're getting chased by a group with 20 or more men." Zed's eyes sharpened.
Lan'er became worried. "What should we do Brother? Should we seek help?'
Zed shook his head. "Ask help from whom? We don't know how far her influence spreads so we don't even know who to trust."
"How about from officials or those military soldiers?" Lan'er suggested.
Zed shook his head once more. "They won't spare time to help two parentless orphans. Remember, never rely on other people's kindness. The only one we can truly rely on is each other and ourselves."
'Ourselves?' Lan'er repeated in her mind.
Tang Xiurong nodded and agreed. "Your brother is special. He knows the dangers of trust and even if he suspects someone, he doesn't show it. Now I'm curious as to what happened to you two in the past."
'Not to mention, that weird and supreme art he uses.' Tang Xiurong silently thought.
Tang Xiurong turned to her disciple and explained. "When your brother said yourselves, he meant that you should learn to protect and fend for yourself. In the unlikely case that you two are separated, you must learn how to live and fight for your life.
Enough of those immature thoughts such as, "We'll never separate" or "I'll never leave him nor will brother abandon me so it's impossible to separate!" You're aware that these are just immature delusions of yourself."
Lan'er bit her lip as her master was correct, and she was embarrassed about it.
Tang Xiurong scoffed and continued, "You're my disciple, so you need to have the attitude befitting of my disciple. After all, you already made your resolve and passed the trials, right?
Never forget why you became my student."
Remembering what had happened at her master's tomb, Lan'er nodded. She didn't endure all that pain just to become her master's student, but she did it for her brother! She wanted to earn the power to protect her brother.
Tang Xiurong observed the changes on Lan'er's face behind her mask. Seeing her disciple regain her spirit, she smirked and asked her.
"Now are you ready for your first practical lesson?"
-
Lan'er and Zed had been circling the entire district as they tried to buy enough time to lose their pursuers. Either way, they know that some of their pursuer's group will be waiting to ambush them in their home.
"Disciple, tell your brother to return to your house." Tang Xiurong ordered.
'But master-'
"I know. Don't worry, I left a trump card in my tomb. The only thing we need to do is grab it while your brother protects the previously sealed door from the basement." she explained.
Lan'er decided to trust her master since the two of them had no other options. The only problem was, that she didn't know how to convince her brother.
Tang Xiurong knew what her disciple's worries were and made the explanation for her. "Tell your brother that the cursed artifact that harmed you might be able to help you."
Lan'er shook her head. 'My brother won't let me near that again and he wouldn't want to risk me getting harmed again.'
When her brother asked the cause of all her injuries, she told him that it was the fault of a cursed artifact hidden beneath the basement. This was an explanation her master concocted. The two of them decided to tell a half truth.... for now at least.
As for Zed at the time, he knew that he was being told by a half truth and half lie explanation but after seeing his little sister's crumbling and crying face, he decided to let it pass for now.
However, he did reprimand her and forbid her from going near that basement again.
And so Lan'er looked at Zed with hesitation before suggesting, "Brother, if we can't rely on people then how about a cursed artifact?"
Zed glanced at his little sister and made a worried expression.
"Are you sure you want to trust it despite what you experienced?"
Lan'er nodded and said, "Even if we can't use it, we can lure our pursuers there and make them fall to the cursed artifact."
"But how can we make sure that you or I won't get harmed in the process-" Zed wanted to ask, but he sensed four people from their pursuers suddenly gain speed.
'That's weird... there's no way that an average grunt is capable of that. Are they cultivators?'
Even now, Zed has zero ideas about how cultivators are because most of them belong to a sect and those stray or loose cultivators never share information. It's illegal to pass down cultivation knowledge in the Fengshui Kingdom.
This is so that the Royal Family doesn't need to worry about an opposing force from the commoners of the city, so all Zed's information gathered was about the cultivation stages of cultivators.
As for what each level is capable of, he doesn't know. The information was too inaccurate. He heard that those in the first level of cultivation, which is [Body Tempering] can move giant boulders and leap to great heights.
However, he heard that the next level of cultivation after that, which is [Qi Foundation] is also capable of the same thing, only with vague capabilities that were heard from someone else. There was no clear information on their capabilities, so Zed planned on waiting and entering the sect before exploring the world of cultivation.
Anyway, Zed figured that four of them were cultivators because of their sudden increase in speed. If they kept going at this speed, it would only be a matter of time before Zed and Lan'er were caught.
While Zed and Lan'er were busy with their thoughts, they failed to stop when a fast carriage passed through the street they were walking on.
"Lan'er watch out!"
Zed grabbed his little sister and shielded her from crashing into the carriage. Zed cast a spell to cushion their fall only for the spell to go haywire because he hit his head on one of the mounts that pulled the carriage.
Thud!
"Brother!" Lan'er shrieked as they fell to the ground.
"Neigh!!!!"
The mounts were frightened as strong gales of wind circled them. The escorts of the carriage wanted to approach, but they had been pushed away.
"Ugh!"
"Prote-"
"Aargh!"
The escorts were blown away as the surroundings began to tremble because of the spell Zed failed to control.
"Clang!" The restraints of the mounts were cut off, and the mounts escaped in terror.
Crash!
The carriage almost tilted as its roof was blown off, revealing the two passengers within.
One of them was a young female child dressed in golden robes, signifying her status as a noble. She seemed to be at the age of 10-12.
She had sharp phoenix eyes, a small nose, and cherry lips. There were still baby fats on her immature face, but it only added to her charm.
She had an extraordinary temperament with her straight posture and dignified look. One would end up revering her in her presence.
Lastly, the color of her eyes were crimson red, and her long golden hair was tied in a bun. Unique features belonging to the Royal Xia family.
The young child was Xia Meixiang, the royal princess and heiress to the throne.
Chapter Name: Façade // Accident
Edited By: WorthyAdversary