"So, this is the place… Mermaids Tale was it? It looks surprisingly normal" Shu He and Bai Lian stood in front of a large building that had a roof covered in grass, it looked like a homely building that had a long history, it was situated on a precipice overlooking Sea-Break down, outside there were workers chopping wood and filling a water reservoir, none of them even gave a single glance to the two as they passed as if they didn't exist.
"That's the point, it's made to blend in" Bai Lian answered as they opened the large door and walked through, right in the centre of the reception room was a desk with an old lady behind the counter, she was smoking a long pipe as her dull eyes slowly shifted to observe the newcomers as her long grey hair fell to the side.
"Have a reservation?" She spoke with a croaky voice as she tapped her pipe, emptying the ashes.
Shu He glanced at Bai Lian, who subtly nodded back, he walked up to the desk before placing two coins on the top of the desk, the silver metal shimmered under the faint flickering of the lamps.
They weren't silver coins, but low-grade spirit coins, they were small, about the size of a thumb-nail and thin in size, barely a few pages of fine paper thick, yet they were incredibly durable.
The old lady picked up the coins as her eyes narrowed before she eventually nodded and coughed, reaching down behind the desk and grabbing a small token before throwing it at Shu He.
"That's enough for one day, room at the far back on the right side, get out before the time is up" was all she said before going back to filling her pipe and lighting it up, a puff of smoke began to fill the room.
Shu He began to walk towards the room, but he spoke as they walked past "Two will arrive later, let them in will you? Small white-haired girl and a pink haired one".
The old lady gave him a glance from the side before waving her hand.
The two of them went down the winding hallway until they came before a wooden door, it was seemingly locked shut without any keyholes, Shu He held the token up and a 'clack' sounded out, opening the door.
The room wasn't too big, it was a circular room with a diameter of 3 meters, but it was suitable for meetings or sleeping, Shu He's eyes glimmered as she looked around the room.
He was only an amateur when it came to formations, but he had been trying to learn the basics, so he could identify what formations were being used at a glance if they were low level, with his
'Protection, Sound Restriction, Qi Blocking… simple but effective' he was satisfied as the placed his bags down next to the circular table in the middle and took a seat, Bai Lian sat opposite him.
"Satisfied?" She said with a smile.
"Of course, I hadn't expected a place to be like this in a normal town" She He leaned back slightly, he was actually peering right past the formations and into the other rooms, there weren't many other guests at the moment and the only ones here were a small group of rag tag cultivators that were silent as they cultivated.
"The Metal region is the odd one out honestly, each region tends to deal with the knowledge of cultivators differently, the Water region along with Wood and Fire tend to be more open due to their environments" Bai Lian explained as she took out a comb from her bag and began running it through her hair gently.
"Really? Why's that?" Shu He's eyes watched the comb unintentionally as he frowned, he would have thought it would be a bigger advantage to spread the knowledge of cultivation, to take on more cultivators as disciples.
"I don't really know, my father said it was due to the environment that bred necessity, the Metal and Earth regions are filled with mountainous and plains environments which are easier to manage and have less spirit beasts."
"I guess that's true, I didn't encounter any spirit beasts until the Razor Wolf…" He pondered, silence fell on the room with the only sound being the brushing of hair, the sound isolating formation completely blocked outside noise.
"What?" Bai Lian frowned as he stared at Shu He that was absentmindedly watching her.
"I'm just a little surprised how much you're taking care of your appearance" Shu He said honestly.
Bai Lian's face turned slightly red as she huffed "Of course I will, I have a reputation to uphold you know? The sea's air here really gets to your hair…".
"You looked fine to me though".
"You need to look closer! Your appearance matters! Even if you're an emperor, if you dress like a beggar people will look down on you!" She rebuked him.
Shu He frowned and lifted his arms, looking around at himself and grabbing his hair that was tied behind his head "Do I look that bad?".
"N-no, that's not what I meant!" She panicked slightly as she looked Shu He up and down "Your robes suit you, you're nice and clean and your skin is clear plus your eyes are captivating… it honestly makes me a little jealous…" she covered her face as she spoke "But your hair is unkempt! You should take better care of it! You'll look like a mop if you carry on like this!" she suddenly hopped over next to him startling Shu He as she pulled the binding on his hair scattering it.
"What are you doing?" Shu He froze.
"Sit still!" She commanded as she gently grabbed his hair and ran it through her fingers "It's so fine… when was the last time you cut it?".
"Uh…" Shu He paused.
'When WAS the last time I cut it?' he pried open his memories as he tried to recall.
The silence was telling.
"That long?!" Bai Lian sighed in exasperation "Even if you are a boy, there should be limits".
Shu He could only sigh in response, it was true that he hadn't really been taking care of his appearance as he cultivated, he had just been tying his hair up as it grew, he didn't really put much thought into these things.
"Should I cut it then?"
"No!" She yelled, startling Shu He slightly. "I mean- no, it… looks good on you, if you tidy it up a little and take care of it, it will be nice". She pulled out a fine pair of scissors from a small bag and began measuring the length of his hair before making small snips.
The room fell into a comfortable silence as the sound of scissors echoed, Shu He awkwardly sat in place without saying anything, he wanted to glance behind him but was met with a "Don't move" so he ended up using his 'sight' to take a glance.
What he saw, surprised him. Bai Lian's face seemed incredibly calm, almost blissful as her hands worked skilfully, a slight, gentle smile rested on her face, he had never seen such an expression on her before.
His nerves calmed as he relaxed and closed his eyes, he decided to enjoy the moment rather than remain up-tight.
After 10 minutes, he had nearly fallen asleep as the comb went through his hair.
"Do you do this often?" He decided to ask, to take away the tiredness.
"…. I used to, before my sister left for her sect I would do her hair for her, and before that my mother…" Her hand paused for a moment before continuing, she didn't continue her sentence.
Shu He's eyes remained closed, but he could feel the fluctuation of emotions in her voice, he felt a tight feeling in his chest, he didn't want to remain silent.
"If you need to speak to someone, I'm here".
Her hands paused again, he felt her stare on the back of his head, he turned his head slightly and met her eyes.
Conflict.
Her eyes flashed with pain before they closed.
"Maybe… after I see my sister, maybe we can talk then" she spoke quietly.
In return Shu He nodded gently before turning back, he didn't want to force things, it was clear that there was something that affected her deeply, one that wasn't easy to talk about.
…
Not too long later, the door opened, and two figures walked in, it was Na Xue and Shu Xue, the latter happily hopped in before turning back to her duck form and plodding over next to Shu He before sitting.
On the other hand, Na Xue stopped and stared oddly at the scene before her "What are you two doing?".
Bai Lian was just finishing tying Shu He's hair before standing up and sitting a little way from Shu He before answering, "Just tidying up, shall I do yours as well?".
Na Xue's brow twitched lightly as she twiddled a strand of her hair "I'm fine, thanks" she ended up sitting next to the little duck.
"So, did you get what you needed from the market?" she asked as she yawned lightly.
Shu He placed the maps on the small table "These should be fine; they cover the major routes across the archipelago and plenty of side routes and areas".
"Great, the sooner we leave the better" Na Xue said happily.
Shu He's brow rose 'Why does it sound like she really wants to leave?' he glanced at the little duck that turned away when he tried to meet their gaze.
'What did they do…' he sighed.
"That reminds me, Shu He what did you buy that statue for? I'm not buying what you said earlier" Bai Lian suddenly brought up, her eyes sparkling with interest.
Shu He chuckled "I didn't really want to attract attention" he picked out two statues from his bag and placed them on the desk.
"Huh? What did you get these for?" Na Xue's brow rose as she picked one of them up, inspecting it closely "It seems normal to me?"
"That one is normal" Shu He grabbed it before he channelled his Qi inside and activated an excavation technique causing it to crumble into fine dust.
"This one, however…" He picked up the other one, his <
He focused carefully, his skill with the extraction technique wasn't great since it was an Earth technique which was one of his weakest elements, he didn't want to harm the object so he carefully excluded it from the technique.
He activated it and the stone statue crumbled, among the dust was a dark grey object, it was perfectly spherical, but other than that there was nothing telling about it.
Shu He frowned, he had no idea what this object was!