At the thought of this, Soan Jingor felt troubled.
Soon, the vehicle took him to his rented place. Striding through the yard, he hurried toward his room.
A few servants were about to greet him once they saw him. But he briskly walked past without a glance.
"Creak."
After closing the door, Soan Jngor walked up to a window and found a black dove with pinky eyes resting on the ledge beneath the window, which was preening its feathers.
Immediately, Soan Jingor felt elated and grabbed the dove in hand, pulling a small paper roll off its leg.
After he opened the paper tube, lines of words were elegantly and clearly written on it: "Brother Soan, I will ask about Young Master Wein for you.
Nonetheless, I have a request for you. Soon, the Fragrance Silk Festival will arrive. Brother Soan, would you please make me a promise that you won't come to the ship that day? Definitely don't come! Remember!"
Soan Jingor was astonished and read on.
"The head of the ship and his subordinates will trick customers into giving up their money under our names. They are already plotting a conspiracy targeting you. It would help if you promised me this.
Kunny will handle all these well. After the festival is over, Kunny will leave with you, I promise. "
"I promise that I will definitely give them no chances!" Soan Jingor said to himself mentally.
Although he was a little confused and Kunny's statement couldn't be considered coherent, he didn't doubt it at all out of his trust in her.
Soan Jingor quickly took out a sheet of paper and wrote down what he had in mind, then folded it into a roll and tied it to the black pigeon's leg. Then, he scooped up the bird in his hands and flung it into the air. It flapped noisily and flew away.
The dove soared out of the compound, Soan Jingor's home, and glided above the blocks in the downtown area as countless tiles receded from it. Then, it flew past the city wall. Soon, it reached the riverside of Pine River and headed in the direction of a deep red pleasure cruiser.
While swishing its wings, it hovered before a window of the ship and was then cradled by a pair of slender, fair hands.
Kunny quickly took off the paper tube fastened on its leg and looked around before letting go of the bird.
"Go and return to your nest." She muttered softly.
The jet-black pigeon fluttered out of the window and vanished.
Kunny closed the window and unfolded the paper sheet, reading it attentively. At the moment, her face gave a hint of tenderness. Then, she hurriedly turned it into ashes above the flame of a candle.
The corner of the paper sheet that remained in her hand was thrown out of the window into Pine River.
"Creak..."
The door suddenly swung open as if someone had pushed on it. That scared the hell out of her. She turned around right away. Gazing through the doorway, she patted her chest while her heart was palpitating wildly.
She calmed herself down and walked out of the door, her eyes searching for any traces of humans as she surveyed the surroundings. Yet, there was no sign of anyone in the hallway.
She was in a makeup room beneath the deck. For the sake of Soan Jingor, she had a makeup room she could call her own now. Around the room were no other girls since it was currently peak hours at the pleasure cruiser.
The hallway was empty all around.
Kunny released a breath of relief and turned around, going back into the room before locking the door. Still feeling insecure, she walked back to the door and latched it.
Then, she went up before the dressing table, picked up a comb, and began to brush her hair with it. When she was unsettled, doing this always soothed her.
Unexpectedly, as she combed her hair, a line of words was seen distinctively on the surface of the table, seemingly written with an eyebrow pencil.
Her face grimaced at the sight of these words.
"On Fragrance Silk Festival, you must do it. Don't forget your identity."
Kunny bit her lips while showing a painful look on her face, hinting at her mental struggle. After a moment of hesitation, she used an eyebrow pen to write a 'Yes.' down on the table. Then, she erased it with her hand, leaving behind a black trail.
Then, she raised her head and stared at herself in the bronze mirror, finding herself lost in thoughts.
She knew that these words were meant to read her the riot act. Fortunately, the contents of the paper roll weren't discovered.
"What a shame.... I wouldn't be able to stay by Brother Soan's side later on..." A trace of pitifulness and decisiveness flashed across her face.
Her master set out to collect people whose special birth dates for sacrificial offerings. Soan Jingor was one of the targets. To snatch him, her master had made plenty of preparations and was about to seize him at the Fragrance Silk Festival when Kunny would supposedly arrange to meet with him on the ship.
However, obliviously, she had fallen in love with the decent and outgoing Soan Jingor. She currently admired and felt inclined to rely on him.
"Brother Soan... Kunny is so tired... so tired..." Kunny dabbed at her face as a drop of tear slid out of the corner of her eye down her cheek.
In a valley outside of Mountainside City.
"Pong!"
Le Xaan turned on his heel and smashed a palm strike onto a large boulder, which burst into pieces and scattered across the ground.
"Pong! Pong! Pong!"
Le Xaan abruptly spun around once again and dealt a few more palm strikes on several boulders before all of them broke up into pieces.
A cloud of grayish-white stone powder sluggishly dissipated in the air, making Le Xaan hold his breath.
Le Xaan slowly retrieved his palms and pressed them loosely together, standing still there.
"My blade and palm skills are sufficient for use. But I still lack footwork and techniques of distance attack. In case someday I bump into an expert well versed in remote attacks, I would be in a deep trouble. " Le Xaan took a few deep breaths, smoothing his respiration while pondering.
"In addition, Jade Crane Skill is upgraded after undergoing a fusion with Black Tiger Blade Style. The powder left behind by Ghost Spirits deserves most of the credit.
If I were to synthesize two sets of martial arts on my own accord, it would undoubtedly call for daunting efforts and countless experiments. Its difficulty borders on that of creating a new set of martial arts from scratch. It's almost impossible for me to do it alone."
In these few days, he tried to blend his possessed martial arts, yet was unsuccessful. Training in his own work made his meridians strained and injured. These attempts yielded nothing useful, proving his expectations wrong.
"Without rich expertise in martial arts, I can't devise a new set of martial arts by myself." Le Xaan now believed so.
"It seemed no difficult task to merge Blade Tiger Blade Style with Jade Crane Skill and produce a positive improvement. However, practically, the process demands countless deductions and modelings to churn out the best result. If I want to enhance the upper limits of my martial arts, I have to gather more remnants of ghost's type of entities."