And so did I woke up the next morning fairly late due to the night discussion did the worlds equivalent of brushing ones teeth and freshen myself up, the Xiao girl was nowhere to be found, "Ah well, at least she should have still kept the facade of been a maid a bit longer " I grumbled softly.

  So I performed my morning meditation to center myself of the days past and by the time I was done she was back with the village head, the scholar and the dojo master.

  "Uh, this is... new," I muttered "What's going on ",She turned around to the guests and then said with as much maid-like vibes as possible.

  "Please do forgive the young master, He is just recovering from the celebration over indulgences"

  "No offence taken" the village head said

  "Not at all" the Luo brothers answered almost as quickly, I looked into the parlor but before I had much time to observe I got shoved into the room with quick instruction about ones composure, she told me that since they do not know too much about the higher echelon of the society they will not easily see through the disguise but one person Luo Chang.

  Luo Chang is an erudite person at heart, and will teach me about scholastic behavioral refinement, then the village head will get him the contact of the clan of which he is subservient to, not for them to come here but for us to go meet them.

  No need to give them a heads up since it will appear like they gained the attention of a nebulous superior, clans like sects will not give up a chance to 'impress' their 'superiors'.

  "Should we manufacture a name of which they will not be able to find" I asked, trying to know the extent of our scheme

  "No, don't give anything away for clans just like sects or any other organizations are just as relentless as they come" she said confidently.

  "and the role of the dojo master?" I asked

  "His role is to guide you in cultivation in your early stages, then the scholar will take it from where he stopped, before I take over from there."

  "What if He..."

  He just like them been made compliant, he won't snitch" she said with steel in her voice, then her face became sunny again "young master!, we're making the guest wait, the tea is getting cold," my face twitched

  I thought

  I quickly put on a well pressed cloth and tied my braids, looked into the silver doped glass mirror to get my visage right to the most scholastic I could get for now and went to greet my 'guests' properly.

  There we discussed buying the property rights to the village from the DA HAIDA HAI CITY

  "How far is it from here?" I asked, which Luo Chang brought out a map depicting the DA HAI CLAN

  Based on the empyrean division of one empire, nine kingdoms, nine prefectures, nine region, nine provinces and nine districts. each district city is around 600 to 1000 li apart on average not counting underground settlements which could not be found on the empyrean maps.

  "Based on the map It should be around 400 li away from here but this is a rough map though" Luo Chang stated.

  "But we could skip the normal road and use a boat to sail up river at SHU HE

  "Back then when Wei Hao picked you, he did so at the Mt TENG SHANXI FENGSHU HE

  The point is that even I the village head have not been to the city before so we have to make do with this map since it's only the Luo brothers that have done so" Lu Feng Lai intoned

  "The maximum place that I've reached is the SHU HEDA HAI

  "So this is for the eventuality that we get to the DA HAI

  "This is the reason why we should visit the branch clan at SHU HE

  "Clans and sects got internal politics but become an iron wall when faced with external threats, so let's not make ourselves into a threat for them, but just to get them into the fold ,enough that we get what we want, period."

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  So they decided on when they will go to visit the DA HAISHU HE

  town. not that the DA HAISHU HEDA HAI

  They don't dare make too much fuss such as renaming the town to soothe their ego lest they might need the main clan's intervention to settle the matter that ensues for instance, a riot, this in turn, will reduce their standing in the clan and they are having none of that.

  SHU HESHU HE

  Lu Feng Lai thought on his way back home.

  PERIOR TO THE MEETING

  **************

  Luo Chang otherwise known as the scholar had a priceless expression on his face when a 'maid' of someone that he knew has not an ounce of cultivation under his belt swaggered in on him in his most secret of areas which he thought was well hidden from the public.

  This place was created using a simple formation diagram which enables it to draw ambient spirit qi in order to conceal its location so much that even Lu Feng Lai the village head who is more powerful than him, scratch that the sect elder that pursued him would have apprehended him if not for this formation.

  It was his penchant of studying formation fragments and talismans that gave him the moniker the scholar in the Jiang Hu not because of his original scholastic pursuits, yet even when using the most intricate concealment formation he knew to guard his 'hidden' sanctuary a 'maid' actually snuck in?

  he thought, "How did you get in here" He challenged the interloper wanting some answer, the answer wasn't forthcoming, he then decided to use force to get to the bottom of this situation that was when it was as if the world is going to an end... for him, of course he felt as if he was facing the sect elder again.

  "Have the sect found my hiding place and sent you to finish the job?" He asked knowing the futility of resistance especially in situations like this, there she stood, cool as a cucumber with a bored expression on her face doing seemingly nothing and he kept bearing her spiritual pressure.

  She didn't even deign to answer him, of course who will answer the trifling question of a dead man walking, hamstringing my brother's cultivation and pursuing us relentlessly wasn't enough, oh no they love it when what they considered enemy dead, some will even go further to refine them into corpse servants, a Jianxi under the will of another.

  After she had taken her sweet time pressuring me till I nearly lost my mind she simply said with the utmost nonchalance "I'll be needing your service soon, when the time comes I want your full accord." and then vanished like a puff of smoke, leaving a bewildered me on the floor trying to shrug off the effect of her suppression and also get to the meaning of what she meant in what she said.

  **************

  Luo Fu the tiger hunter was in his private training area which even Wei Hao his closest disciple will not dare step in without prior notification and he might not be answered even with all the closeness because of an open warning in the jiang hu which goes as thus "those who watch you while you train will better be able to counter you, or at least have a measure of you of which can be dangerous if not downright fatal."

  On instinct he attacked, not that he was weak but even with his cultivation hamstrung he can still wield a portion of it which makes him strong enough to hold his own if not escape the village head if it comes to blows.

  He summarily slammed into something impossibly 'solid', it was 'viscous' in nature and 'heavy', then he realized he'd fucked up big time and already in range for a counter that will likely see his end ' thoughts flew through his head at lightning speed.

  He looked up only to see that the girl did not move, just staring at him like a bug she could crush at anytime which sadly was true, then she said something and then just left, the pressure receded in her wake, he then came back to his senses and remembered that what she said implies cooperation, well who is he to defy.

  **************

  Lu Feng Lai bore her pressure modestly but it's all but a matter of time before he slips off and exposed weakness," at least you unlike the rest didn't capitulate on the first instance of receiving my spiritual pressure" Ling Xiao Xiao said.

  "What might you want, great one?" the village head struggled to ask

  "Great one?, ha!, ok I'll humor you, I am interested in making sure a certain someone buys the village" she said with a guffaw "Have you any issues with that?"

  "No great one, just that I'm not of the right nor do I have the authority to accede to this request of yours, this village is under the purview of the SHU HEDA HAI

  He was already feeling the strain of her spiritual pressure before it vanished, however she was still there studying the man, "it seems the story of you being the strongest in this village kinda' holds some truth, interesting, well no problem. I'll be having a meeting today with all three of you and I'll be glad if you are all there for we have things to discuss in the presence of the young master. do you understand?"

  Yes I do Lu Feng Lai answered, then she vanished from his eyes and his perception "dangerous" he commented "but hopefully worth it probably a bastard son of a high level elder of a sect or super clan no cultivation base under his belt but such a powerful guardian no wonder he left home.

  It's usually being that his more powerful siblings are trying to grab more power and hell just be squashed in the middle of their scuffles," he speculated "well no need for useless theories I've got an impromptu meeting I didn't sign up for to attend."

  "I never thought the old man will be so reasonable today, I mean the first time we met we weren't the best of pals" Hua Lei said thought fully.

  "Oh yeah, 'how to be best of pals for dummies' hmm, ogle my daughter blatantly in front of me?

  "It's not like that," Hua Lei defended.

  "But the village people talks, you were practically drooling on her all the time when you were traveling to the village for the first time." she asserted.

  Hua Lei "..."

  "What cat got your tongue?" she jabbed

  "Eh no!" slightly flustered he replied

  "Ok then we'll start now" slightly tired of their back and forth conversation she asked

  "Start what" he asked back confused

  "Your cultivation of course" she declared and Hua Lei groaned.