third party PoV

  < I announce the second seasonal meeting of the Hao association. Let’s start with a roundtable of every department's progress on their ongoing duty and potential or actual setbacks that have occurred or are still ongoing. Fairy Moon’s Haze, go ahead.> A Young voice echoes in the closed and candle-lit room. The atmosphere was relaxed yet so incredibly sharp to the few onlookers guarding the doors.

  The place was lavish with luxury of all sorts: from the finely crafted and decorated santal wood table where countless stacks of parchments sat. To the comfortable yet regal throne-like chairs made in the image of each individual sitting on them. To the gold Highlights all around the room: from inlay in the table to tapestries on the walls to the trims of the boxes used to carry said parchments, brushes, and inkwells.

  < Nothing to report, everything is smooth sailing as usual. The collection and termination business has nothing setting us back nor are we in any danger at the moment.> The woman: Fairy Moon’s Haze replies, her face hidden behind a simple-looking yet dangerously ominous fan made of gleaming metal that captivated the attention of every staff member and guard. When she was done, she flipped it around: making all the previous attention on her person cease with a flick of her wrist.

  < Moon, do I have to remind you every season to not use illusory mind techniques during meetings?> The previous person said, his youthful voice which had before carried a hint of lightness and levity turned hard and sharp. Making everyone present jolt, if not cower in fear.

  Fairy Moon’s Haze, who was the main focus of this glowering, merely smiled back at the teenage-looking boy.

  < Oh, I am so sorry, Chairman. Please, I would do anything in my power to correct myself. Pe—>

  < Ahem! Please, I have other things to do than look at this ill-mannered puppy's attempts at flirting.> A man in his late forties, dressed in bright purple, and blue with golden accents spoke up. An annoyed grimace twisted his previously calm and serene face as he comforted his entourage composed entirely of thinly dressed women.

  The previous woman glowered at him and him back as the other department heads sighed. This was a common occurrence, yet one that was somehow, to the greatest annoyance and displeasure of nearly everyone here: tolerated.

  < My apologies, Carnal devil. I will try to reign her outbursts in and properly discipline her.> The chairman bowed his head, aware that this behavior of his lover was making waves in his business.

  < Promise?> The woman in question asked with stars in her eyes.

  < Yes… Now behave.> She smiled, something that both shocked and horrified everyone witnessing her do. Before she made use of the dark side of her fan, eclipsing her presence to the weaker members present.

  < I don’t really care how you do but watch your girl and yourself. My presence here will last only as long as none of my girls are harmed, and we both know you cannot afford to lose me or my business.> The room grew cold as the Ladies’ man narrowed his eyes at the chairman.

  But before the man himself could respond, It was Fairy Moon who spoke first. slamming her closed fan into her palm.

  < Are you threatening our chairman, and by that the whole association?!> With a loud voice, she stood up from her seat as everyone in the room tensed up.

  < Silence Puppy. I am only making sure the contract I signed is still upheld by our dear chairman: nothing more, nothing less.>

  < Right, right you are. Perhaps some time away from the association would do me some good. It has been a busy month with that person announcing his comeback.>

  If before, the room was tense, now it has become frigid. Few knew of who the chairman spoke of but to the highers up? It was bad news and not the kind you could spring a new venture on, quite the opposite in fact.

  < Already?> A fourth department head said: The Grey alchemist lord. Just like his name, the man was dressed from head to toe in a grey robe with many pouches, a clean and trimmed beard adorning his face as he rested his chin in his hand.

  < Yes, sadly. It seems that the being isn’t able to die, no matter how many times they are put through. I didn’t want to start with this subject. But now that we have: I want everyone to prioritize this century’s war preparation. Any ideas, projects, or hints are welcome to be debated and reviewed.> The chairman set aside a stack of parchment and pulled a blank one for his scribe.

  Every department head started to think in silence about what was just mentioned. To many, this meant a certain loss in revenue and business that would set them back at the very least two decades in resources alone. And that’s without mentioning the loss of staff that will be inevitable.

  < I do, in fact, have an idea.> The grey lord said, breaking the silence of his peers as he started whispering something to his underling. It didn’t take long for one of them to arrive with a document in hand, delivering it to the chairman.

  < I have had echoes of a certain young lady a few provinces away. One with intriguing, if not outright unnatural abilities related to healing. As well as some other things, but healing is the part that every one of my spies confirmed. You’ll find everything we know about the girl written in there. I want her, her abilities might enable us to test our drugs faster, and without as much loss in terms of testing materials. And perhaps we could have her spew the secrets of her abilities and techniques. I have been working in concert with Fairy Unseen Truth about a new concoction to… Ah, limber the tongue so to say. If I can place an order of collection on her, Fairy Moon’s Haze. The sooner we have her, the more time we will have to work on her, and any potential secrets she has.> The chairman passed the document around to all his branches’ leaders, whose reaction mimicked his own: shock, bewilderment, and greed.

  < Don’t damage her too much, I might have a need for her once you are done extracting intel from her.> The Carnal devil said with a smile as his entourage smiled and chuckled, their glassy eyes glowing slightly as they did so.

  < Excellent. A good start for our countermeasures. Anyone else?>

  < Hey you lazy asses! Got a new mission from up top.> A cold authoritative voice sounded as everyone in the lobby-looking pavilion jolted upright. It was night, and nearly everyone was drunk off their asses. Yet, all saluted and stood at attention when a scarred man walked to the middle of the grand hall of acquisitions.

  A much drunker than Ideal man spoke: < At this hour? What do you mean from up top? Last time this happened we lost too many good folks!>

  < Yeah!> The many drunkards cheered in agreement.

  < Yeah, shut the fuck up. This is not like last time, no procuring the dragon pearl of the Southern Ocean princess. The boss lady was really disappointed though. No, this is a classic take-and-run. Young girl with a wolf bloodline physique: looking to be around sixteen or eighteen years old, extremely good healer according to our intel. The main issue is that the bitch is a bush eater, and not any type of bush, but that of a core stage cultivator. We don’t have a lot of intel on her partner except that she is fierce: [Do not engage her in melee combat, and under any circumstances think she is down until you’ve separated her head from her neck] is what they annotated as prime directive...> The crowd whistled at that. Many of them were but petty thieves turned professional, with a few assassins hidden amongst them.

  < Weapon of choice?> One of them asked, nursing a drink to their chest as they looked at the pavilion master.

  < Spear is the main weapon, but it is quite sure that she is able to use the rest of her body to be just as deadly. She toyed around with a top student of the martial King’s academy, with only one arm at that.> He read from the intel sheet he held in his hand, and while it didn’t have all the information he was used to: like what type of cultivation method, or movement techniques she used. The list of feats showed a grim picture for them.

  < No Fuckin’ way she did that. How old is this bitch anyways? A core cultivator like her shouldn’t be out and about like this.>

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  < Yeah, like what the hell are we to do with her hounding the target?>

  < Shut up, you bunch of wuss. I am not done reading the intel: She is tireless and unrelenting, but also able to use her own body: feet, knees, elbows, and punches are all within her abilities to use at the journeyman level. Point in case: she grappled a member of the beggar sect to a pin and won the fight.> He finished, the meager amount of intel was dreadful and soul-crunching. He had lost many of his members to poorly recognized jobs like this before. Worst of all: his people weren’t enthused by what they were hearing, which was understandable as this only pertained to the target's bodyguard, and not the target herself.

  < Who the fuck is the dumbass that did the spying on this? And where the hell does that woman come from for no one to know about her?> A particularly drunk youth said, gathering the attention of everyone around as his words made them sober up real fast.

  < Oi, newbie. Lose the sass if you want to keep your tongue. Especially when talking about things from top side. What we know comes straight from the Unseen Truth branches, and their intel is always spot on. Now, as to your much more intelligent question: this intel was gathered from that Fengshou martial arts contest. The boring one. But not so boring for a cultivator at the core stage, I guess. With her winning streak, the predictions are that she will make it to the final the day after tomorrow, which will be when we are to strike. We wait for her to be tired and wounded and swoop in and take her bitch and then use these to extract the target and strike the team.> The pavilion master pulled a stack of paper seals from an envelope and waved them at his men.

  < Wait, we got gear for this mission?>

  < Yes, this is marked as a no-failure allowed. This means for our newbie over there, that your head will roll if you fail and come back alive. Any other questions?>

  The team was quickly built: a runner, a face, a formation specialist, and a sword; deployed via autonomous flying swords to arrive on the same night the order was received. Everyone knew their role, but the task ahead was daunting.

  < We get to our local branch and brief them. Get a room and then free time until the nightlife dies out. No alcohol, got it?> The Face, a tall and outgoing man says. There were a few times when he cursed his ability to pull the wool over someone’s eyes, and right now was one of them.

  < Aye aye, captain. Be sure to not tie your tongue in a knot while you approach our target.> Runner said, the young girl, barely a day over 16 years of age, teased him. Which got her a glare from her squad’s leader and Face.

  < Silence, brat. Sword, I want you to take stock of the guards and the fighters that will be present. And I want you in your best condition to defend us while Seal gets us out of there.> The man known as Sword nodded, as silent as ever. But his actions spoke louder than he ever could.

  < As for you, Seal. I want you to rig the whole arena and the surroundings up with explosives and prepare the mountain crossing formation to be used at a moment’s notice on strike day.>

  < Again?> The woman known as Seal sighed. While she has been excited for a moment at the idea of making stuff go boom. It also meant that she would have to work late into the night, and stealthily at that.

  < Yes, again. Who knows what experts will be there? We want to distract them as much as possible while we do our things. With the contest sponsored by the Mount Hua sect, we can’t risk being caught by one of their elders.> Face explained, a grave look on his face as his paranoid mind went to the worst possible scenarios, again.

  < And me?> Asked the young Runner, bouncing from one foot to another.

  < You? You will shadow me, and relay any order I might have to our teammates and back. You’ll do as I say. For now, we pretend to be a happy family: Sword as the dad, Seal as the mother with you as their daughter while I am Sword’s brother and your uncle. Usual names and stories. Keep it tight, but not too much.>

  < Oh, come on! Again?> Runner crosses her arms as she pouts. The sight might have made Face laugh if his life didn’t depend on her like it did the other two.

  < Yes, now come and play along, it’s our turn.> He shushed the unnerving girl as their group walked toward the city gate.

  Deep in the city criminal underbelly, sitting face to face with someone who would make the common people tremble with fear was Face. The room that was supposed to be luxurious and opulent, wasn’t. Or wasn’t anymore.

  < What do you mean you cannot help us out? This mission is from the top brass. Red ink and everything, you know?> He was losing it. This man, the local manager of the Hao association, was being difficult for no apparent reason.

  < It is not that I refuse to comply or don’t want to help. But I can’t. This is the worst moment of the year for us. The Mount Hua sect is cracking down hard on our activities and we cannot afford to step out at the moment. And with the lord's new housing policy, we are losing clients for our protection business. And that’s without taking into account all the sudden ambush our men got into recently. It’s as if the streets are haunted by some evil spirit.> The man, covered in scars and with a glassy eye explained. The bags under his eyes were heavy, and the infiltrator specialist noticed. But worst of all was how much distress he could read from the man’s behavior and expression.

  The tall man couldn’t believe his eyes. Usually, Branch leaders were at the same level as the pavilion master back at HQ, albeit slightly weaker at either the peak of the Ki gathering stage or newly formed core stage cultivators. Powerhouses in their own names. But looking at the man was the same as looking at a powerless farmer who just lost all his crops from bad weather.

  ‘Disheartening is what this is’.

  < That is… excruciatingly bad. Why didn’t you report it?> The team’s leader knew the response couldn’t be simple, but the glare he got in return was enough to make him realize that the situation was worse than he could have expected.

  < Do you really think I didn't try to report it, welp? I have been in this business since before you came to be in your dad’s balls. No, all my messages and reports got intercepted. Whoever it is that’s doing this is toying with me, or is nearly done gathering all the evidence they need. That’s why this place is so empty. I asked everyone to leave and skip town.> The previous anger and annoyance grew into disgust and hatred as he slumped into his chair.

  Face’s mind was going wild. If before he didn’t have a reason to be paranoid, now he did. Looking at his youngest team member at his side, he could see the fear and distress in her eyes.

  < You heard everything. I want you to run back to headquarters and ask for reinforcement for our dear Branch leader here. Do you have any spare reports you can give her?> With a plan now in mind, he hoped that maybe, maybe his team Runner could make it out of town safely and bring back help.

  < And die out there, are you crazy?> She retorts, regret and fear flashing on her face as she recoils on herself.

  < No, I don’t think you’ve caught the gaze of whatever or whoever is hunting us. Here, take this, and may the winds favor you.> The branch leader said, a faint hope glimmering in his eyes as he opened his desk and pulled out a small rolled-up sheet of parchment.

  Runner looked between the old man and her team leader, who, after holding her timid and scared gaze for a moment: nodded.

  She gingerly reached for the missive and left the room.

  < Are you sure it is a good idea to send her out there alone? She might already be tagged having entered this place with you.> The older man asked, fatigue bare on his face for Face to see, but also pity.

  The squad leader straightened his back, before putting on one of his trademark smiles.

  < I trust that girl. She might be an annoying brat at times, but when it comes to running. She is second to none.>

  Runner’s PoV

  ‘Alright, keep it cool, keep it calm. You can do this. Just act like you live here and that you aren’t a thief hunted by a demon or whatever the fuck it is.’ I try to psych myself up as I walk down the street out of the poorer part of the city. I can see many street kids around.

  I signed back at them to make them lose interest, telling them I was one of them. But I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something watching me.

  I stop by a food cart and take some meat skewers as I try to explore the feeling I had, trying to see with my peripheral vision as I speak with the cart owner.

  ‘Oh crap, that’s the target and her woman… shit shit shit, act natural.’

  < I didn’t expect to like listening to a live musical play. It was… Entertaining, to say the least.> The tall woman, the target’s lover, and the main roadblock for us talked. She was looking ahead, not paying attention to anything but the road ahead and the woman at her side.

  < I am glad you did. That’s another thing we can add to the list of things you enjoy. What do you want to try next? It’s a bit late to learn how to play, But perhaps we can try out those painting supplies we bought yesterday?> The small wolfgirl said. ‘Painting supplies? What are they talking about… Wait, are they on a date?! Shit.’

  < Hey there, missy. It’s rude to stare like that, you know?> The target called out to me.

  < Ah-ahaha… right, sorry. I… I didn’t expect to see… Two women, you know?> I try to shift and distract them as I can feel my heart beating hard.

  ‘This is the worst possible scenario. Captain told me to never interact with the target, no matter the circumstances, I can’t do shit about it if the target interacts with me, Dumbass!’

  < Is that so? Heh, no need to be so scared then. I can hear your heart about to break out of your chest already. Sorry about that girl. And you, stop frowning at her like that, you are scaring her soul out of her body, look how pale she is.>

  The other woman looks at the target before looking back at me. Her previous frown increases before she shakes it off. Quite literally in this case.

  < Sorry about that. Am still not used to…> < That’s not to me you should apologize, Huan. And do not need to beat yourself over that either, you are still learning.> The target said, pressing herself around her partner’s arm before rubbing the tall and menacing woman’s face.

  < Right. I am sorry for scaring you. But it is still rude to stare. I guess I shouldn’t have overreacted like this, I should lay off the wine for the night I guess.> She added.

  < ... R-right, s-sorry, and t-thanks? Bye?> I stammer as I pay and get away from there.

  But the way the target looked at me didn’t inspire any hope or confidence about this damned mission. ‘ It’s as if she knew something was up.’