"Go away! I don''t want to see anyone!" Tan Rui shouted and threw some things at the door.
Thud!
A loud thud was then heard.
The young woman in the familiar dark blue inner disciple robes didn''t leave and ignored Tan Rui''s warning.
She pushed the door open, and when Tan Rui wanted to throw things at her again, he froze.
He couldn''t move.
The young woman was much stronger than he was.
"Young lord Tan, just hear me out," she entered the room, closed the door, and lit up the candles in the room.
As she went about picking up the things on the floor, tidying up the room, she kept speaking.
"It''s not over yet. With your talents and right cultivation techniques, you can beat Ho Ming and Lin Fan easily."
She came over and caressed Tan Rui''s neck.
"Hmph. What are you getting at? You''re trying to have Dual Cultivation with me?" Tan Rui said with a smug look.
His background as a young lord from the Tan family was above that.
Indulge in Dual Cultivation? Never!
"Dual Cultivation? I''m afraid you are mistaken, young lord. There is a much faster way to gain powers."
The young woman smirked and held up a pill bottle.
ck colored and with a red stopper.
"Is that what my uncle took and caused his death in An Xiang vige? You think I''m dumb or what?"
Tan Rui had heard about what had happened to Master Tan and Tan Fei.
He wasn''t about to step into the same mistake as them.
"Ah, your uncles. They were just unfortunate idents, I assure you. These are enhanced Nine Turn Qi Concentration pills, altered to make you temporarily have powers of the next level."
She opened the bottle, took one pill out of it, and popped it into her mouth.
Her Qi immediately started to feel much stronger.
The aura that was keeping him immobile felt more powerful.
He wanted to puke from all the pressure put on him.
"See, no side effects whatsoever. Here, I shall leave the bottle here, and if you need more, just let me know."
She left the pill bottle on Tan Rui''sp, bowed to him, and exited the room.
Tan Rui picked up the pill bottle, looked at it, and hesitated.
These members from the Dark Lotus sect certainly weren''t up to anything good.
Trying to make use of him as a pawn.
"Senior martial Ho Ming!"
Someone shouted for Ho Ming outside.
Tan Rui gritted his teeth and cursed silently at the mention of his name.
Instinctively, Tan Rui had wanted to walk out of it, but when all the memories of defeat by Ho Ming came flooding back, his anger rose again.
He decided.
When the opportunity arose, he would take care of Ho Ming.
After all, the Dark Lotus sect didn''t ask anything in return from him.
At least not yet.
...
Physique Peak.
Main Hall.
Lin Fan was in full gear with his hammers and his baggage waiting.
As an inner disciple, he would have toplete at least three missions in one month.
Just like how Zhao Rui and Bai brothers did for Sword Peak.
On sessfulpletion of the missions, he would be rewarded with contribution points and money.
The amount would be dependent on the difficulty of the mission.
This mission he would be going on was an entry-level mission, with a reward of three taels of silver and thirty contribution points.
"All ready?" Sun Hai asked when he appeared with his baggage tied on his back.
It was Lin Fan''s first mission, and he wanted to make sure he would be all right.
Zhang Xi would join in if she had the time.
"Let''s go then. I will brief you along the way."
Sun Hai then briefed Lin Fan on the mission: a vige reported that kids were disappearing and suspected foul y.
They would help the constables with apprehending the criminal.
Nothing unusual so far.
Child trafficking was amon urrence in Quan Dynasty.
No one thought much about it.
"Cheer up," Sun Hai patted Lin Fan''s back when he saw him in deep thoughts.
"I hate these child traffickers as much as you do. I promise you I will crush their skulls like tofu!"
Sun Hai smiled approvingly at Lin Fan.
This junior martial brother was aspassionate as ever.
Lin Fan nodded at what Sun Hai said.
He was, however, suspicious that it had something to do with the Dark Lotus sect.
It took them a day''s travel on horseback to reach the vige.
The vige was called Hu Kou vige, somewhat like An Xiang vige.
Rural, and far away from the nearest town.
When they arrived at the vige, they could hear cries and wailing from the small huts.
These must have been the family members of the missing kids.
"Stop right there!" the adults guarding the vige shouted and armed their bows.
"We are from the Qing Feng sect to help. Constable Leong should know."
Sun Hai took out his jade pendant with the words Qing Feng sect carved on it.
A man in ck and red constable uniform came over, took the jade pendant, and inspected it.
When he confirmed Lin Fan and Sun Hai were from Qing Feng sect, he quickly bowed and put on a wide smile.
"I''m constable Leong, so sorry for the rudeness. Hope you don''t mind," he said apologetically and waved at the vigers to stand down.
"Come, let''s have a good meal at the vige head''s house and I''ll brief you on the details."
When the vigers knew they were from Qing Feng sect, they ran toward them, begging for them to help.
Some even went on the ground, holding onto Lin Fan and Sun Hai''s legs, asking to help find their kids first.
Lin Fan didn''t know what to say, but Sun Hai was no stranger to this type of scene.
He smiled and assured the vigers that they would do their best to rescue the kids.
With Sun Hai''s assurance, they felt safer and let them go.
The vige head''s house wasn''t far away, and soon they reached it after a minute''s walk.
A middle-aged man wasforting a young woman sobbing uncontrobly, presumably his wife.
Constable Leong introduced them to Sun Hai and Lin Fan.@@novelbin@@
"This is the vige head, Low Fang Bai, and his wife, Lee Mei."
"Please excuse my wife. Our son went missing an hour ago when he went outside..."
Low Fang Bai stood up but couldn''t finish the sentence.
Everyone went silent.
Sun Hai quickly introduced themselves and said, "Don''t worry, vige head. We will get the criminal as soon as possible."