The sun had started to set, and the darkness was trying to creep into the streets, held back by thousands upon thousands of lanterns that were still hung up all over the city. The festival was still ongoing and there were uncountable people still out on the streets, drinking, laughing and playing games. Whereas in other areas of the city, their numbers had fallen much since the first day, no such thing was happening in the upper district. The people here didn’t need to get back to work to be able to feed themselves and their families, so they kept on partying as long as the festival was ongoing.

Walking alone amongst the crowd, one amongst thousands, was young woman, carrying a small but visibly heavy chest in her arms. In isolation, it would have made for a strange picture but in a crowd like this, it went unnoticed save for a couple of cursory glances.

Qingge was quite content with that, because it meant less trouble for her. She just wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible, which meant answering as little questions as she could.

She was, of course, not actually alone. In fact, she was probably with one of the biggest groups out around here tonight. It was just that nobody knew, because the fifteen or so people currently shadowing her were doing a good job.

They had spent the last two days in a rush, preparing for this as much as they could, scouting the area, going over their costumes and discussing possibilities. Qingge felt readier than ever. Now if only that damn box of silver wasn’t so heavy. Had Yang been with her, he could have been the one to carry it, but he was leading the others.

It had been the most difficult decision they’d had to make. On one hand, they had been told to arrive together. The emphasis had been on not bringing anyone else, but her showing up alone might still arouse suspicion. On the other, he was the only Dao Attunement Realm cultivator amongst them and having him play the bait would waste his skill.

In the end, they had decided like they had because his abilities for the pursuit would more than make up for any suspicion that his absence might create. And such it turned out that Qingge had to carry the damn silver.

At least she was nearly done, finally turning into the alley. As she approached the Blue Lotus Pavilion, she leaned into her theatrical side and played up the difficulty she had carrying the silver, breathing heavily and making her hands tremble.

Once she was at the door, she wanted to knock but was interrupted when two men stepped out of a shadow off to the side. She didn’t have to play being startled.

The first man was the one she had met here two days ago with his tall and slick look, black robes and silver mask. He was holding a small wooden box. Much cruder than what they used in the sect but clearly a container for pills.

The second one was a striking contrast to him, short and broad-shouldered, packed with muscles, the beard- and maskless face riddled with scars. The type of thug who would get into fistfights in bars over a wrong glance, though there was a hint of clever mischief sparkling in his eyes.

“You’ve come alone?”

The man in the silver mask was the one to speak.

“There was a boy with you last time, wasn’t there? Weren’t you supposed to come here together?”

“Yes, I know.”

Qingge did her best to layer frustration into her voice.

“My dear brother has, in his wisdom, decided that filling himself up to the brim with brewage and chasing around some tavern maidens was more important than helping me get my cultivation in order."

If she was guessing correctly, these people probably dealt with foolish young nobles of this kind rather often.

“I see. My condolences.”

His voice remained as cold and monotone as before while he said that.

“I suppose it doesn’t matter as long as you have brought the silver. Am I right to assume that’s what’s in that chest?”

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“Of course. One thousand taels, as we agreed on.”

Qingge held out the chest and the burly man stepped forward and grabbed it.

“Good.”

Turning to the building, he called out.

“Girl! Get us your scale!”

A couple moments later, the door opened and the young girl who had served them the last time brought out a scale and weights. As the thug-like man started to weigh the silver, the silver mask turned to Qingge again.

“Now, as I said, I have gotten you three low-grade Body Shaping pills and a mid-grade Qi-Gathering one. The Body Shaping pills are as easy and straightforward as it gets. When you take them, they open up your body for change, making it easier to reform. You’ll notice that it takes less concentration and less time to progress. They last for a couple of hours; I would advise you to make the most of that.

“The Qi-Gathering pill on the other hand is a little more complicated. On the one hand it will supply your body with a large amount of Qi the moment you take it. On the other, it will continue to draw it in for several days. Take it after you’ve already emptied your body of qi and are ready to cultivate for an extended period of time. The last of the pill’s effects will have worn off after a week or so.”

Done explaining, he looked down to the other man.

“Everything fine?”

“Aye, looking good. All the silver’s here.”

“Good. Here you go.”

He handed Qingge the box.

“We will head out now. I strongly suggest you stay here for a couple more minutes. Following us is a terrible idea.”

“I understand. I will have a drink before heading out.”

She wasn’t going to be part of the pursuit anyways, so anything she could do to make them more relaxed was good in her book.

“It was a pleasure doing business with you.”

“So it was for me, Young Lady. Return if you ever need more goods. For the right price, we’ll always be able to help you.”

Not if Qingge was successful, they wouldn’t. She smiled and bowed before turning to the girl.

“Do you still serve tea at this hour?”

“Yes, my lady.”

“Then I would like some.”

When she looked back, the two men were already gone.

…

Yang stood at the entrance to the alley that led to the Blue Lotus Pavilion and wondered for the hundredth time whether this was a good idea.

He hadn’t been a proponent him and Qingge splitting up, mainly because he had other priorities than the others in the expedition. As her bodyguard, his immediate concern was her safety, not the success of her investigation.

In the beginning, he had only taken on this job because Elder Shi had personally asked him too and he idolized the woman, but with time, Qingge had grown on him. It was a nice feeling to care about someone when all he had ever done before in his hundred and twenty years of life had been fighting and getting stronger.

That was why it had been hard for him to accept this plan. He trusted Qingge not to do anything stupid, but he didn’t trust the people she was dealing with. Who could tell if they would suddenly try something reckless?

In the end, he had let himself be convinced regardless because he didn’t want to be a burden to the others. That didn’t make his nervousness go away though.

A few more minutes of doubt later, something finally happened. Two people approached from inside the alley, entering the range of his soul sense. One of them was the silver mask, he could tell by the Qi-loaded poison needles in his sleeves. The other was carrying something that he guessed to be the chest of silver.

Once the two emerged, these suspicions were confirmed. So the deal had been a success. The two immediately dived into the crowd and Yang waited for a while before following them. Now that he had their signatures, he didn’t need a line of sight to track them, he just needed to stay in their general vicinity.

He employed all of his skills to move through the crowd as unnoticed as possible. He wasn’t trained for stealth and his skills paled in comparison to those who were, but as an old and powerful cultivator, he still had perfect control over his body and a supernatural awareness of his surroundings, even without counting the soul sense.

The others had all been positioned in places where they could see the alley as well and now that they had seen the target, most of them were swarming out to important chokepoints in case Yang somehow lost them.

It seemed like that wouldn’t be the case though. His two targets moved with urgency, but not faster than the crowd allowed them without standing out.

After a couple of minutes, it was clear that they were leaving the upper district and heading for the docks. Another suspicion confirmed then. That presented a problem, because as the streets became emptier, it became harder for Yang to remain unnoticed. He gave them more and more space as they went on and started to alternate between using his soul sense and tracking them by eye. His sense was rather well developed but its range remained limited by his stage of cultivation.

Fortunately, he didn’t have to follow them for all that long. After a few unexpected turns into and through some back alleys, they arrived at a warehouse. At the door, they knocked in a specific order and were let in by an obscured figure. Yang immediately signaled the few people who were following behind him to surround the building, but nobody had come back out after a few minutes. That confirmed that this was the destination.

“We’ve probably got their hideout. Two of you remain here to keep an eye on it, the others go and inform everyone. We’ll make plans on how to proceed tonight.”

Their operation had been a success. Yang wondered what Qingge would think about it.