Qingge relaxed considerably as the girl led her inside the unassuming building. She had been considerably more tense than she had realized during this whole ordeal and now that it had been completed on her part, that was falling off of her.

Having gotten used to being generally safe pretty quickly with Yang always around to protect her, being in a situation where she was not with people who were potentially hostile to her, should they find out about her identity, hadn’t been a pleasant experience.

Maybe she was relaxing a little too much, after all she was still in a place of criminal activity right now, but the only people here were a young mortal girl and an old lady she just couldn’t bring herself to be properly afraid of.

Besides, as far as she knew, these two were only here to keep up a harmless front. The ones more deeply involved with the organization had just left without catching on to her.

“Oh, sweety, you brought a guest with you!"

The wrinkly old woman was seated in a rocking chair in the corner of the room they had just entered. There were several tables spread around it, an open door leading into a small but well-kept kitchen.

“Good evening, ma’am.”

“Oh, you’re a nice young woman. Oh, wait, do I know you? Of course, you were here with two other lovely youngsters just the other day, weren’t you? You must excuse me, my memory…”

“She wants to drink some tea, gran.”

“Of course, of course!”

The lady slowly rose from her chair, reaching for a wooden walking-cane that was leaned to the wall next to her, which looked equally ancient and crooked as she did. Once she had it, she slowly made her way through the room towards Qingge.

“What kind of tea can I get you? Do you want green or red tea? Or maybe something fruity? How strong do you like it brewed? Do you drink it with sugar, honey, milk, or maybe with a shot of liquor?”

“Umm… Red tea, please. Strong flavor but with a shot of milk and a little honey.”

She probably had a long night ahead of her, it couldn’t hurt to have something to help her stay awake. Not that she ever drank anything else when it came to tea.

“Sure, my dear. Just give me a couple of minutes. Sit down anywhere you like in the meantime. Sweety, would you help me light the fire?”

“Of course, gran.”

With that, old lady shuffled towards the kitchen, the girl following her closely. Meanwhile, Qingge took her at her word and sat down, picking a table from which she could observe both the entryway and the kitchen.

She took the time waiting to properly check the contents of the box she had been given. Sure enough, it contained the four pills she had been promised. On a cursory inspection, they seemed very well-made, having no inconsistencies in their form or any kind of visually noticeable impurities.

She couldn’t actually say for certain whether they came from the sect since only high-grade pills and above were stamped with its mark, but they hadn’t been made by an amateur, that much was for sure.

Alchemy was one of the things Qingge knew next to nothing about, but their group had a member who was rather well-versed for someone not working for the Alchemy Hall. Qingge would ask her to properly analyze the pills once she got back.

Looking up after closing the box again, she absentmindedly watched the old woman as she brewed the tea over an open flame. Yang had estimated her to be as strong as an average adult and Qingge trusted his senses more than her own, but it was still almost impossible to imagine. Every single of her actions had the slow and gradual deliberation to it, that developed in people who couldn’t depend on their muscles to support any careless movements.

Qingge returned to her thoughts. Assuming they’d be successful in finding the smugglers’ hideout, what would the best approach be? A direct assault would be the fastest and safest way, but it bore the risk of alarming any remaining members of the organization. If there were several hideouts, a significant number might escape.

An infiltration on the other hand, while it was the approach Qingge personally favored, was much riskier on a personal level, since getting found out would expose them to a dangerous situation. It would also be extremely time-consuming, since they’d have to manufacture even more identities and slowly work themselves into the circle of the smugglers.

They weren’t on a hard time limit, but Qingge would rather not drag this out for too much longer if possible. As long as they didn’t strike, the organization would continue stealing from the sect and the people in her group would understandably want to get back to the sect as well, so they could properly continue their cultivation.

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They sadly didn’t have anyone specializing in stealth, so they couldn’t go the middle-path of sneaking in and gathering information that way either. This wasn’t an oversight; they just couldn’t get anyone, since the Information Gathering Hall was extremely aggressive at poaching disciples and members with that particular talent.

Qingge sometimes wondered, just how strong the Zhong Family’s grip on the sect was in the dark. With their pale skin, their focus on the Dao of shadows, their unique stealth techniques, their iron discipline and even more rigid hierarchy than the remainder of the sect, they were a true enigma to even the usually well-informed upper circles of the Enforcement Hall, as she had recently learned…

“There you go my dear, strong red tea with milk and honey.”

Lost in her thoughts, Qingge hadn’t even properly registered the old woman approaching with a porcelain teapot, the girl following behind her with a cup and a jug of milk.

“Since you’re here all alone, how about I keep you a little company?”

Qingge took a moment to think but couldn’t see any issue with it. Maybe she would even find out something interesting.

“Yes, ma’am, if you want to.”

“Of course I want to my dear, of course.”

She poured the tea into Qingge’s cup in a proficient but strained movement before shuffling over to the other side of the table, leaning her cane against it and sitting down.

“Could you get me a cup as well, sweety?”

“As you say, gran.”

With that, she turned her attention to Qingge, an endearing smile stretched across her dry lips.

“You see, we don’t get many guests here, especially not from outside the city. You do come from outside, don’t you?”

Qingge was immediately alert. She hadn’t divulged this part of her story to anyone the old woman should be in contact with. She quickly took a sip of her tea to avoid showing her reaction. It had a strong and bitter aroma with a light earthy note. Quite a good brew, though Qingge immediately started adding more honey.

“Yes, I’m from Brittlestone. How did you guess?”

“Well, you clearly came here with a guide the last time, didn’t you? You also don’t behave quite like the usual youngsters we get around here. They tend to be more assertive and less perceptive. It’s really not how it used to be… Seems like they have a better hold on proper upbringing in your city.”

“I… really don’t know.”

“Don’t worry dear, I don’t expect you to. It’s the kind of thing you’ll start noticing once you’re old like me. Instead, tell me. How is it like in Brittlestone?”

“It’s… It’s a beautiful city, though not as large as this one. It’s calmer, more relaxed and less colorful.”

“So, so… What does your family do?”

“We mostly own and operate a couple of mines, though we’re also in the merchant business.”

“Mines, you don’t say! I haven’t had that with any customer before. Where are they located? What ores do they produce?”

Qingge had rarely talked to someone so immediately inquisitive, and she started running out of made-up answers.

“They’re to the west of the city, in the hills. We have mostly iron and copper, but one of them recently found a rather large vein of silver.”

“Oh my, what a stroke of luck! That must be very profitable for your family.”

“It is indeed. We are truly blessed.”

Qingge felt increasingly uncomfortable under the woman’s gaze. She felt like her disguise was being seen through and became painfully aware of the fact that she hadn’t brought a weapon.

“I’m sure you are. Now tell me, you came here to increase your cultivation, is that correct?”

“Um… yes?”

“You see, there’s something I’ve been wondering about. If your family has difficulty acquiring cultivation resources in your city, why would they spend their money to funnel the few they can acquire on someone of low talent?”

The woman's tone had shifted to something accusing. Instinctively, Qingge tensed her muscles only to realize that she couldn’t. Her entire body suddenly felt numb, like she had just woken up from a deep slumber.

Poison!

…

The girl jumped to her feet, or at least attempted to do so. What it actually amounted to was little more than a slow rising. Granny reacted anyway, grabbing her cane and swinging it in the very same motion.

She hit the defenseless girl in the head, flinging her several meters through the room where she collapsed on the floor with nothing but a silent whimper.

There she remained, knocked out cold.

Granny, that was how she had called herself instead of that dreadful name since several decades now, had known that that there was something off about the girl since the first time she had stepped foot in here. It was more instinct than observation, but something about the way she moved didn’t match her appearance. It was something she was very well-versed in, considering how much time she had spent perfecting her own behavior.

Talking with the girl had confirmed her suspicions. She knew most of the cities in the surrounding area and had personally lived in Brittlestone for several years. There were no mines in the west and certainly no hills. Also, there was no silver to be found around there and even if there was, it would most certainly be monopolized by the city’s government the moment it was discovered.

Granny looked down at the girl. The poison she had given her wasn’t actually dangerous, just numbing and weakening, only noticeable once you tried to make fast movements or exert force. It also had the unique property of being highly reactive to Qi in the subject’s body, barely having an effect on mortals and low-level cultivators.

That made it her favorite poison of all, since she could use it on people out of pure suspicion without any aftermath, should she turn out to be wrong.

Its only real downside was that it was prohibitively expensive, difficult to create and rarely found in the possession of anyone outside of a sect. Luckily, her connection had supplied her with quite a generous amount, so that wasn’t a serious issue.

The girl wasn’t who she had pretended to be. For the poison to react this quickly and strongly, she would have to be at least in the seventh cycle of Body Reformation, maybe more. If that was the case, she would never have collapsed this easily though. That left only one option open: She was a soul cultivator.

Like that to come here, someone powerful had to be involved. One of the great families, maybe the Li or even the Luo Family. Highly dangerous in any case.

They would have to lock the girl up real tight and see if they could get any information out of her. Unfortunately, if she was truly this well-trained, it was unlikely that their usual methods of interrogation would have much of an effect.

Putting her cane aside, Granny picked up the limp girl’s body, throwing it over her shoulder.

“Sweetie, get me the keys to the cellar.”