The Restaurant Quarter in Guxi City was a road lined with famous restaurants selling cuisines from all over the continent. Never in Dawa’s life had she seen so much food in one place!

After slipping out of her palanquin and arriving at the bustling streets of the town centre, she darted into an alley and changed out of her cumbersome Taban formal wear to a comfortable Li-styled purple robe.

She dusted down her skirts and ensuring that no one had followed her, left the alley with a spring in her step.

Let’s have some fun shall we!!

It was close to lunchtime which means that the crowds were gathering and the aroma of the various spices and meat was heavy in the air. Dawa was beyond excited at what she was seeing -- food which she didn’t know what it was. She was purchasing and eating without reservation.

“Mister, I want everything that tastes good!”

“Hao!”

“And make them large!”

“Hao!”

It was quite a strange sight; a young girl surrounded by dishes of food stuffing her cheeks like a chipmunk, and while passersby did stare, most were quite happy to leave her be, even if she looked rather ridiculous.

However, in the shadows of the Restaurant Quarter, a lone man’s eyes are fixated on the rambunctious girl eating at the restaurant. He pulls out a blade, possibly a jian or a dao and waits quietly, like a tiger stalking its prey.

Two hours pass and Dawa is exploring the streets again, having paid the restauranteur a handsome sum for the wonderful meal. He, in gratitude, told her where to buy the best snacks to compliment the food she just ate.

She passed by street vendors selling shaobing and tanghulu and she buys one of each. With both her hands full, her pace slows down a little as she eats the two snacks slowly.

What a wonderful place! It’s a lot more crowded than what I’m used to but at least the food is great. I wonder what I should do next?

Her thoughts are cut off as signs of a commotion brought her back to attention.

Before she could react, a force swung her around and she came face-to-face with a heavily panting Zi Siwei, drenched in sweat.

A few tense seconds passed between them before Zi Siwei began to chuckle then chortle loudly.

She was taken aback as the man had never shown his emotions very clearly on his face but was quickly replaced by the hilarity of the entire situation.

She giggled softly; young ladies don’t chortle thank you very much.

The crowd that had formed around them started to disperse, seeing nothing out of the ordinary.

At that moment, Dawa’s expression sharpened in heightened awareness and began to release spiritual energy. She leaned back slightly and reached out her hand, dropping the shaobing in the process.

Zi Siwei blinked and found a needle inches away from his left eye, held in place by Dawa’s second and third fingers.

Both cultivators began to release spiritual energy and began to scan the crowd for a third presence. Besides using their spiritual energy to search for the perpetrator, they were also using their other senses in case their mysterious attacker was suppressing their spiritual energy and thereby making their usage of spiritual energy useless.

Zi Siwei was still scanning when to his surprise, Dawa leapt a few feet in the air to one of the shop roofs and began to run. Flabbergasted, he followed her, fearing that she will do something reckless. He needed the perpetrator alive! He didn’t know if she knew how assassinations are dealt with in Li but he didn’t want to take any chances.

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Dawa was incredibly fast. She effortlessly leapt over roofs of varying sizes and textures, following the attacker who was not that far ahead.

The attacker looked back in dismay, Tch! I can’t lose her. Time for plan B.

Dawa noticed the attacker slow down slightly and she saw her chance. She concentrated her spiritual energy in her calves and with a boost of speed, she propelled herself like a rocket and hit the assassin right in the back with a full-blown body blow.

She grabbed the assassin’s hips and did a forward flip to pin him to the ground with her legs straddling his sides. She was going to grab the attacker’s neck, intending to keep him pinned when she noticed foam coming out from his mouth.

He had committed suicide to prevent himself from being caught.

Zi Siwei finally caught up to Dawa when he saw her getting up from the ground. He frowned.

“Dead?” He asked. Dawa nodded solemnly.

Zi Siwei looked around quickly, they were in an alley. Either they had been lucky that no one saw or Dawa had intentionally picked that spot just in case the assassin committed suicide. Given the performance that Dawa had showcased to him, Zi Siwei didn’t put the latter possibility behind him.

“We have to bring him to The Court. Minister Hao will know what to do.” Zi Siwei instructed.

Dawa nodded and carried the assassin by the shoulders waiting for Zi Siwei to lead the way back to the Municipality Court.

Oooff! This guy is awfully heavy. He’s quite well-built too. I’m surprised he can run that fast. A shame he’s dead or I could ask what kind of cultivation manual he was using to increase his speed.

She looked at Zi Siwei. Most likely he doesn’t know who he was or what he was trying to achieve in assassinating me. He’s the honest sort so he wouldn’t notice. I want to know who sent him but I just arrived here and it wouldn’t make sense to suspect Haoxia-shixiong or one of my own who came with me.

She had an epiphany. Or maybe it IS one of my own! But what would they achieve by eliminating me? They need me to keep the tribe safe from those in Li who see us as a profit region…so—

“Young Maiden Dawa.”

Her head shot up to face Zi Siwei who wore his usual unreadable expression (at least he wasn’t laughing anymore).

“Please do not concern yourself with this incident. Leave that to the Municipality Court.”

“You mean, you won’t be looking into this too.”

Zi Siwei slowly shook his head, “Unfortunately, no. Generals are not part of the judiciary system. I can catch conspirators but I have to hand them over to the Municipality Court of the region.” He gestured to Dawa to use the alleys to take the dead man back to The Court. She followed suit.

“Why is it like that?” Dawa asked.

“Do you know about the Taihelong insurrection?” Zi Siwei countered with a question.

Dawa nodded.

“Then you should know why we have this system now.”

Dawa remained silent for a few seconds, “I do know the events but I don’t understand why the change was necessary.”

“I see. Then, let me guide your thought process.” Zi Siwei began. “Who started the insurrection?”

“The generals under the direct control of Emperor Taihan.” Dawa replied. “It started with the show trials and executions of the Emperor’s biggest supporters and their families. They wanted support to put the Crown Prince on the throne because he was not favourable towards the Huayi people. By getting rid of the Emperor’s supporters, they thought the transition of power would be smoother.”

“Correct.” Zi Siwei nodded, “What led it to the total annihilation of the dynasty?”

“The generals lost control of the army and they took matters into their own hands, putting the Phoenix Palace under siege and killing everyone who supported the dynasty…they also destroyed several Huayi colonies in the continent just to prove how bad the people were.” Dawa’s voice wavered.

Zi Siwei patted her head. “Correct. You know the rest; one of the commanders of the border forces finally brought it all to a close and created the Xiafeng dynasty. One of the first things he did was to ban military personnel from being judges and their family members from studying law. He knew that having such powerful men in judiciary positions was going to be disastrous for the dynasty. The dynasty is young, preserving it was of great importance.”

Dawa blinked, surprised at his action. “I understand. Thank you for the lesson, Siwei-shixiong.”

Both cultivators continued to dart through alleys, using their spiritual energy to ensure that no one was following them and at last, they made it back to The Court. They effortlessly jumped over the high gates and made their way to Dawa’s chambers.

Dawa changed back into her formal wear and Zi Siwei stuffed the dead man in the closet before leaving the premises once more. He was ‘visiting his father’ after all, he can’t be seen on site.

After fixing herself up, Dawa went to the sliding doors and requested for a servant to call for Minister Hao with the excuse that she needed to speak to him.

She was uncharacteristically nervous. Not because she has a dead man in her closet or because her cover might have been blown. She was nervous because she heard about Minister Hao’s sharp temperament. The Emperor was another story but this is a man that was of the no-nonsense sort. She didn’t know how he will react but one thing’s for sure, she cannot keep a dead guy in the closet forever so it’s better to come clean to sneaking out and galavanting through town.

“Princess. Minister Hao is here.”

“Enter.”

It’s time to face the music.