The woman standing near the door gasped in fear and recoiled at Shao’s sudden arrival from the second floor window. He quietly chastised himself for acting so strangely. It was hard for him to think straight while he was around her.

“Please forgive my discourtesy, ma’am. I seem to have forgotten that normal people don’t typically jump out of windows.” In an attempt to lighten the mood, Shao decided to make a joke about his strange behavior. He chuckled awkwardly, and the woman allowed a good-natured laugh to pass her lips.

“Oh, it’s you!” A moment after her initial shock disappeared, recognition dawned on the woman’s beautiful features. “You’re the man who shouted at… uh… my attacker. Where are my manners? I am Xu Yan Fei. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Shao felt horribly insufficient standing before Xu Fei. He wished he could write poetry or create beautiful paintings to capture her otherworldly beauty.

“The pleasure is mine. I am Yang Lin Shao. My only regret is that I did not step in before that bastard could lay a hand on you.”

“I appreciate your concern, truly,” Xu Fei said as she gingerly placed a hand on the splotch of dried blood on her cheek.

Suddenly, Shao was overcome with the desire to protect Xu Fei. He couldn’t allow any upstart cultivator like Gao Linyu to place a wayward hand on Xu Fei’s body. It would be akin to letting brigands deface a priceless work of art.

“It’s not safe for you here. Zhoushan, I mean. There are hundreds of cultivators in this city right now with unknown intentions. You’d be safer here with us, at least until the Rite of Initiation is over tomorrow.”

“Hundreds?” Xu Fei gasped, clearly shocked and worried at the prospect of so many superhumans with poor emotional regulation in such a small space.

A look of melancholy appeared on Xu Fei’s face. Her expression tightened as if she was trying to stop herself from crying. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to survive another encounter like the one before, but it just keeps happening. Everywhere I go, men fight over me, men I’ve never even met before. I cut my hair like this and put on these unflattering clothes, but nothing changed. Can you really protect me? How do I know you’re not like the others?”

“No, I’m not like them!” Shao denied her with a bit too much fervor. “I would never hurt you. I would do anything for…”

You’re under attack.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The animalistic voice in the back of his mind warned him of an ongoing attack. Something unseen was assaulting Shao, but he didn’t know who was attacking him or how he was being attacked. He stopped speaking mid-sentence and frantically began scanning the street for the source of the assault. All Shao managed to do with his frantic search was cause Xu Fei to take a fearful step back and make a few dozen pedestrians look at him with concerned glances.

If there was no visible assailant, Shao thought, the attack must have been ki-based. He recalled the invisible energy Shen Jian used to knock him out when they first met and the beam of unseen destruction released by Charging Bull. Shao figured there must have been countless ways that a cultivator could launch an attack that was invisible to the naked eye.

He controlled his breathing and began focusing on the flowing currents of ki in the air. It was only when Shao really focused that he could feel the smallest disturbance in the invisible current that permeated all things.

A small, pulsing current like a small stone bobbing on the water’s surface emanated from behind him. Shao turned, ready to face his attacker only to realize that the source of the disturbance was the small, frightened woman standing there.

While Shao scanned the street, Xiahou Ren had opened the front door. He watched Shao with a confused look before saying in a purposefully relaxed tone, “Peace, Yang Shao. You’re frightening our guest.”

Like an iron shield swung to face one’s enemy, Shao girded his mind with the most powerful mental fortifications he could muster. Somehow, Xu Fei was manipulating his mind with ki. Shao grit his teeth in anger as he remembered the sentence he was about to say before the instinctual voice in his head interrupted him. “I would do anything for you.” He wondered if Xu Fei was a cultivator who was using a technique in tandem with her natural beauty to ensnare unsuspecting initiates of Shigong Temple.

“Xiahou Ren,” Shao said with an icy tone. “Have you checked if she’s a cultivator?”

“No. Why would I? Her injury when Gao Linyu grabbed her proves she’s a mortal.”

“Could you please check? Something doesn’t sit right with me.”

Xiahou Ren hesitated for several seconds before shrugging his shoulders and looking directly at Xu Fei with an intense, unblinking stare. “No skin off my back.”

“What are you doing?” Xu Fei said, clearly frightened of the situation. “What makes you think I’m a cultivator? Please. There’s no need for you to waste any time or resources on me. I’ll… I’ll just be on my way.” She turned from Xiahou Ren and began to walk away, but she was only able to get half a step before Ren’s arm moved forward and grabbed her by the shoulder. Xu Fei tried to shake him off, but his firm grasp did not loosen in the slightest.

“You’re right, Shao,” Xiahou Ren said, any trace of familiarity gone from his voice. “She’s a one-star cultivator, and she has a bloodline talent. Most importantly… she’s been manipulating our minds ever since she got here. The effect was so subtle that I didn’t notice it at first.”

“Cultivator? Bloodline talent? What are you talking about?” Xu Fei seemed legitimately confused by these words. Either she was actually unaware of her power, or she was just an incredibly good liar. She stopped struggling against Xiahou Ren, as if her confusion was stronger than her desire to get away.

Now fully aware of the mental manipulation and able to resist its effects, Xiahou Ren and Yang Shao looked at the frightened woman and decided what to do with her.