Li Ao heard a faint snoring right as he teleported.

Looking around, he saw a room with chestnut wooden walls and ceiling, with a rather small window. There was a study table, a wardrobe full of robes, a compact formation in the centre that gathered Spirit Qi, and a bed where a rather handsome fellow with dishevelled hair slept. Looking out the window, Li Ao saw a bubbling, milky white stormy sea. There were sounds of thunder and dripple of rain.

''Look at this fellow...''

Li Ao quickly organized what he gathered—he was in the boat of a sect called Pangu Sect, in the middle of a voyage to heavens know where, and something had happened to this particular batch of disciples which required his investigation.

In that sense, where he ended up seemed to be the perfect place to begin.

Walking near the bed, Li Ao inspected the young man. He seemed to be about his age, fifteen or sixteen, with sword-like eyebrows and a brewing power inside his heroic eyes.

Nah, he didn't know what any of those descriptions meant really.

In truth, the boy had a youthful face with no hair and pronounced cheekbones which made him look disproportionately masculine and feminine at the same time. Coupled with his loosely worn robes and white complexion, it would be hard to distinguish his gender.

Li Ao, through his Scarlet Path art, could feel the abundant Yang energy of the boy, which made him able to deduce his gender. He also had the aura of a third-level Qi Condensation disciple over him.

''How do I go about this now?''

Thinking for a moment, Li Ao decided he would first tie up and silence the boy. So he did.

Gathering the spare robes in the wardrobe, Li Ao squeezed and connected them until he had two thick ropes of cloth. Then in a flash he tied up the arms and mouth of the boy.

Just as he managed to finish his job, the boy woke up, eyes alarmed. He let out a muffled shout but it did not even reach the level of a whisper. Li Ao caught him by the shoulders, pushed him down the bed, and showed a very smug smile.

To the boy laying down, his smile seemed lecherous and creepy.

''Now, my good fellow, listen closely.''

Saying so, Li Ao let out a bit of his aura to scare the boy. It worked, and the disciple started squirming harder under him...

Alright, this position was too wrong. Li Ao flipped the boy down on the ground then took a seat in front of him. ''I am not going to hurt you if you cooperate with me, alright?''

The boy nodded twice.

''Okay, what is your name?''

''MHHMHMH.''

''Ah, right.''

Li Ao shook his head and stared at his hand. What were the chances this guy would shout? If any of his senior brothers and sisters were stronger than Li Ao, there was a very high likelihood.

Instead of releasing the mouth gag, Li Ao used his divine sense and contacted the Hundred-Faces Skin Mask hidden in his skin.

The disgusting piece of lather jumped out of his finger and slammed itself on the boy. Letting out muffled screams, the boy kicked on the ground and air for a few breaths. Few seconds later the mask retreated back into Li Ao's skin.

Rising from his embarrassing position, the boy looked up and saw a copy of himself standing in front of him.

''MHMHM!?''

''Okay, looks like I'm perfect?''

Li Ao took a look at his reflection through the window glass. Indeed, he couldn't pinpoint any differences in this fake face.

''Very good! Since the mask doesn't have any Qi, not even great cultivators should be able to find out I am a fake!''

Or not. He was a head taller than the boy, and their voices were completely different.

Anyway, he could do away with it.

Just as he thought so, Li Ao heard the creaking of the floor.

Turning his head around, he saw the boy sneaking away towards the door.

''You ungrateful swine!''

Li Ao caught the boy by the shoulder and threw him back at the bed. Dusting off his hands, he reached out to his spatial ring and took out a bottle of Qi Gathering pills.

''Look! I won't harm you! I can give you this bottle of pills if you help me, alright?''

Taking slow steps, Li Ao opened the lid of the bottle and put it near the boy's nose. ''How does it smell? Take big whiff. Yeah, like that! How's it?''

Seeing the boy nod, his eyes glittering, Li Ao this time took out one of the %100 purity Qi Gathering Pills. When the medicinal aroma reached the boy, his shining eyes revealed a ravenous intent.

''What about this~''

Li Ao put the pill near the tip of the boy's nose, and the boy tore through the cloth over his mouth and bit at the pill.

''WHAT!'' Li Ao grasped the boy from his head and pushed him away from the pill. ''LET GO! LET GO, LEAVE MY PILL ALONE!''

His opponent was too tough—the boy kept his sparkling teeth on the surface of the pill, growling while he wrestled the control of it.

''You son of a dog!''

Li Ao injected some of his Qi in his palm and at last pulled apart his pill—half of his pill.

He heard a loud gulp from beneath.

''You...you really did it...''

Watching the medicinal power leak out of the remaining half, Li Ao let out a screech and reached for the throat of the boy.

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When he was about to choke him, Li Ao heard a gentle voice outside the door.

''Xu Liao, are you okay? I heard a commotion?''

Li Ao put one palm over the boy's, Xu Liao's, mouth, then with the other made a hush sign.

''Shit, I'm about to get discovered! What do I do?''

Looking at the window, he quickly reneged on the idea to jump out. He did not have the heart to kill Xu Liao, and definitely could not get away without him alerting others on the ship.

''Look.'' He whispered to Xu Liao. ''Tell her to go away, and I will give you the other half. Okay?''

Xu Liao seemed tempted, but it took him a few seconds to nod again.

''Xu Liao! Are you okay, I am coming in?''

''Go!'' Li Ao said and let go of his palm.

''Sis Yue come in!—''

Li Ao slapped Xu Liao on the nape, causing him to faint instantly, and leaped out the window.

The door creaked behind him as he hung right outside the window, only using his pinkie fingers to keep himself afloat. Under him, the rising waves almost caught up to his bottom.

''Oh my, Xu Liao?'' the woman called Sister Yue came in and locked the door behind her. Skipping her steps she came to stand beside the bed and put a finger over Xu Liao's chiselled body. ''Look at these works of art~''

Hearing no answer, she slapped Xu Liao twice. Now she saw there was no answer again, and, with Li Ao peeking from the window to watch what was happening, she revealed a twisted lecherous smile.

''You want me to take the lead, good boy~''

No! This story was for the general audiences!

Li Ao pulled himself up with both fingers, shot like an arrow into the room, then slapped Sister Yue to oblivion. The girl only cast him a terrified look before fainting from the blow, then laid on Xu Liao, limp.

Li Ao took a deep breath and wiped his sweat. This setting was far too dangerous! Too dangerous!

This time he took no chances. Going over two, he pushed his Qi into their bodies and sealed their cultivation. Then he pulled the bedsheet over them, tied the two together, and at last pushed his Qi again to further disperse their energy.

With this, they wouldn't wake up in a day or two.

Hopefully.

''With this crisis done, I should get going.''

Since he had no memory reading skill of some sorts, nor any art to change his martial arts, nor a skill to change his voice...

What kind of a infiltrator was he?

Li Ao shook his head. Scouring his memories for reference through those novels, he decided on three golden rules for himself.

One shall not speak unless it is necessary!

One shall not cultivate unless it is unavoidable!

One shall not strike unless it is fatal!

This way, he would have the least chance of exposing himself.

Wait, didn't this template seem familiar?

Putting both hands under his chin for the extra IQ effect, Li Ao reminded himself of the stoic, hardworking type mc.

Of course! He could make a character change for Xu Liao. Even if the people knew him, he could just push the agenda that he was now solely focused on polishing his blade skills!

Really, Li Ao was a true genius, one in a million.

Feeling more confident, Li Ao scoured the room for anything belonging to Xu Liao. He changed his robes—now, he realized why Xu Liao might have acted the way he was, for he still had not gotten rid of his bloodied robes.

He had to do something about that habit.

All preparations done, Li Ao, no, Xu Liao left the room and locked its doors.

Now laid in front of him a rather wide hallway that led to right—there was but a single wall to his left and front. Five meters to right was another room, which he supposed was Sister Yue's. Further away, the lights of the hallway blinked in and out, casting eerie blue light down.

Above the ceiling, stuck inside spherical engravings were low-grade spirit stones carved like a square lamp. Lines of formation fed these stones with ambient Qi, and at a certain frequency, or when a person went by them, these would light up to brighten the way.

Impressed by the handiwork of the formation, of the perfect lines stretching over the ceiling, and by the still surface of the ship that did not seem to even tremble within the stormy waves, Li Ao searched his path through the corridor.

*********

After a few minutes of blind search, Li Ao found a wide set of round stairs going up. He ascended through a myriad of floors in darkness, as no light shone on the middle, and met no one on his way except a few servants. Silent, focused, he took the last few steps to the outside.

The stairs led him to a gigantic deck awash by great waves. From right and left of the railings rising water as tall as thirty and forty meters long thrashed the ship. Every few seconds a discharge of droplets washed away his tied hair.

Looking up to the forming storms, where in the darkness a thunder bloomed, Li Ao felt his heart turn empty. His stomach sinking, eyes drooping low, he walked by his lone self across the deck to a set of red towers. A gale crashed behind him as he opened the doors and went in. All sounds ceased with the crash of the gates, then there was no more storm.

For the past ten years, Li Ao hated rain and storm. He would always hide in the basement of the estate or in his isolated room at times of rain. He could count the number of times he went out under a storm with his fingers.

''Forget it.''

Letting out a sigh, his attention turned to the loud sounds behind. On his way, he had asked a servant 'whether the training space was available'. To his luck, his question had prompted the servant to answer as Li Ao expected—first tower's second floor is free, she said. He paid the servant a single spirit stone.

So without meeting the gazes of any curious onlookers across the luxurious floor Li Ao climbed up the stairs to the second floor. Inside was a large space full of racks of wooden equipment, woven dolls and training dummies, and several, raised sub-arenas for spars. Only five disciples seemed to be there, for most of them were on the lower floor eating food and drinking wine.

Li Ao quickly ascertained the others' cultivation—one was 5th level Qi Condensation, and the rest all below.

Taking out one of the wooden blades, then reviewing his Scarlet Path martial art, Li Ao started practicing his moves.

Li Noble Clan had always been a Fire-based cultivation clan. From their establishment a thousand and two hundred years ago, in the Liberation War, Li family's ancestor had acquired the breath of a dragon king as spoils. Most of their cultivation techniques were derived from this breath, then further improved by the following generations.

Yet, they almost always relied on swords and sabers to perfect these techniques. In that sense, Li Ao was an oddity, picking lance and spear over blades. Since it had been a long time from his last practice, he might as well just practice with swords and blades from the beginning.

His amateurish, almost horrible to look at moves gathered the attention of the other disciples. But Li Ao made sure to put on a stoic expression on his face that gave no quarters to anyone intending to approach him.

Spending several hours, with no visible improvement on his skill, Li Ao stopped his training and sat down to circulate his Qi. Instead of using any cultivation arts, lest he exposed himself, he only used basic breaths to gather Qi and rest.

Seeing him lay down, a face Li Ao had never seen approached him from the stairs. They were a group of men and women, almost all of them below eighteen years of age, and from their attitudes were a group for a long time.

''Xu Liao? Weren't you going to rest?''

The man on the lead spoke to him. He seemed rather ferocious, but the smile on his face was nothing but it. He seemed like a neighbourhood elder brother.

Squeezing his throat, Li Ao nodded.

Seeing him neither standing up nor greeting them, the fellows seemed to be confused. Still, none said anything.

The man at the front nodded, then looked around.

''Where is junior Sister Yue?''

Now there was a weird look crossing Li Ao's face and it did not escape the attention of the leading man.

''Anything wrong?''

''No.'' Li Ao composed himself.

''You know where she is?''

Li Ao thought for a moment. Then decided on the most retarded way to throw them off.

Squeezing his throat, making himself sound a little hoarse, he replied. ''She is sleeping in my room.''

''Huh?''

A collective blush spread across the group, then a giggle, and a uproar mixed with laughter. Li Ao couldn't hold his cool, so he shot to his feet and put up a fair distance between him and them.

''Look! You were just saying he wasn't a man enough! Haha!''

''That is how a man should be, bold and honest!''

Ignoring all the remarks, Li Ao picked another dummy, but stopped himself at the last second.

Other disciples aside, these people seemed to know him on a very personal level. So he could not expose himself by his lack of experience in swords. He didn't know what this fellow Xu Liao was proficient in, after all.

But since he had walked away, he had to practice something. It would be too embarrassing to walk back...

''Who says I've got no skin? I have the thickest skin of all time.''

Li Ao straight walked down the stairs, hurriedly passed by the group who seemed dumbfounded, then left the tower. He saw that the air was now clear; an aquamarine blue sky stretched out towards the horizon, dotted by wisps of white clouds. Taking in a deep breath, he walked forward to stand at a secluded spot near the bow of the ship.

He saw no land on horizon. On all sides of the ship extended a great body of water, and apart from them there seemed to be no vessel going in. The world itself was still, and the waves calm.

Listening to the splashes of the sea's push against the ship, Li Ao closed his eyes. There, with one hand under his chin and another arm on the railing, he rested.