Pearyin fought against two Bone Forging realm artists while I used the distraction to slip into the apothecary. She was losing, but the sheer superiority of her martial cultivation meant that it was happening slowly.

The two that were attacking her were far more experienced in her, taking turns distracting her while the other attacked, keeping her confused and reactionary. To her credit, Forest Dance was significantly lacking in terms of deadly blows, and she lacked the determination to use the few killing moves I taught her.

I didn't blame her for that. I was certainly as squeamish about killing someone.

The aim of not intervening in the fight immediately wasn't some kind of weird attempt to punish her. No, once I intervened, we either had to find a hiding spot for her in the capital, or leave with her. However, either way, the store needed to be abandoned.

As for city guards … well, they didn't react until now, making it clear that they had no intention of helping. Not surprising. They wouldn't have risked angering the army of the martial artists they had likely spent a fortune to hire.

I went through the store while keeping my presence hidden. I didn't do much. I just took the majority of the gold in the safe, and sabotaged the pills. Not enough to be poisonous, but enough to create some trouble. I made sure to make that sabotage noticeable in case they tried to sell them to an apothecary, but not to an ordinary user.

I expected them to use those pills themselves. Regressing their cultivation permanently was a punishment they deserved for attacking my store. I wanted to punish them, which was also the reason I left some of the money in the safe.

I didn't want them to realize I had the time to sabotage the place.

Pearyin was still fighting when I finished sabotaging the pills, so I also added a fire trap to the laboratory. It wouldn't kill anyone, but it would prevent the royal agents from sifting through the place for clues about my real identity.

No need to take any risk.

While I was going through all those preparations — which barely took two minutes — Pearyin was steadily losing ground, nearing defeat. Seeing that she was about to be defeated, I couldn't help but feel shocked at the coincidental nature of my arrival.

I couldn't help but question if it was actually a coincidence. Under different circumstances, I might have wondered if the scene was deliberate to trick me, but no one truly knew that I would be here. Aisnam was the only candidate who could set up something like that, and even that was a remote chance.

Writing it off as a coincidence was tempting, but it wasn't the first time things escalated around me through no involvement of my own. Instead, I was really starting to believe that there was something more to karma that everyone kept blabbing about.

Too bad that, even for Qi Gathering cultivators, it was a mystery, preventing me from exploring it. I stopped thinking about it, pulled a thick cloak around me, wrapped a shawl around my head to hide my face — I didn't have the time to put on makeup — and left the house.

A couple jumps later, I arrived at the location from the other side, and jumped right in the middle of the fight, too quick for the surrounding disciples to react. To their credit, Bone Forging martial artists reacted far more professionally. One of them attacked Pearyin to keep on the defensive while the other turned toward me in a defensive stance, wanting to delay me until the Skin Refinement fighters could join.

Too bad he was barely able to throw a punch before I grabbed his wrist and locked him. My cultivation might be two main martial realms lower than Pearyin, but the difference between our skill levels was even more stark. She was barely at Minor Familiarity, while I was at Minor Immersion.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

A difference of five stages. Hardly a trivial difference.

The Bone Forging instructor in my grip was quick to realize that difference as he felt my essence invading some of his most critical acupunctures and blocking his strength. "We are—"

That was all she was able to say as I forcibly fed him a pill while at the same time using my essence to force him to digest. It was faster to use my essence to break his cultivation, but it required more time than I had. The observers were already rushing toward us bravely … well, stupidly. I could have dealt with them easily if I didn't want to keep my capabilities as hidden as possible, even when I was under a false identity.

Instead, I shifted my attention to the second Bone Forging martial artist, and grabbed him before throwing him away in a modified judo move. It didn't harm him anyway, but it gave me enough time for me to walk next to Pearyin and whisper. "It's me. Play along and don't resist," I said.

"Master. I'm sure we have a misunderstanding," he started as he threw a fearful glance at his partner trying to stand up, but failing. "Why don't we try to solve it peacefully."

He wasn't very good at hiding his vindictive expression. His plan was even easier to deduce. He just wanted to delay me while Connate realm martial artists of their school joined the fray. Not that it mattered. Even without his dubious intentions, I had no reason to stick around.

"You're not worthy to talk to me, little cat," I answered, making sure to speak in the creaky tone of an expert while also insulting his school. "Just know that this is not the first time your pathetic school has angered me, but it will be the last. This time, you attacked my disciple."

"We —" he started, panicking at the declaration. However, before he could complete his sentence, I dropped a smoke pellet on the ground.

Forewarned, Pearyin didn't resist as I lifted her in a bridal hold. When I reached the edge of the smoke cloud, I dropped another pellet, then reversed the direction, using a back alley to escape. To their credit, the Tiger Fist disciples reacted quickly to block my path, but they had no idea just how fast I could move.

It allowed me to pick a truly absurd route of back alleys and ignored streets, and soon, we were at one of the city gates. I had already got rid of my cloak, and Pearyin was wearing a new cloak that I bought from a stall. We walked out, ignoring the alarm bells. Once we left the city, I looked back. At a distance, I could see the gate that was closest to our initial location closing down.

Without my speed, I would have been in big trouble.

We walked slowly. As much as I wanted to run, there were too many people around, and a man running too fast even for a Connate Martial artist while carrying someone else was rather distinctive. I could still run away, but I didn't want to reveal my speed to them.

I wanted them to believe that we were still in the city. That way, they would spend quite a bit of effort searching the capital. Wasting my enemies' time was always useful. Also, it gave me the option to attack them once I returned to the capital.

"Are you feeling alright?" I asked.

It was a perfunctory question. With my medical skills, a touch was enough for me to diagnose her properly. She was exhausted, and had several terrible bruises, and some internal bleeding, but the difference in cultivation between her and her opponents meant there was nothing that wouldn't cure a couple days of bed rest.

"Yes, sir. I'm alright," she whispered obediently, but I could feel that she was dejected.

"You sound sad. Is it the pain?" I asked.

That turned out to be the wrong question, as she started crying. A little drop at first, but it soon turned into a flood she was unable to stop.

I gently grabbed her chin and lifted her face. At the same time, I pulled a pill that would help her recover. "Open your mouth,, beautiful. Let's make sure you don't have to deal with the pain," I offered.

She started crying even more, which implied that it wasn't the pain that drove her. Truly, I haven't saw anyone crying that way since I broke up with —

It clicked. "Tell me what's wrong," I ordered with a sharp tone.

"P-please don't send me away, sir. I promise I will do better. I won't lose again."

I hugged her gently, chuckling at her reaction. "Don't worry. I'm not going to send you away just because you weren't able to take down two martial artists with decades of training," I said as I patted her back.

"Really?" she asked.

"Yes," I said as I raised the pill. "Now, take this. We have a long journey in front of us," I said. While I still needed to discuss with her what she wanted to do, and whether she still wanted to follow me, it was a discussion that was best had once she was calmer.

Once I fed her the pill, I added some of my essence to quicken the process. At the same time, it was a good time to assess her cultivation, to see how she developed in my absence. So, I delved deeper than usual.

And, found something I wasn't expecting.

An Immortal Root.