Yù Quán walked out in his Mùlián disguise to see the young girl Su Chunhua had brought with her.
“GreetingsgreatMùliánit’sanhonortomeetyou!” the girl screamed without breaks or breaths as she shot into a deep bow.
Su Chunhua grimaced, and Yù Quán could barely hold his laughter. It seemed like Su Chunhua had prepared the girl a bit too much.
When Yù Quán knew he could speak without laughing, he repeated the customary phrase. “Rise.”
Before she could embarrass them anymore, Su Chunhua decided to speak for her. “Great Mùlián, this is Qin Daiyu, an initiate.”
“I see. And how can little Qin Daiyu help us achieve our goal?” Yù Quán said, trying to talk a bit aloofly and mysteriously to keep up the act.
“She claims to be the illegitimate child of an inn disciple of a certain force. She doesn’t know the name, but she knows he could only join if he followed the dao of life, which is known for it’s healing capabilities.”
Yù Quán’s heavy hoody covered his look of shock. It was a world of cultivation, so he expected the existence of the dao, but he didn’t expect to run into it so soon. Dao was used as a plot device for many of the stories, so sometimes they differed, so he didn’t yet know what they would be like in this world. One thing that never changed about dao is that it decided the trajectory of your cultivation. It was a really important decision. He hadn’t even thought of what dao he should take yet. Luckily enough, he knew it wasn’t even mentioned in the Body Tempering realm, so he had plenty of time.
“Have you confirmed her claims?”
Su Chunhua nodded. “From what we can tell, there are several witness accounts of a cultivator meeting with Qin Daiyu’s mother on multiple occasions. I see no reason to doubt them any further.”
Yù Quán turned to Qin Daiyu, who wore a nervous and anxious expression. “Qin Daiyu. Do you have a way to contact your father?”
Qin Daiyu didn’t speak but nodded furiously.
Su Chunhua spoke up. “We have two options, we can either have her try to ask for the techniques or we can blackmail him. It seems he has gone through some trouble to hide Qin Daiyu’s existence.”
“Hmm… how well do you know your father, Qin Daiyu?”
Qin Daiyu’s shot nerves seemed to calm in an instant, her face quickly changing to that of sadness. She looked down at the ground as she spoke. “He hasn’t visited since I was very young.”
“Asking might not work then. Go ahead and prepare a blackmail mission. I want Qin Daiyu protected. I will go myself, but have Rèn Chāngmíng send a team to assist me.”
Su Chunhua bowed. “As you wish, Mùlián.”
…
Yù Quán was in the blue plains. The small area he would practice in while he was in town was the very edge of the blue plains on the border of them and the town. It wasn’t named after the way the plains looked, which were standard plains with hills covered in grass and occasional shrubbery. The blue plains got their name because they were the hunting grounds of blue wolves. Although blue wolves’ habitats were forests, that didn’t stop them from roaming to find food. There was a constant flow of wolves making their way into the blue plains from the dragonwood forests that surrounded them.
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Qin Daiyu sat waiting on a hill while Yù Quán and a team from the School of Combat lay in wait in the valley of two hills. Rèn Chāngmíng had sent a decent team over, Red Team of the Lotus Shelf. They all greeted Yù Quán vehemently earlier, excited to be on a mission with Mùlián himself. Most of the fighting would be done by Red Team since Yù Quán would expose himself by fighting, but Yù Quán would assist using the eyes he grafted since they couldn’t be seen.
The plan was simple. Qin Daiyu contacted her father and said to meet her at a spot in the blue plains due to an emergency. When they met, she would then threaten to expose their relation if he didn’t give her the three best healing techniques he had. If anything went wrong, Yù Quán and Red Team would defend Qin Daiyu and attempt to defeat her father to take the techniques. If it came down to any cult disciples or the techniques, everyone was to abandon the mission and keep each other alive. Yù Quán stressed that their lives were of the highest priority.
After waiting for some time, which Yù Quán spent pretending to ignore the starry-eyed stares of the Red Team, the target arrived. A man of average height and build with similar features to Qin Daiyu, namely their light ash brown hair, appeared from behind a hill. Yù Quán had no suspicion for this; it was likely that either they got here early, just as they did, or the direction he came from just happened to have him going through a lot of valleys. When the man got close enough to Qin Daiyu to talk casually, he stopped.
Yù Quán couldn’t hear the conversation or see past the hills, but he did still have his qi vision. The last time it increased was when he got it up to 32 meters before the Blossom Tournament finals. With them only being about 15 meters away from Qin Daiyu and her father, he was doing fine. However, he was sure if he was in the Foundation Laying realm or if he brought someone who was, they would be spotted. He couldn’t make our shapes or figures too well, so he couldn’t tell what was being said, but he could see their bodies swaying and their arms moving, so they were obviously talking. Yù Quán continued to monitor everything; he didn’t want to lose any followers of his. As he was watching, he saw something move on the edge of his qi vision’s radius.
“Red Team, I sensed something behind the hill that man came from.”
The disciples from the team immediately focused. Yù Quán was surprised; it seemed like Rèn Chāngmíng was doing a great job of selecting and training disciples. The mission leader, who stood in for a scholar since they only had disciples at the time, quietly called for the attention of all members.
“You, you, and you will all follow me around the perimeter. We’ll quietly make our way to them, maintaining a 15-meter distance until we’re behind them, then we’ll close in on my command. The rest of you will continue waiting here in case the target attempts anything.”
“Mm!” the disciples quietly grunted in agreement.
The mission leader then turned to Yù Quán and bowed. “Great Mùlián, may I ask what you intend on doing so I may account for that in my plan?”
Yù Quán was impressed once again. Many disciples might ask him for orders in fear of stepping on his toes, but this one came up with a plan, gave orders quickly and efficiently, and then asked if there were any changes that needed to be made. It wasn’t much, but it helped make things run smoothly. And it showed leadership while still giving heed to those above him, a difficult thing to do in the same moment. Many would just choose one or the other.
“What is your name, disciple?” Yù Quán asked in his signature Mùlián voice.
Although put on the spot, the disciple remained calm without so much as a flinch. “Xu Yaozu, my lord.”
Yù Quán liked this reaction. He saw promise in Xu Yaozu. He decided he would make sure to mention it to Rèn Chāngmíng.
“Good. Your plan is praiseworthy. I will remain here, as the ones left behind will be unable to see without exposing themselves if I were to go. But, I can assist your group from here. There’s no need to worry.”
Xu Yaozu nodded with a slight smile. It seemed this worked well with what he had hoped. Hearing Yù Quán’s intention, Xu Yaozu gave the word to the rest of Red Team, and they all moved into position. Before they could leave, Yù Quán made sure to give the order to incapacitate. He didn’t want to deal with covering up deaths just yet. Yù Quán began watching closely. Although this was a serious moment, he couldn’t help but feel his heart flutter a bit. What an exciting new life he had been brought into!
…
Yù Quán
Realm: Body Tempering Realm
Stage: 3rd Level Skin Tempering
Main Cultivation Art: [Stolen-eyed Mùmùlián Body](Level 3)
Strength: 1050 Catties
Qi: 2400/2400 wisps
Mùmùlián Core: 22/100
Strange Fire: (Level 2)Murderous Flame(x1)
Techniques:
[Mùmùlián Eye Stealing](Level 3)
[Mùmùlián Eye Refining](Level 3)
[Murder Mantra](Level 3)
[Yellow Qilin Dance](Level 3)
[Qi Compression](Level 3)
Attributes:
[Strange Fire: Murderous Flame]
[Starfire Eyes](Level 1)
[Sightburn](Level 1)
[Top-Quality Maned Hog Ferocity Eyes](Level 1)
[Low-Quality Winged Watcher Awareness Eyes](Level 1)
[Low-Quality False Dragon Pride Eyes](Level 1)
[Low-Quality Death-Dealing Dama Killing Eyes](Level 1)(x2)