“Why the fuck am I doing this?” the youth questioned himself and peeked round a corner. A woman with makeup and modest clothing walked through the busy streets. She was the target of his commission.

The woman paid no attention to the happenings around her as she walked with a skip in her step. The youth silently walked through the streets and didn’t hesitate to mingle with the crowd to hide.

“Man, this feels a bit exciting not gonna lie. Is this the start of our new creed?” Jian Gong spoke in his mind eagerly.

“What sort of gibberish are you spouting now?”

“I really need to localize you…”

“I somehow don’t like the sound of that,” the youth replied back while keeping an eye on the woman. He had been following her for almost fifteen minutes.

“She’s a long way from home,” the youth remarked as he watched her walk into another block of the city. It was a residential area for the wealthy merchants and the nobles of the robe[1]. “She really must be going there to cuck her husband….” Without asking too many questions, the youth followed her close behind.

However, there was a problem. Being a residential area for the wealthy, the quality and quantity of guards had skyrocketed. He could see two Qi Refinement guards in front of each gate. Wanting to not alert the guards, he solely relied on his physical strength. Ever since he started cultivating, his physical strength would increase every time Qi would flow through his body.

So, he had just enough power to clumsily parkour from roof to roof. He was happy with the architectural trend of this era by placing slanted roofs on every house. That just means he has more than one way to hide from any prying eyes.

Cautiously evading the eyes of the residents and the guards, the youth followed the woman. The woman finally stopped in front of the gates to one of the bigger houses on the block. By that point, the youth had moved closer just to catch a particular name coming out of the woman’s mouth.

“…to Young Master Ji,” the name seemed like a magic spell as the guards immediately stepped aside and let her in.

“According to the report, hasn’t she come here before? Then the guards should know her, right?”

Jian Gong answered back, “Well, it’s most likely the guards this time are new and might not know that.”

“Plausible answer,” the youth nodded. The woman made her way inside the siheyuan and entered the main building. Like every other siheyuan of this time, the main building was built on the north of the estate and faced the south and the adjoining buildings faced east and west with beautiful pathways connecting them. Maids and other servants can be seen walking through them.

“Should I try to peek further?” he couldn’t see anything from the paper windows of the main building.

“I mean the commission did say to get full confirmation on what she’s doing. So, I think you should.”

“What?” the youth took out the request paper from his robes and read it again. After he was done, he shook his head, “No, it doesn’t.”

“Read between the lines, damn it! It specifically says to ‘find whoever she’s cheating with and rip his dick off.’ If that doesn’t mean to find out who it is then what does?”

“Honestly, I think the requester knows this city better than me. And seeing how this is a high-end block of the city, I don’t think I should offend whoever lives here for something completely unrelated to me.”

Jian Gong thought about it and agreed, “I guess that makes sense. Then all that remains is the report.”

“Yep,” the youth left the rooftop he was spying from and headed to the address written on the back of the commission paper. Once he was there, a storefront stood before him. The store looked relatively new and there was a decent number of people coming in empty-handed and out with their hands full of groceries.

The youth pushed open the door. Ding. The door hit a bell hung from the doorframe that alerted the shopkeeper of a new customer. The employees and some of the customers instinctively looked up to the source of the sound. The shopkeeper himself became wary seeing a masked man enter his store.

The youth entered and eyed the shopkeeper- he was wearing better clothes than the employees. The shopkeeper looked young and had a lean build, nothing like what he imagined. In front of everyone’s gaze, he slowly walked up to the wary shopkeeper.

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The shopkeeper tried to make a business-like smile, “W-Welcome, how may I-?”

The youth cut him off and held the commission paper in front of him, “I’m the mercenary handling your request to the guild.”

Instantly, the shopkeeper snatched the paper out of his hand and hissed in a low voice, “Not here! Wait inside!” He gestured to a room behind the room with his chin.

He shrugged and walked inside the room. Inside, there was a large chair at the back of the room and a line of chairs that faced each other with a carpet running down the middle to the head chair. The youth took one of the seats nearest to the head chair and waited. After five or so minutes, the shopkeeper entered the room, greeted him cordially, and sat on the head chair.

“Let’s get to business,” the youth went straight to the point.

The shopkeeper's face was adorned with a serious expression as he nodded. The youth reported, “Your wife went to the wealthy block of the city. And inside some Young Master Ji’s house.” As soon as he uttered that name, the shopkeeper paled. He quickly grabbed a string of silver taels from his robes and threw it at the youth.

Bewildered, the youth barely caught the silver taels. The shopkeeper stood up and said, “Your request is complete, I’ll send someone to the guild to confirm it. Please leave, goodbye!”

The youth looked at the shopkeeper with the taels in hand. With his emotions blocked by the mask, he replied, “…sure.” He stood up and left the room, leaving the shopkeeper behind.

Out of the store, he looked back at the store briefly before walking back to the Mercenary Guild. On his way, he counted the silver taels he got for the commission. 50 silver taels. Double than the written amount.

“The extra 25 is for me to keep my mouth shut, huh?” The youth pocketed the money. Extra money was always welcome.

Walking through the busy street, he once again went into the guild. Once inside, he headed straight to the bulletin board. A crowd of mercenaries herded around the Yellow Bulletin Board and it became less and less for the higher ranks. The youth pushed some people out of the way and squeezed in.

In the midst of all the chaos, he could just barely grab a commission paper from the board. He left the crowd and panted hard. “I think someone elbowed me in the ribs there….” He held his aching ribs and looked at the crumpled paper in his hand.

“Request Type: Extermination.

Requester: Earthly Aroma Herbal Store

Briefing: A crash of Mono-eyed Rhinoceros has been spotted near the city in the forest, making it impossible for gatherers to go in and get herbs. Need a Yellow-ranked mercenary to kill the Deviant Beasts. All the Beasts spotted have been reported to be in Qi Refinement Realm.

Reward: 50 Silver Taels”

“Oh, for fucks’ sake!” he quietly cursed under his breath. He looked back at the Yellow bulletin board- the crowd didn’t lessen but the number of commissions sure did.

The youth sighed and looked at the quest paper again. “Earthly Aroma Herbal Store, eh? Guess it’ll work with some shopping.” Having made up his mind, he got the commission stamped from the receptionist and made his way to the herbal store.

The store was quaint and felt more like a home than anything. It had a large yard in the back for farming. The youth entered the store only to find an elderly couple inside. The elderly woman watered the herbs that were displayed in rows while the man tended the reception. The creaking of the door alerted the two to his presence. As the couple strained their eyes to see them better, he approached the elderly man.

“Sir, I’m here about your request to the Guild,” he took out the commission paper and placed it on the counter.

The old woman got up and slowly walked near her husband. They took a glance at the paper before staring at him.

The old man spoke after a long time, “…this is indeed our commission. However-” he stared into the youth’s eyes, the only part of his face not covered by his mask, “-are you the one taking it?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Lad, how old are you?”

“I don’t see how this relates to the matter at hand.” Despite his thoughts, he replied honestly, “Fifteen or sixteen this year.”

“They let young lads like you become mercenaries these days?” the old man looked disgusted while his wife just looked worried.

“Uh, yes. Everyone has to live and to do that, you need money.”

“Money? Where are your parents, boy?”

The youth didn’t know where they were but he said, “They’re dead.”

“How awful!” The elderly woman gasped.

The youth stayed silent since he didn’t know what to say here. The old man spoke again, “I’ll give you the money, no need to do the quest.”

“Sir, with all due respect, I will not take charity. And besides, it’ll be a serious hit for my credibility as a mercenary if I took this.”

“But…-” the old man looked conflicted while his wife went out the back door, “-a lad like you shouldn’t be doing something as dangerous as this.”

“Sir, I’m a cultivator. I assure you, it’ll be fine.” The youth then took out a list from his robes, “Actually, if you were to sell me some of these herbs, I’ll have a higher chance of coming out of there alive.”

The old man picked up the list with his wrinkled hands and pressed it close to his face. The elderly woman had come back now with a steamed bun in hand and gave it to the youth. She smiled and gestured for him to eat.

The youth looked at the bun and then at her. He nodded slowly and took his mask off. He took a bite out of the bun and looked at the filling inside. “It’s good!” It was filled with shredded pieces of chicken, some chili, and an orange sauce.

“My, what a handsome young man you are!” The elderly woman remarked. “Then have you come from outside of the city? Otherwise, I don’t remember someone’s grandson being this handsome.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ve just come here yesterday.”

“And you’ve already become a mercenary?” she raised an eyebrow.

The youth nodded, “Finances have been a bit tough. I just needed money to be able to afford a place to eat and sleep.”

“Where do you sleep?”

“I slept at an inn last night.”

The elderly woman was going to ask another question but her husband knocked on the wooden counter to get their attention. Both of them looked at the old man and the old man looked at the youth dead in the eye and asked, “Boy, what are you going to do with this?”

The youth’s lips pressed in a thin smile, “Hunt. What else?”