"I will do or become anything you want!" Ye Su dropped on the floor while kowtowing, as the information she provided was hardly over what Bai Qi already knew. Or at least she thought so, as, in truth, she had added a detail that Yuan Wuhan did not know. That detail was the exact location of the Sha Zhu company group.
The youth opposite her maintained his silence and looked like in deep thought, making Ye Su despair even more.
Panic fueling despair always led only to two things. Either one would go berserk and try to defy fate even if it would lead to the same result, death, or try to present what one could and what one could not offer.
For Ye Su, it led to the second, as any thoughts of defiance had disappeared since the moment she saw the Beastmen.
***
Bai Qi was in deep thought indeed, although not about the things that Ye Su believed him to be.
He was thinking about two separate matters, but both stemmed from the current situation.
The first one was Yuan Wuhan's death wish.
After all, if he did not want his life, then why not spend it for someone else? Not even Bai Qi, but maybe protecting the smaller communes of non-cultivators during the war or something.
In the end, Bai Qi decided that he had the chance to select his fate, and so, Yuan Wuhan's decision should not be something that he, Bai Qi, needs to dwell on.
The second thing he was thinking about was, in fact, in front of him at the moment, Fan Jia. And the previous curiosity was only spurred more now that Fan Jia did not try to plead, or even answer Bai Qi. Considering he should force at least some answer from Fan Jia before deciding anything else, Bai Qi emerged from his mind, only to find a Ye Su that was standing and looking into his eyes. *** "You, you said that I am pretty right?! I don't care in what condition if it's your woman, servant, or whatever else, but please spare me! I will do everything that you want to!" Noticing his eyes moved, Ye Su yelled with a crazed look and tore the cloak covering her. But when the scant attire was revealed, Ye Su did not stop, and her hands reached for the fittings of her robe. "You should stop." Bai Qi shook his head before adding, "If I planned to kill you, nothing you do would change it." "You!" Ye Su hysterically howled as she fell to the ground. "But I did not plan for that, so dress and don't disgrace yourself further." Bai Qi shook his head as his eyes looked to the side, away from the half-naked woman. As she started to try and mend her robe while shaking, Bai Qi turned his attention to Fan Jia, "You, are you not scared of death? You could not have known that the Beastmen or I would not kill you, could you?" "I... Thank you for allowing me to break through." Fan Jia began talking before stopping for a moment and then adding, "Kill me if you must." "I already said that I will not. Still, I did expect at least some kind of reaction." Bai Qi could not understand the cultivator in front and got more interested. "As I said, I do not plan to kill you. Swear an oath that you will not reveal anything that you heard, seen, or found out today, and leave." Bai Qi purged all unrelated thoughts from his mind and explained while turning around. Leaving his back open was, in truth, another test, but neither Fan Jia nor Ye Su tried to do anything, and so, Bai Qi confirmed his thought. ___________________________________________________________________ Oaths done, spoils recovered, and Yuan Wuhan's body burned to ashes and dispersed in the sands, Bai Qi and his group gathered to leave. "Our destination is close to a thousand and a half miles to the east. If we make haste, we should be able to get there by night." Bai Qi explained, before adding, "Then we all take a rest, and attack with the dawn if we do not sense anything over our capacity. If we do, then we return to the original orders Kass Shaa'r received, which are to contact Huo Laohu for him to dispatch someone to deal with these evildoers." Even if any one of the six Beastmen had questions, no one asked anything, and so, they departed. *** They traveled in silence, but a couple of hours later, the seven slowed down to speak about the two presences tailing them. "Should I deal with them? Scare them off and threaten to kill if they don't disappear?" Heise Zhao asked while turning his head to look back. "Maybe ask them why they are doing it first?" Zhua interjected almost instantly. "We can also ignore them and leave them behind." Kass Shaa'r shrugged while inwardly thinking, "Ignoring them sounds nice, but we can not leave them behind as they do know where are we going." Bai Rui reasoned as she brushed some sand from her cloak. "Haa..." Bai Qi exhaled before making his mind and motioning for everyone to continue moving as he stopped. "I will stay with you." Bai Ze decided and similarly stopped. *** Half an hour later, Bai Qi and Bai Ze reconnected with the rest. But as they were not alone, Ye Su and Fan Jia were now moving alongside them. "What happened?" Kass Shaa'r, who knew how Bai Qi usually acted, asked right away. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "No place to go and are unwelcome in the village now that they have no connection with someone stronger." Bai Ze answered while sharing a thought with her sister, {I fear that we may be getting another pair to look for, or at least to keep them away from Bai Qi.} {Huh? What do you mean?} Bai Rui's ears perked, showing that she wanted to hear more, and she asked in the same way. {She wants to say that the two new additions are females. And that either I will jump on them, or they will do so.} Bai Qi's thought entered their conversation, as he also shared, {Don't forget we three share a link. And feelings are shared as well, so you should know I am not interested in them.} In all honesty, Bai Qi had to admit that Ye Su wasn't bad-looking at all. Still, he had never been interested in going after every good-looking girl or woman he saw, and so, it was just an opinion. He did know from his senses that Fan Jia was a woman, or better said a girl, as she was hardly older than Bai Qi himself. Still, she had never revealed her face and spoke in a mixed manner, so he did not even think much of the fact. But during their brief explanation that they wanted to follow Bai Qi's group to leave the desert safely, Fan Jia did take her hood off. And by doing so revealed she was a girl and a beautiful one as well. Fan Jia's skin and hair showed a lack of care. Still, even it did not hide the whiteness of the former and the amber of the latter. Her eyes were also of an unusual, deep blue color, which completed the already exotic looks she had. In any case, Bai Qi had agreed with far different reasoning in mind. This reasoning was the same one he now shared with everyone, using qi transmission. And while most accepted it directly, Kass Shaa'r could only try and hide a laugh. Thankfully the chuckle was only noticed by Bai Qi, who wryly smiled back, as otherwise, the two [White Tiger] sisters would have eaten him alive. *** Twelve hours of running at full speed, with only a couple of slowdowns when the Beasts ate, and the group reached what was considered to be the end of the desert. Although it was already late night, it was hard to miss the abrupt change from sand to grass, even without any light. "Where?" Bai Qi turned towards Ye Su. "Fifty miles to the south, you will see the place where the river turns, and the Sha Zhu make their home in a small settlement there." She immediately answered, trying to show her usefulness. "A river, huh? Good. Everyone, let's move until we see it, and then we camp." Bai Qi gazed at everyone before starting to move. The [Demon's Mound] river took its start from a mound in the middle of the [Yellow Plains], the only plain area of the [Demon Worshippers] region. With no rare resources and an absolute lack of water beasts, the river flowed up until the boundary of the [Shengda Sha] desert. It then made a few turns but continued flowing along the border, ultimately depositing its waters into the [Craddle of Life], an enormous lake on the south edge of the desert. Near the place, it first reached the desert, and when the river stopped flowing to the west, changing courses to the south, a small settlement had occurred. Initially, a place where a few non-cultivators, or mortals, made their living by growing low-tier herbs and food, a decade ago, the settlement had been destroyed. No one knew the reason why the strongest bandit and slaver group of the desert decided to target the poor village, but it had happened, and now, it was not a settlement of farmers but the headquarters of the [Sha Zhu Company]. Leaving the beasts to set up camp, Bai Qi, with the help of the [Afterlife Beacon Flower] cloak of the Ke clan, concealed himself and slowly made his way to the Sha Zhu headquarters. {Even if you use your innate ability to conceal yourself, I still can sense your movements through the link, you know?} Bai Qi questioned Bai Rui, who had hidden and was following him indeed. {You may need help, and if not, then I merely went on a walk.} Bai Rui answered after a few moments, and while she spoke evenly, Bai Qi could swear she was itching for him to require help. {Don't attract trouble only to save me, alright?} He teased her and heard how she snorted in response. *** {Hmm, this is strange.} Bai Qi had taken a lot of precautions, but feeling no traps, alarms, or even guards, approached just a hundred feet from the wooden wall that surrounded the small village. {Mmm, no hunter would leave his tent unguarded.} Bai Rui agreed instantly. {I do sense presences inside, though. And judging from the characters on the gate to my left, the place is the right one as well.} Bai Qi had initially thought that Ye Su and Yuan Wuhan were mistaken, as lying would not serve them anything anyway. But the closed gates did show a crudely carved pair of characters, [SHA ZHU]. And judging from the lack of any fields and other work signs, the settlement was not a common one either. {What do we do?} Bai Rui asked. {Well, your ability is active for what, one hour at max? We have already over half an hour getting here, so I will go and take a closer look, alone.} {But!} {I will loudly shout for your help, specifically, and then you go and save me.} Bai Qi joked and activating what was his last concealment talisman approached the wall. *** Climbing over the ten-foot-tall palisade was no problem even for a non-cultivator. And for Bai Qi, it only took him an instant. From the top of it, he had examined the entire settlement and found that while the side from which he approached was in the dark, the opposite one and the center of the settlement were not. Light from orbs or runes was visible, and sounds of merriment came from there as well. Spreading his senses openly would attract unwanted attention, so Bai Qi required either to risk or find someone to talk with. Choosing the latter option, he concentrated on sensing nearby life signs and found dozens of them. He counted six in the nearest darkness shrouded house and a similar number in the next one and the next one. The question was answered by itself as Bai Qi managed to look at the person he followed, thanks to the latter igniting a torch. Commonly known as a Slave collar, it was usually an item that no powers would allow to be produced in their territories. Even the powers that accepted slavery, or used slaves, preferred to control them by imprints or fear, as the [Sealing Collar] turned any cultivator into a simple mortal. And who would need a slave with the needs of a mortal and no ability to do anything but basic chores? To avoid the slave from raising alarm Bai Qi prepared a weak sleeping spell. The collar sealed any qi, soul, and mind power, so there was no risk of failure or being noticed. *Thump* As the body fell, Bai Qi took a few moments to check that there was no one close and then rushed towards the unconscious slave. The torch fell from his hand and into a puddle of something, but Bai Qi did not need to examine the slave looks anyway. He slung the body over his shoulder and using the same way he entered, left the settlement. {I got us a source of information, but I need to confirm something. Let's move a few hundred feet away first.} Bai Qi informed Bai Rui, and after she answered, began moving. A [Sealing Collar] could also contain a tracing imprint, or an alarm one, and so, Bai Qi had to make sure there was none before bringing the unconscious slave to the rest of the group location. "Hmm, very crude work, and nothing else than sealing." Now that his senses could be used, Bai Qi quickly examined the collar without even lowering the man's body to the ground. "Should we return then?" Bai Rui's ability ran off, and she materialized next to Bai Qi. "Yes, let's go."