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64. Out on Town
🕑 Added 2021-11-29 01:33:33 +0000 UTCLively, the town bustled around them. Li Xiang skipped ahead, hands behind her back, a smile on her face. Bai Xue, draped in a white overcoat, followed after, and Hui took the rear.
“Is it okay to go out without your entourage, Young Master?” Hui teased Xue.
“I’m not Young Master right now. I’m just an ordinary, mysterious cultivator,” Xue replied.
“You’re… in disguise?” Hui guessed, eyeing the overcoat. Er, elder sister, maybe do something about your white hair and red eyes first?
Bai Xue smiled.
“Young Master!” A passing disciple in black and white bowed hurriedly to them, almost dropping his bag of precious herbs.
Hui turned his head aside and snorted.
“Oh, shut up,” Bai Xue grumbled, smacking Hui. “Glad you’re back to normal, anyways. What was that all about, this morning?”
“I give you two my blessings!” the disciple shouted after them.
Xue frowned over her shoulder, brows furrowing.
Hui drooped. “Ugh. Don’t remind me.”
A flash of motion caught the corner of his eye and he turned around. The jade pulsed faintly.
Wait, what was that? Hui spun, searching the streets and the sky.
All around him, cultivators pushed past. Overhead, experts flew by on weapons and shuttles, lofty, hands clasped behind their backs.
He touched the jade again and tried moving a step in each direction, but it didn’t react again. Hui gritted his teeth. Argh, if only it wasn’t so crowded!
“What?” Xue asked.
“I… I thought I sensed something,” Hui said, looking around.
“Sensed what?” Li Xiang asked, skipping back to their side.
“The jade… whoever sent the letter passed by, just now,” Hui said.
Li Xiang smiled. She looped an arm around Hui’s waist and drew her sword. “Let’s go after them!”
“Li Xiang, wait—” Hui protested.
“Wait, I want to come!” Xue called.
Before Xue could reach them, Li Xiang leaped into the air, tossing her sword under her feet at the same time. Her sword swooped up, and Li Xiang rode it high into the air, dragging Hui along with her.
They streaked into the air. The sky and city blurred by. Hui caught a glimpse of another cultivator’s shocked face, and then they passed through into the open sky.
Their acceleration slowed. Hui floated, weightless, in Li Xiang’s grasp. Her feet barely pressed against the sword, body hovering alongside his.
“Er, Li Xiang, have you… mastered swordflight yet?” Hui queried.
“Master says I’m much further along than any other third-stage cultivator he’s ever seen,” she replied cheerily.
“R… right,” Hui said.
They plunged. Hui gripped tight to Li Xiang’s arm. The streets rushed up to greet them. The sword began to fall away from Li Xiang, no longer keeping her aloft.
“Li Xiang!” Hui shouted. We aren’t in the sect, where most of the peaks have plenty of wild lands and empty spaces! If she drops her sword here, it won’t end well!
“Don’t worry! I’ve got it!” Li Xiang declared confidently.
Oh? Has she learned a new nuance of sword-riding technique? Time to mooch some insights! Curious, Hui peered down.
Li Xiang reached out with her feet. Looping one ankle below her sword’s crossguard, she pressed the other foot atop the guard and pinched the sword between the bottom of one foot and the top of the other.
Does… does that count as a technique? Hui wondered.
“Which way, Hui?” Li Xiang asked.
“N-now?” Hui asked.
Rooftops flashed by. “We’ll hit the ground soon! Hurry!”
He put a hand on the jade. It isn’t giving me any signal yet. I guess any way we go works. “Left, go left.”
“Alright!” She focused, frowning. The sword leaped up and to the left, and atop it, they surged into the sky again.
Hui pressed a hand to his mouth. Ugh, I’m going to get motionsick!
Past the other cultivators again. They floated high in the sky. Down below, the golden tiger roared at the sky. Small as mice, the other cultivators moved through the city below. Robes and parasols swirled through the streets.
“Anything?” Li Xiang asked.
“Er… no, try right,” Hui said.
Li Xiang nodded. She adjusted the sword under her feet, pointing the blade at the ground again.
Black and white caught his eye. Tucked away in a back alley, a small group of Bai clan cultivators offered something to black-robed cultivators.
“Wait, wait! Can you hover?” Hui asked, patting Li Xiang’s arm.
“Hover?” Li Xiang asked. They began to fall, descending toward the earth once more.
“No, wait, never mind. Land, land,” Hui urged her. We’ll be way too obvious if we leap around riding the sword like the world’s most magical pogo stick. I don’t know what those cultivators are up to, but it’s probably not something they want Young Master to know about!
As they descended toward the ground, the jade buzzed again. Hui whipped around. A flash of black in the corner of his eye darted toward the dark alley, and the buzzing faded.
Are you leading us there? Alright, fine! I’ll take the bait! You called us here, so I’ll go see what you want me to see!
But you know, Mr. Mysterious Blur, it’d be much easier if you stood still and let us talk to you!
Li Xiang dropped into a crowded street. She tipped the sword, adjusting her aim for a miniscule gap in the crowd.
“Watch out!” Hui shouted.
“It’s alright, I can aim now,” Li Xiang assured him.
Beneath them, cultivators darted out of the way. Li Xiang plummeted to earth and hopped off her sword. Finally freed from her grasp, Hui staggered a few feet away from her and bent over to catch his breath.
Bai Xue rushed over a few seconds later, overcoat flying, feet shuffling at lightning speed. “Not fair, not fair. I can’t ride my sword in this form, so it’s not fair if you do!”
“There’s some members of your clan up to something fishy a block or two over. Should we take a look?” Hui suggested.
“Oh? Indeed,” Xue replied. She brushed imaginary dust off her overcoat and straightened up. “Imagine their shock when an ordinary passing cultivator turns out to be their Young Master!”
“Imagine,” Hui agreed. Straightening, he swallowed one last time and led the way through the streets.
Twisting left and right, he retraced the shape of the streets in his mind, back to where he’d seen the Bai clan members.
“Hui, wait, wait,” Xue called, staring over her shoulder.
“Huh?” he asked, pausing.
She nodded. In the distance, Li Xiang knelt and offered a toy back to a young child. The child beamed, and she patted his head.
Hui waited, impatient. They’re going to get away if we don’t hurry!
Li Xiang stood and jogged over. She smiled at them. “Thanks for waiting!”
His impatience melted at her smile. We’ve got Mr. Mysterious Blur. If he wants us to see it so bad, he’ll keep guiding us. “It’s fine.”
Another two turns, and they reached the dark alley where he’d seen the gathering. As he’d suspected, the alley stood empty, the cultivators long since vanished. Hui crouched to inspect the ground. Maybe they left a hint behind.
“Huh? If you’ve gotta take a crap, there’s no need to drag us along,” Xue said.
Hui glared at her. “I saw Bai clan cultivators back here with what looked like a demonic cultivator. I want to see if I can figure out what they were up to.”
“Oh. Well, isn’t that interesting. Bai clan cultivators and demonic cultivators? Since when has my Bai clan stooped so low?” Xue knelt daintily, peering at the ground.
Li Xiang crouched as well. “What are we looking for?”
“Anything suspicious,” Hui replied, stepping one foot forward at a time. It all looks like dirt to me. Maybe I was wrong, and Mr. Mysterious Blur wasn’t trying to show us anything, and it was just a couple of Bai clan members hanging out with their dark-robed friend.
“Suspicious… like this?” Li Xiang brushed a finger over the ground and held it up. A faint purple-black sheen coated the tip of her finger.
“Li Xiang!” Hui shouted, frightened.
“Whatever you do, don’t touch your face!” Bai Xue ordered.
“Huh?” Li Xiang frowned at them, confused.
