2nd chapter of next week Chapter 23 – How stupid do you think I am?

“Notify the inner court elders! We are unable to determine the origin of the strange soul force.” An outer court elder of the Golden Crow Sacred Ground instructed his disciple.

Like many other sects, the Golden Crow Sacred Ground was divided its disciples into 3 courts. The outer court, inner court and core with the core disciples being the strongest and gaining the most resources while also being few in number. The outer court disciples on the other hand would be plentiful in number but considerably less benefits. The outer court made up the majority of each sect. The Golden Crow sacred ground had nearly ten thousand outer court disciples, however this did not represent their power, for their cultivation was also weaker than that of the core disciples. It would not be a far fetch to say that each core disciple had the power to kill a few hundred outer sect disciples. Thus they still held onto quite a bit of power despite being few in number.

However more power meant more responsibility, as it was the core and inner court disciples who would be responsible for handling the more difficult tasks. In this case where a strange soul force was identified, the first people who would try to solve the issue would be the elders who were a part of the outer court. These elders were usually people who were once a part of the inner court but failed to pass the examination to become a core disciple. Thus they went back to the outer court and served the sect as elders.

The same went for the inner court elders who had just been notified. They were former core disciples who were unable to pass the exam to become a core elder when they reached the age of 100, thus they were sent to become elders in the inner court. In general, the outer court elders’ strength would range between the Spirit Aura and Spirit Source realm, which was the 5th realm of cultivation while the inner court elders could be at the Spirit Soul realm which was the 7th realm of cultivation. So alerting the inner court elders was a very tedious thing and clearly represented how strong the nameless soul force was.

However even the inner court elders who arrived became no less troubled than the outer court elders who were examining the soul force beforehand…

“Should we call the core elders?” One inner court elder asked.

“No!” another elder replied. This man was the strongest inner court elder who had arrived at the scene. “This soul force doesn’t seem to be attempting to wreak havoc. Instead it seems to be drawn to something”.

“Drawn to something?” the first elder asked in confusion.

“Yes, it seems like the person who is emitting this soul force is not doing so intentionally. No fool has so much soul force to squander, not even an Ancestor ranked alchemist!”

“It would be best to simply wait and observe what it does instead of hastily acting for no reason.”

Meanwhile, the golden crow chick had already happily scampered through the magma veins and was rapidly approaching the residence of Yan Qiu…

…

Qian Mu had just finished dressing when she sensed her soul force stop running through her hands. At first, she hadn’t noticed it, but it slowly became clear that nothing was pulling her soul force out of her body anymore.

Delighted and confused she slowly snuck out of the medical wing. It was difficult for her to hide her tracks, as she wasn’t proficient at sneaking around, however she understood the basics of not moving when people were passing by and hiding in the shadows. So she followed this logic and hid behind pillars when the guards would stroll about.

From one pillar to the next, she seemed to be a cricket which was darting about. With her malnourished physique, this was evidently apparent.

However this sneaking business bought her into her next dilemma. She didn’t know the way out! Trying her best to remain calm she would sneak down corridor after corridor, searching for exits. However even after half an hour of searching she seemed to be trapped in the endless maze like castle.

Scree!

Just when she was about to turn into her next corridor she heard a scratching noise coming from a closet. Instinctually she hid behind the pillar she was in. After waiting for a long moment she turned her head to look in the direction the noise had come from, only to discover that the closet was gone!

The entire thing had been turned to ash, and in its place was a small little bird that was waddling its way out of the charcoal. The little chick cocked its head to the side as it quietly observed her, causing Qian Mu to furrow her brows. However the next moment, the little chick began hopping in her direction.

Now, she finally panicked. This was definitely not a normal bird, considering the fact that this golden chick came out a closet that had been turned into charcoal. If she guessed correctly, this cute looking animal was the cause of the closet being burned down without even a flash of light! How terrifying was that?!?! Was this little thing planning to burn her down to?

When humans become afraid, especially the humans who have been spoiled for most of their lives and not gone through much danger they tend to panic the moment they are alone with something they find frightening. Thus, without a care for blowing her cover Qian Mu dashed out from behind the pillar and madly rushed towards the end of the hallway praying in her heart for there to be an exit here.

However the little chick was intent on not letting her escape. The faster she ran, the faster the little chick hopped. To an observer, this would be quite a comical scene of a young girl being chased by a chick not even 3 inches tall. But to the girl who was being chased, this was definitely not something to laugh at.

At long last, the corridors which seemed to never end showed a door. And from the window next to the door she could faintly see the outline of a forest.

I’m free!

Qian Mu thought internally and rushed madly ahead. However, for some odd reason the chick caught fire. The moment the golden little thing burst into flames the entire corridor was lit up in warm golden light.

Damn it! Why did the little bastard have to light up now of all times!

Qian Mu cursed. That sudden radiance probably alerted every guard in the mansion! So it was no surprise when a voice called out

“Stop right there!” behind her. She did not even spare it a glance and chose to increase her speed.

BOOM!

The floor cracked, sending Qian Mu flying to the side. However as she looked up to see what had happened she was shocked to discover a bloody figure standing tall with a blade in one hand, and a round ball like thing tied with string in the other.

In front of him was a headless corpse of someone wearing the guard uniform? Wait… Headless?!?!

Qian Mu suddenly felt the urge to throw up. The ball like thing… in his hand… was a human head! When she looked closer she could easily see the terror in his eyes, along with an unwillingness to die. Yet his life was extinguished before he could even scream. The little string like thing she had seen earlier was none other than a single line of blood streaming out from under the head.

The bloody figure did not seem to care the least bit about the persons whose head was in his hands. He only slowly turned to look at Qian Mu. His desolate eyes were glazed over and showed no evil, however they also showed no good. Instead, their blankness gave the impression that their owner was soul less.

With a muffled bang, the head in the bloody figures hand dropped to the ground and with short, simple steps he began to move in Qian Mu’s direction. Qian Mu cowered and tried to pick herself up, as if she thought running towards the door could let her escape this calamity.

It was too bad she was pitifully wrong. Seeing the girl foolishly attempt to escape he chortled to himself. In the hand which previously held the human head a small dagger appeared, and with a flick of his wrist it embedded itself between Qian Mu’s toes in her shoe, nailing her to the ground.

With the sudden resistance she easily tripped, however the daggers handle was impaled in her shoe and refused to budge so she ended up with a cut between her toes.

“Humans truly are foolish,” the bloody figure sighed. “Girl, please tell me you don’t honestly believe I care enough to kill someone before they even awaken? Honestly, I am not that heartless”.

When Qian Mu heard this she was first shocked, but that shock quickly gave rise to anger. “Just how stupid do you think I am?”

Hearing her say this the assassin was both shocked and confused. Why would an esteemed assassin like me possibly want to kill a brat like you? Besides, I can clearly tell you are escaping from here so I was going to ask you for directions…

“I know I am not your target, but how foolish must an assassin be to leave behind a living witness. The fact that you’re here is obviously because you were sent to assassinate someone important, and whoever wants them dead definitely doesn’t want to be traced! For that simple fact you would definitely eliminate me!” Qian Mu's voice portrayed her strong belief in this logic.