Chapter Thirteen

-Xiao Lan-

The guy with the squinty eyes is very strong, extremely strong. I knew that when I met him last time.

"Even you can't beat him?" Shaohan asked.

I nodded: "Yes, I'm only at the peak of the Golden Core stage right now. I estimate I'll need to reach the mid-to-late Nascent Soul stage before I can beat him."

Shaohan typed six dots speechlessly: "Then we're doomed."

Let me briefly describe our current situation. As you all know from Shaohan's diary entries, because of her stubbornness, obstinacy, and self-will, we successfully entered the so-called Panxing Cult, and coincidentally bumped into the squinty-eyed guy in the corridor. As for Old Man Deng, we didn't even see a trace of him.

For some reason, the squinty-eyed guy seemed to harbor a great deal of hostility towards Maki, and it even appeared that Shaohan and I were affected. He had someone lead Shaohan, Maki, and me into a room, politely inviting us to rest there for a while. But even I could tell—his real intention wasn't what he seemed; he most likely wanted to…invite us to have dinner there!

I told Shaohan my guess. Shaohan was drinking water at the time, and upon hearing this, she immediately spat out a mouthful of water, completely losing control of her facial expression.

"This is clearly putting us under house arrest!" Shaohan exclaimed, revealing her shark-like expression. "Are you kidding me?!"

"Oh? So it's house arrest?" I said with an "I see" expression. "Is that so?"

Shaohan was exasperated: "What is this if not house arrest? Our storage bags have all been taken away! Aren't you supposed to be intuitive? What happened to your proud superhuman sensitivity to malice?!"

"Having known you for so long, I don't believe you can't sense the intense malice emanating from him."

“To call it malice is not so bad,” I said. “Malice only accounts for a small part of him. What you feel more is a deep weariness and an inexplicable, inexplicable aversion to something.”

"We still need to get out of here first." Shaohan sighed. "Zhenxi, is your elbow alright?"

Maki was sitting in a chair, her hands clasped together, seemingly lost in thought. "I'm fine." Hearing Shaohan call her, she slowly raised her head to meet Shaohan's gaze, stretching her elbows. "There's nothing seriously wrong."

"Very good, all three of us are currently safe and sound." At this critical moment, Shaohan shouldered the heavy responsibility. "Now there are three problems. First, my and Xiao Lan's storage bags have been taken away, Xiao Lan's sword and Zhenxi's spear are also gone, and by the way, my talisman is not on me either. There are guards at the door, and we are also under house arrest in separate rooms with Yigugou Juanpanda... What should we say?"

I raised my hand: "I can recall Instantaneous at any time."

Maki said nonchalantly, "As long as I meet up with Panda, he still has one of my long swords."

Shaohan gave an "OK" sign: "Very good. Faced with a powerful enemy, we must make some choices. We'll leave Xiao Lan's and my storage bags, as well as your spear, Zhenxi, for now. We'll have Gojou Satoru ask the Monkey King to get them back for us later. Now, the second question: where are Dog-Roll Thorn, Panda, and Etobon?"

...That's a good question.

While I was still racking my brains, Maki spoke up: "We can 'ask' the two people at the door where Inu-maki is."

Shaohan slapped her thigh: "Great idea! Let's use it!"

"Then there's still the most serious problem left." Shaohan's face darkened as she looked seriously at Zhenxi and me. "What if we encounter the Monkey King again?"

"..."

“…”

They looked at each other in silence.

"...There shouldn't be any major problems, right?" I said cautiously. "The six of us combined can't beat him, but escaping should be easy—using your Shrinking Earth Formation, Shaohan."

Shaohan: "Then you have to buy me some time."

I assured her, "No problem."

-

Shaohan gestured to me and Zhenxi: "Then I'll open the door."

"Open it, open it." Maki hid behind the left door—"Stop dawdling."

Okay, okay. I stood at the door on the right, giving Shaohan a thumbs up—always ready!

Shaohan took a deep breath.

Two middle-aged men were guarding the door. The one on the left was bald, and the one on the right was fat.

The bald man was naturally handed over to Maki. Although Maki had lost her spear, she still possessed considerable fighting skills. A side kick landed on the bald man's face, instantly sending the back of his head slamming into the wall, knocking him unconscious.

I'll take charge of Fatty. I'm not a body cultivator, so naturally I don't possess the awe-inspiring leg skills of Maki. I unleashed a roar, gathering my energy in my dantian: "Instantaneous!"

Our swordsmen's spirit swords all recognize their masters, let alone Instantaneous, which is my natal sword. With a buzzing sound, Instantaneous rushed towards me at an extremely fast speed. I subtly exerted my power with my Ice Spirit Root, and the back of my blade slammed into the fat man's nape, freezing him solid.

Shaohan: "..."

Angela: "One question."

Shaohan: "You two knocked out both men guarding the door. How are we supposed to find out where Panda and the others are from?"

Maki and I exchanged bewildered glances. "I thought you'd spare him!" I blurted out, feigning surprise. "What do we do now? We're doomed!"

"Come on." Maki glanced at me sideways, not buying it. "I was the one who knocked that bald guy out first."

"What? That's because you were moving too fast, Maki. Why didn't you slow down a little?"

"You're just too slow, okay?"

"Are you two still arguing?" Shaohan, having reached her limit, gave Zhenxi and me a sharp rap on the head each. Then, she forcefully turned our faces around, making us look back. "Look, look! The pursuers are here, and you're still arguing? Still looking? Aren't you going to run?"

Maki and I suddenly turned our heads, looked at each other, and gave each other a sly smile.

Shaohan sensed something was wrong and was about to blurt out "Holy crap!" when she turned around and saw that Zhenxi and I had already dealt with all the "newbies" who had come chasing after her in no time, like slicing vegetables. So she had to swallow the embarrassing curse back down her throat.

"I'm asking you." I swiftly dispatched the new pursuers with my Instant Blade, then grabbed a groaning rookie by the collar and slipped into an empty room, Maki and Shaohan close behind. I fumbled for the light switch, pressed the tip of my Instant Blade against Rookie Number One's neck, and the blade trembled almost imperceptibly in my hand. "Where are Thorn and the others?"

Maki added from the side: "It's the white-haired little boy that the man wearing five robes brought along. There should also be a dark-eyed person and a panda with him."

Rookie Number 1 refused to comply, even at the cost of his life: "I don't know! Even if I did know, I would never betray Lord Xia You."

Wow, the little thing is quite loyal.

I was inwardly sighing, just about to send him off to be the best buddies with Fatty, hand in hand making popsicles, when Maki inexplicably stopped me. Maki rolled up her sleeves: "I'll do it!"

Okay, okay.

I bowed and respectfully stepped back, giving up the standard center position directly in front of Rookie No. 1: "Please."

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh!"

"Awoooooo!"

Hahahaha!

This kind of interrogation-like situation was beyond my ability to participate in. Shaohan, on the other hand, was quite interested, holding a feather—where did she get the feather from, I wonder—and tickling Rookie Number 1's armpit. I stood to the side, trying not to interfere with their "interrogation operation." Because I was so bored, I simply leaned against the door and looked around the room.

The sofa looks very soft, the golden chandelier is large, and there are several candlesticks on the huge dining table. This must be someone's bedroom. Although I accidentally wandered in, I am still very sorry. It was an accident. My apologies.

But this aesthetic, this color scheme... it's so familiar, it reminds me of someone I know. However, I didn't really sense her presence here; it's probably just a coincidence. After all, Western-style decor... it's quite common here, isn't it?

"I found out." Shaohan wiped the sweat from her forehead. "It's in the first room on the left-hand side of the bathroom."

I opened my mouth, about to speak, but Shaohan stopped me abruptly. Shaohan crossed her arms: "I bet you're going to ask where the restroom is next, aren't you? Don't worry, I'm not you. Of course I'd ask for such important information! Just come with me!"

“…Maki.” I turned around immediately. “Finding the restroom is up to you.”

"Hey, hey, hey!" Shaohan complained, "Zhenxi, don't listen to her! What's wrong with her? Are we even friends? Why don't you trust me at all?"

"No." I shook my head resolutely. "Even if we're friends, you can't trust someone who's terrible with directions."

Maki's attention wasn't on our conversation. She stood up, straightened her slightly wrinkled college uniform, and gave Rookie Number 1, who had been subjected to so much torture and was now rolling his eyes, a look of disdain on his face: "What did he say?"

"Let him stay here," Shaohan said. "He probably hasn't recovered from what we just did. Let him calm down here. He'll leave on his own once he's calmed down."

I nodded: "Then we'll do as you say. But isn't he blocking the doorway a bit of a nuisance? Should we move him a little further away, like to that chair over there?"

"Okay," Shaohan said. "I'll help you."

Maki's gaze towards us became hesitant, as if she wanted to say something but then stopped. "I'm leaving now," she said irritably, pulling open the door. "I don't even know how things are going with Thorn and the others. I don't have time to dawdle here."

Before I could even utter a word of refusal, she had already pulled the door open, walked out, and closed it in one swift motion. My vision went black; I felt like I had no end in sight. The arrogant laughter of Shaohan filled my ears. I immediately dashed to the door, flung it open, and didn't even bother to acknowledge the drooling newbie #1 beside me…

Maki has already gone far away; I can't even see her anymore.

No way! Am I about to start all over again with this familiar scenario—my life of getting lost?