Although Qin Ping was a servant within the Qin Residence, he would normally call a carriage whenever he went outside. He had never traveled so far on foot as he had today.
This tormented him by no small amount!
Qin Ping could feel his two heels faintly bruising, and his feet felt like they were pincushions being pricked. Not to mention that his throat had long become hoarse from talking too much.
However, when he saw his own new master was greatly interested by a small porcelain store and continued on to look in every direction, he could only grit his teeth and reluctantly follow.After all, he couldn’t tell his master that he was tired. How could a servant such as he dare to complain!
“I’m a bit hungry. Do you know a place where we can eat lunch?”
Han Li’s unbelievably honest words stirred Qin Ping’s heart, and he repeatedly agreed after arriving at Han Li’s side. Then he made an extremely polite suggestion and immediately led the way to a small restaurant not too far away, praising the restaurant's exquisite signature dishes.
Han Li found this humorous but still wore an “I’ll let you decide” expression. QIn Ping then went in first, entering the two-story restaurant.
The first floor only had commoners eating simple dishes. The second floor, however, was where those of status went to eat.
Qin Ping naturally did not have Han Li eat on the first floor, although it seemed that his master had some intention to.
There weren’t many guests on the second floor, only three to four groups of people.At one of the tables, there were actually five truly notable figures, three men and two women.
When Han Li walked onto this floor he naturally looked at this group of people with surprise. This was because those five were actually Qi Condensation cultivators of the tenth layer or higher; the appearance of cultivators in a mortal establishment was quite unusual.
‘Could they be from the Six Devil Dao Sects?’ Han Li first thought.
Han Li immediately restrained the Spiritual Qi in his body and used the “Drawing Qi Technique” that he learned after achieving Foundation Establishment, withdrawing all of his Spiritual Qi into his body. As such, in the eyes of those with far lower cultivation, they wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between Han Li and just another mortal.
“Young Master, please sit over here!”
Qin Ping dragged Han Li over to a table by the window with great difficulty as his feet ached. Then he used to sleeves to wipe down the wooden chair before inviting Han Li to sit down with a full smile.
Han Li revealed embarrassment and promptly called Qin Ping to sit down as well.
This time, Qin Ping wasn’t too polite and, and after declining a few times, he sincerely sat down.
His feet were truly in pain, but he was unable to break away from his status as a servant. Fortunately, this Young Master Han who just entered the capital wasn’t particularly attentive to formal etiquette.
Having seen two people sit down, a waiter swiftly walked toward them and humbly asked, “What would these two guests like? This restaurant has many signature dishes that are quite renowned.”
“I want a table of all your best dishes, and bring your signature dishes as well. Also, use your very best ingredients. My Young Master is a Young Master of the Qin Residence!” Qin Ping knew that Han Li certainly didn’t know how to order food and took the matter into his own hands, ordering on Han Li’s behalf. After he mentioned the “Qin Residence”, the servant’s expression became far more lively.
Sure enough, the reputation of the Qin Residence was quite useful. After the waiter heard this, he immediately nodded his head, bowed, and even said a few words of flattery. He then rushed back after taking their orders.
However, Han Li wasn’t interested in flaunting his power to some servant. He was entirely focused on the cultivators sitting not that far from him.
But what baffled him was that was that the thirty year-old blue-clothed man seemed familiar, as if he had seen him before.
Han Li thought for a moment, but nothing came to mind. He absolutely wasn’t someone he was very familiar with.
The men, including the blue-clothed man whom Han Li found familiar, all drank a cup of alcohol with a face of worry. The two beautiful women were simply staring at their cups of alcohol, not even moving their chopsticks. It seemed they didn’t have an appetite.
From their appearances, they encountered no small amount of hardships. They truly didn’t seem likely to be Devil Dao cultivators infiltrating the State of Yue.
The blue-clothed man seemed to be the youngest of the group apart from a woman who appeared several years younger.
“Young Master, the food has arrived. Please eat first!” At this moment, Han Li heard Qin Yan’s respectful words from the side.
The servant had already neatly and nimbly arranged the dishes onto the table!
“Hehe, let us eat together!” Han Li smiled with slight embarrassment and opened his mouth, revealing his pure white teeth.
At this moment, Han Li started to eat without restraint and looked to be completely focused on chewing. But in truth, he was stealthily releasing his spiritual sense, closely paying attention to the several cultivators nearby.
When Qin Ping saw Han Li start to eat, he naturally moved his chopsticks about. At that moment, the eldest cultivator among them, an old man with a dark face, stopped drinking and suddenly released an invisible soundproof barrier around them. Then he said, “Everyone, eat. Since our lives have fallen to the hands of others, we, companions from Mist Mountain, can only walk one step at a time! Regardless of how it is said, not having our souls scattered is far better than what happened to other cultivators.”
Although the soundproof barrier was in effect and the dark-faced old man’s voice wasn’t loud, Han Li could clearly hear it. Soundproof magic techniques used by Qi Refining cultivators were ineffective against Han Li’s astonishing spiritual sense.
However, the old man's words caused Han Li to know something was amiss; he could hear there was something being hidden from those words.
Perhaps due to the dark-faced old man’s words, the two women silently ate some food.
However, they still seemed absent minded. It was most likely they tasted nothing!
“Eldest Brother, will we truly be manipulated by them from now on? This truly won’t do. We can secretly tell the seven sects. Surely they will deal with them!” After the blue-clothed man took two heavy drinks, he said this with a fierce complexion.
The dark-faced old man sighed. “Fourth Brother! The matter isn’t so simple.” He lightly shook his head and revealed a sense of helplessness.
Hearing the old man’s words, the youngest white-clothed woman couldn’t help but ask, “Eldest Brother, why can’t we? Could it be those from the seven sects don’t want to kill villains? In the State of Yue, at least several hundred have died by their hands to preserve the Dao.”
When the white-clothed woman said this, her face displayed unwillingness.
When the middle-aged man and woman saw the fierce reply, they silently looked at each other with a bitter smile. It seemed these two clearly understood what the dark-faced old man had misgivings about.
When Han Li heard this, he was somewhat amazed. He felt that he had just faintly grasped onto something immensely huge.
However, he maintained his cover by eating several more dishes, causing Qin Ping to praise Han Li’s great appetite.
Han Li smiled with a slight blush as if he realized his actions were improper and slowed down the speed at which he was eating.
At this moment, the dark-faced old man sighed and started to give the blue-clothed man and the white -clothed woman an explanation.
“In truth, calling the seven sects for help is simply useless!”
“First of all, us rogue cultivators clearly understand the current circumstances of the seven sects. All of their manpower is focused on stopping the invasion of the Devil Dao, so how could they divert manpower to help us rogue cultivators? They even face against Foundation Establishment cultivators. If the seven sects sent ordinary cultivators, they would fundamentally be unable to act. Otherwise, how else would the Devil Dao have captured us so easily!”
“Secondly, even if the seven sects were truly worried about preserving the Dao and they had actually sent forth men to eliminate our assailants, don’t forget that they were wearing masks. We don’t know anything about their appearance. Furthermore, they surprised us at an abandoned temple they happened to find, so any sort of help wouldn’t have arrived on time. We simply have no means to act against them! Not to mention they put some sort of strange restriction on our bodies. If we don’t follow their orders on time, it’s likely we will be killed immediately! Also, is it certain that those from the seven sects will be able to remove our restrictions? Since they dared to let us leave so easily, they probably designed these restrictions themselves. They certainly aren’t so easily destroyed!”
As the dark-faced old man said this, the more wrinkled his brow became. It seemed he spoke with despair.
“Then we can truly only side with the villains and help them trap other cultivators?” The white-clothed woman’s complexion greatly paled. She was clearly unwilling to do this.
“Fifth Sister! It is as Eldest Brother has said. Right now, we can only walk one step at a time! Fortunately, we have some time before we’ll be forced to act. During that time, hopefully us five friends from Mist Mountain will find a way to disobey them and escape!” The tall and thin forty year-old man spoke, consoling her.
But these several people all knew that those words were flowery lies meant to deceive themselves! They hadn’t been able to think of anything plausible these past few days. Would likely was it that they’d find a way after a few months?
With that said, these people became silent. Worry bubbled forth in their hearts.
