Zhi Da and Zhi Luoran stayed seated in their chairs for a little while before they hurriedly got up and started looking around from the balcony.
They looked at the streets first, but they didn't seem to spot Yang Qing and no one walking around seemed to have noticed anything amiss. They then moved their gazes to the skies but they still didn't see any sight of him. It was as if the Yang Qing that they had just shared a meal and had a conversation with, was nothing but an illusion.
"Big brother, where do you think he could have gone?" asked Zhi Luoran.
"I don't know but based on his expression it seemed to have been a dire emergency. I didn't expect big brother Yang Qing to be so powerful. Even without interacting with us, just with his cultivation base alone I doubt there's much we can hide from him and here I was full of myself because of my acting skills and us gaining a gullible rich client," said Zhi Da as he dryly laughed with pools of sweat forming on his back.
He was joking around with a powerhouse and he had no idea. If things had gone wrong, he and his sister may not even know how they died.
"Do you think he will still let us call him big brother?" asked Zhi Luoran with some worry in her tone. Though she seemed like she was asking a question it seemed like it was more like she was airing her concerns.
"I don't know," Zhi Da said as he sighed. Today was not an easy day for them.
At the start of the week, the black viper had increased the percentage of the amount they would be given as their cut. He had been struggling along with his sister to try and reach that quota while still having enough to survive on. Earlier today he held out on the amount he was supposed to give but was caught by one of their members.
Luckily he was only given a beating and a double fine that had to be paid by the end of the day.
It was why he was so ecstatic when he stumbled upon Yang Qing, a rich-looking young person. He thought he was their way out only to end up with their identities exposed and now the person they thought was just a gullible foundation establishment youth turned out to be someone with a terrifying cultivation base.
"I think he will. He seems like a nice person. He doesn't look at us with the same eyes as the others do when they see us. He even bought us lunch even though the ginkgo tree was thrown into the mix," said Zhi Luoran as she stared at the sky with glowing eyes trying to see if she could spot Yang Qing amongst the clouds.
"Maybe he can help us. He did say he could help us start over," added Zhi Luoran in a hopeful tone.
Zhi Da sighed when he saw this. Some part of him wanted to latch onto the hope that was budding in his heart but he knew what they were dealing with wasn't an easy matter.
"Luoran while Big brother Yang Qing may be someone in the palace realm seeing how he disappeared into thin air but there may be a chance he might not be able to help us.
Even if the organization he is a part of is powerful do you think they would risk offending our clan just to protect two children at the body refining stage whom they don't even know, all at the word of big brother Yang Qing?
We've all seen the politics of big clans and organizations. The clan's interests always come first before the individual no matter how talented they are. We saw it with father and mother," Zhi Da paused as he gritted his teeth with deep sorrow and anguish flashing in his eyes.
Zhi Luoran moved to her seat as her lips started quivering and tears balanced in her eyes.
"Luoran it's not that I want to dampen your hopes but I don't think there is anyone that would want to risk falling out with a clan that has existed for almost 100,000 years and is known to have several domain experts, all for a couple of kids.
But even though those are my thoughts I am willing to ask big brother Yang Qing for help when he comes back.
The past few years have not been easy. A chance at a fresh start no matter how slim the odds would not be a bad thing and I don't know why but I've been feeling uneasy the whole day almost as if someone was watching us.
The black viper has been making a lot of moves of late by accepting more members almost as if they are preparing for something. Even if big brother Yang Qing doesn't help us, having him take us someplace else before we get embroiled into whatever the Black viper is cooking up would work too," said Zhi Da as he ruffled Zhi Luoran's hair.
When he and Zhi Luoran came to Purple city with their last savings four years ago he didn't expect them to survive this long. They may be smart, intuitive and have a few skills from their background to rely on but even he wasn't arrogant enough to think they would have survived on smarts alone in a world where strength dictated everything.
He always felt it was only due to luck that they survived this long and off late that luck seemed to be drying out.
Yang Qing's earlier words about asking for help woke him up. He still behaved like he had his illustrious background and perks to rely on when infact all he had were delusions of his past and his sister.
"I'm no longer Zou Li but Zhi Da now. It's high time I accepted the fact," Zhi Da silently muttered as he ruefully smiled.
"If we want to enlist big brother Yang Qing's help we will have to tell him everything about our past so he knows what he is getting into. We both need to prepare ourselves for the consequences that may come after because it may not go as we wish," said Zhi Da as he stared at Zhi Luoran in the eye.
Mmmh!!
Zhi Luoran firmly nodded with resolve.
"I will miss this place though, with grandpa and grandma Wang and the rest," Zhi Da said as he sighed.
"Me too," Zhi Luoran softly muttered with sadness in her tone.
…..
Kitchen
"Did you feel that?" said grandma Wang said in a shivering voice as the knife in her hands shook and dropped to the floor.
"He really is in the palace realm and by the looks of it that aura seemed even more powerful than Dong Qiu's," said grandpa Wang with a heavy look on his face.
When Yang Qing left he released a bit of his aura in his haste. Grandpa and grandma Wang who were already wary and had their spiritual senses up were hit with that aura. A brief exposure made their bodies freeze in fear.
....
Above the skies outside Purple city.
"Truly worthy of a spirit beast with noble bloodline," said a lavishly dressed young man in white robes that had gold embroidering in his sleeves and an image of a gold-colored bamboo sown on his coat.
He had blonde hair and was young looking seemingly in his early thirties and had a golden hairpin holding his hair.
He was currently pulling a golden rope that was tied around something that was hiding within a whirling wind that produced loud bird-screeching noises.
He formed a few hand seals that made the rope grow in girth as a faint red light appeared on the rope.
"With the flood dragon tendon binding rope tying its movements down and you two attacking it to drain its energy, it's only a matter of time before it's successfully captured," said the golden-haired young man as he addressed the two men opposite him who had surrounded the whirling wind.
One of them had sword-like eyes and orange-red hair with a robe that didn't lose out to the golden-haired young man. As for the last person he was an elderly man that had a mildly plump build, he had on simple white robes but he too had the symbol of a gold bamboo on his robe.
The orange-red-haired man sighed as he charged in with his sword while the elderly man threw a powerful punch that seemed to produce the sounds of a tiger's roar as it moved.
They matched their rhythms perfectly with the golden-haired young man showing apt anticipation and excitement in his eyes that had a hint of greed.
"YOU DARE!!!!" Yang Qing's roar echoed in the area that even the clouds seemed to part.
Before the trio could even register who the owner of the voice was, there was a loud boom as the golden roped got snapped.
A blinding white light that had hints of purple lightning crashed into the elder's fist first who was then blown a few hundred meters away as the purple lighting separated from the white light crashing into the orange-red-haired man's sword.
There was a huge almost metallic sound of collision between the purple lightning and the orange-red-haired man's sword.
A grim expression appeared on his face as his sword creaked as he was being forced back. His hands got charred in the process up to his elbows but they quickly regenerated.
The white light disappeared and in its place was an apathetic-looking Yang Qing.
