Chapter 19: Chapter 19: Ce Xin
"That body is the reason you are here doing this Job instead of someone else." Overseer Jiang spoke with a cruel smile on his face. "At first we feared you might also have the same fate as that outer disciple."
Shen Yuan saw how the lunatic supervisor kept his distance from the bodies even when he watched over their shoulders.
At first he thought that he was just disgusted to go near the bodies, but now it all made sense.
"So if we had qi, our fate would have been the same." Xin Delun’s face was now white as a sheet of paper. He took a step back and stumbled on the body behind him, falling to the ground.
The female disciple stared at the overseer with a blank face. She, just like Shen Yuan, did not show any signs of fear.
Unlike Shen Yuan, who was wired wrong to feel fear and despair, she seemed more of a mystery.
A mystery that even Shen Yuan took note of.
Seeing them staring at him, Overseer Jiang stopped walking. "What? Did I tell you to stop working? If your hands are too free, you won’t mind losing them, right?"
That did the trick.
The three servants started to move the bodies once more. Xin Delun’s hands trembled even though he knew in his heart that if something was going to happen, it would have happened long ago.
Shen Yuan increased the pace of moving bodies. There was no hesitation or fear in his action.
The same could be said for the female servant. Her movements were as fluent as they were before.
...
"What now?" Once all the bodies were moved out of the way and the path was cleared, the female servant asked. "Are you going to kill us?"
Overseen Jiang raised a brow at her causal inquiry before bursting out in laughter. "Haha, you are really audacious for a mere servant. But since you have the backing of Senior sister Yu, I will let it slide."
Then he proceeded to raise his hands before his chest, making a series of hand signs. His action made the Xin Delun shake in fear.
He wanted to beg for his life, but no words came out of his throat.
"Don’t worry, I won’t kill you." With a final hand sign, the supervisor spread his arms, causing the air to ripple, and a very profound diagram appeared behind
Several formations, similar to the one behind him, appeared on the ground. With one glance, Shen Yuan recognized the glyphs.
After all, he had seen them a while ago.
They were the same glyphs as the one carved on the ground floor.
But he still did not know what they were used for yet.
As he patiently waited for what was coming, Overseer Jiang lowered his arms and looked at each one of them carefully.
"With this, your task here is complete. You can go now." He tossed them a bag full of coins at each one of them. "A little bonus for the dangers you took."
Shen Yuan froze.
This was it? Were they really free to leave?
His mind was swirling with questions as he absentmindedly caught the bag of money.
But he did not stay lost in his questions. Shen Yuan took the coins and started walking towards the stairs.
"Oh yeah, one more thing." His feet stopped dead in his tracks when the eerie voice echoed in the hallway.
He slowly turned around to see the man looking straight at him. Overseer Jiang grinned maliciously while maintaining eye contact.
Seeing them like that, Xin Delun was feeling the fear that Shen Yuan should have felt.
But contrary to what he was thinking, overseer Jiang stood where he did and said jokingly, "Don’t be so tense. I just wanted to remind you..."
He placed his right forefinger on his lips and hushed, "Shhhh. Don’t forget our deal."
For a second, even the female disciple who refused to give anyone her name seemed tensed up. But then she recovered her cold expression and walked downstairs behind Shen Yuan.
"Hey, Wait for me." Xin Delun chased after the two of them and caught up to them outside the establishment.
The day had already turned into night, and there was still no one on the street.
"I was so scared for my life. I thought he would kill me at any time." Xin Delun took deep breaths and exclaimed with a long sigh. "Are you two alright?"
"You don’t have to worry about me." Shen Yuan was ready to leave when the female disciple stepped in his way, stopping him.
"You seemed awfully skilled with handling tense situations." She stared at Shen Yuan with narrowed eyes.
"I could say the same about you." Shen Yuan replied as he walked around the woman.
"I am Ce Xin." She introduced herself, seeing Shen Yuan walking away, before saying. "Why don’t we have a talk?"
"Talk about what?" Shen Yuan paused hearing her words and looked over his shoulder while Xin Delun looked between the two of them as they spoke with a clueless expression on his face.
"I love to talk. Why don’t we go to a tavern nearby and get to know each other?"
Ce Xin glanced at him in disgust before turning away.
"You would need my help. The three-month deadline is approaching soon, and you are still far from reaching the qi condensation realm.
"Oh?" Shen Yuan raised an eyebrow at her generous offer. "And why would you help someone like me who you don’t even know?"
"Of course, I won’t be helping you for no reason. I want you to follow me and become my subordinate, and in exchange, I will help you break through the next realm." Ce Xin did not care if Xin Delun was listening to her words and casually offered something that no servant would dare to offer to another.
His eyes widened in shock. But instead of saying anything, he looked at Shen Yuan, waiting for his reply.
In repose, Shen Yuan narrowed his eyes. He could not understand what her motive was, but there was one thing he was certain of. Nothing good would come out of associating himself with a woman like her.
So...
"Thanks, but I don’t like taking orders from someone." He turned his head back to the front and started walking.
"Funny. Because if you want to stay alive in the Blood Moon Sect, you would have to either be the one giving the orders or the one taking them." Ce Xin did not stop Shen Yuan again but mocked him instead. "From what I see, you don’t have the strength to give them."
Shen Yuan’s steps did not falter anymore but his eyes sharpened as he thought. ’You are wrong about something. There is another kind. People who don’t give orders but they don’t take them either.’
They hide in the shadows. Pretending to be someone they are not while manipulating and influencing the course of the world from behind the scenes.
People like that do not live at the mercy of others. They turn unfavorable situations into opportunities.
If someone thinks they can use such people as pawns, then they are either deluding themselves or being made to believe so.
In the end, no one can truly control them.
For they were never part of the game to begin with.
