Chapter 231: Li Meilin and the Maid
Leaving behind the training grounds, Hui Yue could feel hundreds of gazes aimed at him staring at his back as he leisurely walked down the pathway. Some of these gazes were of admiration, others were of confusion, others were of dislike, and even a few displayed hatred. No matter which emotion it was that stared at Hui Yue’s back, the white-haired young man never once turned around to look at them; instead, he made his way back home to his room where he sat down and instantly began cultivating.
Hui Yue had a whole arsenal of attacks which belonged to his wolf form. He had the shockwave created by a swipe, and also his physical strength where his claws and teeth were so strong that they could easily snap the neck of any opponent or rip their bodies open. He had a howl which could intimidate anyone, and his kicks which caused mist energy to solidify into a blade following the kick’s direction and chopping through every single thing in its way. There were many attacks which Hui Yue still had not tried out, but trying out the strongest attack was something he had wanted to do for some time.
Seeing this attack, Hui Yue had been completely taken aback by the strength of the attack. Had he not stopped then multiple guards would have died; an attack that strong was truly amazing.
However, stopping this attack had caused Hui Yue to suffer internal injuries. This and the fact that all his mist energies had evaporated was the reason why Hui Yue had stopped the duel before defeating the guard.
‘You did a good job,’ Lan Feng said from within the dantian cave. ‘We are trying to make friends with the many lords; we cannot go around slaughtering their men. The fact that you took a loss rather than jeopardize the whole plan is something I am very proud of,’ The bird continued and as he spoke Hui Yue felt a bit more comfortable.
The next few days were spent within the room where Hui Yue was focused on refining energy and healing himself so that when the last lord arrived he would be capable of moving to the conclave without being still injured. Standing in front of so many Saint ranked experts if Hui Yue was not fine, he would be crushed by the pressure.
As Hui Yue spent the days focusing solely on training a steady stream of people kept converging on the capital. One major figure after another appeared through the city gates and not long after the castle filled with guests unable to hold one more person.
When this happened, many guards were sent outside the city’s walls where they created camps. Looking out the window, Hui Yue could see one of those camps. The training grounds which was previously filled to the brim was now empty, and makeshift arenas had been erected outside the walls. Slowly an entire army seemed to have arrived. At least a million guards were visible. A million experts who were at least at the King rank!
The castle, or citadel, in the middle of the city had become eerily quiet after such a long time with noise everywhere and while Hui Yue enjoyed this silence Li Meilin was uncomfortable.
“Why are there so many experts around here?” She asked a servant while furrowing her brows. This was the seventh servant she had asked today; however, just like all the others this mouse-lady instantly turned to a mouse and vanished upon being asked such a question. She left behind the laundry she was carrying alongside the clothes she wore.
Seeing this, at first Li Meilin had been completely stunned by the sudden transformation yet soon a smile spread on her face as she picked up the clothes and the laundry and rushed back to her room.
Entering her room with the items in her hands she looked around only to smile as she saw that no one noticed her. As she entered her room, her face was filled with a smile so big that she was incapable of hiding her happiness.
Quickly changing her clothes, she was thrilled that the maid hat was large enough that it covered her ears and the dress long that no tails were visible. Running around, no one would see that she was a human instead of a beast. She stood in front of her mirror, smiling at herself.
“So you think you can keep secrets from me, huh?” She asked her reflection as she twirled around, getting used to the clothes she was wearing. “I’m a senior observer. My work is to observe others and understand why they do and talk as they do. You think I will not notice such a large change with all these guards and lords arriving?” She kept asking her mirror, the smile on her face almost becoming manic.
“I will try and see what kind of information I can gain from here, and when I’ve gained enough information, I will be very popular back in Siban Empire. The Emperor will reward me heavily for all the information I bring back.” Smiling at herself in the mirror, Li Meilin turned around and left the room, her face hidden behind the laundry she was carrying.
Li Meilin was unaware of where she should go with the laundry, so she just roamed around the castle, looking for someone whom she could ask some questions. After walking for a short while, she found another maid who was busy cleaning the ground in front of them.
“Good afternoon,” Li Meilin said with a gentle voice as she went towards the young maid in front of her. Although Li Meilin was in disguise she was worried that she would be seen through so her heart was beating rapidly, Wu Wei was flowing through her meridians, all of which ready to pour out and entangle the woman within.
The maid looked up from the floor, her eyes confused. “I’m to clean the floor, and this is my punishment for being late. No one is allowed to speak with me,” The maid whispered with a trembling voice. “You should hurry, or Madame Hu will get a hold of you!”
Hearing this Li Meilin frowned, it turned out it was harder to get information than she imagined, but she was not going to give up just like that. Using a small ray of Wu Wei, the woman in front of her was knocked unconscious before Li Meilin dragged her into a room filled with brooms, buckets, and other cleaning tools.
Waiting for the woman to wake up, Li Meilin was in a bad mood. Speaking with the woman was not certain to give her the answers she was after, and no matter what, this woman would tell the rest about Li Meilin. The only option was to kill her and hide her corpse somewhere it would not be found. If she was found, a water elemental mage might be able to link the murder back to her something she could not afford if she wanted to be allowed to leave this place.
Sighing Li Meilin’s mood became worse and worse but for the sake of Siban Empire, she was willing to do anything to get the right answers, and finally the woman woke up. Her eyes were filled with fear and her entire body was trembling. Li Meilin had tied her to a chair, and the woman was standing behind her with a Wu Wei blade pressed against the neck of the maid.
“Why are there so many Lords and guards coming to the capital now?” Li Meilin growled, Wu Wei was used to change her voice from a woman’s voice to a man’s. Li Meilin was contemplating whether or not she should let the maid go without killing her.
“I don’t know,” The captured woman cried out with a low voice, “No one tells me anything.” She continued, her voice was slowly growing stronger and it reached a high pitch as she felt deeply wronged. Hearing her words, Li Meilin gritted her teeth hard. Her eyes were glaring intently at the woman in front of her. How could someone be this useless?
“Tell me why you think they are here,” She growled once more. Her voice displaying her impatience and the woman did not take long to answer with trembling lips and a shaking body, “They must be here for a conclave of the lords,” The maid said with frightened voice, “A conclave to decide what to do with the area of Shenyuan.”
“What do you mean?” Li Meilin frowned, and the maid shook even more than previously. “Shenyuan has been the home of beasts for multiple years, but there are so many beasts, how are we to live within one small kingdom? They must be working on finding new lands for all of us, new places to live and new villages to build.” The woman dared not answer simply, she answered honestly and said everything she knew, something which caused Li Meilin’s heart to grow cold. Could it be that these lords were interested in taking over the rest of the continent? But why had they never acted before?
Li Meilin was in deep thought before she sighed and decided that although killing her would prove the safest, it would also bring bigger risks later on. Instead, she used her hand to knock the back of the woman’s neck, causing her to lose consciousness before she slowly slid out of the room betting that the woman was incapable of tying this to Li Meilin herself. Allowing for her to live Li Meilin sighed once again.
Li Meilin did not change her clothes; instead, she left the castle and while in town she purchase a wide array of sweets and snacks which she brought with her towards the campsites outside the city wall. Her face was filled with a large smile as she carried her sweets and snacks with her to the campsite.
“Hello there,” She said with a wink as she approached a strong man who seemed to be some sort of a fox type beast. “I was wondering if I could tempt you with some sweets perhaps? She asked curiously as she brought forth a tray filled with various snacks and sweets, and the beasts close by all honed in on the sweets, these were delicacies one would not eat too often.
However who was Li Meilin? She was the senior observer of the Siban Empire’s delegation. This also meant that she held all the gifts which were supposed to have been displayed upon arrival to the capital, yet Li Meilin had not gifted these items to Wan Qiao; instead, she kept them for herself. Now she used some of them to purchase items which hopefully could convince the army to speak more than the maid did. The army of guards were more likely to know what was going on.
The first guard she asked knew nothing but as she made her way into the guards more and more knew a little bit of information.
“Yes, we left as soon as a delegation from the Lady Wan Qiao appeared. As for what they said we don’t know, the guards would not tell us.”
“We had to wake up in the middle of the night to leave, and we only do that if we are going to war, so I swear this is definitely a conclave to determine who we are going to attack!”
“Although some say this is war, I highly doubt it. We have lived within Shenyuan for thousands of years. To start a war this suddenly would benefit no one. I am sure they are here to discuss the Sovereigns of the Beasts instead. They are most likely giving this title to my master.”
Over and over again, one theory after another appeared while no one knew exactly what was going on, everyone had their own ideas. Thinking through all these, Li Meilin paled as she understood that half of these theories included war against the outside world. This showed that these warriors, these cultivators, were more than willing to wage war against the outside world. Wage war against humans.
When she looked around, she saw hundreds of thousands of cultivators above the King rank, and her heart sank in her chest as she feared that this would become reality.