You could barely call it a hideout. The place was bare, with the faintest traces that anyone—or anything—had ever stayed there. Ash from what might have been a fire was scattered across the ground, and a makeshift bed, which was really just a large rock covered with some cloth, sat to one side. It was nothing more than an empty cave containing only the bare essentials, and even those were already in the process of being cleared out.
"Greetings to Master." A short, slender woman—busy extinguishing the latest fire she had started—was startled at first but then knelt before Ma Rue Bu once she recognized him. Despite her below-average height and delicate figure, the numerous scars across her body made her appear savage and fearsome, especially the burn marks, which looked more recent.
"I'm relieved to see your arm situation has been resolved. I was very worried when it got cut off so suddenly..." She spoke as if explaining something, but the look she gave him made it seem more like a question.
She was Jin Luo Niu, a Gu Master from the Jin tribe. Just under five years ago, she had been nothing more than an ordinary mortal orphan, yet she had managed to climb to Rank 2 and was even close to reaching the peak stage. Though talented, she often credited her master, Elder Jin Shun, for her progress.
Jin Shun didn't come from any powerful background either; he only gained a modest voice within the tribe after advancing to Rank 3. He chose to take her in because of their similar circumstances—both of mortal descent, yet both had managed to awaken their apertures.
If her master, Jin Shun, saw her kneeling before these two young Gu Masters, there was no telling what he might do. Ma Rue Bu didn't particularly appreciate it, he knew it was the effect of a Gu worm that ultimately compelled her to behave this way, but he didn't mind it either. The other girl, however—Lin Chen Huan—was clearly pleased to see her kneeling like that.
"I don't know what happened exactly either," Rue Bu gestured for her to stand and continued, "but forget about that for now. First, tell me—who sent you after me?" he asked casually. Then his expression stiffened as he listened to her response.
"It was two students from the Lin tribe. Their names were Kui Mu and Kui Tu. I believe they're related to some elder, if I remember correctly—well, I doubt they'd have that much money otherwise," she said as she stood back up.
"Kui... those two idiots... sigh..." He had expected them to cause trouble, but hiring an assassin? That, he hadn't anticipated.
"Should I... deal with them?" Her expression turned twisted.
"Shut up, and let me think." He dismissed her instantly—Chen Huan looked even more pleased; he could swear she was giggling.
'This is a headache... I'm still so tired... What do you think I should do?' he sighed inwardly, leaving the thinking to his companion.
'As I see it, we have three courses of action to handle this situation, each with varying degrees of success and risk,' the voice echoed in his mind.
'Continue.'
'Scenario one: the Host ignores Lin Kui Mu and Lin Kui Tu. When others learn of the incident, they'll simply assume it was an unfortunate accident. However, the Kui brothers will grow suspicious. They'll likely attempt to contact Jin Luo Niu to determine whether she was involved. When they receive no response, their suspicion will increase—and more importantly, so will their fear.'
'Fear?' Rue Bu didn't understand fully.
'They'll assume something happened to her—perhaps that the Host managed to escape and injure her, or even that she died. Either way, they'll be afraid the Host knows what they did. Considering they've already gone so far as to hire an assassin, what would stop them from doing it again? We believe there's a high likelihood they'll hire another.' It explained.
'Yes... As much as I want to ignore them, that would only complicate things further,' Rue Bu agreed with a slight nod, which confused both Luo Niu and Chen Huan.
"Ahem... We can't ignore them..." He cleared his throat and explained aloud, earning nods from the two Gu Masters.
'Scenario two,' the voice continued, 'the Host "takes care" of them—as Jin Luo Niu suggested, we handle the situation by eliminating the threat before it worsens.'
'But?' He didn't think it would be this simple.
'But that could arguably cause more trouble. On the surface, secretly killing the two Kui brothers would solve the problem and keep Jin Luo Niu's involvement hidden. However, looking at the bigger picture, it has a high chance of triggering a thorough investigation. Even setting aside the fact that their grandfather is a Rank three elder in the Lin tribe, there have already been two previous student deaths connected to the Host, directly or indirectly.'
'Yes, but the first one was also investigated by an elder, and they didn't manage to link it to me, right?' Rue Bu countered.
'True. But there are several variables the Host hasn't accounted for. It's possible the Chen family lacked powerful investigative or wisdom path methods. Or perhaps they had them but couldn't tie you to it because your involvement in Lin Chen Yan's death was minimal. You didn't kill her—you simply didn't help. And you took the Mindless Wasp after the real culprit had already fled. We doubt even a Rank three method could link you directly to that death.'
'But most importantly,' the voice pressed on, not giving Rue Bu time to argue, 'the Host had no real choice at the time. Even if you'd told Lin Chen Yan to refine the Mindless Wasp to free the Rank two beast, it wouldn't have simply left the two of you alone afterward, would it?'
'No, it wouldn't have. And besides that, we don't know this Kui elder's exact status or influence within the Lin tribe, nor do we know his methods. So I wouldn't take that gamble anyway. What's the third option?' He already had an idea, but the voice was always useful in these situations, offering another perspective.
'This is what we recommend the Host do,' Its tone remained as neutral as ever, but Rue Bu trusted its judgment, 'it's risky and may raise some suspicion toward Jin Luo Niu, but in the long run, we believe it will prove the better option.'
'Which is?'
'Blackmail.' it said simply.
...
The Lin tribe's territory was sandwiched between two powerful entities, the Shui and Ma tribes. Despite being in an alliance together, there was no shortage of conflicts about borders and, consequently, resources too. So most of their manpower was spent on either guarding their resource points or resolving conflicts with either tribe.
But if we take in the whole region, they were somewhat in a better situation than the Shui tribe. They bordered the Jin tribe, after all. And they often had to request help from the alliance to handle some border or resource disputes with the Jin tribe, which almost always made them suffer a loss. Even if they managed to make the Jin tribe back out, they still had the alliance to deal with afterward.
But Lin Kui Lang wasn't awake this late because of a border dispute with any tribe, or even as backup for the Shui tribe.
"Were they really just passing through?" he said with a tinge of nervousness.
"Yes, they appeared to be herding a group of rockmen and just entered the Shui tribe's territory. With that many rockmen, they will arrive at their base by tomorrow." The one speaking was wearing a fancy green robe embroidered with delicate gold patterns and black lines. With short yellow, almost orange, hair and greeny eyes, he was beautiful. If one met him for the first time, they wouldn't think he was a man at all—yet if one talked to him for even a second, they would know immediately. He was Lin Ling Li, the Poisonous Flower, and the Lin tribe leader.
"We have to thank Elder Ma Li later. Do you understand?" he said, glaring at Kui Lang before he could even acknowledge his previous words, and all he could do was nod in agreement.
"Yes, Tribe Leader!" he said with cupped fists.
"Mhm. You can take your team and retreat for now. I don't trust your incompetent asses to keep watch," he ordered.
"This subordinate will take his leave then." He gritted his teeth, almost shattering his jaw from anger, but still, he didn't voice his dissatisfaction.
After a not-so-enthusiastic nod from Lin Ling Li, Lin Kui Lang gave his orders to his team captains to move their squads back to the tribe and wait for further orders from him.
'Even though the danger is gone for now, they are still way too close to our headquarters for our comfort. We can retreat, but we can't rest just yet.' Even if his tribe leader didn't mention anything, Elder Kui Lang was capable enough to read between the lines. 'Hehe, even if you say you don't trust us, then why would you specifically request me and my team, if not because you know of our strength?' He scoffed inwardly and stayed put near the northwestern gate in the tribe, while the tribe leader was still at their previous location, keeping an eye on their most dangerous "enemy."
'The Golden Soldier… Jin Qi Jing… what is he doing herding rockmen personally? It's usually Jin Qi Xue who handles this kind of mission… and the scale this time is way bigger than usual too… and yet we would've been clueless about it if not for vice alliance leader Ma Li...' Ma Li had spent the previous day keeping an eye on them while they passed through the Ma tribe's territory, and when he didn't see any movement from the Lin tribe he informed them of the "danger."
'I wonder if this is linked to their preparations for the refinement? Are they short on funds and want to trade these rockmen to secure more? Maybe. Or maybe the Gu worm they are preparing to refine requires…' He couldn't finish the thought.
'Well, it wouldn't be the Jin tribe's first time dealing with living beings in refinement… but at least they aren't humans this time… only variant humans…' He didn't feel any better about it no matter what he told himself.
'Humans really are monsters,' he sighed. 'I hope I'm overthinking things.' If someone could hear his thoughts, they would undoubtedly scoff at his sympathy for the variant humans, but he didn't care—and nobody else cared about his thoughts either.
As long as they were only thoughts, nobody cared. But if he did something as stupid as suggesting change, then who knows what accident might happen tomorrow or the day after.
"At least they are still alive. But if they really are planning to use them in that way… then… then I'm really, really sorry…" He sighed again, aloud this time, catching the attention of someone who was coming his way.
"Is there a problem, Elder Kui?" the young Gu Master asked.
"Hmm? Nothing, Hong Zhen. What are you doing here?" the elder asked in return.
"Oh, there is something you need to see." Hong Zhen appeared at ease, but the elder had known him long enough to know when he was acting or not.
"Lead the way," he said, as his expression stiffened, seeing sweat beginning to form on Hong Zhen's forehead.