The hour grew late into the night.

Ye Qingli disguised herself and put on a set of dark garb that allowed greater movement and slipped out of the house.

She wore a mask she had specially crafted herself and it looked starkly different from the one she used before.

It was part of her carefully thought-out plans, knowing that in the future, she would need to occasionally dirty her hands by carrying out deeds that could seem dishonorable in the eyes of others.

Knowing this, she knew she could not afford to use her previous masks.

It was a skill she inherited – a skill that allowed her to craft masks that no one would realize she was wearing one.

The Ye Qingli now looked completely like another person!

She made it out of the Ye Estate quietly and sped towards Mt. Xi (literally, West Mountain)

Ever since becoming a maven of the Extrinsic Stage, no ordinary city guards could possibly keep up with nor detect her anymore.

She furtively made it out the city gates and bolted for Mt. Xi with as much speed as she could muster.

Until halfway, Ye Qingli began to feel something amiss.

All around her, she could feel the faint vestiges of…

Aura! Aura reeking of murderous intent!

Her senses as an assassin tingled wildly to warn her and her hairs immediately stood on end.

With a quick dive, she threw herself into the back of a large, lumbering oak.

With strokes as quick as lightning, she sent a dozen needles hurtling up the boughs of the tree.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Seven to eight men fell from the top of the tree and crashed to the ground.

All of them dead and none of them breathing.

Ye Qingli took a long, deep breath.

It would appear that these men were not for her.

Then her brows twitched as she picked up another presence – someone else in the forest, hidden but weakened, judging from the breathing!

She scanned around and found no one else.

She zipped into the forest.

Snow fell just two days ago and the forest bed was still covered with snow.

Among a heap of white frost laid a woman in dark garb. Bloodied and wounded, she looked very near to dying.

Hearing Ye Qingli’s footsteps, she raised a hand and whimpered feebly, “Please… Save me…”

Carefully and slowly, Ye Qingli inched closer while making sure everything was safe. Then she peered at the woman and she shook her head gravely.

The woman had been stabbed at least seventeen or eighteen times.

One of them drove right through her lungs, puncturing them with froth and blood bubbling intermittently. She could not be saved – not even in modern medical facilities.

“Whatever your last words are,” she said quietly, “You can entrust them to me.”

Knowing that her time was near, the woman’s face fell with despair.

“In my robes…” she croaked weakly, “Find a clothed bundle… Take it…”

From her waist, Ye Qingli found a little bundle.

“Everything inside… Keep them… For yourself... “ she managed strenuously, “But the jade medallion… Keep it for me… When the time comes… G-give… G-g-give it…”

She winced and jerked before coughing up more blood in an agonizing fit.

Ye Qingli quickly applied some acupuncture. But it was too late. Her head tilted sideways lifelessly. She was gone.

She had not been able to finish her final sentence.

Ye Qingli bowed once to her corpse before unfurling the bundle.

Inside the bundle were a myriad of items – two little books, a number of small wooden boxes, a jet-black tablet that looked like an authority badge, and a small silk sachet.

Ye Qingli groped the silk sachet and felt something hard inside. That must be the jade medallion that the dying woman spoke of.

She looked at the two books. One of them said “Divine Argus”, and the other “Storm of Steel”.

But more shocking was the name signed below, the same spot where usually the author of any book would leave his signature — Xiaoyao Zi!

Ye Qingli’s eyes flashed with disbelief.

She would never forget that name. The name of a legend and the only person of this continent who had penetrated beyond the Intrinsic Stages!

The only person here who had, according to fables, traverse into another dimension to achieve godhood.

Ganjz, thebrokenpen's Thoughts

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