Although Qin Ping served as a servant within the Qin residence, he was usually given a carriage whenever he had to travel far. It had been a long time since he had walked for such a long stretch on foot.
The effort truly exhausted him.
Qin Ping felt a dull swelling in his heels, throbbing as though needles were pricking them. Worse still, his throat had gone hoarse and uncomfortable from talking so much.
Yet, when he saw his new master still cheerfully lingering before a small porcelain shop and looking around in every direction, he could only grit his teeth, force himself to take another step, and limp over to follow.
After all, if the master had not complained of fatigue, how could a servant dare grumble?
"I'm getting a little hungry. Shouldn't we find a place for lunch?"
As soon as Qin Ping caught up to Han Li, he heard this remarkably candid remark from his master. Qin Ping was so excited that he immediately agreed with fervor and suggestively proposed a small restaurant not far away, enthusiastically praising several of its signature dishes as though they were the greatest delicities in the world.
Han Li found it somewhat amusing, though he kept his face carefully neutral, wearing an expression that said it was entirely up to Qin Ping. Under his attendant's impatient lead, they entered this modest two-story restaurant.
The first floor was filled with ordinary guests eating simple meals, while the second floor was reserved for people of somewhat higher status.
Qin Ping naturally would not allow Han Li to dine on the first floor, even though his master seemed mildly tempted.
There were only three or four occupied tables on the second floor.
One table was particularly shocking in its arrangement — three men and two women drinking together, which was quite a scandalous sight.
When Han Li stepped onto the floor, he naturally glanced at that table. One look, and his heart gave a start. All five of these men and women were Qi Condensation stage cultivators at the tenth level or above of their basic cultivation method, which was highly unusual!
"Could they be from the Six Sects of the Demonic Path?" Han Li wondered immediately.
His spiritual energy instantly contracted. Han Li employed the Qi-Guiding Art — a technique only cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage could learn — drawing his spiritual energy inward. In the eyes of low-level cultivators whose strength was far inferior to his own, Han Li would now appear no different from an ordinary mortal.
"Young Master, please sit here!"
Qin Ping forced himself to ignore the pain in his feet and led Han Li to a table by the window. He even wiped the wooden chair with his sleeve several times before bowing with a broad smile to invite Han Li to take a seat.
Han Li put on a somewhat embarrassed expression and quickly called for Qin Ping to sit with him.
This time, Qin Ping did not stand on ceremony. After a few polite refusals, he sat down honestly.
His feet were truly in agony. He could no longer bother with the distinctions of rank and status. Fortunately, this Young Master Han, newly arrived in the capital, was not one for such formalities.
As soon as the two were seated, a waiter approached briskly and asked respectfully:
"What would the two of you like? Our restaurant is quite famous for several signature dishes."
"Send up a fine spread of food and wine, and bring one portion of each of your signature dishes. Use only the finest ingredients. Our Young Master is a son of the Qin household!" Qin Ping knew that Han Li would almost certainly not order for himself, so he took the initiative on his master's behalf. As he mentioned the Qin household, his entire bearing immediately became more pompous and imposing.
Sure enough, the Qin name proved remarkably effective. The waiter nodded and bowed repeatedly, becoming even more obsequious, and hurried off to expedite the food and drink.
Han Li had no interest in watching his attendant put on such airs. His entire attention was focused on the cultivators at the nearby table.
What puzzled him was that the blue-robed man in his thirties among them seemed oddly familiar, as though Han Li had met him somewhere before.
But when he tried to recall, he could not piece together a single clue. This was definitely not someone he knew well.
The men at the table — including the blue-robed man who caught Han Li's attention — all wore expressions of deep distress and silently drank one cup after another. The two women, who were reasonably attractive, stared blankly at the spread of dishes before them without touching their chopsticks, apparently having no appetite whatsoever.
Judging by their demeanor, they seemed to have run into serious trouble. They hardly looked like demonic cultivators who had infiltrated the Kingdom of Yue.
The blue-robed man was among the younger members of the group, second only to a woman in her twenties in youth.
"Young Master, the food has arrived. Please help yourself!" Qin Ping's respectful voice reached Han Li's ear.
The waiter had swiftly set out all the dishes, filling the table to the brim.
"Hehe, let us eat together!" Han Li smiled with a somewhat embarrassed air, his mouth opening to reveal a set of clean white teeth.
Then, without further ceremony, he picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks, placed it in his mouth, and chewed vigorously. In truth, however, his Spiritual Sense had already been quietly released, closely monitoring every movement of the cultivators.
Just as Qin Ping saw Han Li begin eating and reached for his own chopsticks, the black-faced elder — the oldest among the cultivators at that table — stopped drinking. He suddenly released an invisible soundproof barrier to envelop the entire group, then spoke:
"Everyone should eat something. Since our lives are already in someone else's hands, we Five Friends of Mengshan can only take things one step at a time. No matter what, we at least avoided the fate of having our spirits scattered and destroyed. That is already better than what happened to the others."
Although the soundproof barrier was in effect and the black-faced elder kept his voice low, every word was crystal clear to Han Li. A soundproofing technique cast by a Qi Condensation stage cultivator was utterly meaningless against his astonishing Spiritual Sense.
Still, the elder's words suggested there was something worth hearing — a secret he might overhear.
Perhaps the black-faced elder's encouragement had some effect, as the two women finally ate a few mouthfuls of food in silence.
But from their distracted expressions, the food was almost certainly tasteless to them.
"Eldest Brother, are we really going to let them push us around like this? If worse comes to worst, we could secretly inform the Seven Great Sects. Surely they would be able to deal with these people!" The blue-robed man drained two cups of strong liquor in quick succession, his face twisting with resentment as he spoke.
"Cough, Fourth Brother! If only it were that simple!" The black-faced elder shook his head gently, his face filled with helplessness.
Hearing this, the youngest among them — a woman dressed in white — could not help but press further:
"Eldest Brother, why wouldn't it work? Could the Seven Great Sects really not want to eliminate these villains? You know that hundreds of fellow cultivators in the Kingdom of Yue have already fallen into their hands, one after another."
As the white-robed woman spoke, her face was full of indignation.
In contrast to the heated words of these two younger members, a man and a woman in their forties exchanged silent, bitter smiles. It seemed that the two of them understood the black-faced elder's concerns.
Han Li, listening to all of this, felt a stir of surprise, as though he had vaguely grasped something significant.
Yet his face remained perfectly calm as he took several more bites of food, drawing praise from Qin Ping at his side for having such a good appetite.
Han Li smiled with a faint flush on his cheeks, apparently realizing the impropriety of his behavior, and slowed the pace of his eating.
At the same time, the black-faced elder sighed and began to explain to the blue-robed man and the white-robed woman:
"The truth is, asking the Seven Sects for help would accomplish nothing at all."
"First of all, we independent cultivators are all too aware of the current state of the Seven Great Sects. Whether they can even repel the demonic path's invasion with all their forces already committed remains uncertain. How could they possibly spare anyone to help us independent cultivators? Moreover, these villains include Foundation Establishment stage cultivators. Sending ordinary cultivators would accomplish nothing. Otherwise, how could the five of us have been captured so quickly?"
"Secondly, even if the Seven Great Sects truly cared enough about their fellow cultivators to send people to eliminate them, we must not forget that these people have always worn masks and never revealed their true faces. Even the place where they coerced us was nothing more than a random dilapidated temple. There is simply no way to trace them. What is more, strange restrictions have been placed upon our bodies. If we do not undergo their ritual at the appointed time, we will likely die a sudden death! And can you be certain that the people from the Seven Sects would be able to remove our restrictions? Remember, since the enemy dares to let us leave so freely, their restrictions must have some unique quality to them. They are certainly not easy to break!"
As the black-faced elder spoke, his brows knit tighter and tighter, and by the end, even he was growing somewhat dispirited.
"Then are we truly going to assist a tyrant's evil deeds? Help them scheme against other cultivators?" The white-robed woman said, her face pale, clearly unwilling to do such a thing.
"Fifth Sister, just as Eldest Brother said, for now we can only take things one step at a time. Fortunately, the grace period is long enough. Hopefully, by then, we Five Friends of Mengshan will be able to devise a way to extricate ourselves that satisfies all concerns!" Another man — thin and tall, in his forties — spoke up to comfort her.
But everyone knew that these words were merely a way to quench thirst by watching plum trees. It was nothing but self-deception. They had been unable to find a good solution in the past two days — could one really be expected to materialize after several more months?
After these words were spoken, the group fell silent once more, and the heavy weight of worry settled once again upon their hearts.