She had been thinking the Grand Commander stayed with them because he recognized that they needed him, not knowing that he had no choice but to stay with them. She almost felt her world crumble in front of her.
"Yes, he can't. You might know that the Azure Sky kingdom is North but if you enter the Heiwood forest and head straight north, well in simpler terms, you are walking to your death. Because of the multiple terrifying abominations who have territories straight north. But there is a path, which is only known to those that traveled the route occasionally, avoiding the territories of the fiends. Now how often do you see a special Heavenly Realm expert that is going exactly where you want to go." Jing Tu explained.
But Chi Xianyan vaguely listened as she was still a little dazed by what she had heard. Jing Tu understood this, so he explained in order for there to be no confusion.
" About the Grand Commander, even in the Azure Sky kingdom and other kingdoms, the Heavenly Core Realm is not a common occurrence. They are well respected, and I am sure the Grand Commander would have had a few chances to leave the Azure Alliance. He would probably have taken it if it came at the time he just became a Heavenly Core cultivator, but now millions of people adore him across the Azure Alliance, they even host a festival in his honor, so he can't leave."
Hearing this, Chi Xianyan calmed down "I understand what you are saying, but there is still one more important problem; the beast waves, though it has been a while since the last one, we can't be sure it has ended and I can't leave if those people are not safe." Chi Xianyan voice was filled with an aura of noble justice.
" So you have decided to tag along... good. Since he is from the Southern mountains, he should probably know what is causing the beast waves. And if he lets me come with him, I will try to stall as long as possible till we get the matter solved." Jing Tu stated.
"I can't believe we made all this preparation and arrangements on an 'if', " Chi Xianyan slightly downcasted that their entire life could be decided by someone else's whim.
"Anyway, Why did you come here?You obviously didn't plan the conversation to go this way," Jing Tu asked as he continued packing a few of his personal belongings in the office.
"Oh that, well there was a sighting of the Lightning god in Silvercrane village. Something to do with one of the major families." Chi Xianyan said awkwardly, finally fulfilling her purpose of coming to his office.
"Shit!, and you couldn't start with that," Jing Tu shouted, already at the door.
"Just the two of us would go this time, so as not to draw attention, we don't want to disappear again." Jing Tu said as he led them to the building's back entrance that was rarely used.
---
Getting to the inn where the fat man was last seen, they asked the lady at the front desk for his room number which she was happy to give them. After collecting the number and direction, they left for the room.
"Are you sure about this?" Chi Xianyan asked solemnly, as she thought there was no turning back if they went through with this.
"No" Jing Tu answered honestly, he knew the consequences of their actions. If they followed this stranger, they don't know what he would do to them or how they would end up. But the Lightning God letting him live, even though he goes up there to disturb him every year has to mean something, right? Because from what he knew, expert were very eccentric creatures especially the ones in seclusion, they could just kill someone because they were having a bad day.
"And you still want to go through with this?" She question again.
"Yes" He replied. He was already having internal struggle, but it was too late -they were already at the door.
As he raised his hand to knock, the door swung open, and the fat man that Jing Tu had heard so much about but never seen came out with a black cat in hand. He looked so normal, almost like an ordinary human with no Qi fluctuation. Even at the peak of the Grandmaster realm he could not see through his cultivation which meant he was either very weak or very strong and he obviously knew he was not weak. Finally, there was a positive in this situation; the person he has decided to follow was very strong-- at least his definition of very strong. He was almost smiling but was met back with a slight sense of hostility.
"Ohh, it is the boy scouts." The pot bellied man said in a low tone as he came out of the room. But they heard him clearly and could sense the slight irritation in the voice.
Chi Xianyan glanced at Jing Tu, her look conveying if he understood what boy scouts meant to which he shook his head. While they were exchanging looks, the pot bellied man was growing more impatient by the second. Not being able to take it anymore, " what do you want? I don't think we have any business with each other." He asked in a not-so-pleasant tone
Jing Tu, seeing that they got off on the wrong foot and not knowing why, quickly tried to mediate. " We just want to talk" he said, trying to ease the tension.
"Talk? If you wanted to talk you would have followed these few simple steps; you enter the inn, give a name or description, and tell the receptionist to inform the said name or description that they have guests, which the said name or description will then decide whether or not he wanted to meet the guests. Not barging into someone else's room, don't you have a sense of privacy." The pot bellied man lectured.
"We would never have barged in, we you would have just knocked and waited for you to come out". Chi Xianyan countered, she was still in the Azure guards and if word got out that they treat people without respect or sense of privacy, it could damage their reputation. Though none of the other customers had come out of their rooms, it was obvious they could hear some of the things they were saying, so she had to protect the Azure guards' name.
"Oh, so the room key with you is just a decoration, who would have thought." He said, his voice laced with sarcasm.
Chi Xianyan was furious, she has never met someone so hateful. Even her superiors would treat her with her respect, whenever she met someone they would quickly shower her with praises for her beauty and talent. There were tens of thousands of men drooling over her in the entire Azure Alliance, and a lot of them couldn't even talk to her without stammering –not that she liked being objectified, but it was better than feeling like nothing like this man made her feel. He has only glanced at her once, not because of he was shy, but out of utter disregard for her as the weaker of the two. In other words, she wasn't worth looking at.
She was so angry that even when she tried to hide it, her body was still visibly shaking.
"I make it a habit not to talk to strangers." The pot bellied man stated, signifying that the conversation was over as he ignored Chi Xianyan reaction.
"Strangers? I'm Jing Tu and she is Chi Xianyan, see we are not strangers." Jing Tu said with a slight smile.
The pot bellied man looked at him like he was staring at a rock. Even the angry Chi Xianyan shot him a weird look.
"What, I'm supposed to tell you know my name, we would then go to tavern across the street, get drunk, and be friends forever." The pot bellied man replied with another sarcastic remark as he changed from the inn's slippers back into his sandals, preparing to leave.
"Are you leaving already? what about your room?." Jing Tu said, looking for ways to persuade him not to go. But the pot bellied man couldn't care less.
"Keep it" the pot bellied man replied.
They heard him murmur something about poor security, zero privacy and it being better to sleep on the street, as he finished wearing his scandals and started walking down the hallway towards the exit.
"I'm sorry sir, but you can't leave until we fulfill our purpose of coming here today" Chi Xianyan said calmly, even though her early stage Grandmaster aura
has flared and she already gripped the hilt of her sheathed sword.