CHAPTER 51
The Beginning Of A New Arc: Veiled Twins.
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~Unknown World~
Time flowed like water, and in a flash, a month went by.
For Lu Xie, however, this month was a mix of luxury and frustration. Her plan to remain a "ghost"—staying in incognito mode until she regained her strength—had completely collapsed.
Through careful observation, she had compiled a list of the strange rules governing her new life:
First, she was required to wear a veil before leaving her room, even if it was just to stroll around the courtyard. She found this inexplicably strange, but she complied nonetheless to avoid suspicion.
Second, she had somehow become a popular figure. She wasn't sure how, but she had a guess—a guess she didn't dare verify just yet.
Third, she possessed zero freedom. She couldn't go anywhere by herself and needed a conspicuous, massive entourage to escort her. Even if it was just to take a single step outside her door, they were always present, hovering like they had nothing better to do with their lives.
This large entourage was ridiculous in scale.
It consisted of several maids, the most prominent being two she had nicknamed "Left Hand Maid" and "Right Hand Maid," simply because they always stood to her left and right sides. They were also the only two allowed to see her face without the veil.
Beyond the maids were four guards dressed in casual yet high-quality wares, with swords adorning their waists. Following them were eight guards clad in golden armor and sixteen in silver armor. They resembled moving metal statues, stalking her every move.
But the four in casual wear were the ones to watch. They moved like ghosts, always catching up to her no matter how many times she tried to slip away. She could only smile sheepishly whenever she was caught with the four would answer with a sheepish smile of their own.
Yet, the weirdest part of the entourage was the large group of people—young and old, men and women—all dressed in creamy-white robes adorned with jade headwear. They followed her all day with their heads bowed into their hands, walking in a posture that looked like a "mid-air kowtow."
'How do they even see where they are going?' This had surprisingly been the top question bugging her for weeks.
In total, nearly a hundred people followed her simply to walk down a hallway.
Fourth, he was now certain she was nowhere close to the Yin-Yang Dynasty, the Yin-Yang City, or even the Domain of the Celeste. The constellations here were wrong. The Qi felt different. How that happened, only the Heavens knew.
The only good news was that she had started to decode their strange language. It was difficult, lacking any direct transcript or books to consult, but she could now understand and speak basic words, though her fluency was roughly that of a toddler.
Despite the restrictions, there were benefits. She was living the life of a Princess—or perhaps something higher. The guess she didn't dare verify lingered in her mind: Am I the leader of a cult?
Whatever the truth, she intended to enjoy the luxury to the max.
As another night fell, blanketing the sky in darkness, Lu Xietong retired for the day. She was exhausted from "mental scheming"—a new art she had been practicing constantly for the past month from trying to devise an escape plan, but to no avail.
It made her realize a painful truth: even millenniums of experience couldn't cover for a lack of raw talent for schemes.
Deep in the night, a sleeping Lu Xie—dreaming of all the riches the world could offer—was rudely awakened by the maid she nicknamed "Left Hand Maid," whose real name she believed was Rachna.
Rachna was rambling, her words coming too fast for the half-asleep Lu Xie to fully comprehend.
"Mmph..." Lu Xie groaned, burying her face in the pillow.
But the urgency in Rachna's voice was palpable. It wasn't a wake-up call; it was a panic.
Reluctantly, Lu Xie sat up on her plush bed.
Seeing she had successfully woken her charge, Rachna wasted no time. She grabbed Lu Xie's wrist and dragged her towards a section of the wall. To Lu Xie's widened eyes, a secret door clicked open—one she was discovering for the first time.
Rachna pulled her through dark, narrow corridors Lu Xie never knew existed.
As the fog of sleep cleared, Lu Xie's ears picked up a sound she knew all too well.
Clang! Schwing! Boom!
The faint but unmistakable sound of blades conversing and Qi exploding could be heard from outside.
Lu Xie finally became fully awake, roused by the violent tug and the sounds of violence.
"What's going on now?!" Lu Xie lamented. "Trouble really never sleeps!"
Rachna yanked the final door open, leading them out into the cool night air. But what met Lu Xie's eyes was a shocking sight.
The beautiful flower garden that blessed her quarters with fragrance had been trashed.
Six men in black robes, wielding massive greatswords, were in a deadlock with the guards of her entourage. The "casual ghosts" were fighting fiercely, while the golden and silver armored guards were holding the perimeter.
Now, it struck her why there were so many guards. It wasn't just to watch her; it was because she was a walking target.
'Alas! My guess was right. I really am the leader of this secret cult. But how?'
'They are clearly mistaking me for someone else who has definitely offended these black-robed men. It certainly doesn't look like they came to chat over tea and pies.'
Lu Xie lamented her fate. She was currently powerless, her Qi still sealed tight.
"Darn you! I have been comfortable for too long," she swore at herself.
After a brief reading of the situation, she no longer resisted Rachna. Instead, she matched the maid's pace, running as fast as her bare feet could take her.
But to her dismay, she had only run a few meters before a shadow flickered.
A figure in black landed silently, blocking her path.
"And then there were seven... No! Eight," she corrected herself, her expression turning serious.
She spotted another figure in black sitting leisurely on a roof not too far away, swinging his legs.
Although this duo had covered their faces with black hat veils, a bamboo hats with dark fabric draping down obscuring their faces, their physiques were too similar. She could tell instantly—they were likely twins.
These two seemed to be the leaders of this operation. Their auras were different from the six older men fighting the guards. These two felt young—probably not much older than her current body—but their presence was sharper, more refined.
"Wow!"
The black figure standing before Lu Xie exclaimed, his voice sounding youthful and amused.
"You must have really lost your memories to actually go out without a veil. But that makes me lucky."
He tilted his head, seemingly examining her face through his own veil. Then, he turned his head slightly toward the roof.
"Say, Brother, aren't we lucky to see the face of one of us Seven?"
The figure on the roof hardly turned. He continued fiddling with a piece of straw between his fingers, looking utterly bored.
"Make it quick," the brother on the roof said, his voice cold and devoid of interest. He didn't even look in their direction.
Lu Xie was startled.
'What is their deal with the veil?'
'What Seven am I a part of?'
'What am I plunging into?'
The assassin in front of her raised a hand, energy gathering at his fingertips.
In that moment of life and death, Lu Xietong performed a miracle of linguistics. Digging deep into the limited vocabulary she had scraped together over the last month, she looked him dead in the eye.
In broken, halting language, she uttered three words with the gravity of an Empress.
"Who... are... you?"