CHAPTER : 5 : UNDER WATCH :
Location : Glory City : Xiao Family Estate :
After leaving the shop Xiao Ming did not wait a single minute extra and made his way towards The Clan grounds .
On the entire way he came from the market this senses were on high alert always expecting an ambush but fortunately non came .
It was only after entering the clan ground that he released a sigh of relief.
And although there was no guarantee of his safety inside the clan it was still far better than outside.
After reaching his house he opened the door and quickly went inside and sat on his bed still shocked at what happened .
' That lady in the market she looked like Xiao Yun . ' - he thought to himself .
Yes the moment he heard her cold icy voice Xiao Ming felt a sense of familiarity as if he had heard it somewhere before .
But it was when their eyes meet for a brief moment that he it clicked to him .
It was Xiao Yun the current genius of the Xiao clan .
Xiao Yun has always been a figure of great importance in the clan as her extraordinary cultivation talents were known even before Xiao Ming transmigrated to this world .
Many saw her as a prodigy which brought her both friends and foes .
But Xiao Ming saw something else because he didn't see just her talent he saw her tiredness that came from dedicated training .
One time he was just going through the clan forest he accidentally stumbled upon a scene where Xiao Yun was training .
She was drenched in sweat as she practiced with a long Jian sword .
Her movements were as fluid as water and the strength behind her strikes were strong enough to cut trees near by .
Her eyes were cold but determined and resolved to become stronger than she was currently and constantly push her limits .
It was at that time that he understood that while her talent was indeed great that alone did not make her just how strong she was and it was only apart of it that most people saw .
And the moment he saw the eyes of The Mysterious lady in the market he felt the same similarity of strength and resolve mixed with coldness that he saw in Xiao Yun's eyes .
But still a question remaind .
" What was she doing there ? And why hide like that ? " - no matter how much he thought he couldn't get the answer to this questions .
Moreover the entire thing was just his speculations and he had no way of making sure that it was indeed Xiao Yun .
" Who was that old shopkeeper ? Is he a member of our clan working for Xiao Yun . " - at this moment one after another conspiracy theories were coming in his mind .
But no answer came to his mind .
" Huh ! What have I gotten myself into ? " - he shied realising that he had just entered a situation he shouldn't have .
But whatever it was it was certainly beyond his control .
" Well atleast I got myself the storage ring I needed . " - he then looked at the ring in his hand with a smile .
To be honest the while expensive the quality of the storage ring made all the money spend over this ring worth it .
Especially now that he won't have to worry about the system transferring his rewards from the life simulation to his bed .
Earlier if he did a life simulation and got a reward and someone was watching him and suddenly the reward appeared in his bed out of nowhere , it would be highly suspicious .
But now he wouldn't face such a problem as all the rewards will be directly transferred to his storage ring.
" Well then it seems that from tommorow onwards I need to be extra careful . "
" Sigh ! And if I am not wrong the classes with the second elder will also start shortly which means I need to once again revise my time schedule . "
He sighed at the predicament and found very much similarity with his previous life where just like this he always tried to make a time table schedule but at the end it never worked and he had to do it all over again .
But once again he can't do anything about it .
From next day onwards there were some visible shifts in his daily routine .
First of all he now spend more time with the members of his clans and avoided going to his usual training ground frequently .
This obviously effected his training speed but there was nothing he can do not at least before sometime had past and he was more sure things were normal .
He needed to be sure that no one was observing him and just waiting for an opportunity .
But this also benefited him in another manner.
While training with others he started to use the evading fist technique and through combat started perfecting it's basic movements something he couldn't do before while training alone by himself .
And soon he also stabilized his Mid Qi Sensing stage after which he felt that his Dou Qi reserves has increased and his control over his Qi flow also started to improve faster than before .
During this time he also heard about the treasure map that he heard in the life simulation .
Many of the members especially those who lacked resources like him were interested in finding the map .
They even made groups to find it and some even asked Xiao Ming to join but he politely refused every time .
No way he is going to find that treasure map not after seeing what happened in the life simulation and how his journey permanently ended .
He needed to be atleast stronger than complete core formation stage to even try that .
Moreover he had other priorities right now than finding a uncertain treasure map from rumours .
His first priority right now was to reach the complete core formation stage and open the box left by his parents as soon as possible .
His parents were strong cultivators and a legacy left by them would certainly be a huge help for him .
And even if he didn't get any power boast from whatever his parents left in that box and even if it's another letter or a photo frame he would treat that as his real treasure .
As time passed the classes with the second elder also started and he became a regular attendie in the class .
But he always sat at a corner of the class as to not attract anyone's attention and certainly not because he didn't have a single friend to sit together with
During the classes he also noticed Xiao Yun at the front row but noticed nothing unusual .
And he too made no attempt at contacting her .
Leaving the fact that someone like him can't contact her and trying would mean get targeted by her fans and followers he also wanted to avoid any unnecessary attention to himself .
Soon just like this the month was about to end and he patiently waited for his next life simulation opportunity .
But being cautious was not all that he did during this time .
In his life simulation he remembered that in a few days he would have a practice fight against the grandson of the fourth elder , so he has been preparing for that .
And that day was tommorow .
At this point many people would think he should intentionally lose the fight to be seen as an ordinary weak clan member especially when he might be under watch .
But thats was a very bad idea and not only because he hated such acts where he must lose deliberately but for a more profound reason .
Because the second elder will be watching all the matches himself especially the one's where the children's of the important members of the clan are participating .
And he is not a fool who thinks he can pull off an act infront of a first star Dou Emperor .
And him deliberately losing will catch more attention from such a man then winning .
This will not only make him more suspicious but might leave a bad impression with the second elder .
So Xiao Ming had to fight with all his heart and strength .
And as for his opponent Xiao Zhan the grandson of the forth elder he was a well known genius in the clan although not on the same level as Xiao Yun.
But he had a very bad temper often using his grandfather's name to intimidate others less powerful to do his bidding .
At the same time he also picked fights for no apparent reasons not only with outsiders but with his own clan members as well .
He also showed obvious antagonistic behaviour towards Xiao Yun simply because he didn't liki her talents and how she outshined him .
He apprently challenged her multiple times but never won a single match which flamed his anger even more .
And while he lost to Xiao Yun doesn't mean he was weak no one the contrary he had just reached the Complete core formation stage a few days ago showing his great talent.
It is said that his behaviour was even supported by his grandfather the fourth elder who apprently was also in line to be a candidate for the clan head position but lost to the current clan head Xiao Yun's father .
It's said he still holds resentment towards the current clan head and the first elder over this matter .
And to be honest Xiao Ming wanted to keep his distance from such figures but fate seemed to have other plans.
" Alright let's give it my all . "
Location : Market Place : Same Old Man's Shop :
At this moment in the same shop where the incident with the mysterious lady happened the same old man was sitting in a chair talking in a low voice but no one was there except him .
But if one payed close attention they will see that this old man seemed to be talking to his own shadow .
And even more shockingly the shadow was moving as if answering his questions .
" So you are saying you didn't see any unusual behaviour from that boy in this past few days . " - the old man asked in response the shadow moved in a perticular manner as if communicating .
Unknown to Xiao Ming his intuation about being watched was correct.
And although he didn't know that he was being watched or how he was being watched his cautious preparation worked out perfectly .
" So he trains most of the day in the clan training grounds after which he also goes to a another secret location to train in private . " - the shadow nodded in agreement .
" And he also seemed to have extreme vigilance and is all ways cautious about his surroundings . "
The old man understood what the shadow was trying to say and feel silent for some time .
" Well the vigilance part might be a point to notice but except that I don't see anything suspicious . "
" From your observation at best he seems like an extremely hardly working young man with average talent in cultivation . "
With that the old man took out a scroll from his storage ring and gave it to the shadow .
" From tomorrow onwards no need to observe the boy anymore . " - he said .
" We have more important matters at hand . "
" It seems the boy from the Zhu clan Zhu Xuan has lost his cultivation talents and the engagement with the young lady is about to be canceled . " - he said .
" This is definitely going to bring a huge storm in a few days , so tell the young lady to be prepared and give this information scroll to her as soon as possible ."
With that the shadow gave a slow nod of agreement and took the scroll and vanished from the area again .
After the shadow left the old man released a sigh and looked at the night sky in silence .
Today there was a full moon and the night was truly calm just like calm before a storm .
" Young lady your future is in your hands and shouldn't be decided based on an old agreements done by some old fools . " - he said his eyes hardening in resolve .
With that a new chapter started and a new storm was incoming .
And Xiao Ming who was unaware of such developments will certainly become a part of this new situation .
To Be Continued .