Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Xia Fan didn’t feel very tired even though he didn’t sleep the entire night. As compared to the physical burden he experienced, the mental stress was more overwhelming. Now that the fox demon had fallen asleep and his stress was gone, he felt relieved.
That was probably the advantage of being young, Xia Fan exclaimed. When he was in university, he stayed up every night. However, after stepping into the workforce, he felt extremely sleepy after midnight and needed a few days to recover from staying up overnight. He didn’t expect to reach his peak of youth again.
His stomach rumbled as he looked at the empty bowl of porridge.
After cleaning the house, Xia Fan went straight to the lobby and ordered twice as much food as usual.
“Sir, enjoy your meal.” The waiter quickly served his breakfast.
As compared to yesterday’s atmosphere of suspicion and caution, the lobby was much quieter today. It might be because he woke up early, but he was the only person in the entire room, and it felt as though he booked the place.
It seemed that there were advantages for waking up early too.
However, this sense of ease turned into uneasiness when Xia Fan ate his second steamed bun.
How long had he been in the lobby?
15 minutes? Or longer…
Nobody had stepped into the lobby this entire time, be it from upstairs or from outside. The spirit fire was only visible at night, and quite a few people should have gone out to observe it overnight. It should be the right time for them to return. In the day, they would be busy collecting the spirit fire, and they should have left as early as they could before the wealthy families. It was the time for the human traffic flow, how would it be possible to have nobody exiting or entering the lobby?
Xia Fan slowly put down his bun and picked up his wooden sword.
Just as he was about to return to his room, two disciples from the Luo family appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
They stood side by side and blocked the passage behind them.
Then, someone else walked hurriedly into the lobby and blocked the exit door. These candidates were all wearing the blue robe of the Luo family and looking at Xia Fan.
Their synchronized actions caused Xia Fan to instantly realize that this had all been planned.
It wasn’t because he woke up too early. It was because the Luo family had controlled the human traffic of the inn in advance.
They were waiting for the moment he entered the lobby!
“Indeed, your observation skill is better than I expected.” Luo Qingqing appeared at the entrance of the lobby and said in a beautiful voice, “Unfortunately, you used it inappropriately.”
Although her tone was calm, Xia Fan heard the frustration she was suppressing.
No way, they found out that it was him so quickly?
Moreover, they made such big moves. Clearly, the Luo family was extremely confident. It would be to his disadvantage if he continued to deny it.
Thinking about that, Xia Fan admitted, “I’m very curious, how did you find out?”
“Luo You’er!”
“Yes, Senior,” said a girl with curly short hair hurriedly. “It’s the smell! I smelt your scent.”
These familiar words caused Xia Fan to become dazed for a moment. “What?”
She touched her nose. “I’m able to track smells within ten miles. The thief entered the room through the window and was at my senior’s bed…”
“Cut to the chase!” Luo Qingqing interrupted with clenched teeth.
“Oh.” Luo You’er embarrassingly stuck out her tongue. “Anyway, according to the smell, I found the source in room 129. The staff also said that only one person is living in the room, and that’s you!”
So, that was why.
Xia Fan shrugged. “The examination doesn’t have a rule that says I cannot use this technique. Moreover, this is the lobby of the inn. If you attack me here, aren’t you afraid of violating the mystic examination rules? For a bottle of spirit fire, do you really have to do so much?”
“For the… spirit fire?” Luo Qingqing pulled out her wooden sword and said, “Shameless! You still have the nerve to say this… I thought you were a nice person, but I didn’t expect you to be so despicable!”
“Hold on, is it that serious?”
“More talk is useless!” With a quiet shout, she dashed towards Xia Fan. The shadow of her sword was like a lightning strike shooting towards his neck.
Xia Fan could only wave his sword to fight, attempting to defeat the other party with his strength.
However, the two swords did not meet. Luo Qingqing’s sword tip merely touched the sword body slightly before sliding away. It was as though she was using that to stab Xia Fan.
Xia Fan’s expression changed immediately, and he let go of the sword hilt to avoid the attack. Meanwhile, he changed his hand, grabbed onto the center of the sword, and threw the wooden sword at Luo Qingqing like a hammer.
However, this unexpected move did not cause any problem to Luo Qingqing. She moved swiftly and avoided the counterattack.
After one round, Xia Fan was already at a disadvantage.
After all, if it was a real sword, he couldn’t grab the blade with his hand and would have lost his weapon in one move. The outcome of the match was obvious.
Was that the capability of the talent of the Luo family?
The next few exchanges confirmed it. The woman in front of him was different from the other people he had fought in the past. In terms of swordplay, she was so comfortable with it that her technique made up for the lack of power. She was a truly well-trained fighter.
On the other hand, Xia Fan, who was trying to deal with the continuous attacks, was a little stretched.
“Hiss…”
Another slanted slash after a shake, Luo Qingqing charged forward with her sword and aimed it at Xia Fan’s chest.
Xia Fan tried to turn sideways as much as possible, and the wooden sword barely scraped past his skin, causing a large tear on his shirt. The medicine bag and other miscellaneous items immediately dropped out from his inner pocket.
He knew that it was bad. Even though Luo Qingqing was holding a wooden sword, it wouldn’t be any better if he was stabbed. If he was unlucky, he might suffer from broken bones.
He would eventually lose!
The problem was, how should he counterattack?
Although he was quite proficient in fighting techniques after being taught by his master, it didn’t mean that those were the only things he knew. As the minority who was able to sense Qi, spells were his trump card.
However, the spells… were considered “shock” tactics and were very difficult to control. Moreover, after his refinement, performing them could be fatal. Unless it was the last resort, Xia Fan didn’t want to use it on a candidate from the same batch.
It was too ridiculous for him to risk his life for a bottle of spirit fire.
Moreover, Xia Fan merely took a bottle of her source of spirit fire, why must she be so unreasonable and call him “shameless” and “despicable”?
Hold on… Xia Fan suddenly realized that he missed out on something important.
“Your observation skill is better than I expected. Unfortunately, you used it inappropriately.”
“The thief entered the room through the window and was at my senior’s bed…”
The conversation rang in his head.
So, the bedroom was Luo Qingqing’s?
Hey hey, this can’t be… Did he infiltrate a woman’s bedroom after knocking out the crowd?
“Stop, stop for a moment!” Xia Fan shouted after barely dodging the attack. “Do you think I did some disrespectful thing to you?”
Luo Qingqing stumbled and her moves became a mess.
“What else?” yelled Luo You’er. “When Senior woke up in the morning, she found her blanket on the floor. From the smell, it also shows that you were near the bed for the longest time…”
“Shut up!” Luo Qingqing shot her a killing stare.
Luo You’er immediately covered her mouth.
Xia Fan was shocked. So, that was the reason!
“Please don’t accuse the innocent.” He dodged the sword and defended himself. “I didn’t realize someone was lying on the bed when I went in, how could I have possibly done that kind of thing? Moreover, the bottle was hidden beneath the bed, it was natural for me to stay near the bed for the longest time! As for the blanket dropping… Why can’t it be kicked off by yourself?”
“Wah… Senior, he’s so thick-skinned.” Luo You’er lamented.
“Of course, you won’t admit it. I didn’t expect you to admit it too.” Luo Qingqing raised her sword again while gritting her teeth. “The mystic examination states that I cannot kill another candidate, but I can definitely severely injure you!”
“What if I can provide proof?”
This caused Luo Qingqing to stop.
“What proof?”
“Smell.” Xia Fan pointed at her junior. “You use the scent bag, right? If I really did anything to you, I would have been very close to you and would have caught a similar scent on my body. You can just ask your junior to smell me carefully.”
“However, the staff said you asked for a tub of hot water at night,” mumbled Luo You’er. “Who knows if you washed up?”
F*ck, why do the staff say anything as long as they receive benefits… Do they still care about their guests’ privacy?
“Look at me now. Do you think I look like I have washed up?”
“…” Luo Qingqing said after pausing for a while, “Whether he has washed up or not, you should know after smelling him.”
“Ugh, but Senior…”
“Go, I want the most detailed answer.” She narrowed her eyes and said, “Junior.”
Luo You’er shuddered as she felt the killing intent in her words. She could only walk towards Xia Fan helplessly.
After walking near, she took out a piece of mint leaf and placed it in front of her before saying softly, “Wind Technique, Dog Form!”
The leaf instantly turned into a puff of green smoke.
Luo You’er inhaled the smoke and sniffed Xia Fan for a while with an increasingly complicated expression.
“So?” Luo Qingqing’s voice became colder. It seemed as though she would immediately attack once her junior said yes.
“Erm… Senior, there’s no scent of yours on his body.”
“What?” She stepped back and asked, “Are you sure?”
“There shouldn’t be a mistake since I’m smelling from such a close distance.” Luo You’er shrugged. “Moreover, not only did he not take a bath, but I think he never stopped moving last night.”
“Why so?” asked Luo Qingqing.
“There’s a stench of decay, mud, grass, and… blood.” She ran back towards her senior. “Where did you go afterward?”
“I accidentally fell when I was returning. Thankfully, I was close to the ground.” Xia Fan made up an excuse. “Now, you finally believe me, right? To be honest, I diverted all my attention to finding the bottle, I didn’t even realize whether the person lying on the bed was a man or a woman.”
“But you still went in,” said Luo Qingqing with a deep voice.
“Yes, without knowing anything. I’m deeply apologetic for that.” Xia Fan could completely understand her frustration. In this era, the reputation of an unmarried girl was a very serious matter. If it was mishandled, it would cause lifelong misery. “I won’t tell anyone about this, as long as your fellow disciples—” He just realized that all the surrounding disciples were female disciples from the Luo family. “As long as they don’t say anything, nobody will know about this.”
After a long while, Luo Qingqing nodded.
She was also obviously relieved.
“The bottle of spirit fire…”
“It’s the dereliction of duty on the part of the disciples who were supposed to guard it overnight. I will deduct their allocation quota.” Luo Qingqing returned to her usual self. “As for whether they will come and bother you, I won’t interfere.”
“And the things in the inn…” Xia Fan looked at the messy state of the lobby. Luo Qingqing was obviously angry just now and did not care about the furniture.
“As long as I compensate for the damages, it won’t be considered violating the rules. The Luo family will settle it.”
Indeed… She noticed the loophole, or rather, the “trap” in the rules.
“Also, for your shirt, I will ask the staff to give you a new one.” Luo Qingqing coughed. “Whatever happened today… I have also…” Halfway through her sentence, her voice became so soft that one couldn’t hear it.
“Are you saying that you have also gone overboard?” Luo You’er tilted her head and said, “If your voice is too soft, he won’t be able to hear it.”
Of course, Luo Qingqing gave her junior a heavy slap.
“I shall take my leave first.” Luo Qingqing kept her wooden sword.
“I won’t send you off.”
Xia Fan was unable to be as fast as Luo Qingqing. He had to pick up the herbs he had dropped.
At this moment, Luo Qingqing, who had stepped towards the stairs, stopped again and looked at him in shock. “Hold on!”
“What’s the matter?”
He felt a blur before his eyes. Luo Qingqing had squatted in front of him and pinched out a piece of metal from the scattered clutter on the ground.
“This… where did you get this from?”
Luo Qingqing’s expression seemed more serious than before.