Chapter 22: Poison Powder

"Hah... hah... ha- ack!"

He ran frantically. His face was red from running too much. He turned left and right, stumbled into different people, and pushed others as he tried to lose me. Even though he was out of breath, he didn't stop.

It was the peak of noon, the sun was glaringly bright. The market today was more crowded than yesterday. I would have had to apologise to every man and woman, if only I wasn't chasing someone.

Whoosh!

A large plate came for my face. I hastily titled my head and dodged it. The man who had thrown it to me made a mess of the peddler's belongings before turning to another corner.

"Move away, move away! Let me through!" I shouted and went after him.

He was going towards a maze of clay houses. I wasn't going to stop until I found him. I quickly exited the crowd and followed his trail.

I was faster than him, way faster. That man was not a practitioner, I could catch him within a minute. The man turned to any corner he could get. I didn't know why he was trying so hard.

Once again, I started hearing his rough breaths, I felt his panic. I had come close. The man looked to be in his early twenties. He was wearing skin-coloured robes, a straw hat and wooden slippers. His face wasn't anything special; the same thin beard, brown eyes, big nose, and dry lips.

"There!" I stretched my hands forward and caught his clothes. He struggled as he made sounds like a wailing dog.

"No! No! Who are... AAA-" I punched his belly.

He rolled towards a dead end. It was a light punch, he was not hurt. Even so, he dramatically waved his hands around. I could see his shoulders shaking, legs pushing the ground; making him attach his back to the clay wall.

"Why? I only said I'd seen her-"

I stepped on his legs and leaned my body over him.

"You'll tell me where this woman is now," I said, faking a deep tone. Tsk, I hated my boyish voice, I wanted to sound manly.

"No- aaaah!"

I stepped on his fingers this time.

"You don't have the option to say no. Tell me, how did she get that poison?" I asked.

He tried to peel my foot away with his other hand but failed. I took out one of my short swords and pointed it at his nose.

"I-I first saw her a-at the brothel, th-the name is Flourish House. I swear I don't know from where she g-got that powder," stuttered he, pulling his snot up. Sweat had covered his forehead.

I sheathed my sword and put more pressure to my right foot, which was over his palm.

"Without omitting a single detail, you'll tell me everything you know, or I'll cut your 'thing' into several pieces," I looked straight at him in the eye. I wasn't joking.

He gulped and carefully nodded his fat head. I saw dread in his eyes. This was a lustful man who frequented brothels. For him, being castrated was worse than dying.

I grabbed his dirty collars and pulled him up. Using the belt that I used to bind my outer robe, I tied his hands from behind.

"Walk ahead," I said, pushing him like a cool police officer who just caught a top criminal.

I led him to a shed that looked like a storeroom. It was an inhabited shed located at the periphery of the town. It had no doors.

I kicked him from behind and he fell on the sandy floor. There was a lot of trash inside; clay plates, a few firewoods, pieces of iron, charcoals, and two broken lanterns. The shed's walls had many holes, allowing rays of light to sneak in.

I pulled out my sword from my back once again. Grabbing two thick firewoods, I came before him and sat. I didn't have to say anything this time. The man spoke on his own.

"She's a prostitute there. I-I had sex with her two years ago. I don't remember how it felt, I don't remember how she looked. I was a practitioner before she sucked my cultivation essence," he galnced down.

I was idly hitting the wood with the blunt end of my sword, listening carefully.

He continued, "I do remember that she talked about the Lia flower, though. She had shown it to me, saying she would poison all of Chae family with it's powder. She... wanted to try it at me first."

"I ran away that night... that fatefu-" he sounded suspicious.

Clang!

I blocked the iron bar that he suddenly threw at me. He had somehow freed his hands, cutting my belt. He tried to grab another piece of iron but I kicked it away.

"You just signed your own death certificate," I was furious. I sheathed my sword instead.

After five minutes, I came out. Blood was neither smeared on my hands nor on my clothes. There was no change to my expression as well. I still frowned like everyone owed me millions.

I glanced back, his dead body and a small knife lay on the floor, unmoving. Sand stuck to his pale but sweaty forehead. His eyes were wide open. There were distinct finger marks on his left cheek, and on his neck.

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With that picture, anyone could imagine how he died and why there was no sound of him struggling.

...

Half an hour earlier.

"No," she said.

"Then you and me will go different ways. Is that okay with you?" I folded my hands.

She was silent. I knew my approach for her wouldn't work. She had her own moral values. Letting a man court her and making relationships with him, knowing full well that she was going to disappear after taking his money; it was kind of too much for her, and for any normal person, actually.

One had to be really greedy, ruthless and deceitful to do such kind of thing. I looked at her and found her glancing at me.

She placed her hands over her chest and said, "I can't do this... I- It's impossible!"

"No, it is necessary."

I pat her head. She was a little shorter than me.

We walked for a while and found a small tea shop. I thought there were only big buildings in this neighbourhood, I was wrong. I became curious. I wanted to taste what tea they served, so me and my sister went there.

'A cup of tea in the morning wouldn't do any harm,' thought I, only to regret ever stepping my foot there.

Everything was nice, I was doing a good job perusing Chunu. She'd even agreed to dress up nicely, and stroll this area looking like a lost maiden. However, she was adamant on looting only half of that suitor's wealth and not making him a total roadman.

'How does that work? Does she even know how difficult it is to perfectly scam a person and get away with it? There's also the matter of silencing that person. I can't let him walk away after he's seen her,' I thought.

Still, I just nodded on the outside. Our target was most likely going to be a young master from a family on par with Gang(s). I had to be prudent and carefully plan about this. It would probably take a week, I'd said two days only to shock her.

"Now, don't give any attention to random practitioners and don't even look at non-practioners. Remember, you're at rank 4 now, be more haughty," I was teaching her the basics.

It was then, the tea came. That damn tea! It ruined everything.

At a glance, it looked like the pee of someone who hadn't drank any water for two days. That yellow colour was really suspicious. Even so, we took a sip. I mean, we couldn't judge everything by their looks, could we?

"..."

"..."

It was bitter, more bitter than the rind of an old cucumber! I grabbed my cup and spat everything in it.

Chunu stood up and ran away. She would never go anywhere to eat with me after this. First the noodles in hebi-to-supu, and now this tea shop.

I slammed the cup on the table and stood up as well.

"Chu- I mean, miss Xu!" I called, not wanting to give away her real name. There were quite a few people in the tea shop. They were also having the same tea, without any problems. Even I had to admit they were professional tea-sippers.

"Hey!" I called again.

Chunu didn't listen to me. I followed her as someone behind me shouted, most likely the shop owner. He was still respectful, my cultivation was way higher. However, I didn't pay him, nor did I plan to.

'Hmph. Shit tea- no, more like pee tea.'

I started jogging and then running. How far did she run away? She seemed to have disappeared behind the next corner.

'I hate it when-' my thought was interrupted by a whisper that got caught in my ears.

"It's true. She really exists," it was a man's voice. Two men were talking in hushed voices.

"You think I'm bragging? Bah, I even know about the poison powder she has."

"I believe you pal, but isn't what you are saying like too much? Like y'know, one pinch of poison killing hundreds of cultivators... That isn't possible even in folktales," the other man said. His voice was a little louder than his pal's.

'Did I hear that right? One pinch in exchange for hundreds of lives...' my legs automatically moved towards the source of those whispers.

"I've seen her face-to-face. Heck, I even have-"

Hearing my footsteps, the men stopped whispering and looked at me. They were in an empty alleyway, that led straight to the marketplace. They seemed to be making some kind of deal, a small but shady deal.

"Hello there, would you mind if I joined in?" I smiled.. My tone was warm and friendly.

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