"Damn… bitch!" Clutching at his impaled wrist, Young Master Lan had visibly turned pale. "Xu Yan, don't just stand there!"

  Caught off guard, the man's lackey, this 'Xu Yan,' quickly regained his composure and drew his weapon. "Don't hold this against me, you killed yourself here!"

  When Jun Li saw the way the man drew and held his sword, the concern she felt about getting into a fight faded.

  "Ah…" Jun Li almost laughed, and couldn't stop the corners of her mouth from crooking up. "...I wouldn't bother, really, you should probably just leave at this point."

  Jun Li's words had no effect, and the lackey maintained a serious posture, ready to cut Jun Li down if she made a move. "Well, I guess if it's your livelihood at stake, then you can't exactly bail, huh?"

  Feeling a bit of pity for the difficult situation the man in front of her was in, Jun Li stood up and spoke, directing her gaze towards a distant edge of the restaurant. "Do you two mind if I take this fight? I wouldn't want to overstep."

  Deeper into the restaurant, the two cultivators in green robes perked up, with the young woman speaking first. "Oh? You're sharp to understand things so quickly. Well, sure, I don't mind at least."

  "Just don't kill anyone." The young man to her side added, seemingly unbothered.

  Standing between Jun Li and Young Master Lan, the expression of this 'Xu Yan' soured as he overheard.

  Feeling he was being treated as a mere nuisance, he was furious and gripped his sword with more malice than was warranted by his professional obligations.

  Within an instant, Xu Yan closed the gap between himself and Jun Li, his sword mere inches from her neck before she had moved even an inch.

  "Ugh." With contempt in her gaze, Jun Li shifted near imperceptibly, swaying just out of the sword's arc and allowing it to swipe a hair's breadth from her throat. "You really shouldn't extend your arm so completely. It's too easy to gauge your reach like that."

  Watching Xu Yan's pursuing movements, Jun Li's interest was piqued when his steps fell out of standard rhythm and into an odd pattern.

  For an instant, he swayed with unnatural speed to Jun Li's left, only to suddenly appear at her right, his sword slashing towards Jun Li before her eyes could re-focus onto him.

  "Not bad." Jun Li spoke calmly, gripping tightly onto Xu Yan's wrist, stilling his sword mid-motion. "But a bit of a gimmick."

  "You know…" Jun Li twisted Xu Yan's wrist further, causing him to hiss in pain and instinctively yield control of his arm.

  "...If you don't know how to use a sword…" Jun Li pulled Xu Yan's wrist closer to herself, inverting the direction of the sword's blade and shoving it towards him.

  "...Then it's stronger in the sheath." Staggering backward and landing on the floor, Xu Yan looked down at himself in alarm, only to realize that his sword had not been forced into his body, but back into its sheath.

  "You…!" Clambering to his feet, Xu Yan, now more indignant than ever, tried to draw his sword again, only to find it stuck. "Huh!?"

  At the edge of the sword's hilt, a thick ring of ice had sealed his sword completely in the sheath. 'Sorcery…!?'

  Feeling now how thoroughly Jun Li had suppressed him, not merely in public, but without inflicting so much as a bruise or a scratch, Xu Yan's face alternated between white and red.

  "I…" Now looking towards Jun Li in genuine uncertainty, Xu Yan quickly dashed towards his stunned Young Master and grabbed him by the collar of his robe before rushing out the door of the establishment, confident that Jun Li wouldn't bother to follow.

  Watching them leave, Jun Li felt a bit odd. "I'll probably have to leave sooner rather than later…" Walking over to her table under the many gazes of the restaurant, Jun Li grabbed a few items to go, keeping Little Yun in mind.

  "Martial Cousin, are you headed north?" Having stepped up from their seats, the two Cultivators in green robes approached Jun Li with some interest.

  'Cousin?' Taking a better look at the pair, Jun Li noticed they shared a similarly elaborate design on their green robes, featuring verdant foliage enveloping and entangling blades of all shapes and sizes.

  She sensed neither hostility nor deep scrutiny in the pair's manner and answered simply. "That's right, are you?" Stepping back towards her table, Jun Li picked up the cup of tea she had been served, wanting to try most of what she could before she had to leave.

  "Indeed!" The young man of the pair spoke, looking to be in a good mood. "Really, what good fortune it is to find someone else headed towards the Earth Dragon's Grave, and a cousin from the Frost River Sect, too!"

  That single sentence caused a spike of tension in Jun Li's mind. Not born of any fear or anxiety, but born from the potential value of what had just been said.

  'Earth Dragon's Grave, what is that? It sounds important… An event? Some sort of special resource? And the Frost River Sect? He would call a cultivator of another sect 'cousin?' Why?'

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  Within only a moment, Jun Li had decided how to proceed. "...Indeed. I suppose I made myself a bit obvious with that spell." Jun Li feigned a degree of embarrassment.

  "Forgive me for my lack of courtesy. I am Jun Li, of the Frost River Sect." Calmly lying, Jun Li gave a short bow alongside a fist-and-palm salute. "And these two cousins might be?"

  Eagerly returning the courtesy, the pair gave a short bow back, with the young woman speaking first. "I am Qian Ruo, of the Emerald Blade Pavilion." Followed by the young man. "And I am Yuan Bolin, similarly of the Emerald Blade Pavilion."

  More interesting to Jun Li than the names of these two Cultivators was the name of their Sect. 'The Emerald Blade Pavilion… that's the local sect this town has connections to, isn't it? I suppose that makes sense.'

  If proper disciples of a local sect had come to this town, which was surely no destination of import, they must either be local to the area, Cultivators related to the local ruling clan, or were passing through on their way to some more important location.

  Therefore, it was reasonable that this duo from the Emerald Blade Pavilion would assume Jun Li to be headed for this 'Earth Dragon's Grave' they had mentioned.

  They had no reason to assume that they had mis-spoken, or that they might have revealed sensitive information to a potentially unrelated party.

  Pushing down the anxiety that came with taking a risk, Jun Li spoke boldly. "Well, if we three are headed in the same direction, perhaps it would be best to travel together for a time?"

  Imperceptibly, Jun Li's eyes scrutinized the pair as she spoke, making sure her words had caused no amount of suspicion or confusion.

  Jun Li believed that, if merely the notion of traveling together was unthinkable for a trip to this 'Earth Dragon's Grave,' it would surely be too sensitive and controlled an area for her to infiltrate.

  "Well…" Yuan Bolin looked to his partner for a moment, and, detecting no conflict of understanding, smiled at Jun Li. "Sure, why not? The more the merrier when traveling the Jianghu."

  His manner displayed no doubt or concern. "I suppose you'll want to head out soon, considering your little scuffle with the Lan Clan's Young Master?"

  For this question, Jun Li didn't need to act. "Right… I'm not sure if anyone around here really cares enough about that idiot to try and get revenge on his behalf, but I don't really want to stick around and find out."

  Yuan Bolin laughed lightly at Jun Li's words. "Haha, yes, perhaps that would be wise!" To his side, Qian Ruo spoke softly. "Mm… There's little sense in our lingering here either. Shall we head out right away?"

  Jun Li was almost startled by how easily her proposition was accepted, and tried to play her part. "Then, Senior Cousins, I'll follow your lead."

  In Jun Li's heart, her only complaint was that she had not been afforded the time to properly sample from all of the various dishes she had brought from this establishment.

  … … … … … …

  For a time, Jun Li followed her new acquaintances out of the city, through grassy plains, and over the gently rolling hills of this territory well beyond the mountain range that isolated the Zhao Kingdom from the Jianghu.

  Silently following from a distance, Little Yun remained out of the perception of the duo from the Emerald Blade Pavilion. If Jun Li wasn't aware of Little Yun's presence beforehand, she likely wouldn't have been able to perceive them either.

  Over the few hours the trio had travelled together, Jun Li had learned some valuable pieces of information. All the while, the duo did not realize they were, in fact, teaching Jun Li a great deal.

  For example, this 'Earth Dragon's Grave' was apparently a 'great opportunity, even if you're unable to make the cut yourself.' And that Yuan Bolin still couldn't believe that 'nobody could claim last decade's drop,' whatever that meant.

  Even if the information was scattered and assumed Jun Li knew more than she did, it was still profoundly interesting to her. 'So, three Sects are sending disciples of the Crimson Palace realm to some 'Earth Dragon's Grave,' for… some sort of once-a-decade event?'

  It was a deeply enticing prospect. What manner of resource could cause a trio of Sects to peacefully get along and send their disciples to share in its benefits? And could Jun Li skim away some of those benefits for herself?

  As the terrain became more and more rugged, the trio eventually reached an overlooking cliff that led into more complex, mountainous lands, Yuan Bolin spoke. "Ah! I think that's the forest? The Earth Dragon's Grave should be located in a ravine beyond that."

  He had gathered his companion's attention and directed it towards a heavily wooded area, nestled between jutting pillars of sandstone that had weathered the trial of natural erosion and emerged as needle-like mountains.

  That forest was so dense and secluded that, from above, it was impossible to tell it held any import to anyone. Jun Li certainly would not have guessed at such a thing if she had traveled past naturally.

  When Yuan Bolin and Qian Ruo looked down from the short cliff they stood upon, scrutinizing the forest below for any signs of other disciples having passed before them, Jun Li felt her blood cool.

  'Should I…?' Thinking half-thoughts to herself, Jun Li filled her Spatial Ring with a thin thread of Qi, readying herself to bring forth her sword.

  If Jun Li were to kill this pair where they stood, there would be nobody else in the world who knew of 'Jun Li, the Frost River Sect disciple.' And she would be free to refine her story further before entering the forest that preceded the Earth Dragon's Grave.

  '...Well… I suppose they've been nothing but polite so far.' With that flimsy reasoning, Jun Li let out a sigh and abandoned her intent.

  "Ah! I've got a friend who said they'd be waiting for me near one of the outermost sandstone pillars…" Jun Li feigned some manner of remembrance and embarrassment before calling out to the duo who had led her here.

  "Thank you for your company on the way here, but it should be fairly safe from here on out, right?" At Jun Li's words, the pair were only innocently surprised.

  "Ah, yes, I imagine the forest should be fairly safe. There should be the encampment a bit further in, too…" Qian Ruo spoke, before Yuan Bolin followed up. "It's a shame we have to part ways, Martial Cousin! But I thank you for your good company on the journey here!"

  "Please, I should be the one to thank you." Jun Li spoke, offering a short bow, hiding laughter in her heart. 'That's no exaggeration… without you, I never would have found out about this place…'

  With those pleasantries, Jun Li stepped off the short cliff, gently landing on and hopping off narrow outcroppings that an untrained eye would not consider 'solid ground.'

  'Well, I'll just have to consider those two as hazards.' Jun Li thought to herself, concocting a plan in her mind as she mentally shifted through her Spatial Ring. 'These should be the robes of the Frost River Sect… and this old Jade Slip…'

  'Let's see if I can't pass as this 'Kang Shi' for the moment…'