Aimless Ascension

"Please, wake up! We are in trouble!"

Gale rose to wakefulness, hearing her plea. His mind was still prickling with a headache, as he rose to his feet in confusion.

"Attack? Where?" he questioned, finding Sumei next to him.

Sumei calmed down a little after he woke up, but was not completely relieved.

"There," she said, pointing towards. She pointed to the eastern side of the farm.

Of course, none of them could see even with the slightest indication of an attack as it was quite far away with the drifting mist and fog obstructing their vision, hiding whatever was going on in that direction.

"I went for a walk and noticed the disarray in energy flow and sparkling script constructs shaking," Sumei said. "They are at it for some time now, I don't know how long the defence mechanism will be held up."

A frown crawled up in Gale's brows immediately. He didn't say anything to free her from her worry. Instead, he cast his Qi sense and pushed the art eastwards. The periphery of the Stormhold was about a couple of Li in that direction, so he needed to exert utmost effort in picking up anything.

It turned out there really was something going on as Gale easily noticed the disarray in energy flow and his formation cracking up.

"There was no alarm?" Gale turned the direction of his Qi Sense inwardly inside the mansion.

"Alarm? I sensed nothing of that sort," Sumei answered.

Gale confirmed her words, checking on the formation control hub. He found nothing amiss in the hub with the basic inspection of his Qi.

"They are probably using some Stealth formation or artefact to conceal their doings," Gale remarked. Well, it was pretty hard to hack the formation, but not unachievable. They would need a damn experienced scriber who specialised in breaking formations. But even with that, they wouldn't be able to conceal everything when they reach the climax of their work.

'Someone of such calibre and resources,' he thought, wondering who could be attacking his base.

A few of his old enemies had such means, but they weren't aware of the situation. To many people, he was as good as dead, but he could understand a couple of them pulling all their effort into making sure he really was dead.

Then there was the Han Family. Well, they are one of the noble houses of Tianhui, and should have the means, but Gale had signed the terms for a duel with Han Shitian, he wasn't sure they would do something so drastic within a week.

Then again, if his experience with the high-class people of this world had taught him anything, they were quick to get infuriated and errantic.

Gale could see them coming up with a big move to end this situation completely. No need to wait for a year to get their prized fate lock.

"Gale?" Sumei called him, anxiety jittering her expression. "Aren't you going to do something?"

Gale turned to face her, as another suspicion came to his mind.

Could those people, could they be after her? There was a valid chance of that, as Sumei clearly gave the vibe that she was hiding from something.

"Yes," Gale said, "come with me."

Gale shot a few strands of Qi into the door to unlock it and scurried inside. He didn't stop until he reached the control room on the ground floor, Sumei following him quickly.

The whole room was lit with arrays of spirit scripts, various levers and switches to turn things on and off.

"I really regret not completing my project," Gale muttered as he pulled on a few of the levers and switched on the switches, as rich Qi started to flow through the script formation, re-establishing the defence mechanism system to its fullest potential.

But the damage was already done.

He found he, a few blocks of formation on the eastern side, wasn't acting like they were a part of it, probably because they were almost reaching the complication of their task of breaking it.

"Well, this won't stop them from creating a hole in the formation to enter, but may as well defend the place from turning into a ruin."

Gold rankers' fights were just like that. They were like natural disasters in low energy dense regions. Now, how did Gale know they were gold rankers that were trying to break into his home?

Well, the answer was simply, nobody below gold rank would be able to do the damage they were doing to the system. He wasn't sure how many were there, but he was pretty sure one among them was a High Gold.

"So, what do we do now?" Sumei asked.

"Well, it's pretty simple," Gale said, "you hide in here, while I go greet our unwelcome guests."

"What!?" Sumei stared at him incredulously. "Are you out of your mind?"

Gale tilted his head as his neck muscle cranked up. "A little maybe," he said truthfully, "but don't you worry, I have my ways."

Saying that, Gale moved out of his house alone.

On this occasion, he wasn't going to play the good neighbour anymore, no matter who was ruining his work. He won't play on the path of mercy this time around.

Gale flew towards the eastern periphery of Stormhold. When he was midway, it was finally when the alarm blared. It was exactly the horn that he had to wake up to every day on his slave days, albeit a little quieter, still very annoying.

[Alert! Alert! We are under attack!]

[Stormhold is under attack!]

[Formation - Q1033 has been compromised. It will collapse in t minus 12 seconds.]

[Six Trespassers are identified. One High Gold, two Mid Gold, and three Low Gold]

"Impressive numbers," Gale muttered as he landed before the collapsing formation.

The recorded alarm voice blared continuously, but the formation collapsed a couple of seconds before its predictions. The gold rankers were relentless after they hacked into Q1033, but the alarm must have startled them to act immediately.

Within the thick drifting mist, Gale found a few figures shooting into farmland as they noticed him, too.

They didn't stop until they encircled him from all directions of escape. Five of them were in black cloaks from head to toe; only their eyes could be seen through the mask they were wearing. While one figure—the only high gold among them, who also was the leader--was in a dark khaki dress-up.

He was similarly in a mask, but his one was not the non-attributed one like the other five.

A red demon mask with horns. A unique fate lock, Gale concluded.

"Gentlemen," Gale addressed them and turned to find a woman in the group. "And lady. You have made a grave mistake."

Then he simply took the direction he was free to get out of their encircle. Of course, the six masked figures encircled him on land, but they didn't know or forgot that he could fly away.

Gale didn't stop after getting out of the disadvantageous position, though. He accelerated to fly towards the mountains, the six figures trailing behind him.

***

"Elder Sister," Xiaolin asked, "What did you mean Master mistook you for me last night?"

Wang Li stared at him, biting her lips, pondering over her next choice of words. "Exactly what I said," she said, letting out a breath. "He probably came to see you last night, but he didn't know we two were sleeping together."

"AHH!" Realisation crashed into Xiaolin's small head as her eyes widened. "Oh, dear lord, I forgot. I was the one that asked him to come at night, and then I forgot to tell him when we decided to sleep together. You said he came to our room and mistaken you for me? Did you mean. . ."

Xiaolin found herself lost for words as she stared at the older woman. "Did you mean. . ." The implication behind her words was easy to understand. "Did Master do something indecent with you, thinking you're me?"

Wang Li sighed, biting her lips. Still, she wasn't ready to confess completely, like how she was going to look into her eyes after this. Xiaolin would blame her for eternity, and Wang Li could find nothing to relieve her pain.

"Elder Sister, please tell me quickly," Xiaolin urged her, "I'm dying of anxiety."

She was hoping her master didn't do anything indecently awful to her, but in the middle of the night, both people were intoxicated with bits of divine wine, and her elder sister's silence--all these signs were looking bad for her.

"Yes," Wang Li said, at last. "He mistook you for me and. . .and. . ."

Wang Li couldn't find herself continuing that sentence. She fidgeted her fingers with the edge of her robes as indignation grew in her heart.

"He acted intimate with me thinking I was you," Wang Li said, gritting her teeth. She wouldn't even look into herself if she didn't confess this to Xiaolin. "And I. . ."

Xiaolin's mind chilled as she cursed under her breath. "She told me this," she muttered, "I didn't believe her. I didn't want to believe her. . ."

This was too sudden for her; too abrupt and quick. She was not even in the right age gap to deal with this, or even know how to react to this.

"Elder sister, are you alright?" Xiaolin heard herself say. "You don't look—"

"Woof!" A huge roar of the hound came from their back, as they heard fast footsteps approaching their room.

Vale somehow managed to get in without breaking the door, as he barked at her anxiously.

"What happened, Vale?" Xiaolin literally jumped to wrap her hands around the huge dog.

_______

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