Another Playmate

"Can you tell me the power structure of this place? If I'm going to scam someone, who should I prioritize?"

Ye Hua was dumbfounded. Even Wu Xuan'er was dumbfounded.

"You wanna do what?"

"Eh, maybe we misheard..."

"Hmm? Scamming is scamming. What's wrong?" Yin's large and bright eyes curiously studied their expressions. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

She was puzzled by their reactions. Did they misunderstand her intention?

"It's not like I'm going to rob someone," she explained with as much seriousness as a very very serious potato... which wasn't much, to be frank. "I'm just going to cheat money out of a select few. I promise to choose victims who have plenty of it so it wouldn't hurt their essentials. You can even point out the enemies of the Ye Sect so we get to hit two birds with one stone!"

Why would a four- or five-year-old girl be saying such crass, bandit-like words? And she was even declaring it in such a righteous way! Who taught her that? Is it Uncle Mo?!

"Little Yin." Ye Hua rarely talked, but right now, he felt like he had to curb this girl's seemingly distorted view of right and wrong. "Easy money is bad money. We are upright people from the Righteous Path, and our morals and principles must be in line with the cardinal virtues of the people. If we need money, we earn it through our skills."

"But Bro Hua, scamming is a very important survival skill, you know! 'Besides, I'm just going to trick some benefits out of bad people!"

"You can't do that," the young swordsman spoke firmly. "It is wrong to hurt people who never harmed you, even if they are bad. Violence begets violence. We in the Ye Sect do not fear trouble, but we should never go out seeking for one."

"But, but if we beat up the bad people, then doesn't that make us good?"

"Puchi—"

Wu Xian'er could no longer help it. She let out a peal of laughter in response to Yin's question, her expression so amused that her eyes had practically turned into crescents.

"Oh, Little Yin, you are such a bundle of joy," the young woman beamed at the little girl. "Why are you so good with words?"

Ye Hua, however, had a frown on his normally peaceful face. He flicked a finger on Little Yin's forehead. "Just remember. We are good people. Good people help others, not harm them."

"Even bad guys?"

"Even bad guys."

Yin put on a sour face. Seemed like the script is wrong. Wasn't human cultivation all about saving faces and being overbearing? Many are killed for the smallest reasons. Or at least, from the time she spent in the underworld, those were the primary reasons why many of the ghosts died aggrieved.

My treasure was stolen!

My position was desired!

My face was slapped!

My wife was snatched!

My husband was snatched!

Greed, pride, lust! People die because of these; in comparison, what's a mere scheming to get some benefits?

What's with this talk about not harming people? Could it be this world play by a different set of rules? But then, why did she wake up in the midst of a massacre?

"Aiya, how in the world did you guys survive in this cruel world with that kind of mentality?"

Well, Yin was not one who liked to preach. To each his own. These people are adults anyway.

She was then reminded by a stinky group of people who liked to forcefully push their beliefs onto others.

"Are you sure you are not among those unreasonable smelly baldies from the Buddhist path?"

"That can be arranged." Wu Xuan'er blinked mischievously at her. "Should we start cutting off and shaving Hua-gege's hair?"

"A vegetable diet!"

"No bathing!"

One girl and one woman were in fits of laughter. The only man among them could only purse his lips in suffering.

"But Elder Sister, if Bro Hua becomes a monk, he would not be able to stay on that path for long. In less than half a day, he will come back to the Taoist path because he'll terribly miss you."

"Aiyo, what a sweet little girl." Wu Xuan'er was pleased with those words. Ye Hua might be quite a stickler for rules, but of course, she would never let her husband become a monk. "Come, come, I have more fruitcake here for you..."

'But didn't we just finish eating...' Ye Hua wanted to open his mouth to point that out, but after thinking through it, he decided to keep it shut. What good would saying that do him? Wouldn't he simply be asking for a beating?

Who would refused food? And good food at that? Of course, not Yin! She immediately took a large and hearty bite of the fruitcake. Her eyes curved in delight. "Elder Sis is the best!"

Looking at her innocent appearance now, it was hard to imagine Little Yin was talking about scamming and robbing people just mere moments ago. Ye Hua could not even argue his case...

Helplessly, Ye Hua simply watched the two females giggle and tease each other. His thoughts wandered to his uncle who was still in the meeting with the Patriarch and elders, to the sudden news of Princess Zhi Ruo's engagement to his uncle, and then to the two storage pouches that Yin handed them to sell off the contents.

Ye Hua was neither unlearned nor an idiot.

Storage pouches!

Just thinking about them caused his breath to hitch.

Storage pouches are spiritual artifacts containing the Dao of Space. Rumor says that beyond Qing Blessed Lands, there were powerful and ancient great clans who were still capable of manufacturing them.

However, within the Qing Blessed Lands, all storage pouches were extremely rare treasures that could only be found from vestiges and ruins from a long forgotten age. They were treasures that had great demand, but no supply. Such an artifact, if it was put up in an auction, not even a first-tiered city like Leaf City could have a turn at the bidding. Most like, only those old Kings and ancestor-level existences from the four Territories and the Great Clans of the Imperial Capital could afford to bid.

In the Ye Clan, only Patriarch Ye Wuqing has one because of a lucky encounter an ancestor chanced upon several generations ago. According to rumors, the Second Elder, Li Yun Tian, also has one as well. Yet, that remained a hearsay.

However, Little Yin has three! Ye Hua had seen them with his own eyes.

Three spatial pouches!

What sort of existence was she?!

What sort of monster was behind her?!

A while ago, as they were accompanying Zhi Ruo towards the main gate, the husband and wife were informed of the fabricated version of what happened inside Ming Yue Sect.

It was then that they've learned that after Yin and her party were attacked in the forest, her dying companions had managed to call for reinforcements. Only this morning did Yin's powerful and mysterious 'senior' arrived in Leaf City, and when he went to search for her, he had a misunderstanding with the higher-ups of the Ming Yue Sect.

However, he did not manage to stay for long. Or rather, Yin refused to come with him and he was not willing to bring her either, so it was win-win for them.

Yin informed them that this 'senior' of hers had found a vestige in a secret world nearby and went there to treasure hunt. That was the reason why he had managed to come to her aid fast when the call for help was issued; this 'senior' was just around the area.

However, since he was afraid that Yin would be endangered if he brought her along, this 'senior' allowed her to stay with Ye Mo until he comes back to pick her up.

It all made sense to them, so they did not think all of this was made-up. A girl like Little Yin possessed an extremely rare Spiritual Body, one that would ensure she was a genius unseen and unheard of for thousands of years. It would have been more surprising if she did not have a colossus backing her.

Thinking about all of these, Ye Hua could not make heads or tails of what to expect in the future. Would Little Yin's presence bring fortune or misfortune to the Ye Sect?

Ye Hua could not help but worry.

If he knew the entire truth, about how she offended the Ming Yue Sect and how she even dared to disrespect the younger generation of the Qing Imperial family, then he would probably be the personification of sitting on pins and needles.

Outside of the Tenth Elder's residence, a mysterious white-robed person with a face covered with a white mask soundlessly landed on a tree inside Ye Mo's courtyard. Moving along with the wintry breeze, his movements and breathing did not even alarm the nocturnal animals surrounding him.

This white-robed person was no other than the man with alias Yi, Number One, subordinate to the Purple Plumed General, who was assigned to investigate everything known about the orphan girl with a Spiritual Body.

He had been eavesdropping for some time now. Nobody noticed his arrival, except of course Little Yin.

Number One was an expert at the third stage of the Nascent Divinity Realm. The Divine Ascension Stage! Except for Yin, it was only the Ye Patriarch who had a high enough cultivation stage to sense his presence.

He was the leader of the elite intelligence corps under the direct supervision of the Purple Plume General. For years, he had been the spy with the greatest contribution and thus, the most trusted confidante of the general. So far, he had never failed a mission, even when dealing with critical intel about the Imperial Family.

To him, collecting information about a commoner was like butchering a chicken using an ox-knife. He was a veteran. Confident with his spying skills, he gradually crept closer and closer to the inner courtyard of Ye Mo's residence. However, little did he know that his existence was no longer a secret.

"Little Yin! Time for sleep!" he could hear a woman say. "Stop hiding! Ah, we really need to find you a maidservant."

A couple of footsteps later, he heard the sound of a door opening and closing.

"Don't worry. I already put her to sleep," a man's voice answered from inside. "Let's go rest as well."

"Eh? So fast? But a while ago..."

"She is tired. Don't disturb her. Come on... by the way, do not give her too many sweets. She becomes more of a war freak the more she eats."

"Well... all right...uhh..."

"I mean it."

The woman just laughed instead, then changed the subject. "How about Uncle Mo? Are we not going to wait for him to come back?"

"There is no need. I bet the meeting will take a while..."

Yi no longer listened to the couple's conversation. They were unimportant people, and the general could not be bothered about small trifling matters regarding the inner working of a third-rate power like the Ye Sect. In fact, if not for the looming danger from the Demonic Faction, why would a distinguished royal step into such a backwater place?

He focused on the room that had its lights just extinguished. It had to be that little girl's room.

Barely more than a toddler, yet it was said she was on the same level of cultivation as him, Number One, leader of an elite troop of cultivators. That kind of cultivating speed, if it were real, wouldn't that be a humiliation for martial artists like him, as if their entire life used for cultivating became a joke?

Slowly, carefully, he extended his divine sense towards the said room.

—and without warning, an ominously dangerous feeling struck him.

"Ooh, the third one. I thought you weren't gonna come. Hee hee, wanna play with Little Yin?"