Baby Steps and Huge Troubles.

- Lián City streets –

It was night, an exceptionally hot night with a very bright full moon illuminating everything in its cold silvery light casting ominous shadows everywhere, so late that nobody was around except for the rounds of the Police Force patrolling the streets and jumping at every small movement beside their own in the absolute silence permeating the air.

And above three of such guards, a lone figure bathing in both darkness and moonlight stood immobile observing them, silently monitoring their path and the one of their colleagues so to choose its course of action.

"Back to the basics: pure infiltration skills without help of technology! The good news is that just like I have none, they too have not security cameras, sensors and other top-grade systems guarding their treasure." Pò whispered as she made her move jumping from a rooftop to the other while moving East.

Her target was the inner area of Lián City, the rich area, and to be precise, the part of it where most of the 'Nouveau Riche' resided.

Ever since the first Emperor of Lián City turned the place into the imperial capital, every new construction was built taking care of always leave the Palace in its centre, so that it could always represent the foundation of the entire city's existence.

The closer was a Family compound to the Imperial Palace, the more it would mean that Family was powerful and important, so it was no surprise that whenever a merchant or an Alchemist or even just a Captain-rank soldier gained just a bit more success than their peers they would do everything in their power to own a mansion (or just a plot of land to build on) as close as possible to the Emperor.

Merchants especially always tried to cover for their family's lacking of a Qi Cultivators by racking-in as much money they could to at least being the ones with more gold in their wallets, and those hoards worthy of particularly-greedy dragons were exactly what a penniless Cultivator like Pò needed to speed-up her advancement.

Bottlenecks between 'Realms' were way more difficult to break-through compared to a simple advancement in Level, with or without shortcuts like Soul Tendency, so if she wanted to move from Sapphire Realm all the way up to Bronze and finally start her real training, she needed huge resources her simple job as 'Tea Lady' could not give her, no matter how hard she trained physically everyday.

What kind of resources were those? Many concoctions and other specialized medicines, like Spiritual Incense, for example: incense created by turning the fangs or claws of high-level Celestial Beasts to powder then used to create small sticks to be burned during the meditation phase of Cultivation.

Another popular 'Cheat' in achieving better results faster was drinking specific elixirs of pure and condensed Qi and then Cultivating to absorb it, adding it to the Cultivator's own reserves so to prompt a sudden leap forward into a superior Level; and both incense and elixir were produced in very limited quantity because of the rarity of the ingredients, making their price so high even the Top-Four Families would start sweating at the idea of buying a mere single piece.

Said that then, what were then the options left to poor Pò to catch-up to such disgustingly-rich people? Simple, have a talented alchemist like Xie produce said things for her! But still, the raw materials were still some of the rarest around, usually gracing the markets once every blue moon and thus heavily coveted by powerful individuals that would snatch them as soon as those appeared; in the end their last resort was to turn to the Black Market, with the radical increase in prices that brought with it, the only upside being the added complete anonymity such source offered.

Luckily, a City as massive as this also had an endless supply of 'Nouveau Riche' that were even too eager to tastelessly boast about their new wealth by surrounding themselves in luxurious and useless amenities Pò could steal and sell to the Underworld of the Black Market in exchange of what she needed; was she then ashamed to be reduced to steal other people's gold pins or platinum plates to make a living? No! What use would have to maintain some 'Face' while living in misery and die as a nobody? If only the truly shameless could enjoy life as they wished, then why should somebody like Pò limit herself?

So here she was, three months after the Tournament, in her second sortie and wearing the beautiful form-fitting infiltration gear she got after her first job, top grade gear that was covering her body and face completely and that had been aptly modified and improved upon by Xie following Pò's suggestions coming from her memories of a more advanced world.

Tonight the chosen target was a Spice Merchant that had just moved a bit closer to the Emperor after striking a huge deal with the Palace kitchen staff, all boiling down to just having presented them a new mixture only the man in question knew how to prepare and that both the Emperor and his daughters loved to use on meat dishes.

Needless to say that since the Emperor liked it, all the sycophants surrounding him used those spices as well just to have something in common with him and somehow gain a more favourable impression, thus almost-literally submerging that Merchant in money.

"How nice of him to move right when I needed, I can easily assault his secret convoys now that he is 'secretly' moving his things in his new address." Pò muttered smirking as she jumped down into street level, thanking the use of Qi that could give her back some of her old nimbleness.

She had doubts about why the informant, even if he knew about the time and route the carriages would have used, decided to not try a heist himself, but just selling the info to the greatest bidder; especially since this kind of money was such an easy target every thief desperate enough would consider giving it a try in a flash.

"Easy money, and yet, the number of times a Nouveau Riche has been robbed are very little, I wonder why." Pò was still stalking a particularly big carriage pulled by a huge bull when she got her answer as to why the informant never considered trying himself.

Out of nowhere a man with a featureless white mask had in fact jumped out of a near window with a sickle held high above his head as soon as the bull pulled past a crossroad and under an abandoned house.

* Zwing! * shining eerily in the moonlight, the weapon cleaved the head of the man driving the carriage neatly in two, splattering blood everywhere without a sound as the victim died instantly and without even noticing the attack.

"Mine." the mysterious thief said in glee once kicked the corpse away to take the reins.

* Tchack! Tchack! Tchack! *

As soon as that happened though three arrows came whistling from parts unseen and piercing the thief's heart, throat and lungs at the same time, there was no chances for him to survive it as he collapsed dead to the side while still smiling pleased of himself.

"With this, we have four carriages attacked and four couriers dead. It's a new record." a disembodied voice said sighing as a man in silver-coloured armor and half his face covered by a deep-blue mask moved to drive the carriage himself once thrown away the dead thief.

"Imperial guards, of course. It wouldn't be just the owner to suffer from a Thief's visit, the Emperor himself would lose face at the idea that he did nothing to defend his people from the attentions of criminals." Pò said with a sigh as she walked away as stealthily as she could, soon leaving that scene behind herself.

It was clear, the Emperor permitted to those people to transport their riches or merchandise with the discreet protection of his men, so even if the time and route were leaked, only a fool would try to rob them, and considering that there were still rare cases of attacks such as that ending with the thief succeeding, it was either a service the owner paid for or a favour the Emperor conceded only to few selected individuals.

"New plan then, if I can't attack them while they move, I will wait for them to arrive and take what I can once they finished moving everything inside. Harder, but at least I won't have to deal with Professionals trained by the Emperor's best resources!" the girl decided as she ran through the empty streets while sticking to the shadows, unseen.

Compared to those monsters, she would gladly face the normal grunts paid from her targets! As those were mostly non-Cultivators or even failures that dropped out of the Academy because simply too inept to become 'proper' Qi Users; but Top-Tier and fully trained soldiers equipped with the best gear money can buy? No, Hot-Headiness lived too close to Stupidity for Pò's taste, so risking her life counting on Luck or other external factors was simply not feasible.

"How I wish I was the character of one of those Wuxia stories back home, I would just need to take a piss outside and an overpowered Heaven-defying treasure (or two) would simply be there waiting for me to make my life easier!" the girl bemoaned her fate as a duo of Police guards turned the corner forcing her to dive under an abandoned cart to not be seen.

[ - One hour later – outside a small mansion - ]

Small was a relative thing of course! The giant mansion itself would have easily satisfied the most vane and spoiled Hollywood Star back in Pò's original world, but still, once compared to the simply gargantuan estates owned by the more ancient and richer families around it, the thing was as small as a simple apartment compared to a castle!

"Two...Three...Four...Five carriages! Because of course simple carts would be unable to properly bring all their knickknacks from their old place to this one. They are not commoners after all!" lowering the binoculars she was using, Pò muttered in distaste as she spied the unloading procedures from the windows of a high-class 'Pleasure House' built not too far from the place.

Because of course, a couple of those 'Nouveau Riche' had to make it big by joining forces and create a high-class brothel several 'upstanding citizens' coming from prestigious families visited in secret and paid extra to not reveal their secret hobby as debauchees.

"You swear I won't be in trouble for this?" the girl owning the room asked whispering.

"You won't, you won't! I would not have paid you a silver for this!"

"A silver for my silence, you sure you don't also want me to help you release some stress?" the woman asked with a coquettish smile.

"I am a woman too." Pò replied rolling her eyes.

"It's not like it never happened before!"

"Really? Whatever, I am working now, so I can't." Pò answered looking a little taken aback.

"You don't have to do a thing, I will do all the work!"

"You really like this job, don't you?" the thief asked in disbelief.

"Some of us don't, some of us do...Who knows where do I belong? Maybe I like to try different things." the girl answered winking.

"I'll remember that and- WHOA!" Pò's answer went cut short when she saw the last item being unloaded from the last carriage, making her mouth drop open in pure disbelief.

"What did you see?" the Prostitute asked confused.

"Here." she answered passing her the binoculars.

"Wow! Is that...Real?"

"So it seems."

"It's a bit tacky, and I work in a brothel with a giant penis as its sign." the woman admitted while returning the binoculars to Pò.

"It is a bit excessive. Okay, I know what I am going to steal."

"And you think you can carry that?"

"I can try! Can I count on your silence?" Pò answered.

"Of course! And you swear you can talk Lady Xiao into taking my little sister into the Lotus? She can not live and work here like I do!"

"I thought you said you enjoy this life." she asked with a devious smirk.

"While I accepted this as my fate years ago, if I can give to my sister a chance at a better life, I will! There are things we are forced to do here I simply cannot expose her to; if she works in a Tea House maybe she will be able to have a decent life and find some form of happiness, but as a Prostitute? No. Only in Fairy Tales a dashing hero falls in Love with one of us to take us away to a better life. We are 'Spoiled Goods', nothing more." the woman replied with a sad tone.

"I understand, I'll see what I can do. You just get your sister to visit the Lotus tomorrow, if we are lucky that woman won't be too much against it." Pò answered nodding before jumping out of the window in a subtle flare of Qi aura.

"Thank you." the woman muttered thankful.

["Now I understand why Xiao told me to use this place to spy on the guy, it must be not the first time that woman asked us to take in her sister, so Xiao either waited for a chance to use this situation or simply made an effort to accept just to help me."] Pò thought unsure as she clung to the shadows to get closer to the back garden of the Mansion.

[ - Frontal Entrance of the Mansion - ]

"And with this, the last piece of furniture has been took inside." the Captain of the small group of Imperial Guards said satisfied once checked on his documentation.

"I cannot express my gratitude enough, dear Captain!" the Merchant answered elated as he saw his beloved stuff still in pristine conditions while signing the receipt he had been handed.

"You can instead, we had to stop five attacks from bandits that caused the death of five poor couriers, their families too will need to be notified! And of course, His Majesty does not offer our services for free!" the soldier answered presenting his left hand to the man with its palm pointing upward.

"I know, I know." the man replied huffing as he paid the accorded price with five leaves-like coins made of pure gold.

"Ehm-ehm!" the Captain cleared his throat while jiggling his hand a little.

"Come on! Do you know how much I paid for this house? And the new furniture? AND the life-sized statue made in solid gold in my likeness that will greet my guests at the entrance?" the Merchant said whining like a spoiled toddler.

"Five attacks we had to stop, five innocents dead with families behind them that need to be reimbursed and we soldiers working extra hours whose extra paycheck somebody has to help the Emperor shoulder! And also...A gold statue? Really?!" the other answered.

"I always dreamed to have one, like in the Fairy Tale of 'Wu-Ren-Yang the Invincible', he got one added to his jade palace after he married the Princess." the Merchant answered with a little voice full of shame.

"So you should be Wu-Ren-Yang and your wife Princess Yu-Yu?" the Captain asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh-hu." the man nodded blushing crimson.

"Pah! Just give me the money and then scram! New Riches, ugh!" the soldier hissed in contempt and hastily leaving the scenes as soon as five more leaves of gold entered his pockets.

"You can't stop a man from having a dream! Even if I almost went broke just to buy that statue, I will live my Fairy Tale!" the Merchant answered proud.

"Screw You!" came in answer from the Captain, screamed at the top of his lungs as he was already far away.

[ - Backyard of the Mansion - ]

While the man was finishing making a fool of himself, Pò managed to climb over the high walls surrounding the private garden of the man to study the perimeter and find a hole in the security big enough for her to use and sneak inside.

"I really hope it works, Xie..." she muttered once poured four drops of a purplish elixir on each eye of hers, turning her normal jade orbs purple with an extra devilish red luster and slightly elongating her pupils.

["An essence created from the tears of a 'Hunter Frog'! Since you are still not a Bronze Realm, this is my way to help you see in the dark like one as you requested. It should work for ten minutes, do not use them twice in a row or there will be a big chance of incurable blindness."] she remembered well the man's warning, and with a last annoyed snarl she climbed down to enact her entrance.

"Gods above, I am bored." a 'guard' moaned bored once stopped his rounds to lean against the wall half-asleep.

"The bad news is that tomorrow the new guys will come and take our place." the man's buddy answered sighing.

"But I like this job!"

"I know! Good pay and no trouble, what's more to like?! But the boss said some 'Professional Soldiers' will take our place now that he struck gold, so he'll kick us out soon."

"Professional soldiers, yeah. Army drop-outs is a better term! I bet I can kill three of them with just one arm!" the first guard countered with a disdainful huff.

"Hey, great killer!"

"Yes?"

* T-Wham! Peng! *

Probably too sleepy to notice it was a female voice calling him, the first guard turned around just in time to see a slender elbow hit his nose and mouth with enough strength to turn everything below his eyes in a pulp of blood and broken flesh as he flew back.

Before the other could do more than just get his spear ready, Pò's hand covered his mouth halting his calling for help while the other grabbed the lance near his hand as her body momentarily flashed in Qi Aura to give her an extra boost of increased strength to snap the weapon in two.

* Crack! Fwoom! Tong! *

Between the many things her beloved Grandpa taught her, deciding to give a chance to few ideas outside the Chinese scope of things as well, martial arts were Pò (Fei-Dao)'s favourite, the idea of her smaller body breaking people twice her size always excited her.

And now, using the guard's desperate thrust forward, she used his momentum to force him to bend backward making him lose balance, and following the flow of his motion she added her own power to throw him down head-first on the floor making him lose consciousness.

"I may still be far from the Bronze Realm, but I can already see how strong even just a Sapphire Realm is compared to a normal man! Luckily he had not the time to use his own Qi, otherwise I fear things will have gone differently!" she admitted to herself grimacing, she was till far from the level of Power she wished for, even if right now she was almost a hundred times stronger than her old self before reincarnation; it really remembered her how different this world was compared to her old one!

Qi was a trump card that needed to be summoned to be actually useful, that really was the only downside for people at Pò's Level, because only once broken to Silver Realm there will be the qualitative change necessary for extra passive increases of strength to start appearing even when not actively using Qi!

Once tied-up and gagged, Pò dragged the two guards away in a hidden corner of the garden from where she kept observing how obsessively the Merchant kept ordering his servants around so that the gold statue would be exactly where he wanted and facing the entrance just the way he envisioned in his imagination.

"Okay, by the looks of it, it should take at least an hour. Maybe I can squeeze-in a messenger bird for Xie, if I can distract that man and everybody else this job will be easier." Pò muttered with narrowed eyes while moving back in the garden and taking out of her pocket a small wooden object in a simple V shape.

* Chi! Chi! Chi! *

The faint clacking noise produced by the thing soon attracted the tiny messenger bird that had been trained to follow her around while waiting for her call.

"Target Found in house. Collect me from Back Garden. Create big diversion at main entrance to attract owner and guards and bring the cart. The big one." the message was short and contained barely the essential details, but Pò knew both his assistants will understand, and with a silent fluttering of tiny wings the black bird disappeared from view as soon as it rose to the sky.

[ - The next Day – Lotus Tea House – Storage Room - ]

"You are a duo of morons! Fools! Brain-dead cretins! Idiots! Destroyers of Tea Houses!" Xiao hissed again and again as she stood by the only entrance of the window-less room to be sure nobody would enter.

"The mere idea is as tasteless as it can get, but I am forced to admit that the sheer level of details used is astounding! This is the job of First-Class Artisans! It manages to be beautiful in all its ugliness." Xie praised as he kept studying the statue with a magnifying glass.

"Even the man's double-chins look life-like, they even took the time to have the buttons holding the cape have the family crest inscribed on them...Amazing..."

"You think they took a mold in wax of his face?" Pò asked.

"Unlikely, he didn't look like one able to subject himself to the hours needed to do this, at best he asked some Qi Cultivator specialized in sculptures, this level of work is quite impossible for 'Normal' artisans." Xie answered humming.

"Listen to me!" Xiao growled furious.

"We heard you, Big Sister Xiao. We were forced to bring it here because, honestly speaking, my lab is not big enough and my 'secret rooms' are all occupied at the moment. And even then, this is the last place somebody will ever come looking for this eyesore since the Lotus is at the opposite side of the city compared to the house of that fool. Tonight me and my brother will come collect it from one of your hidden tunnels and take it to my lab, in there my furnace will be already running to turn this into more manageable ingots. I have already organized everything." the Alchemist answered nonplussed.

"You and that fatty moron burned three houses!"

"We needed a good diversion, and burning down the neighborhood clearly would be enough to attract outside even that coward."

"And no house burned down completely, the guards were very rapid in putting-out the flames, I just needed those ten minutes of chaos to take the statue in the back to load it in the carriage, thanks to my Qi I could lift it by myself." Pò added.

"Okay, fine! Just remember to not sell everything at once." the owner of the Tea House begged sighing and closing the door as soon as they all left.

"Have no fear, it is not the first time I smuggle illegal goods! I was doing this even before young Pò started this crusade of hers." Xie answered walking away.

"Strange thing to take pride in." Pò commented sighing.

"Young Xie has always been very shameless when it comes to his choices. Now come, it's almost time for lunch so we have to be ready for the mid-day wave of costumers." Xiao answered hiding the room key in her bosom.

[ - Main Room - ]

Delightful chandeliers of crystal hanging from the high ceiling decorated with cherry tree motifs filled the room in rainbow lights, freshly washed pure-white tablecloths scented with lavender and shining silver chopsticks waiting beside delicate plates adorned by blue and silver leaves and cups of crystal as clear as spring water were ready to welcome customers.

All framed by soft music of flutes and cords plaid by young girls and boys with cherubic faces smiling in mysterious ways to accompany the joyous sound of water coming from the small artificial pond right in the middle of the room filled with clear water and colourful fishes; a hidden mechanism under it created by Xie himself also made sure that four miniaturized waterfalls at each corner of the pond would give and take enough water to run nonstop.

The tall windows were slightly open to let light and gentle winds enter just enough to make the white curtains billow slightly and carry inside the sound of the outside world, as if to underline that inside the Lotus all the chaos of everyday life was just a distant memory as long as one stayed with them.

Lunch, just like breakfast, were the moments where Xiao liked to give her best, as she remembered that more often than not the fastest path to a Man's heart passed by his stomach.

And by adding pretty girls to good food and ambiance, she had enough confidence to smile challenging to her fuming competitors; and since the result of all this care was a never-ending flow of money, with both envy of her enemies and money from her beloved customers she clearly could keep smiling all she wanted till the day of her death.

"Now remember, take the tray of food to the table requesting you and act as if you personally cooked everything, okay? Our cooks explained to you what everything is, you just repeat what they told you in the way I taught you, okay?" Xiao said.

"You do know I barely know how to boil an egg, right? it's a miracle in itself if I learned to prepare tea." Pò said dejected.

"You fear you won't be believable?" the older woman shot in amusement, making her 'niece' sunken deeper in depression.

"Yeah."

"Well, more than half the girls here are in the same situation, and look! Nobody noticed it yet! So drop the mopey face and go charm them! Chop-Chop!" the woman replied smirking, and playfully spanking Pò to force her out of the kitchens.

"God, give me strength." the young girl muttered to herself before plastering a shy smile on her face to join one of the tables in the left side of the room, right under a fully open window.

"Wuuuu! Wuuuu! You don't understand, my little angel! That statue was my gift to my wife! She loved that Fairy Tale, and now she is mad because some brute stole it!" one of the customers said in tears between mouthfuls of small pastries, a whining that turned Pò's smile into one of malice for a mere instant before disappearing as soon as she reached her destination.

"Here I am, darling! Sorry the wait!" she said with a demure expression normally seen only on young lovey-dovey newly-weds.

"It's okay, I am sure it was worth the wait." the man answered with a dumb smile as even the veil covering her face could not hinder the morning light from giving her an angelic appearance.

"I prepared all you favourite dishes, just for you." she declared, sitting in front of him once set the plates for both.

"Aaah." Pò said sweetly and ready to feed him herself.

"Aah!" her customer replied even too happy to comply.

While this was happening, a regal palanquin was being lazily took towards the Fènghuáng Manor and carrying inside the family heir Jié.

Ever since the fight between him and Wei Lóng, both families had reached a new peak in their enmity, with both Heads only letting their Heirs take part to the normal lessons and training regimes in the morning and then call them back home for extra training under the Experts they personally selected; their lives as rich debauchees were thus officially over, and surprisingly, both boys were okay with it if that meant finally deciding who between them was the best.

"No need to hurry, is not like I expect anything fun to be waiting me at home." Jié ordered huffing, because while eager to crush his 'nemesis' Wei, he still missed the more normal days of freedom of his past.

"I used to have fun after lessons were over, now everything is just training, training, training! Tche! This is all Wei's fault!" he growled angrily while looking outside with a bored expression.

"...Stop!" he suddenly ordered sharply, almost making the men carrying him falter and fall to the ground.

"It's her!" Jié said with wide eyes as he saw Pò sit under the window of the Lotus, laughing merrily as she cleaned a bit of cream from a man's chin with a napkin making his face turn red as a cherry in embarrassment.

For some reason, watching the girl lavish somebody in such tender, loving affection irked him, as if instinctively he found the situation unnatural and in need to be stopped, possibly immediately.

"Let me get down, I will have lunch here, I am in no mood to get home and wait for the servants to prepare something!" the Heir said descending swiftly from the thing.

"As you wish, Young Master. I will inform your father you will eat here!" one of the guards answered with a deep bow before hurrying away.

"Good! You others just leave this thing somewhere not under the sun as I don't want to be cooked alive once done, other than that you are free to entertain yourselves the way you prefer, just see to not bother me and not get drunk. You have one hour." Jié ordered haughtily.

"Of course, Young Master!" the other men answered immediately and complying with his orders.

"Good! Like this I won't be bothered, at worst they'll have to wait outside until I am done." the young man said pleased to himself as he entered the Tea House once checked his clothes and hair from every possible angle.

It was indeed curious how the natural overprotective instinct of an older brother could be misinterpreted when the cause of its flaring to life was unknown.

"Welcome to the Lotus, young Master! How can I be of help?" Xiao personally came to receive Jié as soon as she was informed of his arrival by the girls tending to the entrance.

"Lady Xiao, good evening! I was feeling a bit peckish and decided to eat something here, would it be possible for this littlest Lord to bother your fine establishment with his unruly stomach?" The perfect example of Noble etiquette, the innumerable lessons hammered inside Jié's head ever since he learned to walk by himself came out naturally as he gave a perfect bow and kissed the woman's hand with a flourish of his school robes.

"Of course! The Lotus is open to everybody, but people with Noble Blood will always be our darlings! How can I possibly refuse you?"

"Wonderful! And please, do tell me, I heard that your niece finally joined the Lotus. Would it be too much for me to ask for her?"

"Little Fei-Dao? She is not exactly my niece, but I am doing my best to adopt her as one since she has no family besides me; and I mean adopt her 'officially', if my lord catches my drift. As for her taking care of you, I am sure she won't mind, but she is with a customer already, I am truly sorry." Xiao answered with a sad expression.

"Have no fear, I can put a good word and make sure the proceedings for the adoption will move forward faster and way more smoothly than normal..." the young man offered with a meaningful look.

"Then I am sure we can talk Fei's guest into a change of girl, it would be good for her to learn to be ready for sudden changes." Xiao answered smirking.

"Thank you, Lady Xiao. I won't forget this little favour." Jié said smiling charmingly.

["Oh! I don't mind. I will just remember to also spit in your cup in exchange."] Xiao thought as she immediately moved to tell Pò to switch table, and also warn her her brother was asking for her as they feared would have happened.

Abilities or not, a bit of fumbling still happened when tables and girls needed to be shuffled to accommodate Jié's request, but once seen it was the Heir of one of the Four Great Families to cause such ruckus, the other patrons were smart enough to keep their mouths shut, and clearly decided to not fully blame Xiao for the inconvenience because of him.

Soon though Jié and Pò were sitting at the same table the girl was previously occupying, only with everything changed into clean versions so to not force the young man to use the previous costumer's chopsticks and plates.

"This is the first time you come here, right, Master?" Pò asked switching to the standard 'Title' used with new customers.

And while her using the term 'Master' did cause his stomach to make a little back-flip, Jiè immediately recomposed himself and cleared his throat.

"Please, little Fei. Do not call me Master, there is no need!" The youth answered with a soft laugh and a charming smile.

"Oh!...Uhm!...Then what shall I call you? We also use 'Darling', is it of your liking?" Putting on an adorable confused expression, Pò used a new term she noticed also seemed to have some lingering effect.

"Neither! I don't want people to misunderstand and bother you later!" he said with a more forced expression.

"Oh! I know! What about big brother?" still looking like the poster-child of innocence, Pò used another pet name, and to her delight, this one did struck a nerve as she saw him swallow hard and drop his smile for a fraction of an instant.

["Aah! We have a little sister complex! I wonder if deep down that can even become a fetish!"] the girl thought with feral cruelty.

"Y-Yes, let's go with Big Brother then!" Jié conceded once jiggled a little in his seat.

"Wonderful! This is a list of the dishes I prepared, since it's the first time you have visited us I could not prepare your favourite one, but you can book it together with your next visit if you want me to be your darling once again!" Pò said smiling sweetly and presenting him a list of various dishes.

"You made those yourself?" he asked in surprise.

"Yes, but I am still learning, so please, be gentle!" Pò begged shyly and with a small blush.

"Gh! No problem, everything...Little Sister...Prepares I am sure it will be good!" strangely looking like struggling with himself, Jié gave his selection and watched her move towards the kitchens, although with his eyes focusing a bit too low to be looking at the back of her head.

"It looks so fragrant and supple!" he said drooling and without thinking.

"..." the man sitting at the table next to his looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"T-The bread! I mean the bread! Uuuuhm! So fragrant! And so supple!" the young man immediately said taking a small loaf of bread to give it an exaggerated whiff.

"The bread." the other answered while shaking his head.

[ - In the Kitchen - ]

"So! A sister complex?" Xiao asked amused.

"So it seems, I thought it was guilt about my death, but it clearly is arousal what I saw." Pò answered smirking.

"Then what about giving it a little help?" the woman said with an evil smile.

"Uh?"

"This is a special blend of paint for the nails Xie came up with. Put it on your nails and then lightly dip the tip of the nail inside his glass and the secret ingredient in it will spice his drink, it was supposed to be used in your job as a thief to distract the target, so we'll use your brother for a test run."

"What secret ingredient?"

"A tasteless medicine to help is Virtue stand to attention." Xiao explained.

"Hooo!"

[ - Main Room - ]

Luckily the short burst of malicious laughter went unheard, especially by Jié that was more interested in trying to glare a hole in the head of the other young man now standing right in front of him.

"I didn't mean to impose, little Jié! I was just passing by and got hungry." Wei said with a mocking smile.

"The day I believe a single word that comes out of your mouth is the day the Sun raise from the North!"

"The correct version is-"

"I am aware of the correct saying! But I need a stronger change of direction to represent how impossible it is for me to believe you!" Jié cut him off with vitriolic fury.

"Do not be so angry! I was just wondering why you are here!" the other replied jokingly.

"Ah! Big brother! Your friend came over?" Pò decided that it was time to add herself to the discussion as she joined the scene with a small tray of food and a fresh spray of spiked perfume already tickling their nose in a very enticing way.

"Yes, but he was just going away." Jié answered, and even if he instinctively felt something was wrong, he was too angry at Wei to purge his body through Qi, unfortunately letting the 'Soul-Inebriating Perfume' do its job unopposed.

"Big brother, eh?" He too engrossed completely in the war of glares, Wei as well focused more on his rival than fighting the effects of the drugged perfume.

"Can I be your Big Brother too, perhaps?" the Lóng Heir asked.

"How dare you!" the other hissed in contempt.

"Ah! Two big brothers taking care of me? Thank you!" she replied with a joyous smile.

["Shit! That's too innocent!"] Both boys thought while feeling a little guilty, as if they were two wolves trying to trap a small lamb between them.

"I am happy that you are happy, little sister. But please, take away that veil! You are too pretty to cover up!" Wei asked with his best smile.

"Despicable! Shameless! You have no honor!" meanwhile in the background Jié cursed him vehemently.

"I can't! I went disfigured when my father tried to kill me, I am a monster! My face would make you run away and I don't want to see it happen!" Pò answered sniffling and looking away.

And while she knew that just with that tiny scar she had she couldn't really be defined 'Disfigured', and that the two Heirs knew it as well, the charade was still part of her 'character' as Fei-Dao, so she couldn't act differently.

"I can assure you that you are not disfigured, but it was really your father to hurt you?" Jié asked in concern.

"My father was a soldier in the imperial army, before dying he used to get back drunk every night and...and..." the girl answered looking shaken and scared.

"He won't hurt you anymore, have no fear." Wei shoved Jié aside and immediately consoled her, in part to play the part of the dashing prince, and in part to annoy Jié himself.

"Then let's cheer! To my finding two wondrous Big Brothers such as you!" Pò quipped happily still with faint tear marks on her cheeks.

"Let me." Wei said.

"No! Let ME." Jié countered immediately.

"It is my duty, I will prepare one for each of us." the girl stopped both and prepared two cups of warm rice wine herself, and unseen, she dipped a finger in both cups before offering both to the boys.

"Thank you, little sister!" both Heirs said at the same time, and while glaring at each other, they downed the wine in a single gulp without savoring it.

"Mine was bigger, she clearly prefers me." Jié hissed lowly so that she could not possibly hear.

"Oh, yeah? And what if I manage to steal her from you all the same?" Wei answered with a challenging smile.

"You are doing this just to damage me! She is innocent!"

"Oh, come on! Not completely at least, I admit that she is an unpolished diamond! Now that I see her up close and know her face, I can confirm that once fixed her up she will really shine! And if by doing that you also lose, then all the better!" Wei answered smirking.

"Oh! My Big Brothers are so fierce and manly!" Pò made a scene to say this in wonder while covering her mouth with both hands, all the while the rest of the girls behind her giggled amused and the customers gossiped nonstop.

"Thank you, little Fei..." Wei said smiling pleased, until he saw she was looking down and not at his eyes.

"Oh, God..." He then heard Jié whimper and fumble with his clothes, and it was then that he finally looked down to see that both him and Jié had apparently lost control of their 'Male Powers' and were straining their school robes very fiercely indeed.

"Oh, God!" Wei yelled covering his privates with both hands and looking around the room in shame.

"This is all your fault! I never have never been so ashamed in my life!" Jié screeched with a very red face as he paid his half-finished lunch plus extra for the inconvenience before hurrying out and almost diving for his palanquin once screamed for his guards to take him home.

"I-I-I am very sorry for this sorry spectacle, p-please accept this small tip for the inconvenience!" Wei too left some gold leaves with his expression clearly wishing the money had the power to erase the day completely from history.

"It doesn't seem so little!" one of the younger girls couldn't help blurt that out.

"Meng Yui!" another girl chided her friend while still smirking.

"Wuuuuuuuu!" almost howling in tears of shame, Wei hastily retreated so to salvage the few sparks of face he still possessed.

"Well, we can say it worked." Xiao said pleased from the sidelines.

"That because they were too distracted, Boss." one of the girls said.

"That may be, but I am still going to appreciate this small victory over those spoiled brats, it's a rare occurrence to catch them with their guard down!" the owner of the Lotus answered laughing merrily and soon making sure things returned to normal as if nothing happened.

[ - That Night - ]

"An erection in the middle of a Tea-House! What!? You wanted to screw that poor girl in front of everybody?!"

"I am sorry, Father! I admit she is a rare beauty! But It was all Wei's fault!" Jié begged for forgiveness while under the unrelenting assault of his father, personally whipping him with a thin bamboo stick and kicking his ass.

"Then what?! You wanted to stick it into a man? And in the ass of the Lóng Heir at that?!" at hearing those words the man's fury reached a never-before seen peak and he doubled the speed and power behind both kicks and whippings, soon using all four his limbs to rain hits on his despicable son's back.

"I am sorry!" the young man wept, and unknown to him, Wei too was being mercilessly massacred by his own father, and both knew once done with those two, their own grand-fathers too will join to give their own share of punishment.

While all this was happening and the two Heirs were being beaten black and blue, Pò was instead hanging upside-down from the ceiling of a bedroom, looking intently at the sleeping face of her new target.

"Sleeping with the key for his safe under his pillow! And that is the only time he has not it on his person! Paranoia at its finest." she muttered to herself as she loosened free the hooked gloves as was using to stick to the ceiling to silently land on the floor.

["Slowly...Slowly...do not shake..."] the girl thought as her hand sneaked under the pillow up to her wrist where she felt the faint sensation of something metallic brushing against her finger.

["Found it!"]

"Grr-Umblpah!" the man groaned in his sleep while turning to the side so crushing her hand under the pillow, and clearly waking-up from it.

"EH?!" he yelled moving to sit on the bed to look around the dark room with half-lidded eyes.

"Sleepy." he grunted yawning, and muttering something unintelligible under his breath before collapsing back to sleep in an instant.

"Too close..." Pò whispered with wide eyes, she had noticed just in time he was waking-up and with a swift movement she had retracted her hand with the key in her grasp before diving for the open she had used to enter.

Letting herself fall down to solid ground she again moved towards the inside, only this time remaining on the ground floor to find the man's office, and the secret safe used for the money from the bribes the old Police Captain took on the sidelines.

"Here it is! Nobody is going to miss those leaves, nobody knows they exist after all!" Pò said smirking once seen the nice pile of gold waiting for her once opened the small iron safe hidden under the fake floor behind the man's desk.

"Uuuh! Blackmail material too! I will take this too." she then said darkly once took the documents hidden under those same money.

She could have used the acid her partners in crime gave her to simply melt the mechanism and open it all the same, but if she wanted to become an infamous 'Master Thief', she will have to be more daring, all to appease her inflated ego.

"And with this, I should have enough money to cover the new batch of ingredients for my Cultivation."

Rapidly leaving the villa, the girl ran into one of the safe houses close to her target to change into civilian clothes so to simply look like a normal girl going for a midnight stroll.

"Another job done without a mistake!" she declared once discarded her thief clothes and walking back to the Lotus once dressed back into her 'Lotus Girl' uniform.

"Stop where you are!" a new voice yelled.

"They already caught me?!" the girl yelled in disbelief until a small body impacted with hers.

"Hide me!" the small girl said out of the blue.

"Shit!" acting without thinking, Pò hugged the girl close to her chest and rapidly moved both in a dark hallway to watch imperial guards run past them without seeing neither of the two.

"Little Princess! Please get back home!" one of the guards yelled in despair, clearly on the brink of tears.

"Little Princess?!" Pò choked-out in shock while watching at the small girl whose face was deeply buried into the cleavage of her uniform and taking deep breaths of her lightly-sweating skin, and she didn't seem about to move away any time soon.

Now she wondered, what was worse? Stealing from a Police Officer or looking like she had just kidnapped the Emperor's youngest daughter?

"Big Sister...You smell nice…"

"Shit...Shit, shit, shit!" Pò cursed lowly while the younger girl kept 'motorboating' her as she snuggled more in her chest.