The Big Hit.

[ - Mansion - ]

"So, we know for certain that whoever came here entered from this door." the middle-aged man wearing the highly-recognizable uniform of Lián City 'Police Force' officers said alternating focus between the open door and the small safe on the floor.

"Brilliant deduction, really." the victim of the Thief, an old man and a retired member of the same sub-section of the city's Army, answered sarcastic.

"Whoever did it is good too! No scratch marks whatsoever!" another junior officer added while still studying the lock of the door.

"It doesn't help much, in the end, I don't actually expect the first passing by to have the guts to come stealing from one of us, retirement or not." the Captain of the Team answered nonplussed.

"They were good and damn cocky, that's for sure." the old man admitted with gritted teeth as he kept watching the original key of his secret safe still inside the lock, pointing straight at him just like a mocking finger from the Thief.

"You sure they got the key from you? From under your pillow?" the Captain asked with a tone showing just a smudge of disbelief.

"I am older than you, yes, but I am still not senile! If I said they did it it means they did it!" the victim growled making the police officers present wince and shy away a little from him.

"I taught to you all everything you know! Before you all came under my care you were just a bunch of brats barely able to pick your own nose! And I can still put you all through the 'walk of shame' like good old days if you keep insinuating that I am losing my touch!"

"I am not insinuating, it's just protocol, questions I am expected to ask!" the Captain answered with a soft tone.

Nobody there forgot the days when that old man used to force them to march through the streets of Lián City completely naked instead of wearing the trainees uniforms whenever one or more of them made him angry during training, so of course nobody of them wished to see if he could still do that even after retiring.

"Good! Go on."

"Yes, what exactly was in there? Any particular object you can recognize? We can keep our eyes open and see if our usual suspects are asked to turn them into 'clean' money."

"No, there were only my savings there. A small part of my pay and retirement fund I had put aside in case of unforeseen problems, and even then, it was not a huge sum." the old man answered sighing, the lie flowing out of him like spring water.

"I see. Then probably this was done just to make a statement." the Captain answered humming thoughtful.

"A statement?"

"That small cat figure made in silver that has been left behind inside the safe. Yours is the seventh we have found, and the third in a ' Home Visit'. Apparently somebody wants we all to know they were behind the disappearance of your money, of that ugly gold statue and the diamond pendant of Madame Pai-Zu; along other cases of pick-pocketing of eminent personalities. Actually though, you are the first Qi User that has been robbed. You felt nothing? Really?" the police captain said showing the small silver figurine of a stylized cat poised to pounce.

"I am just a Level 3 Bronze Realm, barely competent, and I haven't used Qi at all in the last twenty years, I am a cripple, remember? Those bandits destroyed my dantians during my kidnapping; it's a miracle itself if my Soul Gem didn't break or went Burned. Cultivation? That is a fond memory for me by now, nothing more. Same going for actually channeling and use Qi, it just sits there, within my grasp and yet as far as the clouds in the sky." the old man answered with a bitter, and yet fond, tone of voice.

"Sorry for reopening that wound, shifu." the Captain answered bowing.

"It has been decades since I was last called 'shifu', there is no need for that as I am no longer your teacher, as for your guilt, no worries, you can't 'Reopen' a wound if it never closed to begin with. So, this is somebody wishing to be known as a 'Master Thief' then? That is why they are leaving behind a calling card and doing outrageous things like this?"

"It's our best guess at the moment. You sure this won't damage you too much? I can try to put your case in the highest priority."

"It's hard to say how and if this will damage me, you just do what you think it's right; I will survive this last few years I have left all the same." the old man answered with a small smile, after all, the blackmail material he had lost together with money and other compromising documents were already gone, crying more about it won't make them magically reappear in that safe!

"I can just hope this won't kill me too soon." he muttered dejected.

"If you need something, just ask. My only regret is that until we catch the culprit, they will be somewhere laughing at your misfortune!" the Captain said seething in anger.

"I hope they won't laugh for long then!"

[ - At the opposite side of town - ]

Nobody in the staff of the Heavenly Lotus Tea-House actually helping Pò in her side-job as a Master Thief was laughing, quite the opposite instead, as Xiao and Xie-Lo were looking at their beloved 'Little Sister/Niece' play host to the Emperor's youngest daughter ever since both girls have entered from the front doors just in time for the first breakfast routine.

"What now? What now?!" Xiao asked bordering on a full panic attack.

"Breath, Sister Xiao, what's important is to breath and not give-in to hysterics." the young genius answered with a calm tone he hoped would reign her crumbling self-control.

"She ran away from home! What if they think we kidnapped her?!" the owner of the Tea-House hissed back with bloodshot eyes.

"We answer with the pure truth: she ran away and met little Pò and followed her back here for breakfast, had we truly kidnapped her, we would not keep her out in the open in front of everybody, but we would have tied her up and threw her somewhere hidden. It is not kidnapping if the 'Victim' can run away whenever she wants!" Xie answered simply.

"Oh yes! You say this because you are an expert in kidnappings too!" she answered rolling her eyes.

"..."

"..."

"Just how dirty is your conscience, really?" Xiao finally asked after the long silence from the young man reached the third minute of duration.

"I do a lot of things in the sidelines to pay for my experiments, Big Sister. Don't ask."

"Big Sister Fei cooks so well too!" they heard the Emperor's Daughter Jiang praise in wonder as she delicately stuffed herself full of the food supposedly prepared by Pò herself; and while mannerism was impeccable, the sheer quantity the small girl was eating would instead shame a pack of wolves.

"Little Jiang was very hungry instead." the other replied without showing the slightest anxiety at having been almost caught right after discarding her Thief equipment.

["Good thing I managed to give everything to Xiao without her noticing!"] she thought sighing helpless.

"I skipped dinner, I could not stand my father lavishing Sister Ying in all that stupid praise! [You are truly my pride and joy!] or [My talented little Princess!] and so on so forth! as if I wasn't even there! Pah! When I saw they were not looking for me for dinner I simply left for a walk and they started chasing me everywhere! It was then that I decided to bother Big Sister Fei! At least you care about me!" the young girl answered huffing again and again while still emptying plate after plate.

"I am honoured you want me as a big sister, but why me?" Pò asked curious.

"Well, you were the first young girl I met, and honestly, you can't be worse than Ying Yue! You have the same age too, so it was easy." the other answered.

"Ah."

["To be honest, albeit she said the truth, it still hurts my pride a little."] Pò admitted sighing to herself.

"You are pretty too! I peaked under that veil of yours, you should not cover your face."

"Little sister Jiang, I unfortunately have my reasons to wear a veil."

"It's a pity all the same." the kid replied.

["Well, too bad! I may be treating you well, but I am not going to risk anybody finding-out who I am just to make you happy! Eat your fill and scram, for God's sake! This is why I abhorred the idea of marrying and have kids in my previous life too!"] if there was even just one thing Pò liked of her new face post reincarnation, it was that her new body could now cover perfectly her rotten insides behind a natural innocent smile, at least like that she could mentally curse whoever she liked without worrying about it showing-up on the outside.

It was then that the doors of the Tea-House went unceremoniously kicked open by a frantic Ying Yue that ran inside immediately after, leaving behind her bewildered personal bodyguard still with his arm raised as if he himself was about to knock on the thing.

The poor man, wearing the uniform of the imperial guards, thanked the gods for the blue mask covering his entire face and ashamed expression as he tried fixing the busted door while looking as inconspicuous as possible, and with his broad shoulders and titanic height, that was exceptionally difficult.

"There you are!" Ying Yue yelled in both relief and anger as she marched towards Pò and Jiang with thundering steps unfit for somebody with a lite body like hers.

"What do you want, silly Ying? I am having breakfast with big sister Fei!" Jiang answered annoyed.

"B-Big Sister?!" the other stumbled to a halt once heard that, and looking especially hurt by those words.

"Yes! What? I am not free to find myself a new sister if the old one betrays me?" Jiang said moving to sit on Pò's lap to hug her and yet glaring at Ying the whole time.

"I-I didn't betray you!" Ying said immediately.

"Oh, Gods! Teenage drama! Such an old cliche..." Xie muttered from the sidelines while rolling his eyes, and yelping in pain when Xiao elbowed him into silence.

"You never stop going around posturing ever since father complimented you for learning the [Storm Peacock] Battle Art, you just let everybody praise you and forgot about me!"

"I would never forget about you." Ying answered with a hurtful expression.

"I don't believe you!" Jiang answered burying her face into Pò's neck with a humph.

"I have nothing to do with this!" Pò said immediately.

"I can tell, miss Fei. My little sister can be hard to handle when she has one of her tantrums, but she will now get home with me! You are working and cannot waste time just because she is being stubborn!" the young girl answered grabbing Jiang to try prying her off.

"No! You don't want me so I will save you time and disappear!" Jiang answered petulantly while her body got covered in the aura of a Level 4 Bronze Qi Expert.

"You broke through?" Ying asked in surprise.

"Yes! See? Nobody notices because you always have to show-off!"

"Stop this nonsense!" Ying replied angrily as her own Qi flashed-out once she started again to pull the kid away.

"Don't just stand there looking dumb, Mo! Help me! I don't want to go all out and hurt her!" the girl ordered to her bodyguard through gritted teeth.

"Y-Yes, young Princess!" the girl's bodyguard finally jumped to action to help her.

"Stop pulling! I am not going back home to be ignored again!" Jiang yelled petulantly as she clung desperately to Pò while two people now tried to pull her away.

"I never ignored you!" Ying countered roaring in annoyance.

"Yes you did!"

"No I didn't!"

"You did!"

"I did not!"

"You-"

* Straaaaaaaap!*

"..."

"Ah! I am so sorry! P-Please forgive me!" Ying yelled in horror as while they finally pulled Jiang away, they had also torn the entire front part of Pò's 'Tea Lady' uniform to shreds so to let her 'female graces' jiggle freely in the open for everybody to see.

["This must be Karma, no other explanation..."] the girl thought in defeat as to her further shame, there was not enough cloth still on her to cover herself since most of it was still in Jiang's hands.

"..."

"What are you doing, Mo! Look elsewhere! All of you look elsewhere! Perverts!" seeing no response from many of the presents, Yiang gave her order with a sharp scream making every male recover from their stupor to immediately look away, even if it was clear that the nice, youthful and healthy jiggling flesh they saw will stay in their memories for a long time.

"Please cover yourself, Sister Fei!" Ying then offered apologetic as she used the tablecloth to cover the poor girl's chest.

"You too?! Is that title a curse?!" Pò asked in dread as soon as the other too used the term 'Sister'.

"I am so so sorry! Jiang! Apologize!"

* Puuiiiiiii! *

To the young lady's horror her little sister just made a show of giving to the shreds of clothes still in her hands a deep sniff as if savoring the owner's scent in bliss.

"Uhm! Yes! This is the scent of a big sister! Warm and caring!" Jiang replied sticking out her tongue.

"Are you implying that I smell?!" Ying answered scandalized.

"...Yes! Yahahahahahaha!" the kid answered after a short pause before running away laughing.

"Mo! Stop ogling my friend here and catch Jiang! Bring her home for her proper punishment and never leave her out of your sight!"

"I will, Young Princess!...But I was not ogling..." the giant of a man replied hurrying out in a mad sprint.

"Again, I must apologize for all this! I will make sure enough money to cover for the food, the door and the ruckus we caused will be delivered immediately! I will even have the Palace's personal tailor gift you a new uniform, just please...Ignore all this mess, please!" Ying asked looking miserable.

"There is no need to feel troubled, Young Princess. As long as nobody got hurt then nothing happened." Xiao answered immediately and with a deep bow.

"..."

"...Yes?" gnashing her teeth in barely-repressed anger, Pò asked at seeing the Princess look at her intensely.

"What product do you use for your skin? It looks amazing!" the young girl admitted with a small voice.

"Pah!" in answer the other simply walked away growling incoherently.

"I am sorry! I didn't mean to blurt that out! Is just that your skin looks incredibly soft and smooth!" the girl admitted ashamed.

"What!? You want to fondle me as well!?" Pò yelled before closing the door to the inner dorms behind herself.

* Pang! *

The sound of the slamming door made the Princess wince heavily and the whole room tremble.

"I...I will send the money and uniform before lunch." looking completely ashamed for herself and Jiang's attitude, the young girl gave a final courteous bow while showing a crimson face.

"Shall we forget this too happened?" Xiao asked just to be sure.

"Yes, please. Especially the last five minutes, I beg you." the girl answered as she hurried away before she could say or do something even worse.

"Now I see why Jié was so stricken by her..." sitting at a far-away table in incognito, Wáng Fènghuáng absently cleaned his chin once eaten the last morsel of his breakfast.

"Has my Lord committed to memory every detail of Fei's body perhaps? Am I no longer good enough?" the young girl sitting in front of him asked with a cold teasing tone worthy of a jealous girlfriend and playing perfectly the part of 'Pò's Rival' every customer believed her to be, for added drama to spice things up of course.

"Now-now, Little Wu! You know I have eyes only for you!" the Lord of the Fènghuáng household answered immediately and with a placating manner.

"Umph!" the other replied crossing her arms and pouting.

"Come on! I will even buy you that hairpin you talked about! The silver one! Just forgive me." the old man begged.

"No! I want a kiss too, on the cheek! And you have to swear I am your one and only!"

"Well..."

"Or I'll cry." she added looking away.

["I would gladly kiss you all over! Taste and worship every corner of your body! But then that old cow will get jealous...Gods above, I want to be young again!"] never be said that the apple does not fall too far from the tree, Wáng gladly did as asked, grabbing the girl's hand in both of his to kiss her cheek and profess his undying love for her.

Oh! How he missed dear old times when his 'Spear' could pierce every target he wanted! He had knew the Lotus ever since he was still a teenage boy with more hormones than hair on his chest, and the beauties working under Madame Hui had always been such a far-away treasure even he could not plunder to his heart's content that he would spend night after night weeping in despair for the unfairness of it all! But his own father would have turned him into a eunuch if he tried anything with them, especially to appease Hui herself, a woman whose beauty back in the days had secretly captivated even a man as strict his old father.

["And now, things are the same, the only difference is that I am now too old to take a bite from these delicious treats..."] the man thought in depression as he watched the great number of innocent and pure teenage beauties surrounding him, untouchable and forever teasing his inner 'hunger'.

But how could he?! They could very well be his daughters once took in consideration the difference in age! Even if them calling him 'Daddy' didn't sound so exceptionally bad, all things considered…

Unknown to him, at the opposite side of the room, the Lord of the Lóng Family, he too incognito, was in a similar predicament and begging his own 'Darling' for forgiveness for ogling another girl beside her; if only those two could see how much they had in common!

"I'll go check on her." Xie offered discreetly moving towards the back room.

"Okay." Xiao answered nodding before moving through a small round through the occupied tables to keep everything under control.

A short walk towards the innermost rooms, and the most isolated one owned by Pò herself, and Xie found his target already changed into new clothes and shifting through her belongings.

"Can I come in?"

"The door has been left open, it means everybody can enter."

"It doesn't hurt to ask. So? Quite the handful to deal with those two sisters." the man asked amused.

"Very. What do you need?"

"Two things: one is to deliver the new batch of incense sticks and elixirs for your Cultivation, I knew you would have managed so this time I forwarded the money myself. The second thing is requesting a job personally, it will help you, but first and foremost it will help me." Xie answered simply while sitting on her bed.

"Uh? Let's hear!"

"There is an artisan, a very good one. He recently got his hands on the corpse of a very rare Celestial Beast and plans to turn the key parts of its body into 'works of art' and sell them to the highest bidder. I want those parts." he explained.

"Why?"

"The guy is not stupid, he knows that a good Alchemist will pay any exorbitant sum to have those parts, but he also knows that 'Rare' and 'Exotic' are labels that make collectors salivate. So he has planned to take those rare ingredients and turn them into jewels worthy of being put on a display! He will put them up for auction in a week at the inner auction house of the Imperial Palace, like that, he will be able to get way more money than what those are worth thanks to those Collectors bidding madly to get a new centerpiece for their collection going against the few Alchemists able to bid at their level so to get those rare ingredients."

"I can already tell you the biggest flaw of this plan: the Auction House is inside the Imperial Palace, even a fly can't get in uninvited! You want me to steal from the Emperor himself! I am not even a Bronze Ream Qi, those guards will eat me alive!" Pò told him with a growling voice.

"Oh! But this will not, ideally, need the usage of Qi! And about your issues, a fly may not be able to get inside uninvited, but a gold statue certainly can!" Xie answered smiling viciously.

"A gold statue?"

"Dear Pò! My beloved Little Sister...Do you have anything against getting naked and be turned into a statue?"

* PANG! *

"...All things considered, maybe I should give you more details." the man said while nursing the bruise on his cheek he got from her punch.

"You better."

"I plan to take a full-body mold of you to create a statue of gold that will be empty inside and hide you in it, just like the beast parts I want you to steal, yourself will be brought in the temporary storage room to wait for the Auction to begin. Once inside you will take those parts and hide them into a second hollow statue we will deliver together with yours. We need to make yours pretty so to justify its being left for last together with those parts so to give you time to collect those pieces (also sold for last) in that secret compartment."

"And they won't notice I am hiding in there?" Pò asked with crossed arms.

"After some eventful auctions, now they control that the objects are really made of precious metals or contain real precious stone, their experts won't check 'deep' but just confirm gold has been used; it is not rare for a statue to be merely covered in gold instead of completely made out of that, we'll just say that the layer of gold is pretty thick and they will be happy...And once consumed some drugs to hide your Life Force, we'll be sure they won't know."

"And what about the other statue with the stuff inside?"

"Oh! I will buy that myself! I already made sure to let his Imperial Majesty know that I wanted it in exchange for my last job for him, so nobody will bid higher than me! And I will bid a misery, especially since the thing will be oh so very ugly!" Xie answered smug.

"Okay, on paper sounds feasible, but we'll need to train!"

"Exactly! Luckily the beast is not huge, so its fangs, tusks and other body parts won't need too much space, and the room itself only has one door, so once inside there won't be guards...Hypothetically."

"Okay, fine! Just because you say those things will help me too."

"Oh, they will! On my honor!"

"Let's go plan then, we will ask Aunt Xiao for help too, just in case."

[ - One week later - ]

While Xie and his brother worked on the hollow statue in Pò's likeness for her to hide inside, Xiao had helped the girl training for the job night and day while using an abandoned storage room they furnished in a wild approximation of the storage room of the Auction House.

"Faster, little Pò! We need to act as if the whole list of item is sold in just few minutes." Xiao ordered again and again while using an incense stick to measure the time needed for the job.

"It would be easier if you didn't switch position of those animal parts between tries!"

"Had we known exactly where they are this would not be such a hard job! You also need extra time to find a place to hide once done since we can't have somebody buying the statue with you still inside!"

"You sure he can use the parts of this Boar-like thing to do all that?" the young girl asked unsure.

"I didn't study Alchemy, so I can only trust that fool. Now try again!" the other replied sharply.

At the dawn of the seventh day Xie had roughly interrupted their training by barging inside their secret training ground with his brother dragging behind them a giant crate.

"Everything's ready!" the man declared proud as he uncovered the gold statue.

"It is...So detailed..." Pò said grimacing as while her face was left with very faint details to not make it too recognizable, everything else was very life-like and every detail of her body had been reproduced with way too much care.

"A goddess of gold with her chest uncovered, a crown on her head and a veil covering her midsection held up only by one of her hands while the other demurely covers her breast in a very enticing way, it should fetch some nice money." Xie explained with the same pride of a Master Artisan.

"Veil? That thing leaves nothing to imagination! Nothing is left to imagination! It's a dirty piece of furniture only a depraved pervert would love!" Xiao hissed furious.

"Exactly, since we are doing this, may as well get few extra money from the more rich idiots in there!" Xie answered shrugging nonplussed.

"I feel dirty just by looking at it." Pò admitted.

"Thank the Gods I was the one to take the mold, none of those two shameless bastards saw you naked, it is still something." Xiao consoled her with a sad tone.

"Well no time to waste! Hop inside so I can use the golden paste to seal it close, there should be enough gold dust in it to fool the controls." Xie ordered opening the front of the statue to show its hollow insides.

"Wait! How will I know there is nobody inside the storage?! And how will I tell when to get out?" she asked worried while taking position.

"I am sure you will be able to hear if there is somebody nearby. Here is the rest of the paste, once out seal the statue again so they won't notice." Xie answered uninterested once handed to her a small container and closed shut the statue.

"Everything ready?"

"Yes, you fool. I asked a friend to carry this thing there for me, if asked, he will say that an apprentice artisan that wishes to remain anonymous wants to see if his works are worthy." Xiao answered huffing.

"Everything will be okay, little Pò is completely covered by her Thief Gear so even in the worst case, she won't be recognized while she escapes."

"From highly-trained Imperial Guards?"

"...I have great trust in her abilities." the man answered a bit stiffly.

"I swear, if she gets captured I will sacrifice you to save her." the woman answered while marching away to meet her friend waiting for her outside.

"Don't I already know that?"

[ - Imperial Palace - ]

Mingling with the dozen of people hurrying to reach the Imperial Palace, Xie and Xiao looked in apprehension as the crate holding the golden statue went discreetly opened and checked thoroughly by several experts accompanied by six burly guards.

"Xie!" the woman hissed in worry while grabbing her companion's arm to the point of piercing his flesh with her long nails.

"She is fine! She is fine!" biting down the pain with great effort, the man answered with a placating tone as the lid went closed and the crate moved inside once hosted on the shoulders of one of the guards.

"See? She passed the checkpoint! From here its all an easy downward path without even the smallest bump!" he said once forcefully freed his arm from her hold.

"Okay, okay." she answered taking long calming breaths.

"Good! Now try to look convincing as somebody coming here for the first time, looking suspicious won't help!"

"Yes."

"Good evening, is she your guest?" the Imperial Servant standing at the door holding a giant book asked while a dozen guards blocked the entrance with their heavily-armored bodies.

"Yes, she insisted she wanted to see at least once how the Imperial Auction worked. Is it a problem?" Xie answered looking troubled.

"Uhm! She is not on the guest list, I technically shouldn't let her in, I am sorry."

"I can take full responsibility for her though, and she isn't exactly a nobody!"

"I am sorry, I can't."

"Aww, why are you such a stick in the mud, little Sun?" a new voice said amused.

"Please do not call me 'Little Sun'!" the Servant begged ashamed.

"Young Xie never was a source of trouble, and Lady Xiao is as formidable as the beasts of Tian-Fa Forest! It's not hard to understand how he was strong-armed into taking her along."

"Lord Hao, your student is not worthy of your help." Xie welcomed the old man with a bow of his head.

"Former student, Xie! It has been a while since your last lesson; I can vouch for them, Little Sun. Let them in." the Palace Librarian said with a gentle smile.

"As Lord Hao wishes," Little Sun, once again grimacing at his nickname, did as asked and signaling the guards to let the duo enter.

"Thank you, Lord Hao." Xiao thanked the man with a bow herself.

"En! Just be gentle with that young man, he has no chances against you, so please, do not bully him too much!" the old man answered laughing jovial while accompanying both inside.

"Just the right amount, to keep him humble."

"Hey!"

"Oh, well! If it this for this noble cause, then I won't stop you. But here we part ways, I am needed on the main stage to present the various books that will be sold today. Good evening."

"To you too, Lord Scholar." both Xie and Xiao answered as one.

"Why the Emperor has to use part of the Palace for this? Wouldn't have been better to let this family own their own building?" Xiao asked sighing at the high level of security around them.

"And let some of the rarest treasures these people can find go unchecked? Noo! Why would he waste the opportunity to get some even before the Auctions start?" Xie answered while navigating the various corridors until they entered the far-away giant room the Emperor 'kindly' left the family behind the Auction House use to host they bi-monthly meeting.

"We are lucky though, considering the high quality of the objects in display this time, there are more people than usual, so sneaking Pò outside will be easier. Is your contact ready?"

"Yes, yes. That servant will bring Pò the same uniform they wear at the accorded place and time, she will then escort her out. You sure the blackmail you have on her won't make her talk?"

"Have no fear, I have her life and the life of her whole family in my hands, if she leaves even just a word slip out, everybody will know her little secret, and if that happen, even committing mass suicide won't spare her family the shame. And she knows it."

"I hope you are right."

"We can always kill her afterwards!" He offered smirking.

"Food for thought."

"...I was joking, Xiao." Xie said, looking a bit taken aback.

"..."

"Oh, Gods."

"Here we are." the woman silenced him as soon as they entered the elegant room, pulling him with her to rapidly find their seats between the hundred and more plush chairs inside, all separated in circles around the main stage hosting the auction with a table already set next to the podium for the Host.

[ - Auction Temporary Storage Room - ]

"Ah-oooh!"

* Thung! *

"En! Not as heavy as I expected, but heavy all the same." the guard that took Pò's statue inside muttered while gently depositing the gold statue on the far back of the room.

"It's a nice woman, you know? Who do you think modeled for it?" the guard's pal asked curious.

"I have no idea! Both sculptor and model wished to remain anonymous, just in case the Auction is not a success."

"Hard to see it happen! This thing is very nice to look at! A pity the face has no details, it makes recognizing her harder!" one said whining.

"I bet I could recognize her all the same!"

"How?"

"How, you ask? From this!" the other answered pointing at the statue's backside.

In that moment the drugs wore off making Pò's eyes regain focus so to hear the two men talking about her body, making her barely-restrained rage purge her system of the last remnants of chemicals faster.

"...Yep! It's rare to find firmer ones! It will be a dead giveaway of who was the model!" the first guard said with a lecherous smile.

"Yep! Very nice." the second guard confirmed watching his own reflection in the shined bottom of the statue.

"If you two have done salivating, it's about time you bring the first object on the stage." the third guard, standing by the only entrance to the room, said with an annoyed tone.

"Right! Immediately!" both yelped embarrassed as they collected a trio of paintings and carefully exiting the room.

"Idiots." the third man muttered rolling his eyes while slamming the door closed.

"..."

"...Coast clear." a faint voice said from inside the statue as its front part swung open on hidden hinges to reveal the fully dressed and masked Pò inside.

Giving her bones and back a rapid round of warming to recover from her drugged state, she looked around the hundreds of pieces around her with analytical eyes.

"You know? I think I will take few souvenirs for myself! I am going to show off a perfect replica of my butt out there, I deserve to be paid back for the hassle!" Pò muttered huffing while taking out one of the silver cats Xie forged for her to use as her calling card.

"Let's see..." once used the same paste to seal close the statue, she moved through the various pieces until she found the ugly gorilla Xie talked about and the crate holding the Celestial Boar she needed, resting like relics on a red silk cloth to show-off the elegant carvings that had been made on the tusks along the lustrous shining of the boar skin cape and the still-burning fire inside the beast's crystallized eyes used to decorate a pair of heavily-ornate daggers.

"There it is, 'Flaming Boar Parts', it's the real deal, no doubts." the girl nodded pleased as she took out the knife at her hip to cut away those parts from the extra parts that had been added to raise their value.

"...Done! And now, all inside that...Thing..." once recovered the parts Xie wanted out of the bunch and closed the crate, she moved to the opposite side of the room towards the second hollow statue of their plan.

It was a two feet tall statue of an obese gorilla represented in the act of drunkenly dancing around while balanced on top of a colorful ball and with a face smeared in half-melted make-up; between eye-watering colours and overall appearances, Pò doubted somebody sane of mind would actually dare buying it, it was clear the Emperor's promise of nobody else bar Xie making an offer was just an added safety of the disgraced Alchemist.

"Now. Left arm up, right arm down, head to the left and heart decoration on the blouse turned upside-down..." following the instructions left by her partner, Pò moved the various mobile parts of the statue so to activate the secret compartment inside the hollow ball under the gorilla, opening there the hidden alcove where she deposited her loot, and rapidly moving every part back to normal so to close it as soon as she heard steps approach the room.

"...And he said that he could not do that." the guard said while entering.

"What a damn coward, all talk and no spine." the other answered while looking at a long list in his hand.

"Next one?"

"A collection of books."

"How many?"

"Twenty."

"Uuuhng!" the first guard whined petulantly.

"Come on! That is far from being the heaviest thing in here!"

"It's not that! I am allergic to dust!" he replied.

"Then I can't help you! Now Move! I instead will take that Lance with a crystal blade."

"No, that remains here. His Imperial Majesty has already bought it before the event even started." the third guard interrupted him.

"Ah! My mistake, so...The one after the lance is..."

"That ugly gorilla, yeah."

"Ugh! Why does that freak Xie-Lo want to buy that?" he asked gagging at the sight of the thing.

"I heard that he wants it because he finds it hilarious, so he wants to have it close so to look at it when depressed and have a laugh...Apparently he once met a guy looking exactly like that." the third man answered unsure.

"Because it makes him laugh, Pah! To each their own! It makes my eyes cry blood instead! Whatever, as long as he is happy and doesn't whine."

"Ah! That's better! Then you take the books while I take the gorilla! With those scrawny toothpicks you have for arms you will never lift it!" the first guard said with a joyous laugh as he merrily lifted the ugly statue to bring it out.

"Nobody loves smart-asses." the second man answered huffing as he took the old tomes next to the door and followed him.

"Less talking and more working." the third countered closing the door.

"...Too close! The Emperor buying something behind the scenes was unexpected! I almost had no time...Now, I should have few minutes before they come distracting the guards outside, time for some shopping!" Pò said with a mischievous smile.

"Let's see, six knives? It's a good start! They are the very last in the list, so they must be precious." she said forcing open a glass panel with inside six long knives made with a dull silvery metal that felt extremely cold to the touch and had elegant carvings filled in gold representing wild animals roaming through the woods.

"...And I will take this." the girl then said with a malicious smile as she saw a whip made with reddish-black leather and ending with a merciless-looking jagged metal tip.

"What do we have here! 'Whip made in rare Level 10 Gold Realm skin from a Celestial Red Lizard. Origin: Unknown.'! Nice!"

Origin unknown always meant that it was either extremely rare or illegal to even posses and purchase, in both cases, very good news for Pò!

"And with this, weapons won't be a problem for a while! I will also take those three ingots of 'Amorphous Silver', I am sure that missing this little quantity of ludicrously-rare metal won't be too much of an issue!" the girl muttered amused once pocketed her personal treasures and left the small cat figurine on top of the empty crates once holding inside the silver knives.

"Silver, silver, silver...May as well let 'Silver Cat' be my name as a Master Thief then!"

"HELP! Somebody help!" a new voice, a female one, shrieked in fear from outside.

"What?" the soldiers guarding the door asked immediately.

"Fire! Fire everywhere! I-In the kitchens and in the dormitories! Even in the corridors!" the servant answered in tears.

"Go call for help, in the meantime I will see if there was anybody hurt!"

"Okay!" both men soon ran in two different direction leaving the door unprotected.

"Pssh! Hurry and wear this!" barely a minute later yet another voice said throwing inside the room a folded uniform before the woman talking too ran away.

"Good." Pò said pleased as she immediately wore the soot-covered kitchen servant uniform over her Thief clothes while hiding her long hair under a plain bonnet.

"Time to shine!" using some of the soot on the uniform to cover her face, Pò staggered out of the room to lean against the opposite wall from the door and cough heavily while making her way towards the gardens, right in the same direction the guards ran towards.

"H-Help! Somebody help me!" she called out, now fully in character.

"Hey! Hey, you! Are you okay?!" in front of her a new guard asked worried as soon as she turned the corner and saw the young girl.

"I-I-I am fine! W-W-Where is everybody?!" looking well the part of the scared maid, Pò asked with a shaking voice while covering most of her face with a hand to try coughing her lungs out.

"We are helping them, what about your eyes?" the woman answered.

"I-I-I can't see! T-Too much smoke!" the other replied while holding her eyes shut to not show the very recognizable jade-green colour they had.

"Sssh! It's okay. I will take you outside, there is fresh air there. How did you get here?"

"Here? H-Here where? I-I just ran away! A-Am I in trouble?"

"No, be at ease, this time you are not in trouble. You are excused."

"W-Who are you?"

"An Imperial Guard."

"M-Milady! This lowly servant is so so sorry for troubling you!" Pò begged in tears.

"Ssh! It's fine, it's fine. Now lean on me and I will take you to safety!"

"Thank you, milady!"

"No problem, now follow me, this way you were going back towards the fire, I will take you to the gardens instead."

"Okay."

[ - Auction - ]

Several long and tense minutes later a young boy was seen walk towards the main stage once bowed to the esteemed guests present and excused his intermission so to whisper something in the Host's ears and then leave.

"...Ah, yes! I am told the situation is now under control, please forgive us for the inconvenience!" the old man said once informed by a messenger that the fire had been almost completely extinguished.

"Then please continue." The Emperor asked from his personal seat right behind the man.

"Of course, your Imperial Majesty."

"Ah-Hem! The next object on the list is a special boon from an anonymous source, a gold statue of a woman; both author and model wish to keep their anonymity, but it has been tested and the material used is indeed gold. The starting offer is at twenty gold leaves." the Host said giving a sharp blow of his hammer, and in between the surprised whispering for the high starting price, Xie's statue was carried on stage for everybody to see.

"Here it is! This...Ah-Hem…'Healthy' young lady has been created by a Gemless, so you can understand how harder it was creating something like this without using Qi, every...Well...Every 'detail' is clearly as much life-like as the metal can permit, but this, I think it's evident." The Host said looking clearly uneasy at presenting the very erotic statue.

["Big Sister Fei!"] both Emperor's daughters immediately thought in surprise, it was clear that the past incident with the Tea Girl's clothes had stuck a bit deeper than expected in their psyche if they could recognize her curves that easily.

["M-Maybe she needed extra money and accepted such a request? O-Or maybe the sculptor forced her? Thankfully her face has not been represented, Gods know how many pigs would have hunt her down otherwise!"] Princess Ying wondered with a sad expression, an expression soon morphing into anger at the idea of somebody forcing a young unfortunate girl to pose for such a dirty project, and turning even more angry at the shameless looks of hunger she saw few of the present give the statue, both male and female even!

["Oh my...It looks like somebody I already met...But who? A pity I can't buy it! Wu-Wu-Wuuuu! Life is unfair!"] Wáng Fènghuáng thought feeling extremely miserable as his wife sitting next to him kept fuming in rage.

"Such a vulgar statue! Who can be so shameless to create it?! And even more shameless to buy it!? it's scandalous!" the woman hissed in disgust.

"Yes, dear. You are right! Simply unacceptable!" Wáng replied immediately while trying to placate her.

["I want it! I want it! I want it!"] in the meantime though, in the privacy of his mind, this middle-aged man kept whining and crying like a spoiled brat that had been denied something he wanted.

"One hundred Gold Leaves!" the same merchant that had been deprived of his own gold statue some time ago bellowed with a loud voice.

"Darling?!" the man's wife screeched right after in shock.

"The face lacks features, so I will have a trusted artisan put your face on it, so people will see the beauty I see everyday whenever I look at you!" he answered.

"..." Nor his wife or anybody else obviously believed his lie and were no ashamed to show it on their face, making him turn a bit red in answer and sit down with a meek expression.

"One hundred Gold Leaves and fifty Silver Leaves!" a woman, proud owner of one of the city biggest high-class brothels, countered immediately while also unconsciously flaring her aura of Silver Qi.

"Pah! Two hundred gold leaves." exuding an insufferable air of superiority, the Lord of the Lóng Family elegantly rose from his seat to deliver his answer with absolute composure.

"It is almost my son's birthday, and I think that little thing will be a nice start, boys at his age should love such different style of presents." he explained laughing affably while sitting down.

"Thank you, father." the man's son answered with a touched expression.

"Xie!" Xiao whispered.

"What?"

"Pò probably already escaped, let's go!" The woman said.

"Not yet! I want to see their face when they see the boar parts have been stolen." the man answered while more and more nouveau-riches and other distinguished lords in there kept battling for the statue, all the while giving poor excuses as to why they wanted it.

"You and your damn ego." she muttered annoyed.

In the end, after a fierce battle between too-rich morons, and even a single offer of Ying Yue herself that actually shocked the Emperor almost to the point of vomiting blood, the statue went sold for the outrageous sum of five hundred gold leaves to the Head of the Láng Family, that skillfully ignored the very disapproving looks of his daughter and wife to collect the thing himself while carefully committing the statue's every detail to memory.

"I guess we have a winner then," the Host offered with an uneasy smile once seen the thick air of unhappiness hanging in the room, and so hurrying through the various object present in the hope of avoiding any possible incident.

"Now, our next item is a vase that has been found in the ruins of the old Emerald city and that our experts have confirmed coming from all the way back to the Third Dynasty, right at the beginning of the reign of the First ruler of the Emerald city, to be exact. The auction starts with a base offer of..."

As soon as the bottom half of the list of treasures put to Auction that day started appearing, all bets were off, and the real money battle between the presents began.

"Two Hundred Golds!"

"A thousand Golds!"

"Five hundred silver leaves!"

"You fucker! I counter with two hundred Gold Leaves!"

"Screw you, peasant! Two hundred is just pocket change to me! I raise to four hundred gold leaves!"

The rarest the objects offered began to be, the more the ones present turned frantic in their offers, to the point of yelling over each other and spicing their wildest offers with insults, curses and other lowly epithets one would expect the darkest corner of society to use instead of the so called 'Nobles', forcing even the Emperor himself to jump in once or twice to force things to calm down.

"Now that we all have calmed down...Next item on the list is instead a true jewel of a different kind. We are indeed presenting now a hunting set made from parts of a Celestial Beast! The rare ' Ghost of Tian-Fa'! A Flaming Boar!" the Host said proudly making everybody present drop their childish demeanor to turn greedy in an instant and focus fully on him.

"Yes, you heard me right! A full hunting set! The cape and boots have been made with Flaming Boar skin and fur, the horn with its giant tusks, the daggers have been empowered with its eyes (so that no skin will be too hard to pierce), the bow strings are made with its tendons while the arrow heads with its bones, meaning maximum piercing power!" the Host explained.

"Even the head has been prepared so to be mounted on your wall! The empty orbits have two rubies in them, but I was told that the brain has been left inside, so I guess the artisan felt generous enough to leave such valuable Alchemy Ingredient in there as a present." he then said with a knowing smirk.

"The organs instead have been put aside in special containers and will be sold separately."

At that both Alchemist and Collectors present quickly exchanged few hatred-filled glares before focusing on the main stage where the crate holding said parts was finally deposited onto.

"But words alone won't help, so we are going to put on display those masterpieces for you to see and...And...And..." the Host started saying while opening the crate, and turning ghastly white at seeing it only filled by the rags that had been removed and left behind by Pò, that and the small silver cat figurine standing mockingly in front of him.

"T-T-T-THIEEEEEEEEEEEF!" the old man shrieked with a high pitch voice before collapsing in a dead faint, just like the artisan that created those pieces and secretly following the Auction did at hearing him.

"Guards!" spitting madly in blind fury the Emperor gave a deafening roar that made the whole palace tremble while the room fell in complete chaos.

"And this is our cue to leave." Xie muttered pleased at seeing the absolute mess of guards and angry/scared people running around like headless chickens.

"You enjoy chaos a bit too much."

"I just dislike the monotony of everyday life, Sister Xiao." he answered simply.

[ - Xie Secret Lab - ]

It was very late into the night when Pò could finally dare sneak inside the man's lab to meet him and Xiao, especially since the Emperor looked a step close at losing his mind over the lost of face of somebody entering his Palace to steal not only the Boar parts, but other treasures whose real price could not even be fathomed, treasures he himself had secretly bought making the stealing just a tad more personal.

"Here she is! My beautiful little sister! My angel of darkness! My Pride and Joy!" Xie said in great pride as he hugged her tight as soon as she entered from a secret entrance.

"You never said that to me, big brother." Xie's younger brother muttered dejected.

"That's because you never made me proud."

"Wu! Wu! Wu! Big Brother is a meanie!" the other replied whining.

"Not only you stole what Xie wanted, but you also stole the ingots of silver the Emperor wanted for himself and the knives and the whip he had bought for his daughters, very bold." Xiao said amused.

"I think I made a nice statement, eh? The Legendary Thief 'Silver Cat' is in town!" Pò answered smugly.

"Oh, yes! They do know you now! To doubts about it!"

"I got your memo when I recovered those things from one of the safe-houses, I will turn those knives into a battle fan as you asked and use the amorphous silver to create you a mask and other equipment. As a way to thank you for a job well done." Xie said still looking giddy for the rare ingredients he got for free.

"And the whip?"

"There is very little that needs to be adjusted, it's indeed almost perfect, but I still saw some room for improvement, I will fix those issues to the best of my abilities." he answered.

"Wonderful! I instead checked with my contacts, as for now they still can't even tell if 'Silver Cat' is a man or a woman, and they have no clue about how he/she entered and left the Palace without a single soul noticing. And with all the care the Láng Family is putting to hide the fact that the statue they bought for an astronomical price was a hollow gold shell instead of gold-covered marble as promised, the Emperor won't find out any time soon." Xiao explained looking more relaxed compared to when their mission started.

"Nice to hear, want to return to the Lotus? I brought my new uniform with me." Pò offered.

"You came to take your young aunt home? What a considerate niece I have!" the woman answered laughing haughtily.

"Just go, I have a lot of work to do, and a forge is no place for a woman." Xie ordered gently pushing both out of his lab.

"We are going, we are going!" Xiao answered huffing as both rapidly left the man alone with his new toys.

The streets were silent, with the high number of Police Squad members and Imperial Guards roaming about, very few were brave enough to adventure out at night, especially since those soldiers themselves looked like they were out of blood so to bring somebody guilty enough back to the Palace so to put an end to this madness.

"Ah! Just the woman I was looking for!" a young man, one of the Palace's eunuchs to be precise, said elated as he neared Xiao and Pò accompanied by two Imperial Guards.

"May I help you?" Xiao asked confused.

"My apologies, Lady Xiao! But I was instructed to deliver a message to this young lady. Is she Fei-Dao?" the eunuch asked.

"What if she is?" the woman replied with narrowed eyes while stepping in front of Pò.

"Rest assured, it's nothing bad! It is merely an invitation!"

"An invitation?" Pò asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, Lady Fei-Dao! Young Princess Ying Yue wants to express her thanks for intercepting her sister Jiang and keeping her entertained until they could recover her, and also as a way for her to apologize for some kind of incident, but I was not told what this incident was...Nothing too grievous, I hope?" the young man asked in concern.

"Just a small incident, nothing bloody. But what is my girl asked to do?" Xiao answered.

"The Young Princess wishes to offer Lady Fei-Dao some tea at the Palace, she is required of course to be clean and presentable as per Imperial Etiquette. The Princess personal Palanquin will come to collect her tomorrow at five and bring her back at the Lotus Tea House at seven sharp. It goes without saying that proper conduct and clothes are a must." the eunuch explained.

"Have no fear, young man. We of the Heavenly Lotus are all ladies, we let the brothels take in the more uncouth and rude, we pride ourselves in having perfect manners. We serve tea and nice company, not our bodies." Xiao answered with a proud voice, but the hidden cold edge on it was not missed, making the boy and both guards wince minutely.

"Thank the Gods you are already a eunuch, or she would have tuned you into one herself." one of the guards muttered shaking his head.

"I was not implying she is a vulgar pig!" the boy answered immediately and with a very red face.

"Jokes aside, I am honored to receive such an invitation, this lowly nobody humbly accepts the offer." Pò said with a small bow.

"Thank you, the Young Princess would have been furious with me had I messed this up! She also wanted me to say that you do not need to worry too much, she wants a friendly meeting with you, not an official one...Please do with this as you please, but just remember...It is still the Emperor's daughter."

"Yes, I understand what you mean." Pò answered sighing.

"Are we free to go?"

"Yes, Lady Xiao. And sorry for the trouble." the eunuch answered with a nod before walking away with both guards tailing him back to the Palace.

"..."

"...Shit." both women muttered at the same time with a groan as they walked back to the Lotus with heavy steps and miserable expression on their face.

An invitation right in the lion's den the day after they stole from under the Lion's nose? Too much, there was a thing like too much bad Luck, if things kept going like that, poor Pò and Xiao knew their hair will get white way too soon!