Nowhere to Run

"I might have use for some of these items, but there's too much for me to process. What if I need some of these items?" I asked. "I'm your personal banker. Just ask me and I will fetch it for you." she said. "No, I can't!" I protested. She was a Core Formation senior and the head of a branch. "What about I assign one of my subordinates then? If my subordinate can't do it, then he will report to me and I will do something about it.". I nodded. Her subordinate... must only be a small cultivator like me, right? That would be fine. After viewing the vault and grabbing some items, we returned back to the local Valerias branch. I was assigned an emergency token which I could crush if I needed help (not just money... but for help, since I was a VVIP now), as well as a National Aurra Bank cheque book. As long as I put some of my divine sense of it, it would be valid at any place on Aurra and even Kunwu. This was easier and safer than carrying goodness knows how much wealth around, and it would be useless for anyone to steal it.

The cheque book was assigned to all customers above a certain threshold, but mine was made in sleek black, inlaid with bewitching moonstones, which would make the recipient muddle headed and unable to recall my identity even after I used it. It was the highest-level cheque book the bank issues. After taking up the whole afternoon, night was now falling. I finally returned back to my room. After giving my landlord notice, this was my last day. I wanted to have some time to think about where I should go after this. Maybe Sonata? It was so big I could hide and no one could find me. But what should I do about work? I didn't need work. Then should I cultivate?

Lying on the mattress, I started to feel a bit sleepy. Then, I suddenly had a stabbing pain in the heart, then an ominous feeling. A cultivator's sense was never wrong. What was it? Who was it? Old Man Zhao! Did those men finally catch up to him? Without thinking, I put on my shoes and made my way to the bookshop. Outside, the bookshop looked normal, but I could hear signs of fighting behind the illusion. Old Man Zhao told me not to come back, but I couldn't sit by and watch him struggle, right? If he hadn't picked me up from the street, I might not have even lived to inherit my riches today.

Concealing myself, I waited until all signs of fighting had ended, and scanned the area. There was no one around. I probed for signs of life. There was only one weak breath in the bookshop, and it was... Old Man Zhao! I burst into the bookshop. I was shocked by what I saw. The bookshop was razed nearly to the ground, black and charred, with ashes and broken items all over the floor. Scattered all over the place were about a dozen bodies, recently deceased. I spied a formation. Old Man Zhao must have laid this to protect himself. However, the formation was weak now, and I was able to step over it to the counter. Old Man Zhao was sitting behind it, shivering. "Old Man Zhao!" I shook him. "Old Man Zhao! Are you alright?" I asked. Old Man Zhao finally opened his eyes. The moment he saw me, he got angry. "Ying Yue! I told you not to come back!" "Old Man Zhao! There's no one around now. It's alright. Let me get you out of here..." I insisted, trying to pry him up.

However, he was very heavy and his eyes kept closing. "Ying Yue... you disobedient child... Never mind... it's good you came back. Look, take this." he said. He pried a luxurious Qiankun bag from inside his robe that he was protecting. "This?" I asked. "It's my last inheritance for you. Contains everything in the bookshop and everything I own. This old man doesn't have much time... Thank you for giving me joy in my last days... You are my protégé... You will find out all about why this happened later."

As he said this, he closed his eyes for the final time. I choked up. Old Man Zhao said he would send me a message when it was safe to meet again... yet in the end we met under such circumstances. However, this wasn't the time to grief. Considering he just killed a dozen men, there would be more after him. I pocketed the bag he gave me, then put his body in a Qiankun bag. Where was safe for me to run now, at this time? The next city? I wasn't fast enough, and I couldn't fly. I would be caught immediately. Think... think... think...