News of Kate

Shui smirked as he looked at the orb and then put it in his storage ring.

'My eyes weren't wrong.'

Shui was confident that his spiritual sense was unparalleled among the core disciples, even Kasia who wasn't inside the Spirit Nest. But he knew that if it wasn't for the Omniscient Eyes art and the Perception Chapter of the Tome of Shadows, he wouldn't have been able to see anything special about the orb.

"I hope I can get something from the sprites too."

Shui was already satisfied with the orb, but he went to check what the faeries had to see if he could get anything else. However, though every one of the herbs, ores and strange items that the sprites had on sale were very appealing to the core disciples, Shui couldn't help thinking that they were lacking. Still, he figured they could at least be souvenirs.

Shui was only giving the items a cursory glance before moving on, but he stopped when he felt a tremor around his chest.

"Wait!"

As a familiar voice went straight into his head, Shui slightly opened his coat to look at the one who poked out of his pocket.

"What is it?"

"I want you to get something for me."

"Huh? Why should I? Aren't I already making up for messing with your house by letting you sleep in there?"

Shui hadn't seen a single thing so far that he couldn't afford, but just because he had money didn't mean he would be loose with it.

"Come on, aren't human males supposed to be gentlemen. Where is your chivalry?"

"Hmph, sorry but you fall a little short of my standards."

The red spirit snorted in response, flew out of his pocket and stopped in front of his face.

"Oi, what are you doing?!"

Even though he didn't want to look weird by staring into his coat, Shui preferred that over her exposing herself.

"Calm down, I've made it so that you're the only one who can see me."

With a quick check, Shui confirmed that no one could see her so he continued their telepathic communication. He wanted to ask how she could hide herself so well, but he put that question aside for now.

"Anyways, I don't have a reason to buy anything for you."

"Hah~, fine. Let's make a deal."

"What kind of deal?" Shui asked with a curious tone.

"If you buy me what I want then I'll help you master the basic laws of fire. That's why you picked up my house, right?"

"Well, you suddenly just changed your request, but I am tempted."

Shui didn't like how she had seen through his intentions but there was no point in refusing just to save face.

"Good, follow me."

Though he hadn't actually said that he accepted the deal, Shui shrugged his shoulders and followed behind her.

"Ah, here!"

It didn't take long before she stopped at a sprite-run stall that had many shiny ores for sale.

"Hmm, why do you want these ores?"

"I used up a lot of power a long time ago so I've been sleeping to replenish it. But that isn't very efficient so I'm always on the lookout for things that can help shorten the process."

"And these rocks can help?"

"Just the red ones since they have fire elemental energy."

"Hmm, then would elemental crystals work too?"

"Yes, I was planning to check a few places where there should be some, but considering how much time has passed the location might have shifted so we'll need to spend some time searching."

"I see, wait, why are you assuming I'll bring you to these places?"

"Just consider it an extension of our deal, I don't mind letting you take any treasures we find along the way."

"Fine. Let me just buy the ores for now."

Since Shui still had a lot of fruits left over from the secret world of the evolved beasts, he had no problem buying all of the red ores that Miss Spirit wanted. With their shopping spree over, Shui was going to look for Rio while the red spirit hugged a small ore in his pocket, but he overheard a rather discomforting conversation.

"Yeah, I heard that too. Apparently they've been chasing her since Day 1. I wonder why the elders aren't saying anything."

"Oh come on, with his status you really think the elders are going to speak out. Besides, it's not as if they've actually done anything to her."

"I guess, I hope the Cold Princess can make it out of this one."

"Wait."

It was the sort of conversation he would usually ignore, but a strange feeling invaded Shui's heart.

"Tell me more."

Meanwhile, Kate was breathing heavily in a cave as she hid and watched a group of men who were searching for her. The few injuries she had gotten from their previous confrontation were already healed, but she wasn't ready for another clash.

'Damn it, one is bad enough, but to think he would send two Earth Realm cultivators after me. Tch, what kind of person in the Soul Realm could escape a search party like this?!'

In the group that was looking for her were two persons in the Earth Realm and five at the peak of Soul Realm. Indeed, this would be enough to corner any rat with her cultivation, but she could easily think of at least one person who could break through this trap.

'I was planning on breaking through to Earth Realm in here but that won't happen with them on my tail. If I could ascend they wouldn't even be a threat, but since I can't I'll have to make it out of this with my current strength.'

When she focused on her hands, a pair of red and blue gloves silently appeared on them. With these gloves, which she named Dual Tiger Paws, she felt the courage she needed.

'I definitely can't let myself be stopped here!'

While she waited to recover her energy, Kate racked her brain for a way to escape her pursuers. She could manage to stay hidden while keeping an eye on them, but that was only possible because she wasn't moving and at the edge of their spiritual sense ranges. Additionally, she couldn't be optimistic and wait for them to leave the vicinity since they seemed sure that she was here.

'I need a distraction. But how?'

Kate quickly went through every item she knew was in her spatial expansion bag, but not a single one seemed like something that could help her out.

'Tch, I should have prepared better. If only something happened that could force those guys to stop looking for me. Like a couple of gremlins appearing.... wait, that could work.'

As she went deep into her mind for an idea, Kate came up with one that she knew wasn't the most sane option, nor was it a guaranteed plan to succeed. However, it was all she had so she decided to try it out. If it failed then she only had to think of something else.

Kate stretched out her open palm until it was outside the cave and used her other hand to cut it. She scowled as blood dripped from her hand to the ground, but she allowed it to keep dripping until it stopped. As a cultivator, this sort of injury wouldn't even leave a mark so once she pulled her hand back, she waited for some sort of reaction. But as seconds turned into minutes and minutes were about to reach an hour, Kate began to give up and think of a different plan. However at that very moment, there was a wild roar.