A Life Jade

Zhang Li continued, "After that, the main branch decided to have nothing to do with your family."

Zhang Yong spoke up, "However, it was shortly after your mother, Cui Jia, was pregnant that a group came after your mother."

Lotus raised a brow, "Just how did my mother, who had no background, met father though?"

"Your mother was a talented woman." Zhang Li continued, "It was said that she was hired by a brothel to be a musician rather than a prostitute and, whenever there was pressure from the customers, she would quickly send them away with her own strength. She wasn't a woman to be trifled with and the owner of the brothel had also been kind to her and treated her well."

"We suspected that there was some discontent between her and the other workers or customers when master took her away, however, that wasn't the case." Zhang Yong responded.

Zhang Li nodded with a sigh, "They knew nothing about her after she was brought to the Hui Family. Much less that she was pregnant."

Zhang Yong continued, "The main branch family wanted nothing to do with a prostitute, but your father was a powerful person in the family and your grandfather wasn't far behind him. Initially, the main branch wanted her to just be a concubine, but your father shot down the idea."

Zhang Li nodded, "According to our father and mother who were servants of the family, Master Hui would not accept anything less but to bring in Lady Cui as the main wife. Initially, Master Hui and Patriarch wasn't on good terms with the main family from the beginning, but, after this incident, the gap between them grew larger. In the end, they fell apart. The patriarch and Master Hui demanded to cut off from the family and left the place with Lady Cui. During her pregnancy, the family agreed to keep her current state a secret so she can deliver you safely, but..."

"Something happened..." Lotus finished with a frown.

It was obvious that she was raised in an orphanage and another world at that.

Zhang Yong nodded, "The night after you were born, a group invaded the mansion and tried to kill everyone in the household. At the time, my sister and I were children and Patriarch Hui put us into Lady Cui's chambers. Lady Cui had just given birth and was in no position to run, but Lord Hui came and brought us all out."

"Lady Cui thought of switching young lady with a deceased child but the enemy found us." Zhang Li responded firmly, "The group was powerful and killed Lord Hui. My brother and I tried to run, but they got us and we were nearly killed. After that, we awoke in our grandparents' home and found that everyone in the Hui household had perished in a fire."

"Not everyone really." Zhang Yong responded and said, "Our uncle was still grasping onto life under cuts and terrible wounds. He told us that Lord Hui's and Lady Cui's offspring was still alive and had been kidnapped by a strange man that must've been a demon. But, there was no signs of cultivation from him and his attire was very unusual."

Understanding what they were getting at Lotus nodded her head, "So, you believe this person is from here."

Zhang Yong nodded, "A complete black attire with shiny hard shoes and a hat made of fine cloth."

Lotus could not think of any attired in their world that would have shiny hard-looking shoes or fine cloth hat but here. But, based on the description, it sounds like the guy was from a very well-off background. Lotus raised a brow, "So, that's it? I should've thought it'd be such a situation too."

Lotus breathed in a sigh, "I didn't think I'd be found so easily too..."

Zhang Yong agreed, "I thought so too, but there should be an explanation behind it. For instance, we were told that you had a Life jade tied to you a long time ago. It had disappeared that day during the attack."

Lotus raised a brow, "A life jade? I have a life jade?"

Lotus had no idea she even had a life jade at all!

A life jade can tie the soul of a living being to a warm jade nameplate that would fit in to the palm. It acts as an indicator and a chain to the person with their name on it. If their nameplate grows cold, the person's life is in danger. If it cracks, they're dying. If it breaks, the person is dead. However, the same could be said the other way around.

The only way.

If someone breaks the life jade, that person dies.

The reason was this is because their soul is connected to the life jade that is capable of embodying souls. Though it sounds bad enough, Lotus knew that it could've been worse, especially now that there's a good chance that the life jade could be in the hands of the enemy. However, creating a life jade wasn't simple.

"When you were born, it was one of Lady Cui's friends who came by to create a life jade for you." Zhang Yong responded, "We don't know who it was, but our father kept reminding us not to disrespect him because he was very powerful. Someone to be respected. We don't know very well how it was that your mother got into contact with such a powerful individual."

Lotus frowned, "So, it seems my mother didn't have a simple background either..."

She had little reason to believe in their words, but it wasn't like she didn't have the decision to doubt it either. So, really, why not just believe them?

Lotus thought for a bit before responding, "One question. What connection do you have to search for me? I understand your parents served mine..."

"We were to be your study partners and serve directly under you as bodyguards." Zhang Yong responded bluntly.

Zhang Li nodded with a much wider smile upon the topic, "It was decided by your grandmother and mother. When they learned that Lady Cui was pregnant, your grandmother, Lady Guo, and the patriarch was the most excited and had started preparation before you were born. Our father was the steward who served under Lord Hui. Lady Guo had him bring us over and then decided that we would serve under you in the future and be your study partner."

"We were brought over to see you the day you were born, but there was complications with the birth and Lady Cui was in poor health while you were too frail to leave her side." Zhang Yong responded, "Even when we were put into the same room with her, we couldn't catch a glimpse of you with everything going on. Lady Guo was there at the time briefly with talk that they were going to switch you with the child in her arms, but Lady Cui was against it very much. Lady Guo didn't push for her idea though and we never knew why Lady Cui was against it."

"We came to protect you after hearing rumors that there had been movements from a group called the Black Lotus sect." Zhang Yong responded, "We thought the movement at the burnt Hui mansions was a little weird and we have been training to go and find our liege for years."

Zhang Li added, "They are a demonic sect with disciple that are demons and evil cultivators."

"They took in demons too?" Lotus raised a brow.

Zhang Li nodded, "That's pretty much all we know. We don't dare to dive deeper."

Lotus nodded understandingly. Demons and spirits aren't rare in their world. In the past, they ran rampant and often caused trouble with the humans, but they have their own realm and would usually keep away from them just as the spirits do. Both disliked the other and the humans disliked both always acting condescending over the others. It was a big problem back in her time as well. There was also the natural dislike for demons more so than spirits. To humans, demons was a natural enemy and it was the same the other way around while spirits were seen as tools and they see humans as morons. It was such a big problem and probably still is...

Kneading her temple fighting back against the oncoming headache, Lotus sighed, "For now, let's keep this a secret. Nobody is to know that I've been found or that I have any connections to the Hui family without my permission. It's not safe to take this further and find the main family without the life jade."

"Shall we prepare for your return to our realm?" Zhang Yong questioned bluntly.

"No." Lotus responded, "There's still a few people here after me and it's dragging in the entire population of the school. Not to mention, I'm still too weak at the moment. I need to raise my ranks more before I can leave. I don't need for you to tell me how strong you are. I can already sense it. However, we do not know how powerful our enemy really is and it would be better to continue pretending than to be found. When the time comes, we'll strike them back."

Lotus sat on the edge of the bed and continued, "Besides, there's going to be times I'll need you two to run errands for me if we're going to make it out there in society with those guys at our backs. I can't be protected forever."

She checked her wounds and took out a blue pill before munching on it. She continued, "How did you guys find out it was the Black Lotus Sect?"

"We investigated." Zhang Li responded, "It was then that we found out that the Black Lotus sect was after you and secretly followed their trails."

"Interesting." Lotus smirked and pulled out a gold nameplate from her ring, "I just happened to have found this on the guy I killed last night. Take a look."

On the name plate was the characters for Black Lotus. The siblings were bewildered when they saw the name plate. Lotus clarified, "I doubt those guys are taking this seriously. After all, this isn't the first time I've come across this name plate and everyone of them have always been a gold core to ensoulment rank cultivators. However, once I close those arrays, it won't be that simple anymore."

"Then, you plan to continue attending school here as a boy?" Zhang Li questioned curiously having already figured out her real situation here in this school.

"That's right." Lotus smirked as she started to feel the effect of her pill springing into action, "The school has quite a few teachings of magic that it seems I'm capable of using. They could come in handy later on."

Zhang Li sighed when she knew what Lotus was thinking before didn't chide her further before adding, "Then, what about your real name?"

Zhang Yong frowned, "We were unable to hear your name before the incident. The patriarch and matriarch were both undecided about the matter, so the name was decided by the Lord and his wife..."

"Just call me Lotus for now." Lotus smirked, "Not like it's my real name either."

Zhang Li stared at her in bewilderment as the corner of her brother's lip twitched before she sighed, "Why am I not surprised..."

Lotus smiled, "Anyway, I need to check on the situation of the aftermath of the incident last night. You can't leave the room in broad daylight either and they have a dark mirror that could see everything going on if I don't use an array or my eyes."

Knowing she was right, Zhang Yong sighed, "Then, please call for us when possible."

"Alright." Lotus responded, "See you later!"

She then left the room in her school uniform with a snap that surprised them. When she was gone, Zhang Yong sighed, "Who would've know our lady is so active."

Zhang Li smirked, "I like her. She's so much fun to be with than those other noble woman who do nothing but groom themselves and come up with stupid things."

"You..." Zhang Yong shook his head in exasperation, "Well, I guess you make a good point..."