The Hostages

"Where are we, Senior?" Shadow Claw Jun Ru asked. Xi Yun looked around the bare surroundings. Her brows furrowed.

"Where's the Grand Chief?"

The others also glanced around and realised the little moe loli was not among them.

”Huh? Where'd she go?" Storm Sword's jaws dropped.

"This is a trap," said Xi Yun darkly, "the Scorpion Hall knew as soon as they kidnapped the Grand Chief's parents she would come running to save them. They must have set a Diverting Matrix formation at the entrance to the Upper Prefectures. They've spirited the Grand Chief elsewhere, so let's head to Maoyang Mountain at once. Or else..."

She started drawing a teleportation matrix at once. Almost immediately a mist descended on them and an irritated voice barked at them.

"Hey! Mediocre cultivators! This is the Upper Prefectures! You can't just do as you please. No teleportation matrices are allowed here in Luyang Fief!"

Thump!

Jun Ru located the loud mouthed tooter and dealt him a blow to the stomach. The wiry headed man was shocked! How come! But that was the end of him. Xi Yun quickly completed the matrix she was drawing and all the Seniors and Jun Ru jumped into it at once. A wild ride later, they had descended on the craggy peaks of Mt. Maoyang. There seemed to be a cultivation school there for as soon as the five's feet touched the ground a siren sound went up and several brown robed disciples cultivating on the peak went into disarray; some running down to call for assistance, and the others assuming a combat stance immediately.

"This is the Xuelu Sect! No trespassers are allowed!" A fat bellied middle aged man immediately shouted, pointing a shaking finger at the mercenaries. Their attire had scared him out of his wits! Even though they Upper Prefecture people always boasted and pretended that they were the peak masters of the world; they knew who the Si Lak Mercenaries were! This scarlet and black robe was too famous in a bad way, ah! Not here, please! He needed his life so he could still find a pretty sect girl to marry later!

Xi Yun ignored him. She turned to Jun Ru instead.

"Shadow Claw, you were the one who stayed at the Li Manor the longest. You should be able to trace the aura of the Grand Chief's parents, right?

Jun Ru furrowed his brows.

"Senior, you forget the Grand Chief's parents are not cultivators. They have no aura!"

Xi Yun's expression turned ugly as well. If only the Grand Chief were here with them!

"Alright. The hard way it is, then," she pursed her lips and spoke. Storm Sword shouldered his humongous sword immediately, a leering smile appearing on his face. All these brown robed people were already corpses in his eyes.

"Junior," Red Monkey spoke, and he snapped out of his rampaging mood at once, turning to face her with puppy dog eyes, "don't kill unless necessary. Maiming is alright," Red Monkey instructed. Storm Sword grinned widely.

"Of course, Big Sis Red Monkey!" And he lumbered at the Xuelu disciples at once. Cries went up around him almost immediately. Xi Yun and the others charged in unabated while Storm Sword cleared the way as if clearing weeds. Thus they descended into a courtyard hollowed out of the mountain where almost the entire population of the Xuelu Sect was now assembled, weapons drawn for battle. An old man in the centre surrounded by several other elderly ones addressed the Mercenaries in a loud voice.

"What grudge do you have with our Xuelu Sect?!"

"If you have a mainland couple hidden somewhere, hand them over to us and we will be gone," Charming Leopard spoke. The old man's eyes constricted at once. Xi Yun smirked.

"We have no scruples about killing everyone here," she said.

"You--?! This is slander! What mainland couple? There is no one like that here! Everyone on this mountain is an Upper Prefecture citizen!"

"Kill them all," Xi Yun dropped the command, and her juniors charged forward at once. She herself headed in the other direction where there seemed to be a cluster of houses. The Grand Chief's parents should be here somewhere... She kicked doors open even as she maintained a presence sensing matrix with her other hand. She came to a flight of stairs in one of the more decorated rooms leading down into what appeared to be dungeons. Though with a second's feeling of suspicion, Xi Yun charged forward without stopping. She went down the stairs in a hurry and came to a dimly lit underground cave. Looking around, she scanned the place for human presence when a low laugh sounded in her ears.

"Compel!" The voice shouted at once, and Xi Yun saw for the briefest moment a red afterimage of a small silver arrow before it hit her and all went dark.

Meanwhile outside, the sect leader of the Xuelu sect was battling the three Seniors of the Mercenaries and Jun Ru, and was already looking worse for the wear. Hundreds of bodies were strewn on the ground; Red Monkey's poison handiwork. After cutting down one of the elders, Jun Ru looked up and reckoned he should go after Yun to look for the Grand Chief's parents. He thus withdrew from the fierce battle and ran towards the cluster of buildings on the other side of the open courtyard where the fighting was. Xi Yun's aura placed her underground, and Jun Ru felt a rush of excitement as he presumed she had found the Li couple already, so he hurried even faster. Arriving at the decorated room Xi Yun had entered earlier, Jun Ru glanced around once before he spotted the half concealed stairwell leading down into the dungeon. But just as he made to hurry down, Xi Yun came up.

"Senior!" Jun Ru was a little started as he hadn't felt her presence on the stairs at all, "they're not there, are they?"

Xi Yun turned her head to look at him, and Jun Ru jumped back in fright. Her eyeballs had rolled back into her head. A weird aura issued from her, as if she had been turned into a war puppet. Jun Ru's eyes widened in shock and fear. Who had done this?! There was a trap down there, and the person who had restrained Xi Yun was still possibly lurking there, waiting to harvest more people. Jun Ru thought quickly, even as the controlled Xi Yun started tottering towards him like a zombie. He turned around and ran as she launched her first attack, sending him crashing to the floor. Was this the Scorpion Halls doing? Jun Ru thought as he jumped up and activated a shield matrix at his back and continued to run outside. Did they intend to bring down the Mercenaries from the inside by their own blade?!

The battle in the open courtyard was still fierce; the Xuelu sect's cultivators were not mediocres. Jun Ru shouted for Charming Leopard. Gu Yan flew up into the air backwards out of the tussle and landed next to Jun Ru.

"Senior's been restrained by some sort of mind locking matrix!" Jun Ru reported at once. At that moment Xi Yun crashed out of the buildings. Charming Leopard took one glance at her and understood. He immediately raised his hand.

"Activate!" He shouted, and even Jun Ru had no idea what he was activating. However, a red light blinked near Xi Yun's neck and she fell to the ground unconscious. Gu Yan ran to her and caught her before she hit the ground. He raised his head to look at Jun Ru.

"Clear things up," he ordered. That meant they had no time to waste fighting these Xuelu Sect people again. Jun Ru shouted to Red Monkey and Storm Sword to retreat and then obliterated the rest of the surviving Xuelu people with a Meteor Blasting Core projectile. Gu Yan immediately drew a concealing matrix and added a layer of all senses deterring formation to it. He jumped inside with Xi Yun in his arms and the others followed suit.

"Report," Gu Yan nodded at Jun Ru.

"Senior seemed to have gone down into one dungeon where some hidden person must have cast a controlling matrix on her. Seeing as she attacked me it was definitely not of her own free will,"

"That's not the most important thing," Gu Yan furrowed his brows, "where are the Grand Chief's parents?!"

"I don't know," Jun Ru had a pained expression, "the Grand Chief should have placed our imprint on them too!"

"This is not the time to be criticising the Grand Chief's decisions!" Gu Yan snapped angrily, "this is what we do. We'll divide ourselves into two. Red Monkey and I will go rat out that bastard in the dungeons. You and Storm Sword should comb the rest of this mountain for the Grand Chief's parents. Understood?"

"Roger, Senior,"

"What about Big Sis Xi Yun?" Red Monkey asked nervously.

"I'll leave her within this matrix. No harm will come to her. She'll be unconscious until I take off the seal I placed on her. Let's go!"

Instead of five, four cultivators emerged from the concealing matrix. Charming Leopard and Red Monkey ran towards the houses at once, while Storm Sword and Jun Ru started searching other places. Two equally concealed cultivators watching the happenings frowned in confusion. These Mercenaries were truly deft and capable! They had thought being in control of at least one of them would prove insurmountable to the rest, who would have to be avoiding her attacks without reacting for fear of hurting her. But they had knocked her unconscious and dragged her into a concealing matrix! Two were now headed towards their comrade who was still holding the elaborate controlling matrix that could control someone of Xi Yun's cultivation stature! He must already be very exhausted right now, and two ace cultivators were headed his way!

"Should we tell Dong Hai to terminate the controlling matrix so he can defend himself against those ones?" The second cultivator asked at last.

"Do you know how much it cost the Hall Master to create that matrix! And it's not even been used for its purpose yet!" The other one grumbled.

"But if Dong Hai is still holding it up, he won't last one exchange with those ones! The matrix will become useless in the end, and we will lose an ace cultivator!"

The first one frowned deeply. Then he sighed.

"It's too late," for, very clearly, the screams of their comrade Dong Hai echoed all over Mt. Maoyang.

"What do we do now?!" The second panicked.

"Relax," the other patted his arm, "we have the most important things here," and he looked over his shoulder to glance at the tied up Li Zhenming and his wife, who were glaring daggers at him even though they were restrained with essence shackles binding their bodies and mouths. The cultivator smirked and turned back around.

"With these, we'll have Si Lak hand over the cultivation scroll with which she became a Martial Saint," he concluded.

"But what if she doesn't?" The other complained, "Hall Master insisted we shouldn't kill them. Why? I reckon killing them would make things easier,"

"Idiot!" The first berated, "you'll kill your hostages? That's the only thing that will bring Si Lak here!"

"Well, we can double-cross and kill them once we get what we want," the other frowned deeply, "we must avenge Dong Hai and our other martial brothers! You do realise the fact that if Si Lak makes it here, that means she managed to get out of the Conflagration Matrix, and also past our Venom Twelve!"

Li Zhenming's face went pale as his heart clenched in his chest. Even though he did not fully understand all they said; was that... was that what all these people really set in store for his daughter?!? Would...would his little Sihan really be able to overcome all that?! Li Zhenming's head became oddly light and he felt like fainting. But that was nothing to what his wife was feeling! He willed himself to remain conscious and turned his head with difficulty to check on his wife. Her face was very pale, almost lifeless, but her eyes, though teary, shone sharp and clear. What was keeping her going was probably the love she had for her daughters...and the one in her belly...

The couple's eyes met and Li Zhenming tried to use his to comfort his wife. She seemed to understand and nodded with difficulty. Their Sihan...their Sihan would definitely find a way...

"Jun Ru, Hao Ren!" Charming Leopard and Red Monkey stumbled out of the wreckage of houses, covered in soot. Jun Ru and Hao Ren heard the summon and hurried over.

"How far?" Gu Yan asked, "Fei Ning and I have dealt with that one. Big Sis Xi Yun should be fine by now,"

Jun Ru and Hao Ren shook their heads dolefully. A nerve jumped up on Gu Yan's forehead.

"What do you mean?" He shouted, "you really can't find them?!"

"Yes," Jun Ru's teeth were clenched, "they're not here,"

"They're definitely here!" Gu Yan boomed, "the Trackers gave this location. That can't be a lie!"

"Maybe they've moved them since we arrived," Hao Ren shrugged. Gu Yan glared at him and he quickly tried to put on a serious expression.

"So you mean to say we have to wait till the Grand Chief arrives before we can do anything else?!" Gu Yan stomped his feet in rage, "fine! Let's wake Sis Xi Yun first," he stormed towards the direction of the concealing matrix. The rest made to follow him but he waved his hand impatiently so they hung back. Storm Sword put on a pitiful expression and came to stand in front of Red Monkey.

"Big Sis Fei Ning," he pouted, "I'm sad-- Big Bro Gu Yan scolded me,"

Red Monkey turned in the other direction and even Jun Ru couldn't laugh. He glared at Storm Sword and shook his head sternly. Storm Sword lumbered next to him and raised his eyebrows.

"Hey!" Jun Ru hissed, grabbing Storm Sword away from where Red Monkey could overhear, "you need to know the right timing for things!" He berated. Storm Sword shrugged.

"You said I should ask her to uphold justice for me whenever I was wronged," slow witted Hao Ren mumbled.

"Yes, but this is a bad time!" Jun Ru pressed, "besides, I think it's not that much of a good idea anymore. Senior Ning seems to be annoyed with you already. You have to stop acting cute. It doesn't fit you,"

Hao Ren touched his chin as he thought about the matter.

"You're right," he said at last, "she seems to like Big Bro Gu Yan now. Should I start acting like him?"

Jun Ru clapped a frustrated hand to his forehead. Being a relationship counselor for the mercenaries was hard!

"No," Jun Ru replied, "just be yourself,"

"Alright," Hao Ren shrugged. He had immediately wiped off the lumbering bootlicking persona. He turned around and walked towards Red Monkey.

"Big Sis,"

Red Monkey turned around. She was a little surprised to see Hao Ren standing tall, not hunched over, and without that stupid ingratiating smile on his face.

"What?"

"I like you, Big Sis Fei Ning," Storm Sword had on a serious expression, and his upright handsome charm was starting to show, "that's why I've been behaving the way I have. I was trying to get your attention,"

Red Monkey tried hard to stop her jaws from dropping open. She was more than aware of the fact that Hao Ren liked her a lot (who in the Si Lak Mercenaries didn't) but he had always irritated her with his blundering behaviour. Never had he talked to her so seriously before!

"And it doesn't seem to be working," Hao Ren continued, "so I'll stop. But I still like you,"

Red Monkey blinked. She didn't even know what to say. Storm Sword smiled sheepishly, and walked away. Red Monkey blinked again.

Fwoosh! A dust cloud was raised as the boss herself finally landed, a dark expression on her face. The four quickly went down on one knee. Li Sihan surveyed the carnage done to the mountainside. She frowned.

"Where are my parents?"

Cold sweat dripped down from her subordinates backs. Gu Yan and Xi Yun emerged from the concealment matrix and also bowed.

"Grand Chief,"

"Where are they? Where are they?! Huh--" Li Sihan stopped shouting suddenly as she trained her eyes on a spot in the air. Raising her hand a loud slashing sound was heard and exposed to everyone's gaze were the two Scorpion Hall experts, and, levitated in mid air behind them, the Li couple.

"Si Lak--!" Before the first expert could finish speaking he found himself coughing up his intestines!!! The second's eyes constricted as he saw this scene and he made to quickly raise a shield matrix but that was his last thought as his head exploded almost immediately. Jun Ru and Xi Yun ran forwards as the essence shackles binding the Li couple terminated upon the death of its casters and they started plummeting towards the ground. The Mercenaries caught them and set them down on their own two feet. Li Sihan surreptitiously wiped a trace of blood off the corner of her mouth but sharp eyed Li Zhenming had seen it and he cried out.

"Sihan! Are you hurt?"

Li Sihan ran up to her parents and shook her head. She then jumped into her father's embrace. Yes, she had the mind of a centuries old woman, but she hadn't, in her first life or now, experienced a childhood or the thrills and joys that came with it. After this scare she had decided to put her little stature while she still had it, to good use.

Ren Ziming also hugged her daughter and her husband. The three Lis stayed there like that for a minute, then pulled back. Li Sihan remained in Li Zhenming's arms, carried quite securely. She turned and glanced at Xi Yun.

"Is it possible to create a teleportation matrix to the mainland?"

Xi Yun, who was still stunned at the scene she was witnessing, unconsciously shook her head. Li Sihan pouted.

"So we have to go through that stupid gateway again,"

Xi Yun nodded. Li Sihan shrugged.

"Alright. Father, mother, let's go,"