(1 day later...)

Xuan stepped inside the tent, and he was immediately met with the sight of Qi swirling rampantly around Hanbi.

It tore the tent around her, and frankly, he was sure whatever Qi-gathering technique she was using was much better than what he had.

But in spite of it all, Xuan waited patiently. After nearly an hour, she finally stopped and stood up. Just as she was about to take her robe off and get dressed, she spotted him, her cheeks flushing slightly. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"I—"

"Have you made your decision?" Xuan asked right away.

"I did..." Hanbi nodded. "I agree. I’ll go with you, but only if, right after we’re done, you escort me back to my sect."

"You need an escort?" Xuan raised a brow. "Well, it’s no problem for me. I’m pretty sure Yuelan will be down for an adventure as well."

Hanbi smiled. "That’s good. Also... Mei Mei showed me a vision of what happened in that cave and how you defeated a Spirit Grandmaster. Thank you. If not for you, I would probably be dead. I’ll make sure this debt is repaid with interest."

She’s talking all formally again, Xuan thought with a sigh. "Don’t worry about it. You saved me, and I saved you. We’ll talk about it later, but we don’t really have the time. Get dressed and eat some food. We’ll be leaving in an hour."

Without waiting for a response, Xuan stepped out of the tent and walked to Yuelan’s office, the liquor store.

When he stepped inside, he spotted four people: Yuelan, her two shadows, and lastly, a long black-haired woman wearing a blindfold.

"Ah, Xuan!" Yuelan called out with a wave. "You arrived just in time. These are the people I’ll be taking with us!"

"Didn’t you say you’d get a few Spirit Grandmasters...?" Xuan asked.

Yuelan shrugged. "The ones that fought with us had to return to their worlds. So the only Spirit Grandmaster I was able to get hold of was this blindfolded chick. Her name’s Sierra. She’s not from here, but I trust her. She’s like my supervisor."

Sierra turned around and, despite having a blindfold, nodded directly at him.

"Hello."

She has an accent, Xuan thought, nodding back at her.

"If you don’t mind me asking, what kind of techniques do you practice?"

"I mainly practice the Divine Sense art. I can feel everything within a certain radius as if it were a part of my own body... There’s also a bit of future sight and prophecies that come from this technique, but I can’t control them. They just come and go whenever they please," Sierra replied honestly.

Xuan glanced at Yuelan as if she had just given him the golden goose. However, he had no intention of exploiting this woman. But she would make a great comrade.

"Hehe..." Yuelan puffed out her chest and then pointed at the two shadows. "You met these girls last time. Hua Lian is the shorty with the long sword, and Huang Shuying... she’s a little bit of a dunce sometimes."

He didn’t need to ask why. After all, this was the same woman who had her wig on the wrong way and her sword sheathed into her pants, not her sheath.

This time, it seemed like everything was fine, but when she turned to face him, he realized she had made her mascara too thick... way too thick.

She looked strange, but from her innocent smile, neither he nor anyone else had the gall to tell her something was up with her makeup.

As for Hua Lian, she was a little more nonchalant. She waved at him, then downed a shot of liquor before offering some.

But when Yuelan saw that, she immediately stepped in.

"Don’t try to get him drunk. That’s taboo here," she said.

She’s acting as though I can’t hold my alcohol. Oh well, I didn’t want to drink anyway.

He sat down beside Sierra, and with Yuelan behind the counter, they all began to chat.

From what she told him, Sierra had been on a plane leaving China when the apocalypse began. Since all technology had shut off at that very moment, her plane went down.

Out of over 100 people, she was the only one to survive, and only because she sat in the very back. However, her luck ended there. Shards of glass and rubble got into her eyes, permanently blinding her.

It seemed like she was going to die, not being able to do anything, but that was when she got her special ability. The Divine Sense art, a legacy. After cultivating it for 3 months, she was able to see one meter around her. After 6 months, she could see a couple hundred meters.

It was a neat ability, and now, after nearly 10 months, she could see 500 meters around her while also passively absorbing Qi, even when she wasn’t cultivating.

It’s not bad. It would explain how she managed to reach the Spirit Grandmaster realm that fast.

"And so... after my foresight activated by accident, I saw Yuelan. She was raiding all sorts of camps and recruiting shadows. When I approached her, she accepted me. After that, we became friends, and... that’s pretty much it," Sierra finished, playing around with her liquor glass and eventually taking a sip.

"Heh... I have so many stories of Xuan. Wanna hear some?" Yuelan offered.

Xuan flinched. "You’re not the only one who has embarrassing stories, Yuelan. Don’t test me."

"Mmm... I wonder? I think I know more embarrassing things about you than you do about me. But I understand. It doesn’t feel nice to feel inferior to your sister, in storytelling especially," Yuelan replied, puffing out her chest.

Seeing their banter, the girls laughed.

Yuelan smiled and then pointed at her two shadows.

"Sierra and I already mentioned it, but I got these girls out of camps. The leaders there abused their powers and threatened to do horrible things to them. I got there just in time and killed all those bastards before taking a few of those girls with me. I’d hope to believe they’re all loyal, but... you never know."

"Madam!" Hua Lian and Huang Shuying stood up abruptly. "We would never betray you! We are honored to be a part of your Supreme Shadow Maid Harem—!"

"AAAH!" Yuelan screamed, nearly tripping and falling. Then she slowly turned her gaze over to Xuan, who was staring at her with a smirk.

"Harem?"

"I-It’s a, uhh... metaphor! I saw it in an anime once! I couldn’t think of any name, so I went with that!" Yuelan pouted. "Plus, I’m not into women like that, so don’t even make it weird."

Xuan shrugged. "That doesn’t explain why you lied to me when I asked if this was your harem."

Yuelan flinched, and right as she was about to defend her honor, the liquor store’s doors opened, and through them, Xue Hanbi walked inside. She had tidied up her hair and taken a shower. She had even put on a new set of white robes, which fit her body perfectly.

Seeing them all staring at her, she stopped and anxiously brushed her hair back.

"I’m here... Are we ready to go?"