The Blade of Earth 8

Finding a nice cave away from the car crash site had been easy. I put them down, and while she kept herself busy with it. “Are you sure you want me to bring your phone with me as well?” I asked. 

“Yes,” she said. “I don’t know how long they expect him to be away, but once they realize it, its location is the first thing they will check.” 

I shrugged. I didn’t know how much the phones changed in my absence, but the idea that they could be followed was not exactly a surprising concept. “Do you have a piece of paper?” I asked. 

She looked surprised, but she pulled a small notebook from the pocket of her jacket. “I always bring one with me. Why?” she said. 

I ripped two pages, then dragged my finger over it, leaving a glowing line behind. Several repeats, and I was looking at a pair of talismans, however I had no doubt my teachers that would have called it anything other than garbage.

It was a simple talisman, the kind that the beginners draw to practice. 

“What’s this,” she said as I passed one to her, even as the glow subsided. 

“A simple message talisman,” I said. “Just rip it if you’re in danger, and mine will be triggered as well.” 

“I don’t need it,” she said, not enjoying the concept of being protected. “We’re hidden in a cave, and there’s nothing that will show my location,” she said. 

“Not exactly true,” I said. “I can imagine a dozen methods that they might have access to find you,” I said. I could also imagine a few dozen ways to thwart such methods if I had any materials. I was terrible at arrays and talismans, but sealed or not, I was still a Foundation Establishment cultivator. “Just keep it with you, and rip it if you’re discovered.” 

She looked reluctant, but she still put it in her pocket, which I counted as a win. 

“Excellent,” I said. I would have loved to leave something that she could use to defend herself with, but without better materials, a one-time communication talisman was the best I could do. The ordinary paper couldn’t handle the power of anything more intense. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay for the interrogation,” she asked. 

“No. You already mentioned that they could deactivate the phones remotely, and bringing them on time is more important,” I said. “I trust you to get the information much easier than me. Though, a suggestion, try to make him spill about just how many people are a part of their little group.” 

“Good, and try not to scare Lana too much, she has trouble speaking to strangers,” she said. 

“An interesting choice for an accomplice,” I commented.

“She might be shy, but she’s a wizard when it comes to anything computer-related. It’s her program that caught your pictures.” 

“Not bad,” I said. I didn’t know exactly how it worked, but it seemed like a useful ability. “Then, I should be careful about the cameras,” I said. It was one thing if they had to check through them one by one, but the ability to automate suggested that any extraordinary display might have been identified.

Maybe it was how they even found me when I was a child in the first place. 

“Yes, that would be smart,” she admitted. “Now, wake him up, leave.” 

“Sure,” I said as I put my hand on his neck. “He’ll wake up in a minute. He’ll feel confused for a while. Try to ask your questions then,” I said. 

“Good, leave,” she said. “The faster we act, the more information we can gather.  

I followed her suggestion. Whatever information was in his phone was more valuable than anything we could extract from talking to him. 

Especially since we didn’t have any leverage to make him speak. A confused state would help, but only marginally. The other tactics were even less useful. Even if I was willing to rely on pain to make him speak over the inevitable objections of my only ally, nothing useful would come out. 

I might have a different perspective if we were trying to extract a critical piece of information, but considering we knew absolutely nothing about the situation, interrogation wouldn’t be too useful. 

With our strategy decided, I went back to the town, but not before stopping near the fake accident first, turned on Sophie’s phone, clicked one of the programs — or apps, as she called them — typed two numbers there, and threw it to a ditch. 

Apparently, she had been aware of the risk and arranged some kind of failsafe with her expert friend. According to what she explained, the first code was to inform her friend about my impending arrival, and the second code was to destroy any sensitive information she might have on her phone without looking suspicious. 

I didn’t know how it worked, however the vagueness of her explanation suggested that Sophie didn’t understand it particularly well either. 

With a shrug, I left the forest behind, but instead of going directly to her house, I chose to swing by the motel. However, instead of approaching from the front, I followed the smooth gravel path at the back, getting close enough to see what was going on while avoiding any observer. 

EIM vehicles were already gone, but that didn’t matter much. Not when I had something else to keep me distracted. 

Another containment formation. And, this time, it was not an amateurish one. It wasn’t a strong one. It had no actual defensive features, just another containment area to hide the corruption triggered by the demonic murder, which would linger for a while more. However, it had a well-designed trap that would send an alert once it was broken. 

It wasn’t any more difficult to destroy than the earlier one, but unlike the previous one, its destruction couldn’t be blamed for its natural degradation, which would reveal to them that there was someone who could dispel their formations moving around. 

Not exactly ideal. 

I had nothing I truly wanted to check in the room, so, instead of playing around, I turned and left, and moved toward the address Sophie had given to me. I didn’t know what exactly I expected from a hacker, as my understanding was limited to the TV shows I had watched as a child. If they had been accurate, I would have found myself in a basement in a rundown apartment, or some kind of high-tech apartment. 

In the end, the destination turned out to be none of them. It was a nice suburban house, larger than normal, with a pool in the garden. It had two floors, and the whole place gave me a cosy feeling.

The place had walls, but the front gate was open, so I just passed it, and stepped into the garden, taking a second to enjoy the flowers. They were beautiful, but not well cared for. I was tempted to stop for a while and fix some of the issues. 

I had always enjoyed gardening, even before my recruitment. And, it turned out that I had the skill for it. Nowhere near the skill I had for the Path of the Sword, but enough that I had been able to make a living while I was an outer disciple. 

Then, my skill for the sword manifested itself, earning me a promotion, much to the chagrin of many sect-born that was unable to make the same jump. Once I had been promoted, any money I could earn from gardening turned inconsequential — the resources that an inner disciple could access far outstripped anything that could be earned by my effort — but many times, I couldn’t help but wonder how life would have been if my skill had been reversed. 

However, as I walked, I ignored those thoughts behind. With my supposed holiday slowly turning into another mission, I didn’t have the luxury of wasting my time fixing someone else’s garden. Instead, I went to the door without skipping a step and pressed the doorbell. 

Then, I took a deep breath, and let my posture relax. 

First impressions were important, especially with the urgency of the issue. I never liked going on a mission, and Sophie’s hacker friend was the only option that was available in the short term that could be used to compensate for the lack of it. 

Once I pressed the doorbell, I didn’t press again despite the lack of an answer. I could sense the movement inside the house, so I knew that the owner was aware of my presence. Sophie had mentioned that her friend was shy, but it seemed that the situation was more serious than I had first assumed. 

I stayed in place, feeling the presence inside moving back and forth, ignoring the desire to just unlock the door by using my Essence as a lock pick. If anything, Sophie seemed to undersell her friend’s shyness, and I doubted breaking would help her to calm down. 

However, after a minute without an answer, I rang the doorbell again. “Please, Miss Lana. We need your help urgently,” I said. “Sophie is in trouble, and we need your help.” 

It worked, and I heard the footsteps toward the door. A second later, the door opened…