Chapter 31 — The Masked Trick
The night was calm, but something in the air felt sharp — like the city itself was waiting for something to happen.
Longxuan City glowed under hundreds of lanterns, yet its alleys were filled with shadows that whispered secrets.
On top of an old inn roof stood Ye Tianlan, his long robe fluttering in the wind. He studied a glowing map of the city projected from his talisman — a web of blue lights marking the patrols of the Celestial Guards who were hunting for him.
Below, crouched lazily on a ledge, was Mei — his spirit beast companion, disguised in her human form. She was small, pretty, and annoyingly confident. Right now, she was swinging her legs like this was a game.
"You really think your fancy map will fool those people forever?" she asked, smirking.
"It will confuse them long enough," Ye Tianlan replied without looking at her.
"Hmph, boring answer as always." She crossed her arms. "You need to learn to enjoy chaos more."
Ye Tianlan let out a quiet breath. "You volunteered to help, remember? This isn't about fun."
Mei grinned. "No, no. You said someone needs to create a distraction. And I'm the best at distractions."
Her tail — invisible to human eyes — flicked proudly. She had a point. For a creature born from spirit energy, Mei had the perfect mix of cuteness and troublemaking.
The Plan Begins
Ye Tianlan split the city map into sigils and sent them glowing into the streets.
Each talisman projected fake spiritual traces, making the Celestial Guards chase shadows all over Longxuan.
Meanwhile, Mei jumped down into the crowd below, blending in perfectly.
She laughed with merchants, tripped "by accident" in front of guards, and even sold a few fake talismans for fun.
Behind her, a Celestial Guard was secretly tailing her — believing she was just an ordinary girl who might lead him to the masked man.
Exactly as Ye Tianlan planned.
When the man leaned down to pick up something she "dropped," Mei slipped a tiny glowing feather into his cloak pocket — so light he never noticed.
That feather wasn't decoration. It was her magic.
Within moments, the guard's communication talisman began echoing false signals — telling his commanders everything was fine, even as Mei fed lies through it.
"Good boy," Mei whispered to herself as she disappeared into the crowd. "Keep sending your fake reports."
She giggled and twirled away, her illusion spells spreading across nearby streets — shadows of fake monks, strange glowing lights, whispers of "masked assassins" hiding in temples.
The city's guards panicked, splitting into groups to chase one illusion after another.
Above all of this chaos, Ye Tianlan moved like a ghost.
He slipped through the empty alleyways, silent as falling dust. When he reached a corner, he stopped — a messenger's satchel lay dropped in the mud, with the seal of the Celestial Guard still unbroken.
Inside were several sealed orders marked urgent. He skimmed the contents with sharp eyes.
"Commander Qiu Ran… the same name that appeared in the Xu Clan destruction orders," he muttered.
His hand tightened. The rage inside him burned quietly, like an ember waiting to become a storm.
The Trick Deepens
By midnight, Mei's chaos had reached its peak.
Half the city's guards were chasing false targets. The others were arguing about conflicting orders.
In one part of the city, a group of soldiers rushed to the eastern drainage tunnel — following the exact false signal Mei sent.
They found nothing.
Then, out of nowhere, glowing orbs of light floated above them — small spirit glints that reflected their own lanterns back at them. Their talismans went crazy, repeating false reports again and again.
"We're surrounded!" shouted one.
"No! It's a reflection spell!" yelled another.
"Who triggered it—"
"You did!"
Soon, confusion turned to shouting, and shouting turned to chaos.
Up above, Mei watched the entire scene from a rooftop, giggling so hard she almost fell off.
"Humans are so easy to fool," she whispered. "I should charge for this performance."
When she finally returned to Ye Tianlan, he was already waiting with the satchel beside him.
"You did well," he said simply.
Mei blinked in surprise. "Wait, was that… a compliment?"
"Don't get used to it."
"Heh, too late. I'll carve it into stone."
She stretched beside him and looked down at the quiet streets below — unaware that the entire city had just been played like a puppet show.
The Aftermath
In the Celestial Guard's headquarters, Commander Qiu Ran was losing his mind.
"You're telling me we spent the whole night chasing ghosts?!"
"Sir, every reading was real! We saw traces—"
"You saw nothing! Our net's been hijacked!"
General Huan, his superior, studied the failed reports with narrowed eyes.
"Someone mimicked our command cadence," he said darkly. "Either a traitor… or a spirit-beast with advanced mimicry."
"A spirit-beast?" Qiu Ran repeated. "Impossible—"
"Nothing is impossible," Huan said. "Find them. Before they find us."
Back at the Inn
Ye Tianlan sat quietly as Mei played with the stolen flute she found. The map glowed on the table again, showing weak guard points across the city.
"We'll move tonight," he said.
"Already?" Mei asked, mid-bite of a dumpling.
"The longer we stay, the faster they'll adapt. We strike before they recover."
"Hmph. You always sound like a walking strategy book."
"And you sound like a stray cat," he replied.
"A cute stray cat," she corrected.
He didn't answer, but a faint smile curved his lips — small, tired, but real.
The Next Move
Before dawn, the two slipped out of Longxuan City.
Behind them, the streets buzzed with false rumors — some said the masked man had fled to the mountains, others swore he had attacked the palace itself.
Only Ye Tianlan and Mei knew the truth — that they had planted those lies themselves.
"So, where next?" Mei asked as they walked down the misty road.
"North," Ye Tianlan said. "There's a name I need to erase from this world — Commander Qiu Ran."
"You know," Mei said teasingly, "for someone who hides behind a mask, you sure have a lot of enemies."
"Then it's good I'm already wearing one."
They walked side by side into the mist, the city lights fading behind them.
The first true storm of Ye Tianlan's revenge had just begun.