I Will Absolutely Cultivate!

Chapter 9: Faking Death

I have originally planned on a fake assassination, then creating a clay body to fake; mine and Ruzi's body... But, steward Lii had received an order from the Emperor to quickly exterminate me, leaving Ruzi behind to test his aptitude before finalizing whether they should keep Ruzi or dispose him.

Steward Lii have already planned my death. He plans to kill me a minute before General Dou comes back, then pinning the blame on the Luluon kingdom, I doubt that the Oh-so-Great-but-idiotic-General will immediately believe him... Fanning General Dou's anger towards the Luluon Kingdom, so he will kill the enemy without a shred of mercy... Really, knocking two birds with one stone, or so he thinks.

Plotting against this lady here? Hello~ you don't know that I watch your every move...

You think that this lady here would just silently slip out? Come on, now...

My mouth unconsciously formed an arc, I used the book to hide my smile that will surely sent shivers to anyone who'll see....

***2 months passed***

3rd Madam's Residence; Cheng Manor

A cheerful laugh of a baby resounded through the room.

Ruzi joyfully ran after a cat made out of ice, whenever he falls or stumble on his short legs, Rui Wei would support him back on feet using water. Strangely there were no one inside the room besides the two of them... Even Sona who sticks to Rui Wei like a glue is nowhere to be found.

Rui Wei is quietly reading her book, sitting comfortably in a chair, while controlling the water to support Ruzi who was running around the room. As she was about to flip onto the next page, her hand stopped in mid-air.

'They're here!' 

Rui Wei stood, flipping her hands and storing the book inside her Spatial ring, she quickly picked Ruzi then jumped onto the window where a makeshift pond is, controlling the water then concealing their figure inside the pond.

Rui Wei inside the pond sent out a sliver of her consciousness to start the formation that she set up inside the room, several talismans floated in mid-air and shot out on her previous location, creating a figure.. The figure was an exact copy of Rui Wei-- except if you look closely. like very closely.. The Rui Wei figure is not breathing.

This is a technique that Rui Wei copied from the Earth Mages, this technique contained her sweat and blood, she've put too much effort on it that she almost forgot what was her name.

The figure just sat on the chair, holding a book on it's hands...

*swiish*

Four figures jumped on Rui Wei's ceiling, they observed Rui Wei (the figure) first then looked around the room as if they were trying to find something-- after a while, they have confirmed that Rui Wei was alone.

They then simultaneously formed a hand sign and chanted.... as they chanted, A red magical circle enveloped the whole Cheng Residence... The red magical circle only stayed for a short while, then immediately disappearing without a trace, after performing the formation, the four quickly left.

Minutes quietly passed until--

*fwiiish*

The Cheng residence was suddenly set ablaze. It started from where the makeshift figure of Rui Wei is, then quickly spreading through the whole residence.

Only minutes have passed when the whole residence was swallowed by an enormous fire.

----

The whole General Manor was bustling with the servants running here and there. 2 months ago, a letter from the palace came; informing; That General Dou has suppressed the Luluon kingdom along with his fellow brothers, after General Dou finishes receiving his merits, he will finally be able to go home.

Their master the Great General is finally coming home.

And that special day is today!

Due to the busyness there was actually a shortage of servants, even the bodyguards had to leave their post and help... The 3rd Madam even voluntarily lent her servants to the main Residence, decorating the whole place and preparing things.

General Dou is finally coming home, it is joyful event, if not for their 2nd Madam being in a coma. Today was a supposedly joyful event for the whole manor---

Until a huge fire swallowed the Cheng Residence inside General Dou's Manor.

"Hurry up!!! Hurry up!! The fire is spreading!" Servants after servants run towards the Cheng residence, completely disregarding their original works. When the servants arrived the Cheng residence, half of the manor was already burned down, the roofs and foundations ceaselessly falling. The crackling sound of the wood burning resounded out.

A general manor being burned down by a fire....If this got out it'll definitely cause a huge ruckus; afterall it is a General's Manor and General Dou's residence at that.

Who in this kingdom doesn't know how strict a Genral's Manor is? Specially the Manor that the Great General Dou resides.

How could it possibly caught fire by itself? How could the servants who are all 3rd rank and above; martial Artists and Mages be clumsy?

This is clearly a provocation on the kingdom.

The huge fire lasted over 4 hours, it was so huge that it almost burned down the whole Cheng Residence, all the servants were at lost.... They had a hard time putting out such a huge fire... And almost only ashes were left--

Several Servants were injured, thankfully no one died.... But the tremendous problem is--

The 3rd Madam and the 2nd young Master is missing---

The Servants were all frantically shouting the two's name, especially Sona, who lifted burned woods one after another, she didn't pay attention to her hands that is full of burnt blisters, she lifted a huge block of wood that is still steaming hot.

Losing her rationality she lifted the steaming hot remnants of the Cheng residence, she could actually just use her Qi to lift the burning wood like the other servants.

*pssssh*

The sounds of her hand being burnt resounded, a servant next to her couldn't take it anymore and grabbed her hand, the huge block of hot steaming wood fell.

*blam*

The burnt ashes scattered, as the wood fell.

"Stop it! You're just hurting yourself--"

"M-madam Cheng... I need to find them.... Madam Cheng has a weak physique and the young master is barely a year old! I need to find them! What if they have been buried here? What could the 3rd Madam do? She's a water mage! And the 2nd young master is with her! Isn't it our fault that we weren't by their side?! What if--" Sona was desperately shouting at the maid, her bloodied hands grabbed the maid's shoulder, her eyes were ceaselessly pouring tears.

Steward Lii, who only came after the fire has died down frowned at the frantically shouting Sona.

"Stop that childish act! Be rational, quickly start the formation!! Those who are 4th rank come here, the 3rd ranks go help the injured!! The 5th rank and above, tightly guard the 1st and 2nd madam! All of 3rd Madam's servants align yourselves according to your ranks!! " Steward Lii's commanding voice echoed out as he give out his order, his aura as an veteran General could be seen, his figure stood straight

The servants immediately run and aligned themselves according respective ranks, as Steward Lii ordered.

Wu Sona was dragged by her fellow maids in a corner as they tried to calm her down.

--

Dou Chang You, after almost 2 years, he is finally able to get home. That Minister Cheng's daughter should have given birth, thinking back at how that little girl dared to tease him, his smile grew wider.

As he rode on his majestic black horse, he saw a big dark smoke coming from his Manor's direction.

Seeing this, his smile disappeared, instead a livid expression was stuck on his face.

"Ready yourselves!" He shouted at his companions as he led the way to his Manor.

The group of General Dou's Horse galloped, leaving dust along the way.

They quickly arrived at the Manor, General Dou ordered his companion to surround the whole Manor, as he quickly came in.

Seeing the busy servants, he immediately run towards the source of the smoke, along the way he asked some quick-witted servant of the current events.

"3-3rd Madam's residence was set fire in, the culprit hasn't been caught yet....." The servant meekly replied while trying to keep up with general Dou.

"Lii!! Lii!! Where's Lii?!What happened here?!" General Dou's thundering voice echoed through the whole manor, his big strides strong and firm, quickly reaching the place where the big smoke came from.

Dou Chang You, seeing the burned residence which is just now a pile of ashes, his expression turned viciously dark, his hand touching the hilt of the sword on his waist.

"Who?" General Dou stretched out this one word, that is full of killing intent suffocating the people around him. He was ready to kill whoever dared to do this in his Manor.

"Chang You, calm down, I've already sent people to search for the culprit. They will surely catch it. Believe in your people." Steward Lii patted General Dou's shoulder as he led him away from the scene.

---

Before the fire started to spread I changed my location... And the closest one to me is the Skyne residence, where the comatose Lily is currently stuck.

I sat on Skyne's Manor, disgustingly looking at the Steward.

'I have never seen such a disgusting person in my 2 whoooooole life!'

 'Uwah-- What do you mean by catch the culprit? Will you catch yourself?'  

Although he is disgusting, I should still thank him, he helped me by burning down my Manor. Minimizing my effort. It's just--

I looked at Sona who was weeping in the corner, as if her whole family died, the other maids were trying their best to console her.

'Ah-- This is why I didn't want to get attached to anyone.'

I sighed, as I ruffled Ruzi's hair. Ruzi have been curiously watching the people below, sometimes pointing and then clumsily saying one words each.

"Mama, Fwire, wate, house." Ruzi clumsily said, as he pointed at our Manor which has been burnt to ashes.

"Aha~ YOU JUST SAID FOUR WORDS CONTINUOUSLY!! my Ruzi is so smart!!" I hugged Ruzi and showered him with kisses.

I stopped kissing Ruzi and put him down, he once again busied himself with the water which I control in different shapes.

Ah, that's right. After Steward Lii tells a story to General Dou, he should start to search for my body... Even though it was a ridiculously enormous fire, he know too well that, that kind of fire isn't sufficient enough to burn a Water Mage... He won't necessarily find it suspicious if he can't find any remains of Ruzi... Afterall those four should report that I was alone when they burned down the place.

----

This is in fact 1700 words-- yey~ But still... Too short, right?