Chapter Notes:
Recap: Xiao Tian fell asleep as he was watching over Bai Feng that night. In an attempt to soothe the assassin's pain from his nightmares, the informant gave him back the Jade Pendant. Not long after, the short-haired assassin dreamt of someone but.. who were they exactly?
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The assassin watched as this body came up for air only to dive down again to search for the pendant. Luckily this guy has excellent eyesight, a little bit too good if the assassin should nitpick.
Finally, the junior saw a glimmer of jade and grabbed the pendant. He swam to the surface and sighed in relief. By this point, the sky was already dark so he quickly swam to the shore.
Not bad.. His perseverance I'll give him that.. Thought the assassin. As the young man climbed up the pavilion with his robes now heavy and completely drenched in water, a voice called out.
"Who's there?" the figure with a lantern walked closer and Xiao Tian recognized the person immediately.
It was the junior's favorite person.
The golden-eyed man was shocked to find his junior drenched in the pavilion, was he bullied? Thought the cedar-haired senior.
"Shidi, what are you doing here?" called out the gentle senior. The jade-eyed young man was squeezing water out of his robes when the senior quickly put his own robe on top of the junior's head.
"Shi Xiong! Your robes will stain—" the young man panicked.
"It doesn't matter.. I don't want you to catch a cold from swimming in the lake at night, what were you thinking??" the senior scolded as he helped his junior get dry.
Xiao Tian can immediately feel his cheeks burning, the proximity made it easier for the young man to pick up the calming scent radiating off his Shi Xiong.
"Are you listening? Use this to dry your face.." the cedar-haired senior offered a small handkerchief with a magnolia pattern on one of the corners.
"Ah um, I was finding something in the lake.." replied the junior.
"Your face is slightly red. Are you catching a fever already? We should hurry back.." The golden-eyed senior quickly grabbed the lantern and led the way back to the disciples' quarters.
"So, did you find the thing you were looking for? Did you drop it by accident?" the kind senior asked as they walked side by side towards the courtyard house.
The junior just nodded, he was contemplating whether he should tell his Shi Xiong about what happened earlier.. But he didn't want to hurt him.
"We're here. Make sure you dry completely before resting alright? Good night Shidi" the senior bid him goodbye with a gentle smile on his face. That alone made all the desire to tell his Shi Xiong about the pendant go away.
A smile suits Shi Xiong better than tears.
The junior then pulled out the pendant and stared at it in his palm.
This pendan— before the assassin could finish his thoughts, he woke up from his sleep.
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When Xiao Tian woke up the sun had risen, and he noticed the jade pendant in his palm. The assassin eyed the gem for a while before realizing that the bed was already empty. So he quickly sat up and made his way to the living room.
"Good morning.." the informant greeted as he continued to write with his brush.
Xiao Tian walked towards the informant and knotted the pendant on Bai Feng's neck once more.
"Why did you take it off?" asked the assassin as he brushed Bai Feng's silky hair back in place.
"You were having a nightmare and it seemed to help" Bai Feng replied, slipping the pendant inside his hanfu, concealing its presence once more.
"How are you feeling Xiao Bai?" asked the assassin as he sat across from the informant, observing Bai Feng's complexion.
"I'm fine, my strength is coming back" replied the golden-eyed man as he tidied up his scrolls.
Deeming that Bai Feng should be well enough to rejoin him in his missions, Xiao Tian shared information about their next objective. This time they were tasked to retrieve an artifact from a dealer that has been smuggling rare relics into the port.
"Still tasked to find that artifact are you.." the long-haired man took the paper from the assassin and told him to wait a few days. Once the informant figured out the layout of the port and the target's background, they quickly sprung into action.
A big boat was scheduled to leave the dock tonight, and the two men suspected that the dealer, knowing that people have caught wind of his suspicious trades, may try to leave the land. There was no room for error in this mission.
Once they arrived at the dock, Xiao Tian and Bai Feng hid behind carts of goods that were supposed to be loaded in the boat. The shadows hid them especially well under the dim glow of the moonlight.
"It's cloudy tonight.." muttered Bai Feng. The assassin was about to reply when suddenly a man hugged Xiao Tian from behind alerting the pair, especially the masked assassin. Both of them got their weapons out, thinking it was an ambush, but Zi Shi immediately raised both his hands up.
"Calm down Heimao it's just me" Xiao Tian lowered his weapon and Bai Feng skeptically followed. It's him.. thought Bai Feng.
"What are you doing here *Lan She? Weren't you tasked with another mission?"
*means lazy snake, a nickname
"He wanted me to assist you, since you've been clumsy lately. Didn't know you already have a partner.." Zi Shi hissed.
"I get the job done," Xiao Tian said, clicking his tongue.
"The boss is pissed right now, just go along with it.." Zi Shi eyed the informant with malice.
Bai Feng glared back at the purple-haired assassin, showing his dislike intentionally. After all, he did poison the informant.
Xiao Tian instinctively covers Bai Feng from his gray-eyed workmate,
"If he told us to partner up, then I'll do as he says"
"I'm hurt, I thought we were a perfect match~ Why are you being this cold? We've been partners for years you know.." Zi Shi whined.
"So how did you guys even end up working together?" Xiao Tian sighed and grabbed Zi Shi to the side to explain the gist of the situation.
"I had a contract with him," Xiao Tian muttered.
"What do you mean by contract..?" Zi Shi's eyes narrowed as he asked this question.
"That I'd protect him, and in turn, he'll assist me in missions" the short-haired assassin explained. Usually, Xiao Tian wouldn't share much information with others, but Zi Shi is the one person he could trust.
The gray-eyed assassin then grabbed Xiao Tian's collar.
"HeiLi do you take me as an idiot? I found out that he is your target a few days ago. Do you know how shocked I was? Now you're telling me that not only working with a target, you're also protecting him? What if anyone in the organization saw you? Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
Bai Feng chose to ignore the two men and glued his eyes on the target.
"I will assassinate him," explained the jade-eyed assassin.
"When? He will find out sooner or later, get rid of him before he causes any harm."
Hearing Zi Shi's malicious threat, the informant glared at the gray-eyed assassin and pointed his sword at him. The purple-haired beauty pushed Xiao Tian to the side and grabbed Bai Feng's wrist.
"Go ahead and try~ The way you're holding your weapon doesn't seem like you're untrained. But what makes you think you can harm a seasoned assassin?" the half-masked assassin taunted.
Xiao Tian grabbed Zi Shi's shoulder and glowered dangerously before moving in between the two once more.
"Lanshe drop it.. You too Xiao Bai.." as he looked back at Bai Feng. Zi Shi laughed in disbelief.
"You turned your back to a sword-wielding person, are you sure you're the HeiLi I know?"
"HuiMu.." warned Xiao Tian the second time.
"Just how much trust do you have in this person? I'm disappointed in you"
Did HeiLi just side with him? And gave that person a nickname? Jealousy slowly tainted Zi Shi's heart.
The cedar-haired man can only be a liability. Sure the informant helps with intel, but the purple-haired assassin can definitely assist Xiao Tian better than Bai Feng ever could.
"If you can't bring yourself to kill him off for any reason, then I will." proclaimed the gray-eyed assassin, but Xiao Tian immediately grabbed his wrist as a warning. Zi Shi was shocked by this.
Who was this person for Xiao Tian to care so much about, and why wasn't it him instead?
"Enough bickering. Once the target leaves the port you both will get into trouble."
As Bai Feng said this, the crew ship was starting to pull up the anchor.
"These crates are just a distraction, they're leaving. We have to go." the informant said. Bai Feng took a talisman and stuck it on one of the crates on land. As his fingers touched the paper a golden aura slowly appeared surrounding it.
The three men watched in silence, waiting for the right moment to infiltrate. As the crewmates turned their backs, busy setting down the heavy stone anchor, the team quickly dashed and leaped on board. The trio quickly found a hiding place to conceal themselves, waiting for the deck to be void of people.
"Great, we're in the middle of the ocean, now what? We have to swim with the target to shore?" asked Zi Shi as he grumbled.
"Just focus on your job and I'll get us back.." Bai Feng said, looking at Zi Shi.
"You.. Knock the target unconscious as you did for me last time. HeiLi, back him up, I'll watch your back." the informant commanded.
Xiao Tian nodded "This is a cargo fleet, so its layout shouldn't be too complicated."
"Let's go deck by deck, HeiLi you lead." said Zi Shi.
The trio traversed from deck to deck, checking every nook and cranny but the target wasn't anywhere to be found. Until they went to the lower deck, where the cargo was. HeiLi spotted the target and raised his hand to stop his two companions. The target was seen with a few crewmates, seemingly moving crates following his instructions.
HeiLi stealthily looked around to map out the terrain. Seven people including the target, the problem is that they were scattered throughout the deck. Sneaking behind and incapacitating each of the crew members without being caught might be tricky to do.
HeiLi halted his coworker and pulled out a pouch,
"I'll gather them and then we'll strike. Lan She, be ready"
Bai Feng eyed the familiar pouch on HeiLi's hand but he quickly shifted back to focus. Xiao Tian proceeded to pour a couple of pebbles into his hand and flicked them off. As the pebble hit the flooring it made quite a distinct clattering sound, which made a few of the crews gather.
"Who's there?" asked the target looking around the space.
The trio stayed in their hiding spot whilst the crew looked around to see whether there was an intruder. After a while, the crew was about to disperse again, thinking it was probably a rodent or some random small animal sneaking in. Then HeiLi flicked two pebbles in quick succession, causing them to gather once more. One two three.. Four five six.. Seven..
"They're all present" muttered Bai Feng, and with that HeiLi and Zi Shi dashed towards one of the crates and secured their new hiding spot. The seven people now are huddled in a circle, looking around with their blades drawn out. The two assassins couldn't ambush them because they were too alert, the crew was looking around while protecting each other's backs.
HeiLi kept his eyes lasered on the target when suddenly Bai Feng came from the shadows.
"I didn't know there was a gathering down here, mind if I join?" asked the informant innocently.
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Author's Notes:
Hope you enjoyed the chapter Reunion <3 While waiting for updates, you can check on Instagram where we update weekly on BaiTian arts!
Interaction Time! Zi Shi doesn't seem to be too happy with Bai Feng entering Xiao Tian's life. Wonder how the three of them will interact, now that they're forced to work together?
Comment your thoughts below!