Volume 2, Chapter 44 – Subduing-Tiger Arhat Sutra

Night had fallen, and the streets were gradually growing lively.

Everywhere, people were hurrying home, and smoke from kitchen fires rose from the roadside eateries along with the home stoves.

Bai Xiang was sitting alone in the very corner of a tiny hole-in-the-wall joint, with a stack of empty bowls in front of her.

She had already changed her appearance and swapped into a whole new outfit.

On top she wore a thick autumn T-shirt, orange, with the word “hot” and other pop-art letters printed across it. Over that she’d thrown on a black jacket with blue lining and long sleeves; the sleeves were so wide they drooped down and covered half of her fingers.

Below, she was in a “recommended” matching piece— the so-called “Autumn Rock Hot-Girl Shorts,” showing off two long legs wrapped in black pantyhose. At her ankles she had an extra layer of white cotton socks, tucked into a pair of sneakers with white soles and black trim.

As for her original archaic ceremonial dress, and her life-bound sword Feixiang Heaven, she had stuffed them together into a guitar case and slung it on her back to look the part.

She’d “borrowed” the case from a scrap yard. The reason for this whole getup was that she’d picked up a street poster for a girls’ high-school rock show that mentioned “Minghui Tower.”

That was where Consultant Nanmu’s company was located, and it occurred to her that she could use this as a chance to infiltrate.

After all, she was a bona fide high-school girl.

Not wanting to alert the mall staff, she had chosen the recommended outfit hanging beside the fitting room, but regretted it the moment she put it on.

Thankfully, she had a black mask and a matching baseball cap on. With her face completely sealed off, she just gritted her teeth and walked out in it.

The checkout didn’t take any name, so that waitress probably had no idea who she really was.

But the way that girl looked at me was really weird. Kind of like Zhu Qing— about thirty percent as enthusiastic as her.

She carefully wiped her lips with a clean napkin, then put the black mask back on. Lifting her eyes slightly to glance outside, Bai Xiang felt the time was about right.

She stood up, pulled out a fifty-yuan Tongbao banknote, and handed it to the boss, then turned to leave.

“Hey, miss!” The boss hurriedly called out to her.

Bai Xiang narrowed her eyes, the guitar case on her back as she glanced at him sideways.

A gaze that had seen blood was not something that boss could withstand. The middle-aged man gave a dry laugh at once, his lips trembling. “It’s just… you had eight bowls. You’re still six yuan short…”

Is that so?

Bai Xiang paused.

She admitted she hadn’t really paid attention to how much she’d eaten. She’d just seen there were no other customers and gone all in. She hadn’t expected it to be that much.

She’d wronged the boss. She quickly dug out another handful of bills and tossed them on the counter, then bolted without waiting for change.

Walking down the street, Bai Xiang noticed that people still turned to look at her from time to time.

There was nothing she could do about that… You could cover your face, change your hairstyle into a ponytail, switch your clothes, but even in a baggy coat like this you couldn’t hide a person’s basic frame.

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Her figure and outline were still right there. This was a body perfectly tempered and shaped by the Transforming Qi Method; its particular qualities simply couldn’t be concealed.

But it still helped.

At the very least, people wouldn’t recognize her and then, like with those movie stars, stop dead at the intersection and cause a traffic jam.

That was why she’d changed outfits.

Compared to what she was about to do, her original look was way too eye-catching. If she didn’t switch into this kind of streetwear, she figured she’d be stopped before she even got close to the place.

Her phone buzzed. Bai Xiang pulled it out and checked— it was a text from Bai Shengju.

【Have you arrived?】

Bai Xiang replied: 【Yeah.】

【Be careful.】

Bai Xiang’s lips curled under the mask.

【Got it.】

Nice— she hadn’t told Bai Shengju that she’d already completed the very first Demon Pool commission of her life, or that the two million payout was already in her hands.

She also hadn’t said anything in the main Demon Suppression Office group chat, informing everyone else of her discoveries.

Because she didn’t trust the others in that group.

Thinking it through carefully, the people from Nanmu Consulting probably had some business cooperation with Reef Co. They were very likely aware of Reef’s experiments with deploying Demon Pools.

So why had they come to Jinshui Co. to post a commission, instead of bypassing the system and reclaiming the Demon Pool themselves?

Because they wanted their record to stay clean.

If they took the commission themselves and then reclaimed the Demon Pool themselves, that account would be settled cleanly at the Jobs Directorate, and no one would be able to find anything wrong no matter how they checked.

If they bypassed the commission system and did it privately?

Cases of Demon Pools mysteriously vanishing weren’t rare, but they would still leave abnormal traces in the records— a risk they clearly didn’t want to take.

From that, it was clear these people were extremely cautious in how they operated. They would never do anything unnecessary.

Which made that two-person reclamation team very suspicious.

Not their background— their strength.

Both of them were above Condensing the Aspect. They had even reached the Purple Qi stage. In Chilong Circuit, that was far from some common, nobody-level strength.

If they hadn’t been fully prepared, hadn’t known what level of opponents they’d be facing, there’s no way they would have sent that kind of force just to do a reclamation operation.

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So how did they know in advance?

Her decision to come here and take the commission had been a spur-of-the-moment thing, with a huge random element. How could they have known what level she and Yu He were at, and then specifically brought in external support tailored to the two of them?

The response was too fast, too precise. Bai Xiang couldn’t help thinking more deeply… Could someone in the Demon Suppression Office group have leaked information?

So she hadn’t made her findings public in the group, and hadn’t privately reached out to Tao Shuohua or Yu He either.

“Best if I can confuse that guy, make him think everything here is wrapped up.”

Turning things over carefully in her head, Bai Xiang merged into the crowd, crossed the street, and then looked up at a high-rise on the left side of the road ahead.

Minghui Tower. “Nanmu Security Consulting Co.” was on the ninth floor.

Standing at the roadside, Bai Xiang pulled a crumpled flyer from her coat pocket and checked it. On it were the words “Western-Style Band! New Wave Storm!” The show’s venue was also Minghui Tower, on the east side of the first floor of the commercial block.

The date and time matched up… which made perfect sense.

In a building this tall, the ground floors had to be rented out. This type of structure usually put a mall ecosystem on the lower levels and hotels or offices higher up. As long as you found the right path, they all connected.

She still had to cross another street.

Waiting with Bai Xiang this time were quite a few bright, fresh-faced high-school girls.

They, too, had professional instrument cases on their backs. Some were already in their little performance dresses, makeup done, clustered together and chattering away, occasionally sneaking glances at Bai Xiang.

“Who is she?”

“No idea…”

“Did Manager Qi invite someone else?”

“Her legs are so pretty… that shape is perfect.”

“Don’t stare at her, that’s rude!”

They crossed the street together. Right then, everyone’s attention was on the cars coming from both sides, and they were a little careless about what was happening around them.

Bai Xiang took the chance to move closer to a girl in a performance dress, slipped a hand into the girl’s jacket pocket, and pulled out a black card.

She was taller, and her legs were even longer. With a few strides she outpaced the group, passed through security ahead of them, and went straight in through the east entrance on the first floor.

It was noticeably warmer inside. Bai Xiang looked around and saw a middle-aged man in a black suit walking toward her.

Qi Zhen.

That was the name on his badge.

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“Manager Qi.” Bai Xiang nodded to him.

“You made it?” Manager Qi smiled at her, giving her figure an up-and-down look. “Your captain didn’t bring you last time, did she? Well now, hiding an ace, huh?”

He stared at Bai Xiang with some anticipation. “Take off the mask?”

With a figure like this, if the face was good too, the impact would be insane, right?

Bai Xiang’s eyes curved. “Are you sure?”

Manager Qi froze, then came to a sudden realization. “Oh… then just leave it on.”

He knew the type. Some girls had fantastic figures but their faces were so-so; put a mask on them and their looks got a massive upgrade.

And this was a rock band gig. One look at her outfit and you could tell she was going for a trendy style. A black mask like that was perfectly normal— for all he knew, the audience might actually be into that look.

With the black card in her hand, Bai Xiang fit right into his assumptions. Manager Qi was sure she was with “that group,” and waved her along.

“There’ll be foreigners watching this time, you know?” On the way, he reminded Bai Xiang, “Give it your best! If the response is good, you might get invited overseas!”

“For you guys, that’d be a huge opportunity! Make the most of it!”

Foreigners?

Bai Xiang narrowed her eyes.

It can’t be that coincidental…

But then again, this was a “Western-style” party. Foreigners feeling nostalgic for a taste of home— that made sense too.

Manager Qi led Bai Xiang into the center of the mall. A performance stage had already been set up there, with several tiers of sofa seating arranged down below.

“See that big-nosed guy?”

Manager Qi discreetly pointed something out to her.

Bai Xiang followed his gesture and saw a white man sitting in the corner, one leg crossed over the other, reading a newspaper.

“That’s Mr. Cerredo from Reef Co.!” Manager Qi gave her a heavy, meaningful look.

“It’s hard for your whole band to go abroad.”

“But taking just one person… that’s nothing to Mr. Cerredo, you get what I mean?”

What, and what exactly do you get out of that?

Bai Xiang had located her main target and was already losing patience with Manager Qi. But before she could say anything, he pressed a finger to his earpiece. “Hello?”

“What do you mean… you forgot your pass? You want me to come confirm?”

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“How do you even make that kind of mistake!”

He sounded furious, pointed at Cerredo, then jabbed a finger toward the outside, indicating to Bai Xiang that he had to step away for a bit.

Bai Xiang nodded to show she understood.

Once she was sure Manager Qi was completely gone, she picked up her guitar case and headed toward Cerredo.

Cerredo’s status was not ordinary, and there were security guards watching over him. But they had all seen Manager Qi “signaling” to Bai Xiang earlier and simply assumed she was another “girl with a dream.” None of them tried to stop her.

Bai Xiang walked straight over and sat down in the seat next to him. The motion startled Cerredo, and he turned his head toward her.

“Oh…”

Cerredo looked her over with an appreciative sound.

“They finally found someone…”

“Demon Pool containment.”

Bai Xiang quietly dropped the phrase, cutting him off mid-sentence.

Cerredo froze.

He glanced around first, then leaned down and lowered his voice. “…You’re an executive from the company?”

Before Bai Xiang could answer, he went on talking to himself. “You must be.”

“I know this time cost you people some manpower, but that wasn’t my fault.”

“This is… the agreed payment.”

“Take it and get out of here.”

As he spoke, he pulled a dog-eared old book from his bag and tossed it to Bai Xiang like it was trash.

Bai Xiang looked down. On the cover, drawn in simple ink outlines, was a massive tiger with a white forehead and hanging eyes, body arched, with a bare-chested monk riding on its back. There were also small characters along the blue background beside it.

The Subduing-Tiger Arhat Sutra.

The corner of her mouth twitched under the mask. She quickly tucked the old book into her jacket, then said to Cerredo, “I also need you to take me to the people from Nanmu.”

“With pleasure.” Cerredo gave a gloating smile.

This was very obviously going to stir up trouble.

Excellent. Another good show to watch.