Chapter 267: Leafing the Temple

Kat groaned. *Of course. Of course, the compound doesn't even belong to his clan. It's so old that his ancestors probably just set up here and stole a bunch of stuff, and now this 'ancient secret' turns out to be some storage facility of somebody else's.* 

"Come!" said Xiang "We must be off quickly. We should make what progress we can before the fall of night"

Kat looked up at the nearly setting sun. "Would it not be better to set camp here considering it is almost nightfall?" asked Kat

Xiang shook his head and chuckled as if Kat was an idiot "Of course not. Now that I am on the quest for revenge, I shall not waste a single moment. I will find the main compound of the Shattered Flame Sect and show them what happens when you mess with the Mao clan.

"Besides, what is wrong with a night under the stars. Such a thing is normal on a quest! I shall not shy away from it! We shall charge forth and make camp later" said Xiang.

Kat looked over Xiang, who bore no indication of supplies or a tent. She even scanned his fingers for storage rings but the only thing of note was a small pouch attached to his sword's sheath that was likely his wallet. 

Kat listened as Xiang turned and strode off into the forest. She could hear the slight clinking of coins and suggested her guess was correct. *But if that is the case… then where is his supplies? Surely, he isn't quite that stupid. Kat shrugged and followed him down the path.*

Well, 'path' was a generous term. To Kat's eyes it looked like someone had taken a machete to the foliage and bashed it out of the way. This led Kat's eyes to drift to the sword hanging on Xiang's hip and she started to get an idea of how the path was made.

Looking closely at the destroyed foliage Kat noticed that it was in fact rather new. She didn't comment on it though. The real question that arose from that knowledge was how he found the 'temple' in the first place. If he was the one that made this path than that means he had no idea where he was going… *Is he just lucky then?*

Kat followed behind Xiang for another two hours before the sun had well and truly set and he called for a stop. "Stop here demon. I shall rest while you watch over the camp"

Without even waiting for her answer Xiang pulled out a necklace Kat hadn't noticed. On the end was a simple iron ring. It flashed for a split second before a sleeping roll was pulled from it and pushed over to the side by Xiang. A second flash signalled a second item. This one was a bag filled with crackers.

Xiang bit into them and glanced over at Kat before returning to his crackers. *Is this guy just going to eat in front of me?* Kat checked her energy reserves and found them full, then considered the thought of eating and found that she didn't have any desire to do that either. 

*Ok well maybe I'm fine but what's this assumption that I'm going to guard the camp.* "Why do you believe I will just guard your camp for the night?" asked Kat

Xiang paused halfway into a bite, looked at Kat, and then continued to chew on the cracker. He took his time finishing off the mouthful, chewing, what was likely an excessive number of times before looking up at Kat and saying. "Is that not your job as my demonic servant?" 

"No, no it really isn't. I haven't suddenly become a slave now that we have a contract. I have to adhere to the terms yes, but there was nothing in them about waiting on you" said Kat

Xiang frowned "It did say you would help me get my revenge though" Xiang mused.

*Don't correct him of that little error just yet.* "That still doesn't mean I'm your servant. Guarding for the night doesn't further your plans for revenge in any way" said Kat

"It is your duty as the contracted demon to protect me though is it not?" said Xiang with narrowed eyes.

*Is it system?*

Not unless explicitly stated by the Contract.

*Good to have that confirmation.* "It is not Xiang. There was nothing in the contract that requires me to protect you either" said Kat

Xiang's eyes widened at this and his frown grew significantly. It seemed to have dawned on him that he'd been tricked, or at the very least, he did not have the power in this relationship he thought he did. It was unclear to Kat exactly what the boy believed he was entitled to, but he clearly was under a few misconceptions. 

"Well, in that case as the one that requires less sleep you will stand guard" said Xiang

Kat smirked. *That at least is true. I could go a day without sleeping when I was rank one if I had to… so I can certainly do it at rank two… but should I admit to that? I could force him to take a shift but… that would probably slow us down in a big way…*

*Wait isn't that what I want though? I don't want him getting revenge, so making this take a few extra days is fine.* "I can guard you for a number of hours but I will be sleeping for at least some of the night" said Kat careful not to trip up in trying to lie about needing to sleep. 

Xiang frowned further as he considered this. He tapped his sword methodically as the gears in his head turned mulling over the situation and likely trying to find some other option. In the end, nothing must have been forthcoming as he said. "Alright then. You will wake me when you wish to sleep and I will watch over you" said Xiang, with a slightly pained expression. 

Kat nodded and the boy shoved another cracker into his mouth. Looking at the biscuits closer though, Kat wondered if they might instead be 'hard tack' she'd never really seen hard tack, and didn't know what it was, so she was unsure if this counted. It did look hard and seemed to crack and shatter more so than allow itself to be bitten properly.

Eventually though, Xiang finished his meal and crawled over to the sleeping bag he had before slipping inside and closing his eyes. Kat watched him for a moment longer before looking around the area they'd chosen to stop.

It wasn't much. It was just a spot that had slightly less foliage than the rest of the path. It couldn't even be called a clearing, just a bare patch of dirt barely long enough for the one sleeping roll. Changing tactics, Kat then looked up above. The tree's seemed to be some kind of Sequoia tree, or at least, if it was a different tree, it looked close enough for it not to matter.

They resembled Giant Sequoias' in all but height and girth. The bark was the familiar reddish colour with minimal branches until you were closer to the top. They swayed very slightly in the breeze, but the wind wasn't particularly fierce. 

Kat glanced over at the sleeping boy and decided that running off, while possible, was still a bad idea. That and he clearly wasn't asleep yet as Kat could hear that his heart was beating quickly still, an indication of his unease. 

Kat shrugged before glancing between a few branches. Spotting two decent sized ones at around halfway up the tree and close together Kat let out her wings and flew up to them, before landing and fitting herself comfortable between the branches.

The bark was a little strange on her wings, but the skin across them was strong enough to cause her no discomfort even when she leaned into them. Looking out at the forest below, Kat managed to see… basically nothing. It was too densely packed to see past more than a handful of trees. *Guess I need to keep my ears out rather than my eyes… I wonder if I should just do my meditation sleep thing… wait no first.*

Kat summoned the system to her and started to think about the message she wanted to send everyone. *Should I include Minor? No best not. She's likely recovering and trying to figure things out. She might drop everything to try and speak with me when she should really be taking time to work out her own situation with Major.* 

And so, as the moon started its journey across the sky, Kat composed her first message to her accomplices, keeping things mostly generic, just giving the broad strokes and explaining her issues with the mission she was seemingly on as well as the attitude of Xiang. She kept her ears out as well of course but, nothing of note appeared even long after the message had been sent off.