Chapter 104: Presence of someone Stronger

Elder Mo was engrossed in his  book when he heard silent footsteps entering in the library. He temporarily stopped reading as he concentered on the spiritual build of the people who had just entered the hall.

'Ah, so it's that girl,' he thought to himself as he went back to reading the book. Without even having to look up, he realized that the girl had returned, and she was right on time.

..

"Elder Mo," he heard the voice call out to him. Slightly raising his eyes, he saw a hand put the exit permit pass on the top of the table.

He closed the book and looked up to see the face of the girl. He slightly tilted his head and saw a half beast girl with her. He narrowed his eyes as she watched her stay obediently on the sidelines.

"I have returned." Le Fang ling grinned widely as she looked at Elder Mo's face. She also saw that he was looking at Nagina and decided to introduce her.

"Elder Mo, she is Nagina," she said as she motioned towards Nagina who smiled and bowed at Elder Mo in polite gesture as a greeting.

"She is err, my pet?!" Le fang ling said with a little bit of confusion. She really did not like calling Nagina her pet since she absolutely was not a pet but!! since she could only bend the rule of the sect by saying that she was a harmless pet, she had no choice but to swallow down the uncomfortable feeling in her throat and say it out.

"Yes, she is." She nodded her head firmly as if trying to assert that it was indeed the truth.

Meanwhile, elder Mo simply nodded his head as if he was uninterested in all of this. He looked away from Nagina and Le Fang Ling to the pass on the table for a while.

No sooner had he looked at it, the pass was caught on fire out of nowhere and it burned down to crisp until there was nothing left, not even ash was left. Forget about ash, there was not even a slightest bit of smoke. It just disappeared in the thin air as if it had not existed at the first place.

"I have come to Elder Mo  for the promised thing before I left the sect the day before," she said with a h8mble tone as she paid a great deal of attention to the old man with an apathetic face.

It really was hard to understand if there was anything the old man was thinking just by looking at his face.

It was really making her anxious when she could not understand even the basic of his thoughts from his face.

But that was expected from an Elder such as him. It really suited his name and fame as the most wisest man around the sect who spoke less and did more. He was like the quiet kid at the back of the classroom who said nothing but was an unexpected and natural born genius.

Little did she know, he was paying attention to her more than he was showing on his face.

He could faintly sense the presence of someone else on her. It seemed to him that the presence was somehow familiar but not at the same time.

He furrowed his brows in a frown as he stared at her with suspicion and doubt.

Le fang ling could feel his piercing gaze but she did not understand why he was acting like that. Nevertheless, she allowed him to do it. She stood still as she held in her breathe, only breathing slowly and softly.

"Disciple Le," he said after much observation as he brought his hand to his chin.

"Yes, elder Mo!" Le Fang Ling replied with absolute attention and respect.

"Did you meet anyone when you went out to the town?" he asked as while  stroking his white long beard as if thinking about something really grave and important.

Le fang Ling was a little bit taken aback by his question but she quickly regained her calm and composure.

"I did meet a fair share of people," she replied after thinking about the bun seller man, the two ladies whom she bumped in to, the lady of the inn, the thugs and of course her newfound master.

"Hmm," Elder Mo hummed lightly like a bumble bee but he was secretly annoyed by the fact he did not phrase his question properly and specifically.

"I do not mean in general," he said with a soft sight.

"Like , did you anyone who left a big impression on you? like someone who looked really not like what they looked like at a glance?" he rephrased his question.

The aura and presence  which he had sensed on her belonged to someone who was stronger and more powerful than her by far margin. But that was not the thing that was bothering him.

The thing that was bothering him at the moment was that who ever the person was, they tried to mask their presence off from her.

'So that person had a contact with this disciple but he also tried to hide himself.' He nodded inside his head. It was really peculiar as no matter now he tried; he could not really get the gist of who this person could be.

He could not even evade the mind of this disciple to go and check her past history and contacts.

"So, was there anyone?" he repeated his question again when he did not get an answer before.

"I am really not sure if such kind of person stood out from the rest of the crowd, elder Mo." Le fang Ling replied.

After saying what she had to say, she gave a slight bow as a form of an apology.

"This disciple is sorry about not being able to give you any information." she said as she raised up her head.

Elder Mo looked at her eyes for a bit since he was not convinced with what she said. Seeing that she was not filching,  not even one bit, he loosened his tension while letting out a long sigh.

"It's fine, it could have been my delusion as well." He simply waved it off  from his mind. 'I must really be getting old…' his thoughts trailed off as he rose up from his chair.

He remembered that he still had to hand the thing down to the disciples which he had promised. Even if something wrong were to happen, well, he knew the time would show everything.

"Wait here for a bit," he said as he took out a golden key from his spatial ring. Right in front of them, he slid away a big rack of bookcase with ease.

A key vault presented itself on the wall of the library after the book case was removed.

"Holy moly," Le fang Ling gasped when she saw it. For no reason, she felt it was a scene from an action thriller movie that she had watched back home.

"You two are to stay right here, do not follow me." he warned them sternly as the key rotated inside the key hole and opened with a clicking sound.

There was also a bit of rusty sound on the key hole. It seemed to Le Fang ling that the door must have not been used for quite a long time.

Heeding the warning of Elder Mo, she nodded her head in response.

"We won't." she raised her hand and faced her palm towards him as a gesture of surrender and commitment.

Seeing her look, Elder Mo nodded in acknowledgement and pushed open the door. The door opened with a creepy creaking noise which echoed in the empty room eerily.

Without saying anything else, he quickly disappeared behind the door, in to the darkness of the underground passageway.

As soon as he was out of sight and far away from them, Nagina looked at Le Fang Ling who let out a deep sigh of relief.

"Now, that was something else…pheww." She let out a sigh as she made a gesture of wiping the sweat on her forehead with her palm.

"How did he know that I met my master when I went to the town?" she mumbled in a low breathe.

"Well, but considering that he is someone of a higher caliber, I should have known it," she thought to herself.

"I am glad that he did not find it out." She said in a low breathe as she thought about her perfect white lie.

Her master, that shrewd old man lived a normal and secluded life in the mortal realm. He even went to the trouble of dressing up and living  a life of poverty.

Either he was running away from someone or it could be that he was trying to disguise his identity simply because he was tired of life.

But there was only one thing which could be concluded from all this.

She touched the Jade locket on her neck and said, "He doesn't want his identity and presence known."