"I've been waiting for you to arrive!," Xiao Xiao crowed with a little too much glee in her voice to be comfortable, by then everything seemed to have gone into a hell in a hand basket and how did everything came down to this?.

  *************************

  Xiao Xiao was mid-way reciting some legal stuff just like a lawyer in front of a court but we were in a freaking forest, the forest is now the arbiter? who knows. Then as if reality is giving me a cliché noodle shop young master level face slapping something ancient and omniscient seemed to rise from the forest or the ground serving as the witness to the oath.

  ...That I Xiao Xiao didn't extort not lure them into a contractual debt, nor did I engineered their predicament nor did I have any ill will against them... she looked dignified pronouncing her term in the contract, here by exert my price, she continued with a smile similar to a cat that is on catnip.

  ...The price I do ask for is but a favor from your DA HAI clan be your main clan or branch clan and your clan must pay this favor back to me the moment I Xiao Xiao deign to cash it in, do you accept my contractual trade offer?.

  Ma'am we aren't the movers and shakers of our clan, we are jus mere disciples" Shu Lin tried to explain 'damn it they have been careless when desperate to treat the young miss' he thought bitterly, this is one discredit against Cao Peng's poor leadership if I want I could use this to discredit him and break off from him to get my own group or simply kick him out of the group perhaps I should dig up some more dirt on him and unleash it at the right time.

  "Just as I expected " she said before she blurred and reappeared with a middle aged man gripped in her hand like a like a Christmas chicken about to be butchered, then came the prior sentence "I've been waiting for you".

  *************************

  XIAO XIAO'S PLAN

  I had seen the brazen interloper who thought he was carefully ensconced within his hiding place which was not bad for his cultivation but still left more to be desired. I wasted no time pining my tracking mark on him using my intent and only a Xiantian in Qi Root stage could feel it.

  She scryed the group of people with her spiritual sense gathering more information on this strange group of people, before she needed to come up with a simple plan on the fly, what does she wants to gain from this people and all other variations of introspective questions flew through her mind in a flash before she settled on her plan.

  Using a profound grade EARTH'S CONTRACT she'll bind this people to their word to the extent that if they decide to be shameless and break it, she won't need to do anything before things start going awry for them, for who will offend the earth and still reap it's bounty?, none! for their Ilk shall only know the wrath of the land.

  The matter of whether it was the main or branch member that gave their word on the parchment will not be of concern, all condition must be met or it will affect all member of the lineage for the earth will collect it's dues .

  Xiao Xiao shuddered on one of the instances she saw a sect transgressed on their word it wasn't even the sect master that was the culprit but a newly promoted elder that thought he was wiser, there was no fanfare no heaven shaking or earth toppling show just that they started meeting what could be termed as a form of bad luck.

  Series of coincidences like beast tides that will ignore diversions, sprit field regression leading to the sects alchemists started outsourcing their raw materials, minor maledictions that becomes near fatal in the blink of an eye and things started going downhill and such weakening and making the sect feebler with each day that rolls by.

  But the effect was just too clear for her to see after she studied the connections between the varied occurrences and the time the sect broke the terms within their contracts, Yu Ren swooped in to get as much as he can get from the situation killing the sect master and disbanding the sect.

  "This is salvaging the remaining treasure from the sect a form of mercy" he said to her " they'll sooner or later degrade into the formal shadow of themselves if left to go on with the effect of the EARTH'S PUNISHMENT 'that was the day that I knew the power of using contracts to hold people to their words in this world were even your friend could stab you in the back without blinking'.

  The nail in the DAHAI's coffin was the elder that was sent during scrying she found out about the pulse of Qi that traveled from the forest with the epicenter located from where she gathered the group was coming from.

  Not fully sure she deliberately slowed the speed of the herbal brew's creation down to see if she could fish some more info out of the situation, none forth coming. Believing\ that the call won't go unanswered she made a minor adjustment to the brew to slow down its effect on the girl for about 50 minutes that's the most she could make with the tools in her hand without sacrificing quality.

  Her guess was spot on, someone appeared some 5li away at the periphery of her senses coming in hard and fast, not bad before the man reached her spot she modified the contract on the fly without compromising the spirit of the contract and added him as the fourth witness to the contract, then she acted.

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  **********************

  "Might this junior know your name, Senior?" Elder Tuo said hurriedly while in the hands of Xiao Xiao

  "No need for you to butter me up like that , your juniors will give you the privilege to know soon, "she then continued softly "Soon after we get this all over with."

  Senior forgive my impertinence, may I have but a glimpse into the terms written within the contract?

  "Yes" she answered knowing what he's up to

  Elder Tuo then dangled at the parchment and XiaoXiao made sure his head was in place to read the contracts term clearly, He read the agreement within the contract

  Without allowing the Elder to even process what he read fully and start garbling out question she made her request "I do require a drop of you and that little lady's blood on this parchment,"

  "Might this lowly one ask why?"

  "You dare question this one?!"

  "Mercy senior!, this lowly one do not dare!, it's just that the current position in which this lowly one meets himself is a it a bit compromising no?".

  "Oh" she released him and he dropped on the ground.

  He immediately nicked his finger and flicked his wrist and a drop of blood flew from him and landed on the parchment which formed his name on it like he wrote it, then another drop of blood was also taken from DaHai Xiu'er to complete the contract.

  ...yes! I DaHai Tuo, standing as an Elder of the DA HAI clan's branch clan here by testify that there are no falsehood stated in this contract and I can stand as a witness and a guarantor to this contract!

  ...yes! I DaHai Xiu'er, standing as an Core disciple of the DA HAI clan's main clan here by testify that there are no falsehood stated in this contract and I can stand as a witness and a guarantor to this contract!

  Xiao Xiao held out the Earth Contract, runic glyphs flared to life, forming the word she said which was laced with her Qi, the blood she once dripped mixed with the Qi within the paper, the Qi of the forest and earth forming a binding contract.

  "Elder Tuo why bother I know that we both know not to lie when making contracts like this, beneath this presence do you think that I dare to lie?, You doubt my honor Elder?" Xiao Xiao said this time a bit imperiously to the elder.

  "No Senior!"

  The light faded, and the parchment faded alongside it.

  Then you can go back to your clan with the young miss in hand, I made sure to take care of her and her health is already good enough for her to be on her feet

  “Pleasure doing business with you, Elder” Xiao Xiao said cheerily.

  ***************************

  That was a bold move, the here question now is, Is the clan able to even if not outright break the agreement sidestep it or even push the boundary of the agreement thereby skirting some rules?" Hua Lei asked after they left.

  "Maybe, maybe not, the crux of the matter is that I've gained a leverage over them, they do not know who we are and the scariest of them all is that you barely made a move."

  "That's...new" Hua Lei muttered and then asked "how does barely making a move fits into the situation"

  "Simple!"

  "You will be judged either extremely strong which most likely will be their first impression since I introduced myself as a maid, your maid, and even if they found out your strength then they'll be given a pause." she answered excitedly.

  "They might want to slow down the process of acquisition to dig for your background, however you or let me say that your looks is not common among the demographics of this district or even this prefecture, so weak yet having such a strong maid then the news your involuntarily broadcasting is clear." continuing her explanation.

  "It won't take a genius to deduce that you are from a terrifying background and they might want to speed things up by granting us a more generous offer.

  "But that might make us fall under constant surveillance from the clan and make them sure enough to call our bluff" Hua Lei asked curious

  "Not if they want to court disaster", she guffawed

  "...Huh?" Hua Lei was dumbfounded

  "You see prying into somebody's root is something that must be done delicately, they will not do it with their own brokers, no , they'll hire independent mercenaries do their dirty work for them with a payment

  "Won't that directly undermine our anonymity, Maybe but speed is king in battle for a reason, Just give them no chance by making sure that you are very exact with your time, use one or two of them as an example that they will not mess with you anymore."

  "Since we aren't dropping any family name they'll have to search yours by complexion and the surname Hua, no one saw you and is alive back then so they'll not know how you entered the empire so for the next year you can be rest assured that they won't find out who you are."

  "The last question is that what if they decide to throw away face regardless of the profound grade EARTH'S CONTRACT that was agreed upon." Hua Lei said

  HaHaHa!!! she laughed uproariously, " The EARTH'S CONTRACT has been notorious for years the one that I used was Yu Ren's modification that he taught us has an even more stronger effect when the ones who made the agreement breach the contract but, that made all the difference."

  "In fact the orthodoxy will only use it as a last resort for any Spirit Refining and below disciple or elder specifically against people who has organizations backing them or own an organization of their own. It holds the people you hold dear as hostage thus making you think thrice before betraying the agreement."

  ***************

  While Hua Lei and Xiao Xiao were busy discussing in the forest something else was going on in the DA HAI clan's compound both in the main and all its branches. suddenly did the Earth Qi rose to the sky permeating everywhere and forming a faint image of a paper dripping with blood.

  All of the Elders and Disciples of the Spirit Refining felt fear for the first time in decades, they were intent to know who signed this contract and where it came from, this issue coupled with the previous issues deep within the JIAO XIONG jungle

  First is the battle of which the outcome was suppressed but was still accessible at a steep price at an information brokerage, second is the tide of independent masters and cultivators swarming the jungle from the districts and several outskirt districts.

  Now this is the third thing to happen, the one that most directly affected the DA HAI clan all of these is combining into a tide that will reshape the entire JIAO XIONG forest or the DA HAI district in the coming years.

  No one knows whether this that happened to the DA HAI clan will not be the end but the beginning of sects interference and, if the sects really deigns to interfere well, no plan survives first contact anyways, sects not interfering does not mean that their disciples will not go out of the sect to 'gain experience'.

  **************

  DaHai Xiu'er was perplexed on her journey back home, led by Elder Tuo they quickly got back to the DA HAI branch clan's settlement, which was in an uproar when they got there.