Chapter 105: Scouting The Estate

Ye Chenxue tossed and turned on her silk mattress, unable to find a comfortable position as her mind remained entirely restless. The quiet stillness of the night only amplified her inability to sleep, making every rustle of the bedsheets feel irritatingly loud. Knowing that lying in bed was a waste of time, she finally threw off her blanket and sat up, letting out a soft, resigned sigh.

She still had one cultivation pill remaining from her recent batch, and she estimated it would take slightly over an hour to fully refine its cold energy into her spiritual meridians. Rather than cultivating inside her personal quarters and drastically dropping the ambient temperature of the main residential building, she decided it was better to head out to her private training facility on the estate grounds.

Dressing silently in her light robes, she opened her door and glided through the dimly lit corridors, stepping outside into the cool night air. The path toward her private training building wound past the estate’s courtyard, giving her a clear line of sight toward the outer perimeter.

She had only taken a few steps along the cobblestone walkway when a faint, metallic sound echoed across the silent courtyard.

The heavy front gate was being opened.

Ye Chenxue instantly froze, her hand dropping toward her waist as her eyes narrowed in the dark. A wave of sharp vigilance washed over her, her posture instantly shifting into a combat-ready stance as she prepared to mobilize her icy spiritual energy at a moment’s notice.

From her position, she heard the low, muffled murmurs of two men exchanging words near the entrance. She couldn’t quite make out the exact contents of their brief conversation over the distance, but just a moment later, the gate creaked once more and clicked shut. A single silhouette stepped back into the estate grounds, locking the iron latch behind him.

Ye Chenxue remained fully alert, keeping her breathing suppressed as the figure began walking back toward the main courtyard. However, as the person drew closer and passed under the soft glow of the hanging lanterns, the distinct tension in her shoulders melted away, and she relaxed her stance slightly.

It was just Song Heng.

Stepping out from the shadows of the walkway, Ye Chenxue approached the guard. "Song Heng," she called out softly, her voice cool and crisp against the quiet night. "Why were you outside the gates at this hour?"

Song Heng flinched slightly in surprise, quickly coming to a halt when he recognized her. He immediately bowed his head in respect, offering a polite greeting. "Young Lady Ye, my apologies for disturbing the peace. I was merely dealing with a minor nuisance outside.

A bald, heavily tattooed man was swaying around right beside our main gate. He appeared to be completely intoxicated and claimed he had lost his way back to the lower district, so I directed him down the road and told him to move along."

Ye Chenxue listened attentively, her brow furrowing slightly as a faint trace of suspicion surfaced in her mind. A drunk, heavily tattooed man wandering into the upper Eastern district—a sector strictly reserved for wealthy merchants and noble estates—was not a common sight.

"Describe him to me," Ye Chenxue requested, her voice dropping into a serious tone.

Song Heng nodded and began detailing the man’s appearance—his heavy build, the scarred, hairless head, and the distinct, intricate tattoos covering his visible skin, along with his slurred, uncoordinated mannerisms.

As Song Heng provided the description, the air around Ye Chenxue began to change.

With every detail he spoke, the ambient temperature around her body plummeted slightly. As she turned and began walking toward the main entrance, her light, deliberate steps left a trail of subtle frost on the stone path.

With each step she took closer to the gate, the chill in the air intensified another degree, dropping the temperature sharply until even Song Heng felt a sudden, biting frost coat his armor.

Arriving at the grand entrance, Ye Chenxue reached out and unlatched the heavy wooden doors. She pushed them open and stepped out onto the empty, moonlit street, her sharp eyes scanning the quiet cobblestone avenue for any sign of life.

The street was utterly abandoned. There was no sign of the tattooed man anywhere in sight.

However, as she lowered her gaze to the damp dirt and dust near the perimeter wall, her eyes narrowed. Imprinted clearly near the gate were multiple sets of similar footprints, all matching a heavily built man. What caught her attention was their erratic arrangement; the tracks overlapped and then scattered in three completely different directions, leading off toward separate alleyways. It was a deliberate, textbook technique designed to confuse anyone attempting to track his true path.

The "drunk" man had clearly not been as senseless as he portrayed himself to be. ℯ

Since Song Heng had mentioned the man appeared lost and had already moved away from the property, she didn’t view his sudden disappearance as an immediate threat to the estate’s immediate safety. Still, it proved that the intruder was careful and calculating.

Ye Chenxue turned around, walked back inside the estate grounds, and pulled the grand doors shut once more, throwing the heavy iron deadbolt firmly back into place.

She turned back to face Song Heng, who was standing nearby with an uneasy expression. "That man was no ordinary drunk," she said calmly, her tone laced with a stern warning. "He was deliberately testing our perimeter. If he had been an assassin sent specifically after you or looking for an easy entry point, you could have walked straight into mortal danger the moment you opened those gates alone."

Song Heng’s face paled slightly as he realized his mistake. He lowered his head and offered a sincere apology. "I deeply apologize, Young Lady. I acted too hastily. Truthfully, I initially felt a subtle presence lingering outside the wall, so I opened the gate briefly to check the area, but found no one there.

After closing it the first time, however, that uncomfortable feeling of being watched refused to leave my mind. That was why I checked a second time and caught him standing right beside the entrance."

Ye Chenxue looked at him silently for a brief second before giving a small, understanding nod. "Your instincts were right to alert you, but next time, do not confront an unknown presence outside the safety of our defensive barrier without backup."

She gestured toward the main guardhouse. "Go back and get some sleep, Song Heng. I will be in the training building for the next few hours."

"Understood, Young Lady. Thank you for your guidance," Song Heng replied respectfully, bowing once more before heading toward his assigned quarters.

Watching him leave, Ye Chenxue turned around and made her way down the quiet stone path toward her private training facility.

Entering the heavily reinforced building, she closed the doors behind her, sat down cross-legged on the stone meditation platform, and pulled the remaining cultivation pill from her robes, ready to begin refining its cold power into her foundation.