STNS: Chapter 505 (Patreon)

Yōuměi was already regretting her decision to travel through the desert. She hated, hated, hated them. Deserts were the worst. They were scorching hot during the day and freezing cold at night. Regardless of what time she traveled, there was always some kind of problem. That said, she preferred to travel at night. Her fur coat was thick and helped keep out the cold. It was too hot for her to travel during the day. She always had to find a shadow to hide in during the day… which sometimes wasn’t possible because the sun would banish all the shadows.

Standing on one of the many millions of sand dunes that seemed to go on forever, Yōuměi tried to determine which direction she should go. The golden sand was cast in darkness. Only the moon and stars were available to guide her. She had been traveling west, using the West White Star to guide her.

“Yōuměi thought she would have found those ingredients by now,” she mumbled under her breath.

Many days and nights had passed. Yōuměi hadn’t bothered counting, but it had been a lot. She was worried about her master. Master had been horribly injured. He was missing his legs, and he was relying on her to find the ingredients he needed to restore them. She couldn’t let him down!

However, she was beginning to lose heart.

There were no cities or even towns in this endless sea of sand--at least, none that she had found. She also hadn’t run into any oasis either. Yōuměi was beginning to run low on supplies. She’d been trying to ration her food and water, but even she understood that she was not the best at that. Master and the others were always the ones who dealt with stuff like that, so she had no experience with it until now.

“Hmmm… mmmm… hmmm? There is something over that way…”

Yōuměi glared at the object she could see in the distance. It looked like a canyon. A cold wind blew over the sand dunes as she stared at the canyon’s rugged cliffs. It was too far away for even her eyes to see much more.

She trudged on, traveling across the desert with the stars as her guide.

She eventually ran out of food. She tried to ration her water, but that soon ran dry as well.

Alone and without food, Yōuměi struggled to press on, and yet, no matter how far she walked, she never seemed to get closer to her destination. The canyon in the distance, where she thought she might find the ingredients her master needed, never got any closer.

She stumbled over a sand dune. Her legs gave out and she tumbled down. The world passed around in a blur. As Yōuměi landed on her back, several shadows appeared above her.

“She lasted much longer than I expected,” one of them said.

“We should have just attacked her,” another added.

“Now now. It’s better this way. We might have damaged the goods if we did that,” the third said chidingly.

Yōuměi blinked several times, trying to get a good look at these people, but no matter how she strained, all she could see were blurry shapes that only vaguely resembled people.

“Looks like she’s passing out,” a fourth voice said.

“Good. I don’t want to deal with the hassle of fighting someone.”

Yōuměi could tell she was in danger. These people wanted to do something bad to her, that much was clear, but she couldn’t muster up the strength. She tried to get up, but all she managed to do was twitch. Her body could no longer keep moving.

They waited… until Yōuměi… was too tired to put up a fight…

That was Yōuměi’s last thought as she slipped into darkness. After the darkness had descended, Yōuměi had a dream. Her master was there, and so were her big sisters. They were all pampering Yōuměi, petting her hair and stroking her tail just as she liked it. Yōuměi wanted to roll onto her back so her master could rub her belly, but she couldn’t move. Something was restraining her.

Yōuměi awoke with a start. She blinked her eyes open several times. Before her eyes was a ceiling made of brown hide. Her body jolted, rocking back and forth, and she realized that she was moving.

Yōuměi… can’t move… what’s going on…?

It took Yōuměi trying to move several times to realize the reason was because her arms and legs were bound. She frowned, then channeled her Qi to--

“NYAAAH?!”

Pain. Yōuměi thrashed and spasmed as her entire body was filled with such unbearable pain that she could barely think. Her mind went white, then black, and then the pain disappeared, and she was left gasping.

“I see you’re awake,” someone said off to the side. “I wouldn’t bother channeling my Qi, if I were you. That thing around your neck prevents you from using Qi. What you just felt was all your Qi getting blocked and sending it back to you as pain.”

It wasn’t until the man spoke that Yōuměi realized there was also something around her neck. She had been paying too much attention to the cables restraining her until now. Whatever it was, she couldn’t see it because it was around her neck, but she now felt the intrusive object.

“What… do you want with Yōuměi?” she demanded, looking at the man for the first time.

He was a tall man. His skin was an iridescent blue and looked like it was shimmering. He had golden eyes with slitted pupils. Yōuměi took a deep whiff and smelled the scent of a lizard.

He wore robes that were blue and silver. They were intricate. Yōuměi had seen fancier robes. Big Sis Jingshu used to wear fancier clothing all the time, but they still looked really expensive.

She couldn’t tell how strong this man was, but that might have been because of the thing around her neck. Yōuměi couldn’t use her Qi to sense his cultivation.

The blue man wasn’t alone. There were two more people in there and one person that she could just barely make outside through a window. Yōuměi realized they were in a carriage.

“What do I want?” The man smiled at her, but it was a cruel smile. “That’s not something you need to concern yourself with. Just be a good little girl and shut up.”

Even though she was bound and couldn’t use her Qi, Yōuměi knew that if she did nothing, nothing good would happen to her. She somehow got her feet underneath her and lunged at the man.

She never reached him.

Something slammed into the back of her head.

And darkness descended again.

“You should have just been a good little girl,” she heard the man say before darkness descended once more.

***

When Yōuměi woke up again, her location had changed. The ceiling above her was different, and the smells were different. It was a nice scent, but it was too heavy for her taste. The smell of flowers was so thick that she wanted to gag.

After realizing that she was no longer bound in rope, Yōuměi sat up, noticing the comfortable bed underneath her. It was a big bed. The room was also nice. She looked at the cream colored walls, the soft carpet, and the neat ceiling above her. There weren’t many decorations, but there was a nightstand in one side of the room and a fireplace in the other.

A breeze made Yōuměi look down.

“Yōuměi… wasn’t wearing this before…”

The clothing she wore now was a very loose dress that was translucent. She frowned. She didn’t like these clothes.

Since she wasn’t bound, Yōuměi decided to break out. The thing was still around her neck. She grabbed it and tried to remove it, but it wouldn’t budge. Should she use Qi? No. Thing thing around her neck would hurt her again, and she didn’t want to go through that.

Yōuměi should learn more about her surroundings…

Having traveled with her master this entire time, Yōuměi understood the importance of information. She needed to know where she was.

Getting off the bed, Yōuměi traveled to a window. It wouldn’t open. Even when she slammed her hands into it, the window refused to break. Growling, she moved over to the other side, bent her knees, and raced forward. She leapt into the air and performed a spinning kick. The window… did not break.

“NYAH?!”

Yōuměi landed on her back, holding her poor foot, which throbbed angrily. She held back tears and waited for the pain to fade. When it finally did, she stood up, went over to the window, and pressed her face against the glass.

“Yōuměi has never seen buildings like this before,” Yōuměi murmured.

The buildings that spread out before her were made of sandstone and clay. Most of the buildings were big. They had arched doorways and narrow alleys with lots of shade. She looked up and noticed that many of the buildings had domed roofs. Was this a city? Had she reached a city?

Stiffening as the sound of a door opening filled the room, Yōuměi spun around, crouched down, and hissed at the woman who had entered. Her big sisters were way prettier than her, but she was still pretty. She had dark skin, dark hair, and big boobs. Her clothing was light and cream colored. Yōuměi noticed how it emphasized the woman’s body. The sash around her waist made it big boobs and wide hips even more obvious.

“You’re awake. Good. Get dressed and follow me.”

All Yōuměi did was hiss.

The woman sighed. “If you do not do as I say, I will activate your collar. Do you want me to cause you pain?”

“…”

Yōuměi hesitated. She had seen the collar in the window’s reflection. It was thick, black, and ugly. She didn’t like it, but she couldn’t remove it.

With a grimace, Yōuměi undressed, tossed aside her dress, and put on a cream colored dress similar to the one this lady was wearing. The woman nodded approvingly.

“Good. Now, follow me.”

Because Yōuměi couldn’t think of anything else to do, she followed this woman through a narrow corridor. The walls were made of the same sandstone as the buildings outside. It was cool in here. A soft breeze seemed to blow through the hall. Youmei did her best to study the layout. Everything here looked fancy. Was this some kind of noble’s mansion?

They soon emerged into a large space where almost a dozen other women were standing. All of them were dressed in the same clothes as Yōuměi and the lady she followed. Yōuměi studied them. Each one was very pretty. Still not as pretty as her big sisters, but pretty enough. They also looked scared. Yōuměi could smell their fear.

What are we all doing here?

Yōuměi didn’t understand what was going on, but the lady had her line up with the others, then stood in front of them all and addressed them.

“My name is Huo Lin,” the woman finally introduced herself. “I am the head maid of this household. All of you are now the property of Dàrén Zhao Xian. You shall all meet him eventually, so prepare yourselves.”

Yōuměi had no idea who this person was, but the many women surrounding her all shuddered, a few even shrieked, and one of them fainted deadaway.

Now curious, Yōuměi leaned over to the person next to her. She was a pretty women with blue hair like an ocean and green eyes.

“Who is Zhao Xian?” she asked.

The woman blinked at being addressed. “You don’t know who Dàrén Zhao Xian is?”

“Yōuměi is not from here.” She shook her head.

“Oh.” The woman paused for a moment. “Dàrén Zhao Xian is one of the only merchants in the Da Continent. I heard he doesn’t have much talent for cultivation, but he was still able to establish himself and attain wealth by making connections with powerful people. He’s got connections to many of the most powerful clans. There’s even a rumor that he has connections to influential figures on the Xiao Continent.”

“So he’s rich?” asked Yōuměi.

“He’s more than just rich. He’s--”

“Excuse me, you two,” Huo Lin interrupted them. “Did I give you permission to speak? I did not. Stay silent and speak only when you are spoken to.”

Yōuměi wanted to speak up, but the woman beside her went completely silent, her face pale. She gave Yōuměi a glare like it was her fault that she had been scolded. After thinking about it for a moment, Yōuměi understood that she was better off not talking yet. She needed to learn more about her situation.

For now, she would play along with this silly woman and her silly demands. Once she understood what she needed to, she would escape, and of course, she hadn’t forgotten that her master--her real master--needed those ingredients to heal his legs. For her master, there was nothing she wouldn’t do.