Days passed, and while in the evenings Yan Yuiling had to sleep, and Xiao Li was trying to catch up to her expertise, Xiao Lao was quite bored.
Her master would go to the place they came from to try to somehow feel the presence of the portal to their world, while all she could do was to cultivate. And cultivating in this place was just a drag; the spiritual energy was simply too thin.
As the fifth night enduring this situation began and Yi was about to keep searching, Xiao Lao stopped him.
"Master Yi, please wait. It's so boring here alone. How about we explore this city tonight? Yan Yuiling told me about places to have fun even in the night," she asked.
Yi, surprised that the first request of his disciple wasn't about cultivation, still agreed. In the past days he made no progress.
Even though he confirmed that the place where Xiao Li and Xiao Lao appeared was the exact same place he first appeared, he couldn't even feel a trace of the portal. Taking a night off and exploring the city with his new disciple wouldn't be too bad.
During the day, Xiao Lao had acquired valuable information from Yan Yuiling about where the night was the liveliest, and she and Yi were about to go to the liveliest streets in the city.
As they flew in the sky, they could already see the bright lights in the distance.
"Wow," Xiao Lao said. "So bright even in the night. I'm excited."
Yi stayed silent but felt similar. The contrast between the darkness around and the bright colorful lights within the district was quite endearing.
They arrived on the streets and slowly approached the various nightclubs, game halls, and hotels.
On their way, they saw mostly young people drinking in groups and enjoying their lives.
The atmosphere was happy and cheerful, with a mix of unpredictability and danger mixed in. Drunken people, after all, tend to be bolder.
They walked through the bright streets enjoying the spectacle before arriving at a long queue. Apparently this queue led to a famous nightclub, and Xiao Lao and Yi decided to line up.
They looked at the fancy dresses and suits the people were wearing, but they themselves came prepared.
Yi wore a shirt and blazer, while Xiao Lao wore a red dress. That, combined with their natural good looks, made a few people turn their heads as they walked by the queue.
After one hour of waiting, they finally entered the club, which consisted of multiple floors with different kinds of music.
Yi and Xiao Lao tried each floor, enjoying them without dancing. Neither Yi nor Xiao Lao ever tried it and wouldn't do it now. Instead they just listened and looked at the people before moving on.
They still enjoyed it, though; it was a completely new experience for both of them, and they decided to make the most out of it.
Meanwhile, Ling Chuse sat at his usual VIP table, talking and laughing with multiple girls, while the loud music resounded through his ears.
Between the disappointments of the recent weeks, he came here more and more often. He was no longer employed at his father's company, so he slept in late and spent his time in clubs such as this one.
With his status, he enjoyed this treatment without paying, and in this place, where his status was among the highest, he felt much better. Here he could drink and chat with beautiful women that would flock to him.
He looked at the dance floor, and at the very edge, he saw a young woman. The woman wore a red dress and shyly tried to start dancing without much success. Although the woman was clumsy, Ling Chuse was mesmerized by her beauty. The perfect target for tonight.
He quickly sent away the girls at his table and spoke to a security guard to invite the woman to come to his table.
The guard quickly came back, but to Ling Chuse's surprise, the woman wasn't alone. There was a man by her side, which greatly annoyed Ling Chuse.
"Who is this?" Ling Chuse asked.
"Oh, that is my mas..." "Brother. I'm her brother, Yi. Nice to meet you," Yi interrupted Xiao Lao and went to shake Ling Chuse's hand a little too hard.
Ling Chuse, in pain, wanted to send this annoying brother away but decided to play along for now, in case the woman would leave.
While Xiao Lao was excited to be invited to a table, and without any clue as to why, Yi could figure it out without much problem. And after seeing that Ling Chuse was the one to invite them, he decided to play along. Another lesson needed to be learned.
To Ling Chuse's dismay, Yi sat down in between Ling Chuse and Xiao Lao, but Ling Chuse already had plans. He saw how awkward Xiao Lao was at dancing, so she and her brother should be without much resistance to alcohol.
Outdrinking them shouldn't be much of a problem, and after the brother was passed out drunk, his chance would come.
Ling Chuse enthusiastically clinked glasses with Yi and Xiao Lao as they began drinking. Sadly for him, he was the only one getting drunk.
Both Yi and Xiao Lan's bodies had more than enough resistance against the effect of alcohol to even feel the impact, so Ling Chuse got more and more unstable as the night went on.
A few hours later: "And then I tried to search for him everywhere. But ever since that day at the birthday party, he vanished without any traces," Ling Chuse said while crying.
His story about how his bodyguard was responsible for his downfall was told within the last 20 minutes, and Xiao Lao was getting annoyed.
"Mas... Brother, we need to leave," she said.
"No!! Stay!!" Ling Chuse shouted.
"You need to stay!"
"No, we really need to go." Xiao Lao stood up and walked away slowly.
Ling Chuse, between sadness and anger, decided to stop her and wanted to grab her to put her back on the couch. His plan was long forgotten; now it was just his instinct taking over.
Yi, still sitting, just watched while eating a few snacks on the table. This is going to be fun.