Murim Recurve

In the dead of the night stood four people on a certain house's terrace. Their current demeanours were eerie, as if they had been entirely different individuals than the ones Re'Kha had tailed after the previous day.

Currently, the eighty-year-old lady, the leader of the group was gazing at the city from the terrace, noticing how the number of people travelling on the roads had trickled down until the streets were bereft of people.

The only ones prowling about were the guards in teams of five, patrolling the streets in search of anything amiss or to deter people from committing anything illegal. The teams of guards moving about were indeed a lot, so she had to be careful when choosing the time to act.

Currently, the three people behind her were hiding, preventing themselves from being spotted. On the other hand, she was the only one who had peaked out to look around. As she noticed the team of guards on their street proceed into the next street, she signalled with a light grunt.

Immediately, the three people sprang into action, heading to their house's water tank. One of them jumped inside, landing on the almost full tank as she proceeded inside, acting based on memory that she had practiced numerous times.

She unhooked the eight chains that bound a certain crate to the corners of the cuboidal water tank and immediately placed her hand on its bottom, pushing it up with all her strength. Thanks to the buoyancy of the water, the strength she had to exert was lower than if she had done it outside.

This allowed her to push the crate all the way to the top. The moment it reached the top, the two men outside grabbed the four chains on either side of the crate, holding two chains per hand as they grunted, lifting the crate as they cautiously stepped to the side, little by little.

Finally, they inched the crate towards the ground, finally settling it on the floor, heaving a sigh of relief once that was done. The lady exited the water tank and dried her clothes by twisting the ends.

The three of them simultaneously gazed at the old lady; she motioned them with a wave of her hands. The three then helped carry the crate while she left first, proceeding through the flight of stairs.

They were the four individuals Re'Kha was observed the day before, the very same people who had set the three Sha onto the populace. Now, they were planning something once again.

They had been careful all along, from the start to the finish. It was to ensure nothing amiss would happen. They had even worn their Magic Artifacts, just in case, they came upon some obstacles.

Soon, they entered the living room and set the crate in the centre, gasping for breaths as the old lady entered the bedroom, watching the lady of the house be deep asleep. She had been drugged during dinner. So, she would only wake up in the morning.

"We have a long journey ahead of us. And, we don't have enough time. Get ample rest now," The old lady spoke in an icy tone, looking at the three people with a gaze that didn't seem like they were her children. "They will act soon enough."

They rested in the living room while the old lady peered through the front of their house, noticing how there weren't any guards in the vicinity. She gently closed the door, ensuring nothing amiss would happen.

Even in the living room, only one lantern was lit. This was to just give them enough illumination to get their job done.

The old lady looked at the expression of the three people, nodding upon seeing that they had recovered their strength, "Let's begin now."

"Alright," Pal, the eldest of the three nodded and used his Magic Artifact-wearing hand to grab something on the floor as he activated it, unleashing a dense concentration of Metal Qi. Immediately, a small platform in the middle of their living room elevated itself.

It was a thick slab of metal, heavy enough that only someone using Metal Qi to activate the mechanism within could move it. This was how they ensured no one would even feel the section underneath was hollow while moving over it daily.

Once the metal platform was moved aside, it revealed a tunnel underneath. And, this tunnel was pretty huge, big enough for them to move while crouched. Cal, the lady among the three was the first to jump into it, pulling forth a certain trolley that she set up right underneath the entrance.

Pal and Mal helped lower the crate through the entrance while Cal adjusted it, aligning it before placing it on the trolley. Now, they could simply move the crate forward without having to carry it.

After all, the space in the tunnel was only wide enough for them to move while crouching. So, they couldn't carry the crate and move in such a situation. Therefore, they used the roller mechanism to push it around.

Cal pushed it until she arrived before a door, one that seemed to seal the water flow from beyond, preventing it from gushing into their small tunnel. Moreover, this door directly led into the mainline of the city's water flow.

From the positioning of their house, the digging and creation of a branch to the main pipeline, and their arrangements in stopping and resuming the water flow whenever they needed, everything showed that there were a lot of people working behind the scenes.

The old lady didn't speak as she placed her hand on her ear, seemingly trying to hear something. Upon getting the signal she wished for, she looked at the three individuals before her, "We have 4000 breaths before which the water supply resumes its flow. In this duration, we have to reach the first checkpoint."

Her expression became serious, "There are four such checkpoints in total before we reach the destination house. Only then would we be in the range of the auction house. It would be morning by the time you reach there. I'll be informing you of the intervals to make a move in the respective houses in the checkpoints."

"That item in the auction, we have to obtain it without fail." Her expression became solemn as everyone nodded in all seriousness, "That's what our master desires."