Kill The Old Ones!

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Lily didn’t know how she fell asleep that night.

She just woke up in her bed, still wearing the same clothes as last night and warm under the blankets. She blearily opened her eyes and saw nobody in her room.

Her shadow elites remained idle on her shadow—a fact that she’s still getting used to.

Lily got up from her bed and felt a sobering dose of reality sinking into her. She shed parts of her youthful innocence due to the reality of the world last night.

She couldn’t call these monsters her family anymore. The only heartaches in her heart that mattered were her and her father’s.

Speaking of which...

”Shadows 1 and 2, do you know how to perform the Green Lotus Core Technique?”

Lily felt them give her an affirmative answer through their connection.

”Good. Transfer the green lotus core chakra to my father. Make sure he gets enough. Do not be seen, though. Also, maintain the sickly illusion on him. I don’t want others to see him and think he’s recovering well.”

”If you think that he’s going to wake up soon, do something harmless to keep him asleep. It’s not yet time for him to wake up.”

The elites acknowledge her order. She didn’t demand anything hard for them to fulfill, so they immediately got to work.

Lily herself started practicing the technique. The difference this time is that her shadows were also stretching with her. She noticed it, found it a bit comical, then ignored it completely.

After she was done, she got up and took a shower. The shadow elites took the initiative to jump out of her shadow in these moments, but they stayed close to guard her.

She changed into a fresh set of clothes, settled her laundry, and made her way to her father’s room. She looked at him, penetrating the veil of illusion, and saw that he looked much healthier than yesterday.

Nobody would even say that he’s ill if they saw him like this. They’d just think he’s on a deep sleep and having good dreams.

She asked the elites to diagnose him. And to her surprise, they could. Their diagnosis was even better than the doctors that were hired to look after him.

Well, considering that those doctors weren’t that impressive in the first place and were biased since they were hired and sided with her martial uncles, it wasn’t a high bar to surpass, anyway. But still, this was impressive.

Marek was spot on. Her father’s ’illness’ was, in truth, just a side effect of him regaining what he lost. His body was re-learning how to function with those again. It’s confused and needs time.

But with the steady supply of green lotus chakra and the physique seed so close to manifesting, his condition had improved greatly.

He should be waking up today according to the diagnosis, but sadly, Lily can’t have that. It’s too early. She needs more time to make her move before he needs to be in the scene. That’s why he needs to sleep some more.

With her father settled and secured, Lily returned to her room and made plans.

Marek’s instructions were clear, but they didn’t hold her hand. It told her what to do, but the execution was completely up to her.

It’s a guide and a test at the same time.

”Shadow 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are to me.”

The shadows materialized before her, kneeling and waiting for their orders.

”Each of you will receive an assignment to be done within this week,” she said. ”The plan is to silently snip at the weave that my good-for-nothing uncles left outside of this city.”

”Instead of assassinations, I want those assets under my control and supervision. I can’t undo the damage they did to those people, and I can’t undo their conditioning, but changing their loyalties shouldn’t be a problem, especially with you around.”

”Hijack the operations. Put those people under my control, but do it without alerting anybody, not even the individuals themselves, and especially not my martial uncles.”

”Give them the illusion that they’re still in control while in truth, they no longer have anything.”

”I’m giving you a week to do this, not because I think you’d experience some difficulties with it, but because I want it to be thorough.”

”You’d start from afar and slowly move towards this city. Here is where their hold is the strongest and also the most sensitive, so we’re handling this last.”

”This is the list of your targets. Give me updates every twelve hours, and I expect you to return to me after a week. Is that clear?”

Shadows 3 to 7 bowed deeper in acknowledgement of her question.

”Excellent. You may go now.”

After she sent them away, Lily geared up and made her way to the clan’s gatekey. She’s obviously going to the dungeons again to clear her dailu quota. Shadows 8 to 10 were obviously coming with her.

While she knew that she could just leave the work to her shadow guards to clear the dungeons, Lily also knew that she was wasting their skillset by making them do this.

So, instead of sending all three of her shadows to clear the dungeons, she only sent one and kept the other two.

”Shadow 10, take your time to loot and clear this dungeon. Shadow 8 and 9, you stay with me; you’re going to teach me how to be stronger.”

Yes, this was her insight.

The shadow guards were no mere puppets. They are fully intelligent and analytical beneath their silence. They know not just how to fight but also to kill.

They are far more skilled and dangerous than her. It doesn’t matter what their real age was underneath those hazy masks. Lily needs teachers of their caliber to increase her strength.

She instructed them to be critical. Point out her flaws, exploit her weaknesses, explain why she failed, etc. She didn’t want their respect as their employer; she wanted their honest insight and to genuinely be better.

And they were.

Fighting them felt like fighting Marek—victory just seemed impossible. The difference is that Marek attacks her head-on and meets her in the middle, while the shadows were more elusive and far harder to catch.

She welcomed their criticisms. She humbled herself and listened intently to their instructions. They were cold and calculating teachers. They started teaching her how to fight and kill.

They even pointed out that she’s not using her full potential at all. They told her that she had outgrown the techniques she’s still using and pointed out that it’s time for her to change and switch to something that suits her more.

The shadows listed techniques she should check out. One they knew suits her best.

Lily didn’t argue about asking too many questions. She accepted every morsel of insight she could and processed it efficiently.

All this while, Shadow 10 was busy clearing stage 44 on his own. Not that it’s difficult, of course.

So, for the remainder of the day, Lily trained under the ruthless and unbeatable shadows.

She was pleasantly sore once they were done and also feeling extremely fulfilled. It was an enlightening training session, that much she could tell.

Lily actually saw a direction that suited her, one that she didn’t need to blindly grasp for on her own. She saw actual progress in just a single day of training with the shadows.

This made her satisfied, putting her in a better mood.

However, her mood instantly dropped to a freezing point once she returned to the family compound. Not that it faded, but because she was concealing it under a cold and unapproachable facade.

As she walked back to her room, the eyes that followed her were still there and are still disgusting.

This chilled her heart but also reinforced her current agenda. This also told her that they still have no idea that she’s pulling the rug under them.

’Go on, you disgusting pigs. Keep your eyes on me. I’ll give you a visual feast while I slowly skewer all of you at once and roast you with hellfire once I’m done with you.’

’Your screams of mercy will be my lullaby once this is all over,’ Lily sneered inwardly.

She was completely out of mercy at this point. So much so that she didn’t even realize that she hadn’t thought of Sieg this entire day.

Once she returned to her room, though, she froze.

Usually, the leering gazes would be cut off once she’s past her doors, but for some reason, they remained.

This was confirmed by her shadows. Somebody left spy cams in her room. They’re in places that would give the spies a good look at her without her knowing.

Lily wanted to burn the entire compound once she discovered this, but she calmed down. Instead, she ordered the shadows to take action immediately.

Shadows 1 and 2, who stayed in the compound and saw all of this happened, already had something prepared.

They already hacked the cameras and informed Lily, who placed them. When they told her that what they’re seeing is false feedback, Lily breathes a sigh of relief.

Thank god for these silent shadows, really. And thank god for Marek telling her about them.