In the front was a man with a black horned mask. Everything other than his eyes which were shining emerald green was covered in the dark night.

With just 4 steps the party of six covered the distance of 50 meters and arrived at the houses' entrance within a couple of seconds.

All the guards, the neighbors that were watching in secret, even the Khan family was looking at the new arrivals.

Silence. It was dead silent.

Yangdi was the first one to speak up. He made a slight bow from the waist towards the masked figure and spoke in a low voice.

"It's my fault. He hasn't been trained properly, I'll punish him myse-

"

Before he could finish the masked figure raised his hand, stopping him mid-sentence.

He looked at the guard,

"Kneel. Your life is in their hands.

"

The guard looked incredulous. He looked at Yangdi for support but he didn't even meet his eyes.

Since the guard seemed to be spacing out, the five men behind the masked figure released a bit of their Qi.

Each and every single one of them was in the Spirit realm and for most of them, the spectators couldn't even tell their realms. They seemed to be shrouded in a strange energy.

The only one they could feel was already at the top of the Spirit realm.

"Kneel!

" the masked man repeated and the guard's knees buckled.

He didn't want to but his body wouldn't listen to him anymore. For some reason, he felt such shame that he couldn't even look the masked man in the eyes.

Finally understanding that he had pissed off someone he couldn't afford to, the guard quickly kowtowed in front of the Khan family.

"Please forgive me. I...I didn't know. It was my mistake and will never happen again. Please...forgive me.

"

The entire Khan family looked on in disbelief. They knew how important a figure Yangdi was, which was the reason Mr. Khan held him in the same regard as someone of equal standing to himself.

And now another person had appeared who could make Yangdi shut up with a single gesture and be bold enough to say that one of Yangdi's men's life was in the hands of some earthlings.

"I-It's fine. It was my mistake as well. I should not have pushed Mr. Yangdi like that,

" Mr. Khan quickly spoke.

But the guard didn't get up and instead turned around to look at Hao Xuan.

Hao Xuan stepped forward, grasped the guard's shoulder, and picked him up like a weightless rag doll. He raised the guard until they were on the same eye level.

"Kid, too much ambition can lead to an early grave. You feel me?

"

"Y-Yes.

"

"Good. Now piss off for a while.

"

Those words weren't just for the guard but for everyone else as well. Even all his severs that were standing right behind him backed off and stood outside on the street, along with Yangdi and his men, of course, leaving only Hao Xuan and the Khan family there.

"Um, c-can we talk alone somewhere?

"

Hao Xuan who was so authoritative a second ago stuttered when looking at Mr. Khan.

Mr. Khan nodded absentmindedly and walked back into the house with him. The rest of the family stayed outside and only peeked in through the window.

Hao Xuan sat with his back towards the window so only Mr. Khan could see his front. He waved his hand a bubble of Qi surrounded them both.

"Do I...know you?

" Mr. Khan asked when Hao Xuan seemed lost.

Hao Xuan took in a deep breath and removed his mask.

Everyone that was looking in from the outside could only see Mr. Khan's face. So when he shot up from his seat and a look of complete and utter astonishment was plastered all over his face, they, of course, were very curious.

The masked man and Mr. Khan stayed in there for a good half hour before they were done.

Hao Xuan didn't linger around and made his way out with extremely large steps. Everyone was looking at him with curious gazes but none more so than little Emi.

As soon as he stepped out she walked forward trying to talk to him but before she could even open her mouth he was already out of the outer gate and onto the street.

He glanced back at the family, at the little face that was staring straight at him before quickly disappearing from the spot. And it wasn't just him, Yangdi and all his guards included, all of them were gone in the blink of an eye.

The rest of the family ran up to Mr. Khan and asked what they talked about and who that man was, but he wouldn't say anything other than that they could trust him, that he was a friend.

***

A few streets away Yangdi stood in front of Hao Xuan with a grave expression.

"Are you sure? Shapeshifters?

"

"Or clones. Or something else entirely. I don't know yet. What's going on with you?

"

"Same old. It's all progressing according to plan. I've already started expanding the business and by working together with others, we essentially don't have any competitors or enemies at this point.

"

"Still, keep your guard up. You never know with these things,

" Hao Xuan mumbled.

"There's a guy named Rade. He's in the royal guard, try to get in contact with him. He seems like a trustworthy guy, and he's strong to boot. It would be good to have him on our side.

"

Yangdi raised an eyebrow and nodded,

"Alright, I'll see what I can do.

"

"Good. Send me the list of things you needed. I'll see what I can pick up.

"

Hao Xuan was talking about a few resources Yangdi had asked Baracus to find for conducting research for some new things. The things he needed were either hard to find, expensive, tightly regulated, or all of the above.

"Sure.

"