"I'm Sorry"
Li Ming took Old Mo to one of the vacant room on the second floor.
"You have traveled a long journey. Rest here and don't worry, we'll return to the orphanage in the morning and I'll take care of this matter." Li Ming told the old man.
When Old Mo heard Li Ming's words, he finally relaxed. He knew that as long as his Master said that she would take care of the situation, he didn't need to worry.
After Li Ming left Old Mo in his room, she returned back to the main room.
"Did they left?" Li Ming asked Elder Fu.
"Yes, Miss Li. Master Rong told me to let you know that he will come back in a few days with all the Young Masters to torture you."
There was a small smile on his face. In these past months, he had seen the friendship between these youngsters grow.
Something that started for the purpose of their business, ended up becoming a beautiful friendship between them.
After talking with Elder Fu a while, Li Ming decided to pay a visit to the Herb Hall.
She had collected a lot of data and research on the spiritual herbs from the Herb Hall and its Manager by now.
For next few hours, Li Ming spent her time in learning about the spiritual herbs and making notes.
She returned back to the inn before evening and retired to her room.
When she entered the room, she found Ruoshan lying on the bed and lazing around.
"You are supposed to be cultivating!" Li Ming said coldly as she glared at him.
Ruoshan opened his eyes and moved to a sit in lotus position on the bed. Then he patted the space in front of him as he said, "Come and sit here. Lets cultivate together."
Li Ming stared at him for a few seconds more but then sighed and moved to sit on the bed in the lotus position, facing him.
Ruoshan took her hands in his own and closed his eyes.
"What are you doing?" Li Ming asked coldly as she tried to free her hands from his hold. But he gripped her small hands more tightly.
"Just relax and stop fighting. I'm going to use a new technique of cultivation. So, close your eyes and focus." Ruoshan said as he picked one of her palm and drew a symbol on it with his powers.
He did the same thing to her second hand. After that he drew a different symbol on his own palms.
After looking at the two symbols closely, Li Ming realized that the symbol on his palm was a replica of the one on her own with just a few changes.
"What kind of dark sorcery are you doing?" She asked him with suspicion.
Ruoshan didn't answer her and closed his eyes as he held her small hands at a small distance above his own. Their palms were facing each other.
Li Ming took a long breath and finally closed her eyes. But just after a few seconds she opened one of her eye to look at him.
"Close both eyes!" Ruoshan said while shaking his head slightly but didn't open his eyes.
Li Ming made a face at him, mimicking his words but then closed both of her eyes.
Both of them concentrated on the spiritual energy in the air. After a moment, the symbols on their palms started glowing.
The symbol on Ruoshan's palm was glowing in dark black color with a purple touch while the symbol on Li Ming's palm started glowing in blue color.
As both of them started to cultivate, the two lights of the two symbols started glowing more brightly and reached towards each other.
The two lights joined each other in the middle of the distance between their palms and combined to form a new dark blue colored light.
Li Ming felt the difference the moment her spiritual energy combined with his black one but rather than retracting her spiritual powers she started to cultivate.
Both of them kept cultivating for next five hours. It was two hours past midnight when the room suddenly shone with bright blue light as Li Ming broke through not only one, two or three but continuously four levels within merely 10 seconds and finally stopped on sixth level of middle cultivator.
Li Ming opened her eyes after a minute had passed and looked at the smirking Ruoshan.
She could feel the spiritual energy flowing inside her body.
"We'll cultivate together from now onwards!" She said without giving away any of her emotions.
Ruoshan looked at her. A small twitch appeared on his lips as he nodded his head lightly, "Whatever you want!"
"I want to cultivate some more. You can sleep in here and I promise I will not take advantage of you." Ruoshan said as he moved to the side of the bed leaving enough portion for her to sleep comfortably.
Although Li Ming didn't trust him completely but if she refused to comply with him then she would appear selfish.
Moreover, the earlier he got his powers back, the sooner she will get rid of him.
So, she called Snowy out of the mansion and told him to keep a watch on Ruoshan while she took her beauty sleep.
"And if you fail in your duty, I'll make sure to chop you into hundred pieces and distribute them to a cat family as souvenir." Li Ming said with an evil smile as she lightly patted his head.
Snowy looked at the scary monster who was his master as he promised to not be careless in his mission.
He wanted to cry out loud but he had no wish to end up as a souvenir for the cats!
Li Ming gave a last look to both Ruoshan and Snowy and finally moved towards the bed and lied on the other side.
She closed her eyes and tried to finally sleep.
Snowy kept his stare on Ruoshan who gave him a small smirk and then closed his eyes and started cultivating.
Snowy had a bad feeling in his guts. He didn't like the way Ruoshan smirked at him.
The room was completely silent and a light breeze flew into the room through the open window.
Just within half an hour both Li Ming and Snowy fell in a deep sleep.
Ruoshan slowly opened his eyes and looked at the sleeping beauty beside him.
He moved a little closer to her as he lightly kissed on her forehead and said in a very low voice.
"I'm sorry."