1090: So things are better left unearthed 1090: So things are better left unearthed As much as she tried, Ming Wa couldn’t hide the effect Yang Qing’s words had on her.
Her hands trembled, and her pupils quivered visibly.
Summoning every ounce of willpower she had left—fueled by fear and desperation, but mostly fear—Ming Wa tightly clenched her fists in a futile bid to calm herself.
Even then, her hands continued to shake.
The only saving grace was that the part of her that trembled the most—her heart—remained hidden from view.
“I… I’m not hiding anything,” Ming Wa finally said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Her head remained bowed, and her words carried the hollow tone of soone who didn’t believe their own claims—an act born out of sheer desperation.
“Okay,” Yang Qing replied casually.
“If your story changes, you know where to find .” He motioned to a Silver Cloud Pavilion attendant who had been waiting a few ters away to step forward.
Ming Wa, with a spark of defiance still flickering in her blood, lifted her head and stared directly at Yang Qing.
“You’re really not going to let leave?
Is the Order truly this tyrannical?” she asked.
Her heart raced wildly, the effort of maintaining her composure leaving her slightly light-headed, but she forced herself to see the act through.
Yang Qing paused and gestured for the attendant to hold off before turning his gaze back to Ming Wa.
Despite the casual and carefree look in his eyes, Ming Wa felt an overwhelming pressure, as though the entire sky were housed within them.
When those eyes settled on her, it was as if the weight of that vast sky had co crashing down, pinning her in place.
Everything within her scread to avert her eyes and run into the pavilion, but whether out of sheer stubbornness, desperation, or a temporary loss of control over her body, Ming Wa found herself unable to look away.
“The underlying reasons aside, you caused a commotion in our territory,” Yang Qing softly said.
“You say we are tyrannical, but let ask you this: if you had done the sa thing in the territory of another power, would the consequences of such an action be you being housed in a pavilion—a nice one at that?” “Or would things play out very differently?” he added, his voice lowering, each word carrying a subtle weight that lingered in the air.
Ming Wa’s heart leapt into her throat as Yang Qing’s words sank in.
They were a jarring reminder of sothing she knew intimately but had montarily ignored, lulled by his tolerance of her actions.
Strength trumped all.
It was a truth she understood all too well, its cruelty etched into the path that had brought her to this point.
She was a person with a ho but living as though holess because that ho no longer belonged to her.
Her life, and the lives of those she cherished, had been ruthlessly upended—all because they were weak.
Yang Qing didn’t need to explain what would have happened had she caused such a commotion in another power’s territory.
She had lived that reality many tis over, and worse, it had unfolded in her own backyard rather than soone else’s domain.
As her actions replayed in her mind, fear coursed through her—not for herself, but for those she could have implicated.
The Order might have a reputation as a beacon of fairness and justice, known for conducting itself differently from other cultivation organizations.
But regardless of their mission or conduct, they were still an organization built and run by cultivators.
This was a group whose slightest movents could shake the entire continent.
If the Order so much as sneezed, the whole continent would feel it, with most scrambling to wipe their noses in deference.
There was only one way for an organization like the Order to establish such an unshakable reputation, and it wasn’t by being beacons of justice.
Little children, blissfully unaware of the world’s harsh realities, might naively believe that.
But those who had been baptized by the unrelenting fires of the cultivation world knew better.
They knew the truth of how the Order had built its legacy.
Cultivators were proud and belligerent creatures.
The only way to make them listen or command their respect was by having the bigger fist.
The Order might appear affable and tolerant, but to the astute, it was no different than a terrifying, slumbering bloodthirsty dragon.
Beneath its benevolent surface lay the undeniable truth: its foundation was built atop the bodies of countless cultivators.
Yang Qing’s words had only served to hamr that fact back into Ming Wa’s mind.
Her composure crumbled, her defiance extinguished like a feeble campfire buried beneath an ice avalanche.
Her shoulders sagged, her entire deanor shrinking under the weight of the conversation.
“Will I stay here indefinitely?” she finally asked, her gaze fixed on the pavilion before her, her voice subdued and resigned.
“Not indefinitely, just until you share what you’re keeping to yourself,” Yang Qing replied.
“Or until I unravel it myself.
Because, eventually, I will dig up your entire story, Miss Ming Wa.
It’s only a matter of ti.” His tone remained soft, yet it carried an unmistakable certainty.
“But I’d much rather you offer up the information voluntarily.
I can tell you’ve been wanting to speak up for a while now.
Why not just go through with it?
What’s the worst that could happen?” Yang Qing asked, his voice gentler, attempting to ease her nerves.
With her back turned to him, Ming Wa’s shoulders tensed suddenly before slumping once more.
Her head lowered slightly.
“That’s easy for you to say,” she murmured, her voice a faint whisper.
“You’ve never had to live in a constant nightmare from the mont you were born, where a single misstep could spell not only your doom but that of those you care about.” Yang Qing smiled softly at her remark.
“That might be true…
maybe I don’t know what it’s like to live under a constant nightmare like that,” he said slowly.
“But I do know what it feels like to live under the tornt of doubt.” “Don’t you want to find out what happened to Zhu Fa?
To know for sure his fate and whether his disappearance—and the others—are tied to whatever you’re so afraid to reveal?
Or does your bravery only extend to bullying those weaker than you?” Yang Qing asked gently, his tone carrying an edge of challenge.
“The fact that you ca all the way here, to the doors of the Bluefin Spine-tailed Swift Escort Agency, shows that you do want answers.
Now, are you brave enough to follow through and seek them?” “I’m not promising I’ll find all the answers you need, even if you cooperate.
But I am one of your best chances if answers are truly what you’re looking for.
Think on it,” Yang Qing said as he nodded toward the Silver Cloud Pavilion’s attendant, signaling them to assist Ming Wa.
“Be well, Ming Wa,” he said, turning to leave.
Just as he began walking away, Yang Qing paused mid-step.
Without turning back, he added, “You’re free to walk around anywhere, so long as it’s within the Order’s grounds.
But if you try to leave, you’ll be prosecuted for the disturbance you caused in Gold Eagle Town.
And the accommodations you’ll end up in won’t be as nice as this one.” Though his back was still to her, Yang Qing’s spiritual sense easily picked up her flustered reaction.
It was an underhanded move, he admitted, but he felt no guilt or regret for using it.
Ti was of the essence, and if such tactics shortened the ti needed to find answers, he would use them without hesitation—so long as it was sothing that he could live with.
With Ming Wa’s situation settled, Yang Qing debated whether to return to his abode or head to his office to continue his research.
After so thought, he chose the latter.
As much as he preferred the comfort of ho, his office offered conveniences he couldn’t overlook.
From ti to ti, over the course of his research, he may need access to the Order’s vast resources, particularly the Flying Shadow Hawks’ archives, which could prove essential for his investigation.
Moreover, there was Fan i’s call to wait for.
She had estimated her two contacts would arrive in 12 hours, but there was always a chance they might show up sooner.
Staying near his office ensured he’d be within earshot if they arrived early.
Once in his office, Yang Qing imdiately began reviewing the information related to the Bluefin Spine-tailed Swift Escort Agency personnel.
He started with Liu Ying’s file.
“So her real na is Shi An…” Yang Qing murmured, intrigued as he delved into the details.
In one hand, he held a jade slip containing Liu Ying’s information, and in the other, a jar of Mountain Leaf Spirit Dew, which he sipped occasionally.
The jade slip had co from the Administrative Office overseeing Gold Eagle Town.
The information it contained was extensive.
Within minutes, Yang Qing had a solid understanding of Liu Ying’s life: her origins as a mber of the Shi Clan, the eccentric father who had put her and her siblings through nurous ordeals, her journey as a rogue cultivator after leaving the clan, and how she eventually joined the escort agency.
The slip even detailed her activities within the agency, painting a comprehensive picture of the woman now caught up in his investigation.
The report was so detailed it even included a few notes about Liu Ying’s personal life, such as her love interest.
It turned out she had a one-sided crush on Jiang Hao.
Yang Qing recalled how emotional she’d been when she spoke about him earlier—the way her eyes softened and her voice wavered hinted at feelings deeper than friendship.
What he hadn’t known was that her affection was unrequited.
The report also covered her estranged family, the Shi Clan, including supplentary details about its current state despite Liu Ying no longer being part of it.
Apparently, her father’s extre and unorthodox thods to produce a palace-realm expert among his children had eventually borne fruit—albeit too late for him to see the results.
One of his sons, a so-called “failure” who had been banished, had a fortuitous encounter after leaving the clan and managed to break through to the palace realm.
This happened nearly a century after Liu Ying had left.
Fueled by resentnt, he returned to the clan seeking vengeance against their father, only to discover the man had already died.
With no outlet for his frustration, he turned his fury on the clan elders who had stood by and allowed their father’s abuse, ignoring his cruelty simply because he was a top-tier orange-grade alchemist.
Liu Ying’s brother deposed the clan head and expelled the elders complicit in their father’s tyranny.
After taking over as clan head, he implented reforms to ensure no one like their father could ever rise again.
He also began using the clan’s resources to track down his banished siblings and bring them ho.
So far, the report noted, he had managed to locate and bring back two of them, treating them like royalty upon their return.
But Liu Ying was not among them.
Yang Qing wondered if she even knew.
Did she know her brother was now the clan head?
Did she know her father was dead—or that he had killed her mother barely a year after she left?
“So things are better left unearthed…” Yang Qing murmured, setting the jade slip aside.
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