"Well..." Yang Qing said solemnly as he leaned forward slightly and clasped his fingers together, lending the atmosphere further heaviness. "We are all fools," he added with a leisurely smile, his expression and words instantly lting away the solemnity he had just created.
"Living foolishly makes life interesting. If we lived it perfectly, can you imagine how stiff the world would be?" He gave a mock shudder of fear, which drew a weak chuckle from Xia Fang.
"That it would," she said.
"So... when do you plan on leaving?" Yang Qing asked.
"Today... if possible," she said hesitantly, her gaze suggesting there was sothing weighing on her.
Seemingly reading her thoughts, Yang Qing said, "They won’t co after you." The you here obviously referred to the Violet Feather Sword Sect.
Before Xia Fang could voice her doubt, Yang Qing continued, "Your ancestor, Xia Huang, left three ssages for you."
"One," he said as he raised his index finger, "You don’t have to fear your clan’s forr enemies coming after you. No one from the four clans, the Cyan Crescent Kingdom, or any other enemy your family has made over the years will co after you or any of the Xia clan mbers who made it out.
The enmities of the past remain buried in your grounds, and all who have left are not to be pursued. That is a guarantee from him and the Silver Crane Sect."
"Secondly," he said as he raised the second finger. "If you wish to seek vengeance against the Violet Feather Sect, while he and the others won’t offer any assistance, they won’t stop you either. He only asks that you go see him before you make that choice."
He paused briefly to study Xia Fang’s expression, who, upon sensing the intent behind his gaze, smiled bitterly as she said, "I am still sensible enough to know my limitations, and besides, I don’t have the strength or the determination for it. I think I have had my fill of war and the weight of it to last several lifetis."
"I won’t go after them, not that I even could if I wanted to," she wryly said in a low voice. Inwardly, she added, "I won’t give them the satisfaction of taking my life. Let them live with the discomfort of knowing we are out there."
Her thoughts were imdiately pulled back by Yang Qing’s voice.
"And thirdly," said Yang Qing as he raised his third finger, "if you reach the blooming phase of your cultivation art, reach out to him and he will give you the complete evolved copy of the main cultivation art along with a few pointers while he’s at it.
You have a communication talisman?" Yang Qing asked.
Xia Fang nodded and took it out, and Yang Qing fed the array sequence for reaching Xia Huang into it.
"Thanks," whispered Xia Fang as she cast a complicated gaze on the sequence before putting the communication talisman away.
"Thank you for all your help," she continued as she rose, cupped her fists at Yang Qing, and smiled with gratitude.
"No problem," Yang Qing softly said, reciprocating the gesture and the smile, and then both sat back down.
"By the way," Xia Fang began, her voice carrying a slight strain that was accompanied by a guilty smile, "have the missing mbers of the Bluefin been found?" she awkwardly asked.
"Not yet," Yang Qing sighed as he shook his head.
"Is that so?" Xia Fang whispered somberly. "I should apologize to them," she softly added as the mory of the altercation with the two escort supervisors flashed in her mind. It had only been a few days since the incident, but given how intense the past few days had been and the toll they had taken on her, everything that had happened before felt like a lifeti ago—so much so that the Xia Fang of then felt a bit foreign to her current self, though they still likely shared certain core similarities, like the exhaustion that had seeped deep into their soul and marrow.
"I’ll take you there if you want," Yang Qing offered.
"Thanks," said Xia Fang with an appreciative nod.
"Before you leave," Yang Qing began as he stood up, "give a few seconds to make so arrangents." He activated the teleportation rune in his office, its destination none other than the Courtyard of Beginnings and Endings, where the cultivators assigned to him for rehabilitation were held.
....
Courtyard of beginnings and endings
Luo Suyun, the saber artifact, was seated beneath the spirit magnolia tree, admiring its flowers. She was garbed in her trademark red dress, her silky, deep red hair that gave the illusion of dried blood, cascading down her back.
Her serene attention on the tree’s flowers shifted as her gaze rippled slightly due to the familiar presence she sensed appearing behind her, prompting her to slowly turn and look behind her.
No sooner had Yang Qing’s figure appeared than her own flashed away from where she had been sitting and reappeared before him. She stood before him with a taciturn expression, though her eyes faintly glimred with curiosity and happiness.
She leaned forward and began taking whiffs of Yang Qing. "You sll even better," she comnted serenely as she continued to greet him, like how canines do, by giving him a thorough sniff all over. It left Yang Qing feeling a little uncomfortable and surprised by it as he gently pushed her back and took a few steps away himself.
"How are you adjusting?" he asked once she stopped sniffing, though she still seed to take silent, deeper breaths in place of it.
"You said you’d take to see more trees," she comnted.
"I will," said Yang Qing with an uncomfortable smile.
"When?" Luo Suyun pressed.
"Today, once I’m done with certain matters," Yang Qing replied, his words triggering a glimr of excitent in the saber spirit.
"Good," Luo Suyun softly whispered as she smiled brightly for a second before quickly returning to her placid expression.
"Is Han Lei around?" Yang Qing asked as he looked around, only spotting Zhu Qing, the disgraced blue-grade formation master, staring at a colony of ants with a vacant look in his eyes.
"I don’t know who that is," Luo Suyun admitted with a shrug as she sneakily took a half step toward Yang Qing, giving him a look that seed to say, I haven’t done anything.
Smiling wryly at her antics, Yang Qing shook his head as he pulled out a token made of vermilion wood and used it to contact Han Lei, who appeared a second after being called.
"Judge Yang Qing," Han Lei imdiately said as he cupped his fists in greeting. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" the forr ghost viper assassin asked.
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