Capítulo 1378: The Silver yellow sand (1)
Yang Qing slowed his speed as he reached the compound grounds of the Black dallion Tower.
Even though it was the dead of night, the area was a swarm of activity. Cultivators ca and went, while the overworked staff of the Order shuffled about—so ending their shifts, others just starting, and so taking a brief break or returning from one.
The surrounding businesses were just as vibrant. Yang Qing’s eyes inadvertently drifted toward the Thousand Flavors Restaurant as he realized it had been quite a while since his last visit.
He couldn’t help but sigh. It couldn’t be helped; he had been swamped over the past few months, leaving him barely enough ti to walk freely.
He smiled bitterly at the irony of the situation. He had thought becoming a Palace Court judge would reduce his caseload and work hours, yet it seed he had even more to do than he did in the core courts. And the biggest irony of all was that he hadn’t even been forced into it.
So of the things he got dragged into were situations he had jumped into willingly—whether it was the temporary branch chief post, his current case, or the matter with Ma Yuan and the Ice Erald Sect. All of them, maybe except the first one, were cases the Order hadn’t foisted upon him, but rather things he had brought upon himself by nosing in.
“Here I thought walk-ins would allow to laze about,” he added wryly, shaking his head as he threw a parting, longing glance at the brown three-story building of the Thousand Flavors Restaurant.
Yi Jie and the others not being around had also disrupted his routine. While he could eat anywhere and hated sharing food, especially the good kind, Yang Qing didn’t like eating alone much. Having company to laugh and talk with while dining always made the al better and even improved his appetite.
“Hopefully it won’t be long now before they co out,” he thought, looking up at the sky.
….
Even with his reduced flying speed, it didn’t take him long to reach Gold Eagle Town, which was just as bustling as the main grounds of the Order’s headquarters.
Yang Qing imdiately made his way to the town’s Administrative Building.
“Yang Qing?”
A familiar figure called out to him just as he was about to pass through the gates.
Recognizing the voice, Yang Qing broke into a wide smile. “Fei Chen. You broke through?” he said in pleasant surprise, addressing the young man descending the courtyard steps.
He looked to be in his mid-twenties, with short brown hair, matching eyes, and a short stubble along his cheeks and chin. His appearance was simple, and he was garbed in silver robes with an eagle motif on the breast of the outer coat.
“Seems like you did too, and by the looks of it, you’ve already left the rest of us in the dust,” Fei Chen said, smiling as he moved to clasp hands with Yang Qing. They laughed, patted each other on the back, and sized each other up.
“How long has it been?” said Yang Qing, looking Fei Chen over.
“Since we graduated,” Fei Chen said. “That would be almost seven years now,” he added.
“That long?!” said Yang Qing in mock surprise before letting out a nostalgic sigh. “Feels like a lifeti ago,” he said wistfully.
“Other tis it feels like it was only yesterday,” Fei Chen added, his eyes grimacing slightly as if recalling sothing unpleasant.
Yang Qing subconsciously looked behind him, scanning left and right for a would-be attacker.
“I was there today, you know,” he slowly and fearfully muttered, giving his surroundings another quick scan before turning back to Fei Chen. “And I had the misfortune of stumbling across Instructor Lu Yuan.” Yang Qing’s expression turned pitiful.
“Him?” said Fei Chen in surprise before softly patting Yang Qing’s shoulder in consolation. “At least you didn’t have a class with him,” he added, trying to reinforce his efforts.
On any other day, before Yang Qing knew what he now knew, Fei Chen’s words might have worked. But with the revelation Lu Yuan had left him with, Yang Qing could hardly feel consoled—a fact his friend quickly picked up on.
“What?” Fei Chen asked curiously.
Smiling weakly, Yang Qing looked up and said, “He told he’s been sneaking around my abode. He said it started fifteen months ago. I’m not sure if it was a one-ti thing, but knowing him, it could have been every day since.”
Fei Chen’s eyes widened, his skin turning pale. Now it was Yang Qing’s turn to offer consolation as he patted his friend’s shoulder.
“You have nothing to worry about. You haven’t been around for the past seven years, so he likely hasn’t gone to your abode,” Yang Qing softly said, carefully leaving out the last word hanging in his throat: Yet.
“If he knows I’m back, it’s only a matter of ti before he pays a visit. He’s always enjoyed tornting the most,” Fei Chen said with a weak smile.
“He enjoyed tornting everyone,” Yang Qing softly quipped, though inwardly he agreed with Fei Chen’s statent. His gaze turned sympathetic as it fell on his old friend.
He and Fei Chen had been in the sa class during their Institute days. One could say they were close friends, though that sa sentint was shared across the entire class. After enduring daily life-risking training and prolonged periods of insanity because of it, you tended to form a deep bond through shared tornt.
They may not have kept in touch as much after graduating, what with different postings and back-breaking work hours, still, every student who survived the sa four grueling years at the Institute usually ford an unshakable bond by the end of it.
They were no different from kin, forged through blood, sweat, tears, and their fear of the Instructors.
It was why, despite their many argunts and pokes at each other’s expense, Yang Qing kept company with Kang Huilang. Or why he was always around Yi Jie, Feng Xin, Xia Boqin, and Yu Huifeng.
Sighing sympathetically, Yang Qing softly patted Fei Chen once more, who looked increasingly deflated and worried by the second.
Yang Qing couldn’t bla him. Lu Yuan was a fiend among fiends, and Fei Chen wasn’t exaggerating when he said he was the most targeted in their class. The reason for that was his unique physique.
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