Chapter 366 - Familiar Faces and an Unasked Question

Chapter 366: Chapter 366 - Familiar Faces and an Unasked Question

Su Bai glanced at Ning Shuang.

She had already gathered the few things she left on the table. The change was quiet enough that the attendant outside could have mistaken the silence for hesitation about receiving visitors.

"It seems we part here, Brother Su," she said.

There was disappointment beneath her smile.

Su Bai stored the map before answering.

"We will meet again. Perhaps you will accept my invitation then."

Ning Shuang looked at him for a moment.

"Then I look forward to hearing it again."

She turned toward the window and opened it. Before Su Bai could suggest that there was a perfectly usable door, she slipped through the opening and descended lightly out of sight.

He stared after her, then he understood.

She had no reason to assume that everyone who called him sworn kin would welcome a demonic disciple beside him.

Remaining might force him to explain her presence or place the others in an uncomfortable position. She had chosen to leave before any of those questions arose.

Su Bai sighed and checked the street below with spiritual sense. Ning Shuang had already moved away from the window without disturbing the people passing nearby.

He could only hope she would exercise the same care when returning to her companions.

"Please let them in," he called.

The attendant answered and withdrew. Su Bai remained seated for a moment, wondering which of the people from Fallen-Star Sanctuary had found him here.

When the door opened again, he stood immediately.

Qiao Wen entered first. Mu Qing followed him, and Zhao Heng appeared behind her.

The three stopped just inside the room as their eyes settled on the familiar bone mask.

"Brother Su!"

Qiao Wen’s face brightened.

"It really is you."

Su Bai removed the mask and smiled.

"I could say the same. Come in and sit down."

The three paused at the sound of his voice. It seemed more pleasant than they remembered, though perhaps they were simply glad to hear him again.

Mu Qing greeted him with a warmth that made her cheeks redden. Her gaze briefly dropped before she caught herself and returned her attention to his face.

Zhao Heng stepped forward with an expression of such open relief that Su Bai found himself smiling more broadly.

"It is good to see you outside that place," Zhao Heng said.

"And all three of you together."

Su Bai indicated the seats around the table. Once they settled, he asked the question that had been waiting since the attendant knocked.

"How did you find me?"

The three exchanged a look.

Qiao Wen laughed first.

"We were not certain at the beginning. Someone mentioned a masked cultivator buying tea in quantities the merchants were struggling to prepare."

Su Bai’s smile became slightly strained.

Mu Qing drew a small sheet from her sleeve and placed it on the table. A rough likeness had been sketched on it, with far more attention given to the mask than the robes.

"One of the merchants showed us this."

Su Bai looked down at the drawing.

The artist had apparently decided that the most useful thing about him was the object covering half his face.

"The mask looked familiar," Mu Qing continued. "We asked which shops you visited afterward."

"And eventually someone directed us here," Zhao Heng said.

Su Bai looked toward his newly purchased tea supplies.

Changing robes would accomplish very little if he continued leaving merchants with stories worth passing along. He had spent the journey trying to make casual descriptions less useful, only to develop a reputation through shopping.

At least the people following it had turned out to be friends.

He called for additional cups and waited while the attendant arranged fresh water. Once they were alone again, he returned to the part of their arrival he understood less well.

"Why are you three in Jadeleaf City together?"

"Our factions have opened a market here," Qiao Wen explained. "We were helping with its affairs."

"A shared undertaking," Mu Qing added. "Our three factions were already on good terms. After the Sanctuary, it became easier to agree on doing things together."

Su Bai listened while they explained.

The people who had traveled and fought beside one another had continued visiting after returning home.

Those visits had brought their elders into more frequent contact.

Agreements that might once have required lengthy introductions now began with disciples who already trusted one another.

The same thing had happened among other sworn kin.

Their shared experiences had survived the return to ordinary life, and several factions had begun strengthening their ties through trade and cooperation.

Blue River Pavilion, Verdant Rain Hall, and Iron Cliff Gate had taken advantage of their existing closeness to establish a presence in Jadeleaf City together.

"We were fortunate to be here when the merchants started talking about you," Qiao Wen said.

Su Bai nodded.

He had known that surviving Fallen-Star Sanctuary would change the people who entered it. Hearing that some of those changes had continued into their factions pleased him more than he expected.

They were using what they had gained to build something.

Zhao Heng shifted slightly in his seat.

"We should have come to Radiant Sky Sect after you returned."

"Our elders told us to wait," Mu Qing said. "You had only just come back, and there were already enough people trying to meet you."

Qiao Wen gave an apologetic smile.

"We thought it would be better to let you rest first."

Su Bai finally understood why he had heard so little from the others directly.

He had assumed they were occupied with their own affairs, which was undoubtedly true as well.

Their elders had apparently reached the same conclusion about allowing him some peace.

"You can visit," he said. "I will be glad to see you."

"Then we will," Qiao Wen replied.

His expression brightened again.

"We may be visiting soon anyway, once the arrangements between the factions are put into practice."

Su Bai understood the reference.

The comprehension walls had already drawn considerable interest.

If the agreed access brought people he knew back to Radiant Sky Sect, the coming rotations would be more pleasant than he had imagined.

"The walls?" he asked.

Qiao Wen nodded.

"Our elders have been discussing them."

Su Bai smiled and poured water into his own cup.

The conversation soon moved away from sect arrangements.

He asked about their journeys after leaving the Sanctuary, and the three began filling in the months that had passed since they last traveled together.

Qiao Wen spoke of returning to Blue River Pavilion with knowledge he could not have imagined possessing before the expedition.

Mu Qing described the work of sorting through what her faction could use immediately and what required more careful study.

Zhao Heng had spent much of his time cultivating, although the newly established market had drawn him away from training more often than he liked.

Su Bai listened with interest.

He remembered their abilities from the dangers they had faced together. Hearing how they were developing those foundations now made the changes easier to appreciate.

They asked about him in return, and he shared enough of his life at the sect to keep the conversation moving without approaching the matters he intended to investigate privately.

The room gradually filled with the comfortable familiarity of people who no longer needed to account for every silence.

An attendant brought more hot water.

Qiao Wen shifted his chair to make space for a tray, and Zhao Heng complained that he had nearly forgotten what it was like to drink tea without keeping track of the time. Mu Qing smiled into her cup.

Su Bai found himself relaxing.

There had been too many recent conversations in which the most important answers remained hidden behind fear, missing memories, or instructions nobody understood.

Here, he could ask how someone had been and receive an answer that concerned cultivation, work, and the ordinary frustrations of returning home.

By the time the light beyond the window had shifted, he had stopped noticing how long they had been speaking.

Then the mention of another familiar faction brought someone else to mind.

Su Bai set his cup down.

"Have you heard how the Tang Clan is doing?"

The conversation faltered.

His gaze moved between the three.

"Especially Tang Ziyan."

Mu Qing’s smile faded. Qiao Wen looked toward Zhao Heng, and the brief exchange between them was enough to make Su Bai straighten.

He waited.

None of them answered immediately.