Daily life of a cultivation judge Chapter 1520: The ’her’ and ’him’ (1)

Whatever easiness had been there when greetings were exchanged instantly disappeared, giving way to the tense heaviness that had pervaded the entrance hall behind them. Duan Ting’s gaze felt heavy, Liu Jing clenched her fists in frustration while looking concernedly at Jiang Hao, and Jiang Hao stared at his own hands, his gaze colored by confusion, frustration, and a touch of fear.

His gaze still on his hands, he said, "I didn’t see them." Sighing, he looked up to face Yang Qing and Fei Chen.

"I didn’t see them. All I remember is a fog appearing out of nowhere as we were flying through the Gorge at the border of the Wang Clan’s and Huang Clan’s territory in Azure Sapphire Kingdom."

Jiang Hao paused as his gaze turned distant, reliving the memory. The fear he had done a good job of hiding from his expression began to show openly.

"The sensory wards didn’t even react," he added, almost a murmur to himself.

"I didn’t see them," he finally said, a bit of unwillingness and bitterness bleeding through his tone. "But I did hear them," he added, sighing.

"What did they say?" Yang Qing gently asked.

The fear that colored Jiang Hao’s expression gave way to confusion as he bore the look of someone trying to make sense of what he experienced, and yet, no matter how much he tried to think on it, he couldn’t make heads or tails of what happened.

"The person who took me said..." he began. "

.’"

Pausing briefly after he was done, Jiang Hao said, "Those were his exact words. I passed out after that, and next time I regained consciousness it was in one of the courtyards of Sunset Bank Manor."

"I honestly thought I was going to die in that Gorge as my senses were fading. I didn’t believe his words at the time, or rather, I had thought those words were nothing but a figment of my imagination, like I was telling myself those things to chase away the fear of dying, but..."

Jiang Hao paused and stared intently at his right palm that was now shaking. "How am I still alive?" he murmured to himself in disbelief.

"And master..." he added, a conflicted, pained, and guilty glint flashing in his eyes as he clenched his shaking hand.

"He can’t die," he continued in a hopeful, almost pleading tone. "Not for me," he added in a low tone. "Not for me."

Liu Ying, overrun with emotion, placed her hands over his. "Don’t say that," she said softly. "Owner Bai wouldn’t want that, and..." putting on a brave, hopeful smile, she added, "And he might come back. We all know how powerful he is..."

As she said this, her gaze shifted subtly to Duan Ting, almost as if she was asking him to step in to support her statement.

Duan Ting, easily reading the message in her eyes, turned his gaze to Jiang Hao. Smiling comfortingly, he said, "Sister Ying is right, Brother Hao. Owner Bai Chen will come back."

Looking up, Jiang Hao smiled gratefully at the two escort supervisors. He could tell that behind their smiles and words, they too held the same fear he had: that his master might already be dead or about to die, or for one reason or another, they may never get to see him. After all, that mysterious kidnapper, while promising to try their best to ensure Bai Chen returned, offered no guarantee. Given the lengths they went to to get his master, Jiang Hao felt it was reasonable to assume that whatever his master was needed for had to be dangerous, and if it was dangerous, then it stood to reason that there was a likelihood he may not make it.

Duan Ting and Liu Ying must entertain the same conclusion. Jiang Hao could see it in their eyes and smiles.

Smiling back, he thanked them before his gaze steeled as he turned to face Yang Qing and Fei Chen. The chances of his master making it back hinged on luck and a few factors, and thankfully one of those factors was right here with him. Relying on themselves, given their strength and ability, and the fact that he knew next to nothing about his kidnapper except his voice and the message he left him, they would be forced to wait passively for the results of his master’s well-being and whether he made it back alive or not.

Even if he knew the exact location of where his master was, given how easily he got taken, while he wouldn’t hesitate to try and rescue him, Jiang Hao had no confidence that he would succeed.

As such, his best hope. Their best hope. His master’s best hope was....

Sensing his gaze, Yang Qing smiled back. "I will try my best to find him."

"We are in your debt," Jiang Hao said solemnly as he bowed his head. His gesture was mimicked by Duan Ting and Liu Ying, who also bowed their heads to Yang Qing.

Yang Qing asked a few more questions before leaving with Fei Chen.

Outside of the message, Jiang Hao had next to nothing to offer on the case, which caused him no small frustration. For Yang Qing, however, it was a different story. Jiang Hao might not have offered much, but what he did offer, small as it seemed to him, was more than enough for Yang Qing.

At least he now had a motive. The kidnapper had done this for whoever "her" and "him" referred to in his exchange with Jiang Hao. And secondly, which was actually more valuable to Yang Qing than the motive, was the promise to try and keep Bai Chen safe and to return him. They were still just words, and it didn’t guarantee that Bai Chen wasn’t in perilous danger, but it was still something.

In the course of the investigation, Yang Qing had seen the skills of Bai Chen’s kidnapper. If a figure that skilled had promised to go out of their way to try and keep Bai Chen safe and even return him, given their track record, Yang Qing was inclined to have some measure of hope and trust in them and their ability to deliver on their promise. That figure, after all, had mythical bloodline flowing through him, and while he might not be full-blooded mythical race, the fact that he was descended from one already put him above millions, given the advantages that even just a single drop of said bloodline could bestow.

Yang Qing had spent his entire life wishing and daydreaming he had a single drop, but alas, all he had was the bloodline belonging to an obstinate and severely unhinged race called the Yang Clan, whose advantage was paranoia, a deep distrust of those close to you, and the insatiable desire to exploit your kin at every turn and maybe shared misery. But beyond that, it offered nothing.

Well, maybe his looks... though that was debatable. His mother had always been the looker in the family, and while his father definitely had decent features worth bragging about, Yang Qing looked more like his mother than his father. So, if anything, he owed his mother for his looks, and as for his father, all he owed him was the generous helpings of paranoia and distrust he possessed.

Pushing aside thoughts of his father and his clan, after reassuring Jiang Hao and the others that he would do his best to find Bai Chen, with a promise of regular updates if anything noteworthy happened, Yang Qing and Fei Chen left. This was not before advising the three Escort Supervisors to have themselves examined at the Order’s Medical Valley, should they wish to, and to appraise the other missing passengers of the same. Yang Qing even offered them his token, which would waive any fees for the check, as all it would cost him for said favor was to offer his services later, which he was sure Ren Shu and the other staff there would immediately jump at as a trade-off.

Jiang Hao and the others agreed to be examined but declined Yang Qing’s token, preferring to cover the costs themselves for Jiang Hao and the passengers. Yang Qing did not dissuade them, surmising that their offer to pay might be an attempt to alleviate any guilt they felt towards the passengers for being caught up in the scheme against Bai Chen.

As they departed, Fei Chen handed over the items from the Vast Blue Merchant Company that had been traded for the Heart Quenching Mulberry Dew during the auction. The three escort supervisors were shocked to receive a storage ring filled with thousands of timbers of Soaring Cloud Cypress, Floating Reedwood, and Thundervein Camphor.