Daily life of a cultivation judge Chapter 1527: There is no rule breaking in this favor (2)

"Now you won’t have to worry about getting sent to Requiem for overstepping. You can handle the upgrade with a, right, old friend?" Yang Qing added smirkingly, earning a rueful chuckle from Zhang Rei, who put the storage ring away.

"When do you want me to do it?" Zhang Rei finally asked, after sighing at Yang Qing’s antics.

"I leave it to the Blue Peak Master’s discretion," Yang Qing said in mock humility.

"How long will you keep this up?" Zhang Rei asked wryly.

"For a while," Yang Qing immediately answered, shedding his cold expression for his usual leisurely demeanour.

"I expect a good job, Zhang Rei," he added solemnly, before whispering heavily under his breath, "Senior Instructor Lu Yuan has been sneaking around there."

Zhang Rei’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, as his face paled, before settling into concern. "How did you know? Did you... catch him?" he asked with some hesitation.

"Me? Catch him? Can that monster be caught?" Yang Qing asked, before breaking out into a self-deprecating, hollow chuckle. "He told me himself, when I ran into him at the Institute," Yang Qing added bitterly.

"Luckily, I got a windfall, and I can improve the arrays in my place, though I’m not even sure they can keep him out..." Yang Qing said with concern.

"It will be difficult. He is a former assassin hunter, after all. Who knows how many formation arrays he has bypassed over the years," Zhang Rei chimed in worriedly.

Yang Qing blinked and looked wide-eyed at Zhang Rei. "Shouldn’t you be showing a little more pride and confidence in your work? If not that, you could even lie. A friend would lie... but then again, you’ve hardly been a friend," Yang Qing grumbled, reaching out for another spring roll.

"I am sorry," Zhang Rei said, offering an apologetic smile filled with concern. "What are you planning to do?"

After a few bites of his spring roll, gazing pensively at his tea, Yang Qing said softly, "Fei Chen is back."

Hearing no response from Zhang Rei, Yang Qing looked up to find a shocked-looking Zhang Rei staring at him in disbelief. "You’re planning to sell him out?"

"And you call me a traitor for not wanting to break rules?" he asked in further disbelief. "Who’s the bigger traitor, you or me? Poor Fei Chen." Zhang Rei shook his head in pity, already imagining the miserable fate that awaited his old classmate.

"Who said I am planning to betray him?" Yang Qing scoffed. "You shouldn’t judge people through your traitorous lens, you know. Not all of us are traitorous. Some of us will actually confront our fears and act against them if a friend were in need..."

"Traitor, what traitor?" Yang Qing sneered between bites. "Me and Fei Chen will think up a plan to deal with Instructor Lu Yuan, or at the very least, hide from him. Sell him out?" He shook his head, popping the last of the spring roll into his mouth. "The nerve of you, Zhang Rei," Yang Qing added disdainfully, not sparing Zhang Rei another glance.

Zhang Rei, for his part, apologised; but a part of him clearly remained suspicious, given the subtle, examining look he gave Yang Qing as the latter focused his attention on devouring his way through the mountain pile of spring rolls, grumbling "the audacity" and scoffingly repeating "sell him out..." all the while throwing "can’t believe" judging looks at Zhang Rei.

Zhang Rei and Yang Qing were two peas in a pod, and both were aware of it, which had been a contributing factor to their close friendship at the Institute. They were both, for the most part, cowards, deathly afraid of trouble, who went to great lengths to avoid and/or prevent it. One used ingratiation, flattery, a bit of scheming here and there, and mastered spells and techniques to deal with trouble, while the other honed his craft through a bit of ingratiation, flattery, not rocking the boat, and delving into arrays to protect himself.

And both were also close friends and avid followers of Bu Zhou and his philosophy, though if one looked closely, Zhang Rei was a more avid follower of Bu Zhou’s ways than Yang Qing. Yang Qing still had a bit of daring in him, whereas Zhang Rei didn’t, which birthed the grievance Yang Qing came to hold against him after they graduated.

Yang Qing, for his part, was for the most part just like Zhang Rei, but unlike him, Yang Qing believed (so he told himself) that he would help a friend in need, even if it involved exposing himself to a little bit of danger and trouble. After all, he already had a body of work supporting it, with the numerous protests and activism he did in his earlier years for working conditions at the Order to be improved. He did all that for his friends... for the most part, that is. Yes, personal motives were in there as well, but it wasn’t just for him... (so he believes)

Hence why Yang Qing always felt pained when he came to visit Zhang Rei.

Pushing the dark memory away, Yang Qing’s gaze turned solemn as he looked up at Zhang Rei, who immediately felt anxious when he saw the look, as it was a familiar look he’d grown to see from Yang Qing whenever Yang Qing wanted to ask for a favour, a favour that almost always involved rule-breaking.

"I have a favour to ask of you, old friend," Yang Qing said, his expression softening and becoming more sincere.

Zhang Rei’s customary polite refusal of "I want to, but..." was almost out of his mouth, but was halted by Yang Qing as he immediately followed with, "Don’t worry, there is no rule-breaking in this favour."