The unrestrained

Visiting Luanzang hill again

I woke up at five in the morning. While he was still sleeping. After a while he woke up from his slumber. I always like to watch him sleep. I already took off his outer robes while he is asleep. When he opened his eyes and saw me I was still dressed, sword was on my back. As I took back the hand that I had put on Wei Ying’s shoulder, I stared at a white object within his palm, “We have an uninvited guest.”

Wei Ying squinted to see. The object was the GusuLan Sect’s jade token of passage. He could recall that my token was a very high level, able to alert him if others intruded over the barrier of the GusuLan Sect.

But nobody had dared intrude the Cloud Recesses in dozens of years. Wei Ying hopped off the bed. He discovered that his outer robe had been taken off sometime during his sleep. He put it on as he spoke, “Who is it?”

I shook my head, gesturing for Wei Ying to follow me. The two of us had walked stealthily until we arrived at at a residence amid lush bamboos. Light seeped from the paper windows. Wei Ying glanced at the wooden plaques in front of the courtyard, “The Hanshi?”

Brother sat back-straight within the room. Seeing the two of us enter, he didn’t get surprised at all. He exchanged a look with me, and both of us understood. I led Wei Ying to sit behind the screen.

A while later, the bamboo curtains of the Hanshi were lifted. A series of soft footsteps entered the room. The person seemed to have sat down before brother.

A few moments later came the sound of jade knocking against each other. It sounded as if somebody had put something onto the table and pushed it over.

The first to speak was brother, “What does this mean?”

Somebody spoke, “To return to you, er ge.”

It was Jin GuangYao.

Brother spoke, “I have already given this to you.”

Jin GuangYao said, “The token of passage has never failed before. Now that it has failed, it’s time for it to be returned to its rightful owner.”

Since brother and LianFang-Zun had quite a good relationship, brother had given Jin GuangYao a token of passage as well so that he could visit freely. However, it was likely that within the past few days he had edited the prohibitions of the Cloud Recesses’ barrier or retracted the permission of Jin GuangYao’s token of passage. When Jin GuangYao came to visit, he was refused permission to enter, and thus he voluntarily returned the token.

Like me, my brother didn’t know how to feign compliance either. Jin GuangYao backed off his advance, while brother said nothing. A moment later, he spoke, “What did you come for?”

Jin GuangYao said, “We still don’t have any news on HanGuang-Jun and the YiLing Laozu. I didn’t let anyone search the Cloud Recesses, and many sects are already in doubt with many objections. Er ge, whenever it works for you, it’d still be best for you to open the doors for two hours. Then I’ll be able to take people over and deal with the situation.”

Don't worry he wouldn't dare. I looked at him and blinked my eyes.

On the other side of the screen, Jin GuangYao continued, “Er ge, what’s wrong?”

Brother spoke, “Nothing.”

Jin GuangYao said, “If you’re worried about WangJi, then please relax. HanGuang-Jun’s character is upright and honest. All of the sects have seen this throughout the years. He must be only doing this because he’s been lied to in some way. Besides, he hasn’t done anything unforgivable yet. It’ll be fine as long as he explains when the time comes. I won’t let anyone take the chance to spread rumors.”