Lu Zhao had actually come knocking.
"Mr. Jiang, why didn't you tell me you were back?" He lifted his teacup with a smile on his face.
I sighed. "I only just got back myself. Honestly, I didn't even know how I got back. But I have to say, that trip was full of danger at every turn."
Lu Zhao gave an "Oh." "How so?"
"I'm saying, Senior Brother, you never warned us about the dangers of that swamp. And that wind pass too—we nearly met our end in both places. I even wondered whether you did it on purpose, but then I thought, what good would my death do you?"
Lu Zhao's smile turned somewhat awkward. "Of course, of course. I didn't mention it because I thought those were just minor obstacles. I believed you could handle them. By the way, what happened afterward? I heard from Haman that they were still waiting at the wind pass, but they didn't see you return by the same route. After you left through that passage in the rock wall, where did you go?"
I looked at him and pretended to be surprised. "You didn't go through that rock-wall passage?"
He froze for a moment, then nodded. "I did. Once you went through it, you could reach the mountaintop. Don't tell me you reached the summit too and accomplished what you set out to do?"
I shook my head. "No, I didn't reach the summit. Somehow, I ended up inside a palace instead." As I spoke, I watched his face closely. When he heard that I had entered a palace, his expression became rather interesting.
"Did you meet anyone in that palace?"
"A king who seemed quite reliable. I couldn't say who he was. Before we could even react, they discovered us. A