Baffling

The Enforcement Hall's inquiry went far more smoothly than Kong Jiao had imagined.

He did not even need to use most of the responses he had prepared in advance.

The Enforcement Hall disciple in charge of the questioning merely made a hasty record and called it done.

It felt to Kong Jiao as though they were simply going through the motions.

The law-enforcement disciple before him looked around twenty-five or twenty-six and wore a smile throughout. Closing his booklet, he said with narrowed eyes, "What Junior Brother Kong said does not differ from the accounts given by Senior Brother Feng An and Junior Sister Zhou Tingyu. Sorry to have made you come all this way, Junior Brother Kong."

"However, regarding Junior Sister Huangfu's intervention, I ask that Junior Brother Kong not spread word of it. The Sect Master treasures Junior Sister Huangfu like a jewel and does not wish for too many rumors about her to circulate."

"I understand." Kong Jiao glanced at the closed booklet and nodded lightly. Naturally, he had no intention of defying such a request.

Only then did the man nod in satisfaction. Tossing out one last sentence, he turned and left. "Junior Brother Kong may leave."

Kong Jiao watched his unhurried figure depart from the room, then reached up and scratched the back of his head.

Rather puzzled, he muttered, "They're letting me go just like that?"

He had arrived in a muddle, then been dismissed in just as much of a muddle.

By rights, such a major incident at Frostmoon Altar should have meant repeated questioning by different disciples, shouldn't it?

Wasn't it a little too careless to wrap things up so hastily?

Even Kong Jiao felt that the Enforcement Hall's handling of the matter was somewhat unreliable.

"The Enforcement Hall intimidates those both within and beyond the sect. They shouldn't make such a mistake."

The confusion soon faded from his face. Sharp as he was, he caught the scent of something unusual.

It was as if his visit to the Enforcement Hall to report what he had seen and heard at Frostmoon Altar was merely a surface matter. That man's final words had been the true reason for bringing him here.

And there was Han Dong's matter. It had simply been allowed to pass. So many disciples of the Cangwu Sect had died, including Zheng Gang, a sixth-realm Wheel Nurturing cultivator and one of the Outer Sect's second-tier experts, yet the Enforcement Hall had made no move.

Kong Jiao did not believe that the Cangwu Sect was truly indifferent.

With so many sect disciples dead, if the sect did not make some response, outsiders would inevitably think it weak and easy to bully. Where would the sect's prestige be then?

If the Cangwu Sect were truly so weak, it could never have established itself in Wudong.

This strange calm was more like the stillness before a storm.

"This has nothing to do with me. Better not pry!" Kong Jiao thought to himself as he prepared to leave the room specifically meant for interrogation.

Yet a handsome young figure stood in the doorway, blocking his path out.

Kong Jiao's eyes shifted and settled on the newcomer.

The youth was not tall, half a head shorter than Kong Jiao. He was fairly good-looking, and his skin was as pale as Kong Jiao's had been when he worked at the Miscellaneous Books Pavilion.

Especially his eyes, which carried a peach-blossom charm.

The dense aura around him was no weaker than Han Dong's—eighth realm of Wheel Nurturing.

There was a frivolousness in the youth's expression. While Kong Jiao sized him up, the other youth was also examining Kong Jiao, his gaze scrutinizing.

Kong Jiao did not wish to make an enemy of anyone from the Enforcement Hall. His eyes met the youth's only briefly before he looked away, avoiding eye contact as he smiled softly. "Senior Brother, are you coming in first, or am I going out first?"

The youth did not move. He merely looked Kong Jiao up and down once before saying expressionlessly, "I'm not going in."

Then his tone abruptly changed. "I heard you've met Junior Sister Huangfu?"

At the mention of Huangfu Wuqin, Kong Jiao's brows rose. He could only nod stiffly. "Yes."

"She's beautiful, isn't she?" A smile finally appeared on the youth's face, and ripples stirred in his peach-blossom eyes.

Kong Jiao shuddered inwardly, but could not show it. He maintained his composure and answered honestly, "This junior brother has never seen a beauty more deserving of the words unparalleled grace and splendor."

"You have good taste! But looking is enough. Don't entertain improper thoughts." The youth patted his shoulder meaningfully. After delivering that baffling remark, he left without lingering.

Leaving Kong Jiao standing there with a bewildered expression.

"Damn it, what kind of hellhole is this Enforcement Hall? Is there not a single normal person here?"

Kong Jiao left the Enforcement Hall in disgruntlement.

Before departing, Kong Jiao looked back at the Enforcement Hall's black tower-like building and let out a breath. "Though it was baffling, I passed the test at least."

Just as he was secretly rejoicing, something caught the corner of Kong Jiao's eye as he turned back, and his expression shifted.

His gaze followed the direction in which it had fixed itself—to the entrance of the Enforcement Hall.

Two figures had long been waiting there. They were Zhou Tingyu and Feng An, from whom he had parted several days ago.

When they saw him emerge, joy overflowed across Zhou Tingyu's pretty face. Her petite body bounced vigorously as she waved her little hands to catch Kong Jiao's attention. "Senior Brother Kong, over here! Over here!"

Seeing that the two people who had once shared hardship with him were safe and sound, the gloom on Kong Jiao's face finally scattered somewhat. Smiling lightly, he asked, "You came!"

Kong Jiao was not surprised by their arrival.

Whether it was Shangguan Yuzhou or Huangfu Wuqin, Zhou Tingyu had been the one to ask them to go to Frostmoon Altar and rescue him.

It was only natural for either of them to take the time to inform Zhou Tingyu.

"After hearing from Junior Brother Shangguan that you had returned safely, Junior Sister Zhou and I hurried without stopping to wait for you outside the Enforcement Hall." After several days of recuperation, Feng An's complexion had clearly improved. Seeing Kong Jiao unharmed, a heartfelt smile appeared on his aged face.

"Thankfully, Junior Brother Kong is safe. Junior Sister Zhou and I have been worried sick these past few days."

Zhou Tingyu had originally wanted to be the first to speak with Kong Jiao, but Feng An had beaten her to it. She immediately seized the conversation. "After Senior Brother Kong covered Senior Brother Feng An and me as we retreated that day, we waited for you for half a day at the place several hundred li away where the herb-gathering party had once quietly made camp."

"When you didn't come, we rushed back to the sect day and night to seek reinforcements."

At the word reinforcements, Kong Jiao pursed his lips in a bitter smile.

For Zhou Tingyu to bring Huangfu Wuqin here as reinforcements, her influence truly was no small thing.

But with Feng An present, he could not say much. He only nodded.

After all, he had been warned at the Enforcement Hall not to mention Huangfu Wuqin's name.

Feng An suddenly lowered his voice, as though he wanted to verify something with Kong Jiao. "I heard that, among the herb-gathering parties formed by several sects at Frostmoon Altar this time, everyone except the three of us died inside?"

Zhou Tingyu also leaned her little head over at that moment, her dark, gleaming eyes filled with curiosity as they looked at Kong Jiao.

Kong Jiao recalled his experience in the Enforcement Hall. The senior brother who had questioned him had only told him not to reveal Huangfu Wuqin's matter; he had not said he could not mention this calamity.

Only then did he nod and confirm Feng An's question. "That's right."

Feng An and Zhou Tingyu both sucked in a breath.

Before leaving, they had already known that Frostmoon Altar would be extremely dangerous.

But for only the three of them to have survived was truly shocking.

Even as lingering fear rose in their hearts, they were also grateful that they had chosen to leave decisively. Otherwise, they too would now be corpses at Frostmoon Altar.

Looking at Kong Jiao before him, whole and uninjured, Feng An sighed sincerely, "Junior Brother Kong is truly blessed with great fortune."

Kong Jiao had failed to escape that day and had been trapped in a desperate situation, yet he had still survived such dire straits.

The dangers he had faced must have been countless.

Yet Feng An was not surprised in the slightest. The calm Kong Jiao had displayed in desperate circumstances, as well as his judgment of the situation at critical moments, had been so seasoned that even Feng An, an old hand who had spent many years in the Outer Sect, could find no fault with it.

More precious still, this youth possessed formidable strength. Those minor experts of the Outer Sect's second tier might lose their lives to him with a single misstep.