Chapter 53: Restraint and Control
53
Restraint and Control
I
Hao Zhen had already been turning to face the direction Du Qing was staring when he heard her voice. He’d only met her twice, and briefly both times, but he still recognized her at first sight.
Bao Yun.
He should’ve known getting rid of Du Qing wouldn’t be so simple.
Feeling the exhaustion encroach upon him, darkening his sight and slowing his thoughts, Hao Zhen bit his lower lip, hard. Alert from the pain, he managed to remain standing long enough to produce two pills from his spatial ring and pop them.
Moments later he felt a second, deeper surge of alertness, as some of his mental and spiritual stamina recovered. Standing straighter, mind clearer, he took proper stock of the situation. Mere seconds had passed since Bao Yun’s appearance, nobody had spoken yet, or so much as moved. Du Qing seemed to be struggling for words, Bao Yun waiting for an explanation, and Tian Jin and Lan Yue looking confused and wary.
If he was reading Bao Yun and Du Qing right, then this wasn’t some kind of setup. The problem was that even if Bao Yun wasn’t working with Du Qing, her arriving just when they were about to finish off Du Qing—assuming the talisman he had wasn’t too big of an issue, and considering how he hadn’t used it yet, it probably wasn’t—was suspicious. Unless the Weave had a much greater effect on the world than he had originally assumed, to the point it could just randomly guide Bao Yun over here with no discernible explanation, it was hardly likely she’d just stumbled upon them right at this moment when she should have been busy in the Inner Forest, and likely under the supervision of inner elders. Du Qing had also managed to leave the Inner Forest and track them down—which also raised a number of questions—but he at least had a reason to be here. Bao Yun didn’t. At least not an obvious one.