Chapter 264 - Quiet Questions and a Crude Map

Chapter 264: Chapter 264 - Quiet Questions and a Crude Map

The conversation continued more naturally after that.

Su Bai no longer treated every question like something that needed an immediate answer. Whenever Ning Shuang hesitated or the Heart-Sealing Blood Gu showed the slightest reaction, he simply moved away from the subject and let the conversation drift somewhere safer.

That made things easier for her.

At first, Ning Shuang had still been measuring every word. She was used to doing that inside the Abyssal Lotus Sect. A careless sentence could be enough to expose thoughts she was never supposed to have.

With Su Bai, however, she gradually stopped feeling as though she needed to defend every answer.

He would ask where she had been traveling, whether certain places had become more crowded, or whether she had been sent out more often than before. Sometimes the questions sounded almost too ordinary to matter.

Yet Ning Shuang knew better.

Su Bai rarely asked anything without thinking about what the answer might connect to.

She also knew that he was trying to make the conversation comfortable for her.

That realization warmed her more than she wanted to admit.

There were even moments when it felt as though he really was asking about her rather than simply about the sect behind her.

Ning Shuang began answering more freely whenever she could.

She could not tell him where specific groups had been sent or what orders they had received, but she could still talk about what she had personally seen while traveling.

That was enough for Su Bai.

More importantly, Ning Shuang gradually stopped being someone who merely responded to his questions.

She began thinking with him.

When Su Bai asked whether the places she had passed through were busier than before, she did not just say yes or no. She considered which changes were ordinary and which ones had stood out enough for her to remember.

When he asked whether the increased movement was concentrated around Fallen-Star Sanctuary, she understood what he was really trying to compare.

The Sanctuary had become the center of attention for almost the entire cultivation world.

That much was obvious.

Ancient inheritances were more than enough to draw cultivators from every direction.

But Ning Shuang had seen activity elsewhere too. Not all of it pointed toward Azure-Jade City.

That was what caught Su Bai’s attention.

Some places that had once been quiet were seeing cultivators pass through far more often than before.

Some groups remained away for longer than ordinary assignments should have required.

Others moved often enough that even Ning Shuang had noticed a pattern.

None of that proved anything by itself.

Still, it gave Su Bai a picture that Yue Cangyu had not been able to provide.

Yue had shown him how the current conflict looked from Azure-Jade City’s side.

Ning Shuang was showing him how it looked from inside a major demonic sect.

The two pictures were not identical.

Su Bai folded his arms and thought for a while.

Ning Shuang watched him quietly.

By now, she could tell when one of his questions was leading somewhere.

"Are the people being moved all from your home?" Su Bai finally asked.

Ning Shuang’s expression tightened almost immediately. Her hand rose toward her chest before she could answer.

She then gave him a helpless look.

Su Bai stared at her for a moment before turning his gaze toward the mountains beyond the valley.

The question had been broad, yet even that was too close to something the Gu considered important.

That alone was worth remembering.

His journey back to Radiant Sky Sect had just become a little more complicated.

...

He continued for a while longer, though the questions became increasingly careful.

More than once, Su Bai tried circling around the traitors Yue Cangyu had mentioned.

He already knew there were righteous cultivators cooperating with the demonic side.

What he still did not know was who they were.

That was the part Ning Shuang might have been able to help with.

He tried approaching the subject from several angles, but none of her answers gave him enough to identify a sect, faction, or even a reliable direction.

For now, he could only leave that question unresolved.

There was a limit to how much he could infer from incomplete answers.

If he kept forcing connections between fragments, sooner or later he would start mistaking suspicion for certainty.

Su Bai exhaled slowly.

"This should be enough for now."

Ning Shuang looked at him.

There was a brief flicker of disappointment in her eyes.

Su Bai noticed it.

"You wanted to keep going?"

Ning Shuang hesitated, then smiled faintly.

"I was finally getting used to it."

Su Bai raised an eyebrow.

"Being questioned?"

"Talking to you."

The answer came out more directly than she seemed to intend.

Ning Shuang froze for half a breath.

Su Bai looked at her.

A faint trace of color appeared on her face.

He smiled slightly but did not say anything.

That only made Ning Shuang more embarrassed.

She looked away first.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

The silence was not awkward.

If anything, it felt surprisingly comfortable.

That was strange in itself. They had only met once before, and even then they had spent very little time together.

Yet Ning Shuang did not feel as though she was standing beside someone almost unfamiliar.

Perhaps it was because Su Bai had already seen parts of her that no one inside the Abyssal Lotus Sect was supposed to see.

He knew she was not the cold, obedient weapon she pretended to be.

He knew she hated the things her sect had done.

He knew there was a Gu inside her heart deciding how much of herself she was allowed to reveal.

And despite all of that, he had never looked at her with disgust.

Ning Shuang lowered her eyes.

Su Bai noticed the shift in her expression.

His gaze moved briefly toward the place above her heart.

"I’ll find more Withered Weeds Ash."

Ning Shuang looked at him.

She had always known that Su Bai wanted information from her, and she had never resented him for it.

What mattered was that he never treated her as though that was all she was worth.

Even now, finding more ash would not only let them speak freely again. It would also give her a way to force the Heart-Sealing Blood Gu back into dormancy whenever she needed it.

The realization softened her expression.

Ning Shuang smiled at him, this time without embarrassment, only warmth.

Before Su Bai could say anything else, a folded parchment slipped from Ning Shuang’s sleeve and fell beside her foot.

Su Bai’s gaze followed it. It was a folded parchment, yet Ning Shuang made no move to retrieve it. Instead, she looked at him with a faint smile that immediately made the situation feel suspicious.

"Brother Su Bai, could you pick that up for me?"

Su Bai glanced from the parchment to Ning Shuang. It had fallen almost beside her foot, close enough that she could have picked it up herself without any effort.

That was when he realized she had probably dropped it on purpose.

He bent down and retrieved the parchment, then unfolded it.

A crude map of the surrounding regions appeared before him.

At first, there was nothing unusual about it, but a closer look revealed markings scattered across several areas. Some locations had been circled, others crossed out, while smaller marks had been left near certain towns, mountain passes, and settlements.

Su Bai studied it for several breaths before looking back at Ning Shuang.

She had already turned toward the distant mountains.

"I’ve wanted to visit the Eastern Region for a long time," she said casually. "If I have enough free time after this, I might stay somewhere and drink tea for a few weeks."

Su Bai’s gaze returned to the map.

One of the circled places lay near an area known for its tea.

Ning Shuang continued as though she were speaking about an ordinary trip.

"My sword could also use some maintenance. I should probably find somewhere reliable to have it polished afterward."

Another marking.

Su Bai’s lips slowly curved.

Ning Shuang did not stop.

"After that, perhaps somewhere quieter. I’ve heard there are decent hot springs farther along the route."

Another marked location.

Su Bai finally understood what she was doing.

There was nothing suspicious about the map by itself, and none of the places Ning Shuang mentioned were secret locations. Wanting tea, looking for someone to maintain her sword, or visiting a hot spring were all perfectly ordinary reasons to travel.

Yet when he compared those casual remarks with the markings on the parchment and the information she had already given him, the meaning became clear.

Ning Shuang was quietly telling him where she could appear again without saying anything that would directly betray the Abyssal Lotus Sect.

Su Bai raised his eyes from the map.

Ning Shuang was already watching him, amusement shining in her dark eyes as she waited for him to catch on.

A genuine laugh escaped him.

Her smile widened immediately.

Su Bai folded the map carefully.

"I suppose I haven’t had good tea in a while either."

Ning Shuang’s eyes curved.

"Then Brother Su Bai should visit the Eastern Region more often."

"I’ll come if I have time."

She looked at him for a moment longer than necessary.

"Then I’ll try not to leave too quickly."

Su Bai smiled.

There was something strangely easy about the exchange.

For those few moments, they did not feel like cultivators trying to maneuver around sects, Gu worms, and a cultivation world slowly descending into chaos.

They simply felt like two people who had met again after far too long and discovered that talking to each other was easier than either of them had expected.

Eventually, Ning Shuang folded the parchment and slipped it back into her sleeve.

Su Bai looked toward the distant mountains once more.

His journey back to Radiant Sky Sect now had several possible detours.

This time, however, he had something far more useful than rumors pointing him toward them.

And perhaps more importantly, he now had a reason to hope that this would not be the last time he met Ning Shuang.