Junior Brother Pays Respect to You: Chapter 31 - A Familiar Person Suddenly Appears
Chapter 31: A Familiar Person Suddenly Appears
Since that red seal wasn’t something they needed to deal with, the two of them returned to their original route and continued rushing down the mountain.
Because he was worried Qin Su might suddenly dive again, Qin Zheng held tightly onto his waist the whole way, refusing to relax even a little.
Thankfully, Qin Su didn’t reject him and let him be.
Traveling by flying sword was indeed fast. In no time, Qin Zheng could already see the small town at the foot of the mountain in the distance.
Before he could say anything, he noticed that Qin Su seemed to be descending—but not toward the town.
Qin Zheng quickly patted Qin Su and said, “Why are you landing in the forest?”
“You’re not planning to wander around the mountains looking for unsealed monsters yourself, are you?”
“This forest is huge! If we start searching like that, who knows how long it’ll take to find anything!”
As he spoke, Qin Zheng pointed at the town at the base of the mountain. “Listen to me—go there first!”
Perhaps thinking Qin Zheng’s words made some sense, Qin Su stopped, turned, and flew in the direction he pointed.
Seeing Qin Su take his suggestion, Qin Zheng quickly explained, “If you want to know whether anything strange has happened in the mountains, you should ask the people who live near them!”
“If anything unusual happens in the mountains, they’d be the first to know!”
“They’ll spread the news—one tells ten, ten tell a hundred. Maybe we’ll just have to ask one person and they’ll tell us exactly where the monsters are in Yuqing Mountain.”
“If we searched on our own, it’d waste way more time.”
While Qin Zheng chatted, Qin Su had already flown to the outskirts of the town.
The two found a quiet, less-populated corner to dismount from the sword.
At times like this, if the townspeople found out they were from Tianque Sect, it would definitely interfere with their mission.
Qin Zheng stepped off the sword and stomped on the solid ground, enjoying the feeling of having his feet on the earth again.
After taking it in for a moment, he grabbed Qin Su and dragged him toward the town, looking all energetic and familiar with the place.
Qin Su looked at Qin Zheng, who was pulling him forward, and remarked, “You seem very familiar with this place.”
It wasn’t a question.
“Well—”
Qin Zheng had just started to say “of course” when he suddenly caught himself, quickly shut up, and smoothly changed the subject: “Well… how could I be?”
“You know I’ve never been off the mountain, just like you. And even if I secretly snuck down the mountain, with my cultivation level, you guys would’ve found out instantly.”
Feeling guilty, Qin Zheng pretended to look behind him, but he snuck a glance at Qin Su from the corner of his eye.
He saw Qin Su just quietly watching him with an expression that didn’t look convinced—but he didn’t argue either.
Trying to make himself sound more convincing, Qin Zheng put on a surprised expression and said, “You might not believe this, but I often dream about getting expelled from the sect and wandering around at the foot of the mountain.”
“In those dreams, I’ve seen towns like this one.”
“So I figure, all towns are probably more or less the same, right?”
“You said before: if you came out alive, you’d tell me.”
Suddenly, Qin Su said something out of nowhere.
“Huh?” Qin Zheng glanced at Qin Su in confusion, not sure why he said something so random.
Maybe he was already thinking about something else?
While Qin Zheng was still wondering, Qin Su quietly pulled his hand away, adjusted his sleeve, and said with an unreadable expression, “Nothing.”
This town was called Xuanpu Town, a place Qin Zheng would later often spend time in.
The two walked under the gate bearing the town’s name.
As soon as they entered Xuanpu Town, people began to appear.
Qin Zheng didn’t forget their purpose in coming here.
Seeing a person walking their way, Qin Zheng quickly stepped forward, politely stopped them, and asked, “Excuse me, big brother, has anything strange happened in Yuqing Mountain recently?”
Though in his head, he grumbled: I’m old enough to be your grandpa!
The man looked him over curiously and waved him off. “I’m from out of town—don’t know anything.”
Then he walked away without a second glance.
Qin Zheng turned and looked at Qin Su, giving a helpless shrug.
Still, since it was his suggestion, he had to get some results to make it convincing.
But after stopping several people, all of them either knew nothing or were just travelers from elsewhere or hadn’t left home in ages.
He glanced at Qin Su again. The other still wore a blank expression, but Qin Zheng was sure he was questioning him internally by now.
This wasn’t working!
Qin Zheng held his head, thinking hard for a moment—then suddenly thought of a good place.
With an idea in mind, he looked up at the sky. Since he had just recently traveled back, he didn’t know what time it was.
Looking innocent, he asked his junior, “Is it noon yet?”
Qin Su nodded. “Just about noon.”
Good—then everything would go smoothly.
Qin Zheng confidently headed toward the center of Xuanpu Town, a place he knew very well.
It had crowds, shops—perfect for gathering information.
Qin Su quietly followed behind him, looking more and more like a tagalong.
After turning a few corners, the two arrived at the most bustling part of town.
A faint aroma of food drifted into their noses.
If you want to gather information, you have to go where the most people are—and if you want to hear rumors, of course, you head to a place where people are eating.
After all, people love to chat about strange things they’ve encountered while eating.
Qin Zheng took a deep breath, then led Qin Su into the restaurant he had always longed to visit.
As soon as they stepped inside, a server hurried over.
Noticing their fine clothing, the server politely asked, “Honored guests, we have private rooms upstairs. Please, this way!”
Qin Zheng waved his hand and glanced toward the main hall on the first floor, then pointed to a table by the window. “No need for a private room. We’ll just sit there.”
“Right away!”
The server quickly went over to wipe down the table and chairs.
“Please, take a seat,” the server said.
“May I ask what you’d like to eat?”
Qin Zheng immediately sat up straight, smiling as he looked at Qin Su and asked, “Junior brother, anything in particular you’d like to eat?”
Qin Su didn’t seem very interested and replied, “Anything’s fine.”
Since Qin Su had no preference, Qin Zheng quickly ordered a few of his own favorite dishes.
After finishing the order, he suddenly called back the server who had just turned to leave and asked quietly, “Do you have any steamed buns here?”
The server laughed. “We don’t serve buns, but if you’d like some, there’s a stall just around the corner outside.”
Since they didn’t have any, Qin Zheng didn’t press the matter.
He glanced up at Qin Su, who still wore his usual cold expression, and suddenly lost the mood for small talk.
It was just getting to mealtime, so there weren’t many people yet, but it would likely be packed soon.
A bit bored, Qin Zheng leaned his head out the window.
The main reason he chose a window seat was to eavesdrop on conversations from both inside the restaurant and out on the street.
His cultivation might not be high, but his hearing was definitely above average.
As more and more people filled the street, Qin Zheng turned his head slightly, straining to catch any interesting chatter.
Suddenly, a man walked past the window—his clothing markedly different from that of the townsfolk.
Qin Zheng happened to glance sideways and caught sight of the man’s profile and back. He froze slightly.
That silhouette in his memory overlapped perfectly with the figure walking away down the street.
Realizing the man was about to disappear into the crowd, Qin Zheng quickly stood up and said, “I’ll be right back,” before rushing out to chase him.
He followed the man’s path all the way to the corner.
But it was too late. A single turn, and the man had vanished without a trace.
More people were flooding in for lunch, and Qin Zheng wandered the crowd aimlessly for a while but couldn’t find a single clue. He had no choice but to head back to the restaurant.
When he returned, the main hall was already much more crowded. Even the tables near theirs, which had been empty, were now occupied.
Qin Zheng sat back down, distracted and a bit dazed.
He was certain he hadn’t seen wrong!
That man looked exactly the same as he had all those years ago.
Wei Feiluan.
The very person responsible for sending him up the mountain.
The one who had made him who he was today—it was Wei Feiluan’s doing.
Even if he turned to dust, Qin Zheng could still recognize him.
Ever since his first time-travel experience, Qin Zheng had dreamed of this man nearly every night.
In those dreams, he cut him down a thousand times, but still couldn’t ease the hatred in his heart.
Don’t let me catch you. If I do, you’ll regret it!
Perhaps because of the murderous expression on Qin Zheng’s face, Qin Su, who had been silent, suddenly asked, “What did you see?”
His voice pulled Qin Zheng back to reality.
Only then did he notice that all the dishes had already been served.
Seeing the delicious food calmed his mood a little.
After all, he’d been eating nothing but fruit for six days now, and mentally he was absolutely starving for meat.
“Nothing, let’s eat,” Qin Zheng said, picking up his chopsticks and pointing to the dishes.
But Qin Su didn’t move. He remained seated upright and said, “I’ve passed the stage of needing food for energy.”
Qin Zheng gave him a look like he just didn’t understand, picked up a piece of meat, and dropped it into Qin Su’s bowl. “Don’t miss out on the taste of the human world.”
Just as Qin Zheng was focused on eating, the people at the next table, while waiting for their food, started chatting.
“Did you hear? A monster’s shown up on the southern side of Yuqing Mountain!”
“What? Really?”
The moment something juicy came up, the people waiting for food quickly gathered around.
Qin Zheng raised an eyebrow at Qin Su, then perked up his ears to listen in.
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