The following days that they still remained in the city went over quickly and without incident. There was much to do and little time to do it, so everyone was kept busy with their work and wrapping up their business.

The survey of the hideout went smoothly, the responsible teams finding a total of three additional access points throughout the city and one on the outside. Recovering the masses of hoarded goods was a labor-intensive process that would still take some time, but at least it was in process.

All remaining cultivation resources would be shipped back to the sect over the following weeks, but it was agreed that most of the silver generated by their trade would be left to the Li Family and the various people who had helped bring down the organization. The sect had little use for such amounts of mortal currency and trying to track down the individual buyers would be nigh-impossible.

In total, over four hundred bandits had been captured with an additional two hundred being killed during the raid. With their ongoing interrogation, many more arrests were being made by the day.

After another visit to the palace, an appeased and reassured Prince Luo had agreed to cooperate with the Li Family to lead the investigation inside the city. Together they would remain unopposed as they snuffed out the remains of the organization and assessed its ties to various noble families. To this end, they would retain control of most of the prisoners and their interrogation. It was a convenient arrangement, since it meant that the Enforcement Hall could focus solely on the sect’s side of things.

The one bandit they hadn’t captured, as far as Qingge could tell, was the man with the silver mask. She had even had all of the captured and killed bandits looked over for his likeness, but it didn’t seem like he or his thuggish companion were among them. A pity: she would have liked to solve this mystery as well, but it wasn’t important enough to spend time on and if they had really gotten away, they were likely out of the city by now.

Zemin Bai, bandit leader Gang Hou and a few other prisoners who were suspected to know more would be taken to the sect for extensive interrogation since Qingge didn’t want to make Elder Wei wait for them any longer than necessary, and there wasn’t much she could do before returning to the sect anyways, since she’d need to consult with Elder Shi first.

She had sighted the documents and found rather conclusive proof that there had indeed been a larger involvement on the side of the Bai Family. Several members were mentioned by name or had even written some of the correspondence themselves. With the higher ups, it was a little more difficult, but there were definitely allusions to the family leadership as well.

Much of Qingge’s limited amount of free time had been spent conversing with Professor Lei. He had offered to help her with sighting the documents, – he had been a massive help in sorting and categorizing the hundreds of pages – which was how they had started talking. As it turned out, the mortal was a true wellspring of interesting facts and ideas, mostly historical or philosophical in nature, in turn sucking up any information about the sect’s internal workings and cultivators in general like a sponge.

Sometimes, the two would be joined by Elder Wei, who would offer up anecdotes about the historical events and figures that Geming Lei talked about, having seen many of them in person. Other than that, the Elder would spend his time listening to lectures at the university, drinking tea with Niung Li or cultivating.

Yang was keeping himself busy training his combat skill with the Li Family’s members and following Elder Wei’s advice to meditate on his enlightenment, though he suspended that activity whenever Qingge left the house to follow her around.

She was honestly fine with that; her abduction had left her more paranoid than before, and his presence helped a lot to calm her nerves. She was hopeful that this nervousness would subside once she was back in the familiarity of the sect, though she wasn’t sure if she could ever trust nice old ladies with teapots again.

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…

And so, one early morning, the group had gathered in the garden of the Li Family once again. It was time to depart. The Li Family had retrieved their carriage from the village it had been left at and supplied them with a second, steel enforced one, to transport the prisoners. Their horses were packed with various gifts that the noble families had left them with and some of the more valuable retrieved cultivation resources that they didn’t want to trust a normal caravan with.

They had held a feast last night, celebrating their achievements and their many newfound friendships. Now, only Patriarch Niung Li and a few others from the family’s leadership were here to see them off.

“Elder Wei, Lady Qingge, Cultivator Yang, everyone. I humbly thank you for granting this old man the honor of your visit. Know that, should you ever return to this city, even if this old one may not be around anymore, the Li Family’s gates will always be open for you.”

“Patriarch Niung Li, it is us who have to thank you. Your hospitality, your kindness and your assistance have been invaluable to us all. If your family is ever in need of assistance, don’t hesitate to call on me, I’ll be sure to answer. May our friendship last till the last of us has turned to dust.”

The two old men both bowed deeply before each other, everyone else following suit. For a long moment, a solemn silence hung in the air. Then, the group turned to leave.

Qingge climbed inside the carriage after Elder Wei, sliding to the other side to make way for Professor Lei who would be joining them, since he had never learned how to ride. When everyone was in place, their small trek got into motion.

As the first people woke up and curiously looked after them from their windows, they made their way down the very same streets they had ridden through on their first arrival to the city. Technically, they had already departed once in the meantime, but this felt much different, because it was final.

They had accomplished much on their visit here and as the carriage drove through the massive gates that guarded entry through the enormous walls, Qingge felt a tinge of nostalgia. Despite all hurdles, this had been a fun trip, a real shakeup from her life at the sect. Soon they had made it to the hills and as the sun rose above the horizon to illuminate the city and the seemingly endless lake behind it, it gradually disappeared from their view.

Like this, they slowly made their way back towards the sect. They had spent about a month in the city in total and the freshness of spring was slowly giving way to the long and warm days of early summer. The flowers and trees were in full bloom, the colorful and lively nature embracing them as they passed through the forests and fields.

They traveled during the day – Qingge and Elder Wei spending most of their time cultivating while Professor Lei scribbled something on an empty scroll he had brought along – and rested at night.

When they sat around a campfire, sharing stories and laughter, they felt like they’d been on the road together for years. This time around, it was Professor Lei who surprised everyone when he brought out an old guqin and started playing. The pieces he played were quiet and melancholic, telling beautiful stories of love, loss and of yearning for the unreachable. In those moments, beneath the endless canopy of stars, even the wind seemed to hold its breath to listen.

On the third day, they ran into the same group of highwaymen they had already met on their trip here, this time catching a few to properly frighten them before letting them go. Sadly, they didn’t encounter another suicidal bear they could grill though, which Qingge would have preferred. Instead, they had to stick to their rations.

The day after that when they passed through a village, they were almost pulled into a feud that some boy who claimed to have been exiled from a powerful family of Moonlake City for his unequalled talent in cultivation had started against the village elders.

He had apparently tried opening their ancestral graves in search of a supposed ancient inheritance of a powerful cultivator. When they had stopped him, he had declared them his enemies and started trying to whip up a rebellion amongst the villagers.

In the end, despite several members of the group declaring their desire to slap some sense into the boy, they didn’t interfere and continued on their travels unimpeded.

Upon being questioned that evening, Elder Wei remarked that while the boy’s talent certainly seemed to be above average, it wasn’t anything especially remarkable. As for the inheritance, he was rather certain that the village didn’t hold anything significant, though he couldn’t be entirely certain.

Besides these two minor events, they remained undisturbed. And so, on the fifth day of their travels the first of the sect’s mountains came into view, its jagged crown of stone majestically towering above the surrounding hills and dells.

They’d make it there by tomorrow.