Under the blue sky lay the cranes' homeland; beneath the azure sea, the dragons' world. Between boundless sea and sky were places that harbored filth, the Land of Vengeance and Hatred, fine wine, beauties, and the gleam of swords.
Sitting at the top of the steps, Chen Qingliu asked, "Do you care what the outside world thinks of you?"
Wang Zhu said nothing. No one knew what she was thinking.
The East Sea Water Lord's face, bearing, and mood felt like a heap of shattered porcelain: cold and sharp.
Jinli tapped her knee lightly with a fist and smiled. "Apart from Her Highness, I don't care what anyone thinks or says. What about you, Fellow Daoist Qing Zhu?"
She leaned forward slightly. Her gaze swept past the distracted Princess before turning to the renowned Dragon Slayer.
Jinli feared neither heaven nor earth, but she feared that the Princess beside her might suffer, grow unhappy, fail to attain the Dao... or lose her freedom.
What worried her was that Chen Qingliu's unusual agreeableness today might be a fisherman's courtesy to the fish.
Chen Qingliu plainly did not care what Jinli thought. The reason was simple: for a sword cultivator, the Dao lay in three feet of keen steel.
As Chen Qingliu himself had said, the years when he needed to tell anyone who he was were long behind him.
Chen Qingliu said, "When someone needs others' approval to know who he is, there are roughly three possibilities." Jinli asked curiously, "Let's hear them, Fellow Daoist Qing Zhu. What are the three?"
Chen Qingliu smiled. "First, he feels profoundly inferior. He uses countless outward things and carefully chosen words and deeds to conceal his cowardice. Because no one has ever truly acknowledged him, he has grown used to denying himself. His heart