Courage

At first, Qin Yi had thought Qing Cha had reached the supreme realm of seeing code in her eyes while holding no code in her heart. But hearing it put that way, he instead felt... damn, it made so much sense.

An'an and Ye Ling both looked cowardly, but the nature of it was different. Ye Ling had suffered quite a bit since childhood, so hers was the cowardice of fearing death and trouble. When something happened, her instinctive response was to clutch her head and hide, but she was not shy. An'an was different. By the nature of the Clam Clan, opening their shells was like humans removing every last covering. It truly felt much the same as wearing no clothes.

Imagine going out to fight naked. Your combat strength would surely be halved, then halved again. Even talking to others, you would certainly have no idea where to put your hands and feet. Your behavior would probably be no different from An'an's cowering.

So An'an was not cowardly; she was merely shy. Having her shell open and being swept by people's gazes made her feel awkward all over. As long as she was shut inside her shell, even her speech became much smoother.

To her, this truly was about the same as wearing clothes. Qing Cha had really seen through to the essence!

Just as he was marveling, Ju Yunxiu's cool voice drifted into his ear. "You've been staring at that Painting Soul without blinking. How much longer do you intend to look? Why not have her take it off herself for you?"

"Huh? Misunderstanding, misunderstanding!" Qin Yi scrambled to his feet, shoved the dazed Painting Soul back into the painting, then rolled it up and stuffed it into Qing Cha's hands. "Qing Cha is amazing!"

Qing Cha