Qin Yi truly wanted to probe his background; the curiosity it stirred was no less than that surrounding his own origins, especially since the two were very likely strongly connected.
But he also knew perfectly well that this was indeed the other man's private matter. Why should he tell him?
In fact, even if he asked about his own origins, the other man might not necessarily be willing to speak... Yet the way he had phrased it seemed to imply that he might be willing. Qin Yi did not dwell on his question and instead asked, "What you mean is, you know my origins very well, and you truly are willing to tell me?"
Xu Buyi knocked the Smoking Pipe against something. After a stretch of silence, he slowly said, "I hadn't expected that when you returned, you would already be Formless... Honestly, if you had returned earlier, I wouldn't have told you anything, because there would have been no point."
Qin Yi said, "So reaching Formless is enough?"
"It isn't that reaching Formless is enough. Rather, after Formless, this becomes a crucial task on your path toward Supreme Clarity. If we don't tell you, you'd probably turn the whole village upside down. An obstacle upon the Dao Path is an enemy beneath the same sky—we don't want to become your enemies for no good reason. That'd be fucking unfair."
Qin Yi: "..."
Xu Buyi hesitated again, seeming to organize his words. Only after a long while did he say, "You should have sensed it too. You're an orphan."
Qin Yi said, "Your whole family is made of orphans!"
"Fine, then you have rather a lot of mothers..."
Qin Yi grabbed him by the collar and glared at him for a long time. In the end, he finally lowered his