The Limits of One's State of Mind

Looking at Xuanyuan Batian's suspicious gaze, Qin Jishi chuckled.

"Very simple. Where there is a cause, there is an effect. You believe you should be the Clan Leader of the Xuanyuan Family because your heart lacks reverence."

Xuanyuan Batian looked over coldly. What did being Clan Leader have to do with reverence?

"Qin Jishi, are you trying to be a lobbyist?"

"A lobbyist?" Qin Jishi shook his head. "Senior Xuanyuan, I do have some ties with Clan Leader Xuanyuan, but not enough to serve as a lobbyist. Whether you live or die has little to do with me."

Xuanyuan Batian: "..."

Seeing him fall silent, Qin Jishi continued, "Besides lacking reverence, there is another, more important flaw in your heart: self-righteousness. You think too highly of yourself and take yourself far too seriously."

Xuanyuan Batian narrowed his eyes, signaling for Qin Jishi to continue.

"Senior Xuanyuan, it was precisely because you lacked reverence for Clan Leader Xuanyuan and felt that he was inferior to you in every way—that you were the most suitable person to be Clan Leader of the Xuanyuan Family."

"So, when you were carrying out a Lineage mission and Ancestor Xuanyuan ascended, passing the position to Clan Leader Xuanyuan, you neither saw it with your own eyes nor heard it with your own ears. Coupled with your overly irascible nature and the many people you had offended, you came to believe that they had joined forces to alter Ancestor Xuanyuan's wishes."

Creak!

Hearing this, Xuanyuan Batian gritted his teeth. "Wasn't that the case?"

"Senior Xuanyuan!" Qin Jishi laughed. "Do you hope it was, or hope it wasn't?"

"I..." Xuanyuan Batian was just about to speak when he sensed that something was wrong.

He suddenly found himself unable to answer.

All these years, he had been trapped in