Lingxiao City.
Gu Jinlai and Gu Chaoyang hurried back, travel-worn and dust-covered.
"From taking one step back to find a vast sea and open sky, to meeting soldiers with generals and floods with earth, and now to having no choice but to launch a counterattack."
Gu Jinlai sighed.
This was what relentless pressure looked like.
"I've already shown weakness and even handed the Meteor Guards over to her. Does she really have to push her luck and seize complete control of the situation?"
He sighed. "I even found myself thinking of those years in Changjun City. I took one step back, and they advanced one step. I took another step back, and they advanced another, until I had nowhere left to retreat and was forced to erupt and kill. Only then did they realize fear."
"Ancestor."
Although Gu Chaoyang did not wish to question his ancestor's decision, he could not help asking, "In truth, we have the strength to stabilize Lingxiao City and sideline Su Tong, don't we?"
"It ultimately comes down to a difference in thinking."
Gu Jinlai said, "In this world, there is no doctrine of the mean, no belief that harmony is precious. It only recognizes 'what you have, I must take' and 'either you die or I do.'"
"Isn't that normal?"
Gu Chaoyang looked at Gu Jinlai in confusion. "In the struggle for the Great Dao, one must advance without hesitation. We cultivators stand between heaven and earth, and by our very nature, we battle heaven, battle earth, and battle others. If we don't seize good things for ourselves, wouldn't we just be giving them away to others? In the long run, if we gain no benefits, we'll grow weaker and weaker while others grow stronger, until they swallow and destroy us like a withered tree