"Little fellow..."
Cen Qiaofu burst into laughter. "Do you feel like you've never even seriously considered the words 'Holy Emperor'? In fact, throughout your entire life, you probably haven't heard them mentioned all that often, have you?"
Xu Xiaoshou raised his eyes in shock.
Had this old woodcutter mastered mind-reading? "This old man has no mind-reading arts. But I do know that once certain heavenly secrets are screened off by the Heavenly Dao, people do not even get the chance to think of them." Cen Qiaofu composed himself and spoke calmly.
"Foolish masses?" Xu Xiaoshou craned his head forward.
"That is not an impossible way to understand it..."
Cen Qiaofu hesitated for a moment without refuting him, then returned to the previous topic. "So use that clever little head of yours and think. What does the Chief want you to do? Or rather, what is it that you yourself truly seek?"
This time, Xu Xiaoshou did not need to think at all. Two words came tumbling out.
"Freedom. Protection!"
They were the meaning of life he had eventually found and distilled from all his struggles in the mortal world.
Yet at this moment, Xu Xiaoshou suddenly felt there needed to be one more.
"...And 'truth'!"
Cen Qiaofu was slightly moved. He neither refuted nor mocked him. After a long pause, he said with feeling, "Well said. Do you know this old man's story?"
"Mm? How could I not?" Xu Xiaoshou nodded, equally surprised. "The Southern Domain woodcutter who attained the Cutting Path overnight—who in this world has not heard of that?"
He had once regarded the tale of "attaining the Cutting Path overnight" with skepticism, without understanding just how difficult such a feat was.
But after coming this far and clashing with so many Thrones and Cutting Path experts...
Xu