"Not wearing the mask?"
When Nieruo stopped, Le Yu asked lazily.
"The mask isn't in my hands." Nieruo said calmly, "It belongs to Twin Carp Palace."
"But she can't use it anyway." Le Yu took a swig of red juice and smiled. "Even if the Madness Mask belongs to Twin Carp Palace, you also belong to her. Is there really any need to draw such a clear line?"
"Of course there is." Nieruo turned to look at him and said calmly, "Her possessing the Madness Mask represents that she is my Sword Master, while I am her sword scabbard. Her fighting for my sake isn't meaningless. On the contrary, if she stays by my side, she can raise my combat power by an entire level."
"Does that matter?" Le Yu asked. "With the contract of the Holy Sword Huiyao, you can trust each other completely. There's no need for such a superfluous bond..."
"You may think a superfluous bond is meaningless, but Twin Carp Palace and I happen to think the opposite." Nieruo gently caressed the Cherry Tooth Longblade and said as if chatting with a friend, "It is precisely because it is superfluous that it has meaning. When all is said and done, isn't the relationship between a sword scabbard and a Sword Master simply that of a servant and master? Ruler and subject, parent and child, teacher and student—in this world, aren't all relationships merely those between rulers and the ruled existing at a certain time and place? Aren't we all just using each other and muddling along?"
"But why do we need to be loyal to our ruler, respect our parents, and revere our teachers?"
Nieruo tightened his grip on the Cherry Tooth Longblade. "It is precisely because our relationships contain so many boring, superfluous bonds. The