Conversation

A flush of red instantly rose to Qian Renxue's snowy cheeks. She shot him an annoyed glare. "Lin Chuan! You... you're being rather improper!"

"Guess again. You're really very close!"

"I don't know." Zhao Linchuan chose to give up.

"It's Crown Prince Xue Qinghe!" Qian Renxue nearly blurted it out, with a hint of exasperation at his failure to meet expectations. Then she narrowed her eyes. "You guessed it long ago, didn't you?"

"I simply didn't want to play this kind of childish guessing game with a... seemingly intelligent young lady." Zhao Linchuan said matter-of-factly.

The room fell silent for a moment. Zhao Linchuan spoke again, but this question seemed somewhat abrupt. "Xue'er, is your cultivation talent... poor?"

"Poor cultivation talent?" Qian Renxue seemed to have heard a joke. Her proud expression returned. "This Young Master was born with Innate Soul Power at level twenty—unmatched across the entire continent!"

"It has absolutely nothing to do with the word 'poor'!"

"Innate level twenty..." Zhao Linchuan murmured the words, then lifted his gaze and fixed her with eyes as sharp as torches.

"Then I don't understand."

"Since you possess such astonishing talent, why didn't you remain in Spirit Hall and devote yourself to secluded cultivation, pursuing the highest realm of Soul Masters? Why come to the Heaven Dou Empire instead, spend more than a decade disguising yourself as a man, and seek to seize mundane power?"

His tone was exceedingly steady, but the content of his words caused the pride on Qian Renxue's face to stiffen slightly.

"I... I want to prove myself to someone!" she answered instinctively. It was the conviction that had sustained her for years.

"Prove yourself?" Zhao Linchuan repeated softly. His tone was so calm that Qian Renxue's heart inexplicably tightened.

He did not immediately refute her. Instead, he slowly rose and walked to the window, looking at the fluttering butterflies outside.

"Xue'er, when we were in the carriage, you said your Soul Power was currently over level fifty?" he asked with his back to her.

"So what? I've been occupied with government affairs and neglected cultivation..." Qian Renxue tried to explain.

Zhao Linchuan suddenly turned around. His normally gentle eyes were now sharp as blades as he directly cut her off. "Neglected cultivation? What a fine excuse—'neglected cultivation'!"

"Then let me ask you: if you had devoted all the effort you spent undercover over these past ten-odd years to cultivation, with your foundation of Innate Soul Power at level twenty and the resources Spirit Hall would have poured into nurturing you, what realm would you have reached by now?"

Without waiting for Qian Renxue to answer, he pressed forward step by step. His voice was not loud, yet every word struck her heart like a hammer.

"A Soul Saint? Surely more than that! Even reaching the threshold of a Soul Douluo would not have been an idle dream!"

"At your age, if you had become a Soul Saint, you would have been the youngest Soul Saint on the continent! If you had become a Soul Douluo, you would have been the youngest Soul Douluo in history!"

"Wouldn't that glory, that strength, have been enough to prove Qian Renxue's worth to anyone?!"

Qian Renxue opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but the mixture of regret and incomprehension in Zhao Linchuan's eyes forced the words back down.

"And that still wouldn't be enough?" Zhao Linchuan's tone grew increasingly heavy, carrying an undertone of frustration at her refusal to live up to her potential. "Then cultivate wholeheartedly for another ten or twenty years! By then, who besides you, Qian Renxue, could claim the crown of the continent's youngest Titled Douluo?"

"When you attained the Titled rank, wielded the Angel Sacred Sword, and stood before Heaven Dou City, would you still need to exhaust yourself scheming to steal an empire? Would you still need to prove yourself to anyone?"

He walked before Qian Renxue and looked down at her. His words were like cold reality, tearing apart the disguise of self-consolation she had worn for years.

"You wouldn't need to! Strength—supreme, absolute strength—is the hardest truth in this world!"

"At that point, you would be the rules. You would be the will!"

"Whether the Heaven Dou Empire endured or perished would rest on a single thought from you!"

"Even the Star Luo Emperor would have to bow and salute when he met you!"

"Wouldn't that prove who you, Qian Renxue, are far more than this furtive Crown Prince identity of yours, this life of walking on thin ice?!"

He let out a long breath. Looking at the stunning face before him, now dazed by his words, he finally gave a heavy sigh.

"Xue'er, you keep saying that you want to prove yourself, yet you chose the most roundabout, least efficient, and perhaps even... the most foolish path."

"You ignored the road leading straight to the heavens and insisted on wading into the mire of power struggles, even at the cost of abandoning the peerless talent heaven bestowed upon you—the talent every Soul Master in the world dreams of."

"Isn't this the greatest case of putting the cart before the horse?"

"You could have pointed your sword straight at Star Luo Palace and made emperors bow with absolute strength."

"You could have written a legend in the Soul Master world and made the name Qian Renxue resound through the skies."

"Yet you willingly trapped yourself within these palace walls, playing the role of a false Crown Prince and spending every day maneuvering through schemes and political machinations..."

He paused briefly, then said without mercy, "Shortsighted! Foolish!! You and the person who agreed to send you here to carry out this plan are equally beyond foolish!"

Qian Renxue stood frozen in place. Light flickered in her Purple Eyes, as though his words had deeply wounded her, yet also as though she were reflecting on things no one had ever dared say to her.

For a time, an unusual silence filled the room. Only the occasional birdsong outside the window could be heard clearly.

After pondering for a long time, Qian Renxue found those sharp criticisms echoing repeatedly in her heart. Yet strangely, she did not feel angry. Instead, she felt an odd thrill at having her disguise exposed.

She did not admit fault. She merely tilted her head, trying to steer the conversation elsewhere, her tone carrying a touch of coquettish annoyance that even she did not notice.

"Lin Chuan, has anyone ever told you that you're too rigid and never Beat Around the Bush when you speak?"

Several Black Lines instantly appeared on Zhao Linchuan's face.

Someone had called him rigid?

Of course. And not long ago, the eldest daughter of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had said the exact same thing.

"Good advice may grate on the ear, but benefits one's conduct; good medicine may taste bitter, but cures illness." His tone was calm, with a trace of self-mockery. "Since Young Master Qian Renxue prefers pleasant words of flattery, Zhao will be more cautious with his words from now on."

"Don't!" Qian Renxue hurriedly spoke, even instinctively reaching out as if to stop him, as though afraid he would truly fall silent from then on. "Lin Chuan, whatever you have to say, just say it."

"You need not restrain yourself in front of me. Say whatever comes to mind." She patted her chest, trying hard to appear magnanimous. "My heart can take it. I can handle it."

A trace of amusement flashed across Zhao Linchuan's face. Raising a brow, he asked, "Say what?"

"Of course... those unpleasant but sincere words. The words from your heart."

Zhao Linchuan waved a hand, his tone deliberately distant. "Better not. I'm afraid that one day I'll speak too harshly, and Young Master might get angry and have those two outside 'escort' me out. I couldn't bear that."