The Setup
Xiao Lian's expression darkened a little at those words. He silently stared down into the black void beneath his feet. Only after a long while did he look up and ask, "Master, you didn't give Su Xingchen the Spirit Refining Star Tome, did you?"
The old man stroked his beard and smiled. "Do you think your master is the sort of person who'd be so careless?"
Xiao Lian felt a weight lift from his heart. Seeing how confident Su Xingchen had looked earlier, he'd genuinely thought he'd taken the Spirit Refining Star Tome with him.
But because he understood and trusted his master, he'd chosen to stay silent and play along, helping put on a show.
Seeing the faint confusion on his face, the old man asked with a smile, "Are you wondering why he was so certain he'd taken the Spirit Refining Star Tome?"
Xiao Lian nodded. "Yes. With Su Xingchen's Soul Power, he shouldn't have been so easy to fool."
"That depends on who's doing the fooling." The old man smiled, a trace of quiet pride in his calm voice.
Hearing that familiar tone, Xiao Lian felt as though he'd returned to a million years ago, when he'd still been training under the old man.
Back then, he'd been full of youthful confidence. With his exceptional talent and noble birth, he'd held an unquestioned place at the top of the younger generation and had been exceedingly arrogant.
That was until he met his father's friend—the old man before him, Cheng Jue, the previous master of the Spirit Refining Star Tome, who had mastered its cultivation.
At the time, Cheng Jue had used his Soul Power to bring Xiao Lian completely to heel. After that, Xiao Lian had trained under him for a while and learned to