Disposition

Back when he was still in Deyi Tower, Immortal Peng had said to the not-yet-ten-year-old Chu Nanping, "Cast aside every thought and sever every worry. Every thought you have harms you. Abandon everything, and only then can you gain everything."

No Deyi Tower Disciple had ever truly managed that, and Chu Nanping was no exception. But he had kept striving. When his own brother died, he had remained unmoved. Little Xu Yi's friendship was dispensable, and Dragon King's trust was even more insignificant.

Only Tie Linglong had brought him a different experience. But he had kept it well under control and rarely revealed it—until he cultivated the Xumi Jie Divine Skill.

The changes had come little by little. Unbeknownst to him, the passion Chu Nanping had suppressed for years erupted. He spoke his true feelings to Tie Linglong and felt a joy he had never known before.

But a small blank space had appeared in his heart, like a growth he had been born with being cut away. It was exultant pain, yet tinged with a trace of loss. The blank space grew larger and larger, until one day Chu Nanping discovered that he could no longer wield his twin swords.

That blank space had originally been the territory occupied by the Heartless Sword Style.

At first, Chu Nanping had thought he had not practiced hard enough. He soon understood that something was wrong with his state of mind. To wield two swords alone and execute the Heartless Sword Style, which required two people to cooperate, his heart had to be still as water.

Chu Nanping had already been pondering this problem long before Dragon King had asked him to choose.

It was the first time he had seriously thought about anything, completely contrary to Immortal Peng's teachings.

That same