"Even so, you shouldn't have..."
Kang Shi stopped there. Going by Qi Shan's account alone, he couldn't really be blamed for what happened. He'd been brooding over it for years. And with the true enemy, Yan Cheng, already gone to face King Yama, Kang Shi had no idea where to direct the anger burning inside him.
He changed what he'd been about to say.
"...You shouldn't have acted like that..."
Xin Country and Geng Country weren't places where Qi Shan had been active, so his reputation for "wicked schemes" was little known there. But beyond those two countries, people across the northwest of the continent turned pale at the mere mention of Qi Shan.
His younger cousin had gone from a little saint to a great demon???
Qi Shan said, "I could never learn to be like him."
At their core, they were simply different people.
Even if he forced himself to imitate that way of doing things, he'd probably only manage a pale imitation. He wouldn't become renowned, and he'd end up with a reputation for being "hypocritical" besides. He'd be better off staying open and honest. For a Literary Scholar, "evil" had never been a sin that warranted condemnation.
Incompetence was!
Literary Scholars competed in calculation and strategy, in covert schemes and open stratagems. They didn't compete over who was the most kindhearted, honest, or noble.
So Qi Shan didn't believe he'd done anything wrong.
Kang Shi was momentarily choked by Qi Shan's frank, unapologetic answer.
After a long while, he managed to quell the storm raging inside him and studied Qi Shan with a calm gaze. "What are you planning to do? Keep using his identity forever? Carry on like this?"
People were selfish.
Kang Shi was no exception.
Emotionally, he couldn't accept Qi Shan "passing himself