Laozi raised his eyes and looked at Yuanshi.
In the depths of those withered eyes, light flickered uncertainly.
"If I cannot bear it, then what can I do?"
The six characters fell like Eternal Ice.
Yuanshi froze.
Laozi continued, "I cannot defeat them, contend with them, or outcalculate them."
"Junior Brother, tell me—if I cannot bear it, then what can I do?"
Yuanshi fell silent.
He knew his Elder Brother was right.
If he could not bear it, then what could he do?
Go to Xuandu? Go to Golden Ao Island? Go to Jie Sect?
That would only be courting humiliation.
Go find White Guard? Clean house? Win back their honor?
How could that green clad man stand by and watch?
"So, Elder Brother, you simply sit here?"
Yuanshi spoke, a trace of unwillingness in his voice.
"And watch the Human Sect's fortune grow fainter by the day?"
"And watch Jie Sect grow stronger by the day?"
"And watch Xuandu ride roughshod over our heads?"
Laozi looked at him, his gaze calm.
Yet beneath that calm lay the helplessness of one who had seen through all worldly affairs.
"Junior Brother, do you think I want to sit here?"
"Do you think I do not want to make a move?"
"Do you think I do not want to reclaim my honor?"
He paused, and his voice grew heavy.
"But what can I do? Alone, I cannot defeat Xuandu or contend against Jie Sect."
"Even if I stake this life, I would merely make that green clad man spend a little more effort."
As his words fell, it was as though a burden had been lifted.
Yuanshi stood beside the cloud bed, looking at that withered face of his Elder Brother.
An indescribable emotion surged within him.
His Elder Brother had changed.