"I chose to die standing."
"We all did."
"We didn't want to become silent, unjust souls beneath Immortal Dao Mountain's blades, just as they had originally planned."
"We hoped to follow you and die with our heads held high, facing Immortal Dao Mountain head-on."
Zhan Tai spoke earnestly.
"The fear of death—we had already digested it during these past days, while Immortal Venerable Han Chen and Daoist Cheng Tian kept us imprisoned in the mountain formation."
"We no longer fear death, because we have already experienced it."
"Originally, at a time like this, all of us should have been slaughtered clean. It was you, Brother Ye Tian, who saved us and gave us new lives."
"So we believe in you, and we want to follow you."
"Not only for ourselves, but also for the fellow disciples who were already slaughtered—we chose to fight Immortal Dao Mountain, no matter what the outcome may be."
Zhan Tai declared in a clear, resounding voice.
The disciples around them all echoed his words.
His words had clearly won everyone's approval. The crowd was aflame with righteous indignation, as if, given enough strength, they would charge straight up Immortal Dao Mountain to avenge themselves.
Ye Tian looked at Zhan Tai, who had evidently become the leader of the disciples, and felt a trace of wistfulness in his heart.
Before his eyes seemed to appear the fisherman's son from decades ago, beside the river in Azure City.
Back then, the Youth had still been called Zhan Xiaoyu. Dark and skinny, he had been every bit like a loach when he was in the water.
To cultivate the Dao, the Youth had gathered his courage and risked his life crossing the great river on a stormy night, hoping to board the Sacred Hall's vessel.
Yet because of