Zuo Qiu Wu stood within the Mountain and River Disk, looking into Jiang Wang's eyes beyond the confinement—but he was not looking only at Jiang Wang. He looked at the Lakeheart Pavilion he could not see, yet still remembered every trace left there by the years, remembered the landing point of every stone on the board... like sitting at the bottom of a well and gazing at the moon!
Of course, he could hear Ju Kui's heavenly voice, but for a moment, he stood stunned.
"Do you all read history books?" he asked.
Across from him, Jiang Wang said, "I was fortunate enough to study Mr. Sima Heng's History Knife Chisels the Sea."
"Open a history book and have a look. What is written in them? Is any of what lies before us truly new?"
Zuo Qiu Wu gave a cold laugh. "Well-behaved children are always expected to be even more well-behaved. Those with a sense of responsibility always bear heavier burdens. Those who endure hardship will forever endure more hardship."
"Suiren burned himself away, Youxiong declined and perished, Lie Mountain unraveled himself. From the Three Sovereigns and all the sages until now, history books piled high enough to touch the sky amount to no more than four words—"
With a sweep of his great sleeve, he declared, "The virtuous suffer!"
Within the Lakeheart Pavilion, there was, unexpectedly, silence.
"Sir has his lofty theories." In the ice coffin within the sea of consciousness, Jiang Wang's hand pressing upon the cauldron did not loosen. "But given Cui Yigeng's character, if you had explained things clearly to him—told him what required such a sacrifice from him—he would still have made that sacrifice."
Zuo Qiu Wu shook his head. "Without a true desperate situation, his will could not be wrung dry, nor could