Xie Xie, the Mentor

Xie Xie smiled, clasped his hands behind his head, crossed one leg over the other, and swung it lazily. His gaze rested on the stars filling the sky, and for once, there was not a trace of his usual frivolity in his voice.

"Wulin, I never became friends with you because of your talent."

He turned to look at Tang Wulin's bewildered face. His peach-blossom eyes, usually filled with cunning mischief, now shone with sincerity, without the slightest hint of a joke.

"To be honest, I did target you at first because I wasn't convinced. I just couldn't understand how someone with a Blue Silver Grass martial soul could have such freakish strength. I always wanted to beat you someday and prove that I, Xie Xie, was the strongest in our grade."

Xie Xie laughed at himself as he said it, then his smile faded and his tone became especially earnest. "But when I truly came to see you as a brother, it had nothing to do with any of that. I saw so many things in you that I don't have."

He stretched out an arm and casually hooked it around Tang Wulin's shoulder. The pressure was neither too heavy nor too light, but it carried genuine warmth.

"You're tough. You take the hardest beatings, endure the greatest hardships, then get right back up and keep training. You've never once said you wanted to give up. You're willing to fight with everything you have. When others train for one hour, you can endure three. Whether it's forging or cultivation, you've never slacked off. And you always have others in your heart. Whenever danger comes, you're always the first to rush forward. You'd rather get hurt yourself than let the people around you suffer."

"None of those things may seem