Wang Anguo looked at Chen Yan's stunned expression, apparently quite pleased with the shock he had caused. A playful smile touched his lips.
"Heh. What's with that look?"
"Did you think I was some old fossil who clings to outdated ideas?"
He patted Chen Yan on the shoulder. Though his hand was old, it held a steady strength, much like the imposing aura of a Grandmaster.
"Though I hold a position in the Alliance and usually put the Alliance's greater interests first, you must remember: we are martial artists."
Wang Anguo's words were not loud, but every one of them struck Chen Yan to the heart.
"Martial artists have to fight for what they want."
"If you don't fight, you get nothing. Resources won't fall from the sky. You have to seize your opportunities yourself!"
"Anyone who makes it far in martial arts and achieves even a little success must have some secrets of their own. They've surely run into a few opportunities others could beg for and never get."
Wang Anguo's gaze grew profound. He stared at Chen Yan, as if trying to see through the astonishing secret hidden within the young man.
"Take me, for example. I never asked you how you got into that Rift you discovered—or how you got back out."
Chen Yan nodded slightly, and the last of his doubts vanished.
Coming clean to Wang Anguo had indeed been an excellent move.
His grandmaster was far more clear-sighted than he had imagined—and far more... "reasonable."
He wasn't a pedant who only knew how to spout grand principles. He was a practical man who understood how to struggle through the muck of reality and secure the greatest possible benefits for his own people.
Just as the old man and the young one reached a tacit understanding