"Oh? A gift from your husband... No wonder it has such spiritual resonance. It seems the two of you are perfectly in tune..." The gray-robed elder paused mid-sentence, as though something had occurred to him.
"Is something wrong, Senior?" Wang Yazhi asked.
She could tell the elder was hesitating.
Wang Yazhi came from a scholarly family and had been quick-witted since childhood. She knew an opportunity had appeared, and she wanted to seize it.
Her player privileges could not reveal the elder's information. He was clearly a level above her—what a game would call a boss, and a powerful one at that.
"I had intended to guide you to the Heavenly Court, but your ties to the mortal world run too deep..." The elder watched Wang Yazhi as though weighing the depth of her feelings for her husband.
Ascending to the Heavenly Court would separate husband and wife for good. It was a cruel choice to put before them.
"Then I won't go." Wang Yazhi shook her head.
"Do you mean that?" The elder looked startled by her immediate answer, as though he had never encountered such a response.
He had hesitated precisely because he did not want to pose a painful question just to test a seeker of the Way.
To ascend to the Heavenly Court and receive an immortal's title was the highest dream of every mortal. Beside immortality, even the pleasures of an emperor paled.
If he offered Wang Yazhi that chance, she was bound to struggle with the choice.
Suffering could forge greatness, but it was also a dagger that drove itself ever deeper.
The elder did not want to see her endure that torment, much less be the one to inflict it. This young woman was truly exceptional.
Yet faced with such a temptation, Wang