Before this, although Yu Ci had touched on Madam Xia during his conversation with You Rui, that had been an independent thread. He had never meant to use it as a veiled warning or hint, and Madam Xia could not possibly have known what they had discussed.
Now that she had stepped forward on her own initiative, what she displayed was not merely a stance, but the scheming and bearing of a major sect's leader gradually returning to her normal state.
"I know You Can best. Since he is waiting here, he wants us to approach him voluntarily and negotiate with him, so that he may naturally occupy the 'upper hand.' If we ignore him, there is a high chance he will turn hostile on the spot... He has that kind of desire for control. If circumstances do not support it, he will rack his brains to suppress his opponents until he can achieve that 'control.'"
Madam Xia's explanation was clearly more incisive than You Rui's, and she was not finished yet:
"You Can is a heartless man, burdened by no ties; he is also decisive, and understands how to choose among many paths. He thinks highly of himself and will never willingly remain beneath another. At any time, he can only be a temporary ally bound by shared interests. Yet during an alliance, shifts in control will breed grudges and create cracks, until everything eventually collapses...
"With someone like him, one can negotiate—at least at this moment. He looks utterly alone, so he should not be in a position to impose any harsh terms."
Yu Ci had not yet had time to tell them the information he had obtained beneath the lake, yet Madam Xia had already concluded that You Can was "all alone." This tacit understanding of a