"After forcing himself on Bibi Dong, why didn't Qian Xunji lock her up for life and stop her from cultivating? He knew how talented she was, yet he let her keep training."
"Didn't he know how much a woman could hold in? Once she finally snapped, he'd never survive it. Well, Bibi Dong killed him. Maybe he'd know better in his next life."
Yu Xiaogang walked in the middle of the group when he suddenly stumbled, his left foot catching behind his right heel. He pitched forward half a step. Flender caught his arm at once and frowned. "Xiaogang, what's wrong?"
Yu Xiaogang steadied himself and waved a hand, forcing a faint smile. "Wasn't watching my step."
Flender glanced at him but asked nothing more. He let go and kept walking.
Yu Xiaogang found his stride again. His face betrayed nothing, but a storm was raging inside him.
Qian Xunji. Of course he knew that name.
Dong'er's teacher. Spirit Hall's former pope. The man Dong'er herself had said treated her like his own daughter.
He remembered the way Dong'er used to speak of Qian Xunji: how good her teacher had been to her, how he had taught her to cultivate and taught her about life, how he had given her a home.
Yu Xiaogang had never doubted her.
But what had Tang San just said?
After forcing himself on Bibi Dong? Lock her up?
Yu Xiaogang clenched his hands inside his sleeves until his knuckles turned white, then slowly loosened them.
He couldn't believe it. Not for a second.
Yet he also knew that for all Tang San's vicious mouth and black heart, most of what he said was true.
And now Tang San was saying Qian Xunji, the man Dong'er had seen as a father, had forced himself on