Pan Long looked so frantic that Bi Lingkong seemed a little surprised.
"What exactly are you so anxious about?" she asked. "Word that you've regained the power of the Immortals and Buddhas must have spread throughout the world by now. Until they hear for certain that you've been destroyed or subdued, no one will dare lay a hand on your family or friends. Besides, you have the power of Bringing the Dead Back to Life. Even if someone died nearly a century ago and their body was reduced to ashes and buried, you could still bring them back out of thin air. Killing your loved ones wouldn't hurt you. It would only enrage you."
She watched Pan Long. "So what do you have to be anxious about?"
Pan Long sighed. "The struggle over Reform..."
"Does that have anything to do with you?" Bi Lingkong interrupted, her expression serious. "Have you forgotten what you are?"
Pan Long froze. He opened his mouth, but had no idea what to say.
It was one thing for other people to worry about the country and its people. But why was he, a rebel, doing it?
Wouldn't Reform's failure be good news for him?
The fact that he wasn't personally working to make Reform fail already showed remarkable integrity: he cared about his methods and had lines he wouldn't cross. Was he supposed to pay out of his own pocket and bring his own provisions to protect a dynasty he ought to be trying to overthrow?
That would be insane!
Pan Long didn't consider himself insane, nor did he intend to paste a "saint" label on his forehead. He had no answer.
After a while, he said quietly, "If Reform fails, the common people will suffer terribly."
"So to spare them suffering now, you'd rather