"Y-you truly are Lord Dai?"
Bu Er looked at the tall, thin man before him, deeply uncertain.
Dai Sheng had been round as a ball, bearing not the slightest resemblance to this man.
No, on closer inspection, there was something familiar about his brows and eyes.
But Bu Er could hardly agree that this alone made him Dai Sheng.
"Guard Bu Er, you are as impressive as ever. It gladdens my heart." The tall, thin man chuckled.
Bu Er abruptly raised his head and narrowed his eyes at Dai Sheng.
"Guard Bu Er." That form of address thundered in his ears. Back then, only one man had ever called him that.
Dai Sheng!
"W-why have you become like this?"
Though he knew the man before him could be none other than Dai Sheng, doubts still lingered in Bu Er's heart.
However harsh the conditions on North Mountain, they could not possibly have rendered Dai Sheng unrecognizable.
Dai Sheng smiled again. The smile spilled from the corners of his eyes, yet not a muscle in his face moved.
This startled Bu Er once more, and he blurted out, "Your face..."
That was it. He had sensed something strange about Dai Sheng all along without being able to put his finger on it. Now he saw it clearly.
His face was like wood. Whether he felt joy, anger, sorrow, or delight, it never moved in the slightest.
Watching Bu Er's expression suddenly change, Dai Sheng made no attempt to evade the matter. Instead, he looked straight at Yang Qing. "My lord, did you travel all this way merely to see what has become of me?"
Without waiting for Yang Qing to answer, Dai Sheng continued, "It is only a shell of flesh. What is there to look at?"
Great, storm-tossed waves had