Xia Jue's movements paused briefly, his gaze so placid that no one could tell what he was thinking.
Shui Rao'er thought her persuasion had worked and steadied herself. She quietly glanced at the formation. Less than a tenth remained to be completed now; she felt she ought to find some way to divert Xia Jue's attention.
"Our ultimate purpose in performing this art is merely to borrow fortune. But if you destroy the Heavenly Star Rotation Technique now, the people inside will end up either mad or witless.
"I've heard that Hall Master Xia has always doted on his junior sister. Surely you wouldn't want her bright future destroyed."
Tong Qi quietly hid his face behind his fan, but he could not stop the corners of his lips from lifting. A lie like that could not even fool him, much less Xia Jue, yet Shui Rao'er was still trying to be clever here.
It seemed the Water Moon School's decline had been destined long ago.
Xia Jue's thoughts were impossible to fathom, but his actions suggested that he believed Shui Rao'er's explanation. He returned the wine cup to its original place.
"Merely borrowing fortune? I thought your sect wanted to borrow lives."
His voice could not have been gentler, yet it sent a chill through everyone present.
Perhaps because those words had been directed at Shui Rao'er, she felt it even more keenly.
Hong Ming, who had remained silent, had been observing Xia Jue all along. He kept feeling that this young hall master gave him a very strange impression, as though Xia Jue possessed an innate ability to make others fear him.
Perhaps that ability did not come from Xia Jue himself, but from some object?
Otherwise, how could a cultivator merely in the Nascent Soul Realm give him