Zhuo Qianren stared at him. "Now tell me. Back then, you insisted on leaving Chang'an, on leaving my tutelage... what was the real reason?"
Xiao Qing lowered his head. His lips quivered, his throat bobbed, and for a long while, he said nothing.
"Speak!"
Zhuo Qianren's low bark cracked like thunder, jolting Xiao Qing into raising his head. Meeting Zhuo Qianren's icy gaze, he finally forced the words out.
"Master!"
"Your kindness to me weighs as heavily as a mountain. You nurtured me with such care and placed such high hopes in me... I know you wanted me to inherit your mantle, to one day... to hold up a stretch of sky for Chang'an Academy."
He paused, as though he had to muster every ounce of strength before continuing. "But... but I was born a lone wolf! I'm not used to... and cannot shoulder that heavy burden of 'responsibility' and 'expectation.'"
"What I wanted... was a wilder path, freer and unfettered, to keep breaking through my limits in battle, not... not to become a 'future leader' whose life had already been mapped out!"
He panted rapidly, as though those words had exhausted his heart and soul. "Back then, I knew that wish was selfish, that I was letting all your painstaking efforts go to waste... but the path in my heart and the path you paved for me... had diverged."
Zhuo Qianren gazed steadily at him. Deep in his weathered eyes, an indescribable emotion flickered-anger at his failure to live up to his potential, but also a trace of... understanding?
He fell silent. Only Xiao Qing's suppressed breathing remained in the private room.
"And what about now?"
Xiao Qing lowered his head. "I don't know..."
A long silence passed.
The storage soul ring on Zhuo Qianren's finger glimmered faintly. Several