"This humble Daoist is serious. That Second Young Master of yours really is rather interesting."
Yun Qing ignored Fu Sanyuan's teasing. Across several miles, his double pupils fixed straight on Yun Tianluo.
Yun Tianluo no longer possessed that overly refined exquisite aura of old. He had once sculpted that aura layer by layer, striving for perfection.
But the human heart was no jade artifact. The harder one tried to carve it without flaws, the more easily it shattered.
Now he had left the Yun Clan and his familiar clansmen behind, tearing off the labels of "the Yun Clan's Second Young Master" and "the First Elder's legitimate grandson." Here in this unfamiliar realm, the sharp edges he had concealed and disguised for years were finally revealing their true form, little by little.
Deep in his bones, Yun Tianluo was unruly and proud, unwilling to bow beneath anyone, his edge blazingly sharp. He looked down upon human hearts, treating Great Xia's Imperial Examination as a Go board to manipulate and control at will.
He no longer deliberately repaired his incomplete seven-aperture exquisite nature. Instead, he let it grow freely along the course of his true temperament, undergoing a wild transformation. And it was precisely this true nature that had begun to make his Dao path clear.
Yun Qing quietly watched Yun Tianluo atop the Jade Steps, understanding dawning in his heart.
Only by leaving one's shackles behind could one find one's true self.
There were countless Dao paths, none higher or lower than another. Yun Ruyi's compassion for all living beings was a Dao, and Yun Tianluo's disdainful gaze upon them was a Dao as well.
His worries eased, Yun Qing smiled by the window.
"He is seeking the Dao."
Fu Sanyuan paused slightly in cracking his seeds and sighed.
"You people