"Second, don't you think your possessiveness is out of control? You obtained their bodies through underhanded means, and now you want to ruin the rest of their lives too.
"Of course, things like this happen far too often for me to deal with them all, and they don't fall within the Sword Alliance's duties.
"But you insisted on coming up to me and saying all this. You asked for a tongue-lashing, so I'll oblige."
Li Yang opened his eyes, tore through the ice cocoon, and stepped out.
His body was flawless, and a scorching aura of pure yang radiated from him, inside and out.
Like Chu Feng, he had a head of black hair.
But he lacked Chu Feng's wickedly seductive, dissolute air.
Li Yang's black hair was neatly tied up. His face was resolute, its contours sharp as though carved by a sword, and his gaze was upright and candid.
Standing there, he was a gentleman's unsheathed sword-his edge fully revealed, yet holding heaven and earth within his heart, commanding respect without anger.
"The 'consummated Dao Companion relationship' you speak of was obtained through underhanded means. That isn't romance. It's the crime of exploiting someone's vulnerability. Yet you dress it up as a blessed union to conceal the control and plunder in your very bones.
"And even if they do have feelings for you, what do you take them for?
"Your trophies?
"Pretty embellishments on the record of your glorious cultivation career?
"You've never treated them as your equals, as people with independent wills and the right to choose.
"You use the words 'Dao Companion' to prettify your possession of them, but your actions have defiled those words. True Dao Companions are partners who walk the Great Dao together and support each other, not canaries whose wings you've broken