Yu Ding Zhenren had not finished speaking.
"No need."
The next moment, Guangchengzi cut him off, his voice hoarse.
"What would going there accomplish? Watch the Buddhist School make fools of themselves?"
Yu Ding Zhenren fell silent.
"Or..." Guangchengzi gave a bitter laugh, his smile steeped in anguish. "Do you think we could help if we went?"
No one spoke.
Because everyone knew the answer was no.
Even if they went, they could do nothing.
They could only watch.
Watch Gu Changqing continue his arrogance, continue his insolence, continue grinding the Buddhist School's dignity into the dirt.
Just as they had watched Gu Changqing dig up Kunlun Mountain's foundations.
That helplessness inspired more despair than any blow could.
"Master, he..."
Yu Ding Zhenren hesitated, unable to finish.
"Master is fine." Guangchengzi drew a deep breath, trying to make his voice sound calmer. "It's just..."
He did not go on.
Just what?
Just that he had lost face?
Just that someone had bullied him right at his doorstep, yet he could not strike back?
Those words were too ugly to say, too hurtful.
Guangchengzi closed his eyes, but the scene from moments earlier kept surfacing in his mind...
Gu Changqing had stood there swaying, making no attempt to defend himself, and taken Master's full-force strike head-on.
Without suffering a scratch.
Without even looking back.
Then he had said "Thank you" and sauntered away.
And Master...
Had stood where he was, without a word.
Watching helplessly.
Guangchengzi's fingers clenched a little tighter.
Gu Changqing...
He silently repeated that name, his eyes filled with conflicting emotions.
Hatred, anger, helplessness, and a trace of...
Awe that even he refused to acknowledge.
Just how powerful was this man?
And would people like us ever, in this lifetime, have a chance to...
Catch up to him?