Over Cloud Dream Marsh, the bright moon shone high, and stars and nebulae crowded the sky.
Cui Hao crouched on the ground, idly scratching irregular lines in the dirt with a branch he had snapped off somewhere.
Under the moonlight, Zheng Zhaoling held her hands behind her back, her head raised toward the flawless, radiant moon.
"You called me out here just to listen to you scratch randomly at the ground?"
"No... I was just thinking about how to phrase things."
"How to phrase things?"
"Yes, because I think there's a chance you'll hit me if I say what's on my mind outright. I need to figure out how to say it without getting hit."
Zheng Zhaoling let out a little laugh, though whether his words had angered or amused her was unclear. She turned around and looked calmly at Cui Hao.
"What you just said was already asking for a beating."
Cui Hao gave a long, quiet sigh.
What Zheng Zhaoling had said in the discussion hall at noon had naturally been enough to shatter stone and startle the heavens.
The same words spoken by people of different standing would naturally bring completely different results.
The Cloud Dream Pavilion's Sect Leader had only just tried to drive a wedge between him and the Cloud Marsh God when Zheng Zhaoling turned that provocation into a question of what should be done and what was right.
The meeting in the discussion hall had ended on a somewhat sour note.
The Cloud Dream Pavilion's Sect Leader had not refuted Zheng Zhaoling. Instead, the Sect Leader had meaningfully said that further discussion was needed, then left with the Cloud Dream Pavilion's Elders and Grand Elders.
From Cui Hao's observations, Zheng Zhaoling received none of the treatment due a Core Disciple at the Cloud