Cui Hao sat obediently opposite the Sect Leader of Cloud Dream Pavilion and offered a fawning smile:
"It was only a joke. A small outfit like ours knows its own limits."
The Sect Leader of Cloud Dream Pavilion raised his brows slightly, his tone making it impossible to tell whether he was angry:
"Those words... are you implying that Cloud Dream Pavilion is a small outfit that doesn't know its own limits?"
Cui Hao silently rose, then, under the Sect Leader's gaze, decisively bent at the waist in a deep bow and said in an aggrieved tone:
"This junior is fainthearted. Senior, you mustn't make that sort of joke with me."
Seeing Cui Hao yield so readily, the Sect Leader of Cloud Dream Pavilion recognized that showing weakness could sometimes be another way to break a deadlock. Leaving cultivation aside, the composure Cui Hao displayed in seeing through the situation had a distinctive value of its own.
Once a junior yielded, pressing further would mean bullying the young with seniority.
As a junior, Cui Hao could naturally dispense with his dignity, but he could not.
The Sect Leader of Cloud Dream Pavilion waved his sleeve. "Sit. If your master saw this, he'd think I was bullying you."
Cui Hao sat back down, a smile appearing on his face:
"Not at all. Senior is teaching this junior how to conduct himself."
"Slick through and through." The Sect Leader's expression remained unchanged as he lowered his gaze to the flowing patterns on the table before him. "To tell the truth, I don't dislike you. Quite the opposite, in fact. I think rather highly of you."
Cui Hao did not dare respond lightly. After all, when someone began with pleasant words, what followed was usually nothing good.
He sat obediently in his seat,