The teasing between friends soon came to an end. Wang Dong'er and Xiao Xiao stood beside Sea God Lake, falling into a shared silence without a word.
With someone to pour out her troubles to, Wang Dong'er finally found some comfort for the feelings she had suppressed for so long, and her tightly wound heart relaxed a little. Yet her troubled expression made it clear that the shadows within her had not been completely swept away.
Pouring her heart out had brought a little temporary solace, but afterward, Wang Dong'er still had to face an uncertain future alone.
The one above might have stopped watching me through a moment's carelessness, but even if I can hide for a while, can I hide for a lifetime?
Xiao Xiao could see Wang Dong'er's worries too. Yet there was nothing she could do except silently pray in her heart.
Considerate as she was, she knew that, as an outsider, she could not interfere in the Clear Sky Sect's internal affairs. Only Wang Dong'er knew her own difficulties, and only she could resolve them.
Just as Wang Dong'er's eyes filled with melancholy, Xiao Xiao suddenly laid her right hand on her shoulder and clenched her left fist, encouraging her. "Dong'er, make the choice you want to make. Make the choice you believe is right. I think the old vice class monitor, Wang Dong, would never have bothered with all these odds and ends. She would have gone wherever she wanted."
"If you choose to acknowledge your ancestors and return to your clan, then change your name completely. If you're unhappy in the Clear Sky Sect, then you might as well stop being its young sect master. Doesn't Senior Sanshi curse the Dark Nether Sect all day long? I believe that whatever choice you make,