Precious books and jade silk gleamed amid radiant rosy mist.
Within this elegantly appointed tea room.
Seated across the table from his initiating master, Xie Yu, was a boy with a face like the full moon and crystal-bright eyes.
He wore a mountains-and-rivers crown and plain blue robes, but a small Golden Arrow, some three inches long, hung at his waist.
Its head took the shape of a swallow's wings in flight, its tip as fine as a needle, almost imperceptibly slender. The shaft was exquisitely wrought, radiance spilling from its entire length like water, bathing the floor in a luminous haze.
"Didn't I tell you? As long as you obediently follow the clan's orders, your life will never be in danger. Rest assured, I'll stake my life on keeping you safe!"
Faced with Xie Yu's furious glare.
The boy did not even blink. He merely tipped his head back and drained his tea, pursed his lips to savor the lingering fragrance, and only after several breaths spoke with a beaming smile.
"If I make a move... I fear there won't be anywhere left for me in Eastern Maitreya Province."
The fierceness in Xie Yu's eyes eased slightly at this, but his face remained dark as still water.
"And where does the clan intend to send me? The Western Two Provinces or Northern Lu Province? Or will you go further still and transport me straight to some landmass or realm-void in Outer Heaven?
"How is saving my life like that any different from exile? Will the clan only be satisfied once it has severed my Dao path outright?!"
"After that battle with Lu Yusheng all those years ago, Northern Lu Province is indeed rather desolate. Its earth qi still hasn't been set right, and its spiritual currents are too muddled