Sui Zaihua stared him down without moving. Shang Huaitong calmly met his gaze. After a long while, Sui Zaihua withdrew his eyes and smiled. "That sounds truthful. Let me ask you: if the Sword Cultivation Academy refuses you because of this answer, what will you do?"
Shang Huaitong lowered his eyes in silence, then said slowly, "The Sword Academy is a ladder through the clouds up the mountain, but it is not the only path to the heights of the sword. I establish myself not through the prestige of robes and credentials, but through three feet of steel. Even if it casts me aside, in this boundless world, there will still be something I can accomplish."
"Even if it casts me aside, there will still be something I can accomplish." Sui Zaihua paused slightly, then faintly curled his lips. "Good. Very good. Your darker nature outweighs your righteousness; outwardly mild, inwardly arrogant. Shang Huaitong, you would struggle to become a great chivalrous hero, nor could you be an upright gentleman, but on the battlefield you could be a deadly general, and within the court a hunting owl. You are a talent of our Great Tang-"
"Lord Sui." A voice rang out from the gathering.
For the first time, someone had interrupted this lord.
Sui Zaihua raised his eyes and saw that the girl who had risen beneath the tree was the one in green whose body and sword had been so light and nimble just now: the Jade Feather True Disciple who had been at daggers drawn with the Seven Flood Dragons.
"When you said your eyesight was poor, my lord, it turns out you weren't being modest."
Li Piaoqing looked at this academy overseer. She had only just gained hope of entering the academy, yet there was not a