"That's right. That was what I had in mind too."
"With you and your wife's habit of grabbing every advantage and squeezing people dry... there shouldn't be... anything else you need to tell me, right..."
Wu Tiejiang straightened up and thought for a moment. "...Mm, right. That sword of our girl's-I placed the Ice Phoenix's soul inside it... She'll have to comprehend it herself. It can't be rushed."
Zuo Changlu was visibly moved. "Tie Jiang, the gifts you've brought these two children this time are far too generous."
Wu Tiejiang smiled. "Originally, I was simply giving our own children a little first-meeting gift. Now, after your meddling, it's become something else entirely. The convergence of fate, the coincidence of opportunity-none of it really is within our control. In the future, I may well be the one who benefits more. I'll just consider it paving the road for my own future."
He winked. "That boy has pretty much broken our girl's tribulation, hasn't he?"
"Pretty much."
Zuo Changlu smiled. "About eighty percent."
"Then it has to stop."
Wu Tiejiang chuckled. "It isn't really my place to say this. You understand better than I do that nothing should be taken to its utmost limit. But I'm afraid that, caught up in it yourself, with your own daughter involved, you might go too far. Now there's only twenty percent left for her to struggle against Heaven for her life. That's already very, very little, and it's lost some of its meaning. An even split would have been best."
"How could I not understand that? At first, I didn't even intend to intervene. If Xiao Nian could force her way out of this death trap through her own strength, it would be an unparalleled opportunity, with limitless prospects afterward. But that brat is far